Last time round, I took a look at the first two Narnia books (chronologically speaking): Time to take a look at the next two books of the series – The Horse and His Boy, and Prince Caspian. T…| A Phuulish Fellow
This might be the longest delay between reading (or in this case re-reading) a work, and actually writing a review of it I have ever managed. Indeed, when I last read these books in December 2022, …| A Phuulish Fellow
8 posts published by strda221 during August 2025| A Phuulish Fellow
9 posts published by strda221 during October 2025| A Phuulish Fellow
In serious chess games, I am definitely a 1. d4 player. But in non-serious games? I am not above a bit of experimentalism. And what could be more experimental than the Irish Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nxe5)? It is an objectively bad opening, of course. But sometimes objectivity can go hang. […]| A Phuulish Fellow
Back in July, I noted that my old 2017 story, The Happiest Man Alive, had earned itself a reprint via Piker Press, thereby rescuing it from the terrible limbo of being a previously-published story in a now-defunct market. Rather embarrassingly, the reprint came out on 8th September, and I straight-out forgot. Which is a first […]| A Phuulish Fellow
New short story acceptance today, albeit one that probably needs more explanation than normal. Basically, a few months ago, I ran into W.B. Yeats’ conception of the leannán sídhe: a quasi-vampiric (Irish) fairy lover who grants inspiration to poets in return for life-force. The so-called Celtic Muse. I decided to twist this, via writing a […]| A Phuulish Fellow
The lower half of the country is currently in the grip of some impressive storm conditions. Wellington, Canterbury, and lower Southland are currently under a Code Red weather warning, with people urged to stay at home and avoid travel, on account of the wind. A friend of mine up in Rangiora is enduring 150-230 km/h […]| A Phuulish Fellow
Right-wing YouTuber Sargon of Akkad has a new video out, concerning The Lord of the Rings in general and Orcs in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgFBDU4mE7I&t=167s I mention this because while I have commented on Sargon’s clear misunderstanding of Tolkien before (https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2024/09/15/de-moralia-orcorum-sargon-of-akkad-rings-of-power-evil-and-george-r-r-martin/), this time it’s a video where I found myself in broad agreement for the first seven […]| A Phuulish Fellow
Like many people, I dread Christmas advertising. The wall-to-wall orgy of crass commercialism that plagues November and December (or even seemingly late October in some places). It’s enough to make one sympathetic to Oliver Cromwell. But in a perverse and enlightened quirk of the day itself… New Zealand closes up shop on 25th December, and […]| A Phuulish Fellow
No. I haven’t vanished. As always, it’s Real Life inevitabilities, though I can report restarting work on original fiction again, with a sword and sorcery story for an anthology due at …| A Phuulish Fellow
This won’t mean much to those of you who aren’t familiar with my little corner of the world… but I thought I would devote a post to it anyway. Scribes, the premier second-hand boo…| A Phuulish Fellow
I have previously posted a mad chess game, whereby I won an undeserved victory after a desperate king run. Today, I can report something a bit less insane, but which still turned out uncharacteristically elegant by my standards. Sure, it has its blunders, but I think the actual checkmate looks quite pretty. Dance of the […]| A Phuulish Fellow
Completed reads for September: The Wilfrid text is Webb’s translation from the Penguin Classics edition. Yes, another quiet month. I can also report coming down with a nasty case of back pain this month (requiring a visit to the University of Otago’s physiotherapy service), which didn’t help matters. In terms of writing, the publisher finally […]| A Phuulish Fellow
Back in 2020, Scribes, Dunedin’s iconic second-hand bookshop decided to close: I can now report that the Downtown Book Exchange on Princes Street is currently having its own Closing Down Sale…| A Phuulish Fellow
No, I haven’t vanished from the face of the earth. The past couple of weeks have continued the trend of Real Life being the bane of my existence, together with general tiredness and a sense o…| A Phuulish Fellow
In January and February 2025, I started a review of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books… but only managed the first four: I hadn’t forgotten. I had just become distracted. As one does. But I…| A Phuulish Fellow
A few days ago, I posted the first English translation of Pope Stephen VI’s Letters: I also noted that the Letters are utterly mundane and administrative in nature, rather than centering on t…| A Phuulish Fellow
Hitherto, my hobby of using AI to translate previously-untranslated Latin texts has focussed on fairly meaty material. Stuff that requires months to check and edit. Well, today I thought to mix it …| A Phuulish Fellow
One occasionally runs into the question of what J.R.R. Tolkien would have thought of George R.R. Martin. For years, I had a go-to online answer: we could use a stand-in. Tolkien’s thoughts on…| A Phuulish Fellow
