T.K. Wade -- Author

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Bartleby, the Scrivener [Short Story Review]

"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story written by Herman Melville. It was published in 1856.

This is the first story written by Melville that I have read in a very long time. The last one I read was called "Clarel," and I freaking hated it. It actually made me want to stop reading his stuff. I am pleased, however, that this one ended up being pretty good.

The story here is in first person, and the narrator is unnamed. That said, he is very important to the story, and I kind of realized about midway into the story that I really ought to be paying very close attention to everything he says and does. The titular character, that being Bartleby, is still very important, but not quite as much as the narrator.

The narrator is a scrivener, which means he duplicates legal documents by hand. He brings on other employees to help him with this, since a lot of documents have to be worked on with limited time. Bartleby was one of these scriveners, and he causes the main problems in this story that our narrator has to deal with.

Bartleby only wants to do his scrivening work and nothing else. If you ask him to do anything else, he will either be silent or reply with, "I prefer not to." This simple behavior gets taken to the extremes as the story progresses, and the narrator cannot figure out why.

At some point, Bartleby decides that he cannot do the scrivening anymore, but he refuses to vacate the building and is just sort of living there. If you ask him to leave, he just says that he prefers not to, and there is nothing you can do. Seriously... nothing.

Now, regardless of why Bartleby is acting this way, the real story lies in how the narrator deals with it. While reading this story, you will come to understand the entire functioning system of ego and pride in action. The good and bad within the narrator will be shown to the reader at the surface level as he tries to work out how to deal with Bartleby's strange behavior.

That is the story! Indeed, you will and should be wondering what is wrong with Bartleby, and the author does bother to explain it right at the very end. But the actual story is the psychological breakdown of the narrator, and it is fascinating.

This story is a really eye-opening breakdown about how the human mind operates when pushed against by uncomfortable situations. It is a story about psychology, but not really about anything supernatural. I admit that there is always the possibility of a supernatural conclusion in a story, but it isn't always necessary or wanted. No, this story keeps everything grounded in observable reality, and I think it is better for it. It makes everything feel like it could have happened the way it was presented.

I absolutely recommend this story. It is one of the man's best tales. Heck, I enjoyed it more than "Moby Dick," although that might be apples to oranges in this case. Still, I think if you are going to go through Melville's work, you should not skip over this one.

This blog was written on July 7, 2026.

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Monday, July 20, 2026

Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery [Book Review]

"Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery" is a children's book written by James and Deborah Howe. It was published in 1978.

For the longest time, people have been trying to get me to read "Bunnicula." I have sort of been rolling my eyes at the idea of a bunny vampire who sucks the juices out of vegetables, because that's what the story is about. There's no way to get around it. Honestly, it sounded really silly, and it kind of is. It also kind of works.

The story is told by the family dog Harold, which is secretly as smart as any human. He reads books and apparently write them too. He is friends with an equally smart cat named Chester. Together, they are investigating the possibility that the family's new pet rabbit is a vampire. This may actually be true, and the more you read it, the more you tend to believe it.

What is great about this book is that the authors really go out of their way to convince you about the bunny's supernatural condition... and also the fact that it might not be a particularly bad thing if all he is doing is sucking vegetables dry. It all leads up to a really interesting but still very silly mystery.

Harold and Chester are also very believable as a dog and a cat as well. Despite the fact that they are very intelligent, they still represent the well-known characteristics of their respective species. Chester's obsession with Bunnicula's alleged vampirism is hilarious, but it also leans very heavily into a dangerous territory. The real question the book offers is: "Is a vampire bunny really all that bad?" Harold seems to bring this up as a counterpoint.

Without spoiling anything else about this delightful story, I do want to say that this is a really good early age story for children. It does nothing to patronize them, and it tells a story that is very friendly while still having some shocking aspects to it. It would also be a good story for a parent to read a child. I liked it, and I do recommend it.

This blog was written on July 1, 2026.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Young Goodman Brown [Short Story Review]

"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was first published in 1835.

For a story so old, this really does come across as a dreamlike surreal horror. It also sometimes feels like some sort of Christian allegory, especially when you take note of the titular character, a man named Goodman.

Goodman goes on a surreal journey through the woods as he learns that all the good upstanding men and women of his town seem to be secretly serving the devil. They are playing the part of good Christians in the open, but they are living in sin in reality. The interesting thing about this story is that Goodman is being seriously tempted to join in on this tradition.

