Manga Review: Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon by Shigeru Mizuki Quick recap: Kitaro is the last surviving member of the Ghost Tribe, a once populous group of yokai (Japanese spirits/monsters.) His father lives on in the form of an eyeball and advises the young fellow. Together with his untrustworthy friend Nezumi-Otoko (“Rat-Man”) and sometimes other friendly monsters, Kitaro… Continue reading Manga Review: Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon
Tag: witches
Book Review: Season of Marvels: Viking Tales
Book Review: Season of Marvels: Viking Tales by Deb Houdek Rule This is a collection of four speculative fiction short stories on the general theme of “Vikings” from the small label press Variations On a Theme. “Viking -Trojan War” is an after-action report about 8th Century Viking raiders suddenly materializing on the USC campus due to… Continue reading Book Review: Season of Marvels: Viking Tales
Comic Book Review: Essential Defenders Vol. 6
Comic Book Review: Essential Defenders Vol. 6 written (mostly) by J.M. DeMatteis, Pencils by Don Perlin The Defenders are one of Marvel Comics’ more oddball teams, beginning with a line-up of Doctor Strange, Hulk, Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner, four of Marvel’s most powerful characters who did not belong to other teams. After a couple… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Essential Defenders Vol. 6
Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016
Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016 by various While I spend many of my comics-related posts on this blog talking about the Big Two’s superhero comic books, there are a number of worthy small press comics companies that put out interesting material every year. Oni Press has put out an affordable collection of… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016
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 Snow Queen
Book Review: The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen Kay and Gerda are best friends who live in adjacent garrets, and often visit each other across the roof, where their parents have installed flower boxes with rosebushes. They are like brother and sister, and very happy together until one day Kay’s personality changes. He has… Continue reading Book Review: The Snow Queen
Book Review: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory
Book Review: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory by Thomas E. Sniegoski Disgraced doctor Jonas Chapel, on the run from the mob in Mexico, stumbles across a mysterious skeleton dripping a fluid that turns humans into monsters. Soon thereafter Chapel’s back in New York, teaming up with the very gang boss who’d ordered the hit on… Continue reading Book Review: Lobster Johnson: The Satan Factory
Book Review: Fright
Book Review: Fright edited by Charles M. Collins The cover makes this book look like a generic product, but that’s a little deceiving. It’s actually an anthology skewed towards the Gothic end of horror rather than the gory, emphasizing vocabulary-rich authors. Most of the stories were rarely reprinted before this collection in 1963. We open… Continue reading Book Review: Fright
Book Review: Wintersmith
Book Review: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett Tiffany Aching is a witch in training. She in some ways is already a very powerful witch, and has endured some hard lessons that required growing up fast. But she’s also very much a girl who’s almost thirteen. Miss Treason, on the other hand, is over a century old… Continue reading Book Review: Wintersmith
Book Review: Storm Over Warlock
Book Review: Storm Over Warlock by Andre Norton Shann Lantee is a member of the Survey Corps team getting the planet Warlock ready for human colonization. Well, just barely. Without any formal education, Shann was brought along to do all the scutwork of the camp, including tending the genetically enhanced wolverines being tested as partners… Continue reading Book Review: Storm Over Warlock