Fairy Tale Spotlight: Lord of the Flies [Book Review]

"Lord of the Flies" is a novel written by William Golding. It was published in 1954. You may know this book or its reputation. It is about a whole lot of children stranded on an island with absolutely no adults.

This may go down as one of the most frustrating reads so far, but there's nothing particularly wrong with it. It is one of those situations where the author creates a bad situation and sees it through to the end. I've heard a lot of differing opinions about this one, such as it being an anti-war book because of the nuclear bomb being the cause of their situation. But I don't agree with that. There is just so very little about that issue. It's mostly about the children's situation than much of anything having to do with war.

The book is mostly just an experiment on how a lot of children would deal with being alone without any adult supervision, and it is horrifying. They are still human, though. They still have drives and can make decisions. The pecking order tends to favor the older kids, while the very young children can't help but be disorderly.

The problem here is that the tribalism inherent inside our brains can sometimes take over, turning us against each other. Tribalism can be overcome with maturity, but if there is no guiding force for that maturity, tribalism will reign supreme.

Although there are a lot of characters in this book, the real ones you want to look at are Ralph, a chubby bespectacled boy named Piggy, and Jack. These represent the real leader-types of the book. All of them are basically immature, but they have within them the possibilities of greatness in this situation.

Ralph has the advantage of being strong and handsome. People like him and cling to his "coolness." He is still immature, but he learns fast and knows how to adapt to situations over time.

Piggy is probably the most mentally mature character in the whole book, and he is infinitely lovable for it. The problem is that he is surrounded by immature brats who love to make fun of him for being fat. Even Ralph, who genuinely seems to respect him, cannot keep himself from ribbing on him from time to time. Piggy's story is tragic because he seems to know the trick to survival, but nobody wants to hear him out.

Jack is a strong boy who is surprisingly suited for this sort of environment. He loves the ideas of hunting and is actually pretty good at it. His issue is that he obsesses over that one aspect and can't seem to do much better. He can survive, but his mind tends to tilt towards selfish behaviors and ultimately tribalism. He wants to be leader with none of the responsibility.

Even though they are never really focused on, I really thought it was interesting how the very young children were portrayed. They were surprisingly self-sufficient and just sort of did their own thing. They were miserable, sad, and had horrible nightmares, but they were not mature enough to really see the big picture. Ignorance was bliss in their case. It was left to the older boys to deal with the real situation happening between them, and that's where the story is.

"Lord of the Flies" is a great book, despite the artificially created situation. And the fact that it is artificial does not take anything away from it. This is pretty much how fiction works. An author has an idea, and then he puts that idea to paper. This was an idea worth having and a work of fiction worth writing. It makes you consider things you might not normally think about. I highly recommend reading this one.

This blog was written on January 18, 2026.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: A Christmas Story 2 [Movie Review]

Oh boy! "A Christmas Story 2" was a movie released in 2012. Although it is technically the seventh film in the Parker Family Saga created by Jean Shepherd, it is actually the direct sequel to "A Christmas Story" from 1983. Hey! Didn't I also say that about "My Summer Story?" I did! And it doesn't matter!

"A Christmas Story 2" was made after the death of Jean Shepherd, and it is absolutely an attempt at a cash grab off of a popular old film. 100%. They were trying to make an easy buck, and a lot of people hated even the thought of this movie, without even seen it. I remember when this film was showing up on the shelves with the other DVDs. I did not want to see it, and I pretty much spent all those years complaining about its very existence.

But what is the movie actually like?

Answer: not that bad. Still bad, just not that bad.

In the movie, Ralph accidently causes damage to a car at a dealership and has to make money quick to pay for it. All the while, he is obsessing over this girl who seems out of his league. There is also a side story about the parents, where the dad is being a cheapskate and pissing off the mother. Like... he won't even pay the money for a Christmas turkey, something I disagreed with. It did not fit his character in past iterations.

From here, we need to talk about pros and cons. Interestingly, the movie is actually fairly balanced when it comes to these, something I did not expect. Let's look at the negatives first, since it's what we expect from a film like this.

