Daniel Stalter's Blog, page 12

CURRENCY OF CYNICS

I switched majors during my freshman year at SUNY Oneonta. I was thinking of transferring to film school, so I began to study Mass Communication. One of the first courses I took with my new major was Intro to Mass Communications. My professor, Jon Arakaki, opened his day-one lecture by asking us this question: are you a media cynic or a media critic? I might not be quoting it exactly right, but the gist of it is there. The goal of the class was to encourage us to be critical thinkers when it com...

Baltimore Comic Con

10/22/2021 - 10/24/2021 - 12:00 am - 11:59 pm

PROM DRESS

Prom Dress
by Lael LittkeSpoiler-Free Review:

Prom Dress is easily one of the better Point Horror books I’ve read so far. I really enjoyed the way that the story followed the dress rather than a single character. I’m not typically a fan of that style of story, where I have to jump to a new character right as I’m starting to get invested. But that wasn’t the case here. Each of the girls felt real; the way that the dress played on their unique insecurities made for a great variety of horror. I...

FAVORITE INDIE COMICS: SPRING 2021

Spring Edition 2021

Here’s a new thing I’m trying. My collection of indie comics has grown exponentially over the years between attending conventions and supporting Kickstarters. I finally started making a serious dent in them while in quarantine, and I wanted to make a space to highlight some of my favorites. My goal is to make this a regular thing I do, a few times a year or as often as I am able to. There are so many talented writers and artists in this community, and I know from my own exper...

MY HAIRIEST ADVENTURE

Goosebumps #26: My Hairiest Adventure

 

Spoiler-Free Review

My Hairiest Adventure was a mess of ideas that never really added up to a coherent story. I did appreciate the humor in it. The band practice scenes were funny and very believable. Dr. Murkin’s name might be the dirtiest joke ever slipped into a Goosebumps book, especially given the hair-centric plot of the book. The characters were fine, there were just too many. It’s hard to articulate without going into major spoilers, but there we...

ROAD TO NOWHERE

Road to Nowhere
by Christopher PikeSpoiler-Free Review:

I first read Road to Nowhere when I was 10, and oh boy was I way too young to handle significant parts of this subject matter. I just remember seeing an awesome book cover on a classmate’s desk and seeking it out at the library. I was thrilled when I came across the (very minor) swearing. All of that context aside, this is a really good book and one of Christopher Pike’s best. It’s a bit of a slow mover, but the ending is more than worth...

ATTACK OF THE MUTANT

Goosebumps #25: Attack of the MutantSpoiler-Free Review

Attack of the Mutant was a lot of fun. It was more of an adventure story than a horror story, but I was perfectly fine with that. I like it when a book succeeds at being the book it’s trying to be. Skipper was an annoying character but was highly believable. I knew that kid in school and so did you. I look forward to him growing up and finding out that his comic collections are likely worth the same amount as his collections of Pogs and ...

WANTED

Wanted
by Caroline B. CooneySpoiler-Free Review:

I remember reading this as a kid and thinking it was all-caps AMAZING. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I couldn’t put it down. I did notice a few more plot holes this time around, but Wanted holds up for the most part. One of the ways that I judge these 90s teen horror/thrillers is on whether or not they succeed at being the novel they are trying to be. By that metric, I think this one works. I thought the main character Alice was...

SKI WEEKEND

Fear Street #10: Ski WeekendSpoiler-Free Review

Ski Weekend was a solid thriller that made good use of its characters and setting. I liked Ariel as a protagonist. She had some Nancy Drew vibes when it came to seeing through some (but not all) of the bullshit around her. The cabin owner Lou legitimately made my skin crawl. I’ve met people like him and my first instinct is always to get away as fast as possible. Aggressive, misogynist drunk dudes with an affinity for collecting guns set off mor...

PUERTO PLATA 2019

I have the privilege of traveling for work, and it’s taken me to some pretty amazing places. In 2018 alone, I got to go to London, Barcelona, and all over Kenya. On top of that, I tabled at five different comic book conventions (including all four days of New York Comic-Con) and went to three different weddings. During all of this, Dierre was working multiple jobs and started going to grad school for his second master’s degree that fall. By the time 2019 rolled around, we were spent. We needed a...