Fairy Tale Spotlight: Columbo: The Grassy Knoll

"Columbo: The Grassy Knoll" is a novel written by William Harrington. It was published in 1993 and followed the canon happening in the movie series at the time. This was the one Columbo book that I did not really want to read, but I read it anyways. I worried it was going to get political.

Oh, I knew the book was not actually about Columbo investigating the JFK assassination. All the books are set in the "modern" era. Although I should say that the JFK assassination is a major part of this story. In some ways, the story of that shooting helps Columbo solve the crime happening in 1993. I like that, and it was a very interesting tie-in. That said, this story is really about the murder of a man named Paul Drury, a famous talk-show host who was known for bringing up dangerous topics.

As usual, William Harrington is extremely suited for writing a Columbo story. The lieutenant is presented very well, and you will easily love his charming style of sleuthing. This has always been the case for this author, and it is probably the real reason I read it. I just like these books.

The only problem I had with this story was that it does have a left-leaning narrative. There are politics in this book that are kind of annoying, and much of it happens because it dealt with JFK. This is the problem whenever you deal with political situations sadly.

All said, however, I did really enjoy the book, and I do recommend it. It's still good, and the JFK stuff was actually really interesting. Columbo remains one of, if not the best, detective characters in world history.

This blog was written on September 8, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Curio [Short Story Review]

"The Curio" is a short story by Kate Watts. It is the fourth 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 featured the geroo exclusively. The kangaroo-like race was shown inside their generation ship, and you got a good look at how they lived their lives. Apparently the geroo seem to be the fan favorite. They are cute, I admit. Apparently, their faces don't have a large range of emotion, so they display how they feel by how their ears are positioned. That's pretty cute.

The story here was a tense one. It had to do with a geroo named Avit who has an old relative that is very frail. She had a curio that held secrets in it that could possibly reveal a terrible truth about something in the past. The problem was that Avit's sister was kind of a monster, trying to suppress his ability to figure anything out.

I know I am being a bit vague here. I don't want to spoil anything. You have to understand that the geroo live very close lives on ships because, if I understand it correctly, the kraken stole their planet from them. Because of population concerns, they are only allowed to live a certain number of years before they have to be removed. As sad as this sounds, they all accept it as a part of their lives. Crazy, huh?

The hidden secrets of this story have to do with a deceased relative of Avit's that dealt with a pandemic where many geroo had to be summarily killed. It was called the "Wasting" of all things. More than that, I don't want to say. What I do want to say is that this was a very emotionally driven story filled with mystery and thrill. I did like it.

This is also a really good story to learn about the geroo. I recommend it especially if you are interested in them. Solid story with a strong emotional premise.

This blog was written on September 8, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Unintended [Short Story Review]

"Unintended" is a short story by Kandrel. It is the third 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.

Oh, this was a good one. It deals with the Anput, which are an alien race similar to jackals. They carry a rod called a span which is utilized in much the same way as a scepter of sorts. The one in this story is named Djedi, which I never really learned how to pronounce. Apparently the Anput are religious zealots that were adopted by the Krakun slavers. They use them sort of like enforcers, controlled entirely by convincing them that they are gods. It reminded me a little of themes found in the movie "Stargate."

He has a Garoo slave named Paku who is a very interesting character. She is so loyal and cute, but you can tell she has her frustrations when serving the needs of Djedi. Their rapport and relationship is what this story is all about.

The main thrust of the story happens when Djedi's ship collides with another ship while going at insane speeds. The description of this moment was powerful and shocking--some of the best writing I have ever seen of such events. What happens after that, I shouldn't spoil.

I absolutely recommend "Unintended." If I am not mistaken, the cover art of the book is representative of a scene from this story. Have a look at it below.

This blog was written on August 24, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Heretic [Video Game Review]

"Heretic" is a video game developed by Id. It was originally released in 1994, but I am reviewing the 2025 version found within the Heretic+Hexen Remaster from NightDive Studio.

"Heretic" is basically like Doom, but with a fantasy theme. It plays very similarly with the new mechanic of being able to collect and use items.

Here is a copy and paste of the plot:

Three brothers (D'Sparil, Korax, and Eidolon), known as the Serpent Riders, have used their powerful magic to possess seven kings of Parthoris, turning them into mindless puppets and corrupting their armies. The Sidhe elves resist the Serpent Riders' magic, thus prompting the Serpent Riders to declare the Sidhe to be heretics and wage war against them. The Sidhe are forced to take a drastic measure to sever the natural power of the kings, destroying them and their armies at the cost of weakening the elves' power and giving the Serpent Riders an advantage to slay the elders. While the Sidhe retreat, one elf sets off on a quest of vengeance against the weakest of the three Serpent Riders, D'Sparil. He travels through the "City of the Damned", the ruined capital of the Sidhe, then past the demonic breeding grounds of Hell's Maw and finally the secret Dome of D'Sparil.

Apparently you play an elf named Corvus and are about as much of a badass as Doom Guy. This is a pretty nice game to get into once you have tired yourself out from too much Doom. It feels the same, but everything is themed like it's from a D&D campaign.

This game also gives you the option to look up and down through a wonky process called Y-sheering. It lets you do it without correcting for perspective. This can make everything look warped and weird. It is a little hard to get used to and might even make you sick, but I did get over it after a couple of maps.

