Book Review: The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf It is a beautiful day in rural Switzerland, sunny and warm–a good day for a christening. As the guests digest the first part of the feast, one of them notices an anomalous piece of wood built into one of the window frames. The infant’s grandfather tells the… Continue reading Book Review: The Black Spider
Tag: sexism
Book Review: One of Our Asteroids is Missing | The Twisted Men
Book Review: One of Our Asteroids is Missing | The Twisted Men by Robert Silverberg (writing as Calvin M. Knox) and A. E. Van Vogt, respectively. This is another Ace Double, two books in one, upside down from each other. According to Larry Niven, during the 1960s Ace Books was known for being particularly skinflint… Continue reading Book Review: One of Our Asteroids is Missing | The Twisted Men
Book Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Book Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon by Vargo Statten When marine paleontologist Dr. Carl Maia’s expedition into the Amazon rain forest discovers a unique fossil, which looks like a webbed hand, he asks for a full expedition to the area by his colleagues at the Morajo Institute of Marine Biology. He is joined by… Continue reading Book Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1 Comic books were still a very new thing in 1940, and the publishers were still trying to figure out what there was a market for. Science fiction themes seemed popular, so Fiction House created the pulp-inspired Planet Comics to appeal to fans of rockets and aliens.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1
Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries
Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler The title of this volume is slightly misleading; “locked room” stands in for the general idea of impossible crimes in mystery stories. A man is found stabbed in the back in a windowless room with the door locked from the inside.… Continue reading Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Wonder Woman Volume 4
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Wonder Woman Volume 4 Edited by Robert Kanigher Wonder Woman was not the first female superhero in comics, nor even the first not to be a male character’s sidekick. But she was the first to get her own ongoing solo series, and designed to be an equal to the male… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Wonder Woman Volume 4
Movie Review: All-American Co-Ed
Movie Review: All-American Co-Ed The movie starts with chorus girls’ feet and legs kicking behind the title sequence. Then the camera is pulled back and we discover that the “chorus girls” are all men. The Zeta Fraternity of all-male Quinceton University are putting on a drag revue. Matilda Collinge (Esther Dale) sees a description (but… Continue reading Movie Review: All-American Co-Ed
Book Review: Insurrections of the Mind
Book Review: Insurrections of the Mind edited by Franklin Foer Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. The copy I read was an uncorrected proof, and changes will be made in the final edition. (Specifically, a second introduction by Leon Wieseltier–an index may also be forthcoming.)… Continue reading Book Review: Insurrections of the Mind
Movie Review: Let’s Go Collegiate (1941)
Movie Review: Let’s Go Collegiate (1941) The Kappa Psi Delta fraternity on the Rawley University campus is abuzz with excitement. They’re getting a new frat brother and member of the rowing team, Bob Terry, who was a champion stroke at his prep school. No one’s ever seen a picture of him, but with his help,… Continue reading Movie Review: Let’s Go Collegiate (1941)
Book Review: The Dumb Gods Speak
Book Review: The Dumb Gods Speak by E. Phillips Oppenheim In 1937, the dying genius Mark Humberstone bequeaths his marvelous inventions to a Council of Seven to be used in the service of peace. Shortly thereafter, the United States grants independence to the Philippines. When the Japanese attempt to invade the newly freed islands, their… Continue reading Book Review: The Dumb Gods Speak