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Love Letter to America by Yuri Bezmenov
I recently read Love Letter to America, a small booklet written by Yuri Bezmenov (published in 1984 under the name Tomas D. Schuman, an alias given to him after he defected from the Soviet Union). Bezmenov worked for the Soviet government with the Novosti Press Agency and, according to him, was closely affiliated with the…
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House of Mystery (Bernie Wrightson!)
I’ve been in the process of packing up all my comics in order to prepare for an upcoming renovation project in my bedroom. While sorting, I came across this coverless issue of House of Mystery (#211, February 1973). When my brother and I were kids, we had a gigantic box of coverless comics my parents…
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The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller
I finished reading The Robbers (translated by F. J. Lamport), a play by Friedrich Schiller originally published in 1781. It is Schiller’s first published play and part of the romantic Sturm und Drang literary movement. Everything is pretty much turned up to an 11! The dialogue is vivid, dramatic, and often philosophical. The plot follows…
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Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I recently finished reading Pellucidar (1915) by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second novel in the Pellucidar series of seven books. As one would expect, it is a fast-paced story of action, adventure, and danger featuring characters defined by their sense of honor and allegiance to friendship. The main character, David Innes, returns to the world…
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Nubilous
I recently came across a word I wasn’t familiar with. That happens a lot when I’m reading but it was surprising in that, this particular time, I was reading a comic book. That’s not a medium usually thought of as having a difficult lexicon. The word is “nubilous,” an adjective meaning “cloudy, foggy, misty” or…
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Red Milkweed Beetle
I came across this red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) while on a walk a few evenings ago. They are part of the milkweed ecosystem and not harmful to milkweed plants or monarch butterflies. The beetles are adapted to eat the milkweed plant, which is toxic to many species of animals. Because they ingest these toxins,…
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The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy
I finished reading The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy. This novel was first serialized in 1892 and published in book-form in 1897. Although it was his second to last novel written, it felt fresh and somewhat experimental to me as the reader and as if it had come from earlier in his literary career. The novel…