Book Review: Four Sided Triangle

Book Review: Four Sided Triangle by William F. Temple Suppose for a moment that you had access to a device that would create an exact duplicate of any object placed inside.  What would you do with it?  Solve world hunger?  Commit massive art fraud?  Resolve your sexual attraction to your  best friend’s wife?  Yeah, that last… Continue reading Book Review: Four Sided Triangle

Book Review: Once Upon a Star: The Adventures of Manning Draco Volume 1

Book Review: Once Upon a Star: The Adventures of Manning Draco Volume 1 by Kendell Foster Crossen In the 35th Century, many things have changed.  Terrans have gone to the stars and discovered the many alien races living out there, fighting with some, cooperating with others.  Right now, the Milky Way Galaxy is at peace.… Continue reading Book Review: Once Upon a Star: The Adventures of Manning Draco Volume 1

Book Review: One in Three Hundred

Book Review: One in Three Hundred by J.T. McIntosh Most of you will have run into some variant of the “Lifeboat Problem” at some point.  (In my youth, it was done with bomb shelters due to the strong possibility of atomic war.)  A disaster has occurred, and a large number of people are going to… Continue reading Book Review: One in Three Hundred

Book Review: Demons of the Night and Other Early Tales

Book Review: Demons of the Night and Other Early Tales by Seabury Quinn Seabury Grandin Quinn (1889-1969) was a prolific pulp author, producing more than five hundred short stories.  He’s best remembered for his Jules de Grandin stories appearing in Weird Tales, featuring a French-accented occult detective.  This particular collection, however, is focused around his other early… Continue reading Book Review: Demons of the Night and Other Early Tales

Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book

Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang Once upon a time, (1889 to be specific), British children did not have access to collections of fairy tales.  Educators of the time thought fairy tales were too unrealistic and harmful to children, and beneath adults.  Mr. Lang felt differently; he had delighted in such… Continue reading Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book

Book Review: Temporary Walls

Book Review: Temporary Walls edited by Greg Ketter and Robert T. Garcia This short book of fantasy stories was inspired by John Gardner’s On Moral Fiction, in which the author argued that writing fiction is an inherently moral endeavor and that writers, especially those in the fantasy genre, should instruct their readers about “the morality that tends… Continue reading Book Review: Temporary Walls

Manga Review: Ooku

Manga Review:  Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga In an alternate history version of Japan, disaster strikes during the reign of Shogun Iemitsu (circa 1630).  A plague that becomes known as the “red-face pox” sweeps the islands, with a fatality rate of 80% among boys and young men.  Within a couple of years, the gender imbalance among… Continue reading Manga Review: Ooku

Magazine Review: Conjunctions: 51 The Death Issue

Magazine Review:  Conjunctions: 51 The Death Issue edited by David Shields and Bradford Morrow Conjunctions is a literary journal published twice a year by Bard College.  Each issue contains essays, short fiction, poetry and less classifiable writing on a given subject, with this issue being about death.  Literary journals tend to have a connotation of… Continue reading Magazine Review: Conjunctions: 51 The Death Issue

TV Review: Decoy | The Shadow

TV Review: Decoy | The Shadow Decoy is a 1957-58 series about Casey Jones (Beverly Garland), a female police officer in New York City.  She often goes undercover, thus the series title.  This show is noteworthy as the first TV cop series to star a woman in the lead role.  Like Dragnet, the series fictionalized real… Continue reading TV Review: Decoy | The Shadow

Book Review: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator

Book Review: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigatorby Tarquin Hall Disclosure: I received this book as a Firstreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. This is the first of a series about Vish Puri, owner and operator of the Most Private Investigations office of… Continue reading Book Review: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator