Sword up vs. sword down

To general readers (i.e., those who don’t read one genre exclusively), “fantasy” means warriors, sorcerers, castles and dragons. The omnipresence of Joseph Campbell, in the wake of George Lucas, has added the core story idea of the naive young hero, sword raised as a beacon of everything that’s just and right, preparing to go into battle. You can see the … Read More

Review: Treasure Island (1990)

I’ve read Treasure Island many times, both for my own enjoyment and to my kids. It’s a great novel, an exciting story and a terrific basis for a film. But only one of the many film versions gets it right: 1990’s version for television, directed by Fraser Heston and starring his father Charlton and a young Christian Bale. For years this has … Read More

One more visit to Treasure Island

I just finished reading a heavily-abridged version of Treasure Island to the Squirrel Boy; it was a little above his head, but we did a chapter a night, with a lot of, “Remember, this is the guy who….” Anyway, going through the story again made me think about a couple of common misconceptions about the book, usually based on the … Read More