Holly Lyn Walrath's Blog: Stories, page 4

The Best of Interstellar Flight Magazine Year Four

AnnouncementsNow Available from Interstellar Flight Press!

We’re stoked that the Best of Interstellar Flight Magazine Year Four is now available for purchase wherever books are sold!

This print anthology collects all of our favorite articles, interviews, and essays from 2022. Available in print and eBook formats.

“A very diverse collection of essays and other works that really reminded me how much I used to love finding small, passionate works by people who viewed art outside of the mainstream.” — ...

Short SFF, Day Jobs, & Late Night TV

An Interview with William Ledbetter, author of THE LONG FALL UP: AND OTHER STORIES from Interstellar Flight PressAuthor William Ledbetter

Interstellar Flight Press is lucky to have acquired the print versions of William Ledbetter’s bestselling audiobook series, The Killday Series. In November, we published Bill’s latest collection of short stories, named after the Nebula Award winning short story, “The Long Fall Up”. The collection is full of stories that meld high-concept science fiction with th...

Announcing the Acquisition of BURY MY HEART UNDER THE MARTIAN SKY by Juan Manuel Pérez

AnnouncementMexican Indigenous Futurism in Haiku Form

once they were the gods

now they’re hunted by a God

a few became less

Interstellar Flight Press is delighted to announce the acquisition of a new book of Mexican indigenous futurist poems from Juan Manuel Pérez, BURY MY HEART UNDER THE MARTIAN SKY.

From the perpetual war between dogs and cats to the enduring tensions between humans and mermaloids; from the folly of man’s play with the occult, nature, and deep space to the reimagined Indigenous pas...

THE CREATOR Props Up Hyper-Optimism with Gorgeous Visuals: But Does It Succeed?

Film, Fantastic FestGareth Edwards’ New SF Flick May Leave a Bad Taste in the Mouth of Those Worried about AIImages Courtesy Disney+

Less than a day ago, META debuted its chat AI, bringing AI to social media in an entirely new way. The database “books3” used to train AI recently had its list of books revealed, leading to loaded discussions online about AI and plagiarism. US funding for AI hit 3.3 billion in 2022 alone. These are just a few of the news items surrounding the controversial topic of ...

South Korean Film SLEEP Weaves Sleep Disorders, Magic, & Marriage in Heartfelt Love Story

Film, Fantastic FestDebut from Jason Yu Explores Horrors of Sleepwalking

As someone with sleep paralysis, I’m fascinated (and justifiably creeped) by horror about sleepwalking. What most films don’t capture is how easily lulled those around you are by the phenomenon. Most of the time, it barely impacts them. But for the few who have a terrifying story of sleepwalking gone wrong, it can haunt your life forever.

Jason Yu, South Korean director of Sleep— wanted to explore just that. “Everyone has a m...

SALTBURN Drips Sexuality and Intrigue

Film, Fantastic FestBarry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike Devastate in this Dark Masterpiece of DesireImages Courtesy Amazon Studios

Premiering as one of the secret screenings at Fantastic Fest, Saltburn, directed by Emerald Fennel, a former actress who draws on her private school upbringing in England in this salacious miasma of a film.

Set at Oxford, Saltburn sets up Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) as the mousy, shy schoolboy who becomes entranced by the wealthy and charismatic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). ...

Anne Hathaway Shines in EILEEN: A Story of Unrequited Love

Film, Fantastic FestStuck in Massachusetts in the 1960sImages Courtesy NEON

“I looked like a girl you’d expect to see on a city bus, reading some clothbound book from the library about plants or geography, perhaps wearing a net over my light brown hair. You might take me for a nursing student or a typist, note the nervous hands, a foot tapping, bitten lip. I looked like nothing special. It’s easy for me to imaging this girl, young and mousy version of me, carrying an enormous leather purse or eat...

STRANGE DARLING Flips Script on Serial Killer Movies

Film, Fantastic FestJT Mollner’s Second Feature Film Explores the Gender Dynamics of MurderStrange Darling, Image Courtesy JT Mollner

The description for the Strange Darling screening at Fantastic Fest was just one line: “One day in the twisted love life of a serial killer.” So, of course, I had to see it.

What followed is a twisty, turny take on the cat-and-mouse thriller trope that is lusciously shot and seductive to the end. In one of the best performances I’ve seen since Pearl, Willa Fitzgeral...

Dark Poetry Abounds in WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS

Film, Fantastic FestSet at a Carnival in the Great Depression, the Latest from the Adams Family Is a Rotten RiotImages courtesy Yellow Veil Pictures

If you’re not familiar with the Adams Family, they are made up of mother and father John Adams and Toby Poser, and their two daughters, Lulu and Zelda Adams — and they make horror movies. Together, the family not only acts in but writes, directs, produces, and sound designs movies. The films are self-funded, allowing the family team to make all the m...

The Toxic Avenger Reboots “Toxic” Hero

Film, Fantastic FestThe Toxic Avenger Premieres at Fantastic Fest Starring Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, and Elijah WoodImages Courtesy

The word “toxic” has two connotations. One is in terms of toxic waste — an all-too-familiar reality of today’s world struggling with climate change. The other is the idea of something that is psychologically “toxic” — a toxic relationship, a toxic workplace, a toxic culture.

The 2023 reboot of The Toxic Avenger, directed by Macon Blair, explores the line between th...