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Day: October 11, 2018

Thoughtful Thursday: What’s your favorite SFF mashup?

I heard once that William Gibson coined the phrase “mashup,” but it turns out that may not be the case.

The concept of mixing styles and genres may have come from the music scene and it has several fun names. Some of us are old enough to remember “sampling,” but two other newly discovered favorites of mine are “plunderphonics,” and “collage music” (collage as in the art form of assembling bits from other works).

In fiction, I think “mashup” took hold in the 1990s. Whatever it’s called, speculative fiction has always done it well.

October 11th, 2018. Marion Deeds | Giveaway!, Thoughtful Thursday | 14 comments |

A Study in Honor: Strong character- and world-building, but a weak mystery

A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell

I enjoyed quite a lot about A Study in Honor (2018), the first novel in Claire O’Dell’s near-future mystery series THE JANET WATSON CHRONICLES. Her twists on the Holmes-and-Watson dynamic are fresh and interesting, the characters themselves are compelling and beautifully real, and her portrayal of an America gripped by conflicts and changes brought on by unrest at home is all-too-relevant. As a mystery novel, however, it falls a little short, with most of O’Dell’s attention going toward establishing who the primary characters are and bringing them together despite their personality conflicts,

October 11th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Claire O'Dell | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

The Devil’s Bride: The only Jules de Grandin novel

The Devil’s Bride by Seabury Quinn

Pop Quiz: Which author was the most frequently published in the pages of the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales? If your answer is the obvious one, H.P. Lovecraft, guess again. Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, Robert Bloch? Still wrong. Surprisingly, the answer is Washington, D.C.-born Seabury Quinn, who, during the 279-issue run of Weird Tales,

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms: One of my all-time faves

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms directed by Eugène Lourié

As I have mentioned elsewhere, it is a keynote of all the films that appear on my personal Top 100 Films list that they are capable of bearing up under repeated viewings with undiminished enjoyment. And indeed, of those 100 films, many of them have been seen by yours truly dozens of times, if not more, with just as much pleasure as when I saw each picture for the very first time. But of all those films, the one that I have probably sat down with the most is The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.

October 11th, 2018. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |