David Dubrow's Blog, page 51
April 20, 2015
Movie Review: Noah
Noah was an entertaining film that had a nodding acquaintance with the source material, some decent performances, and a lack of narrative focus that turned it into a mess. It's not boring, but it's not particularly good, either. The more interesting elements were overshadowed by the thematic chaos: Aronofsky wanted to do a Biblical picture, but he wanted to give it a modern sensibility. The result was an attractive, disappointing failure.
Green Day: It's obvious that Aronofsky's intent all along was to shoehorn environmentalism into a setting that had no place for it: the antediluvian Earth. The Biblical version of Noah explicitly states that the whole of humanity was bent toward sin: "God saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only. (Genesis 6:5)" That won't do in Hollywood. Making judgments about other people's behavior or mores is Simply Not Done unless those mores conflict with standard Hollywood groupthink. So Aronofsky had to come up with a real sin: pollution. Strip-mining. Deforestation. That's what would make God mad enough to drown the world. It's ludicrous.
He's a Beauty: Ray Winstone did a great job as Tubal-cain, the main human antagonist. Brutal, thoughtful, manipulative, and entirely useless to the story. There was no reason to have him in the film. He did nothing to advance the plot, change the circumstances, or affect the outcome. He had the best lines, but there wasn't any need for them or him. The silliest part was him stowing away on the Ark and sitting in the hold, hidden by Noah's son Ham, for months without anyone knowing. At least we know what happened to the unicorns and gryphons and dinosaurs: Tubal-cain ate 'em on the long voyage.Somebody's Watchin' Me: The Watcher angels were extremely cool, but too reminiscent of stony Ents. According to the Bible, the Watchers were the angels who descended to Earth to sleep with human women. The offspring of these unions were the Nephilim, half-angel, half-human hybrids who were said to be giants: "There were giants on the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)" Because Aronofsky had to change the reason for God's anger at humanity from sin to environmental disaster, the Watchers couldn't be human-like enough to father Nephilim: they had to be monsters. Interestingly, Aronofsky did mine the Book of Enoch for the narrative that the Watchers taught men metalworking and other skills, which added depth.Noah's Crazy Train: Aronofsky undercuts his own environmental schtick by having Noah turn into a cross between Paul Ehrlich and Charles Manson in the second half of the film. His extremism, self-loathing and hatred for humanity weren't hinted at in the early stages to make his later insanity anything but jarring and out of place. It's unbelievable to me that his family would, over the course of several months, accept his insistence that if Shem's wife bore a girl, he'd kill the baby right there and then. They should have thrown him overboard as soon as they could, because he was clearly insane.H.A.M.: While I understand that to build tension in a story that everyone knows the outcome of, you have to create other conflicts, having Ham's lack of female companionship be such a sticking point seemed clumsy, even absurd. Once again, Aronofsky had to go outside of the source material to create tension, which was unnecessary: there was already some weirdness going on in the Ark. "And they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. (Genesis 19:33)" Why not look at that for conflict? It certainly was...strange. Did they just have cabin fever? Methusaleh as Gandalf: There are magic rocks in the antediluvian world called Zohar, according to Aronofsky, which produce pyrotechnic effects not unlike the light crystals in
Land of the Lost
. This was also silly and unnecessary. What made things worse was the presence of Methusaleh, who had undefined sorcerous abilities that made him seem more like Gandalf than a servant of the Creator. He didn't need to be there, or if he did, he should have had a stronger role. As it was, Anthony Hopkins did the best he could with him, but the character just wasn't written well.I entirely understand those who take offense to Aronofsky's altering of Scripture to advance a secular agenda in this film, but for me, the true offense was that the movie wasn't that good. It looked good. The people in it acted well. But for the most part, it was a silly, overproduced mess. I'm not sure if it's worth watching just to see how much Aronofsky hosed the Biblical story of Noah, but if you want a fantasy film about people and water and animals, then it wasn't half-bad. Three out of five stars.
Green Day: It's obvious that Aronofsky's intent all along was to shoehorn environmentalism into a setting that had no place for it: the antediluvian Earth. The Biblical version of Noah explicitly states that the whole of humanity was bent toward sin: "God saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only. (Genesis 6:5)" That won't do in Hollywood. Making judgments about other people's behavior or mores is Simply Not Done unless those mores conflict with standard Hollywood groupthink. So Aronofsky had to come up with a real sin: pollution. Strip-mining. Deforestation. That's what would make God mad enough to drown the world. It's ludicrous.
He's a Beauty: Ray Winstone did a great job as Tubal-cain, the main human antagonist. Brutal, thoughtful, manipulative, and entirely useless to the story. There was no reason to have him in the film. He did nothing to advance the plot, change the circumstances, or affect the outcome. He had the best lines, but there wasn't any need for them or him. The silliest part was him stowing away on the Ark and sitting in the hold, hidden by Noah's son Ham, for months without anyone knowing. At least we know what happened to the unicorns and gryphons and dinosaurs: Tubal-cain ate 'em on the long voyage.Somebody's Watchin' Me: The Watcher angels were extremely cool, but too reminiscent of stony Ents. According to the Bible, the Watchers were the angels who descended to Earth to sleep with human women. The offspring of these unions were the Nephilim, half-angel, half-human hybrids who were said to be giants: "There were giants on the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)" Because Aronofsky had to change the reason for God's anger at humanity from sin to environmental disaster, the Watchers couldn't be human-like enough to father Nephilim: they had to be monsters. Interestingly, Aronofsky did mine the Book of Enoch for the narrative that the Watchers taught men metalworking and other skills, which added depth.Noah's Crazy Train: Aronofsky undercuts his own environmental schtick by having Noah turn into a cross between Paul Ehrlich and Charles Manson in the second half of the film. His extremism, self-loathing and hatred for humanity weren't hinted at in the early stages to make his later insanity anything but jarring and out of place. It's unbelievable to me that his family would, over the course of several months, accept his insistence that if Shem's wife bore a girl, he'd kill the baby right there and then. They should have thrown him overboard as soon as they could, because he was clearly insane.H.A.M.: While I understand that to build tension in a story that everyone knows the outcome of, you have to create other conflicts, having Ham's lack of female companionship be such a sticking point seemed clumsy, even absurd. Once again, Aronofsky had to go outside of the source material to create tension, which was unnecessary: there was already some weirdness going on in the Ark. "And they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. (Genesis 19:33)" Why not look at that for conflict? It certainly was...strange. Did they just have cabin fever? Methusaleh as Gandalf: There are magic rocks in the antediluvian world called Zohar, according to Aronofsky, which produce pyrotechnic effects not unlike the light crystals in
Land of the Lost
. This was also silly and unnecessary. What made things worse was the presence of Methusaleh, who had undefined sorcerous abilities that made him seem more like Gandalf than a servant of the Creator. He didn't need to be there, or if he did, he should have had a stronger role. As it was, Anthony Hopkins did the best he could with him, but the character just wasn't written well.I entirely understand those who take offense to Aronofsky's altering of Scripture to advance a secular agenda in this film, but for me, the true offense was that the movie wasn't that good. It looked good. The people in it acted well. But for the most part, it was a silly, overproduced mess. I'm not sure if it's worth watching just to see how much Aronofsky hosed the Biblical story of Noah, but if you want a fantasy film about people and water and animals, then it wasn't half-bad. Three out of five stars.
April 17, 2015
Friday Links: Monsters in the Night, Vatican Exorcism Courses, and The Silence
All you've got to do is make it to the weekend. Here's what happened during those days you hoped to fast-forward through to get to today:
We learned about an exorcism course taught by the Vatican: "The tenth annual course on exorcism has gotten off to a bang in Rome, with a full house of 170 students eager to learn how to recognize and fight demonic possession. Sponsored by the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy and organized by the Sacerdos Institute, the weeklong course titled “Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation” is taking place at the European University of Rome from April 13 to 18."Jim Mcleod himself reviewed Tim Lebbon's The Silence at Ginger Nuts of Horror: "And yet the narrative isn’t even the bravest or strongest part of the book. It is Lebbon’s characters that really make this book stand out. In particular that of our heroine Ally. You see Ally has been deaf ever since a car accident, living a a world without sound it is up to her to lead her family to safety. Ally’s character could so have easily been a gimmick, however Lebbon has clearly got into the mind and soul of our heroine. She is a believable character, flawed, and human this isn’t your all action hero."At Taliesin Meets the Vampires, Taliesin took a second look at The Tomb to determine if it was a vampire movie or not: "I remember watching this Michael Staininger directed film back in 2009 when it was released. I couldn’t remember too much about it however. I knew, of course, that it was loosely based on the Poe story Ligeia but couldn’t remember why I had thought, as I watched it, that the potentially vampiric story was not vamp."Nev Murray had an exciting announcement at his Confessions of a Reviewer!!John Kenneth Muir took on the 1975 film The Ultimate Warrior: "The film’s great virtue is its sense that mankind will endure. That fatalism can be outlived. The final scene -- set outside the confines of the de-humanized City -- promises a re-birth of hope, and an end to the fatalism that reduced man to selfish barbarian. But of course, such catharsis can only arise after a particular brutal confrontation between Brynner and William Smith -- local warlord -- in a subway car."Sean Eaton presented us with his typically trenchant analysis at his invaluable
R'lyeh Tribune
: "[Clark Ashton Smith's] Monsters in the Night is an interesting blend of fantasy and science fiction. Smith imagines a contemporary setting that includes werewolves and vampires as well as unspecified monsters of more recent creation. He seems to imply that there are traditional monsters in the country side and “newfangled” ones in the cities—all of them equally lethal."Terrorphoria gave us some good news about horror on Blu-Ray.Here, I talked about the cartoons my son and I watch, discussed writing about grief, and celebrated the publication of my short story Hold On.Illustration by Tom Sullivan for Call of Cthulhu's
S. Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters
.
We learned about an exorcism course taught by the Vatican: "The tenth annual course on exorcism has gotten off to a bang in Rome, with a full house of 170 students eager to learn how to recognize and fight demonic possession. Sponsored by the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy and organized by the Sacerdos Institute, the weeklong course titled “Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation” is taking place at the European University of Rome from April 13 to 18."Jim Mcleod himself reviewed Tim Lebbon's The Silence at Ginger Nuts of Horror: "And yet the narrative isn’t even the bravest or strongest part of the book. It is Lebbon’s characters that really make this book stand out. In particular that of our heroine Ally. You see Ally has been deaf ever since a car accident, living a a world without sound it is up to her to lead her family to safety. Ally’s character could so have easily been a gimmick, however Lebbon has clearly got into the mind and soul of our heroine. She is a believable character, flawed, and human this isn’t your all action hero."At Taliesin Meets the Vampires, Taliesin took a second look at The Tomb to determine if it was a vampire movie or not: "I remember watching this Michael Staininger directed film back in 2009 when it was released. I couldn’t remember too much about it however. I knew, of course, that it was loosely based on the Poe story Ligeia but couldn’t remember why I had thought, as I watched it, that the potentially vampiric story was not vamp."Nev Murray had an exciting announcement at his Confessions of a Reviewer!!John Kenneth Muir took on the 1975 film The Ultimate Warrior: "The film’s great virtue is its sense that mankind will endure. That fatalism can be outlived. The final scene -- set outside the confines of the de-humanized City -- promises a re-birth of hope, and an end to the fatalism that reduced man to selfish barbarian. But of course, such catharsis can only arise after a particular brutal confrontation between Brynner and William Smith -- local warlord -- in a subway car."Sean Eaton presented us with his typically trenchant analysis at his invaluable
R'lyeh Tribune
: "[Clark Ashton Smith's] Monsters in the Night is an interesting blend of fantasy and science fiction. Smith imagines a contemporary setting that includes werewolves and vampires as well as unspecified monsters of more recent creation. He seems to imply that there are traditional monsters in the country side and “newfangled” ones in the cities—all of them equally lethal."Terrorphoria gave us some good news about horror on Blu-Ray.Here, I talked about the cartoons my son and I watch, discussed writing about grief, and celebrated the publication of my short story Hold On.Illustration by Tom Sullivan for Call of Cthulhu's
S. Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters
.
April 16, 2015
Hold On Is Live!
I'm pleased to announce that my short story
Hold On
has been published by Liberty Island.
It's a bit of a departure, as it doesn't involve the bizarre, horrific, or supernatural: Hold On is a human story about marriage, parenting, and loss in the not-too-distant future, when America's illegal immigration issues come to a head.
I teased Hold On a little here. Go give it a read and tell me what you think.
It's a bit of a departure, as it doesn't involve the bizarre, horrific, or supernatural: Hold On is a human story about marriage, parenting, and loss in the not-too-distant future, when America's illegal immigration issues come to a head.
I teased Hold On a little here. Go give it a read and tell me what you think.
April 15, 2015
Loss and Grief and Writing About It
This is a terrible story. The Andrade family has my deepest condolences.
