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: Nevada Smith (1966)

Max enjoys the products of civilization: canned peaches and the McGuffey Reader.

Movie Review: Nevada Smith (1966) directed by Henry Hathaway Max Sand (Steve McQueen) is the son of a failed prospector and his wife, a woman of the Kiowa tribe. While he’s out doing chores some miles from their house, Max is approached by three men. We will come to know them as Jessie Coe (Martin Landau),… Continue reading Movie Review: Nevada Smith (1966)

Movie Review: Universal Squadrons

Deakin confronts Peacemaker.

Movie Review: Universal Squadrons (2011) directed by Mark Millhone (also released as “Minuteman.”) Captain Lance Deakin (Riley Smith) has returned to his Texas ranch after a second hitch in Iraq as a quartermaster at an isolated supply depot. During his absence, his lover Becca (Willa Ford) and hired hand Corky (David Born) have been trying to… Continue reading Movie Review: Universal Squadrons

Magazine Review: American Short Fiction Summer 2022

Magazine Review: American Short Fiction Summer 2022 edited by Rebecca Markovits & Adeena Reitberger The literary magazine is still alive in America, though I will not say “well” as I have no idea how many people read them. American Short Fiction, an Austin, Texas-based magazine, has been running since 1991. It is, as the title… Continue reading Magazine Review: American Short Fiction Summer 2022

Movie Review: The Hunter

Ritchie and Papa discuss potential bounties.

Movie Review: The Hunter (1980) directed by Buzz Kulik Frank “Papa” Thorson (Steve McQueen) is an old-fashioned kind of guy. He collects antique tin toys, struggles to show his emotions, and is a bounty hunter, going after those who have jumped bail to bring them back–usually alive–for a reward. Right now, he seriously needs the money… Continue reading Movie Review: The Hunter

Movie Review: Joe (2013)

Joe welcomes one of his crew back to the job.

Movie Review: Joe (2013) directed by David Gordon Green Joe Ransom (Nicolas Cage) is holding his life together…barely. He runs a small business that kills trees unsuitable for lumber for the local lumber company, employing a day worker crew that works hard for the cash money and appreciates that he doesn’t cheat them. Maybe he smokes… Continue reading Movie Review: Joe (2013)

Movie Review: The Searchers (1956)

The posse considers their options.

Movie Review: The Searchers (1956) directed by John Ford Texas, 1868: Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) finally returns to his childhood home, three years after the end of the American Civil War. He evades questions about where he’s been, though he was emphatically not in California. Ethan gets reacquainted with his brother Aaron’s family: wife Martha, eldest… Continue reading Movie Review: The Searchers (1956)

Book Review: Deck the Pulps

Book Review: Deck the Pulps published by Brick Pickle Media Pulp magazines, like most forms of media, liked to celebrate holidays. Such as, you know, Christmas. But being the pulps, they leavened the usual sentimentality of the season with more of their usual action and excitement. This set of nine tales covers a variety of… Continue reading Book Review: Deck the Pulps

Movie Review: Rio Bravo (1959)

Stumpy, Dude, Colorado and John T. bond with a little music.

Movie Review: Rio Bravo (1959) directed by Howard Hawks Rio Bravo is a small town in the West Texas county of Presidio, not too far from the Mexican border. The rancher with the biggest spread nearby is Nathan Burdette (John Russell). He also has something of a monopoly on guns for hire in the area, being… Continue reading Movie Review: Rio Bravo (1959)

Book Review: The Warlords

Book Review: The Warlords by Matt Braun It is 1915, and in Europe, World War One is at something of a stalemate. The troops are entrenched, warplanes are still in their infancy, and while the new weapons of war mean far more deaths per capita, both sides have them. Kaizer Wilhelm’s military fears that despite… Continue reading Book Review: The Warlords