Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory

As many of you who know me, know, I am a eagre booster of Comrade Iain Banks and his fine output of novels.  To those who read science fiction to any extent, you will know him, and perhaps praise him, though I know there are many revilers out there, with reasons understandable, for disliking Iain [...]

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The Sumatran Tiger Beetle

 EXCERPT FROM “A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE INSECTS OF SUMATRA” by Simeon Van Berger Op Zoom, translated by Jules Fischer, published in Britain by Random House, 1958. In general it is the size of Sumatran insects that is most remarkable, rather then any general deadliness to the species of man; the density, humidity and [...]

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The Carcaphane

The cacarphane is first mentioned by name in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, Book 8, wherein he describes it as a “four-footed beast, twelve cubits long, possessed of great teeth like a saw, a thick black tongue and a tail, both like rope. It has thick scales upon its back, and short black fur along [...]

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