On the loss of his son Julian, San Antonio police officer Jose Andrade said, "It's very difficult; it's the hardest thing I think anyone can go through. I think it's the hardest thing in life. I don't think there's anything harder."
Before I became a parent, I could understand this in a detached, almost academic fashion. After all, I've been familiar with grief. We've all lost somebody.
Now that I'm a dad, I don't think I could ever understand the breadth of the Andrade family's loss, and I pray that I never have to.
I've talked publicly about adoption before, here and elsewhere. In those pieces, I've touched briefly on our failed adoption, where we took the baby home, cared for him for a night and a day, and got a call from the agency that the birth mother changed her mind and decided to parent instead. The details of that experience are too personal to put in writing. It was extremely difficult, even life-changing, and not entirely in a good way.
But it wasn't the same as the death of one's child. I suspect it's not even close.
I did reference that experience in my novel The Blessed Man and the Witch . To illustrate one of the symptoms of a strained marriage, I had my protagonist Hector deal with something similar. It became a triggering event in his past, and the implications of it have stretched into the novel's sequel (which I'm still writing). This is not to say that it is the defining moment for him; after all, he's as complicated a figure as any person, and as such is subject to many significant experiences. But it did mark him and push him in a certain direction.
On Thursday, April 16, my short story Hold On will be published on Liberty Island. Unlike my other material, it doesn't deal with the bizarre, horrific, or supernatural in any way, though it is set in the near future. The story addresses themes of marriage, parenting, and loss within the context of America's current illegal immigration crisis. As always, the intent is to tell a good story, not proselytize, and I believe I've done that with Hold On.
Sometimes, losing someone doesn't make you stronger. The cracks don't always get repaired. And the universe doesn't just stop when you're grieving, even though it should.
On the loss of his son Julian, San Antonio police officer Jose Andrade said, "It's very difficult; it's the hardest thing I think anyone can go through. I think it's the hardest thing in life. I don't think there's anything harder."
Before I became a parent, I could understand this in a detached, almost academic fashion. After all, I've been familiar with grief. We've all lost somebody.
Now that I'm a dad, I don't think I could ever understand the breadth of the Andrade family's loss, and I pray that I never have to.
I've talked publicly about adoption before, here and elsewhere. In those pieces, I've touched briefly on our failed adoption, where we took the baby home, cared for him for a night and a day, and got a call from the agency that the birth mother changed her mind and decided to parent instead. The details of that experience are too personal to put in writing. It was extremely difficult, even life-changing, and not entirely in a good way.But it wasn't the same as the death of one's child. I suspect it's not even close.
I did reference that experience in my novel The Blessed Man and the Witch . To illustrate one of the symptoms of a strained marriage, I had my protagonist Hector deal with something similar. It became a triggering event in his past, and the implications of it have stretched into the novel's sequel (which I'm still writing). This is not to say that it is the defining moment for him; after all, he's as complicated a figure as any person, and as such is subject to many significant experiences. But it did mark him and push him in a certain direction.
On Thursday, April 16, my short story Hold On will be published on Liberty Island. Unlike my other material, it doesn't deal with the bizarre, horrific, or supernatural in any way, though it is set in the near future. The story addresses themes of marriage, parenting, and loss within the context of America's current illegal immigration crisis. As always, the intent is to tell a good story, not proselytize, and I believe I've done that with Hold On.
Sometimes, losing someone doesn't make you stronger. The cracks don't always get repaired. And the universe doesn't just stop when you're grieving, even though it should.
April 13, 2015
Yes, I Watch Cartoons
My preschooler typically watches about a half hour of TV a day, perhaps an hour or two on weekends. He used to watch more. Obviously, we try to minimize exposure to the television for several reasons, none of which are relevant here, and he'll likely end up watching more TV as he gets older. But for now, he doesn't watch much.
Unless he's sick. Then there's nothing else to do except watch TV. Ugh. I watch with him, in large part because I want to know what kind of media he's absorbing and, if necessary, put it in context and answer his questions. What follows is a rundown of some of the shows we watch.
Breadwinners
: This is, hands down, my favorite of his TV shows. It has no educational value in either academics or ethics, which is just fine. Full of potty humor, terrible bread puns, and horrible cartoon violence. I love it. It follows the adventures of two ducks named Swaysway and Buhdeuce as they deliver bread to the hungry ducks of their world, called Pondgea. Our favorite character is The Breadmaker, the god of all bread. You don't know funny until you hear your preschooler boom out, "Oooooh YEAHHH!" in his high little voice, trying to imitate gravelly rumble of The Breadmaker. Every episode is a classic. Five out of five stars.
