Dusky dolphins porpoising. Filmed in Kaikoura, New Zealand. From Wildes Neuseeland (Wild New Zealand, 2014).

Butcher's Crossing (1960)

John Williams

New York Review Books

So fancy!

John Hyde, Wild Things Photography

Earth Matters: A world where we aren’t at the center?

"When we consider animals and nature to be “less than human,” it becomes easier to sort humans into those categories, too."

READ MORE Amherst Bulletin - Earth Matters: A world where we aren’t at the center?

I’m delighted with how they look together.

Jurassic Park and The Lost World, written by Michael Crichton.

Published by Folio Society, with binding / endpapers / title page / internal illustrations by me. Both are out now only on foliosociety.com!

More images on Instagram: instagram.com/vectorthatfox

Oh dear. I am a third through Legends and Lattes, and I already feel that this book is going to end up on my List Of Infamy for 2024. Like, the concept is so good?? You could do so much with this premise?? And then it doesn't.

Listen. There are, generally, two reasons why someone would do a "people doing mundane things in a fantasy setting" story. You are either there for the world, or you are there for the characters. The world, we still know close to nothing about, beyond that it has generic DND vibes. What is the climate? What species exist in there, and how do they interact with each other? What is the role of adventurers in this society? What even is the city we're in like, beyond having a harbour, a market, a university and a main street?? And the characters, they seem to have zero internal conflict. Viv just left her life of adventuring and killing monsters, and it doesn't seem to impact her at all? Does she miss it? If so, what parts? Who were the people in her party? Even the ones who already appeared "on-screen", we only know their names. You mentioned that there is some prejudice against both orcs and succumbi, are you planning to elaborate on that?? AT ALL???

Just. *frustrated groan*

Some magnetic bookmarks I made.

(also on eBay thelittlebookroom - DM me for direct link as Tumblr not liking me adding eBay on here)

The Lion's Share: A Tale of Halving Cake and Eating It, Too (2009)

Story and Art: Matthew McElligott

shit, sorry, I'll delete that post right away. I didn't know he was a mythologist at all, let alone that he was infamous for positing a "universal" narrative structure that reduces a variety of works and storytelling traditions to variations on a single Jungian theme regardless of whether their actual contents line up with his thesis. I only knew about his work with Canned Soups.

Fluke of a diving sperm whale. From Marine Mammals: Champions of the Deep (2021)

Stumbled upon this in a used bookstore

Currently reading Bleak House, and I feel like my reading life is sometimes just waiting until I pick up another Dickens novel.

I’ve been really busy lately so I know I haven’t been posting much, but I promise it’s for cool reasons. Like really really cool.

Happy Belated Earth Day! Here are a couple books I read/re-read recently that celebrate nature in very different ways.

The Minotaur by George Frederic Watts