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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