(Ahem, I was trying to avoid spoilers here...)

John Crowley's "Aegypt" quartet might be an example of this. Over the course of its 1600 pages, the narrative dances between the question of whether its fantasy elements are "real", or whether they point to a non-fantastic, non-magical world.

No, but it does guarantee *better* health care — without exception.

Went there as an undergraduate and wholeheartedly agree. Cornell, Ithaca, and the whole region are truly extraordinary and special.

Great little video. It's actually rather sweet.

Incredibly interesting and informative article. Thanks.

Well, why do the bats "fly" in outer space by flapping their wings? I don't think we're meant to take the region he's flying through as "space" as we know it.

Puts me in mind of Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta's great comic book series "Starstruck." Not in terms of content, but rather overall storytelling approach and tone. This is a good thing.

The Electric Company was a riot. I recall a "Spidey" moment when a villain named "The Blowhard" bursts into a birthday party being thrown for Fargo North Decoder, and Fargo exclaims, "Holy Toledo, it's that evil meshuggeneh, the Blowhard!"

Steampunk James Bond? Yes, please!

Gets off to a good start but then shuts down into a sentimental morality tale.

So keeping that horrible, long, wasting death around is preferable to the possibility of more fucking?

The article explains that he explicitly follows David Marr's model.

Troll tries to distract with nutbrained rant. We'll take that as a concession.

I've always found Delany's "Dhalgren" profoundly scary. It just oozes with uneasiness and fear. The protagonist is in a constant state of anxiety about whether he can trust his senses, and the whole book conspires to transfer that uneasiness to the reader.

There's something very haunting indeed about what the diver (mentioned in the article) thought was being said to him.

Lame sophistry. Next!

A puzzling article, as it always seemed self-evident to me that Zoidberg, while disgusting and pathetic, is also quite lovable.

This wins the prize for most wonderful recent space news, and that's saying something.

John Crowley's "Aegypt" quartet had an average 6 or 7 year gap between each volume. Final volume appeared 20 years after the first — a loooong wait.