Fairy Tale Spotlight: Pygmalion's Spectacles [Short Story Review]

"Pygmalion's Spectacles" is a short science fiction story written by Stanley G. Weinbaum. It was published in 1935. This story is notable for being the first piece of fiction to predict a somewhat accurate depiction of virtual reality.

In this story, a man has invented a set of spectacles that, when worn, will convince the wearer that he is somewhere else, experiencing another world. Although its mechanics are a little out there, the user is actually experiencing a movie filmed by the inventor. But the spectacles make everything he filmed feel very real. There is even smell involved, however we don't have that in today's virtual reality... yet.

The reality the man was placed in was like an elven fantasy. It is something like one would see in D&D or from Tolkien. Actually, to be honest, it reminded me more of the world from Shawn O'Toole's "Eye and Ear" series. It wasn't the same theme though. It was more of a romance.

The bulk of this story is about the fantasy the protagonist experienced while wearing the spectacles and how convincing it was. Anyone who has played VR games will understand what this man was experiencing to some degree. That said, the story itself is very good and the ending was amusing.

Although I cannot say for sure, I wager the reason nobody ever talks about this story is because it was probably panned when it first came out for being unrealistic or silly. But the truth is that it is not silly at all. It's really a very interesting story that carries the reader along with its fantasy extremely well. And let's just be honest... he wrote a realistic and plausible story and did not even know it.

I do recommend "Pygmalion's Spectacles." It is public domain now, and I actually found my copy for free. This is great science fiction. Mister Weinbaum died the same year this story was published, so he never knew anything about modern VR. That's a shame. I am sure he would have really enjoyed it.

This blog was written on March 2, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: After Ten Years [Short Story Review]

"After Ten Years" is a short story written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1966. Despite actually being published, it is completely unfinished and has no ending or resolution of any kind.

This story is actually about the Trojan War from the perspective of the King of Sparta. It starts at the point he is waiting inside the horse to be deployed. He is also there to get his wife back. That would be Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus. But when he finds her, she has aged, and he is stuck with an ugly woman that everyone expects him to remain married to.

Crazy stuff, but it doesn't really go much farther than that. The emotions are running high, and there is the weird possibility that it might not even be Helen after all. She might be some sort of eidolon or something. Either way, the saddest thing about this well-written story is that it just suddenly stops.

Apparently, C. S. Lewis just lost interest in it. He moved on to other things. It is said that he did not even know where he was going with it and was more into the setting and characters than he was with giving it any real plot. To my knowledge, it was never actually intended to be published, but was published anyhow.

What is here was very well written and interesting. Despite the truth, it does feel like it is going somewhere very mysterious. Sadly, it is left up to our imaginations to decide what that ultimate truth would have been. Despite it's unfinished state, it is interesting enough to read. I recommend it.

This blog was written on February 24, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Forms of Things Unknown [Short Story Review]

"Forms of Things Unknown" is a short science fiction story written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1966. This is kind of a weird one to review because of how the story actually plays out.

So this story was published a few years before we actually went to the moon. By this point, everyone was pretty clear on what it might actually be like, but we were not 100% sure yet. So what makes this story interesting is that it is a "going to the moon" story written almost right up to the actual point that we did it for real.

But this is not a story about the first moon landing. It's more like the forth. The reason its the forth is because the last three landings ended up in a suddenly cut radio transmission... and then nothing. So in a very real way, this story begins as a soft horror. The horror, in this case, comes from the mystery of several lost astronauts on the moon.

The main character of the story is named Jenkin, and he is next in line to try his luck. He is doing it because he is obsessed with the mystery and is willing to throw it all away just for that one opportunity to see what in the world had happened to those poor astronauts.

Now up to this point in the story, you'd probably be on the edge of your seat. I was. I dearly wanted to know what had happened. Even if Jenkin is lost, the narrative is following him, so you get the feeling that you'll get answers even if we lose the main character. It's an interesting way to pitch a story, and it works to build tension. You, of course, don't want to lose Jenkin, but the curiosity is still there.

But here is where there is a slight problem. The ending of the story is steeped in the surreal, the strange, and the obscure. It is a weird and fuzzy ending that doesn't quite explain what is happening. It may just be muddled by the author, or it could just be an artistic decision. It's hard to say. But I read it, and I don't really fully understand the things I saw, or Jenkin saw rather, in his apparent last moments. I do think, however, that it is something best left for interpretation, which is what I am going to do. I won't be spoiling the ending of this one.

I think "Forms of Things Unknown" has enough merit to recommend it. People should read it, but do be prepared to maybe not really understand the ending. It might also mean something different to each person who reads it. But regardless of what you see and hear, one thing is certain: Jenkin found what he was looking for.

This blog was written on February 19, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Ministering Angels [Short Story Review]

"Ministering Angels" is a science fiction short story written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1958. This doesn't happen very much, but I actually struggled to follow this one. I apologize that this even happened, so please take any issues I have with this one for a grain of salt since my opinion may not be a very good one. Either way, I am going to keep this one short.

The story here has to do with the colonization of Mars. It is a sort of slice of life of social life happening there on the initial colony. A lot of the drama comes from some women from Earth who show up and start trying to bring up some talk about how sexual morals may be a thing of the past. It is the main discussion happening in the story.

I did think it was cool to see a science fiction story written by a Christian and with the moral perspective included, but I really struggled to follow along with what was happening. I think that recommendations in this case should be omitted. You might read it and understand it more than I did. The way it was written just didn't absorb well. There was also a lot of dialect [British] which really hindered it as well. I'll still take the blame though. That's all I got for this one. Once again... apologies.

This blog was written on February 16, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Batman Doom [Video Game Review]

"Batman Doom" is a video game released in 1999. It was created by ACE Team Software. It is a total conversion of Doom II replacing all the maps, enemies, and weapons to now have a batman theme.

I was originally looking for Star Wars Doom mods when I found this. I did find one, but all it did was change the looks of the maps, but all the maps were basically the same. "Batman Doom" is actually a fully made campaign, and possibly the only Batman first person shooter that I can think of. It is a 32 map set that do include two secret levels which are sadly very hard to access. (I still found them though.)

The development team went through a lot of trouble to turn Doom II into Gotham. They made everything look like a cityscape, and I think they did really good. I am pleasantly happy with how nice everything looked for a game made in '99. The only really odd thing was that the doors, which clearly had doorknobs on them, still moved up like the original Doom doors. You get used to it, but it was still silly. To be fair, there was no way to actually get a door to swing open in Doom... although they still somehow do it in the final level. I... I don't actually know how... but... they did... just that one time.

During the long campaign you go up against the likes of Killer Croc, Tally Man, Penguin, Scarecrow, Two-Face, the Joker, and finally there is a showdown with Bane after having to refight all the former bosses in quick succession. Oh, yes. And I know you are all asking, "Who the heck is Tally Man?!" Tally Man is a DC villain, but not really a Batman one. I think they got him mixed up with Victor Zsasz, who is basically the same type of villain. You can do your own research into it, but it did give me a giggle.

As far as character design, the enemies look like they were barrowing from the Animated Series, but Batman's design reminds me a bit too much of the Hanna-Barbara version. It all works through.

The weapons were all changed to be non-lethal types, although I personally feel that the tern "less lethal" should be used. Some of the weapons I got felt really overpowered. I certainly don't want to be shot by any of them. Some were a bit more obvious such as the taser which replaced the chainsaw. Oh, and I would be silly not to mention the most overpowered shotgun I have ever used in any game ever: The Blastgun. It fires a whopping 20 pellets with a huge radius. It takes a long time to reload, but if you get up close to someone and fire this, they are probably going down. I used this more than any other weapon.

In case you are wondering if Batman gets to do any fist fighting, you really don't do very much of it unless you wanna get hurt. Personally, I would have preferred the game drop you on a berserk item at the beginning of each level (and maybe remove the red filter) to give Batman a realistic melee prowess throughout the entire mission, but I guess this was a lost opportunity.

Each mission had you go back to the Batcave to see who the next villain was going to be. These maps were always small and had no enemies, but there was always a special secret hidden in each one that was fun to look for. It also gave you a chance to unwind a little between missions.

These missions are very well crafted and actually feel like you are in Batman situations. They captured the spirit of Batman extremely well. They do get better as the game goes on. I was not enjoying the first few maps as much, but that was mainly because I didn't have a very good arsenal yet. Once you get better weapons, the game all around picks up. Getting stuck with a limited supply of Batarangs kind of sucks.

All the enemy types were appropriate. They even gave the Penguin wind-up exploding penguins to fight. Cute! That said, I think the enemy list could have been a little better. The developers did simple enemy replacement, but they had to use entire enemy slots to replace with the bosses. That's too bad.

The two secret levels were based around the Scarecrow. You find the first one by finishing him off extremely quickly, which is not super intuitive, but it pales in comparison to the second secret map which has you trying to lead an enemy to walk to a certain spot to get a door to open. Without a guide, I would have just killed him. Once you get to that last secret level though, you won't be disappointed.

I think I've said enough. I do recommend "Batman Doom." It's well worth your time. You can find it in the regular mod list of the Doom+DoomII Remaster. And despite the weapons being non-lethal, it doesn't actually feel like it. In fact, one of them was an actual flamethrower. How is a flamethrower non-lethal? See what I'm getting at?

This blog was written on February 14, 2025. Happy Valentine's Day!

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Shoddy Lands [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main thrust of the story.]

"The Shoddy Lands" is a short story written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1956. This one might be interesting to the modern crowd, especially those who get very heavy into video game technology.

That first paragraph might be a bit misleading, because this story is not about computers, video games, or any technology whatsoever. Let me explain. The story is about a man who is getting a visit from an old friend. This friend brings over his fiancé, although he sort of did it without announcing he would. The protagonist is not the type who likes having those sort of encounters forced upon him.

Strangely, while they are talking, he slips into a different reality. Now, this new world he is in has what is commonly called in video games "a low-poly environment." Everything around him is just barely recognizable as grass, flowers, and trees, but they are simply lacking the detail to appreciate up close. You may notice things like this in older games from the 90's, such as on the N64 and PS1. "Doom" is another great example of low-poly. You might see a tree that could have been drawn by a child, and even then you might only see just one side of that tree no matter where you look at it from. This is the sort of experience the protagonist of the story appeared to be going through.

Since the story was written in an era before this sort of technology, it is quite interesting that it is so relatable in the modern day. What he is actually trying to describe are things that have little detail because the "mind" that he is inside does not really care for those things. When that "mind" does care about something, they tend to have better detail. In this case, those things are specific flowers, women's dresses, and jewelry.

The truth was that the man had somehow slipped into an alternate dimension that was the embodiment of that woman his friend had brought over. There was even a giant version of her that was far more beautiful than the real thing present in this strange world.

What was it all about? Answer: feminine narcissism. Although this doesn't apply to all women, Lewis was making a point. He was also making the point that this woman was not really a great pick by his friend, as she seemed more obsessed with herself or perhaps what she could get from her soon-to-be husband.

But feminine narcissism is a thing, and it isn't good. It is sadly one of the reasons why so many unborn babies are killed every single day. Lewis strikes a good cord with me in this story, and I am very pleased that he bothered to write this. I recommend this story. It is politically incorrect, and thank goodness for that.

This blog was written on February 12, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Man Born Blind [Short Story Review]

[I entirely spoil this story.]

"The Man Born Blind" is a short story written by C. S. Lewis. I actually had a lot of trouble figuring out when it was published. I'm gonna just say 1977 since it was bundled along with "The Dark Tower," which I recently reviewed, but it is possible that it may have been published sometime before then.

The title of this story is very self-describing. It is about a man who was born blind, although he has been given his sight back. Throughout his blind period, he was always told about light, and he was very curious about it. Once he could finally see, he still could not really understand the concept of light. The author does a decent job at explaining why this is. It is a psychology issue.

Basically, it has less to do with him not understanding what light is and more to do with people doing a terrible job explaining it to him. Light gives him the ability to see things, but he sees the things and not the light itself. He just wants to see light, not just reflections of light. I know it sounds silly... and to be fair... it kind of is.

The story wraps up with him running into a painter who tries to explain what light is, since he has to sort of create the concept of light on a painting he is making of some sort of cliffside. This sadly convinces the man to jump in to his death in his final search for light. Yeah, he dies.

I'll be honest... I thought this story had some really interesting concepts about how formerly blind men might perceive the world, but I did not really like it all that much. The ending just felt shocking but in a silly way. I don't really recommend it.

This blog was written on February 12, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: North Carolina State Constitution [Document Review]

The "North Carolina State Constitution" was first written in 1776. It's current form was ratified in 1971 and has 14 articles.

