Book Review: The Book of Van Vogt

Book Review: The Book of Van Vogt by A.E. van Vogt In 1972, DAW Books was a brand new publishing company started by noted speculative fiction editor Donald A. Wollheim.  Its mission statement was to publish quality science fiction books that had not previously appeared in paperback.  (As opposed to reprinting old books with a… Continue reading Book Review: The Book of Van Vogt

Book Review: The Big Time | The Mind Spider and Other Stories

Book Review: The Big Time | The Mind Spider and Other Stories by Fritz Leiber Have you ever noticed that something isn’t in the place you last remembered putting it?  That an event you remember happening one way is described as happening a different way in  the history books?  Perhaps you have suddenly felt that… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Time | The Mind Spider and Other Stories

Book Review: The Fall of the Towers

Book Review: The Fall of the Towers by Samuel R. Delany Five hundred years after the old civilizations perished in the Great Fire, the Toromon Empire occupies all the known livable space on Earth.   But they are hemmed in by deadly radioactive belts and there’s nowhere for it to grow.  And yet–and yet, the… Continue reading Book Review: The Fall of the Towers

Book Review: Out of the Dead City

Book Review: Out of the Dead City by Samuel R. Delany (originally published as “Captives of the Flame”) It has been about five hundred years since the Great Fire wiped out the old civilizations.  On the island of Toron, however, enough humans and records survived to begin again.  A settlement became a village became a… Continue reading Book Review: Out of the Dead City

Comic Book Review: Essential Ms. Marvel Vol. 1

Comic Book Review: Essential Ms. Marvel Vol. 1 by Various In 1976, Marvel Comics felt the time was right for another try at a overtly feminist superhero to appear in a solo book.  (Their first stab was 1973’s The Cat, who became Tigra.)  Someone, probably Gerry Conway, who would be the first writer on the series,… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Essential Ms. Marvel Vol. 1

Book Review: Perry Rhodan 10: The Ghosts of Gol

Book Review: Perry Rhodan 10: The Ghosts of Gol by Kurt Mahr Following clues retrieved from the distant past, Perry Rhodan continues to search for the secret of immortality.  Accordingly, the crew of Stardust II is searching a particular sector of the galaxy for structural anomalies.  Soon, they discover a particular signal coming from a supergiant… Continue reading Book Review: Perry Rhodan 10: The Ghosts of Gol

Magazine Review: Astounding Science-Fiction January 1946

Magazine Review: Astounding Science-Fiction January 1946 edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. Before Analog (see previous reviews), there was Astounding, the science fiction magazine that led the field for many years.  Having gotten a copy of an issue from the pulp days, let’s take a look at what wonders lie within.  Despite the cover date, the ads… Continue reading Magazine Review: Astounding Science-Fiction January 1946

Book Review: Superheroes

Book Review: Superheroes edited by Rich Horton Superheroes as we know them more or less started in the comic books of the late 1930s, with the most obvious first “true” superhero being Superman.  And comic books have largely shaped our perceptions of costumed superheroes ever since.  But sometimes prose is a perfectly acceptable way of… Continue reading Book Review: Superheroes

Book Review: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory

Book Review: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory by Thomas E. Sniegoski Disgraced doctor Jonas Chapel, on the run from the mob in Mexico, stumbles across a mysterious skeleton dripping a fluid that turns humans into monsters.  Soon thereafter Chapel’s back in New York, teaming up with the very gang boss who’d ordered the hit on… Continue reading Book Review: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory

Comic Book Review: The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume One

Comic Book Review: The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume One edited by Ian Sattler DC Comics has produced many fine characters in its superhero books over the decades, including iconic super-villains.  It can be a lot of fun watching the bad guys do things when their specific hero isn’t around to stop them.  Thus, in… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume One