Nicholas Bruner's Blog, page 9

Scary Movies: The Omen

Woohoo, October again, and that means it’s time for the annual Halloween film festival, when I force my kids to watch scary movies! This year the theme is “Creepy Kids,” and we’re starting off with one of the creepiest, Damien, child star of The...

What I’m Reading: Tree of Ages

Tree of Ages, by Sara Roethle, opens with Finn waking up, which is odd, since she’s a tree. Although now she seems to have arms and legs, and she finds the air is so, so cold. She tries to dig her feet in the...

Scary Movies: The Invisible Man

It’s been a while since I’d seen this one, but I remembered it as being one of the better of the 1930s Universal horrors. On a whim, I watched it a few nights ago. Let’s see how it holds up! A strange man wrapped...

What I’m Reading: Albion’s Seed

I did not fully understand American History until I read this book, especially colonial history. Isn’t that crazy? With a year of AP US History in high school, and as a frequent reader of history as an adult (just click on the “History” tag...

Appearance on the Hourlings Podcast!

I recently did an interview with the Hourlings podcast, a cool podcast on various writing topics related to science fiction and fantasy. The podcast is hosted by authors Martin Wilsey, Shea Megale, and David Keener. We covered all kinds of topics about how I wrote Mother...

Scary Movies: Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

Alien vs. Predator: Requiem takes place shortly after the finish of the previous film in the combined franchise, where we saw a predator ship take off from Antarctica with xenomorph face huggers aboard, unbeknownst to the ship’s predator crew. A fight ensues between the...

What I’m Reading: Bolivar’s Sword

Bolivar’s Sword, by Jamie Edmundson, is the second book in the Weapon Takers Saga. I reviewed the first novel in the series here. This review will be a bit shorter than that one, as most of the same strengths and weaknesses in the writing...

Scary Movies: Alien vs. Predator

My teenage son has really latched onto the Alien horror franchise and is determined to watch every one, apparently no matter the quality. Hence, Alien vs. Predator, which we watched a few weeks ago. Unlike the other Alien movies, this one is set on...

What I’m Reading: 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War

Charles Emmerson’s book about 1913 is exactly what the title promises: an exploration of the world on the eve of World War I. Rather than proceeding according to, say, a calendar of the year, or a survey of personalities or events, Emmerson has chosen...

What I’m Reading: Toric’s Dagger

I was looking for a fantasy book with a bit of a twist, and thought Jamie Edmundson’s Toric’s Dagger looked like a fun heist novel–something like a team of fast-talking professional thieves out to steal valuable weapons. And it does start out that way,...