Amen to this. Also, slipped over to the Decatur Book Festival to catch Jeff Vandermeer and pick up an early copy of the last book in his Southern Reach Trilogy. A good speaker, and he said Scott Rudin had the movie rights and a script was in the works. Great weekend to be in Atlanta!

Glad to see Zilpha Keatley Snyder get a mention. I think of The Egypt Game as a children's book, but her teen books The Changeling, The Velvet Room and Witches of Worm are the ones that have stuck with me. Back in print, too. As a 70s kid who hated teens-with-problems books like Blume and Hinton, hers were the only…

Glad to see Zilpha Keatley Snyder get a mention. I think of The Egypt Game as a children's book, but her teen books The Changeling, The Velvet Room and Witches of Worm are the ones that have stuck with me. Back in print, too. As a 70s kid who hated teens-with-problems books like Blume and Hinton, hers were the only…

Dorium and Vastra and Strax are there because the Doctor brought them in. They aren't living their own lives. They weren't known to us previously and I found myself filling in their personalities based more on what we know about Silurians and Sontarans in general than anything they actually get to say or do.

You're not alone. I think Moffat was better when RTD was in charge. Left to his own devices, no one gets a good line but the Doctor and his crew. I've rewatched only a few Moffat DWs. Except for the Gaiman episode, I can't recall any amusing or interesting side characters (loved Aunt and Uncle). From the RTD era, even…

Well, yeah, I love it now. But 29 years ago, they were just old guys on MTV getting sad about some building.

WMLB AM 1690 in Atlanta is the best radio station ever. Check out some of the names from today's playlist: Etta James, Charlie Parker, The Everly Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, Fleet Foxes, Mgababa Queens, Fats Domino, Ry Cooder, Martha and the Vandellas, John Prine. They play old music from the 30's, jazz, Monty Python…

You know, I didn't get that whole scene with Isobel. Refugees? Is she just going to run off and leave Matthew? Isn't it much more likely she would take over her crippled and unweddable son's life and assume that through him, she'll control the house? She'd have Cora and the girls out of there before you could say…

Calvin and Hobbes, for sure. I don't think anyone's mentioned the Mouse Guard series. It's beautifully drawn and usually popular with young fans of Redwall and other fantasies.