Manga Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz

Manga Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz by Natsumi Ando Tango Minami’s mother runs a ballroom dance school, where he helps out as a dance instructor (he’s tall for a junior high student.)  But due to a disastrous mistake in his childhood, Tango has decided never to take another full-time partner, and thus not qualify for… Continue reading Manga Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz

Book Review: Strip for Murder

Book Review: Strip for Murder by Max Allan Collins Years ago, Sam Fizer hired young Hal Rapp as an art assistant on his comic strip Mug O’ Malley.  At first, they were good friends, but when the ambitious Rapp struck out on his own with his new strip Tall Paul, Fizer felt betrayed.  Especially as the characters… Continue reading Book Review: Strip for Murder

Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Mad

Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Mad by E. Randall Floyd American history is full of offbeat people, some downright weird.  The author was (like many a lad) fascinated by their stories when he was young.  Then he got to interview Erich von Daeniken (Chariots of the Gods) and decided to make writing about… Continue reading Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Mad

Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition

Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition edited by Judith Merrill This 1960 book features a selection of speculative fiction short stories published during the 1958-60 time period.  Editor Judith Merrill provides an introduction about the concept of wonder, chatty introductions to each story (she doesn’t think much of Kingsley Amis as a… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition

Book Review: Fresh Fear

Book Review: Fresh Fear edited by William Cook Horror anthologies are like a box of chocolates.  One story might be crunchy frog, another spring surprise, while a more disappointing one is just maple cream.  (Seriously, maple cream?)  This is because horror tends to be a balancing act between what the writer finds scary and what… Continue reading Book Review: Fresh Fear

Book Review: Better than Bullets: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 1

Book Review: Better than Bullets: The Complete Adventures of Thibaut Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 1 by Theodore Roscoe The Légion étrangère was created in 1831 as a way to remove disruptive elements from French society, primarily foreigners of all sorts, and put them to good use fighting far away.  Their first and primary posting was… Continue reading Book Review: Better than Bullets: The Complete Adventures of Thibault Corday and the Foreign Legion Volume 1

Movie Review: Trocadero (1944)

Movie Review: Trocadero (1944) Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson (playing himself) needs a story for his Sunday slot, and goes to his favorite nightclub, the Trocadero.  It’s hopping as usual, but headwaiter Sam (Ralph Morgan) finds a moment between celebrity cameos and musical numbers to talk to the columnist.  He reveals that things were not always… Continue reading Movie Review: Trocadero (1944)

Movie Review: Doll Face (1945)

Movie Review: Doll Face (1945) “Doll Face” Carroll (Vivian Blaine) is a burlesque queen who wants to move into Broadway productions.  When slightly snobbish producer Flo Hartman (Reed Hadley) scorns her audition because Doll Face isn’t “cultured”, her manager Mike Hannegan (Dennis O’Keefe) comes up with the idea of making her seem more accomplished by… Continue reading Movie Review: Doll Face (1945)

Magazine Review: Infernal Ink Magazine January 2014

Magazine Review: Infernal Ink Magazine January 2014 edited by Hydra M. Star Disclaimer:  This magazine came to me through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Infernal Ink is a horror fiction and poetry magazine aimed at ages 18+.  As such, it contains sex, violence, sexualized violence (Trigger Warning for rape)… Continue reading Magazine Review: Infernal Ink Magazine January 2014