Movie Review: Airplane! (1980) directed by Jim Abrahams Taxi driver Ted Striker (Robert Hays) has problems. A former pilot, he lost his self-confidence after a failed mission during “the war” which killed several of his comrades and he blames himself for. He’s been unable to hold a steady job and drifted from city to city. Today,… Continue reading Movie Review: Airplane! (1980)
Tag: Chicago
Book Review: Envy and the Geek
Book Review: Envy and the Geek by Natalie Falkenwrath “Hey, so there was this really cool show, High School Bites, about teen vampires, ten years, maybe it was fifteen years ago? Man, I’m getting old. Anyhow, it was one of those teen dramas on the CW or the WB, doubt it was the Disney Channel.… Continue reading Book Review: Envy and the Geek
Book Review: Dead Men’s Plans
Book Review: Dead Men’s Plans by Mignon G. Eberhart Sewal Blake is the stepdaughter of Julius Minary, the child of his first wife. Only a few years into their marriage, Sewal’s mother died, and Julius almost immediately remarried. She bore him a daughter, Amy, and a son, Reg, before passing away herself. Bereft and knowing… Continue reading Book Review: Dead Men’s Plans
Book Review: Halo in Brass
Book Review: Halo in Brass by Howard Browne (writing as John Evans) Paul PIne, private detective, is hired on a missing persons case. It seems that Laura Fremont, originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, has gone incommunicado in the big city of Chicago. Her plain rural parents are worried sick. The first obstacle pops up in that… Continue reading Book Review: Halo in Brass
Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction Science Fact December 1984
Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction Science Fact December 1984 edited by Stanley Schmidt Continuing to dig through my pile of stuff that I’ve been meaning to reread, I found this issue from the year I actually subscribed to Analog.. This was an indulgence as I was underemployed at the time, but a magazine in the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction Science Fact December 1984
Book Review: Rod String Nail Cloth
Book Review: Rod String Nail Cloth by T. Aaron Cisco The subtitle of this book is “An Afrofuturist Mixtape.” You can read more about Afrofuturism at this Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrofuturism but for the purposes of this review, it’s the intersection of speculative fiction with the African Diaspora experience and cultures, and in particular the experience… Continue reading Book Review: Rod String Nail Cloth
Book Review: World’s Best Science Fiction: Third Series
Book Review: World’s Best Science Fiction: Third Series edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr (also printed as “World’s Best Science Fiction 1967”) The introduction to this volume of science fiction stories from 1966 mentions that there was a tendency to longer stories in the field, perhaps because many of the ideas required more… Continue reading Book Review: World’s Best Science Fiction: Third Series
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952 edited by Ellery Queen This is the last issue of EQMM I have to hand, but someday I hope to get out to garage sales again…. “Homecoming” by Veronica Parker Johns was inspired, so the introduction says, by the Kefauver hearings and the author getting a much… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952
Book Review: Case File: FBI
Book Review: Case File: FBI by Mildred & Gordon Gordon, as “The Gordons” When FBI agent Zack Stewart is murdered, it’s a sure bet that it’s connected to one of the cases he was working. So it’s up to his old partner John “Rip” Ripley to take over the cases and figure out which one… Continue reading Book Review: Case File: FBI
Book Review: If This Goes On
Book Review: If This Goes On edited by Charles Nuetzel The “if this goes on” story is a staple of short science fiction. Pick a current trend like “women not wearing hats anymore” or “cat videos” and extend it out to an exaggerated conclusion. For example, the Robert Heinlein story of that name, which posits… Continue reading Book Review: If This Goes On