Movie Review: Beast from Haunted Cave

Gypsy and Gil bond at the top of the ski lift.

Movie Review: Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) directed by Monte Hellman Deadwood, South Dakota may have had a wild reputation back in the day, but in modern times, it’s a quiet tourist town. It’s the sort of place you might go for a ski vacation if your budget doesn’t run to Aspen. And that’s why entrepreneur… Continue reading Movie Review: Beast from Haunted Cave

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: Monster from Green Hell

Monster not to scale.

Movie Review: Monster from Green Hell (1957) directed by Kenneth G. Crane The Space Race is on, but before a human can be shot into orbit, the risks need to be assessed. Therefore, the United States has put scientists Dr. Quent Brady (Jim Davis) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffith) in charge of a program for… Continue reading Movie Review: Monster from Green Hell

Magazine Review: Oriental Stories Winter 1932

Magazine Review: Oriental Stories Winter 1932 edited by Farnsworth Wright Oriental Stories was a mostly-quarterly pulp magazine published from 1930-1933, with a name change to The Treasure Chest Magazine for an additional year. Its remit, as you might have guessed from the title, was tales of the exotic, mysterious East, from Islamic North Africa through… Continue reading Magazine Review: Oriental Stories Winter 1932

Book Review: Enter the Jackal

Cover by Krocker Klaus

Book Review: Enter the Jackal by Jonathan W. Sweet As you may have noticed by now, I’m a fan of the pulps. But I’m certainly not the most enthusiastic one, or most knowledgeable. Some folks have made the pulp magazines their main focus. Jonathan W. Sweet runs a reprint press, Brick Pickle Pulp, and does… Continue reading Book Review: Enter the Jackal

Movie Review: The Shooting

Billy Spear looks down on you.

Movie Review: The Shooting (1966) directed by Monte Hellman Former bounty hunter turned miner Willett Gashade (Warren Oates) returns to his diggings somewhere in Utah to discover that his partner Leland has been shot dead, his brother Coigne is missing, and the less than bright Coley (Will Hutchins) doesn’t understand why this happened or who did… Continue reading Movie Review: The Shooting

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad edited by John P. Gunnison This time around, the focus is on the French Foreign Legion stories of Warren Hastings Miller originally published in Blue Book magazine back in the late 1920s. As I’ve discussed before, tales of the Legion were a popular subgenre of pulp… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Book Review: Heller with a Gun

Book Review: Heller with a Gun by Louis L’Amour King Mabry has a reputation. Some of it’s earned. He indeed is a fearsome man when holding a gun, having killed eleven men “not counting Indians.” But he’s at pains to point out that those men were all armed and facing him at the time. Mabry’s… Continue reading Book Review: Heller with a Gun

Comic Book Review: Sword Princess Amaltea #1

Comic Book Review: Sword Princess Amaltea #1 by Natalia Batista Princess Amaltea of the Queendom of the Green Highlands has always been overshadowed by her elder sister, Princess Dorotea. Since their society practices primogeniture through the female line, Dorotea is the heir to Queen Galatea. If Amaltea wants a queendom, she must find a prince… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Sword Princess Amaltea #1

Book Review: Swords Against Death

Book Review: Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber Fafhrd is a tall barbarian from the Northern lands; the Grey Mouser is a relatively short and sneaky fellow who doesn’t know exactly where he was born, but has always lived in cities. They’re best friends, seeking treasure and adventure both in the fabled city of Lankhmar… Continue reading Book Review: Swords Against Death