Category Archives: Hinduism

The Academic Abyss

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Nathan

Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang – The title is an ancient Greek term for a journey to the underworld, and that is what happens in this book. It’s set in a world where magic is a respected academic discipline, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Book Reviews, Chinese, Christianity, Education, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, Humor, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Mythology, Relationships, Religion, Roman, Technology | Tagged a closed and common orbit, artificial intelligence, bards, becky chambers, brigands and breadknives, carson lowmiller, computers, dante alighieri, divine comedy, dwarves, elves, goblins, hell, inferno, katabasis, meng po, orcs, r.f. kuang, rattkins, s.e. davidson, swords, the long way to a small angry planet, travis baldree, underworld, wayfarers, weapons, yama | 1 Comment

Sometimes a Flying Cigar Is Just a Flying Cigar

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Nathan

Something I’d been considering writing about, and that is somewhat relevant to my seeing Fire in the Sky a few weeks ago, is the design of spacecraft in popular culture. The flying saucer is ubiquitous, but I wasn’t sure exactly … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Art, Christianity, Comics, Conspiracy Theories, Frank Black/Black Francis, Hinduism, History, Magic, Music, Mythology, Pixies, Religion, Technology, Television, Video Games, Weird Al Yankovic | Tagged alberto fenoglio, alexander the great, aliens, bible, birds, chimney swift, erich von daniken, ezekiel, flying cigars, flying saucers, frank edwards, frasier, ganesh, great schism, hummingbirds, indra, kenneth arnold, le cigare volant, mahabharata, pushpaka vimana, quintus curtius rufus, ramayana, ravana, roger tory peterson, space invaders, spacecraft, texas instruments, ti invaders, ufo sightings, vimana, wine | 2 Comments

Love the Craft

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Nathan

The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi – I’d read a little bit of Lovecraft before. There’s definitely something about his weird style that I find appealing, but his writing is also kind of dense. A recurring theme is … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Book Reviews, Conspiracy Theories, Dragon Quest, Environmentalism, Families, Genetics, Hinduism, Humor, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Magic, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Names, Prejudice, Relationships, Religion, Science, sparks, ursula vernon, Video Games, William Shakespeare | Tagged aliens, artificial intelligence, at the mountains of madness, cannibalism, cats, curious myths of the middle ages, e. nesbit, edgar allan poe, edith nesbit, fairies, five children and it, gnoles, gnolls, h.p. lovecraft, ichthyosaurs, john milton, kiranmala, kiranmala and the kingdom beyond, megatheria, pakkhiraj, paladin's grace, paladins, penguins, perfume, plesiosaurs, poison, pollution, psamathos psamathides, psammead, racism, rakkhosh, rakshasas, roverandom, s.t. joshi, sabine baring-gould, saints of steel, sayantani dasgupta, secrets in the sky, seven champak flowers, shoggoths, st. patrick's purgatory, t. kingfisher, thakurmar jhuli, the annotated h.p. lovecraft, the chaos monster, the colour out of space, the dunwich horror, the narrative of arthur gordon pym, the rats in the walls, tuntuni | 1 Comment

I’ve Been All Around the World

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Nathan

Voice Like a Hyacinth, by Mallory Pearson – This is about a close-knit friend group of women, all lesbians (well, one of them is bisexual), who attend art school together. The author has said it was based somewhat on her … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Christianity, Christmas, Conspiracy Theories, Hinduism, History, Holidays, Judaism, jules verne, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Prejudice, Religion | Tagged adze, around the world in eighty days, bible, bible myths and their parallels in other religions, jesus, joseph campbell, jules verne, mallory pearson, maya and the lord of shadows, mithra, nativity, nellie bly, passepartout, phileas fogg, rena barron, resurrection, sexuality, sioux, the craft, the monstrous misses mai, thuggee, van hoang, voice like a hyacinth | Leave a comment

Jinn and Tonic

Posted on August 18, 2024 by Nathan

I’ve written about jinn before, but something I don’t think I’ve touched on is the different varieties among them. As with a lot of attempts to categorize mythical beings, there’s no real consensus on this. I just finished G. Willow … Continue reading →

Posted in Arabian, Authors, Cartoons, Catherynne M. Valente, Celtic, Fairy Tales, Final Fantasy, Games, Hinduism, Islam, Kirby, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Religion, Television, Video Games | Tagged abu tha'labah al-khushani, aladdin, alawi, alif the unseen, angels, arabian nights, bahamut, druze, dungeons and dragons, efreeti, fairies, g. willow wilson, ghouls, gustave flaubert, hadith, hinn, iblis, ifrit, jinn, king solomon, king vikramaditya, kirby's dream land 2, marids, muhammad, nasnas, night of the living dead, queen of sheba, quran, shaitan, shiqq, sila, succubus, the fisherman and the jinni, the temptation of saint anthony, vampires, vetala, zombies | 2 Comments

Famous Monsters of Bookland

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Nathan

The Folded World, by Catherynne M. Valente – The sequel to The Habitation of the Blessed has John‘s daughter arrive in Pentexore to tell the inhabitants about the Crusades, and John’s subjects go off to fight in Jerusalem for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, Catherynne M. Valente, Christianity, Crusades, Families, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, History, incryptid, Islam, Magic, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Poetry, Relationships, Religion, Rick Riordan, Russian, seanan mcguire, Television | Tagged a dance with dragons, a dirge for prester john, a drop of venom, a song of ice and fire, abuse, aftermarket afterlife, alexander the great, antimony price, arthur harrington, baba yaga, bran stark, cryptids, dragons, dreaming of you in freefall, finding baba yaga, george r.r. martin, ghosts, jane yolen, john de mandeville, koschei the deathless, mary dunlavy, medusa, moxy früvous, nagas, pentexore, perseus, prester john, rick riordan presents, sajni patel, saladin, sarah zellaby, the folded world, the habitation of the blessed, vasilisa the fair, verity price, witches | 2 Comments

Madam Lucifer, You Never Looked So Sane

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Nathan

Something About Eve: A Comedy of Fig-Leaves, by James Branch Cabell – The books in this series that I’ve read so far are pretty formulaic, usually about a somewhat sleazy guy who philosophizes a lot without doing much of anything, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Board Games, Book Reviews, British, Catholicism, Chess, Christianity, Fairy Tales, Games, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, History, Humor, Korean, Magic, Mythology, Playing Cards, Religion, Rick Riordan, seanan mcguire, Wayward Children | Tagged ahasuerus, alexander the ratcatcher, biography of the life of manuel, demons, dinosaurs, dom manuel, fox snare, foxes, james branch cabell, kalki, king solomon, lucifer, madam lucifer, merlin, michael scot, mislaid in parts half-known, odysseus, peter of abano, poictesme, pope alexander vi, pope alexander viii, prometheus, richard garnett, rodrigo borgia, saints, salamanders, satan, something about eve, the bell of saint euschemon, the claw, the demon pope, the poison maid, the rewards of industry, the talisman, the twilight of the gods, thousand worlds, tigers, vampires, vishnu, yoon ha lee | Leave a comment

Where a God Can Be a Kid

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Nathan

The Silver Stallion: A Comedy of Redemption, by James Branch Cabell – The follow-up to Figures of Earth has a lot of characters, with the focus on the Order of the Silver Stallion, the knights appointed by the late Manuel … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Aztec, Book Reviews, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, Humor, J.R.R. Tolkien, Magic, Mythology, Names, Native American, Norse, october daye, Percy Jackson, Relationships, Religion, Rick Riordan, seanan mcguire, Slavic, William Shakespeare | Tagged a clash of kings, a song of ice and fire, annabeth chase, biography of the life of manuel, cait sith, fairies, freyja, ganymede, george r.r. martin, grover underwood, hebe, iris, james branch cabell, kalki, koschei the deathless, leshy, nereids, nymphs, odin, pleiades, poictesme, reynard the fox, romeo and juliet, sleep no more, tezcatlipoca, the chalice of the gods, the innocent sleep, the silver stallion, titania, toupan, valhalla, yaotl | 1 Comment

You’ve Got a Fiend in Me

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Nathan

I wrote a bit about the Four Fiends from Final Fantasy before, but I’ve since thought of more to say. Four of the main bosses in the first games, they’re associated with the four classical elements, and are causing the destruction … Continue reading →

Posted in Babylonian, Buddhism, Comics, Dragon Quest, Fairy Tales, Final Fantasy, Focus on the Foes, Games, Gender, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, Humor, Judaism, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Religion, Technology, Video Games, Zoroastrianism | Tagged 8-bit theater, ahriman, archfiends, bahamut, baramos, barbariccia, cagnazzo, cecil harvey, cerberus, chaos, classical elements, dante alighieri, demons, dhuran, dinosaurs, divine comedy, dragon quest ii, dragon quest iii, dragon quest vi, dragons, dualhead hydra, dungeons and dragons, dwarves, echidna, elemental fiends, enuma elish, excalibur, final fantasy iii, final fantasy iv, final fantasy iv the after years, final fantasy ix, final fantasy mystic quest, final fantasy stranger of paradise, final fantasy vi, flamerus rex, four fiends, four heavenly kings, game boy advance, gardner fox, garland, gary gygax, general beatrix, golbez, golems, guardians of terra, gutsco, hans christian andersen, hydra, ice golem, inferno, kaimeiji yuu, kain highwind, kali, kary, kingdom of baron, kraken, kuja, land turtle, lich, light warriors, lilith, lufenia, malebranche, mara, marduk, marilith, mermaids, mortamor, mount ordeals, nagas, orthros, pazuzu, phylactery, quena quen, ramayana, robots, rubicante, salamanders, scarmiglione, siddhartha gautama, skullrus rex, stone golem, tataka, the little mermaid, the sword of the sorcerer, tiamat, time loops, titans, twinhead wyvern, two-headed dragon, ultros, vile four, wyverns, yang fang leiden, zidane tribal, zoma, zuh | 4 Comments

The Teacher in the Woods

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Nathan

I thought it might make sense to take a closer look at some of the stories included in Yoshi Yoshitani’s Beneath the Moon that I wasn’t already familiar with, and the Banjhakri seemed appropriate for the Halloween season. He’s scary … Continue reading →

Posted in Animism, Art, Hinduism, Language, Magic, Medicine, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Religion | Tagged banhakrini, banjhakri, banjhakri falls, beneath the moon, dhyangro, hanuman, jhakri, lemlemey, shamanism, shiva, yeti, yoshi yoshitani | Leave a comment

Category Archives: Hinduism

The Academic Abyss

Sometimes a Flying Cigar Is Just a Flying Cigar

Love the Craft

I’ve Been All Around the World

Jinn and Tonic

Famous Monsters of Bookland

Madam Lucifer, You Never Looked So Sane

Where a God Can Be a Kid

You’ve Got a Fiend in Me

The Teacher in the Woods

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