Blog Entries from Islander

  1. The Chimera's Nest

    The sun shone over the jungle-clad valley, where the green, muddy waters of the river Ganas slowly made their way between the hills. The trees were gently rustling, frogs croaking in their shade, but in the distance, the whisper of wind grew closer. It became stronger and stronger, until a shadow was cast over the valley, and descended until it blotted out the sun. With a soft thud, a huge shape landed on a hillside. Its serpentine body moved through the trees like it was swimming through...
  2. Review: John Byrne’s Next Men (2010)

    John Byrne’s Next Men ended in 1995 with issue 30 and a cliffhanger ending. The 2010 series picks up where the old one ended without missing a beat. Even though the story line takes off into a new direction, the art, plot and characters meld together seamlessly – it’s hard to tell fifteen years have passed. Every aspect of the work feels solid: the art is detailed, the characters always act according to their personalities, plot elements are never forgotten or left to chance, clothes,...
  3. Review: Hanna (2011)

    16-year-old Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) has been raised in the Finnish wilderness by her father (Eric Bana), and systematically trained to fight and survive. As soon as she's ready, her father sends her on a mission to assassinate intelligence operative Marissa (Cate Blanchett), while Marissa in turn tries to hunt the girl down. Along the way, we see Hanna struggle to fit in with normal people despite her background, and get a few revelations about who she really is and why she's hunted. The...
  4. Review: The Tree of Life (2011)

    This review contains spoilers for the movie - but you may enjoy it more if you have an idea of what it's about before you see it. The Tree of Life is a story of a middle-aged man - Jack - who, in obvious pain, looks back at his childhood. His jumbled, and sometimes unrealistic, memories shows him growing up in 1950's Texas. Through his abusive father, pain and suffering is brought into the child's world, which twists and creates malice in him. But the close, personal story is...
  5. Hilarious twilight rant

    There's a hilarious rant on Twilight in the Oatmeal strip. (No, I don't hate Twilight, I just love the... um... "enthusiasm" surrounding it. From both sides.)
  6. Review: Halcyon #5

    The series ends with the plot resolved in a satisfactory way, except for the villain’s motivations being unclear. This is surprising, since the story is so generally well-written, and the motivations could easily have been fleshed out and hinted on early in the story. Despite this, an unusually good read.
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  7. Review: Halcyon (2010) #1 to 4

    Title: Halcyon By: Tara Butters and Marc Guggenheim (writers), Ryan Bodenheim (art) Year of publication: 2010 to 2011 Publisher: Image Halcyon starts with the premise that crime is at an all-time low all over the world. At first, it's assumed this is due to the efforts of the world's super heroes, but it quickly becomes clear that the cause is not natural. Zenith, the "world's greatest super hero", is approached by the suspicious-minded Sabre, who, despite being discouraged by the...
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  8. The Harry Potter series

    I was an adult when the Harry Potter books came out. Around the time of the third or fourth book, my SO introduced me to them. All the hype surrounding the books made me a little skeptical, but once I started reading them, I was surprised at how imaginative they were. I think it's the detailed characters and settings which make the Harry Potter books special. Most characters, from Harry's friends to the Minister of Magic, feel unique. They're quirky, funny and/or revolting, but they...
  9. Compressed descriptions

    When you start a story, the reader needs an inkling of how the characters and the surroundings look in order to understand it and visualise it, but you don't want to start off with several paragraphs of description which might bore the reader. So, what to do? One method is to use the reader's assumptions to compress the descriptions. For example, let's say a story starts with the characters walking into the kitchen. From that, the reader can infer that they are indoors, probably in a...
  10. Natural-sounding dialogue

    Some tips for natural-sounding dialogue: Imagine you are your character, at that point in the conversation. What is running through your mind? How did the other person make you feel? Try to imagine the speaking character's "voice" - what do they usually sound like? (Arrogant, shy, educated...) Imagine you are speaking with their voice. What would you say if you were that character in that situation? That's your dialogue. Visualise the conversation. What is the speaking character doing?...
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