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Tag Archives: fantasy

Menagerie – Rachel Vincent

14 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by johnjernigan in Books Check 'Em Out, introducing, My Favorite Things, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

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authors, book reviews, books, Carnival, fantasy, fiction, gay, gay authors, gay writers, john jernigan, LGBT, movies, queer, Rachel Vincent, the gay road less traveled, Unicorn, writers

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A compelling, awesome, unique and imaginative story…so different it’s hard to explain, fantastically good!

“There there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other “attractions”—mermaids, minotaurs, griffins and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she’ll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.”

“Welcome to the menagerie, where beauty and grace shine from every cage and peek from every shadow. You’ve never seen anything like the exotic wonders within, so keep your eyes open, ladies and gentlemen, because in our world of spectacle and illusion, what you see isn’t always what you get.”

“But if monsters could look like humans, and humans could look like monsters, how could anyone ever really be sure that the right people stood on the outside of all those cages?”

“Drea, why don’t you turn a circle and give us a good look?” the talker said, his chest all puffed out, as if he’d had something to do with making me perform.

“Fuck you,” I said, nice and clear, in spite of my fuller voice, so everyone could hear.

A couple of teens near the back of the crowd laughed, but the mothers scowled and covered their children’s ears.

“Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen,” the talker called with an amiable chuckle. “Most of our exhibits were born and raised in the carnival, and they hear a lot of rough language.”

“Most of our handlers are full of shit,” I added, drawing more laughter from the back of the crowd. “I learned to cuss the same place all of your kids did. In middle school.”

“A wolf will growl to warn you that it’s angry and a bull will paw the ground before charging. Rattlesnakes rattle, cats moan and hiss, and hyenas grunt and cackle. But a man will smile right in your face as he drives a knife into your heart.”

“If you cut off my hands, I’ll write with my feet, and if you cut off my feet, I’ll write with my nose, and if you cut that off, you may as well cut my whole head off, because no matter how you slice and dice me, you can’t control what I think, or what I feel. You can keep me locked up for the rest of my life, however brief that may be. But you will never, ever own me.”

“She won’t serve her dish cold,” the oracle mumbled, almost with giddy joy as chill bumps rose all over her skin. “And two graves won’t be near enough…”

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The Bird Box – Josh Malerman

06 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by johnjernigan in Books Check 'Em Out, John Jernigan, My Favorite Things

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art, author, book reviews, books, entertainment, fantasy, gay, horror, LGBT, Life, lifestyle, movie reviews, movies, reviews, science fiction, The Bird Box, theater, writer

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I finished this fantastic book last night, and like great books often do, I was wound-up tight and then in tears as the final scene unfolded. So good, different, unique! The Bird Box movie is coming out in late 2018, with Sarah Paulsen, John Malkovich, and Machine Gun Kelly, starring Sandra Bullock as Malorie, but read the book first! Josh Malerman’s descriptive writing style shakes the reader’s visual imagination by introducing us to a  dangerous and challenging new world.

“How can she expect her children to dream as big as the stars if they can’t lift their heads to gaze upon them?”

“You can smell it, too. Death. Dying. Decay. The sky is falling, the sky is dying, the sky is dead.”

“Robin was a great kid. Smarter than her father at eight years old. She liked the oddest things. Like the instructions for a toy more than the toy itself. The credits of a movie instead of the movie. The way something was written. An expression on my face. Once she told me I looked like the sun to her, because of my hair. I asked her if I shined like the sun, and she told me, ‘No, Daddy, you shine more like the moon, when it’s dark outside.”

“You are saving their lives for a life not living.”

“It’s better to face madness with a plan than to sit still and let it take you in pieces.”

