Alex and Nick's Fantasy Elements

talking horse

Barbarian

trolls (with clubs)

treasure

goblins

king

wolves in the forest

heroes 

darksome woods

misty mountains

icy bridge

epic human vs troll war

giant spiders

swords

wizard

facing the beast

quest

dwarf masons

killing a beast task set by father

frozen winds

Vampires

This week, instead of Interview, I listened to the audio book of Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend". It is a vampire story with a completely different kind of vampire. These vampires have many resemblances to zombies in their behavior. There is only one 'talking' vampire through most of the book, and he poses as a main antagonist. 

I Read the book after I saw the movie, after I saw it in a bookstore. I'm familiar with Hollywood's way of butchering literature into movies - turns out "I Am Legend" (as in the movie released in 2007) wasn't their first attempt. Before the 2007 take was "The Last Man on Earth" and "Omega Man". I haven't seen either, but I've heard Omega Man came closest to representing the book. 

The 2007 film had about a 1-2% similarity with the book. Knowing Hollywood, I wasn't too suprised - I actually enjoyed the movie for what it was, even if the ending was completely different. I thought the book's ending made more sense for the title. 

Zombies

Zombies are some of my favorite things in the world. For me the appeal is the question 'how would I survive?'. It's an interesting puzzle. The rules of the game depend on what kind of zombies and the stage of the outbreak. 

I haven't gotten very far into Pride + Zombies yet, but my first impression is I may like the book. It looks like zombie bits have been integrated with the original book, seamlessly. I haven't read the original, so I'm not sure which parts are original and which aren't. It's at least entertaining. The zombies are the classic 'slow, stupid, and easy to kill' sort. Even they can be dangerous in large numbers. 

I thought it interesting that only servants seem to die. 

Monsters

I read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was fairly short, but dense. I didn't really like it. The old language made it a difficult read, and I felt like I was grinding through it.