It’s become a cliche to say “the book is the better than the movie”, but it’s a cliche for a reason. The Girl with all the Gifts is better as a book than as a movie because the book goes into much more detail than the movie can given its medium. How boring would it be if a movie just showed someone thinking for thirty minutes? And yet whole chapters of books are filled with nothing but the thoughts of characters and it remains fascinating. Continue reading
In her introduction to The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2012, editor Paula Guran says “dark” can mean different things to different people, thus not every story in this collection will necessarily be considered “dark” by every reader. Fair enough. Most of the stories in this collection are horror, although we do get a couple humorous pieces and even some romance. Continue reading
“A wise man once observed, ‘You’re never upset for the reason you think.'”
The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett is a collection of interrelated short stories, as well as a play. It’s incredibly creepy. Continue reading
“Even a single day, on a single world, can contain both atrocity and kindness, storm-tossed seas and burning deserts. On such a world, lives may never touch and yet still give solace by the reminder that one’s own troubles are not universal.” Continue reading
I’m a couple days late posting this, but I just had a short story published in Factor Four Magazine! If you’re a subscriber, you can read “Thought Adjuster” here. Although I’ve been published before, this is my first professional sale. It’s a sci-fi flash fiction piece about a future in which we all have computers in our head giving us advice. Continue reading
Certain Dark Things takes place in an alternate version of Mexico City in which vampires are known to exist. There are ten different types of vampires listed in the glossary, each with their own strengths and weaknesses (somewhat reminiscent of the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade). Only three different types of vampires appear on screen which is for the best as trying to keep track of ten different species would have been confusing. The fact that there’s a wider world of vampires out there does leave plenty of room for a sequel or even a series. Continue reading
“The poets do not sing of this, either, how death begets the urge toward life. I, who knew how to take pain, took Hyacinthe’s. Pain and delight, I took from him, and gave him back both, until we understood, the both of us, how they are intertwined, how one does not come without the other.”
Phèdre nó Delaunay is a masochist, both by inclination and by training. She has the ability to heal quickly, which comes in handy for a masochist, although she also has bad luck. She begins the book as a courtesan in training at the Night Court which contains different houses, each appealing to a different taste. She eventually becomes a ward to Anafiel Delaunay who trains her in observation, making her a spy as well as a courtesan. “All knowledge is worth having” is his motto and Phèdre concurs. I loved that even after she is warned that there are some things she shouldn’t know, she intends to find out anyway. Continue reading
Not all movies stand the test of time. We’ve probably all experienced shock at rewatching a childhood favorite only to discover it’s not as good as we thought it was. I remembered The Transformers: The Movie (1986) as being sophisticated because Optimus Prime dies in it and tried to get my wife to watch it one time, only to be chagrined to find out it’s basically just one long toy commercial. Continue reading
I didn’t like The Incredibles (2004) the first time I saw it. Now that a sequel is coming out, I thought I’d give the original movie another chance. Let’s see how that goes.
The Incredibles seems to be an homage to the Fantastic Four (1961-present), a comic in which someone with super strength, someone who can stretch, someone who can turn invisible and make force fields, and someone who can light themselves on fire and fly form a kind of found family. In The Incredibles, we have someone with super strength, someone who can stretch, someone who can turn invisible and make force fields, and someone who can run fast forming an actual family. Continue reading
Since I’ve last posted about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve seen the latest four movies. They just keep pumping them out as fast as they can, don’t they? Spiderman: Homecoming (2017) was an average superhero movie targeted towards teenagers, but I liked several things about it: it gave us a sympathetic villain, they didn’t bother giving us Spiderman’s origin story (we’ve had enough of those), the bully wasn’t stereotypical, and the high school students appeared to be – well – high-school-aged (in so many Hollywood movies, they have adults play fifteen-year-olds and it just doesn’t work). It’s also funny in parts. Continue reading