Cons:

-References to the first film. The whole point of the movie was to bring back the nostalgia of the original film... without you actually watching that first movie. At every opportunity, this film makes a reference to key moments from the first film, and it was mostly annoying, although there were a few that actually made me chuckle. I've always said that referential humor is extremely cheap, and this movie does it way too much.

-Overacting. The characters are severely overacted in most of the scenes. They cannot come across naturally at all. This was actually a sign of the times for 2012. I saw a lot of stuff back then like this. Every facial expression was just so over the top. Nobody acts like this.

-Synthetic music. Not the fun 80's synthesis. Just cheap, bad quality background music.

-Emphasis on slapstick humor. Why do this? Why have people fall down and crash into things so regularly? The point of Jean Shepherd's stuff was to tell stories that were relatable. Nobody relates to a flurry of slapstick moments.

Pros:

-The setting is 1946, and it is brilliantly recreated almost to a surreal extent. Everything is very clean and beautiful. Even the homeless people look like they have it good. I loved the design and look of everything in this movie.

-This is a solid Christmas movie in general. It covers the concept of generosity versus cynicism and greed very well. It does not go into Christian ideals, but nothing from Jean Shepherd ever did anyhow.

-The characters are all there and well-represented. Although the Old Man is not really on par with his predecessors, he was less insane than the previous entry. I did actually like him.

-The story is very much a Jean Shepherd-type story, although it isn't based on anything he wrote. They wrote it to fit his style, and I think they did a good job.

-In addition to the writing, let's talk about a man named Nat Mauldin. This guy was the narrator, and he was doing an out-right impression of Jean Shepherd here. He did an amazing job. Hands-down. My God. I was so impressed with his narration and also of the quality of the writing here. There was nothing wrong with it, and it may actually be the real reason I gave this film a pass. Seriously, listen to some of it. It's so good.

Guess what?! I am recommending the film! I didn't expect I was going to do that. Although this film just barely passes. It almost sits right on the line, but there is enough effort here that makes it an okay film to watch and even enjoy. Just be very clear that there are a lot of problems with this movie. It is far from perfect, but I would say I enjoyed it just a little more than "My Summer Story," mainly for just the amount of effort they put into the look and feel of the world.

All said, however, this is a hated movie. If you choose to watch it, remember that it is not a loved movie in the slightest, but I encourage an open mind. It's not that bad, and it certainly will never trump the original.

One more to go.

This blog was written on January 12, 2026.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: My Summer Story [Movie Review]

"My Summer Story" (also known as "It Runs in the Family") is a movie released by MGM in 1994. Although it is technically the sixth film in Jean Shepherd's "Parker Family Saga," it is actually a direct sequel to "A Christmas Story." It even starts off with the last shot of that film. Also notably, this is the last movie in the series that Jean Shepherd narrates.

Where do I begin? This movie encompasses a huge number of Jean Shepherd's stories. It may actually be the winner for cramming the largest number of his stories into one film. This is not exactly a good thing, since it sometimes draws out some of the value of those stories as they get crushed into other ones.

The main plot points have to do with the Old Man's war with his hillbilly neighbors, Ralph trying to find a fighting top to win against a local bully, and quite simply just trying to catch a fish on the lake. These three main points are constantly squished by other side-plots from many of his stories as if they were all happening at one time. Like I said, this somewhat devalues the significance of these stories because of how they work to assist one another.

"My Summer Story" also included my favorite Jean Shepherd story about the fighting tops. In the original story, Scut Farkas was the bully, but since this was a sequel to a film where Ralph beats the snot out of that character, they had to invent a new bully named Lug Ditka who was less appealing. Don't get me wrong; I did like how this story made it to film, but sadly the written version was simply more dramatic. They did try, and that's what counts.

I'm going to make a sad claim here. I did not like the actor they picked for the Old Man. He was a bit too crazy for me. He also had this really deep, guttural voice that was cool but overused. His overacting came across as more annoying and unnecessary. I also kept mistaking him for Harrison Ford for some reason. All the other actors were tolerable, with a special shoutout to the kid who played Randy. He was awesome. In fact, I don't think I ever hated any of the Randy actors so far.

