Book Review: Cooked to Death

Book Review: Cooked to Death edited by Rhonda Gilliland and Michael Allan Mallory Let’s return to the world of themed anthologies, a quick way to get a sample of various authors writing on a particular topic. In this case, it’s primarily Minnesota and other Midwestern writers doing crime and mystery short stories around the topic… Continue reading Book Review: Cooked to Death

Anime Review: Pluto

Gesicht confronts the darkness in his own past.

Anime Review: Pluto On an alternate Earth where robotics technology is far more advanced than our own, self-aware robots have spread into almost every facet of society. Some are virtually indistinguishable from humans, and in recent years, robots have been granted at least some civil rights. But some robots are more powerful than others, with… Continue reading Anime Review: Pluto

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler While stories that could be considered “mysteries” in some sense have existed as long as writing, and perhaps a bit before, the short story mystery came into its own during the lifetime of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This volume collects forty-nine notable stories from… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Movie Review: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Aunty Entity oversees the trial by combat.

Movie Review: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) directed by George Miller It has been a number of years since Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) somehow evaded the remainder of Lord Humungus’ raiders at the end of The Road Warrior. How many years? Uhh…look! He’s got camels now! And a monkey! But not for long, as an aviator named… Continue reading Movie Review: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Movie Review: Mr. Nice Guy (1997)

Jackie gets a little too close to a buzzsaw.

Movie Review: Mr. Nice Guy (1997) directed by Sammo Kam-Bo Hung The place is Melbourne, Australia. Reporter Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and her cameraman Richard (Peter Houghton) were secretly filming a drug deal between suit and tie mobsters lead by Giancarlo (Richard Norton) and the more street gang “Demons” led by Grank (Peter Lindsay) when the deal… Continue reading Movie Review: Mr. Nice Guy (1997)

Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories

Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories edited by Rogers Terrill This collection of exciting tales of action and bravery plucked from the pages of Argosy, the long-running pulp magazine, is most notable for only choosing from those printed between 1946 and 1952, when the collection was published. Thus it had, at the time,… Continue reading Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Max and Furiosa don't get along at first.

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) directed by George Miller It’s been some years since we last saw Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy). He’s almost unrecognizable as the same person. By now, there are adults who were born after the fall of the previous civilization and have no memory of what once was. Max’s mental state… Continue reading Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Movie Review: Mad Max

Max goes hunting.

Movie Review: Mad Max (1979) directed by George Miller It is “a few years from now” and things aren’t looking good for the Victoria province of Australia. Oil supplies are drying up, economic woes are accelerating, and violent motorcycle gangs operate virtually unopposed. The Main Force Police patrol the highways, but they’re underfunded and undermanned. To… Continue reading Movie Review: Mad Max

Book Review: The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island

Book Review: The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island by Lukas Krueger Johnathan Zhang isn’t content with being a crimelord. True, he has substantial power in the underworld of Hong Kong, and has never been arrested for his many murders due to his habit of leaving no witnesses. But he wants more, and a certain… Continue reading Book Review: The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island

Movie Review: The Road Warrior (1981)

Max "enjoys" an air evac.

Movie Review: The Road Warrior (1981) directed by George Miller (aka Mad Max 2) The effects of nuclear war, climate change, civil unrest and overreliance on fossil fuels has resulted in the collapse of Australian civilization, making the cities unlivable. Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) had already begun wandering the wastelands before the final crisis after the former… Continue reading Movie Review: The Road Warrior (1981)