I am here more to talk about reading your state's constitution more than I am to talk about what I read in mine. The only thing I want to mention about the NC version that I thought was really cool happened in Article VI Sec. 8 where is clearly states that anybody running for public office will be disqualified for the position if they "deny the being of Almighty God." Hell yeah.

Anyways, I just read this because I think if you live in a state you should be familiar with its constitution. You should also read the US Constitution too obviously. Either way, be sure you know what your actual state believes in. It is very easy to get ahold of. I may have ordered a paperback copy, but your state constitution can be easily viewed online for free. It's one of those things that you certainly don't have to do, but you probably should do it anyways.

Do I recommend the "North Carolina State Constitution?" Well... do you live in North Carolina? If so, then yes. It is a boring read though! The US Constitution is a much easier read and seems to be in a plainer language. But there was enough there to teach me a thing or two about my state, and I feel a lot better having pushed through it. That's all.

This blog was written on February 10, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Dark Tower [Book Review]

[I spoil quite a lot of this story. I don't really spoil the ending because there isn't one anyhow.]

"The Dark Tower" is a novel written by C. S. Lewis. It is unfinished and also fragmented. What remains of the novel was published posthumously in 1977. Apart from the fact that Lewis never finished this book, parts of it are actually missing, likely burned by someone who did not know exactly what they were throwing into the fire. But what remains is a fascinating piece of literature, so don't let that bug you too much.

The story of "The Dark Tower" has to do with some people at Cambridge who were experimenting with a device called the chronoscope. It is a device that can peer into either the far past or far future. It has no way of actually setting it though, so there is no way to know exactly which period is actually being viewed.

However, what these gents actually see through the window is so incredibly surreal that it brings to question what is actually being seen. One of these odd visions takes the form of a man with a stinging horn coming out of his forehead, who they dubbed the "stingingman." If he uses this sting on someone, they become emotionless drone-like beings.

Things get even crazier when one of the people watching this "Othertime" ends up materializing on the other side and even turns into one of the stingingmen. It is here that the men begin to wonder if they are even seeing another time at all. Things are just too strange, and it is hard to fathom how this sort of world could exist on earth at any point in the future or the past.

The titular dark tower seen through the chronoscope is the same as the tower at the Cambridge library. How could it exist there when things are so weird? And lastly, one of the men watching ends up getting his soul switched with his double on the other side, trapping him in Othertime. This makes up the second major half of the story where you actually get to explore the other side of the chronoscope.

I say that he has a soul swap, because he actually does become the stingingman in the Othertime universe. He thinks like him, has the same urges, has the same language, but he is not the same man. That means that the stingingman is still the stingingman, but someone else is pulling the strings. This goes well with what I call the "meat puppet" theory for how the soul works. A soul controls the body, but the body still is what it is regardless. The mind, all of its knowledge, and memory, have nothing at all to do with the soul. A person's actual identity seems to come from the soul, however, that has very little if anything to do with the body and it's brain. You are who you are regardless of what your brain thinks it is. This actually lines right up with my own personal beliefs.

There was also one other incident before the book abruptly ends that, although subtlety presented, gave me a very pleasant shock. In one scene, the transferred stingingman was reading from a book in that world's own language, and he read about a genuinely evil man that was doing experiments on children. When he read that the man was later assassinated, it seemed to me that he tried to say "Thank God," but couldn't actually say "God." Although it isn't completely clear who he was trying to thank, the point was that there was no word in the stingingman's head that could reference the one being thanked.

The latter paragraph suggests that the world on the other side of the chronoscope might actually be Godless. This could be true considering one of the men watching it called the place Hell. Now, I'm not saying that this place really was Hell. It is more suggested that it was a parallel dimension that was running alongside our own timeline. However, if this place truly was Godless then it certainly comes close to being like Hell, insomuch as it is a place separated from God.

I am very sorry if this review is confusing. The story itself can be confusing at times. It does not help that entire swaths of content is missing from it, and also that it simply stops before there is any real conclusion. It is a bit frustrating, to say the least. However, what is there has enough to make it all so very interesting, and I do recommend that you read this one through. Just take it for what it is. Don't worry so much about what is missing, and focus on what is there to read. What you will get from it is an extremely surreal fever dream that came out of the mind of the man who gave us Narnia. It is very much worth the journey.

This blog was written on February 10, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Arrival [Video Game Review]

"Arrival" is a video game released in 2021. It is a map pack made for classic Doom II. It was created by Walker Wright also known as Pavera. I found it in the Featured Mods on the excellent Doom+DoomII Remaster put out by NightDive Studios.

"Arrival" does not really have a story. It is just a map set that proposes a set of challenges for the player. There is nothing wrong with that, since Doom has always been about the gameplay. That said, there is no better story than "guy with big guns kills demons a lot."

The theme here has to do with very... VERY large maps with a lot of enemies everywhere and constantly. They are not slaughter maps. Most of the enemies you face are the weaker sort, but intermixed with Arch-viles and Revenants. This combination often puts you in a situation where you have to make extremely hard pushes through a crowd in order to get to the key you need.

And you will be looking for those keys. All the maps need those keys for you to escape. You will be spending most of your time exhausting yourself trying to get the keys, usually all three of them, just to get yourself to the ending. These maps are intended to really tire you out by just constantly giving you a lot of fights.

The fights are not always really difficult per se, but they happen so much and so constantly that you might find yourself psychologically losing it a little. I had to keep taking breaks just to wind myself down. The Arch-viles were a constant problem since they were always reviving enemies you had worked so hard to kill. I pretty much made it a rule to use the BFG whenever I saw them.

These maps also give you an absolute ton of ammo and health. You'll pretty much see the stuff lying all over the ground. It looks like a lot, but I found myself spending the time to gather it all up when I could. All that ammo gets used.  It never ever seems like enough. If you play this one, just be aware of what you have. Don't let the abundance of ammo lead you into a false sense of security. You will run out if you are not careful.

I was unable to find a secret exit in this map set, even though there is an extra mission called "Dad Bod" or in the case of the remaster it's called "Father Figure." If you play the game through regularly, you end up with an actual bad ending where you get lost in Hell forever. They accomplish this by placing you in a map with no exit. The true ending comes from playing "Father Figure" which you have to access from the level select menu. And this, sadly, means you have to "pistol start" it.

