Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu edited by Ross E Lockhart Fantasy and horror author H.P. Lovecraft wasn’t a big seller during his lifetime, but the loose setting he created of the Cthulhu Mythos, where humans are only the most recent inhabitants of a cold and chaotic universe, and many of the previous inhabitants are… Continue reading Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu
Tag: small towns
Book Review: Merton of the Movies
Book Review: Merton of the Movies by Harry Leon Wilson Simsbury, Illinois might just be a wide spot in the road, but twice a week, the Bijou Palace shows movies made in far-off Hollywood. Perhaps the most fanatical attendee of these showings is young Merton Gill, assistant shopkeeper at Gashwiler’s Emporium (general store.) Merton has studied… Continue reading Book Review: Merton of the Movies
Book Review: Life Is Beautiful
Book Review: Life Is Beautiful by Sarah M. Johnson In 2008, an airplane carrying humanitarian workers to a remote village in Guatemala, where they were to build a school, crashed and burned. The crew and most of the passengers were killed; one young woman survived relatively unharmed, though she had lost half her family, and… Continue reading Book Review: Life Is Beautiful
Book Review: Twice Told Tales
Book Review: Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is one of the great American writers; his The Scarlet Letter is studied in many schools across this land. But it took him quite a while to reach that status. After crushingly disappointing sales for his first novel, Fanshawe, Hawthorne spent a dozen years in poverty,… Continue reading Book Review: Twice Told Tales
Book Review: The Tuesday Club Murders
Book Review: The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie Author Raymond West has what he thinks is a smashing idea. A series of Tuesday night gatherings where the six people present discuss mysteries they’ve run across, particularly juicy murders. In addition to himself, there’s an artist, a lawyer, a clergyman, a retired Scotland Yard commissioner,… Continue reading Book Review: The Tuesday Club Murders
Book Review: Classic American Short Stories
Book Review: Classic American Short Stories compiled by Michael Kelahan This book is more or less exactly what it says in the title, a compilation of short(ish) stories written by American authors, most of which are acknowledged as classics by American Lit professors. The stories are arranged by author in roughly chronological order from the… Continue reading Book Review: Classic American Short Stories
Book Review: Slow Dancing Through Time
Book Review: Slow Dancing Through Time by Gardner Dozois in collaboration with Jack Dann, Michael Swanwick, Susan Casper and/or Jack C Haldeman II. The art of collaboration is an interesting one; two authors (rarely three) blending their skills to create a story neither could produce individually. Ideally, the reader should be able to see the… Continue reading Book Review: Slow Dancing Through Time
Book Review: Headaches Can Be Murder
Book Review: Headaches Can Be Murder by Marilyn Rausch & Mary Donlon Charles “Chip” E. Collingsworth III was supposed to become a neurosurgeon like his father and grandfather before him, but wasn’t suited to being a doctor, so dropped out of medical school. Three failed marriages later and with his trust fund depleted, Chip wrote… Continue reading Book Review: Headaches Can Be Murder
Book Review: Jewish Noir
Book Review: Jewish Noir edited by Kenneth Wishnia Many of the themes of noir fiction, alienation, hostile society, darkness and bitter endings, resonate with the experience of Jewish people. So it’s not surprising that it was easy to find submissions for an anthology of thirty-plus noir stories with Jewish themes. (Not all of the authors are… Continue reading Book Review: Jewish Noir
Manga Review: UQ Holder! Vol. 1
Manga Review: UQ Holder! Vol. 1 by Ken Akamatsu It is a couple of generations into the future, and both reasonably-priced space travel and techno-magic have come into existence. Large swaths of Earth’s population has gone to space, with the remaining people either enjoying life in small country villages or struggling in the remaining big… Continue reading Manga Review: UQ Holder! Vol. 1