by Michael Lesiuk | May 18, 2016 | Fiction/Lit/Movies
Dany is the villain. That is the point of her arc. She is turning into Mad King Aerys. We are explicitly told that when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin: genius or madness. Dany’s coin is starting to land the wrong way. Like her father, who was...
by Michael Lesiuk | Jan 24, 2014 | Fiction/Lit/Movies
Four years ago I wrote a post about hard to find, unpublished short stories by J.D. Salinger, including his short story “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls.” Since then I’ve taught a few English Lit courses that have had several of Salinger’s...
by Michael Lesiuk | May 16, 2013 | Fiction/Lit/Movies
Joe Hill has a new book out, and it’s filled with references to his father, Stephen King, to David Mitchell, and to Gerard Manley Hopkins (and to others, I’m sure). Although the references to Mitchell are somehow the most surprising to me, it’s the references to...
by Michael Lesiuk | Mar 11, 2013 | Fiction/Lit/Movies
I’m re-reading Stephen King’s Dark Tower series (so I know the ending), and so far I’ve been very impressed. Having re-read the earlier ones again (I’m on the sixth book, Song of Susannah, right now), some of the things that I was on the fence...
by Michael Lesiuk | Jan 2, 2013 | Fiction/Lit/Movies
I’m binging through Supernatural on Netflix, and I just got to Season 4, episode 5, “Monster Movie.” (Slight spoilers for jokes ahead.) I just wanted to let everyone know that this episode includes the 1931 version of Dracula (corny accent and all)...
by Michael Lesiuk | Dec 19, 2012 | Fiction/Lit/Movies
I just read "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. You can find it here: Stories of Your Life and Others. The Kindle version is $7.69. It's really good. It's reminded me (somewhat) of that Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode, "Darmok,"...