Well, I did it. I pistol started it and was able to finish it... just barely. It was about as exhausting as all of them, but I'd say that it was a tad easier than most of them. But, Lord, these maps were just so very tiring to play. I loved how everything looked though. They are well made maps with some interesting challenges.

Do I recommend "Arrival" though? I actually do, but you need to be ready to fight and fight hard. You'll be white-knuckled from beginning to end. There's no way around it. Lock and load, space marine! It's gonna be a long one!

This blog was written on February 9, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Word of Mouse [Book Review]

"Word of Mouse" is a children's book written by James Patterson and Chis Grabenstein. (Although probably mainly the latter in this case.) It was published in 2016. I actually started reading this book many years ago but stopped because... frankly it was boring me. But I decided to give it another shot recently, and things seemed to go a little better. I think it had more to do with where my frame of mind was at the time, rather than the subject matter.

"Word of Mouse" is like a children's version of "Miss Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." It's protagonist, a mouse named Isaiah, escapes from a lab that does tests on animals, but those same tests have made him extremely intelligent, even to the point of being able to speak and read English. He makes friends with other mice and one human girl who he has to communicate with by jumping around on a laptop keyboard. Very cute.

Most of the book has to do with him trying to survive outside of the lab but with the constant sadness that he left his entire family in such a terrible situation. The story picks up when he concocts a plan to rescue his family from the lab.

Now, you may be wondering if this book makes lab scientists look like vicious, evil animal torturers... and yes. It does. It absolutely does to a cartoonish degree. I'm not joking. These scientists absolutely love torturing animals and are always fearful that the ASPCA is going to find out what they're doing. Yeah, I didn't really care for this plot point. It felt very manufactured.

To be honest, I found much of the last quarter of the book to be somewhat surreal. The authors went through a lot of trouble to factor so many things in for the mice to deal with to make it seem realistic in the way that they interact with the human world. I did a similar thing back when I wrote "God and the Squirrels," where I had a team of squirrels attempting to "pilot" a car. But I was never trying to push any weird lab animal abuse conspiracies at anybody.

Like my "God and the Squirrels," this book has a lot of religious stuff in it as well, but mostly towards the end. A lot of the agendas get dropped near the end so you have plenty of time to fall in love with the characters up to that point. Yeah, it kind of sucks, I know. I'm not saying religion in books are bad, but the Christianity represented in this one was more progressive in nature. It had me scratching my head a little.

You need to understand something. I don't hate this book. It plays out like a children's movie almost to the letter. It's very entertaining, cute, and fun. It just ends on an unrealistic and surreal note. It's not a bad ending. You just have to accept it for what it is. And what it is... is just not as good as what came before it. This book gets a solid 75%. That's right. This book is 75% good. And the ending doesn't kill it; it just comes across as a bit forced and stupid.

But do I recommend it? Well, I do, but I don't think you should if the stuff at the end is going to bother you. It is wildly entertaining and well-written. All the characters are very interesting... except for the evil lab scientist. It's a mixed bag. Read at your own risk. (But let's be honest... "God and the Squirrels" is probably a better book.)

This blog was written on January 28, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Deathless [Video Game Review]

"Deathless" is a video game released in 2018. It is a full map pack for original Doom, created by James Paddock.

I keep running into these wonderful Doom map packs that continue to surprise and entertain me. "Deathless" is a four episode map pack that replaces the campaign from original Doom. It contains no weapons or enemies from Doom II. It also takes the plot from the original game too. All that's different here are the maps themselves.

The name of the game here is small maps. Every map in "Deathless" are very small, compact, and have usually an enemy count from about 6 to 40. Although the maps are small, they are still a lot of fun to explore. They don't take a whole lot of smarts to unravel them, and that was the idea. It's like playing the entire original campaign in bite-sized chunks.

As I said, there are four episodes like the original game had. In this version, they are called respectively "Lifeless", "Ruthless", "Deathless", and "Griefless." Each episode has one secret level which usually are smaller compact versions of famous levels from both Doom and Doom II. The designs of each map are very good. They all feel like small facilities being guarded by a realistic number of sentries. All the enemies are organically placed, making everything feel like it is supposed to be that way.

Another thing that is very notable about "Deathless" is just how accessible it is to anybody. For new gamers, this is an easy map pack to start out with. And if it gets too easy, the difficulty setting will help up the enemy count. Everything about this game is very satisfying. Just keep in mind that if you prefer the huge sprawling maps from the original games, you will not find them here. All these maps are small and wonderfully tight. Some of the best design I have ever encountered in Doom history.

I do recommend "Deathless" especially to people who are interested in a change of pace. Doom is known for their huge and complicated missions. It's good to change things up once in a while. This map set is available as a Featured Mod in the excellent "Doom+Doom II Remastered" put out by NightDive Studios. Give it a try!

This blog was written on January 27, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Beware of the Mouse [Book Review]

"Beware of the Mouse" is a novel written by Leaonard Wibberley. It is the fifth and final book of the Grand Fenwick series. It is also my favorite. The book was published in 1958, making it the second book released, but it seems to be the suggestion of the author that it be read last.

"Beware of the Mouse" actually takes place in the Middle Ages and goes into more of a history tale of the world's smallest fictional country. What's interesting about setting the story so far back in time is that very little has even changed. Even in the modern era, Grand Fenwick still lived as if they were in the Middle Ages. They even used the long bow, which is their weapon of choice.

The plot of this one has to do with a serious threat from France after the rival country begins deploying a new weapon called the cannon. It is a terrifying weapon that threatens to destroy anybody who has to content with it. France hates Grand Fenwick and wants to claim them for themselves. The issue is that Grand Fenwick knows nothing of gunpowder and cannons and worries that their mastery of the long bow will fail under such a frightening new weapon.

As usual in this series, it is up to Grand Fenwick to act as the underdog while dealing with overwhelming forces going against them. In this case, the forces coming outnumber them 40 to 1. I don't want to spoil how it goes, but it was wonderfully told.

All the characters in this book are charming an wonderful. The knight known as Sir Dermot, an Irishman, steals the show by being both the bravest and the most cowardly all at the same time. His duality is hilarious, and I loved every single scene with him in it. Much of the story is about him trying to determine his destiny, not only as a knight, but as a man.

This story also is a great way to learn about how people lived in the Middle Ages. It all seemed very accurate to the era, which actually helped sell some of the more humorous moments. Nothing here is sensationalized. If something was awkward, then the author gives us the truth.

