Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3

Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3 by Robert Bloch Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a prolific author of horror, science fiction and mystery works. (You may have seen, read or at least heard of Psycho.) This volume, originally “Selected Stories” and by no means complete, features 39 stories published between 1960 and… Continue reading Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3

Comic Book Review: Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Volumes 1&2

Comic Book Review:  Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Volumes 1 & 2 edited by Kristy Quinn Wonder Woman is a favorite character of many comics readers, but her regular series often disappoints.  The powers that be will assign writers that are a poor fit, or a promising storyline will be derailed by needing to tie… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Volumes 1&2

Magazine Review: Wonder Stories January 1934

Magazine Review: Wonder Stories January 1934 editor-in-chief Hugo Gernsback Wonder Stories was one of the first dedicated science fiction magazines, started up after Hugo Gernsback lost control of Amazing Stories.  It started in 1929 as two magazines titled Air Wonder Stories and Science Wonder Stories before being consolidated in 1930. He held onto it until 1936 when financial considerations made him sell it to Beacon Magazines. They… Continue reading Magazine Review: Wonder Stories January 1934

Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader

Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader edited by H.L. Gold Galaxy Magazine had a decent run with a lot of good stories, so it’s not surprising that even this fourth collection of fifteen science fiction reprints from the 1950s has a strong selection.  (I recognized almost all of these!)  There’s an introduction which runs down inferior… Continue reading Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader

Magazine Review: Fantastic Universe October 1955

Magazine Review: Fantastic Universe October 1955 edited by Leo Margulies Fantastic Universe was a digest-sized science fiction and fantasy magazine that ran from 1953 to 1960, originally coming out from King-Size Publications.  Its quality is considered to have fallen off after 1956, with lesser stories and more emphasis on pseudo-science articles, but this particular issue… Continue reading Magazine Review: Fantastic Universe October 1955

Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016

Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016 by various While I spend many of my comics-related posts on this  blog talking about the Big Two’s superhero comic books, there are a number of worthy small press comics companies that put out interesting material every year.  Oni Press has put out an affordable collection of… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016

Book Review: Rad Women Worldwide

Book Review: Rad Women Worldwide by Kate Schatz Right up front, I have to say that the title is the most annoying thing about this book.   Did anyone ever use “rad” as an adjective unironically?  That said, “radical” is not an unfair term to apply to many of the women whose short biographies are… Continue reading Book Review: Rad Women Worldwide

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: Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology

Book Review: Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer As the subtitle of this volume indicates, it’s a collection of 29 short stories written from a feminist perspective. There are selections from the 1960s through the 2000s–SF, fantasy, horror and a couple of stories that seem to… Continue reading Book Review: Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology

Book Review: The Martian Chronicles

Book Review: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury Once, Mars was a place of mystery.  Humans looked at it from the blue Earth with feeble telescopes, and imagined what life, if any, might inhabit that red dot in the sky.  Were there canals filled with water?  Bloodsucking tripod operators?  Beings that had never fallen from grace… Continue reading Book Review: The Martian Chronicles