Movie Review: Bloody Pit of Horror

Travis is a big man.

Movie Review: Bloody Pit of Horror (1965) directed by Massimo Pupillo, Italian title “Il Boia Scarlatto” (The Crimson Executioner) Horror paperback publisher Daniel Parks (Alfredo Rizzo) wants to have the covers of his next few books be photographs. So he and a small crew of models, photographer and writer are touring Italy for the exactly right… Continue reading Movie Review: Bloody Pit of Horror

Book Review: Head of a Traveler

Book Review: Head of a Traveler by Nicholas Blake (pen name of Cecil Day-Lewis) Nigel Strangeways, a writer and literary scholar when he isn’t being distracted by his private investigation work, is thrilled to have a chance to meet Robert Seaton, one of Britain’s greatest living poets. Plash Meadow, Seaton’s house, is in Oxfordshire near… Continue reading Book Review: Head of a Traveler

Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors

Cover by Don Ivan Punchatz

Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors edited by Groff Conklin and Noah D. Fabricant, M.D. While medical doctors are common and important in science fiction, stories directly about them or the field of medicine are a bit rarer. It was one magazine’s speculation that it would be difficult to fill an anthology with really… Continue reading Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors

Book Review: Fantastic Flops

Book Review: Fantastic Flops edited by Prof. Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed. Disclaimer: I contributed to the Kickstarter for this book. Despite the best efforts of producers, directors, writers, actors and all the varied crew members who work on them, sometimes movies don’t do well enough to be considered successful. Maybe they’re just bad, or had terrible… Continue reading Book Review: Fantastic Flops

Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023

Cover by Ivy Sanders Schneider, inspired by Adolph Dehn's cover for "The Liberator" December 1921 issue.

Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023 edited by Kiara Barrow and Rebecca Panovka This one’s a relatively new literary magazine, having started during the pandemic. The editorial slant appears to be socialist and class-conscious. Let’s see what this issue has to offer us. The opening editorial is on “Corrupt Organizations”, talking about the use and… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Drift Fall 2023

Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2

Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2 by Various Creators 2023 would have been Osamu Tezuka’s 95th birthday year, and in commemoration of the great manga and anime creator, this series was commissioned to show other artists’ take on his famous (and not so famous) works. For reasons, most of these were French and Spanish… Continue reading Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2

Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction & Fact January/February 2024

Cover art by Julie Dillon

Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction & Fact January/February 2024 edited by Trevor Quachri Let’s look at a recent issue of this long-running science fiction (and fact) magazine. The opening editorial by Howard V. Hendrix, “Machines Passing for People Passing for Machines”, which among other things discusses the Turing Test, where a simulated person tries to… Continue reading Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction & Fact January/February 2024

Movie Review: The Snorkel

The sinister snorkel!

Movie Review: The Snorkel (1958) directed by Guy Green Paul Decker (Peter van Eyck) has gotten away with murder before. Years ago, he murdered his wealthy friend Mr. Brown by drowning him in a boating “accident” so that he could marry the widow and her considerable inheritance, including an Italian villa near the French border. Now… Continue reading Movie Review: The Snorkel

Manga Review: Case Closed Volumes 83-86

Manga Review: Case Closed Volumes 83-86 by Gosho Aoyama Quick recap: Teen detective Shinichi Kudou (Jimmy Kudo in the dub) is shrunk into a pre-teen by an experimental poison. Until he can find a way to reverse the effects, he assumes the identity of Conan Edogawa. He still solves crimes, but it’s harder to get… Continue reading Manga Review: Case Closed Volumes 83-86

Comic Book Review: Astro City Metrobook 4

Comic Book Review: Astro City Metrobook 4 written by Kurt Busiek, art by Brent Anderson, covers by Alex Ross Astro City is filled with superheroes and supervillains. But it’s also filled with ordinary people trying to live their ordinary lives in an extraordinary world. Both these groups have stories to tell. This independent “universe” was… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Astro City Metrobook 4