Book Review: The Case of the Mythical Monkeys by Erle Stanley Gardner Working as a secretary for scandalous writer Mauvis Meade was a pretty good gig for Gladys Doyle. She didn’t ask too many questions when Mauvis asked her to take a meeting at a ski resort with a Hollywood publicist. Her boss even gave… Continue reading Book Review: The Case of the Mythical Monkeys
Tag: Los Angeles
Movie Review: Lethal Weapon
Movie Review: Lethal Weapon (1987) directed by Richard Donner It’s Christmas time in the big city, and it seems the half-naked Amanda Hunsaker (Jackie Swanson) has already been partying a little too hardy as she takes a swan dive from her apartment balcony. Toxicology reports however reveal that her drugs were tampered with, and that makes… Continue reading Movie Review: Lethal Weapon
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021 edited by Janet Hutchings “The years keep coming and they just keep coming.” It seems like just a few months ago I reviewed a 75th anniversary issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, but in fact it was five years ago, and here’s the 80th anniversary issue. It’s… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021
Book Review: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 16
Book Review: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 16 edited by Stephen Jones Let’s go back to 2004 for what at least one editor considered excellent short horror fiction. As with the later volume I have reviewed, there’s a lot of ancillary material. It opens with an extended look at horror and horror-adjacent… Continue reading Book Review: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 16
Movie Review: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Movie Review: Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) directed by James Cameron In the near future year of 1995, two visitors from the slightly further future of 2029 arrive. One has been sent by the hostile artificial intelligence Skynet to kill the leader of the future Resistance, John Connor (Edward Furlong) while he is still a child,… Continue reading Movie Review: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Book Review: Murder in Blue
Book Review: Murder in Blue by Paul Petersen Eric Saveman, the man codenamed The Smuggler, has come a long way from his career bringing marijuana into California. Nowadays he works for ZED, a secret branch of the CIA that also works domestically. His current assignment is to infiltrate a Soviet computer facility and steal a… Continue reading Book Review: Murder in Blue
Book Review: Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak
Book Review: Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak by Lela E. Rogers Ginger Rogers enjoys her work as a night shift switchboard operator at the Seaview Arms, a fancy hotel on the West Coast. She’s good at customer service, and the constant variety of guest requests keeps her on her toes. Some… Continue reading Book Review: Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak
Magazine Review: High Adventure #170: Best of Science Fiction Stories
Magazine Review: High Adventure #170: Best of Science Fiction Stories edited by John P. Gunnison This volume of the long-running pulp reprint magazine dips into the pages of Science Fiction and Science Fiction Stories, a magazine that ran from 1939 to 1943 with the last two issues being under the latter name. As so often… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #170: Best of Science Fiction Stories
Book Review: The Caballero
Book Review: The Caballero by Johnston McCulley Don Fernando Venagas is close to the top of the social pecking order in Spanish California, and he knows it. He is, after all, a wealthy caballero of the pure aristocratic blood, skilled with both horse and sword. As such, he thinks little of those below his status.… Continue reading Book Review: The Caballero
Book Review: Nova 2
Book Review: Nova 2 edited by Harry Harrison In the introduction to this 1972 anthology, Mr. Harrison talks some about the internationalization of science fiction beyond North America and Western Europe. In recognition of this growing trend, he’s included a Brazilian author’s story. “Oh, and we have one story by a woman.” In reality, there… Continue reading Book Review: Nova 2