Blog Archives
sThe Dai Sword, by Manly Wade Wellman
Thursday , 10, August 2017 Appendix N, Fiction, Short Fiction 8 Comments“…Let the scholar take steel, smelted according to the previous formula, and by his understanding skill beat, grind and sharpen it into a sword. Let it be engraved with the words and symbols ordained, and employed in the performance of mysteries. Let none touch, save those deserving…” * * * […]
50 YEARS OF LUPIN III: The Fuma Conspiracy
Sunday , 6, August 2017 Comics, Fiction, Movies 3 CommentsWell, if it ain’t the smell of villain.–Lupin III In 1987’s direct-to-video movie The Fuma Conspiracy, the utterly unthinkable has happened: Goemon Ishikawa, famed ronin of the underworld, is getting married. The Lupin gang reunites to attend his wedding to Murasaki Suminawa, the daughter of his martial arts instructor. The wedding ceremony is interrupted by ninjas […]
The new novelette by horror author Mike Duran. Graviton Cemetery—the biggest, oldest, most haunted graveyard in the world. And Requiem 4 is here to clean things up. In a dystopian, war-torn future where a godless global network reprograms the masses for compliance, the Requiem units are a dying breed. Manned by sciocists—scientific exorcists—and armed with […]
Explore the seventh book in Vaughn Heppner’s Lost Starship series. It finally happened. Commander Thrax Ti Ix created a hyper-spatial tube for the Swarm Imperium. Across thousands of light-years, a vast armada of warships is heading for Earth to burn the homeworld down to its bedrock as the Swarm begins its genocidal campaign against the human […]
July 2017 was an outstanding month for science fiction and fantasy, publishing enough worthy titles that the following list is just a short sample of the riches published last month. For those looking for “the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be […]
The first book in a new planetary romance series by Jon Mollison! Jack Dashing thought being a rocket test pilot was the most exciting career his world had to offer. He was right, but he had no idea it would also open the door to a world where action and adventure always lay just around […]
Do Good Science Fiction Novels Require Memorable, Powerful Protagonists?
Saturday , 22, July 2017 Authors, Book Review, Fiction 38 CommentsMy own column from two weeks ago got me thinking recently. Has there ever been a good, nevermind great science fiction novel that did not feature a strong, unique hero? We’re not considering short stories or novellas, as some don’t even have significant protagonists, but full-length works. At first, my mind couldn’t come up with an […]
The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge: A Very Good, Very Flawed Novel
Saturday , 15, July 2017 Book Review, Fiction 5 CommentsI’m a big fan of Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat series. Following the adventures of Jim DiGriz, intergalactic thief extraordinaire, the books are action-packed from start to finish, inventive, and exceptionally funny. Recently, I finished The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge, chronologically the fifth in the series, but actually the second Harrison completed, in 1970. (Three prequels […]
Interstellar con man Rex Nihilo has a price tag on his head. Railroaded into smuggling a shipment of contraband corn to a planet short on food, Rex finds himself on the run from an insidious corporation named Ubiqorp, which reaps obscene profits by keeping the planet dependent on shipments of synthetic rations. When Rex and […]
Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews – April 2017
Thursday , 13, July 2017 Book Review, Fiction 2 CommentsLet’s look back at the month of April at some of the science fiction and fantasy books released that you might have missed. * * * * * For We Are Many (We Are Bob #2) – Dennis Taylor Bob Johansson didn’t believe in an afterlife, so waking […]
Great artists and thieves are similar; they both know how to steal your soul.–Lupin III In 2015, Japanese and Italian investors collaborated to present the fourth main TV series in the Lupin III franchise. Reflecting the Italian involvement, Lupin traded his world-spanning heists for an Italian base of operations, and the targets of his heists, […]