Magazine Review: Famous Fantastic Mysteries Fall 2016

This scene does not appear in any of the stories this issue.

Magazine Review: Famous Fantastic Mysteries Fall 2016 edited by Matthew Moring Every so often, someone tries to relaunch a once-popular magazine. Most of these efforts fold quickly. The subject of this review is one such, lasting a single issue. As you’ll recall from a previous review, Famous Fantastic Mysteries was primarily a reprint title, presenting… Continue reading Magazine Review: Famous Fantastic Mysteries Fall 2016

Comic Book Review: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom Volume 01

Comic Book Review: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom Volume 01 Written by Paul S. Newman & Matt Murphy; Art by Bob Fujitani & Frank Bolle Dr. Gail Sanders’ first day on the job at Atom Valley is also almost her last, as an experimental rocket goes off the rails.  Fortunately, she is saved by her… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom Volume 01

Book Review: The Inkblots

Book Review: The Inkblots by Damion Searls “What do you see?” Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) was a German-speaking Swiss psychiatrist who developed an interesting experiment involving inkblots.  The son of an artist and himself artistically trained, Rorschach was fascinated by visual perception and hoped to use the things people saw when they looked at his inkblots to… Continue reading Book Review: The Inkblots

Book Review: Seven Come Infinity

Book Review: Seven Come Infinity edited by Groff Conklin The title of this anthology refers to the phrase “seven come eleven” from craps, referring to the ways you can win.  In the preface, it’s mentioned that there are a finite number of possibilities for the outcome of rolling two dice.  But when you write a… Continue reading Book Review: Seven Come Infinity

Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume 4

Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume 4 edited by Julius Schwartz The Flash is Barry Allen, a police detective who was working during a thunderstorm one night when a bolt of lightning struck a shelf of chemicals, spilling the mixture on him.   Barry quickly realized that he’d been gifted with super-speed, making… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume 4

Magazine Review: Astounding Science-Fiction January 1946

Cover by Timmins

Magazine Review: Astounding Science-Fiction January 1946 edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. Before Analog (see previous reviews), there was Astounding, the science fiction magazine that led the field for many years.  Having gotten a copy of an issue from the pulp days, let’s take a look at what wonders lie within.  Despite the cover date, the ads… Continue reading Magazine Review: Astounding Science-Fiction January 1946

Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume

Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume edited by Judith Merril This 1957 volume contains speculative fiction stories from magazines published in roughly the previous year, hand-picked by the editor to represent the best the field had to offer at the time.  (I’ve previously reviewed the fifth annual, which switched the… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume

Comic Book Review: The Golden Age Starman Archives Volume 1

Comic Book Review: The Golden Age Starman Archives Volume 1 Written by Gardner Fox; Art by Jack Burnley Wealthy playboy Ted Knight has somehow harnessed the cosmic energy of the stars in his Gravity Rod.   As the world moves to war, he decides that the best use of this technology is to become a costumed… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Golden Age Starman Archives Volume 1

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

Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Wonder Woman Volume 4

Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Wonder Woman Volume 4 Edited by Robert Kanigher Wonder Woman was not the first female superhero in comics, nor even the first not to be a male character’s sidekick.  But she was the first to get her own ongoing solo series, and designed to be an equal to the male… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Wonder Woman Volume 4