I think the best part of this book was that you don't need to read any of the other ones to get into it. It is entirely not dependent on the modern stories. I love this because it really ended up being, not only my favorite in the series, but just such a damn fine Middle Ages book in general. I'll even go so far as to say that, if you only read one, read "Beware the Mouse." It's really that good!

All in all, I loved this series. I am so happy they exist and are now apart of my imagination. Thank you, Leonard Wibberley, for these wonderful stories. I will always have a special place in my heart for the tiny country of Grand Fenwick.

This blog was written on January 26, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Thing [Video Game Review]

"The Thing" is a video game developed by Computer Artworks and published by Black Label Games. It was released in 2002, and the remaster was recently released by Nightdive Studios in 2024. It is considered the canon sequel to the 1982 film of the same name. Yes, it is canon. That was entirely confirmed.

I played this game on console back when it originally came out. I was fascinated by the concept, but found the game to be very glitchy and unpolished. Apparently the PC version was better, but I never knew that. Because of all the problems I had, I never bothered to finish it.

The remaster has given this game a new life, and it is yet another reason to love and adore Nightdive Studios for all that they do for us. This review is mainly for the remastered PC version.

Taking place mere moments after the original movie (and having nothing to do with the prequel that came later), this game follows the story of Blake, an American soldier investigating the site where the movie took place. Along the way, you encounter other people at the site, and they may or may not be the thing. Once again, we are in a situation where we have to be suspicious of everyone.

Or do we?

Honestly, one of my biggest complaints was how the game tries to implement the paranoia aspect from the movie. Without going too much into it... they sort of failed. I never actually cared if anyone with me was the thing; I was just happy to have someone to help shoot the creatures coming at me for as long as they were willing. If they changed along the journey, they were honestly easy to kill. The blood test from the movie was in the game, but it was not always accurate, and because of the reason I gave above, I never really was interested in forcing the thing to come out. So this was a fail.

The story, however, was very interesting. The game actually does make for a good sequel. It does involve a bit of stretching though. Like... it is about a secret military base that was examining the thing as possible weapons/immunity research. It doesn't make much sense, but the game still makes it interesting enough. I liked it.

The gameplay is fun and engaging, and the combat is exciting and thrilling throughout. Although sometimes the game forces you to leave people behind for absolutely no good reason. It baffled me whenever this happened. All I am saying is don't get used to anyone with you. Just be happy you're staying alive.

"The Thing" is a very flawed game in almost every aspect of itself, but the good news is that it is fun. It's a fun game, and that's all we can ask from something like this, I suppose. I do recommend it, although you really should get the remastered version. It is much better and even closer to being canon-accurate.

This blog was written on January 1, 2025. Happy New Year!

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Going Down [Video Game Review]

Do any of you know a guy named Cyriak? His full name is Cyriak Harris, and he has been making music videos on YouTube for a very long time. These videos are very creepy and strange and often feature themes of cyclical repetition, fractal patterns, and mutations. They are intensely creepy and weird. He takes one theme or video and completely turns it into a terrifying nightmare set to some very discordant music that he makes himself. They are also often very humorous which contrasts pleasantly with the fact that they are terrifying. I have been a huge fan of his stuff for over a decade, and I always look forward to his new videos.

Well, recently I found a new Doom game called "Going Down" (released in 2014) that I downloaded completely at random. Honestly I was looking for a new game to blow off some steam on. I wasn't even going to finish it. The first thing I noticed was that I hated the music. It was discordant and silly and did not really sound like any music I had ever heard in the Doom games. I actually said to myself out loud, "This kind of sounds like Cyriak's stuff."

But then I had a sudden feeling of dread wash over me. I turned the game off and began searching information on the "Going Down" map pack. It was created by a user known only as "mouldy." And when I dug just a teeny bit deeper, I found out that the true name of mouldy was none other than Cyriak Harris. Well, I'll be damned. Cyriak made a Doom game.

And I figured he might have done a great job too since he was listed in the "featured mods" section of the Doom+DoomII Remaster. Anything in that category means that it is not just any Doom mod... it's considered one of the all time greats. And I then decided to play the whole thing through (all 32 maps) and see how much they stack up to Cyriak's body of work.

The whole concept of "Going Down" has to do with traveling from the top of a building and working your way down, killing everything you see along the way. This ultimately leads down into the basement areas... and eventually something that greatly resembles Hell.

Cyriak has perfected the concept of the "monster closet" by very strategically making a very empty room turn into a room full of enemies in seconds flat. One thing that is very particular to this map set is that, when enemies suddenly appear in front of you, they very often appear behind you as well. Cyriak loves trapping the player in between enemies very quickly. He's using a lot Doom voodoo to make it happen too. I have rarely seen so many tricks pulled in Doom in one map pack.

The map author also uses his sheer mastery of map editing to create situations where you can only use one weapon in a map, by either making all the other weapons less useful or just somehow taking the other weapons away. One mission had me only using the chainsaw and another just my fists. No matter what you are forced to use, a ton of enemies will be appearing regardless of if you feel it is fair or not... so just deal with it!

The main thing that happens so often in this map pack is that you can go from zero enemies to an absurd amount very quickly. I think this is his way to falling back to his music videos. In a strange way, it does sometimes feel like the monsters are repeating out in some absurd version of macro cellular mitosis.

There was also some witchcraft created by Cyriak that rather boggled my mind. In one situation, you are in an elevator, and when you take a few steps forward, the light go out and then, when they come back on, the whole room is covered in blood. That is not easy to accomplish in the classic Doom engine. He had to pull some very silly tricks to make that happen. He had to, in some crazy way, transfer the player seamlessly from one elevator to another just to make that happen.

The intermission scenes are silly. They have Doom Guy taking phone calls from his mother and mentioning that he is busy killing demons and such. His speech is very British. This is a bit off-putting, but it happened because Cyriak happens to be British.

The map pack had two secret levels which were very enjoyable and easy to find. The final mission had an original boss in it, and it was a very epic battle. It was followed by a epilogue mission where you are attacked in your own apartment complex. Very cool.

Without a doubt, I recommend "Going Down" as an absolutely must-play Doom map pack. If you have the Doom+DoomII Remastered available, it is free to download. Also check out Cyriak's music videos on YouTube! They are super creepy and fun to watch.

This blog was written on January 15, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Harmony [Video Game Review]

"Harmony" is a video game created by one man named Thomas van der Velden. It was released in 2009 for PC. It was entirely made on the classic Doom engine.

Back in my old video game days, I used to play a lot of "Star Wars Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight." While playing this game, I soon found out that there was a huge modding community for it online. A lot of them just reused assets from the original game to make new Star Wars games for me to play, but some of them did what was, at the time, called Total Transformations or TTs for short. These TTs replaced all the assets of the game but kept the engine. In this way, the game could look entirely different and even represent source material for other universes such as the Alien franchise or even *gasp!* Star Trek!

"Harmony" is one of these Total Transformations but for classic Doom. Although, today they seem to prefer the term Total Conversion. Even though you are actually playing Doom, you don't see anything that resembles Doom at all except for the movement controls. Everything else is completely different from the scenery, the enemies, the weapons, and even the sound effects. But don't be fooled. You are actually playing Doom; it just feels like an entirely different game.

The ascetics of "Harmony" feel like they are ripped out of a cheesy 1980s scifi flick. It's actually based on a comic book written and drawn by the author of the game. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of his art, but the overall design of his universe is amazing.

As far as the story of the game, I'll just copy and paste it to you since Doom games are reliant on text to explain anything:

In the near future: Led by greed and hatred mankind drove itself into another world war. The forces of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere attacked each other with everything their destructive arsenal had to offer. Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons wiped out entire countries. The combined effect of the weapons resulted in an unforeseen side effect; a supervirus emerged that mutated all the men on Earth. For unknown reasons the women were unaffected. But they weren't safe either...

The mutated men, though intelligent, lost touch with reality. From their corrupted minds a new order was formed; 'the Pax Pox'. Its first priority is to rid the world of the "impure".

The women who survived the war united to form an army against the mutant aggressors and called themselves "the Amazons".

Today one of the Amazon outposts is attacked and their leader; Amira is taken captured. Her last hope is her loyal friend; Harmony.

Will Harmony be able to rescue her friend and the rest of the human race?

That's all you really need to know to get into the game. The rest of it is pure action scifi video game. The monsters are all very unique and interesting. The 13 maps have a really nice scifi design to them, and often really feel like real places. I really enjoyed exploring them and fighting off all the various enemies and mutants that it had to offer.

My only big complaint came in the form of the second level. It was really long and tired me out. I almost quit. I kept working on it though and found the rest of the game to be much more engaging. I am glad I kept with it. The sheer love that went into making these strange maps really shows.

If you are interested in playing this game, which I totally recommend, you can find it in the Featured Mods in the excellent "Doom+DoomII Remaster" recently put out by NightDive Studios. It's free and worth the playthrough. It will honestly just feel like you are playing an entirely different game, and that is incredibly cool in and of itself.

This blog was written on January 24, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Mouse that Saved the West [Book Review]

[I spoil the main plot of this book.]

"The Mouse that Saved the West" is a novel written by Leonard Wibberley. It is the forth book in the Grand Fenwick book series. It was published in 1981.

I just wanna say that I have really been enjoying this series. I love the whole concept of it. It's all very cute. I am going to read the rest of it right away.

This one has to do with the energy crisis which is not something I remember too well. I was just being born when this book came out. From what I understand, OPEC was being stingy with its oil prices, and it was making everyone sweat bullets because they didn't wanna pay the asking price. It's a bit confusing to me, since all you have to do is just drill your own damn oil, but it was what it was, I guess.

As usual in the series, Grand Fenwick, the smallest fictional country in the world, gets involved in a scheme to solve the world's problems. The idea they come up with is to fake Grand Fenwick as a producer of oil and then sell the barrels at cost. Hilariously though they end up striking oil for real.

I don't want to say more than that, but I do want to say that the character Mountjoy is someone who I generally see as very intelligent and reasonable, but I don't think he was as on the mark in this one. I think he bit off more than he could chew and made some bad decisions. Even so, he was still very cool. He is probably my favorite character in the series.

I do recommend this one. I didn't like it as much as the other ones, but it was good enough for a single read.

This blog was written on December 30, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Wurst Seller [Book Review]

[I spoil one of the comics inside the book.]

"Wurst Seller" is an adult picture and comic book made by Wallace Tripp. It was published in 1981. It is really weird. It was so weird that I put off reading it for like three years. I finally did it though. I went through it in one sitting.

I was actually gifted this book by my editor, which means I am a terrible friend to take so long to go through it. Really, I just have a hard time with bad jokes. This book is full of them. Some of them are extremely hard to understand. They just baffled me and hurt my head.

Make no mistake, this book is pain. Some of the jokes are genuinely funny, but the majority of them are jokes that will just make you groan really hard. I mean groan so hard that it hurts your chest. That was clearly the idea. The writer/artist wanted to hurt his reader. It is safe to say he succeeded.

I do want to point out that this book may look like it is for children, but it really isn't. Ignore all the cute, cuddly little animals. This entire thing was intended to hurt adults. I don't think it would be particularly damaging to kids, but they probably would not understand 75% of what's inside. It really takes an intelligent adult mind to comprehend most of this, which is ironic. He actually turns people's intelligence against themselves. That's insane.

My favorite part of the book was a single-page comic called "Little Bunny Wuffy and Tee Wee." It is about an extremely adorable bunny and a bird who goes around trying to cheer up other animals who are having remarkably terrible days. (I mean REALLY terrible. The worst kind of soul crushing days that can lead to suicidal thoughts or worse. I'm not joking.)

The problem with Little Bunny Wuffy is that when people have days like this, they don't want to see smiles and laughter. They want to be hugged and possibly helped. All Little Bunny Wuffy does is just spout off silly poetry about how they should just smile and get over it. Hilariously, the bunny gets eaten by a wolf at the end which nobody mourns.

One last thing about the Little Bunny Wuffy comic! There may possibly be a "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" reference. The bunny comes across a mother mouse who had her house destroyed and her children eaten up by rats. This is possibly the worst outcome of that story, and the bunny just teases her that she'll easily be able to make more children since mice are so prolific. Yeah, it was probably good that Little Bunny Wuffy got eaten. That was incredibly cruel.

That's all I want to say. I guess I will recommend the book purely on the grounds that it entirely accomplished what it set out to do. The art is good, and the man behind it is clearly insane. If you are a masochist who wants to destroy your brain, buy this book.

This blog was written on December 25, 2024. Merry Christmas!

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Oz Gazette #20 [Review]

"The Oz Gazette #20" is the Autumn 2024 edition of the possibly canon mini newspaper published by the International Wizard of Oz Club. I never can pass up reviewing these because they seem to be the only link to Oz I have left after reading all the books.

This edition is a mixed bag, but none of it is bad. They stick with what seems to be an ongoing canon related by these little issues. This one calls back to the time where the Nome King took over Oz and was saved by the Cowardly Lion. They are still worried he might come back and try again. This issue is all about raising security in the Emerald City in case that happens.

One funny thing is that they use the Gump's Head as an alarm system. It's not a very good one. All he says is "Awooga!" if he sees something wrong. But if my knowledge of the canon is accurate, this is more than he was allowed to say before. As I remember it, Princess Ozma told him to be quiet, which always made me sad. I also did not understand why she would do that.

Also this issue makes interesting references to the excellent Disney movie "Return to Oz." In several places, you can see the faces of some of the Nome goblins talking to each other like they did in the movie. Remember how their faces would appear in the rocks? That's how it works here, although they seems to be materializing directly into the pages of this newspaper. And at the same time, Bungle the glass cat is also in the newspaper watching them do this.

Think this doesn't make any sense? Well, it actually does! Remember that Oz is a magical country where crazy stuff like this happens all the time. If you were living in Oz, you might actually see stuff like this in the local newspaper. This addition is incredibly clever, and I really loved it.

The issue also recommends a few books. One of them was a new interpretation of the original "Wizard of Oz." Actually doesn't look that bad. I might take them up on that someday. There was also a recommendation to read Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." That's actually not a bad one! Much of his stuff is really depressing. This one is too, but it's really better than most of his stuff.

All in all, this was a solid 4-page read. I'd recommend it, but these require a membership to the International Wizard of Oz Club. Gotta get one of those to see these. Worth it though, especially if you are a die hard Oz fan!

This blog was written on December 25, 2024. Merry Christmas!

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Crenshaw [Book Review]

"Crenshaw" is a book written by Katherine Applegate. It was published in 2015. It is intended as children's literature, but it's a completely safe book for adults as well. I think part of the reason for this is because it sounds like the voice of the main character is an adult telling the story of what it was like to be a child.

The story here centers around a boy named Franklin whose family is going through a heck of a lot of financial difficulties. He even has to be homeless for a little bit. The main tug of the book comes from the fact that he has an imaginary friend named Crenshaw, who is an oversized cat. Franklin is actually a very logical thinking boy who wants to be a scientist someday, but he is somehow seeing this walking talking cat that should not exist. That was really interesting to me.

Despite the story being about a boy who is trying to figure out if his imaginary friend is real or not, the bulk of the story is about his family's financial woes. There are actually not a lot of scenes with Crenshaw in it, which I found rather surprising. It's always lingering, but it just doesn't get addressed that often.

What this story mainly focuses on is the very realistic portrayal of what it is like to be a homeless child still living with your family. It's pretty rough and it never sugar coats anything. I admit to getting slightly depressed over this one.

I'm not really complaining though, because I actually think this is a good book. It just isn't what I expected. There is something so amazingly sincere about this book. It feels real. Apparently the author talked to a lot of homeless children while doing research for this book. By the way, I am going to recommend this, but I still want to mention a few things I thought were interesting.

For one, the father's name was Thomas Wade. Guess what?! That's my name! It was so weird seeing my name pop up in the story. It was surreal. I double-taked. The author only mentioned this once. In fact, the author tends to be a little shy about what information she actually releases as the story goes on. It's like she doesn't want to over describe anything. She just sort of sprinkles things in as the story goes with very few redundancies if any at all.

For example, I was wondering where this story was set. In one part, they mentioned the Golden Gate Bridge, and that cleared a lot of things up. San Francisco in 2015. This makes so much sense all of the sudden. Once again, I'm not really complaining. I will say, however, that this family could have really done themselves good by just leaving their state. Heck, they could have left their city and things might have improved.

All personal opinions aside, this is a good book. I did enjoy it. Once again, I do recommend it. It is a very sweet story about a family that just won't call it quits no matter what comes their way. I found it to be quite touching and brimming with sincerity. (But seriously, kid, get the heck out of there!)

This blog was written on December 24, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Mouse on Wall Street [Book Review]

"The Mouse on Wall Street" is a novel written by Leonard Wibberley. It is the second book in the Grand Fenwick series. It was published in 1969.

This was very interesting. The tiniest fictional country in the world, Grand Fenwick, receives a huge windfall from a business they owned in the US, and it nearly cripples their economy. People suddenly have so much money that they become complacent and end up just racking up insane debt while losing interest in working for a living. Imagine your country being so rich that it actually messes everything up!

In order to get rid of all the excess money, the Duchess tries to dump it all on a bad investment in the US Stock Market, but as these books usually play out, things always work out in wondrous ways in the favor of the smallest country in the world. I don't want to say more than that though. The book is very good and not the sort I want to spoil.

I will say that I went into this book not really understanding much about the US Stock Exchange. I am happy to say that Wibberley really tries very hard to explain how it all works to the layman. There were times where I did get a little overwhelmed, but not enough to turn me off to the book. I give him a 6/10 for effort.

The thing that really made me appreciate this story was that it exposed how money actually functions in the world at large. It's really a lot crazier than you might imagine. I was very much entertained by this one, and it was rather eye-opening to see the reasons why Grand Fenwick was falling on bad times while simultaneously raking in millions and millions of dollars. I do recommend this book. It is a good read and a great addition to the series.

This blog was written on December 1, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Dark Portal [Book Review]

"The Dark Portal" is a fantasy novel written by Robin Jarvis. It is the first book in "The Deptford Mice" trilogy. It was published in 1989.

An absolutely wonderful and dark book about mice, rats, bats, and the occult. It is most definitely an adult book, but I think there are some children out there who could handle this sort of stuff. It isn't for the faint of heart though.

The story here is that there are some nature loving mice who live above the sewers where the rats live. The rats are absolutely horrible and even eat the mice if they can (but not before peeling their skin off!). The rats serve an evil rat god named Jupiter who nobody has ever seen, but they do hear his voice. Jupiter is a very powerful occult figure who really does have great power. He is not to be trifled with.