Anyways, I think that's all I want to say about this movie. It was nice to see another Jean Shepherd movie with a great budget. Sadly, it just doesn't really capture the full charm of the previous films. It still has a lot going for it though, and for that reason I do recommend it. It's still worth seeing today.

This blog was written on January 4, 2026.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Iron Echo [Short Story Review]

"Iron Echo" is a short story by SixSydes. It is the twelfth story in a collection called "Tales of Hayven Celestia," which was published in 2020. As I have already stated, this is a universe created by author Rick Griffin, in which he allowed many other people to write stories in.

This story surprised me in various ways. It was about a geroo uprising on board a ship against the krakun. It was not a unanimous uprising, so it was containing elements of geroo vs geroo. This was the most shocking part for me, because I rarely see the geroo as violent.

The thing about the geroo is that they tend to be a peaceful people who simply accept their lives as the slaves of the giant krakuns. They are not really naturally-born fighters. They make the best of things and do what they can to keep the peace with their evil owners.

The problem with this story is that only a portion of a geroo spaceship revolts, putting the ones who were just trying to live peacefully in danger. It was not all that well-planned also. This was a sort of hail-Mary shot to inspire others, and the chance of it working was slim. But big ideas like this can sort of take over the mind and inspire little people to do wild things.

Of the entire collection so far, this particular story was the most action packed. It was a break-neck war/battle scenario that never let up until the very last sentence. I was on the edge of my seat until the last moment. I loved it. It was engaging too, although I still always feel bad, seeing geroo in nasty situations. They are an extremely family-oriented race. But war is hell, as they say.

I recommend this story a whole lot. If you like exciting war action with drama, fighting, and guns, this is for you.

This blog was written on January 5, 2026.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Zootopia [Book Review]

"Zootopia" is a book written by Suzanne Francis. It was published in 2016. It is the official adaptation for the film that came out the same year. I only recently realized this even existed. I had come to think promotional novelizations like this had been phased out in modern day. It is also referred to as a "junior novelization." This is probably a polite way of saying it is a novella intended for a younger audience.

If you've seen the movie, then you know what it in this book. It is a beat for beat telling of the film, but the writing is extremely tight. That is to say that the book carries you through the movie in a very streamlined and efficient way. There is no padding, and the author is very good at describing the scenes with just enough words to help you understand what is going on and to make it enjoyable. This especially helps with the action scenes.

The reason this is good is that the book is intended for a younger audience, and so you want to make sure that the story is engaging and still readable for them. Heck, I even enjoyed reading it, and I usually don't like beat-for-beat novelizations. I was just enjoying going over the scenes from what is a really good movie from this alternative literary perspective.

There was another thing. I do consume a lot of independent "furry" content, and this was one of the few non-independent ones I read. The only other one was the junior novel for "Disney's Robin Hood." This one really stacks up to all the independent stuff. All the animals were called out, and they were well described. I enjoyed it.

But do I recommend it? Well... it depends on if that's what you want to do after seeing the film. I guess there's no reason not to. It's not bad. It's neither over- or under-written. It is simply the film and nothing more. But no mistakes were made here; it is a solid read from beginning to end. I'm happy these novelizations are still happening from time to time.

This blog was written on January 5, 2026.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss [Movie Review]

"Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" is a movie produced by both Disney and PBS and written by Jean Shepherd. It was released in 1988 onto TV and video tape. It never made it to the big screen, but it really should have. It is also the fifth movie in the Parker Family Saga.

The movie was based on a story written by Jean Shepherd for Playboy Magazine. It's honestly one of his best stories he has in his archive. One of the reasons I began reading his books was to get at this story, and where it may not be my favorite, it's right up there near the top.

The story is about the Parker Family as they go on a surprisingly realistic 1950's vacation to a camping site called Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss. While there, they will stay in a cabin without any plumbing and go fishing. The journey there is full of fun little mishaps, but none of them feel like they couldn't have happened to real people. For example, the mother keeps wanting to stop at trinket shops, the tire blows out, and there is a sudden bee attack in the car. These are all kinds of normal things, but the movie pitches them in a very wholesome comedic light.

