Sandy Ferber | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews

Tom Swift and His Flying Lab: The series that introduced me to sci-fi

Tom Swift and His Flying Lab by Victor Appleton II

What was the first science fiction novel that you ever read? For a long time, the answer to that question, for me, would have been Arthur C. Clarke’s 1953 classic Childhood’s End, which Mr. Miller, back in high school, made us all read for English class. (A very hip teacher, that Mr. Miller!) Upon further reflection, however, it has struck me that I probably read Jules Verne’s 1864 classic A Journey to the Center of the Earth back in junior high school,

The Vampire: South-of-the-border neck noshing

The Vampire directed by Fernando Mendez

The DVD company known as Casa Negra has managed to impress me yet again. Specializing in Mexican horror films of the classic era of 1956 – ’65, this outfit had previously wowed me with great-looking, extras-packed DVDs of such wonderful films as The Brainiac, The Witch’s Mirror, The Man and the Monster, and especially The Black Pit of Dr. M and The Curse of the Crying Woman (I personally deem that last one a horror masterpiece).

August 19th, 2016. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Dark Light Years: Worth a wallow

The Dark Light Years by Brian Aldiss

It had been a good 30 years since I last read anything by British sci-fi author Brian Aldiss. Back in the mid-‘80s, spurred on by three highly laudatory articles in David Pringle’s Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, I had eagerly read Aldiss’ classic novel of a generational starship, Non-Stop (1958); his equally classic tale of an Earth billions of years hence, Hothouse (1962); and his underrated novel of an Earth gone sterile due to fallout radiation,

The Seed of Earth: A generally pleasing work from one of sci-fi’s best

The Seed of Earth by Robert Silverberg

Men of a certain age may recall a particular trepidation that was attendant with the coming of their 18th birthday; i.e., the fear of being drafted into the armed forces. From 1940 until January ’73, males here in the U.S. could be drafted, even during peacetime, to fill vacancies in the Army and other services, and well do I remember the sigh of relief that many breathed when the draft disappeared, in favor of an all-volunteer system. But, as Robert Silverberg’s 1962 novel The Seed of Earth had already demonstrated,

Voodoo Island: For Uncle Boris completists only

Voodoo Island directed by Reginald LeBorg

The 1957 Boris Karloff film Voodoo Island seems to have a widespread reputation as being one of the actor’s all-time worst, so it was with a feeling of resignation and borderline cinematic masochism that I popped this DVD into the player the other night. Voodoo Island was Karloff’s first horror picture in four years, his only release for 1957; he would rebound a bit the following year, with the releases of the fun shlockfest Frankenstein 1970 and the even better (British) film Grip of the Strangler.

July 19th, 2016. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 2 | Film / TV | SFF Reviews | no comments |

The Mothman Prophecies: Genuinely freaky

The Mothman Prophecies directed by Mark Pellington

Laura Linney, one of Hollywood’s preeminent mainstream actresses of the early 21st century, made a pair of highly effective horror pictures in 2002 and 2005 that share a number of notable similarities. The Mothman Prophecies, the earlier film, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, are both products of the Screen Gems/Lakeshore Entertainment production company, and both deal with supernatural events that are purportedly based on real-life incidents. Both films go far in convincing the viewer of the possibility of the bizarre happenings portrayed as being genuine and real (unknowable,

July 14th, 2016. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |

Cosmic Engineers: Simak’s first novel

Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak

Every great novelist has to begin somewhere, and for future sci-fi Grand Master Clifford D. Simak, that beginning was his first novel, Cosmic Engineers. This is not to say, of course, that this novel was the first attempt at writing that Simak had ever made. Far from it, as a matter of fact. Cosmic Engineers originally appeared as a three-part serial in the February – April 1939 issues of John W.

After Worlds Collide: A near-perfect sequel that’s in need of a sequel itself

After Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer

At the conclusion of Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer’s classic sci-fi novel When Worlds Collide (1933), the Earth is spectacularly destroyed in a collision with the rogue planet that had been dubbed Bronson Alpha. Only 103 people, it would seem, managed to get off our world safely, aboard American scientist Cole Hendron’s rocket ship, and land on the rogue planet’s sister world, Bronson Beta. It is a marvelous cliffhanger of an ending,

June 28th, 2016. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 3.5 | Philip Wylie | SFF Reviews | 15 comments |

The Exorcism of Emily Rose: 3 a.m.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose directed by Scott Derrickson

As I once mentioned in my review of the 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies, there are any number of similarities between that film and 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose. To begin with, both pictures star Laura Linney, one of Hollywood’s preeminent mainstream actresses of the early 21st century, here in a brace of unusual horror outings. Both are products of the Screen Gems/Lakeshore Entertainment production company, and both deal with supernatural events that are purportedly based on real-life incidents.

June 21st, 2016. Sandy Ferber | Film / TV, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

When Worlds Collide: More than mere spectacle

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer

To look at the astronomical statistics, you would think that planet Earth is a sitting duck. In our teensy immediate neighborhood of the galaxy alone, there are over 14,000 asteroids zipping about, not to mention over 100 near-Earth comets. Asteroids of over one kilometer in diameter have hit the Earth, it is approximated, twice every million years during the planet’s history; those of five kilometers, every 20 million years. Every 2,000 years, it has been said, a chunk of space matter collides with or explodes over the Earth causing a 10-megaton blast,

June 16th, 2016. Sandy Ferber´s rating: 4.5 | Philip Wylie | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |

Author: Sandy Ferber

Tom Swift and His Flying Lab: The series that introduced me to sci-fi

The Vampire: South-of-the-border neck noshing

The Dark Light Years: Worth a wallow

The Seed of Earth: A generally pleasing work from one of sci-fi’s best

Voodoo Island: For Uncle Boris completists only

The Mothman Prophecies: Genuinely freaky

Cosmic Engineers: Simak’s first novel

After Worlds Collide: A near-perfect sequel that’s in need of a sequel itself

The Exorcism of Emily Rose: 3 a.m.

When Worlds Collide: More than mere spectacle

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