The magic in this book is real. Some characters have great power and they are willing to use it. And do not think for even a moment that any of the mice are safe. Seriously, the danger in this story is extreme, and the author never holds back. Honestly, the book is better for it. We need more stories that expose the world to what evil is out there. Just know that the mice may be cute and sweet, but they are all mortal. Even the children are placed into extreme danger.

Did you know that this book was almost turned into a Jim Henson dark fantasy movie in the mid 90's? I am genuinely sad that it got canceled. This would have gone toe-to-toe with "The Dark Crystal." It has a very similar vibe to it. I'm mainly sad because that movie would have made this book more visible to the world, rather than being more of a UK thing. It's really too bad.

It's the peaceful mice versus a tyrant occult rat with terrifying Satanic powers. It's got action, suspense, and edge-of-your-seat moments that rival many of the movies I have seen. It's like "Secret of NIMH" but 100 times more dark. It will keep you guessing right up until the last page and then hit it home with a brilliant and satisfying ending. I cannot recommend "The Dark Portal" enough. Read this book!

This blog was written on November 28, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Mouse on the Moon [Book Review]

"The Mouse on the Moon" is a novel written by Leonard Wibberley. It was published in 1962. It is the second book in the Grand Fenwick series, the previous book being "The Mouse That Roared." It was also made into a movie in 1963.

The story here is a little bit like the first one, but it goes in a different direction. Instead of Grand Fenwick winning a war against the US, it is about them winning the space race to the moon. Once again, as the formula dictates, it all happens due to a series of misunderstandings and coincidences.

The idea of the smallest country in the world even having a space race is a fun, little idea. I couldn't help but cheer them on, but honestly the reason it happened at all was because nobody was taking them seriously. In fact, the US was kind of to blame for giving them the money and resources.

A lot of the enjoyment comes from seeing the bigger countries get confused by what's happening. And as usual Grand Fenwick remains very humble and, dare I say, cute. I love them.

I would also easily call this story a science fiction. The writer did not know what walking on the moon was like. He had to make a lot of it up, and that is always fun. It reminded me a little of Jules Verne's "First Men in the Moon." I really liked his concept for what was up there.

Also, if you can believe it, they used their precious wine as rocket fuel. It was done better than in the movie. The difference between both movies and books is that the book is less of a comedy and written more seriously. It's all speculative fiction at the end of the day.

If you like underdog stories or science fictions in general, this book is strongly recommended. But honestly, I just read these for Grand Fenwick. They are so precious.

This blog was written on November 7, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Do Unto Others [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main points of this story.]

"Do Unto Others" is a short science fiction story written by Mark Clifton. It was published in 1958. This one is a little tough since it may have some anti-Christian vibes. It basically takes common concepts off of Christian ethics and tried to turn them around into a science fiction horror. Let me explain.

There is a group that goes out to different planet, trying to help make the primitive alien lifeforms more civilized. They give them clothing and teach them ethics which seem generally pulled from common Christian beliefs such as the title hints at.

What was crazy about this was that the aliens in question were like lazy octopusses with like five tentacles. They lived in a world of salt where nothing could grow. The group actually makes clothing for these things, which made me raise my eyebrow. What an odd thing to do with a creature like that! Can you imagine an octopus wearing a sweater?

Well, the problem here is that once they "civilize" these aliens, the aliens come back to Earth in order to return the favor. They find the Earth is covered in green grass and trees, which horrify them. So somehow they replace everything with salt in order to make us happy.

The idea here is that since the group taught them to do under others (and so forth), they were in horror that we lived in a place that would make them miserable. So they ruin our planet to make it nice for us. And that is basically the horror aspect of the story... a horror realized through the application of assumed Christian ethics.

This sounds a little much like the author's previous story "We're Civilized!". I feel like Mark Clifton has a beef with Christians (and any sort of imperialist behaviors in general) and wanted to go a little overboard in how he portrayed them. I can guarantee everybody that no Christian in any way would make a sweater for an alien that looked like an octopus. But if you can believe that they would than this story might make sense to you. But from a sane perspective, the characters in this story were absolutely stark raving mad.

I don't really recommend this story. You could certainly do worse. After all, the characters were well represented and I still got entertainment out of it, but a lot of that entertainment came to me from it being a rather absurd premise. I basically spent most of my time laughing at it.

This blog was written on November 6, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: A Woman's Place [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main points of this story.]

"A Woman's Place" is a short science fiction story written by Mark Clifton. It was published in 1955. The title here probably will raise a few eyebrows in modern times. Both sides of the argument are probably wondering if this story gets it right. I certainly felt that going into this one, but let me just tell you what the darn thing is about.

The story begins on an outer space lifeboat heading to Earth. Their ship met with a dangerous space warp that led to the destruction of the vessel and the loss of all lives except for two men and one woman. When they reenter Earth's atmosphere, they quickly realize that something is wrong. There does not seem to be any civilization down there. In fact, they are the only humans there at all.

As it turns out, that space warp sent them into a parallel reality where humans never happened on Earth. Now they are stuck there and expected to survive. The two men are trying to still figure out if there is a way to get back to their Earth. They do, after all, have their own wives to return to. The woman however is trying to be a realist about it. She thinks that the situation is hopeless, and it is time for them to decide amongst themselves who should be her suitor. After all, they will need to begin populating that planet.

It's a horrible thing to ask of these two guys, but I have to admit, I was on her side. It really did not seem like they were in a situation where they would actually be able to return to their Earth. Being faithful in that situation is just not realistic. They had to survive. But I had two main problems with her actions here:

1. She did seem like she jumped the gun a bit much. Although she did wait a while, it could have been a while more.

2. She was sort of being a bit too dramatic about it... with herself. She was over dramatizing the situation too much, and at it was not making things any better. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say she was being a little bit narcissistic too.

The crazy truth was that the two men actually did know what they were doing. They did make contact with Earth. And they were ultimately rescued, leaving the woman feeling somewhat ridiculous for how she acted.

Although this is the climax of the story, the resolution was a bit weird. The whole thing really messed with her mind. She was actually considering going back with some other guy and starting a new life there. Talk about obsessive.

This is actually not a bad story. I did enjoy reading it, and I do recommend it. They have an interesting take on how a woman deals with her place in the world. It may not line up with what people think in the modern day, but don't toss this one out too quickly. It is a fascinating read.

This blog was written on October 28, 2024.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Also stop by my Amazon.com listing by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/T.K.-Wade/e/B07BQK9RTZ

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