Sanjay and Craig
: This one runs a close second, and if baking bread wasn't my hobby, I might like this one more than Breadwinners. Extremely gross and quite funny. The friendship between the boy and the snake is actually quite nice, and its ups and downs sometimes veer into didactics (but not intrusively so). All of the characters are brilliant, especially Remington Tufflips, whom I like to imitate when circumstances allow. It's also not afraid to venture into some very bizarre, even psychedelic territory. The best episode is Flip Flopas for gross-out humor, satire, and weirdness. Five out of five stars.
SpongeBob SquarePants
: What can anyone say about SpongeBob that hasn't already been said a thousand times? The sheer number of episodes available at any time makes this program the Law & Order of cartoons. It's clear that in the earlier episodes they were going for a Looney Tunes look, which altered over the years (and years) as digital technology improved. There are some very funny parts to it, and despite its age, it rarely falls into repetition. Club SpongeBob is probably my favorite episode, but there are so many good ones that it's hard to choose. Four out of five stars.
Caillou
: Every parent loves to hate Caillou, but my son just loves it. Caillou whines, he complains, he's a massive pain in the ass, but that's what I like about the show: it deals with real stuff with a kid who's a lot like a real kid. Other than the lack of hair. It's extremely inoffensive and shows children how someone like them deals with typical preschooler situations. My only problem with the show is the mom, who's the Mary Sue of children's television: used to be a ballerina, a ringette champion, a singing expert, an astronaut, etc., and is now just Mommy. And they make the dad seem somewhat bumbling and incompetent, but that's typical of most television. The episode my son likes the best is, likely, Rollie Racers. Three out of five stars (my son would rate it higher).
Team Umizoomi
: My son doesn't like Super Why as much as I wish he would, but he loves Team Umizoomi. Umizoomi is about math, Super Why's about literacy. The songs are really quite good and there's a predictable pattern to the events in the program so that you know what to expect each episode. It's for really little kids, so there's nothing in there to be concerned about. The audience participation part is good (like Super Why and Blue's Clues), so as long as my little boy shouts out the answers at the screen, I figure he's not too old for it. All the episodes are pretty good with no stand-outs. 4 out of 5 stars.
It's a much different TV world out there from when I was a kid watching hours of Josie & The Pussycats, Far Out Space Nuts, and H.R. Pufnstuf.
Unless he's sick. Then there's nothing else to do except watch TV. Ugh. I watch with him, in large part because I want to know what kind of media he's absorbing and, if necessary, put it in context and answer his questions. What follows is a rundown of some of the shows we watch.
Breadwinners
: This is, hands down, my favorite of his TV shows. It has no educational value in either academics or ethics, which is just fine. Full of potty humor, terrible bread puns, and horrible cartoon violence. I love it. It follows the adventures of two ducks named Swaysway and Buhdeuce as they deliver bread to the hungry ducks of their world, called Pondgea. Our favorite character is The Breadmaker, the god of all bread. You don't know funny until you hear your preschooler boom out, "Oooooh YEAHHH!" in his high little voice, trying to imitate gravelly rumble of The Breadmaker. Every episode is a classic. Five out of five stars. 
Sanjay and Craig
: This one runs a close second, and if baking bread wasn't my hobby, I might like this one more than Breadwinners. Extremely gross and quite funny. The friendship between the boy and the snake is actually quite nice, and its ups and downs sometimes veer into didactics (but not intrusively so). All of the characters are brilliant, especially Remington Tufflips, whom I like to imitate when circumstances allow. It's also not afraid to venture into some very bizarre, even psychedelic territory. The best episode is Flip Flopas for gross-out humor, satire, and weirdness. Five out of five stars. 
SpongeBob SquarePants
: What can anyone say about SpongeBob that hasn't already been said a thousand times? The sheer number of episodes available at any time makes this program the Law & Order of cartoons. It's clear that in the earlier episodes they were going for a Looney Tunes look, which altered over the years (and years) as digital technology improved. There are some very funny parts to it, and despite its age, it rarely falls into repetition. Club SpongeBob is probably my favorite episode, but there are so many good ones that it's hard to choose. Four out of five stars. 
