Manga Review: Smashed by Junji Ito Who’s ready for another big collection of horrific tales from one of Japan’s best scary manga creators? I know I am! The volume opens with “Bloodsucking Darkness” about a girl with an eating disorder and the well-meaning boy who tries to help her with his swarm of vampire bats.… Continue reading Manga Review: Smashed
Tag: animal abuse
Book Review: Torture Trail
Book Review: Torture Trail by Max Brand The man calling himself Sammy Day (better known to many as “The Joker”) is tough. He shoots fast and straight, can lick a man twice his size in a fist fight, and is a winning poker player who knows how to cheat to lose as well. Yes, he’s tough. But he’s… Continue reading Book Review: Torture Trail
Book Review: The Spider #08: The Mad Horde
Book Review: The Spider #08: The Mad Horde edited by Rich Harvey Quick recap: The Spider is a violent vigilante who battles master criminals in 1930s America. He is secretly wealthy amateur criminologist Richard Wentworth, who believes there are some criminals the police simply aren’t equipped to deal with. The Spider brands his kills with… Continue reading Book Review: The Spider #08: The Mad Horde
Manga Review: The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol. 1
Manga Review: The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol. 1 by Kore Yamazaki Chise Hatori has had a rough life. Her father ran off with her little brother, her mother committed suicide (probably), and her ability to see magical creatures got her bullied and abandoned. She was on the verge of suicide when Chise was approached by… Continue reading Manga Review: The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol. 1
Manga Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood 01
Manga Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood 01 by Hirohiko Araki Centuries ago in Mexico, an offshoot of the Aztecs discovered a method of attaining eternal life through the consumption of human blood. They ruled supreme for a while, then abruptly vanished from the pages of history. One of their mysterious stone masks… Continue reading Manga Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood 01
Book Review: Oliver Twist
Book Review: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens An anonymous woman stumbles into a village about seventy-five miles from London, heavily pregnant and with her shoes in tatters. She collapses in the street, and is taken to the parochial workhouse. There, she gives birth to a boy and then perishes, seemingly leaving no clue to who… Continue reading Book Review: Oliver Twist
Book Review: Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror
Book Review: Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz While the term “penny dreadfuls” proper belongs to a particular type of inexpensive newsprint periodical, as explained in the introduction to this volume, the twenty stories chosen here can all be described as lowbrow sensationalist literature written for those seeking thrills in their… Continue reading Book Review: Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror
Book Review: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Book Review: Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Tom is a good man, a Christian man. Tom is kind, hard-working, trustworthy, intelligent (though barely educated) and honest. He’s respected by his colleagues, a faithful husband to Chloe and a loving father. But Uncle Tom is also a slave, and all his positive qualities mean… Continue reading Book Review: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau
Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells Edward Prendick, a young man of independent means, decides to take a natural history sea voyage (ala Charles Darwin) aboard the Lady Vain. Somewhere in the Pacific, that ship crashed into a derelict and was lost. Prendick and two other men managed to escape in a… Continue reading Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau
Book Review: The Hugo Winners Volume 5 1980-1982
Book Review: The Hugo Winners Volume 5 1980-1982 edited by Isaac Asimov The Hugo Awards are given out every year by the membership of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon.) This series of books from 1986 collected the winners in the three short fiction categories: Novella (17,500-40,000 words), Novelette (7,500-17,500 words) and Short Story (less… Continue reading Book Review: The Hugo Winners Volume 5 1980-1982