Comic Book Review: Marvel Preview #16 & 21

Comic Book Review: Marvel Preview #16 & 21 by various creators Marvel Preview was a black & white comic book magazine distributed through newsstands starting in 1975 for 24 issues before being retitled Bizarre Adventures for another ten issues. It was an “umbrella title” like DC’s Showcase, with a different theme or major character in… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Marvel Preview #16 & 21

Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 9: What Prevails

Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 9: What Prevails edited by Mary Francois Rockcastle It is time again to look at Hamline University’s annual literary magazine. This issue is from 2006. It’s dedicated to Frederick Busch, author of Girls, who had visited the university shortly before his death the previous year. The subtitle, borrowed from one… Continue reading Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 9: What Prevails

Book Review: Riley and the Great War

Book Review: Riley and the Great War by James Anderson O’Neal Jim hasn’t had much contact with his grandfathers over the years; Grandpa Jimmy was often absent without explanation, and Riley was even more remote, seldom talking even when he was present. But now that Jimmy is dead, Riley has a present for his writing-ambitious… Continue reading Book Review: Riley and the Great War

Book Review: The Halloween Tree

Book Review: The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury Eight boys are out in costume tonight, looking for Halloween fun. Skeleton, witch, ape-man and so many more. Eight boys, but it should be nine. Where is Pipkin, merriest of the lot? He is taken, vanished into the darkness. What can be done? They must search for… Continue reading Book Review: The Halloween Tree

Book Review: The Beast with Five Fingers

Book Review: The Beast with Five Fingers by W.F. Harvey W.F. Harvey (1885-1937) was born in Yorkshire, of Quaker family, and became a doctor. However, his health was poor and he was often unable to practice, so he wrote short stories on the side, many of them falling generally into the “weird” category. This volume… Continue reading Book Review: The Beast with Five Fingers

Book Review: In the Blood

Book Review: In the Blood by Delia Remington Most of what you know about Marie Antoinette is wrong. For starters, she was and is a vampire. The French Revolution wasn’t about taxes or food, it was about wiping out the vampires that had taken over the French nobility. The “Marie” that was beheaded was a mind-controlled double. The real Marie… Continue reading Book Review: In the Blood

Book Review: Toughest in the Legion: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 2

Book Review: Toughest in the Legion: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 2 by Theodore Roscoe Thibault Corday is in his eighties now, and enjoying his retirement in Northern Africa, but his beard is still cinnamon-colored, and his memory is sharp. If you come to the cafe and he likes you, Monsieur Corday will spin you a tale of his days in the French Foreign Legion. This volume… Continue reading Book Review: Toughest in the Legion: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 2

Comic Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards

Comic Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards by Jim Ottaviani & Big Time Attic It is the Gilded Age, a time of prosperity for some, and the advancement of knowledge.  Science is making great steps forward, but so is entrepreneurship, seeking any way to make a fast buck.  Professor O.C. Marsh, a paleontologist, and… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards

Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA

Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA by William Souder When John James Audubon arrived in Philadelphia in 1824, he carried with him a portfolio of beautiful bird paintings he hoped to turn into a book, and a backstory of childhood in Louisiana, being the… Continue reading Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA

Book Review: Code Name Verity

Book Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein In a Gestapo cell somewhere in Vichy France, a captured spy has been broken.  She writes a story telling of her secret mission, but in order to do that, she must first tell of the friendship between ATA pilot Maddie and SOE wireless operator Queenie.   The years… Continue reading Book Review: Code Name Verity