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Jupiter Ascending vs. Seventh Son (suck)

13 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by johnjernigan in Movies, My Favorite Things

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best gay blog, Channing Tatum, fantasy, gay, Jeff Bridges, john jernigan, Jupiter Ascending, kit harington, Mila Kunis, movie reviews, movies, science fiction, The Seventh Son

When I’m tired and feeling low, I hide in the movies and forget the day, which is what I did on this last Sunday. I paid $8 for the matinee Jupiter Ascending at Cobb Hialeah, then snuck into the 5 o’clock Seventh Son. Mistake. Big Mistake. Huge. I knew that both of these movies cost over $100 million to make and had bombed spectactularly. Turns out, deservedly so…

Jupiter Ascending was almost okay, some cool visual effects and and flying lizard bad guys, but Channing Tatum as an alien human/wolf/hybrid lycanthrope mercenary with pointy elf ears and Mila Kunis as a poor, lonely maid scrubbing toilets sharing a one-room apartment with her mother and aunt (also maids) in the Bronx…c’mon man.

Seventh Son honestly looked like a Syfy movie, a bad one. I was initially excited, because Jon Snow was the 7th Son to start the movie, but a dragon Julianne Moore killed him in like 30 seconds, and he was replaced by…generic don’t remember white guy. They must have paid dragon Julianne Moore a shitload of money to be in this shitty movie for real though, and remember when Jeff Bridges used to be fine, in like 2004? He looks older than his own mother in this wannabe brbokedown Gandalf role! Beau was always the cuter Bridges to me anyway, with his little chubby cheeks 🙂

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Asajj Ventress

24 Tuesday Jun 2014

Tags

12 Years a Slave, Anakin Skywalker, Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku, culture, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, entertainment, fanboy, fantasy, gay, J.J. Abrams, Jedi, LGBT, lifestyle, Lupita Nyong'o, movie reviews, movies, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Savage Opress, science fiction, Sith, star wars, witches of Dathomir

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Asajj Ventress was a female Dathomirian Dark Jedi and a valuable Dark Acolyte to Count Dooku. Originally a Nightsister from Dathomir, Ventress was taken as a slave to Rattatak and trained as a Jedi Padawan by Jedi Knight Ky Narec. However, after Narec was slain, Ventress gave into her anger and began walking the path of the dark side; taking up the lightsaber of her dead master, she trained herself in the Jar’Kai style of lightsaber combat, before slaying all the warlords on Rattatak and installing herself as its ruler.

Eventually, Ventress’s actions came to the attention of Count Dooku, and after a test of her abilities, she became a commander in the Confederacy of Independent Systems. She had yearned to learn the ways of the Sith from Dooku and believed if she had proved herself worthy, she would become his apprentice.

During the Clone Wars, she became one of the most feared beings in the galaxy, notorious for her defeat of several Jedi. As the war continued, Ventress became the bitter enemy of both Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Recruited by Dooku, Ventress became a Sith aspirant and embarked on a vicious killing spree against the Jedi as a Separatist commander during the Clone Wars. However, her general obsession over the Jedi eventually developed into a specific obsession over Obi-Wan Kenobi. It is unknown why she focused on Kenobi, but his frequent escapes from death at her hands likely had something to do with it. Interestingly enough, their banter during battle occasionally had a pseudo-romantic theme, with Kenobi frequently referring to her as either “my sweet” or “my darling.”

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The beautiful Lupita Nyong’o is rumored to be cast as Asajj Ventress in the upcoming Star Wars trilogy.

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Dathomirians

Dathomirian females tended to have pale gray or white skin and usually blue or silvery eyes, and tall and thin bodies. Their male counterparts more closely resembled Zabrak, muscular and powerfully-built who sported skin patterns similar to Sith tattoos and cranial horns. Females tended to exhibit a certain athleticism, while males usually possessed powerful strength. All Dathomirian specimens were Force-sensitive, though this was due to the genetic Forceful component of the female Human Nightsisters that helped breed the subspecies. Darth Maul, Savage Opress and Mother Taizin, Queen of the Nightsisters, are all Dathomirian.

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John loves J.J. Abrams

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The Dune Universe

19 Saturday Apr 2014

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Alia Dune, art, book reviews, books, cover art, culture, Duncan Idaho, Dune, fantasy, fiction, Frank Herbert, gay, Leto Atreides, LGBT, modern art, Muad' Dib, Paul Atreides, science fiction, Spice - Eon, the spice must flow

The Dune Universe

“My brother is coming, for he is the Kwisatz Haderach”

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Leto Atreides
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“He who controls the spice controls the universe”

“The Spice Must Flow”

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MaddAddam – Margaret Atwood

14 Friday Mar 2014

Tags

apocalypse, book reviews, books, buy John's book on Amazon, Crakers, dystopia, fantasy, gay, maddaddam, Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, Painballers, pigoons, plague, rakunks, science fiction, snats, wolvogs, Year of the Flood

MaddAddam - Margaret Atwood

I liked Year of the Flood and loved Oryx and Crake. MaddAddam is the final, and best, offering in this trilogy.

A man-made plague has swept the earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers – a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Meanwhile, giant Pigoons and malevolent Painballers threaten to attack.

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“Told with wit, dizzying imagination, and dark humor, Booker Prize-winning Margaret Atwood’s unpredictable, chilling and hilarious MaddAddam takes us further into a challenging dystopian world and holds up a skewed mirror to our own possible future.”

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“She is about to add, “I have scars, inside me,” but she stops herself. What is a scar, Oh Toby? That would be the next question. Then she’d have to explain what a scar is. A scar is like writing on your body. It tells about something that once happened to you, such as a cut on your skin where blood came out.”

“He would have died soon, but more painfully. Anyway, it was Urban Bloodshed Limitation. First rule: limit bloodshed by making sure that none of your own gets spilled.”

“Too friendly, too eager to be on message, man is obsolete, dooming ourselves to extinction, restore the balance of nature and babble babble, he overdid it so much that he sounded preposterous, and in an outfit like Bearlift, with its full quota of preposterous green-hued furfuckers, that took some effort.”

“The best way of being kind to bears is not to be very close to them.”

“The possibility of injury or death was a strong attraction: as the online world became more and more pre-edited and slicked up, and as even its so-called reality sites raised questions about authenticity in the minds of the viewers, the rough, unpolished physical world was taking on a mystic allure.”

“what is ‘belief’ but a willingness to suspend the negatives?”

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Meredith NicEssus, Queen of the Sluagh and the Unseelie Sidhe

24 Monday Feb 2014

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Anita Blake, book reviews, books, Brad Pitt, fantasy, fey, gay, Irish, Laurell K. Hamilton, Meredith Gentry, Merry Gentry, Queen Andais, Ryan Gosling, science fiction, Sidhe, Sluagh, the Sluagh Sidhe, The Wild Hunt, tyson beckford

