TV Review: Doctor Who: The Two Doctors

Two and Six are going to have to put their heads together to get out of this fix!

TV Review: Doctor Who: The Two Doctors directed by Peter Moffat One of the fun things you can do in a long-running series about time travel that regularly replaces the main character’s actor is have “crossover” episodes where more than one version of that main character team up. Doctor Who had already done this with… Continue reading TV Review: Doctor Who: The Two Doctors

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: Pan’s Labyrinth

Ofelia descends into the heart of the labyrinth.

Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) directed by Guillermo del Toro (aka “El Labarinto del Fauno”} It is 1944, and elsewhere in Europe, the Allied troops recently landed in France on D-Day. But here in a remote mountainous region of Spain, Captain Vidal (Sergi López) and his men are hunting down the remnants of the Republicans who… Continue reading Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth

Book Review: Scarecrow

Book Review: Scarecrow edited by Rhonda Parrish This anthology is part of the “Magical Menageries” series, each volume focusing on a different type of critter. A previous volume, Corvidae, dealt with crows of various types. Thus it’s not surprising that there’s a collection featuring their archenemies. While the aesthetic of humanoid beings of straw lends… Continue reading Book Review: Scarecrow

Movie Review: Captain Blood (1935)

Bishop and Blood discuss their thorny relationship.

Movie Review: Captain Blood (1935) directed by Michael Curtiz When he was a wild Irish lad, Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) fought for the French against the Spanish, the Spanish against the French, and learned to sail with the Dutch. But with his earnings, he got training in the medical arts and retired from action to become… Continue reading Movie Review: Captain Blood (1935)

Book Review: Behind the Crimson Blind

Book Review: Behind the Crimson Blind by Carter Dickson Sir Henry Merrivale, brilliant amateur detective, barrister, baronet and holder of a medical degree, has had many exciting adventures in Britain, Europe and America. He feels that he’s earned a bit of a holiday, so he’s incognito on a flight to Tangier. Except that the very… Continue reading Book Review: Behind the Crimson Blind

Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories

Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories edited by Philip Van Doren Stern In his introduction, the editor talks about the thrill of adventure stories, how often they are churned out as cheap entertainment, and that he has selected twelve really good ones for the reader. This 1945 book was designed to be easily… Continue reading Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories

Comic Strip Review: Supersonic Girl

Supersonic Girl at a temporary loss.

Comic Strip Review: Supersonic Girl by Sandra Diaz In a world where superheroes exist, but are generally one or two to a city, Radio City’s hero is Supersonic Girl. In her civilian life, Supersonic Girl is high school student Sonia Rockwell. She likes listening to tunes, and hanging out with her nerdy friends Ralph and… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Supersonic Girl

Magazine Review: High Adventure #169: The Fort Terror Murders

This scene does not appear in the story.

Magazine Review: High Adventure #169: The Fort Terror Murders edited by John P. Gunnison The main feature in this pulp reprint originally appeared in Complete Detective Novel Magazine in December 1931, but the text comes from its reprint in Mystery Novels Magazine Quarterly in Summer 1932. Both magazines had relatively short runs, so it is… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #169: The Fort Terror Murders

Book Review: The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Vol. 1

Book Review: The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Vol. 1 Edited by James D. Jenkins & Ryan Cagle As has been mentioned in reviews on this blog before, there is a lot of literature from around the world published every year that English-only folks never get to read because it’s in other languages and… Continue reading Book Review: The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Vol. 1