Movie Review: Drunken Monkey (2003)

Movie Review: Drunken Monkey (2003) directed by Chia-Liang Liu Bill Man (Chia-Liang Liu) is the top rider for the Wa Biao delivery company. While on a job, he discovers that his brother Pao (Chen-Huan Chang) has been using their deliveries to facilitate opium smuggling. Pao feigns remorse, but promptly leads Bill into an ambush, as he’s… Continue reading Movie Review: Drunken Monkey (2003)

Book Review: Blade of Mad Vision

Book Review: Blade of Mad Vision by Danith McPherson Austin Swiftbrooke’s sister Skylar disappeared two years ago on the planet Callister. Practicing his fencing alone in the natural “arena” near the human colony without her seems hollow, but is a connection to her, and a way of showing he hasn’t given up hope Skylar’s alive.… Continue reading Book Review: Blade of Mad Vision

Book Review: Catfishing on CatNet

Book Review: Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer It is the not too distant future, a time of self-driving cars, drone package delivery, and robots teaching sex ed. Steph Taylor doesn’t think too much about technology, as she has other concerns in her life. Ever since she can remember, her mother has been moving them… Continue reading Book Review: Catfishing on CatNet

Movie Review: Cat People (1942)

Irena's fear of physical contact is putting a strain on her marriage to Oliver.

Movie Review: Cat People (1942) directed by Jacques Tourneur Marine engineer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), like many New Yorkers, enjoys visiting the Central Park Zoo. Today he found a new attraction, a pretty fashion sketch artist hanging around the black panther cage. She turns out to be a Serbian immigrant named Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) who… Continue reading Movie Review: Cat People (1942)

Magazine Review: The Masked Detective Spring 1942

This scene appears nowhere in the issue's stories.

Magazine Review: The Masked Detective Spring 1942 The Masked Detective is one of the lesser-known hero pulps, with a dozen quarterly issues between 1940 and 1943. The detective, usually just called “The Mask” in-story, was ace reporter Rex Parker for the New York Comet. He’d been persuaded by his girlfriend, society columnist Winnie Bligh, to… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Masked Detective Spring 1942

Manga Review: Dr. Slump Volume 6

Manga Review: Dr. Slump Volume 6 by Akira Toriyama Dr. Senbei Norimaki is an eccentric inventor who lives in the isolated Penguin Village. Because his machines are often defective or goofy-looking, he has the nickname Dr. Slump. One day, he decides to create a robot girl, which he names Arale. She’s remarkably human-looking (and needs… Continue reading Manga Review: Dr. Slump Volume 6

Comic Strip Review: Modesty Blaise: The Scarlet Maiden

Comic Strip Review: Modesty Blaise: The Scarlet Maiden Story by Peter O’Donnell, Art by Neville Colvin In 1945, an amnesiac little girl escaped from a Displaced Persons camp in Greece. After wandering around the post-war Mediterranean for a while, she was taken in by a Jewish Hungarian scholar named Lob, who gave her an education… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Modesty Blaise: The Scarlet Maiden

Magazine Review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2021

Magazine Review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2021 edited by Linda Landrigan In 1956, HSD Publications wanted to create a new mystery story magazine. To boost sales, they licensed the name of Alfred Hitchcock, a famous director who was then the host of a popular television show. While Mr. Hitchcock otherwise had nothing to do… Continue reading Magazine Review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2021

Book Review: Paperbacks from Hell

Book Review: Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a big boom in paperback horror books, which was helped along by some truly lurid cover art that told the potential reader right up front that this was a book about, say, flesh-eating rabbits. Horror writer and vintage paperback… Continue reading Book Review: Paperbacks from Hell

Magazine Review: Asimov’s Science Fiction May/June 2021

Magazine Review: Asimov’s Science Fiction May/June 2021 edited by Sheila Williams Back in 1977, Isaac Asimov was one of the top three or so science fiction writers in the world, and had a very strong personal brand. So when Davis Publications wanted to create a “name brand magazine” for science fiction like Ellery Queen Mystery… Continue reading Magazine Review: Asimov’s Science Fiction May/June 2021