Meredith NicEssus, Merry Gentry, Queen of the Sluagh and the Unseelie Sidhe

Meredith NicEssus is a faerie princess turned private investigator in a world where faeries are not only known to the general public, but are also fashionable. She takes on the pseudonym “Merry Gentry” to hide from her family and her past while hiding out in Los Angeles. Merry, the only Sidhe (pronounced “shEE”) royal to be born on American soil, fearing the continuous assassination attempts on her life thinly disguised as duels, flees the Unseelie Court in a final act of self-preservation. Her glamour (the art of magical disguise through illusion) is nearly unrivaled at court, and she is able to pass herself off as a human with fey blood.
Merry’s name full name and title is Princess Meredith NicEssus, Child of Peace, Besaba’s Bane. “NicEssus” means, literally, “daughter of Essus”; it is the sort of name given to a child and laid aside once the child has come into his or her powers. That Merry used the name into her thirties is a sign that she is a late bloomer at best, a lesser sidhe at worst. After a child comes into their power, the last name is dropped. Later in the series it is revealed that Meredith is a fertility deity whose powers are of both courts.
As of the end of the second book in the series, Merry’s titles are Princess of Flesh and Blood; at the end of the 4th book, The Red And White Goddess is added to her title by demi-fey who gave her the title when her magic gave wings to wingless demi-fey.
The series chronicles the return of Meredith to the Unseelie Court by way of an invitation sent by her Aunt Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness in the form of her right hand, Doyle, also known as Darkness. She is given men from the queen’s own guard, her Ravens, to guard her body and fill her bed as heir to the throne, provided she can conceive a child before her cousin. Later Merry adds to her collection of men first by taking the men offered to her by Queen Andais, as well as forming alliances with the Demi-fey and goblins.
Meredith formed her first alliance with Sholto, King of the Sluagh, when he is sent to Los Angeles to kill her. Merry has sex with Sholto. They are interrupted by Nerys The Gray, who attempts to kill Merry. Merry comes into her first hand of power (the Hand of Flesh), and uses her newly found hand of power on Nerys, who is a night hag. Nerys is immortal and cannot die, so Merry turns her into an inside-out ball of flesh.
The second alliance is formed between Merry and Kurag, King of the Goblins. This occurs when Merry is bled by the roses that line the entrance to the throne room of the Unseelie Court. She nearly passes out from blood loss and opens her eyes to see one of the goblins drinking from her open wound, (to goblins bodily fluids are sacred). She has the goblin detained and bargains with Kurag for a 6 month alliance in return for Merry taking a goblin (Kitto) into her bed. She deems this acceptable payment for the theft of her blood. Later Merry bargains for an extended alliance of 1 month for each sidhe-sided goblin that she brings into power. Also, Merry brings the Red Caps back to their full original power because she is the only Sidhe who possesses the full Hand of Blood.
The final alliance is struck between Merry and Queen Niceven (of the Demi-Fey). This is struck when Merry bargains for the cure to a curse that the Demi-Fey placed on Galen, one of Merry’s guards. She bargains with Niceven for a year alliance, during which the demi-fey will spy for Merry in exchange for weekly blood donations. Merry heals Nicca, one of her guards, who is a demi-fey born without wings. The wings that he should have been born with were now a supernatural tattoo on his back, created by Merry. Because of this, Queen Niceven sends to Meredith the Demi-Fey that were born without wings, in hopes that she will also heal them.

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Brad Pitt – Sholto

Sholto is the King of the Sluagh, one of the courts within the Unseelie Court as well as one of the Queen’s Ravens. Sholto is half sidhe and half nightflyer. While Sidhe are considered the most beautiful of the fey, nightflyers are considered the most horrific. Some consider Sholto a sign of the weakening blood of the sidhe, since prior to his birth sidhe genetics always triumphed no matter who or what the sidhe bred with. He is in essence however, the very embodiment of all that it means to be Unseelie. Sholto has tentacles growing from his stomach. A relatively young sidhe, Sholto is not above admitting when he is wrong. He was raised by Black Agnes, one of the nighthags of the Sluagh. Sholto also leads the Wild Hunt. King of the Sluagh, Lord of That Which Passes Between, Lord of Shadows, Unseelie Court
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Tyson Beckford – Doyle

Doyle is the Captain of the Queen’s Ravens , her assassin, and the acknowledged champion of the Unseelie Court. It is said that when he speaks the Queen’s words come out. His livery is a spider. Doyle is capable of traveling through mirrors as well as communicating through them. He is able to shapeshift into a Gabriel Ratchet (hellhound or hound of the hunt), a horse, and an eagle. He is able to bespell others with flickering lights in his eyes. Doyle is also known as the Bearer of the Painful Flame, a sickly greenish flame able to bring the true death to immortals. Doyle has been the Queen’s Darkness for over a thousand years, and though he loved her once his loyalties have shifted to Meredith.Later he becomes the king of Meredith Gentry. He is often referred to by Andais as “My Darkness”. Captain of the Queen’s Ravens, Bearer of the Painful Flame, Unseelie Court

