Recent Posts

testing

WWWednesday: November 6, 2024

Reactor has an interview with Anna de Marcken, who won the Ursula K. LeGuin award with her novella It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over, described as “not your usual zombie story.” She states she’s uncomfortable with metaphors.

Judith Tarr sometimes reviews older movies, especially ones with a speculative story element. Here she reviews 1996’s Loch Ness.

Readers won a victory against book-banning in Alaska.

In her newsletter, Charlie Jane Anders talks about first-draft revisions and making words count.

Films that flopped and then became classics: the Guardian has a list.


Read More



testing

Ghost Drum: A dark and haunting Slavic fairy tale

Ghost Drum by Susan Price

Susan Price is a gifted author, though like Anne Pilling, I suspect her work is just a tad too dark and uncanny to draw in a devoted child fanbase. Truly, she pulls no punches with what she writes for her young audience – here for example, the protagonist is killed when she’s deliberately impaled with a large stake. Though she finds a way to reanimate her body, it’s not before hungry wolves chew off one of her arms. You know,


Read More



testing

Abeni’s Song: A beguiling middle grade adventure

Abeni’s Song by P. Djèlí Clark

P. Djèlí Clark’s 2023 middle-grade adventure novel, Abeni’s Song, kicks off a new series with an engaging heroine, wonderful magic and thrilling adventures. Set in an African forest during the 18th or 19th century, Abeni’s Song follows Abeni as she tries to recover her friends and family from an enemy who calls himself the Witch Priest. The Witch Priest has given the adults of Abeni’s village to the “ghost ships.” It is up to her,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: PROM NIGHT & FRIDAY THE 13th

In today’s 23rd and final Shocktober Double Feature, we will deal with an ax-wielding nutjob, Leslie Nielsen, horny camp counselors, and a relentless series of homicides! It’s Prom Night and Friday the 13th!

PROM NIGHT (1980)

Take a dash of Brian de Palma’s Carrie, blend in a hint of John Carpenter’s Halloween, sprinkle in a healthy pinch of Saturday Night Fever and you may end up with a concoction very much like 1980’s Prom Night,


Read More



testing

WWWednesday: October 30, 2024

The 2024 World Fantasy Convention, held in Niagara Falls, NY, was a lot of fun. The World Fantasy Con on Sunday, October 20. They included The Reformatory by Tananarive Due for Best Novel, Half The House is Haunted by Josh Malerman for Best Novella, and “Silk and Cotton Awards were announced and Linen and Blood” by Nghi Vo for Best Short Fiction.

I am posting a picture of a black squirrel I saw at Niagara Falls park, because I had never seen that color variation before, and a picture of the waterfalls veiled in mist,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: The Manitou & The Descent!

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be mesmerized by a hideous neck fetus (yes, you read that right), a levitating old biddy, a spelunking trip gone horribly wrong, and albino bat creatures! It’s The Manitou and The Descent!

THE MANITOU (1978)

My psychotronic-film guru, Rob, didn’t have to do more than give me a one-sentence summary of its storyline in order to convince me to see 1978’s The Manitou. After all, what horror fan wouldn’t be sold by a plot in which pretty Susan Strasberg develops a large tumor on her neck,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: The Changeling & The Haunting of Morella!

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be chilled by a seriously haunted house, a creepy séance, an evil old witch, and David McCallum! It’s The Changeling and The Haunting of Morella!

THE CHANGELING (1980)

I came to discover this movie after reading of it in the wonderful reference book DVD Delirium, which begins its review of The Changeling by saying “Now this is how you do a scary ghost story.” As it turns out, I couldn’t agree more.


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: Mantis in Lace & Breeders!

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be faced with an LSD freakout, a meat-cleaver murder, bare-nekkid ladies, and extraterrestrial insectoids! It’s Mantis in Lace and Breeders!

MANTIS IN LACE (1968)

Mantis in Lace is, in four fairly equal quarters, a soft-core skin flick, a psychedelic drug movie, a slasher horror film AND a police procedural. In it, we meet Lila (Susan Stewart), a young and gorgeous topless dancer who takes LSD one night with a guy she’s picked up. After hallucinating pretty severely for a while,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: The Baby & The Abandoned!

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be gobsmacked by a grown man who lives in a baby crib, the always-wonderful Marianna Hill, zombies, and a haunted farmhouse! It’s The Baby and The Abandoned!

THE BABY (1973)

Although many of us have been guilty of “not acting our age” on occasion, few can be said to be so consistently immature as the character David Manzy plays in the 1973 horror film The Baby. Manzy’s Baby is a 21-year-old man who lives in a crib,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: Devils of Darkness & Ganja & Hess

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will encounter Satanic worship, British beatniks, blood addiction, and The Night of the Living Dead’s Duane Jones! It’s Devils of Darkness and Ganja & Hess!

DEVILS OF DARKNESS (1965)

Despite being a longtime fan of the British horror film, it was only recently that I learned of the existence of 1965’s Devils of Darkness, and now that I have seen it, I know why. This product of Pinewood Studios is a fairly undistinguished effort that just barely manages to entertain and is never even remotely chilling.


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: Roar & Venom

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be rattled by lions and tigers and jaguars, Tippi Hedren, the deadly black mamba, and Klaus Kinski! It’s Roar and Venom!

ROAR (1981)

It turns out that birds aren’t the only critters to have given actress Tippi Hedren a rough time on screen! In Roar (1981), a film that Tippi and her then-husband Noel Marshall – along with sons John and Jerry and daughter Melanie Griffith – star – in (Tippi and Noel also wrote, produced and directed),


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: The Playgirls and the Vampire & The Beach Girls and the Monster

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be flabbergasted by the sight of a creepy castle crypt, a 200-year-old bloodsucker, surfing dudes, and bikini babes! It’s The Playgirls and the Vampire and The Beach Girls and the Monster!

THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE (1960)

The Playgirls and the Vampire, an odd Italian amalgam of sexploitation and Gothic horror, was originally released in 1960 under the perhaps more fitting title The Last Prey of the Vampire. The five gals who are forced to spend the night at the creepy castle of Count Gabor Kernassy,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: To Die For & The Others

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we have Nicole Kidman (X2!), a murderous weathergirl, Jersey ghosts, and photosensitive children! It’s To Die For and The Others!

TO DIE FOR (1995)

The phenomenal success of programs such as The Jerry Springer Show and American Idol amply demonstrates that people in this country are more than willing to suffer any number of indignities just to get their kissers up there on the TV screen. But who would be willing to go to the lengths that Suzanne Stone resorts to,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: Circus of Horrors & She Freak

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be rattled by a jinxed circus, knife throwing, a carnival full of mutants, and a Joni Mitchell look-alike! It’s Circus of Horrors and She Freak!

CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960)

Potential viewers of the 1960 British thriller Circus of Horrors should not be put off by its cast of relative unknowns; it is a real winner, despite that. This film tells the fascinating story of Dr. Rossiter, who, after performing a botched plastic surgery operation in post-War England,


Read More



testing

One Dark Window: Pleasant Enough

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

If I’d checked Amazon, probably I would have learned everything I needed to know about Rachel Gillig’s 2022 fantasy novel One Dark Window. It was a BookTok sensation. I can probably stop there.

One Dark Window is the first of a Duology, the SHEPHERD KING series, a second-world fantasy, or romantasy, actually, since much of our protagonist Elspeth’s time is spent wondering if Ravyn, the grouchy nephew of the king, really likes her,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: The Brotherhood of Satan & Psychomania

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be wowed by a gaggle of geriatric devil devotees, Ahna Capri, a gang of undead bikers, and frog worship! It’s The Brotherhood of Satan and Psychomania!

THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971)

If there’s one thing that the middling horror movie The Brotherhood of Satan demonstrates, it is that Old Scratch must have been pretty desperate for worshipping disciples in the early 1970s. In this film, directed by Bernard McEveety, Charles Bateman, his 8-year-old daughter and his hotty gal pal (the yummy Ahna Capri) get stuck in a small town out West that is in the midst of being terrorized by a coven of elderly Satanists.


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: Werewolf of London & The Haunted Strangler

In today’s very impressive Shocktober Double Feature, we will be regaled by the mariphasa flower, modern-day lycanthropy, Boris Karloff, and the always delectable Vera Day! It’s Werewolf of London and The Haunted Strangler!

WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935)

A full six years before returning Welshman Lawrence Talbot ever heard the dire prediction that “Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright,” English botanist Wilfred Glendon was having problems of his own,


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: Lost Continent & The Phantom Planet

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be awestruck by rampaging dinosaurs, the always-scrumptious Hillary Brooke, disintegrating gravity plates, and a pre-Jaws Richard Kiel! It’s Lost Continent and The Phantom Planet!

LOST CONTINENT (1951)

Lost Continent is a film that I used to love as a kid but hadn’t seen in over 40 years. I still remembered parts of it vividly, however, especially the gripping image of a man falling to his doom through a covering of cloud, and wondered if it would hold up all these years later.


Read More



testing

Horror Double Feature: See No Evil & Endless Night

In today’s Shocktober Double Feature, we will be stunned by a blind Mia Farrow, a butchering maniac, lovely Hayley Mills, and the always-wonderful music of Bernard Herrmann. It’s See No Evil and Endless Night!

SEE NO EVIL (1971)

The appearance of Brian Clemens’ name in the credits of any film or television production is, for me, kind of like a Seal of Approval. From the hit ’60s TV show The Avengers to such marvelous horror films as Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (’72) and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (’74),


Read More



testing

Ballad for Sophie: One of the best graphic novels of all time

Ballad for Sophie by Filipe Melo (words), Juan Cavia (art and color), Sandro Pacucci (color), and Gabriela Soares (lettering/translation)

Ballad for Sophie is one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. Upon a first read, I immediately decided to add it to the syllabus in my college English class, and I look forward to teaching it next semester. The art by Juan Cavia is brilliant, and the colors by Pacucci are striking. And Filipe Melo writes a story that is incredibly hard to put down and that is quite tender.


Read More



Loading
We have reviewed 8386 fantasy, science fiction, and horror books, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and films.

Subscribe to all posts:

Get notified about Giveaways:

Support FanLit

Want to help us defray the cost of domains, hosting, software, and postage for giveaways? Donate here:


You can support FanLit (for free) by using these links when you shop at Amazon:

US          UK         CANADA

Or, in the US, simply click the book covers we show. We receive referral fees for all purchases (not just books). This has no impact on the price and we can't see what you buy. This is how we pay for hosting and postage for our GIVEAWAYS. Thank you for your support!
Try Audible for Free

Recent Discussion:

  1. Solo Leveling is straight-up amazing! The animation really brings the story to life — the action scenes are so smooth,…

  2. Solo Leveling is straight-up amazing! The animation really brings the story to life — the action scenes are so smooth,…

November 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930