As Goodman travels through the forest, he runs into a strange man who very likely is Satan or some sort of emissary for Satan. He also runs into people he has always known who are not acting the way they should. It is a surreal mess to be in, and the author does a good job introducing the reader to this strange landscape of imagery and people.

There is also a hag that shows up to bring everyone together. It's really quite surreal and horrific to see everyone you've known and love somehow involved with witches and demons as if it was entirely normal.

I don't want to say more than this. It is a good story that will give you a lot to think about, but it was really cool to see a story with such strange and magical imagery from that era. I do recommend it.

This blog was written on June 28, 2026.

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Monday, July 13, 2026

Son of Flubber [Book Review]

"Son of Flubber" is a book written by Robert Fuller. It was published in 1963 and is the novelization of the Disney movie of the same name from 1962. Honestly, it is kind of strange that the book came out a year later. That is not a common thing.

This book is the sequel to "The Absent-Minded Professor." It continues the story of the physics-breaking flubber, a substance that creates its own energy and completely defies entropy. Imagine making a bomb with this stuff! It would eventually consume the entire universe in flames! Well, that is actually almost an issue in the book, since Professor Brainard is actually trying to sell flubber to the US government. The very idea of this makes me super nervous, but the whole thing is a comedy and I should just relax.

The reason the professor is trying to sell flubber is to make money to save his financially struggling university before it falls into the hands of power-hungry insurance man Alonzo Hawk. Hawk is actually a Disney villain that has been used in multiple franchises, most notably in the Herbie movies. Come to think of it, I would not mind reading some of those books too (if they exist).

Instead of the whole bouncing rubber gag from the first story, the professor focuses turning the crazy material into both a gas and exploring its radioactive qualities. Seriously, the more I hear about this stuff, it scares me. He actually had already used it as a gas in the first book. It's how he made his Model T fly. That made sense. If you have an element that makes its own energy then you would not need much of it to lift things of any weight off of the ground. In the case of this story, he tries to use the gas to make a football player extremely light on his feet.

As far as radiation, he creates a freaking ray gun out of it. The idea was to energize clouds to force them to rain. It kind of worked, but it also broke anything made of glass all over the city. Very exciting and about as shocking as it can get.

On top of all this, there is this whole side-plot about this old girlfriend of Brainard that's trying to steal him from his wife. It gets more heated than you might think from an old story like this. It made me pretty uncomfortable.

One thing I do not like about the book (which was not a problem in the film) is that the author chose to use the first-person perspective of Biff Hawk, who was Alonzo Hawk's son. The problem is that he is not actually in all the scenes of the movie. This means the author has to constantly explain how Biff finds out about all the things that happens. This comes down to peeking into people's windows, following behind in a car chase, and even yanking a courtroom transcript. Of all the crazy things that happened in the book, I found Biff Hawk's ability to stay on top of the story to be the most unbelievable.

I do recommend this book, but I think perhaps the movie tells it a little better. I have always enjoyed the original flubber stories. They are a good way to just sort of let go of real science and have a little fun. Be happy, though, that flubber does not exist. It would have seriously broken the universe, and we would likely have all perished in some manner because of it.

This blog was written on June 26, 2026.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2026

The Road to Toontown [Book Review]

"The Road to Toontown" is a collection of short stories by Roger Rabbit creator Gary K. Wolf. It was published in 2012. This is the collection I have been reviewing over the last bunch of blogs. The reason I never mentioned the name until now was because it too heavily implied his toon stuff, and I wanted his works to stand on their own. After all, Gary is an accomplished science fiction writer on top of his Roger Rabbit stuff.

Since I have already reviewed Gary's short stories, I'm using this as an opportunity to talk about the author and his style. I hope you don't mind. If I have anything to say about the collection itself, I really just want to criticize him or his publisher for not including the original publication dates for his stories. I have read many other collections that bothered to do this. Knowing when a story is published can assist with understanding the subject matter. Other than that, the book was entirely readable.

Gary K. Wolf is a silly man, and he is better for it. When he has a goofy idea, you can bet he is going to sit down and construct that idea into a story we all can read and enjoy along with him. The original Roger Rabbit story called "Who Censored Roger Rabbit" was really rough around the edges, and honestly kind of a chore to read after seeing the movie. The whole concept of talking through talk bubbles just seems kind of annoying.