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Frost – Ryan Gosling

Frost was never born, but he was made from hoar frost. At some point on the whim of a god he was made sidhe. Frost was once part of the Seelie Court , but having been created and not born sidhe, he was never good enough for the glittering throng. While the Seelie Court’s powers waned, his continued to grow as humans continued to remember and believe in Jack Frost. He then joined the Unseelie Court and has been Doyle’s second-in-command among the Queen’s Ravens. Frost was Andais’ consort over 800 years ago. The Killing Frost, Jack Frost

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introducing Drizzt Do’Urden

15 Wednesday Jan 2014

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artemis en'treri, book reviews, books, culture, Drizzt Do'urden, drow, fantasy, forgotten realms, gay, Jarlaxle, john jernigan, R.A. Salvatore, science fiction, Tampa Bay

introducing Drizzt Do'Urden

Drizzt is the main character in a collection of 21 books by author R.A. Salvatore. Drizzt is an drow, a dark elf from Menzoberranzan. Born the night House Do’Urden destroyed House DeVir, the death of Nalfien Do’Urden saved Drizzt from being sacrificed to Lolth. After refusing to kill a Moon elf, Drizzt caused House Do’Urden to lose Lolth’s favor, resulting in Zaknafien being sacrificed. Drizzt escaped Menzoberranzen and became a wanderer for many years.

A perfectionist who yearned to be accepted into places and groups and to make friends widely, Drizzt was haunted by the danger he brought to those he befriended, thanks to the scrutiny of the clerics of Lolth and his other foes (notably the demon Errtu and the human assassin Artemis Entreri).

Drizzt is the famous violet-eyed drow ranger of Icewind Dale and Mithral Hall. Son of Malice, he was raised in Menzoberranzan and taught swordplay by his father Zaknafein. He rejected the cruel teachings of Lolth and the wicked drow of his home city and made his way to the surface world through the Underdark, befriending many along the way. His favored weapon is the scimitar, and he wields two magic blades at once in combat: Twinkle, a scimitar at home in starlight, and Icingdeath, a magically cold blade named for a white dragon he and his friend Wulfgar slew. His closest companion is Guenhwyvar, an extradimensional black panther he can summon to his side with a magic onyx figurine.

