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

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

Book Review: Crime and Punishment

Book Review: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is a law student, allegedly.  When we meet him, Raskolnikov has not been to class in some time, nor has he worked at his part-time tutoring job.  For the last few weeks he’s been just brooding in his tiny room (several months behind on… Continue reading Book Review: Crime and Punishment

Comic Book Review: Judge Anderson: Anderson, Psi-Division

Comic Book Review: Judge Anderson: Anderson, Psi-Division written by Alan Grant and John Wagner, art by various. The Judge Dredd series in 2000 AD has spawned quite a few interesting supporting characters in  forty-plus years, several of whom have gone on to their own solo adventures.  One of the most popular has been Judge Anderson.  Full… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Judge Anderson: Anderson, Psi-Division

Book Review: The Sea-Wolf

Book Review: The Sea-Wolf by Jack London Today is an ill-omened day.  It began with a heavy fog in San Francisco Harbor, and the ferry carrying literary critic Humphrey Van Weyden colliding with another ship.  He managed to get into a life jacket, but was swept away from the other survivors by a freak tide… Continue reading Book Review: The Sea-Wolf

Movie Review: Tokyo Gore School

Movie Review: Tokyo Gore School Fujiwara leads a double life.  He’s the leader of a gang of high school bullies, and also the teacher-trusted student president.  He’s reasonably comfortable with this, having a binary view of life.  There are winners and losers, and he’s determined to be a winner.   Fujiwara is baffled, however, when… Continue reading Movie Review: Tokyo Gore School