T.K. Wade -- Author

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main points of the story.]

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is a short story written by Gabriel García Márquez. It was published in 1968. The book in which I found it in states it was published in 1955, which is way off. In fact, there are a lot of problems with this book, which I may go into in another blog.

In this story, a family living near the beach finds the titular character. He is exactly as described, a very old man with enormous wings. He is thought to be some sort of fallen angel and is taken back to live in their chicken coup of all places.

This leads them to set him up as a freak for people to pay just to see him... as one naturally does when one catches an angel. This makes the family very wealthy until a better freak show puts them out of business. After that, the old man is just sort of... there.

Also, he never talks. He just sort of sits around and mumbles in what might be Norwegian. The story is slightly unclear on this point. The priests who looked him over expected him to talk in Latin since that is apparently the language of God.

By the end of it, the whole concept of the story seems clear enough. What the old man actually is is unclear, but as he flies away into the sunset, he most certainly could be said to be a very old man with enormous wings. I mean... you can't accuse the author of lying to his audience. The only downside is... we don't actually completely know what he was. He was only assumed to be an angel. Maybe he was, but the story doesn't say and never will.

All said, however, it was an amusing little fantasy tale. I recommend it.

This blog was written on September 16, 2026.

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Monday, November 9, 2026

The Star [Short Story Review]

"The Star" is a short story written by "H. G. Wells." it was published in 1897.

Fun fact: this story is canonical to "The War of the Worlds." It was published at about the same time, but it features both the character Ogilvy and a brief cameo of the Martians. The story itself is about a whole other sort of cataclysm though.

When a random flying star flings itself into the Solar System, Earth goes through a short period of really bad times. Wells does a good job at showing what sort of event this would be like. He factors in the problems that the extra light would have as it approached. He also goes heavily into the gravitational issues that would wreak havoc upon our planet as it got really close.

Without going into too much detail, it just about wipes us the hell out. Heck, even our planet stops rotating for a while. It's a complete mess. This is an early example of an apocalyptic story.

It's hard to tell inexactly if this story was written before or after "The War of the Worlds," but either way it would have to fall canonically after the events of that book. Hilariously, the one cameo of the Martians was them looking at us through their telescopes. They marveled that the only damage we seemed to have from the passing star was that our polar ice caps ended up melting. That's pretty funny because there was a hell of a lot more problems then just that. That's just what they were able to observe.

I totally recommend this one! It was a well-thought-out little apocalypse story! It would be interesting to see this made into a movie. There's been so many films like this, someone might have already done it.

This blog was written on September 15, 2026.

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Wednesday, November 4, 2026

The Chair Carrier [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main points of the story.]

"The Chair Carrier" is a short story written by Yusuf Idris. It was published in 1994, although the author seems to have been dead by this point. It's either a typo, or it was published posthumously.

This is possibly the most random plot I ever got in a story. A man sees a giant ornate chair just walking itself down the street. Upon further inspection, he notices it is being carried by a tiny old man. Basically he was doing the physically impossible. How random!

As it turns out, this little guy is an ancient Egyptian carrying the chair around, looking for his master who is going to sit in it. If you are wondering who his master is, by the way, the name is "Ptah Ra'."

The sad thing is that there is a sign on the chair that states that his master intended the chair for him, but the old man can't read. People can read it to him, but he requires a token of authorization to prove that the person is reading it correctly or with the proper authorization.

So the guy just keeps carrying the chair onward. Kind of a silly story. I recommend it if you wanna get a quick chuckle. It is a very quick read.

This blog was written on September 13, 2026.

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Monday, November 2, 2026

Everything That Rises Must Converge [Short Story Review]

"Everything That Rises Must Converge" is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor. It was published in 1961.

This story deals heavily with the Civil Rights Movement, and I suppose it could be easy to get caught up in that, but there is something a bit more serious happening here that I focused on. At its heart, this is a story about a mother and son's relationship that is falling apart. It's crashing and burning over the course of the entire story, and it is very difficult to deal with, especially by the end of it.

The main character is Julian, a white 50-something man who is taking care of his mother. His mother is from a different time. He hates that about her. For the whole story, he is trying so hard to find ways to make her suffer for her prejudice. Be that as it may, the thing that's so horrible about this is that their relationship is so trashed because of it.

I don't want to really spoil this one. It's actually really heartbreaking, and the ending upset me a lot. I sort of saw it coming, and it hurt a lot. It makes me really want to make sure I am on good terms with my family before I lose them.

Do I recommend it? It is a very well-written story and even has a good point to it that really has nothing to do with civil rights. So... I wouldn't recommend it if you are one to struggle with difficulties with family members. This one pushes a lot of buttons in that area. Only go into it if you can do it maturely. Just be prepared for a major gut punch at the end. The emotions run extremely high in this story.

This blog was written on September 12, 2026.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Euthyphro [Book Review]

"Euthyphro" is a short book written by Plato. It was first published in 1513, however it was written around 380BC. I feel the latter is a bit important here.

