Nicholas Bruner's Blog, page 5

What I’m Reading: Embassytown

I mentioned in my review of The Left Hand of Darkness a few years ago that it took an anthropological approach to science fiction. Indeed, the main character in that book was an anthropologist who comes to another planet with humans that have been...

What I’m Reading: In Pursuit of Gotham: Culture and Commerce in New York

In Pursuit of Gotham: Culture and Commerce in New York is a 1992 collection of ten scholarly essays by William A. Taylor, a cultural historian. The essays examine the culture of New York from about 1890 to 1930, when, according to Taylor, America had...

What I’m Reading: Overboard

Overboard, by S.C. Megale, is a steampunk humor fantasy, though that description hardly does justice to this incredibly inventive novel. I’m struggling to think of an apt comparison. Is it like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy set on a cruise ship? Or perhaps it’s...

What I’m Reading: Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

Nature’s Metroplis: Chicago and the Great West, by William Cronon, is a thorough, detailed book about the history of Chicago. Yet it doesn’t give an account of the labor movement, the ward system, mayors or aldermen, or the elevated trains, and only the barest...

What I’m Reading: The Court of Silver Flames

The Court of Silver Flames, by Sarah J. Maas, is a bit of an experimental read for me. I don’t normally listen to recorded books, but I’ve made some long-ish car trips recently and wanted something to listen to, so I chose this, a...

Scary Movies: Five Nights at Freddy’s

This one looked terrible to me in the previews, but my son really wanted to see it, so off to the movie theater we went. A movie based on a video game franchise isn’t exactly a recipe for quality. Moreover, this is a horror...

Scary Movies: The Thing From Another World

After reviewing both versions of the Fly in the past couple weeks, and finding both the 1950s and 1980s versions to have a lot of merit on their own terms, now we come to another later-remade movie I was hopeful about. After all, I’ve...

Scary Movies: The Fly

This 1986 movie, directed by David Cronenberg, takes the premise of the 1950s version of The Fly, which I reviewed last week, but uses it as a springboard for a very different type of movie. In the 1950s version, the emphasis is much more...

Scary Movies: The Fly

I wrote in my review of The Haunting about, how after seeing so many 1950s B-grade horror movies, what a pleasure it is to see a movie from this era by a major studio–here, 20th Century Fox. The Fly boasted a bigger budget and...

What I’m Reading: Viper and Steel

Viper and Steel is the third book in the Guilds of Ilbrea series by Megan O’Russell. I have previously read and reviewed both the first one, Inker and Crown, and the second one, Myth and Storm. The series is about the Karron clan, six...