The enemies are appropriately scary, but there seemed to be less variety in them than I remember in Doom. You get really used to seeing the same enemies over and over, and it does get old. Still, I did enjoy the variety of maps and how they were all put together.

"Heretic" has five main episodes (each containing eight maps plus one secret map):

1. The City of the Damned

2. Hell's Maw

3. The Dome of D'Sparil

4. The Ossuary

5. The Stagnant Demesne

They are all very interesting with the exception of the final one. I found the final episode to feel a lot like "Master Levels of Doom II." The maps were just too confusing and led to boring moments where I had no idea what to do. Apparently some of these maps were even modified for the modern release to be even stupider than they were before. Not sure why they did that.

My favorite was probably "The Dome of D'Sparil" for really having the aesthetic of being in underwater domes. Great job! I found each of those a joy to explore.

"Heretic" was made for people who like both Doom-style games and fantasy elements. It's really fast and fun to play, and I do recommend it, despite its shortcomings. You can play a remastered version of all five episodes and more in the excellent "Heretic+Hexen" from NightDive Studios.

This blog was written on August 21, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Castaway [Short Story Review]

"The Castaway" is a short story by Gre7g. It is the second 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. Very magnanimous of him.

This story was easier to comprehend. It involved two new races: a fox-like race called the Kyacaotl, and an alien kangaroo-type race called the Geroo. This story was actually an alien encounter tale. A Kyacaotl outcast named Tin meets an alien Geroo named Ava who is lost in his region, cold and maybe dying.

He takes her back home and they learn about each other's races. It even turns into a bit of a romance. Without going into the specifics and spoilers, there is a dark turn to this story that was very interesting and did very well to explain this universe a bit more. I really enjoyed their rapport with one another, which really drove the story along quite well.

I do recommend this story, and I am really looking forward to going forward with the rest of the tales. Alien first encounter stories are really interesting, and this was no exception. This is quality scifi writing so far.

This blog was written on August 14, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Pseudonym [Short Story Review]

"The Pseudonym" is a short story written by SixSydes, ironically also a pseudonym of sorts. It is the opening story in a collection called "Tales of Hayven Celestia," which was published in 2020. Just a quick explanation first. This collection is based around a single universe created by Rick Griffin. He created the universe, but other people actually wrote stories for it. I know that's kind of weird. It is a science fiction universe with furries as the aliens. The book comes with a species guide in the back that I had to constantly check. The stories themselves do not explain them as well, so I had to keep checking. Although this was kind of annoying, I just learned to live with it.

"The Pseudonym" takes place in a world where a dragon-like race called the Krakun has enslaved a number of species, using them for servitude. One particular enslaved race called Geordians, a cat-like species, is prominent in this story. It goes into one named Vatea who has been secretly writing romance stories as a means to make enough money to free her family. There is a bit more to it than that, but I don't like to overly spoil the work of an extant writer.

Since this was more of an introduction to this universe, I had a harder time reading it. Sometimes breaking into new stories can be like that. I did think it was interesting that different species had different atmosphere requirements. The Geordians had to wear airtight suits when in the presence of their masters. This made things somewhat scary since the Krakuns could puncture their suit if they got mad.

Other than that, I don't want to say anymore. It was an interesting tale, and I do recommend it. I feel like I am going to understand things a lot more as I continue reading these stories. More to come.

This blog was written on August 8, 2025.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash [Book Review]

"In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" is a novel written by Jean Shepherd. It was published in 1966. It is best known for being the book that inspired the movie "A Christmas Story," but it is so much more than that.

People who read a Jean Shepherd book do so because Jean Shepherd wrote it. He was a humorist who knew just how much exaggerating to do to make just about anything sound interesting and even exciting. This book follows various tales from the Parker family. They lived in Northern Indiana during the Depression. Jean is basically pretending to be the eldest boy, Ralph, in this story, and telling it as if it was him all along. It is a really interesting way to write a book, because we know it's him doing it. Everything about this book is Shepherd.

The book is separated by these little intermissions where Ralph is an adult, revisiting his old town. He is telling these stories to an old friend at a local bar. His stories go into Christmas, the Forth of July, being in a marching band, and it also goes to the vastly different experiences they had in movie theaters at the time. Jean also goes into some dark themes as well. There was a chapter about how the government would inspect your house to see if they had the right to sell off all of your property for unpaid taxes. There was nothing funny about that, but he still managed to make it very compelling to read.

One thing that I did notice was that Ralph is not always a morally perfect boy. There are times where he gets away with things that an adult might see as abhorrent, but Jean never bothers with trying to teach you morals; he is only trying to give you his perspective of what it was like to be young and stupid. I can still see how some people might be annoyed with some things he does, but it did not bother me.

Jean Shepherd is clearly writing this book for an adult audience. There was an entire chapter about pornography, and it was really good. It's really not as bad as it sounds, but I would caution that this is not really a story for kids.

I think the main thing I got out of this story is just how much fun Jean Shepherd made everything to read. It reminded me of how film noir was narrated, but it was not usually intended to be so dark. He was very good at using analogies to explain how things were, and that is a good way to make everything, even mundane things, seem wondrous.

If you liked "A Christmas Story" then you will enjoy this entire book. It is the very same sort of narration, and it gives you a good look into the mind of a child during the Depression. I completely recommend it, and I will be reading more of his books.

This blog was written on August 7, 2025.

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