I recently had the pleasure of reading "Scrooge and Santa," a graphic novel written by Matthew Wilson and illustrated by Josh Kenfield. The story of how a descendant of Ebenezer Scrooge kidnaps Santa is about as quirky as it can get and the perfect concept for artist Josh Kenfield to run wild with. I have known Josh since college, and it is truly a treat to see him handle a story that is so congenial to his strange and vivid imagination. The illustrations seem to inhabit a bizarre territory somewhere between Tolkien's "Father Christmas Letters" and Jim Henson's Muppets. The plot also does not disapoint with an ending that was refreshingly honest and bucked the normal holiday story cliches. If you know Kenfield's work, or are just looking for something fresh and different, you need to pick up a copy of "Scrooge and Santa".
I needed a break from A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (too many authors and too many styles coming in too fast) so I decided to turn back to an author whose work I've enjoyed exploring: Robert E. Howard. This time, however, I decided to skip over Howard's famous Conan yarns and instead take a look at one of his earlier creations, Solomon Kane. The idea of a puritan occult detective was too intriguing to pass up. I have the whole collection of Kane's tales and I do intend to blog them all. Right now, my little literary detour has only encompassed the first two short stories so I'm going to record my thoughts on them right away and get back to the rest as I have time. Skulls in the Stars Solomon Kane makes his debut with this classic bit of English Gothic including a haunted moor, a vengeful ghost, and a solitary miser. Howard's Kane fits the portrait of the archetypal puritan: grim, principled, metaphysical, with an iron sense of right and wrong. I h...

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