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Peplum Populist: Maciste in Hell (The Witch’s Curse)

Peplum Populist: Maciste in Hell (The Witch’s Curse)

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maciste-in-hell-Italian-movie-poster-1962Among the canon of Italian peplum (sword-and-sandal) films made from 1958 to 1965, there are three special horror-fantasia entries. I’ve already written about Mario Bava’s classic Hercules in the Haunted World (1961). In the future I’ll look at the same year’s Goliath and the Vampires, which was co-directed by famed Italian Western director Sergio Corbucci, the man who helmed the original Django (1966).

Today I’m spending my peplum-time with the third dark fantasy, Maciste in Hell (1962), yet another movie featuring Italian homegrown hero Maciste. (Oh, wait. Goliath and the Vampires is also a Maciste film. Damn these U.S. title changes!) Although Maciste in Hell isn’t as fantastic as Hercules in the Haunted World — it’s hard to best Mario Bava when it comes to doing weird horror on the cheap — it’s on the top of the pile as far a sword-and-sandal movies go. And its Amazon VOD presentation is relatively high quality. The picture has the vertical squeeze problem of Perseus the Invincible, but at least you have the entire image and a decent print.

The idea of Maciste journeying to the underworld like Dante or Aeneas wasn’t new: Maciste in Hell (Maciste all’inferno) is also the title of one of the silent Maciste films that were hits in Italy in the 1910s and ‘20s. The two movies don’t have any story connection aside from the hero in an infernal setting, and the silent Maciste is a different character and phenomenon from the 1960s version. But Maciste in Hell ‘62 is also different from other peplum films of its time, and not just in its overt supernatural horror elements. Where Maciste’s standard stomping grounds are the ancient/mythic Mediterranean, here he pops up in seventeenth-century Scotland. Maciste has a reputation for shifting about in time and place: I dealt with him in prehistory in Colossus of the Stone Age, and recently watched him battle Mongols in China in Maciste at the Court of the Great Khan (retitled Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World in the U.S.). Even so, Scotland in the Early Modern Era is pushing against the sword-and-sandal barriers.

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We All Need to Read More Le Guin: The Language of the Night by Ursula K. Le Guin

We All Need to Read More Le Guin: The Language of the Night by Ursula K. Le Guin

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The Language of the Night Ursula LeGuin-small

The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
Ursula Le Guin, edited and with introductions by Susan Wood
Perigee Books (270 page, $4.95 in trade paperback, April 1979)
Cover by Mike Mariano

I need to read more Le Guin. It’s a deficiency I freely acknowledge and feel only slightly better about by adding that we all need to read more Le Guin. I know her through her short stories and the Earthsea books (which I will stack up next to the Narnia books any day), but I still have not read The Left Hand of Darkness or her other important science fiction works. I don’t have much of an excuse except time and the fact that I want to be what Le Guin calls a real reader. I want to be someone who truly digests, or rather, responds to what has been read; not, as I spent a good portion of my reading life, someone who simply goes from one book to the next, a consumer of literature, but still only a consumer regardless of the quality of what was consumed. So I read a book like Le Guin’s book of essays slowly, and I try to respond, synthesize, and recollect what she says not only about reading and writing science fiction and fantasy but also about human nature.

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Even More Metal on Metal: Swords of Steel Volume III

Even More Metal on Metal: Swords of Steel Volume III

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For the third time in two years, Dave Ritzlin has gathered metal musicians and gotoie_2311445pWjU2VwKten them to turn their talents toward full-throttle swords & sorcery. (My reviews of the previous two volumes are here and here). Unlike last year’s installment, which too often wandered astray, the brand new Swords of Steel Volume III is almost all S&S. Serious, skull-splitting, blood-spilling, adrenaline-pumping S&S.

Following a short introduction by Mark “The Shark” Shelton (Manilla Road/Hellwell/Riddlemaster), the book kicks off with its best story — “Thannhausefeer’s Guest” by Howie K. Bentley (Cauldron Born/Briton Rites). I didn’t like his story “All Will Be Righted on Samhain” in the first collection, but I did like his “The Heart of the Betrayer” in the second.

The sole survivor of a ship sunk by enemy attack washes ashore, unconscious and suffering from amnesia, on a lonely island. When he first awakes, a woman in white whose name flickers at the edge of his memory, walks the beach beside him and tells him what he must do:

Rolling his head to one side, he glanced at her, his vision wavering in and out. Flaxen hair framed her pale-skinned classic beauty with high cheek bones and full red lips that seemed to have never smiled. Her icy blue eyes looked through him upon dim netherworld vistas far beyond the realm of man. She appeared familiar, but he didn’t know who she was. They had walked for only a moment when she languorously raised her right arm and pointed to the colossal citadel at the top of the hill in the distance. “You must go there,” she said in the monotone of a black lotus dreamer.

