TV Trailer ~ Fear the Walking Dead

Can't get enough? Fear the Walking Dead starts next week . . . .

Imaginarium ~ The Druid's Thought

Word of the Day -- Solar Eclipse

As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse is a type of eclipse that occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks ("occults") the Sun. This can happen only at new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth in an alignment referred to as syzygy. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses, only part of the Sun is obscured.

Daily Dose of Literature: Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Who doesn't love pirates?

Okay, maybe ninjas don't love pirates, but it's largely because of Robert Louis Stevenson that most of us love pirates. Stevenson was responsible for some of the most classic adventure and Gothic Romance (read: early horror) stories of the late 19th century and certainly deserves notice as one of the grandfathers of what we would eventually come to know as the pulps.

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 to a long line of lighthouse engineers, and his mother's family included gentry, physicians, preachers, and marine engineers. Young Robert was well educated both in formal schools and via private tutors, eventually entering the University of Edinburgh in 1867 to pursue engineering. This was a field he quickly discovered he had no interest in pursuing, eventually being attracted to the humanities: art, drama, and writing.

By 1873, Robert had surrounded himself with a circle of many important writers, including Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, and Leslie Stephen.  These people became exceptionally important to Robert, both in terms of his writing and his career as a writer. He spent most of the rest of his life traveling the world, attempting to settle both in the UK and the United States but never finding satisfaction in one place. He did eventually marry a woman named Fanny, a divorcee with two children of her own, but it wasn't until 1890 at the very end of his life that he finally settled down on an estate in Samoa.

Stevenson struggled with health issues his entire life, with notable failings in 1873 and 1879. In 1894, he died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage while trying to open a bottle of wine. His last words, spoken to his wife, were, "What's that? Does my face look strange?"

Stevenson left an important literary legacy. In addition to volumes of travelogues, letters and memoirs, he is probably best known for three novels: Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Treasure Island. The influence these works alone have had on popular literature cannot be understated--Treasure Island is the core influence for an entire genre of pirate stories that have arrived on the scene in the ensuing 150 years or so. Without it there would be no Errol Flynn and no Pirates of the Caribbean. Jekyll and Hyde, on the other hand, is the inspiration for a slew of works unto itself--where would the Incredible Hulk be without this tale?

In modern scholarship, Robert Louis Stevenson has been mentioned alongside such notable figures as H. Rider Haggard, Joseph Conrad, Henry James and Edgar Allen Poe.

More about Robert Louis Stevenson

• Robert Louis Stevenson on Wikipedia
• The Robert Louis Stevenson Website
• The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson on Feedbooks (in multiple formats) 

Holloways: Roads Tunneled Into the Earth by Time

Wow, this is some evocative stuff for the next time you've got a party trekking through the woods!!!

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/holloways-roads-tunneled-into-the-earth-by-time

Daily Cosplay

Movie Trailer ~ Through the Looking Glass

From Inzae

Inzaa first brought the Insilmin into the world to help shape it and make of it the shapes she desired, and to hold these things in place for Inzaa’s creations were imperfect and lacked symmetry and fell back into the chaos. Many other creatures were created, destroyed, cast out or hid in the crannies and crevices of the world to avoid The Dragon’s ire. Inzaa came to rely ever more on the Insilmin to create and hold together what she desired and so taught them her language and what she could of Fyensigg’s. 

Armor Up

Then we Will Fight in the Shade

Word of the Day -- Epaulet

An epaulet is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. In several European armies epaulettes are also worn by all ranks of elite or ceremonial units when on parade.

Epaulets are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the underside of the epaulet passing through holes in the shoulder of the coat. Colloquially, any shoulder straps with marks are also called epaulets. The placement of the epaulet, its color and the length and diameter of its bullion fringe are used to signify the wearer's rank. At the join of the fringe and the shoulderpiece is often a metal piece in the form of a crescent. Although originally worn in the field, epaulets are now normally limited to dress or ceremonial military uniforms.