THE FEARSOME ISLAND (1896) – Written by British author Albert Kinross. An unusual work with a multi-layered narrative. The entire novel was penned by Kinross, but it is one of the countless works of fiction presented as if it is a rediscovered manuscript relating the “true” adventures of Silas Fordred from the 1500s. Kinross adds another layer by explaining the sci-fi devices that Fordred could not comprehend and put down to sorcery and the supernatural.
For clarity’s sake I will present the entire narrative in order rather than double back with the science fiction rationalizations that Kinross added, as well as his fictional “research” into the mad scientist of the island – Don Diego Rodriguez.
In the late 1400s but definitely before the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Rodriguez was a wealthy but cruel blue-blooded man who gloried in torturing victims during the Inquisition. His mad genius enabled him to invent many devices so far ahead of his time that his fellow Spaniards considered them the work of Satan. Continue reading
BLACKE’S MAGIC (1986) – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, GENTLEMEN! Last Father’s Day I reviewed the neglected television series 
Hal Linden played Alexander Blacke, a big-name, big-money stage magician. While investigating the seemingly impossible murder of an old friend, Alex gets help from his former conman father Leonard, portrayed by Harry Morgan. 
REQUIEM FOR THE DREAM – CAITLYN CLARK and the INDIANA FEVER (4-10) welcomed the ATLANTA DREAM (5-6) to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in this game. 
DAZZLER Vol 1 #1 (March 1981) 
Many readers have been asking me about my take on the latest Disney show by Harvey Weinstein’s former personal assistant Leslye Headland – The Acolyte. I checked out of Star Wars quite a few years ago, so I’m not up to date on all the Disney debacles. 
This pathetic series is apparently every bit as horrible as we’ve heard, but Michelle is much less sarcastic than I am when I write reviews, so her approach may be more appealing. Below is her take on the first two Acolyte episodes, but for Michelle’s review of the execrable third episode AND to subscribe to the channel Force of Light Entertainment, click 
PART TWENTY: In a surprising development Balladeer’s Blog was contacted by THE actual Fool Killer. Using Jimmy Neutron-level science I determined that this correspondent was indeed the actual supernatural figure who had been at large in America since the 1830s. 
Coming to you as I wander in search of fools to kill, as usual a murder of crows following in my wake to feast upon the ample corpses I leave behind me in my travels.
AFTER LONDON aka WILD ENGLAND (1885) – Written by Richard Jefferies. A post-apocalypse saga in which the shifting of the Earth’s axis has reduced the British Isles to a medieval level with feral animals and pockets of toxic wasteland. There are scattered “kingdoms” and roving bands of marauders but no contact with the world outside the area. 
The Thames and Severn Rivers have backed up, forming a large central lake in England. What was once London is a toxic marsh so deadly to human life that its gases and vapors, when carried by the winds, kill or drive mad humans exposed to them. 
Balladeer's Blog 