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
Tag: Chicago
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
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949 edited by Ellery Queen It’s time for another issue of this venerable mystery magazine. The cover this time is uncredited, and does not directly match any of the stories in the issue. “Double Exposure” by Ben Hecht opens the issue with a tale of a psychiatrist who… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine August 1949
Book Review: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters
Book Review: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters edited by Tim Marquitz & N.X. Sharps Like many a Godzilla fan, I have a fondness for movies where gigantic monsters rampage across the landscape. The fandom has more or less adopted the Japanese term for such monsters, kaiju. While the big critters have been a staples of… Continue reading Book Review: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters
Book Review: Lovecraft Country
Book Review: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff Atticus Turner knows about dangerous people. They’re everywhere, though some locations have more concentration of danger than others. If you go traveling, you have to bring a special map to show the safest places to eat and sleep. Of course, between those places the dangerous people could ambush… Continue reading Book Review: Lovecraft Country
Book Review: American Gothic
Book Review: American Gothic by Robert Bloch It’s so sad that G. Gordon Gregg’s wife died when she drunkenly set their house on fire. And just when things were looking up for the couple. Gregg has just completed creating a new transient apartment building with a castle-like facade and a thriving pharmacy on the ground… Continue reading Book Review: American Gothic
Comic Book Review: The Complete Al’s Baby
Comic Book Review: The Complete Al’s Baby written by John Wagner, art by Carlos Ezquerra Chi-Town in the near future has had a law enforcement crisis and is overrun with retro gangsters reminiscent of the Roaring Twenties. Possibly the most ferocious of these felons is Al “The Beast” Bestardi, top hitman and enforcer for the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Complete Al’s Baby
Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3
Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3 by Robert Bloch Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a prolific author of horror, science fiction and mystery works. (You may have seen, read or at least heard of Psycho.) This volume, originally “Selected Stories” and by no means complete, features 39 stories published between 1960 and… Continue reading Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3
Book Review: In the Blood
Book Review: In the Blood by Delia Remington Most of what you know about Marie Antoinette is wrong. For starters, she was and is a vampire. The French Revolution wasn’t about taxes or food, it was about wiping out the vampires that had taken over the French nobility. The “Marie” that was beheaded was a mind-controlled double. The real Marie… Continue reading Book Review: In the Blood
Book Review: Secondhand Origin Stories
Book Review: Secondhand Origin Stories by Lee Blauersouth Opal’s father should have been a superhero, but he used his powers to protect a neighbor illegally and wound up in jail. Ever since, Opal has kept her nose clean, excelling in school and decorum, in the hope of being licensed and redeeming the family name. Now… Continue reading Book Review: Secondhand Origin Stories