Seraphina by Rachel Hartman 2012 Doubleday In Hartman’s fantasy world, there have been forty years of an uneasy peace between human people and their traditional enemy, the dragons. While in their natural state, the dragons have all the traditional trappings: wings, scales, massive bodies and the ability to breathe fire. The new twist in this …
Author: richardsleftbank
Retired, when in a late life crisis, began to write - started a blog and now, three novels later, the rest still isn't history.
THE NEW MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE
Malcolm in the Middle - Life’s Still Unfair (in four episodes produced by Hulu, 2026) The original ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ ran from 2000 until 2006 and produced some of the funniest episodes in the history of sit-com. I suppose someone must have thought it was a brilliant idea to assemble the original cast, twenty …
THIS WEEK IN THE ASYLUM
These days I pity people who make a living writing comedy and satire. The politicians and their antics are putting the professional gag masters to shame. Granted, it’s pretty hard to compete against the WORLD’S GREATEST COMEDIAN: THE ONE, THE ONLY RONALD RUMP, Prez for life, Emperor of the ‘Muricas, Viceroy of Greedland and KEEPER …
FAYNE BY ANN-MARIE MACDONALD
FAYNE BY ANN-MARIE MACDONALD - Knopf 2022 - It’s not often I’m as conflicted about a book as I am with Fayne. For the most part the story is written in the tradition of a nineteenth century novel. With the main character occasionally speaking directly to the reader (Oh, reader…) and the story’s many unlikely …
ANOTHER WEEK AT THE ZOO
His Holiness the PRINCE OF PEACE, Ronald Rump, started his week with a real blast of OF MIRTH AND MERRIMENT - another round of bombs on the I-Rainians. Taped to one of the warheads was his latest peace proposal demands, which included opening the oil channels in the Gulf of Rump (formerly the Gulf of Horrorsnoose), …
ARMAGEDDON ANYONE?
Anyone confused as to why ‘Murica would want to start a war with I-Rain with no thought, no plan and no exit except BOMB, BOMB, BOMB? Theories abound: everything from HIM thinking HE was invading Greeland to take over their coveted ice cubes to making billions on oil futures for HIMself and HIS billionaire …
NETTLE & BONE BY KINGFISHER
NETTLE & BONE BY T. KINGFISHER - Tor publishing 2022 - Here’s the second of my Dearest Darling Daughter’s (DDD) Christmas offerings. It’s a fantasy with a first chapter that makes you feel like you’ve fallen from a great height into some kind of landscape shaped by Salvador Dali. It begins with the main …
RIPPLES
RIPPLES - an eight part mini-series from Netflix, released in 2025. If you’re getting tired of the news, with its endless reports on the antics of the orange war monger in ‘Murica and his dedication to spreading absurdities and falsehoods that foster hate, misogyny and racism, then this mini-series might be just the kind of …
KABAM!
The Prince of Peace, His Majesty Ronald Rump the Holy One, PREZ for LIFE, Grand High Imperial Twitterbug (GHIT) and World’s Greatest Comedian has scored yet another comedy coup. Say what you might, but starting a war against I-Rain and killing the I-AH-TOLD-YA, their Supreme leader, is more than your usual bit of clownmanship. As …
LUDWIG
Ludwig is a 2024 Brit box television series of six episodes with a second season set to release in the spring. John (played by David Mitchell) and James Taylor may be identical twins, but their similarities end there. Although they grew up together and were very close, James is outgoing, has a wife, a …
Richard's Left Bank 