When he reaches the citadel he falls unconscious again. This time he comes to in a bed, still unable to recall his name, receiving medical attention from a beautiful, red-haired woman. Because he came from the sea, she names him Manannan after the ocean god.

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Voracious Volume One: Diners, Dinosaurs & Dives

Voracious Volume One: Diners, Dinosaurs & Dives

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Voracious volume 1Kill Hitler. Obviously.

But what’s the second thing you’d do if you had access to a time machine? And keep in mind, I mean “had access to a time machine” and not “built a time machine.” Because if you built a time machine, then you’d be super-aware of not stepping on any butterflies and the bootstrap paradox and causal loops. And then you’d know that the best thing to do with a time machine is nothing because the ramifications are potentially universe-destroying.

But I digress. The second thing you’d do if you had access to a time machine is go see dinosaurs. At least, that’s what you’d do if you were a guy. Most boys were fascinated by dinosaurs when they were young and, even when we’re all grown up, there’s some primitive part of our brains that thinks, “I gotta see a dinosaur some time.” It’s a really primitive part of the brain, of course. The reptile part.

Voracious deals with the Hitler in the room quite easily. When Nate Willner inherits a fortune from his mysterious dead uncle, he also inherits his secret time machine. And the time machine has only pre-set coordinates, so Nate can’t go Nazi-hunting. Instead, he gets sent directly to the age of dinosaurs.

Six panels after a beautiful two-page spread illustration of dino-times, Nate is panicking and running for his life from some very large (and very obviously herbivorous) dinosaurs. Since the time suit he’s in is equipped with weapons, he reacts to the first dinosaur that follows him by setting it on fire. And while the implications of murdering a lifeform in the past is lost on him, Nate does notice that the burnt pterodactyl smells delicious.

Being a professional chef, Nate does the only logical thing: bring the dead dinosaur back to the present, cook it up and eat it. Once he confirms that dinosaurs are delicious, Nate decides to use the money he inherited to open a restaurant and the time machine he inherited to acquire lots of free meat that’s unlike anything his customers have ever tasted. Hi-jinks ensue.

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Sailing Against the Tides of Perdition: Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet and Chris Morris

Sailing Against the Tides of Perdition: Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet and Chris Morris

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Pirates in Hell wraparound cover-small

Pirates in Hell (Heroes in Hell, Volume 20)
Edited by Janet and Chris Morris
Perseid Press. (456 pages, $22.40 in trade paperback, $8.99 in digital formats, April 10, 2017)
Cover Design and Cover Art: Roy Mauritsen
Book Design: Chris Morris

Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest
 Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
 Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
― Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

Ahoy there! Well here we are — another year and another volume in the wonderful, shared-universe series, Heroes in Hell, which I am proud to be part of. This brand-new, sea-faring adventure set in hell is called Pirates in Hell, and it is the 20th volume in this award-winning series since its inception back in 1986. Once again we’ve tried to do a little something different, as the title suggests: bring you an action-packed, swashbuckling, multi-author novel that still retains all the hallmarks of this very literary series: drama, pathos, philosophy, action, humor… and so much more. This, which I now present to you, is a preview, a bit of teaser promo to hopefully whet your appetite. Here is the book’s main story arc, according to series creator, editor, publisher and contributing author, Janet Morris.

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The Complete Carpenter: Escape From New York (1981)

The Complete Carpenter: Escape From New York (1981)

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Escape-from-New-York-1981-poster

There are no guards in this article. Only the author and the words he has typed. The rules are simple: once you go in, you do not come out … unless you click on a link or a bookmark or close the browser tab or …

Jumping out of The Fog and back into the fire as I move into the most intense period of John Carpenter’s career: the one-two knockout punch of Escape From New York and The Thing.

Escape From New York was the second movie Carpenter made under a deal with Avco Embassy. The production budget was $6 million, the largest amount of money Carpenter had yet worked with, but still tight for an ambitious SF picture. By comparison, 1981’s James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only, had a budget of $28 million, and that was a cost-cutting move for the series after Moonraker. And the small drama On Golden Pond cost $15 million. Escape From New York ended up a hit, grossing more than four times its budget, making it one of the most successful films in Carpenter’s career — and, unfortunately, one of his few hits of his most productive decade.

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April Short Story Roundup

April Short Story Roundup

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oie_1671144jJXH7pFkIssue 63 of Swords and Sorcery opens with a story set in the waning days of the twelve Etruscan cities and the waxing of Rome. “For the Light” by Gustavo Bondoni is a fairly original work, using a setting rarely seen in heroic fantasy. The Etruscans trust their fate to the god whose representative wins a consecrated chariot race. If Mania, goddess of death, wins, she has promised to raise an army of walking corpses. To prevent this abomination, Semni Apatru has secretly entered the race with a plan to take out Mania’s contestant. The story jumps back and forth in time, beginning and ending with the chariots speeding along the race route. Where Bondoni succeeds most, making this story memorable, is with his depiction of the Etruscans as an alien culture that’s distinctly different from our own.