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Bruenor Battlehammer was the eighth and tenth king of Mithral Hall from 1356 DR – 1362 DR and 1370 DR – 1409 DR. He was the dwarven adoptive father of Catti-brie and Wulfgar, friend to Drizzt Do’Urden and Regis, crafter of Aegis-fang, and a member of the Companions of the Hall.45
Obould, also known as King Obould Many-Arrows, was an exarch of Gruumsh and the mortal orc king of the Broken Arrow tribe.
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Dahlia Sin’felle, originally known as Dahlia Syn’dalay, was a promising young elf in the service of Szass Tam, until she released a primordial hidden in the lost dwarven kingdom of Gauntlgrym.
Dahlia is a beautiful, tall, blue eyed elf with a head shaved clean but for a single braid of raven black and cardinal red locks, woven to run down the right side of her shapely head. She wears a set of diamonds in her left ear (one for each of the lovers she had killed) and a set of sparkling studs in her right (for lovers she had yet to kill). Like most Thayans of the day, she tattooed her head with blue and purple dye.
Dahlia carried a potent weapon known as Kozah’s Needle which could switch forms between an eight-foot staff, a flail, a tri-staff and a walking stick. Dahlia also carried the Cloak of the Crow, an enchanted cloak that turned the wearer into a giant crow, which she took after defeating Borlann, High Captain of Luskan. However, the cloak was later taken by Sylora Salm and recovered again by Dahlia after her and her companions Drizzt Do’Urden and Barrabus the Gray defeated Sylora Salm.51
Artemis Entreri is a ruthless assassin and the arch-nemesis of Drizzt Do’Urden. Portrayed as a cunning and tactical assassin, Entreri lives an empty life, devoid of any kind of pleasure, existing only to kill. Credited with being one of the best assassins in Faerûn, he is a highly composed and calculating man, with fighting skills rivaling those of his nemesis.
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Jarlaxle (born Jarlaxle Baenre) was a drow mercenary and leader of the Bregan D’aerthe mercenary company. He is (sometimes) an ally of House Baenre, although his band’s services were often available to the highest bidder or to whoever suits him. He was one of a small number of male drow who actually had significant power in a Lolth-worshiping city.59
Herzgo Alegni was a Shadovar tiefling warlord of the Netherese.
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Guenhwyvar is an astral panther, not native to the Material Plane. She is Drizzt Do’urden’s most trusted companion and protector. Guenhwyvar can be called for short periods of time via her figurine.
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House Baenre
The most powerful noble house in the city, House Baenre dominates its trade, politics, military (its forces are reputed to be able to match any other 5 nobles houses combined), and even the schools (with the heads of both Sorcere and Arach Tinilith members of the house).
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Errtu the Balor
Errtu is a balor, a true tanar’ri (chaotic evil demon).Second to the assassin Artemis Entreri and Obould Many-Arrows, Errtu is the greatest nemesis, most powerful and dangerous foe of the drow renegade, Drizzt Do’Urden, though Errtu has described himself as ‘he who hates Drizzt most’.
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Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi

05 Sunday Jan 2014

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Allana Solo, Anji the Nexu, book reviews, books, fantasy, gay, han solo, Jaina Solo, Jedi, Jennifer Lawrence, Lowbacca, movies, Saba Sebatyne, science fiction, Sith, star wars

Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi

The Sword of the Jedi was a title bestowed upon Jaina Solo during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy. Luke Skywalker, the Master of the Jedi Order and Jaina’s maternal uncle, gave his niece this name upon her knighting.

Jedi Master Skywalker referred to Jaina, during the initiation ceremony, as “…a burning brand to your enemies, a brilliant fire to your friends.”

However, not even Skywalker was entirely sure what being the Sword of the Jedi entailed. For the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong War and beyond Jaina struggled to understand what being the Sword of the Jedi meant, what she had to do to fulfill her destiny, and how it would affect her life.

The answer came during the Second Galactic Civil War when Jaina’s brother Jacen Solo fell to the dark side, becoming Darth Caedus and took over the Galactic Alliance. With Skywalker unable to face Caedus, for fear of falling to the dark side himself to avenge his wife, the burden fell to Jaina. Only after killing her brother, saving the galaxy from him but also changing everything between her and her family, did Jaina feel she had finally become the Sword she was meant to be.

It’s rumored that Jennifer Lawrence will be cast as Jaina in the upcoming Star Wars movies.

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Allana Solo and Anji
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God’s Demon – Wayne Barlowe

10 Thursday Oct 2013

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art, Beelzebub, book reviews, books, fantasy, fiction, gay, God's Demon, Halloween, heaven, hell, horror, john jernigan, LGBT, Lucifer, religion, Sargantanas, Wayne Barlowe

God's Demon - Wayne Barlowe

“Their appearance was as grotesque as their croaking chorus; they were as varied and individual as the capricious laws of the demons could create. Somewhere in Hell, a veritable army of lesser demons had their way with the endless flood of souls as they entered the realm. Legless, headless, corkscrewed, folded, torn, and pierced, each soul wore but the thinnest mask of mankind.”