The good news is that the movie seemed to open his mind as to what toons could really do. He never quite got rid of the talk bubble thing but left it in as sort of a preferred cartoon accent. I don't mind this as much, and I am happy he enjoyed the movie enough to make a direct sequel to it.

As a science fiction writer, Gary has some genuine talent, especially in the dystopian fiction genre. His stories have decidedly wacky premises, but they work and that's what matters. The closest he came to something more serious was "The Unhardy Boys in Outer Space," and that was still silly in its own way. I think that one will always be my favorite.

All in all, Gary still gave us Roger Rabbit, and I think that, in and of itself, made the world a better place. I enjoyed this collection and totally recommend it. I look forward to reading more of his novels in the future.

This blog was written on June 17, 2026.

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Monday, July 6, 2026

The Warhol of the Worlds [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main plot and the ending of this story.]

"The Warhol of the Worlds" is a short story/script by Gary K. Wolf. It was published as part of a collection in 2012. (I don't know exactly when the original story was published, but I am willing to bet it was pretty close to the collection itself due to subject matter.)

This story is actually an intended radio script that parodies the original infamous "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast that caused all of the panic. In this version, the aliens come down in a giant tin can and land directly in Toontown, instantly murdering almost every single famous toon rabbit ever conceived. That is to say they all turned into angels and floated up into the sky. They're probably okay.

The script stars "Dan Blather" as he reports on this completely silly alien invasion. There are a lot of silly cartoon noises used to portray quick movement and other silly stuff. There is nothing even remotely serious about it at all. Even the normal people seem to act like cartoon characters.

Roger Rabbit seems to be the only bunny that doesn't get killed. That makes sense since it's Gary's original character. Pretty cheeky to kill off all other bunnies but his own.

I will say, however, that there is a little bit of political jabs made in this one which was not really desired. It made me roll my eyes when I got to it. It also felt kind of shoved into it. It really reflects some of the polarized politics we had around the time the collection was published, which honestly did not go away to this very day.

I did like that the actual Martian invading happened to be none other than Marvin the Martian, although the story sort of ends with it all being a joke... or a dream... or something. I'm not quite sure. Sort of hit me like the ending of "The Mysterious Stranger." There was no real point to any of it but to just make you laugh. And to be fair... it did.

"The Warhol of the Worlds" is a short read, and it is funny or silly enough to recommend. Just keep in mind that it's probably my least favorite of his Toontown stories. It would have gotten a few more points with me if he had stayed out of politics.

This blog was written on June 17, 2026.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Kiss Me Goodbye [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the hell out of this story.]

"Kiss Me Goodbye" is s short story written by Gary K. Wolf. It was published as part of a collection in 2012. (I do not know the original publication date for this one.)

This story is set in Los Angeles in 1937. The main character is a cop/detective named Eddie. Now, I know what you must be thinking. A cop named Eddie, and it was written by Gary K. Wolf? Is his last name Valiant?! Well... no. In fact, his name isn't given at all. It could possibly be an earlier version of him. "Who Frames Roger Rabbit?" was set in 1947, after all. Either way, this information is not given.

Eddie is heading to the justice of the peace to get married to his girl, but when he confronts her he accuses her of stealing a priceless jewel in a mission they were both involved in. Spoiler: she actually did do this, rendering the whole marriage a non-event. Even more shocking is when she pulls a gun on him, and he is forced to defend himself, killing her on the spot. The scene is sad, dark, and brutal.

Now, what I find very interesting about this story is that it feels like the final chapter of a a lengthy noir book... but this is all there is. You do not get anything but the final play. This means everything that comes before it has to be hastily slipped into the narrative and dialog in this one chapter alone. It also has to be done as eloquently as possible, or else the reader might get a little suspicious!

Gary K. Wolf actually does accomplish this... but it still left me scratching my head. Why only write the final scene of a non-existent book? I don't have the answer to why he did it, but I don't think any harm was done. It was a neat idea, and I like that he bothered to try. Sometimes writing can be an experiment. Hell, I got a friend who is trying to write a musical as a narrative book. He's recording the music to be heard elsewhere. That's good, and this short story is cool in its own way. It proves that it might actually be possible to have an entire story... while only writing the final chapter. That's insane.

I really liked "Kiss Me Goodbye" for the experiment that it was, and I do recommend it. I encourage all writers to try a little experimenting once in a while. You might stumble onto a side of yourself you didn't know existed... and from there you may find your options in storytelling have broadened a bit.

This blog was written on June 15, 2026.

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