Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley The author of the classic horror novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus also wrote other things. This chapbook from Union Square & Co. reprints one of her short stories and an essay she wrote. “The Mortal Immortal” is a memoir by a fictional student of… Continue reading Book Review: Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales
Tag: Great Britain
Movie Review: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Movie Review: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) directed by Peter R. Hunt James Bond (George Lazenby), agent of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, is a bit at loose ends. He’s spent the last two years trying to track down Ernst Stavros Blofeld (Telly Savalas) with no luck. M (Bernard Lee) would like 007 to move on… Continue reading Movie Review: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Book Review: The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
Book Review: The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime by Judith Flanders Great Britain in the Nineteenth Century underwent massive transformation in technology and culture, particularly during the reign of Queen Victoria, who lent her name to an entire era. This book looks specifically at murders… Continue reading Book Review: The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
Book Review: The Empire of the Ants
Book Review: The Empire of the Ants by H.G. Wells In addition to his famous longer works like The War of the Worlds, Herbert George Wells also wrote a number of speculative fiction short stories. What I’m reviewing today is a collection published by Scholastic Book Services (and mostly sold at school book fairs) which… Continue reading Book Review: The Empire of the Ants
Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries
Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler While stories that could be considered “mysteries” in some sense have existed as long as writing, and perhaps a bit before, the short story mystery came into its own during the lifetime of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This volume collects forty-nine notable stories from… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries
Movie Review: The Gorgon
Movie Review: The Gorgon (1964) directed by Terence Fisher It is 1908, and the police state of Van Dorf has had seven unsolved murders in five years. When painter Bruno Heizt’s (Jeremy Longhurst) model and lover turns up dead and himself hanged, the police, led by Inspector Kanof (Patrick Troughton), are quick to call it murder-suicide.… Continue reading Movie Review: The Gorgon
Book Review: The Unsleeping Eye
Book Review: The Unsleeping Eye by D.G. Compton (also published as “The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe” and “Death Watch”) It is the near future year of 2006, and things have changed in Britain. Marriages are now licensed for five years, after which either party can refuse to renew. Most fatal diseases have been eradicated, which means… Continue reading Book Review: The Unsleeping Eye
Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II
Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II edited by Ross E. Lockhart It’s spooky stuff month again, so I sat down with this thick volume (24 stories) of tales inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft for a couple of weeks. This is a sequel to The Book of Cthulhu that I reviewed earlier on… Continue reading Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II
Movie Review: The Mask of Fu Manchu
Movie Review: The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) directed by Charles Brabin Once again, representatives of the British Museum, led by Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant), plan to rob a tomb and steal another country’s treasures. Now ordinarily that would make them seem like bad guys. But as Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) explains, in London, shorn… Continue reading Movie Review: The Mask of Fu Manchu
Comic Book Review: Bunty Picture Story Library #242: Tina the Tester
Comic Book Review: Bunty Picture Story Library #242: Tina the Tester art by Tony Speer Bunty was a weekly British comic paper for working class girls under the age of 14, which ran from 1958-2001. It primarily focused on serialized stories with teenage girls as the protagonists, dealing with school, jobs, family issues, and sometimes… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Bunty Picture Story Library #242: Tina the Tester