Needful Things – Wanton Madness

King-a-ding-dong-freakin’-DING! The Stephen King bell tolls yet again, this time for the residents of Castle Rock, Maine. Hoo boy, folks, they’re in for it! When a new shop opens on their main (or Maine) road, the town’s secrets snowball into a monstrous, nigh-unstoppable boulder that threatens to wreck the lives of anyone in its path.…

The Institute – Talented and Grifted

You guys will never guess where Stephen King is taking us next, folks. That’s right, Maine! Specifically, in the deep woods of our only single-syllable state, there’s a mysterious compound where children with special powers are imprisoned and used for their talents in nefarious ways. The Institute is a dark subversion of the magic school…

Malazan Didn’t Change, But I Sure Did

If you passed through Iowa City in the mid-2010s, you might encounter a lanky, baseball-hatted kid in a tie-dye Hawkeyes sweatshirt (me) loping alongside his giant afroed friend Ryan, yapping about fantasy books and other nerdy potpourri. To be fair, that is a likely sighting on any liberal arts college campus, but it’s where today’s…

Quill To Live Crossword: Grayscale

QTL readers, welcome back to the grid! I'm publishing crosswords on a highly irregular basis now, and I've had this one in the queue for months. Get to solving, or don't. I'm not your dad! QTL Crossword: Grayscale Need More?! For more puzzles, subscribe to my newsletter, The New Dork Times. It's now completely free, with three…