The whole thing with Plato, despite him having his own philosophy, is that he was our main conduit into who Socrates was. In many ways, Socrates was the reason for his philosophy, so we often quote Plato when we are quoting Socrates.

"Euthyphro" is a short dialog between Socrates and a man named Euthyphro. Euthyphro is about to prosecute his father for murdering his slave who also murdered someone else. Socrates is about to be prosecuted himself for the corruption of his people by way of teaching his philosophy. (The latter ultimately leads to his death sentence.)

After some small talk, Socrates asks Euthyphro as to the definition of piety and impiety. This leads to a very lengthy and quite involved conversation where no matter what Euthyphro answers, Socrates finds errors in his reasoning. He does this very politely.

An example of this would be that Euthyphro says that Piety represents what all the gods love. But then Socrates points out that their gods don't seem to agree with one another, so how can that be the definition if it is impossible for all the gods to agree with one particular thing. It keeps going from there in something of a roller coaster of rhetoric.

Some parts of the dialog are actually confusing to read. Socrates sometimes struggles to make his point clear, since sometimes rhetoric can get a little tangled. Logic and reasoning is a tough thing to deal with sometimes, and we have all had those moments where we might prefer to just give up than deal with it. We do so at our own peril, though. It could lead us to chose what we want to think rather than actually discover what is there. This is why I am annoyed philosophy is not really taught in schools anymore outside of an elective.

Crazy enough, Socrates never gets his definition, but the journey to find it was amazing. It shows how some pre-conceived notions are perhaps just that, and we may be clinging to a falsehood by accident... or also possibly through laziness.

I recommend "Euthyphro" to those who are interested in the philosophy of Socrates. It's not for everyone, I guess, but then that was kind of the point of his work. It was all about taking an interest in things rather than just substituting them for your own convenient and quick ideals. Great stuff!

This blog was written on September 11, 2026.

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Monday, October 26, 2026

The Moon-Spinners [Book Review]

"The Moon-Spinners" is a novel written by Mary Stewart. It was published in 1962.

The story follows a young British woman named Nicola vacationing in a small Greek village when she happens upon an injured man who had been shot after witnessing a murder. There is also the issue if a kidnapped young boy too. This leads to her getting involved with all kinds of intrigue as she tries to help without letting everyone know that she is more than just a girl on vacation.

The latter point was what made everything so interesting. She is involved, but none of the villains have any reason to suspect that she is involved... as long as she just keeps acting natural. This allows her to act as a freelance investigator under the guise of someone just enjoying the country life.

Nicola also has a spicy girl cousin named Frances that adds a lot to the character pool. Her wit and charm was extremely enjoyable, and they played off each other very well as they dealt with this rather dangerous situation. Imagine being in danger, but you are still able to sort of enjoy life in such a nice place as long as nobody suspects you. Crazy stuff.

This book was adapted into a Disney movie staring Hayley Mills in 1964, but a lot of the plot was changed. Nicola was changed to Nikky, and instead of being a brave girl, she was switched to being more of a teen out of her element. Kind of disappointing after reading the book.

Either way, this book is a great example of good heart-thumping mystery and murder. I totally recommend it. It is supremely well-written, and it's too bad Disney had to yank the guts out of it to make a movie.

This blog was written on September 11, 2026.

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Thursday, October 22, 2026

Sonny's Blues [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main themes of this story.]

"Sonny's Blues" is a short story written by James Baldwin. It was published in 1957.

Relatable. This is a story about how sometimes someone in your family can just go down a rotten path, and there is not much you can do but watch it happen. The good news in this story is that after all the bad things happen, there is a clear chance for recovery. In the case of "Sonny's Blues," the problem was drug use.

Sonny is the brother of the protagonist, and after he is able to return to his family, things are pretty rough. It kind of feels like your own brother has turned into a stranger, but at the same time, there seems to be a little bit of him there that you remember. The narrator does his best to cling to this in the hope that Sonny won't drop back into old habits, and it certainly does look like something that could happen.

What is very important about Sonny in this story is that he actually does want to change. That doesn't mean he will, but he is putting an effort into it. Sometimes those ideas of his connect with the narrator and sometimes there is a very bitter disconnect. It isn't easy... for anybody.

Now, this story takes place well within the jazz and blues era of music, and these guys are all musicians in their own way. Sonny plays the piano, and if he can just get his life going straight, that might lead to an opportunity in the right direction. But like I said... it's hard, and he really does need to do most of the effort himself.

The great thing about this story is it really does have a good ending. It isn't perfectly conclusive, but it is one of hope. Sonny just manages to find a pathway out of his bad habits through "the blues." It shows that he has found a way to express his sorrows and take back his life. The last section of the story was really well-written, and I loved it.

I do recommend this one. It has more to do with music than it seems at first. You can't really have music in a written story, but somehow, I could hear it in my head as the descriptions were given. That was pretty awesome.

This blog was written on September 8, 2026.

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