Caillou
: Every parent loves to hate Caillou, but my son just loves it. Caillou whines, he complains, he's a massive pain in the ass, but that's what I like about the show: it deals with real stuff with a kid who's a lot like a real kid. Other than the lack of hair. It's extremely inoffensive and shows children how someone like them deals with typical preschooler situations. My only problem with the show is the mom, who's the Mary Sue of children's television: used to be a ballerina, a ringette champion, a singing expert, an astronaut, etc., and is now just Mommy. And they make the dad seem somewhat bumbling and incompetent, but that's typical of most television. The episode my son likes the best is, likely, Rollie Racers. Three out of five stars (my son would rate it higher).
Team Umizoomi
: My son doesn't like Super Why as much as I wish he would, but he loves Team Umizoomi. Umizoomi is about math, Super Why's about literacy. The songs are really quite good and there's a predictable pattern to the events in the program so that you know what to expect each episode. It's for really little kids, so there's nothing in there to be concerned about. The audience participation part is good (like Super Why and Blue's Clues), so as long as my little boy shouts out the answers at the screen, I figure he's not too old for it. All the episodes are pretty good with no stand-outs. 4 out of 5 stars. It's a much different TV world out there from when I was a kid watching hours of Josie & The Pussycats, Far Out Space Nuts, and H.R. Pufnstuf.
April 10, 2015
Friday Links: Ooparts, Dead Roses, and Jacob Isaaczs van Swanenburg
It's Friday, so let's hit it:
Monster Brains put the art of Jacob Isaaczs van Swanenburg on display.At the incalculably invaluable R'lyeh Tribune, Sean Eaton discussed alien abduction, one of my favorite subjects: "But reports of alien abductions similar to those of Reagan and the Hills were taken very seriously by Charles Fort, among others. He was a renowned early twentieth century specialist in unexplained phenomena who published four books in this broad field between 1919 and 1932. S.T Joshi notes that H.P. Lovecraft probably read Fort’s first publication, The Book of the Damned (1919) in the spring of 1927, after Donald Wandrei loaned him his copy. L. Sprague de Camp comments that Lovecraft appreciated the book mainly as a source of ideas for his weird fiction, though he did not take Fort’s material seriously or as fact."Zombos' Closet of Horror made The Monster Times issue 12 available for perusing.At Jim Mcleod's Ginger Nuts of Horror, Kit Power gave us another installment of his My Life in Horror series: "13 or 14 – I can be no more precise. Dad had – has still, if I know my old man – a collection of the non- M paperbacks. Beautiful black covers with white artwork and words. That he had a whole set, eight or ten titles at that point, clearly boded well – my Dad reads a ton, but he's not what Mr. King refers to as much of a constant reader – he likes finding new things, new stories, new writing. Very rare that my dad will buy everything someone puts out. I remember too this being one of the few books I borrowed from my dad that was a real loan, and not a 'borrow' that ended up living with me on a more permanent basis. He explicitly asked for the book back when I was done. That was another sign, looking back."Terrorphoria showed us some deeply disturbing Easter bunnies.Nev Murray's Confessions of a Reviewer!! was overgrown with Dead Roses all week, culminating in a review of the eponymous book: "I have been looking forward to this one for a long long time after hearing such good stories about this group’s previous collaboration, Bad Apples: 5 Slices of Halloween Horror. I have read all but one of these authors previously and already know they can produce some very powerful short stories."
Ghost Hunting Theories
delved into Ooparts: "The Klecksdorp spheres are often referred to as an out of place/out of time item. These spheres have been found in mining areas in South Africa in 3-million-year-old deposits. Many believed them to be metallic man-made items of extremely ancient construction. Scientists, however, came to the conclusion that these were made naturally and were formed in volcanic sediments over millions of years and the grooves created by fine grains over time and growth."Here, I linked to a review I wrote at Ginger Nuts of Horror for Rejean Giguere's novel Raildogs and celebrated
The Blessed Man and the Witch
being named Terrorphoria's Book of the Month.Illustration by M. Wayne Miller for Call of Cthulhu's
Beyond the Mountains of Madness
supplement.
