Month: January 2017

Speaking strictly in terms of my personal life, January 2017 was a considerable improvement over January 2016. That month was positively rotten to me and I still haven’t quite forgiven it. But this month?

Well, my creative projects have been coming along. It’s looking increasingly likely that my comic will be heading to the Kickstarter stage this year, which is something I can thank my lovely artists for. Them, and the group of wonderful friends who are interested in publishing it through their small press. I’m currently in talks, fingers crossed we can work something out…

Meanwhile, I’m also working my way through a stack of books on science fiction – from biographies to critical analyses – as research for a couple of nonfiction projects, including my new article series on Amazing Stories magazine.

(As for the international political situation circa January 2017, well, that’s something that has given me far, far less to feel optimistic about. But that would be a topic for another time…)

Continue reading ““You Will Have Seen Girls About Fifteen you Thought Were Hot”: The Forbidden Thoughts of Milo Yiannopoulos”

Over at the Castalia House blog, Jeffro Johnson recently made a post entitled “Why Post-Christian Fantasy is Inferior to the Real Thing”. Johnson argues that a process of secularisation has sapped the appeal from modern fantasy fiction:

Continue reading “Is There a Correlation Between the Decline of Religion and the Rise of Sparkly Vampires?”

‘Tis that time of the month once again! The January issue of Belladonna is yours to Magzter and Magcloud, ringing in the new year with all the gruesome goodies that we of the Horror Honeys can offer.

The magazine features interviews with The Id star Amanda Wyss, Don’t Breathe writer Rodo Sayagues and Hurricane Bianca director Matt Kugelman. Slasher Honey Chass discusses this year’s upcoming releases, along with a list of things that she hopes not to see in horror films of 2017.

Between the Hurricane Bianca feature and LinnieSarah’s article on the cross-dressing antics of Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda, drag is a definite theme of this issue. So, too, are children: Katie has a feature on films about mad science children (The Unborn, Demon Seed et cetera), while Kim gives us a feature on child actors in horror and elsewhere champions Something Wicked This Way Comes as a film that won’t scare your own kids too much.

My contributions are a review of the manga release Holy Corpse Rising Volume 1 and an article on the online horrors of Rule 34.

All in all, I’d say we’ve given our readers another treat this month. Take a bite of some Belladonna!

I’ve just begun a new series of articles covering Amazing Stories, the first dedicated SF magazine, on an issue-by-issue basis. The first instalment covers the magazine’s debut issue, published back in April 1927.

I’d like to thank Steve Davidson, editor of Amazing‘s current incarnation, for agreeing to host the series on the magazine’s official website.

How long I can keep the series running, I cannot say; I fear it is only a matter of time before the ugly issue of availability will raise its head. But I fully intend to cover the first year’s worth of issues, at the very least.

Here’s to the exciting new genre of Scientifiction!

I’m a sucker for vintage paperback covers. I’m a sucker for cheesy 1980s music videos. So, it should go without saying that I have a fondness for the video to Toni Basil’s “Over my Head”, where she pops in and out of the covers of various old-timey crime novels.

Out of curiosity, I decided to look up some of those books online…

Continue reading “Vintage Paperbacks: Starring Toni Basil”

Last month I posted about Brian Niemeier, an obscure right-wing indie author. Niemeier holds a number of curious beliefs – such as his notion that the political left is literally being controlled by evil spirits – but my post focused on one of his claims in particular: that his book Souldancer was amongst the most popular horror novels of 2016.

Continue reading “Brian Niemeier: The Man Who Would Be (Stephen) King”

I recently went to see Passengers, the science fiction film that has been causing quite a stir recently due to the nature of the romantic relationship it portrays. In the end, the character I empathised with the most was not either of the lovebird leads, but rather the robot barman played by Michael Sheen.

Why? Well, first off, I’m going to have to spoil the whole dang movie.

Continue reading “Passengers: Why I Empathised with the Robot Barman (All the Spoilers!)”