In “Witch Hunter” by Dale T. Phillips, Malleus, the titular character, has arrived at a small tavern in search of a mysterious evil power. When he approaches the barmaid, Teeann, for help, we learn that she’s a witch and that he’s one of the “good” witch finders. As he tells her:

“I do not punish innocent villagers who stand unjustly indicted of witchcraft because of the spoiling of their neighbors’ milk. Nor do I pursue midwives and potion-makers who provide relief to the townsfolk. I hunt only the ones who work to the genuine harm of others. Yes, there are places where the ignorant accuse women because of superstition and fear, but that is not my office. You and I both know that there are those of your kind who use their powers in evil ways, and that leaves a trace. When I find evidence of that, then I strike.”

Somebody who seeks to work genuine harm to others has been killing people in the story’s never-named kingdom. Eventually, an accord is reached between Malleus and the greater body of good witches, leading to a showdown with the malignancy savaging the land. While solidly written, there’s little characterization or tension to this short tale.

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A Mythic Crime Story: Top Cow’s Postal

A Mythic Crime Story: Top Cow’s Postal

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postal1

Regular readers may notice that I try to sample a lot of different comic series. I like individual comics, but I also try to understand the field and its sub-genres. Crime fiction has a long history in comics. Its modern incarnations include titles like Brian Azzarello’s 100 Bullets, Ed Brubaker’s Gotham Central and Criminal, among many others.

Last year I heard the Nerdist Comics Panel interview Bryan Edward Hill, a TV writer working on Top Cow’s Postal.

The premise was catchy: Eden is a town entirely populated by criminals laying low or getting new identities, completely off the grid. And the main character of the story is Mark, the mayor’s son who works as Eden’s postman and who has Asperger’s.

And it’s in development for TV.

So I checked it out.

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A Jaunt Through Clark Ashton Smith’s Collected Fantasies—Vol. 2: The Door to Saturn

A Jaunt Through Clark Ashton Smith’s Collected Fantasies—Vol. 2: The Door to Saturn

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clark-ashton-smith-vol-2-door-to-saturn-coverI’m back from my latest amble through the collected SF and fantasy stories of Clark Ashton Smith from publisher Night Shade. I’m reading these at a gradual pace, sprinkling a story here and there among whatever else I’m reading. It’s like having Clark Ashton Smith casually hang out with you for months at a time, a darkly erudite and sporadically mordantly humorous traveling companion who occasionally asks: “Hey, what are you reading there? Well, let me tell you this story I just thought up…”

Same caveat as for Vol. 1: If you’re a Clark Ashton Smith neophyte, these Night Shade chronological editions aren’t the best starting point discovering him. I recommend the Penguin Classics collection The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies for readers who want a quality primer with a collection of some of Smith’s stories in an inexpensive and easily available volume.

Contents

Vol. 2 features stories written over a more abbreviated period than in the previous volume: July 1930 to May 1931. Each story is listed below with its original date and place of publication — often (as is the case with “The Red World of Polaris” and “The Face by the River”) many years after when it was first composed, and sometimes in a modified form different from the corrected text Night Shade presents.

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Spacial Delivery by Gordon R. Dickson

Spacial Delivery by Gordon R. Dickson

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oie_84350M5i9fCBeSpacial Delivery (1961), a slight and slender book, is a relic of a past age when not every new book by an author had to be some sort of masterpiece. The same year this book came out, Dickson published two other novels and ten short stories. Over the course of fifty years of published writing, he wrote 55 novels and nearly 200 short stories. I can’t say for sure, but that sort of volume seems to have given him the freedom to write whatever sort of stories he wanted, whether high-concept space opera like his Childe Cycle, pulp fare like Hour of the Horde, comic stories like his Hoka collaborations with Poul Anderson, or middle-of-the-road standalones like this book.

When my friend Carl tossed me this back in the early eighties, he told me it was a comedy. I trusted him and gave it a read. It was funny, not in the laugh-out-loud style of the Hoka stories (which if you haven’t read, are about teddy bear-like aliens who have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction, and act out human stories, including Sherlock Holmes and The Jungle Book), but good for a chuckle or two. On rereading, the humor’s a little thin, but it’s a decent enough way to spend a couple of hours.

Out in a crucial sector of space between regions of human and Hemnoid hegemony, lies Dilbia, a planet of high mountains and deep forests. The Dilbians have a rugged, frontier-style civilization, with people living in small towns or with their clans in forests. The Dilbians themselves, well, the cover gives it away. They sort of look like bears — very big bears.

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