Manga Review: Behind the Scenes!! Volume 1 by Bisco Hattori Ranmaru Karisu is a couple of months into his freshman year at Shichikoku University, but he still doesn’t know anyone. A shy, sensitive boy, he’s had bad luck with social relationships in the past and shrinks from the crowd. Until the zombies attack! It turns… Continue reading Manga Review: Behind the Scenes!! Volume 1
Book Review: Hokas Pokas!
Book Review: Hokas Pokas! by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson The Hoka of the planet Toka are the galaxy’s best live-action roleplayers. Given a story they find interesting, the teddy-bear-looking aliens will take on the characters as their own personalities. And they especially love Earth stories. Thus it is that they have entire subcultures… Continue reading Book Review: Hokas Pokas!
Anime Review: Active Raid
Anime Review: Active Raid The year is 2035 in an alternative history Japan, and the city of Tokyo is rapidly recovering from the Third Quicksand Disaster, which turned much of the metropolitan area into quagmires. Powered armor units called “Willwear” have helped the reconstruction immensely, and are spreading into other industries, but there are people… Continue reading Anime Review: Active Raid
Book Review: The Marsco Dissident
Book Review: The Marsco Dissident by James A. Zarzana It’s a Marsco world. Much has changed by the last years of the 21st Century. The rot started to set in with the Abandonment Policy (euphemized as “Divestiture”) where countries with prosperous sections and not-so-prosperous bits split off the not-prosperous sectors as “another country now, not… Continue reading Book Review: The Marsco Dissident
Book Review: Indexing
Book Review: Indexing by Seanan McGuire Have you ever wished you could have a fairy tale life? Be the hero of the story, vanquish evil, gain true love and live happily ever after? Well, the Narrative is here to help! It loves shoehorning people’s lives into the shape of fairy tales. Of course, there’s no… Continue reading Book Review: Indexing
Open Thread: Minicon 51 Report
Open Thread: Minicon 51 Report For those of you new to this blog, Minicon is the Easter weekend science fiction convention put on by MN-StF every year. I’ve been going to it for somewhere around three decades now, and this year was no exception. Once again it was at the RadiShTree (Bloomington Doubletree) hotel, and… Continue reading Open Thread: Minicon 51 Report
Book Review: Twin Cities Speculations: An Anthology of Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Book Review: Twin Cities Speculations: An Anthology of Sci-Fi and Fantasy edited by Eric Binfet As I may have mentioned before, I have a soft spot for local writers, of which Minnesota has many. One Twin Cities writers’ group got together and self-published an anthology, and here we are. Eight stories of SF and fantasy,… Continue reading Book Review: Twin Cities Speculations: An Anthology of Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Book Review: Chameleon 2: In Garde We Trust
Book Review: Chameleon 2: In Garde We Trust by Jerry LaPlante One of my reading addictions as a teen was trashy series hero paperbacks. The Executioner, the Destroyer, Nick Carter Killmaster…much like the old pulp heroes but grittier and with more sleaze. The more successful series are still published to this day in one form… Continue reading Book Review: Chameleon 2: In Garde We Trust
Comic Strip Review: The Far Side Gallery 2
Comic Strip Review: The Far Side Gallery 2 by Gary Larson The Far Side was a daily single-panel newspaper comic that ran from 1980 to 1995, although reruns are common in newspapers. Gary Larson’s offbeat comedy often features science fiction and horror concepts, as well as talking animals and cavemen. Honestly, it’s hard to describe… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: The Far Side Gallery 2
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