Long aeons before mankind rose to dominion of this planet, Elder Ones filtered down from the stars. They build Cyclopean cities and monuments that stand until this day, and in their benevolence, they passed on their superior knowledge. For a change, I’m not talking about H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthuhlu-Mythos. This is pretty much what Erich Von… Read more »
Posts Categorized: 40 books before 40
First Lines: Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five tells the tale of how Billy Pilgrim came to be in Dresden when it was fire bombed off the face of the earth in World War II, and how he became unstuck in time afterwards. That part includes Flying Saucers and the planet Tralfamadore. Slaughterhouse-Five is a bit of an odd book. It has… Read more »
First Lines: Grimm’s Fairy Tales
In fairy tales, things happen in threes: the princess you want to marry will give you three tasks. If you have two older brothers, they won’t fulfil their task. However: you, being the third, will. Even if you fail to do your task thrice, you will be forgiven. The old woman will still give you… Read more »
First Lines: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Now that (apart from a distorting soundcard) my new PC is up and running, I should really clear my backlog of things to write. So without further ado: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which a picture ages, and a young man, inexplicably, does not. You see, young Dorian was convinced by his… Read more »
First Lines: V for Vendetta
Before anything else, V for Vendetta was a comic. Or a graphic novel, if you insist. Just forget about the movie. Unless you’re, like, really into Natalie Portman. V for Vendetta is a lot of things. It’s an tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a bleak, post-nuclear-apocalyptic, fascist-police-state, dystopian nightmare. It is… Read more »