I've heard this movie often compared with the National Lampoon Vacation films. That's somewhat fair, but the National Lampoon films tend to border more on the absurd rather than relatable circumstances. They are more like worst case scenarios and can most often seem unrealistic. Nothing in "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" feels unrealistic, and yet it still comes across as fun and entertaining.

As we have seen with the previous films, the movies are not long enough to encapsulate just one of his short stories. The first half of the movie is a flashback about Ralph getting his first job, which might actually be the worst job he ever had. Also it was great to see Jean Shepherd play Ralph's horrible boss himself.

The family also dealt with their dog Fuzzhead running away. This seems like a silly plot at first, but it almost takes over the whole movie. The mother obsesses over it and even claims she won't go to the lake unless Fuzzhead is found. It was an entertaining sidestep, and I won't spoil how it ends.

All said, "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" is a great movie, and it really did deserve to make it to the big screen. Sadly, Disney has all but ignored this movie since it came out. It had a few runs on the Disney Channel, but nobody really seems to talk about this film anymore, and it's really sad. The film is wonderful and keeps your attention from scene to scene. I think I may actually enjoy this film a little more than "A Christmas Story." It was just so relatable.

Of course, I absolutely recommend this movie. You can view it on Youtube in acceptable quality. The only problem with it is that it plays with mono sound (only in the right ear), and there was one part in the film where the recording glitches really bad, but then it recovers. It's about the only way to see this film today, so you should definitely deal with those imperfections. This movie deserves to be a classic, but there just isn't anybody who knows about it these days.

This blog was written on December 29, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: I, Libertine [Book Review]

"I, Libertine" as written by Frederick R. Ewing is a hoax novel that did not actually exist when it was first being promoted. It was mainly Jean Shepherd that promoted it on his radio show. It had to do with the often arbitrary rules by which books ended up on best seller lists in the 50's. In fact, it still kind of works that way today.

Jean Shepherd and other celebrities all pushed people to read this amazing book, and soon everyone was struggling to have their copies ordered at bookstores. It didn't exist though, and nobody could figure out what was going on. The strange thing is that it did end up on a best seller list even though nobody actually wrote the damn thing.

However once this corruption was exposed, the book did ultimately get written. It appeared on book shelves as "I, Libertine" by Frederick R. Ewing, but the author was actually famed scifi writer Theodore Sturgeon. It was published in 1956. On the back cover was a picture of the author, but it was actually just Jean Shepherd all dressed up to look fancy.

But what about the book? Now that the book exists, is it any good? Well... yes... but it is something of a difficult read if you are not super into historical fiction. It takes place in 18th century England, and centers around a man named Lance Courteney who takes up a legal manner revolving around a very devious woman named Elizabeth Chudleigh.

She was a real person and involved with a good number of scandals, usually involving bigamy. But the point was that she was extremely powerful, vindictive, and dangerous to mess around with. As horrible as she might have been, the story focuses more around Lance who spends the whole book trying to determine what sort of man he wants to be.

The concept of "libertine" is thrown around a lot in this story. It's something Lance wants to be. It has to do with being personally independent and bound only by your own counsel and choices. The book does a surprisingly good job at showing the folly of this, and I loved how it deals with it by the book's end. Solid work. It rather trumps all the legal mumbo jumbo that I had to put up with throughout.

A lot of people just think that libertine means hedonism. That's complete rubbish. Hedonism strictly means that you live for pleasure. Libertine can lead to that, but it doesn't have to. A person can be libertine and be good-hearted, compassionate, and sincere, because they chose to be that way. But they are not doing it because they hold allegiance to God. They do it because they believe it is entirely in their nature to do it and nothing else. This also is folly because God demands allegiance regardless of your worldly beliefs and actions. Unfortunately, the libertine mentality shall always be adverse to God. It is not humble in the slightest, and God loves the humble. Ultimately that person would be damned and likely even suspect it if he was well-versed in religion.

This is a difficult book to recommend because it spends a lot of time on Lance's legal issues, but it is extremely well crafted. If you are looking for some well-written historical fiction, then I could recommend this one. It's still funny how the book made it to the best seller lists before it even existed. Jean Shepherd played a really good joke, but at least it ended up existing eventually.

This blog was written on December 27, 2025.

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