the words and worlds of John Robinson
I've recently been reading a book by a very successful commercial author. It's a mystery/suspense novel. And, well, it passes the time. It doesn't pull me in, doesn't make me believe the characters are more than anything than walking names who say words (and they don't particularly talk like actual people). Sadly, the world of …
Back in 2010, Universal Pictures released, The Wolfman. It was a big budget remake of their 1941 monster classic, The Wolf Man (I don't know why the remake is one word, I just go with it). As directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Captain America: The First Avenger), it was a fun, classy, souped up, atmospheric, …
"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural; it is a whim of circumstance... And barbarism must always ultimately triumph!" - Beyond the Black River For me, November is directly linked to sword-and-sorcery. Some people, when they think of Thanksgiving, they think of turkey, football, and family. Me, being the odd duck, I …
Continue reading "Book(s) of the Month, November: The Complete Original Conan Stories"
In Green Town, Illinois, best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, both thirteen years old, find advertisements posted for Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show. While they are excited to have a carnival come so late into October, a lot of the townsfolk sense something strange in the air, and its not the literal approaching …
Continue reading "Book of the Month, October: Something Wicked This Way Comes"
Does anybody else remember their middle grade and high school health classes? A few of you, good. I remember mine as well. Does anybody remember the chapter(s) on sexually transmitted diseases? I think I saw a few of you cringe with, ahem, familiarity. It was alternately humorous, awkward, and boring to read and listen to …
The unnamed narrator of The Shadow Year lives with his family in the suburbs of 1960s Long Island. He has an older brother, Jim, and younger sister, Mary. Their dad works three jobs and their mom is an alcoholic who can barely function at times. Their grandparents live in the garage converted into an apartment. It …
Continue reading "Book of the Month, August: The Shadow Year"
Barbara is a young college student who lands a, mostly, cushy summer job as a babysitter for a prominent couple in a quaint New England community. She is the live-in sitter when Mr. and Mrs. Adams leave for an extended trip abroad. What poor Barbara didn't know was that the Adams' children, teen Bobby and …
Continue reading "Book of the Month, July: Let’s Go Play At the Adams’"
I love a good short story, as evidenced by the Stories section of this little corner of the world wide web. Hopefully, if no one judges too harshly, I've written some good ones (or acceptable ones). They aren't all winners, but one does strive for the occasional homer. I'm no great wordsmith and only time …
Horror comes in many forms. A standard horror trope is the creeper in the dark. There’s something sinister out there and we can’t see it, but we know it’s coming closer. It’s going to get us. I’ve always found the monsters to be scarier in daylight. The scariest thing is to see what's coming at …
We're four months into 2020 and...well...Happy Quarantine! I had intended to start a monthly book suggestion column way back there in January, but, as you can see, it didn't happen. What better time to start than during the recent plague?  What better novel to start with than Stewart O'Nan's A Prayer For The Dying? Don't …
Continue reading "Book of the Month, April: A Prayer For The Dying"
Curio Macabre 