Lucifer has disappeared from Hell, passing his administrative duties to Beelzebub. Beelzebub is cruel, even for a demon, and a rival, Sargantanas, begins to dream of redemption and a return to heaven. A war over that belief splits Hell into two mighty armies made up of creatures that only the most vivid imagination can conceive. Lilith is here. She belongs to Beelzebub, tossed to him by Lucifer along with the staff of the kingdom. Every demon desires her, dreams of her, and wants to possess her.
Hannibal Barca, Eligor and Valefar are players in this mighty struggle, powerful demons all.
The fallen angels, now demons, are corrupted, twisted, and bear little resemblance to their former beautiful embodiments. Politics made up of shifting alliances born more out of mutual interest and fear than out of loyalty dominate the ongoing struggle for power in the realm.
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Brian Froud’s Faeries

08 Sunday Sep 2013

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art, book reviews, books, Brian Froud, culture, faeries, fairies, fantasy, funny, gay, humor, john jernigan, Labyrinth, movies, The Dark Crystal

Brian Froud's Faeries

I have Froud’s coffee-table book Good Faeries/Bad Faeries. His artwork is strange and dark and different and wonderful. Brian Froud created the creatures for both The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

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Chocolat

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

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art, Chocolat, chocolate, cinema, culture, fairy tale, fantasy, gay, Gypsy, john jernigan, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Juliette Binoche, LGBT, movie reviews, movies, queer, Romany, St. Petersburg, theater

A magically sweet fairy tale…

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Cold Days – Jim Butcher

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

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book reviews, books, Cold Days, dogs, fantasy, fiction, Harry Dresden, Jim Butcher, john jernigan, Mab, pets, Queen of Air and Darkness, Santa Claus, Sidhe, The Wild Hunt, Winter Knight

Cold Days - Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden isn’t dead…he’s the new Winter Knight for Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness…there is a big twist and surprise at the end of this tale, involving the grasshopper.

“Rest. Heal. Sleep. I shall most likely kill you on the morrow.”

“You? A Princess Bride quote?” I croaked.

“What is that?” she asked.”

“Go back,” he said.
“Can’t. Stand aside?”
“Can’t.”
“So it’s like that?” I said.
Fix exhaled. Then he nodded. “Yeah.”
And for the first time in a decade the Winter Knight and Summer Knight went to war.”

“We need to get out,” I said. My voice sounded raw to me. “Trouble coming.”

“No,” said a beautiful Sidhe baritone. “Trouble is here.”

They appeared from behind their veils, one by one, with so much melodrama that I was mildly surprised that they hadn’t each struck some kind of kung fu pose.”

Mouse

Species: Similar to a Caucasian Shepherd Dog or Tibetan Mastiff, Mouse is a temple dog (or Foo dog), a descendant of a divine guardian spirit and a mortal canine.

Mouse was introduced in the novel Blood Rites as a small furry puppy rescued from a group of demons. A Tibetan monk employed Harry to recover a stolen litter of puppies believed to be the descendants of an ancient Foo spirit. This meant they were supernatural and special, both qualities that Mouse has shown as he has attained his massive mature size. While Harry returned all the Foo puppies he could find, one particularly scrappy pup hid under his car seat and he was unable to return it. Mouse grows startlingly large by the start of Dead Beat, with his shoulders reaching nearly to Harry’s waist, and kills the former Denarian Quintus Cassius in order to prevent him from killing Harry.

In Proven Guilty Mouse was hit by a car and survived, and he went on to take down supernatural enemies while emitting a faint glow. Mouse has shown an aptitude for detecting dark energies and presences, and he has a strong empathy for humans who display no such dark traces. He also shows intelligence greater than that of any other dog, and seems able to plan, anticipate and comprehend abstract concepts, as well as speech. In addition, in White Night when Harry begins to play the guitar (poorly) as part of therapy for his hand, Mouse gets up off the living room floor and goes into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. In Turn Coat Mouse intercedes in several violent situations in Harry’s apartment while he is away, defusing them with both his strength and intelligence. He even feigns extreme pain after being shot to teach Molly an important lesson, without any prompting by Harry.

After Mouse exhibits further supernatural abilities in White Night, Bob describes additional powers the dog has, such as a warning bark that awoke an entire building full of people during a fire when the actual alarm could not be activated. This bark can also apparently scare away some supernatural, incorporeal beings. If that doesn’t work, Mouse can actually physically damage a supernatural enemy, usually with his teeth, as has happened with fatal effects during two battles. Also in White Night, Elaine claims that Mouse is a Temple Dog and is stunned he belongs to Harry. Oddly, in Proven Guilty Madrigal Raith exclaims with apprehension that Mouse is “not a dog”. In Small Favor, Nicodemus shows a genuine uneasiness about Mouse’s presence in his meeting with Harry, asking Harry “What is that?” and making sure to keep his shadow in between himself and Mouse.

Despite growing to massive size, Mouse still defers to Mister, allowing the cat to eat before he does and appearing nervous after Harry tells him to take away Mister’s catnip before he gets ill. Harry calls him a cross between a chow, a woolly mammoth, and a “West Highland Dogosaurus.”

The guardian statues that the White Council uses to guard meeting entrances are modeled after Foo Dogs. In Turn Coat, Ancient Mai is shocked that Harry has a Foo dog (exclaiming, “Where did you get such a thing? And why were you allowed to keep it?”), apparently not taking Mouse’s wishes into account. However, she and several other wizards in attendance confirm his reliability as a witness, and Harry uses him and a set of surveillance photos to expose a traitor within the White Council.

In Small Favor, it is indicated that Mouse, in addition to comprehending speech, can show emotion on a level with humans – when told to “take the catnip away” if it makes Mister sick, he seems to indicate doubt; when Thomas claims that what he said earlier about Harry was a joke, Mouse merely flicks his ears and turns away. Also, when Harry jokes about shaking himself dry like Mouse in Michael Carpenter’s home, Michael responds that Mouse would be too polite to do so inside and is promptly proven correct.

In Changes, Mouse is proven to have intelligence as great as any human, and in correct circumstances the ability not only to comprehend human speech but also to communicate as well as any human in his own language. He is also referred to as a “Mountain Ice Demon from the Land of Dreams” by two high ranking Red Court Vampires, as well as Harry’s Fairy Godmother, who, if not afraid of Mouse, is at least wary of his abilities. He also indicates, when the Leanansidhe questioned Harry’s having “won” Mouse, he was the one who “won” Harry, raising the question as to which one actually “owns” the other, although Jim Butcher has stated that Mouse and the Leanansidhe did not mean the same thing when they said “won”. In addition, it is here shown that he has a personality very similar to Dresden’s, evidenced both by his willingness to fight and kill Lea in order to turn the group back to normal after remarking, “That bitch,” and his response to Lea’s comment that he was far from his sources of power to which Mouse is described as shrugging and replying “I live with a wizard, I cheat”. While it’s possible that the similar personalities are a result of living with Harry most of his life, as a puppy Mouse displayed the very Harry-like trait of standing up to things far bigger than him.

In Ghost Story, Mouse is the protector of Maggie Dresden and living with the Carpenter family. He is able to see and physically interact with the spirit form of Harry. The archangel Uriel calls Mouse “little brother” and tells him his task is not yet over. Uriel also assures Harry that temple dogs live for centuries, and Mouse is more than capable of protecting Maggie for a lifetime, even a wizard’s lifetime.

Posted by johnjernigan | Filed under Books Check 'Em Out

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Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood

08 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by johnjernigan in Books Check 'Em Out

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Tags

apocalypse, authors, book reviews, books, cloning, fantasy, favorites, fiction, inspirational, maddaddam, opinion, perspective, science fiction

Oryx and Crake was really popular with the emo kids when emo was the thing….

goodreads.com:

Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

Pigoons & Rakunks & Snats….dark & creepy & fatalistic…but one of my all-time favorites none the less…

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