Monster Brains put the art of Jacob Isaaczs van Swanenburg on display.At the incalculably invaluable R'lyeh Tribune, Sean Eaton discussed alien abduction, one of my favorite subjects: "But reports of alien abductions similar to those of Reagan and the Hills were taken very seriously by Charles Fort, among others. He was a renowned early twentieth century specialist in unexplained phenomena who published four books in this broad field between 1919 and 1932. S.T Joshi notes that H.P. Lovecraft probably read Fort’s first publication, The Book of the Damned (1919) in the spring of 1927, after Donald Wandrei loaned him his copy. L. Sprague de Camp comments that Lovecraft appreciated the book mainly as a source of ideas for his weird fiction, though he did not take Fort’s material seriously or as fact."Zombos' Closet of Horror made The Monster Times issue 12 available for perusing.At Jim Mcleod's Ginger Nuts of Horror, Kit Power gave us another installment of his My Life in Horror series: "13 or 14 – I can be no more precise. Dad had – has still, if I know my old man – a collection of the non- M paperbacks. Beautiful black covers with white artwork and words. That he had a whole set, eight or ten titles at that point, clearly boded well – my Dad reads a ton, but he's not what Mr. King refers to as much of a constant reader – he likes finding new things, new stories, new writing. Very rare that my dad will buy everything someone puts out. I remember too this being one of the few books I borrowed from my dad that was a real loan, and not a 'borrow' that ended up living with me on a more permanent basis. He explicitly asked for the book back when I was done. That was another sign, looking back."Terrorphoria showed us some deeply disturbing Easter bunnies.Nev Murray's Confessions of a Reviewer!! was overgrown with Dead Roses all week, culminating in a review of the eponymous book: "I have been looking forward to this one for a long long time after hearing such good stories about this group’s previous collaboration, Bad Apples: 5 Slices of Halloween Horror. I have read all but one of these authors previously and already know they can produce some very powerful short stories."
Ghost Hunting Theories
delved into Ooparts: "The Klecksdorp spheres are often referred to as an out of place/out of time item. These spheres have been found in mining areas in South Africa in 3-million-year-old deposits. Many believed them to be metallic man-made items of extremely ancient construction. Scientists, however, came to the conclusion that these were made naturally and were formed in volcanic sediments over millions of years and the grooves created by fine grains over time and growth."Here, I linked to a review I wrote at Ginger Nuts of Horror for Rejean Giguere's novel Raildogs and celebrated
The Blessed Man and the Witch
being named Terrorphoria's Book of the Month.Illustration by M. Wayne Miller for Call of Cthulhu's
Beyond the Mountains of Madness
supplement.
April 7, 2015
BMW Named Terrorphoria's Book of the Month for April 2015
I'm honored to announce that
The Blessed Man and the Witch
has been named Terrorphoria's book of the month for April 2015!
Click the link to see the nice things they said about it!
Click the link to see the nice things they said about it!
April 6, 2015
GNoH Review: Raildogs
At Jim Mcleod's Ginger Nuts of Horror, I reviewed Rejean Giguere's
Raildogs
:
"Rejean Giguere’s Raildogs is probably the best novel about a gang of criminal hobos terrorizing railway free-riders in the Heartland of America you’ll read this year."
It's got gore, trains, and criminal hobos. Should you buy a ticket and get on board, or take the bus? Click to find out!
"Rejean Giguere’s Raildogs is probably the best novel about a gang of criminal hobos terrorizing railway free-riders in the Heartland of America you’ll read this year."
It's got gore, trains, and criminal hobos. Should you buy a ticket and get on board, or take the bus? Click to find out!
April 3, 2015
Friday Links!
Here are some Friday links for those of you celebrating Good Friday:
It's also the first night of Passover, where Jews across the world celebrate redemption from slavery in Pharaoh's Egypt.
Have a great weekend!
It's also the first night of Passover, where Jews across the world celebrate redemption from slavery in Pharaoh's Egypt.
Have a great weekend!
April 2, 2015
GNoH Review: Joe Coffin
At Jim Mcleod's Ginger Nuts of Horror, I reviewed Ken Preston's
Joe Coffin
:
"Told from multiple points of view through a cast of unlikable characters that you still can’t help but like, it describes a kind of vampire outbreak in modern day Birmingham, England (not Birmingham, Alabama). Most of the action centers around the titular Joe Coffin and his family: both his immediate family and the Slaughterhouse Gang, the criminal mob he works for."
It's a vampire novel. We've all read them before. Is this worth your time? Click to find out!
"Told from multiple points of view through a cast of unlikable characters that you still can’t help but like, it describes a kind of vampire outbreak in modern day Birmingham, England (not Birmingham, Alabama). Most of the action centers around the titular Joe Coffin and his family: both his immediate family and the Slaughterhouse Gang, the criminal mob he works for."
It's a vampire novel. We've all read them before. Is this worth your time? Click to find out!
