A to Z Review: “Cronus,” by Marianne Puxley

A to Z Review: “Cronus,” by Marianne Puxley

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A to Z Reviews

Just as Avis Pabel only published one science fiction story, so, too, did Marianne Puxley. Puxley’s only sf short story, “Cronus,” appeared in the May 1989 issue of Interzone.

Rhea and Tyrrell area married and expecting a baby in a rather amorphous future. Tyrrell sees Rhea’s pregnancy as a chance to move into a Community called Cronus, which he sees as a beneficial place to live, safe from the “baneful Greenwomen” who are presented as some sort of bogeyman living outside the safe communities. Rhea isn’t sure it is the right choice, but eventually agrees.

Life for Rhea in the Community is anything but idyllic. She dislikes the regimentation and finds that being a woman means she is a second class citizen, expected to be a housekeeper and to take care of her husband who does useful work for the Community. Most of the women belong to the Wives’ Federation, but Rhea refuses to join, seeing it as a step toward giving permission to have her individuality taken from her.

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Necronomicon Report: They Stir

Necronomicon Report: They Stir

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Opening ceremonies, featuring our emissaries from space and the sea

With organ and dance, in august surroundings (in August, no less), we celebrated the sixth Necronomicon’s beginning here in Providence, Rhode Island. This every-two-years con gave every appearance of being organized, thoughtful, and creative, and their Thursday game is strong. Very strong. Opening ceremonies took place in the First Baptist church, an amazing space for this event as it comes equipped with a kick-ass organ. Summoning Cthulhu, an ebon-winged bird figure flew (with their feet, no wire work or actual magic here) to the organ and then blew the doors off the place, which was handy because it was a bit hot.

We had more music during the hour of the event, interspersed with brief words of welcome, a poem, and the visit of a number of emissaries from the depths of space and/or the deeps of the sea. By mystical control of the elements, a thunderstorm blew through Providence at just the right moment, followed by scarlet illumination by the lights of emergency vehicles rolling past. And the sirens, oh, the sirens, their shriek will forever fill my ears….

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Goth Chick News: Bring on the Retro, 16-Bit Games Are Coming Back

Goth Chick News: Bring on the Retro, 16-Bit Games Are Coming Back

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RetroRealms – Halloween Gameplay Screenshot

There is almost nothing I love better than a thunder-stormy Sunday afternoon spent playing video games. These days, those hours are spent in my souped-up home office which I have rigged for a VR system, as well as standard PC-gaming.

But it feels like only a short time ago that I was dumping quarters into upright machines at my local arcade. Like a whole lot of people, I feel an incredible amount of nostalgia toward the pixelated games which sucked down so much of early job income. This is why retro arcades have started popping up all over the place and I spent my entire tax refund a couple years back purchasing an upright arcade machine of my very own.

That said, it shouldn’t be the surprise that it was to read that a game developer was reimagining two iconic horror-movie-themed games from the early 80s.

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Necronomicon Coming

Necronomicon Coming

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Not the book of cosmically horrible… stuff, we’ll say “stuff” and let that be that, shall we? Not the Necronomicon of dread lore and Lovecraftian literary shenanigans. No, Necronomicon, as in a ‘con, Providence, Rhode Island, beginning August 15. Following in the upswell of interest in Lovecraft — or, more accurately, an uptick in cultural stuff (there’s that word again!) that relates to Lovecraft — the organizers of this event have reanimated it, and from all the early signs they’ve done a great job. It’s got a serious academic track record (adroitly renamed to protect the dignity of academic vitas), a gala ball or somesuch grand event, and other elements beyond description and if you’re interested visit the website already.

Who am I? Writer, academic, gamer, internet bon vivant1, and for a few volunteer shifts I’ll be keeping an eye on the gaming track at the ‘con.2 Watch this space for updates as the ‘con commences 8/15/24.

1 — I officially distance myself from any real claim of bon or vivant in the context of the internet.
2 — Yeah, I noticed this ‘con far too late to submit a paper to present to the academic track, or to even get on the reading schedule.

Neverwhens: Ancient Civilizations Topple and the Age of Heroes ends in the Blades of Bronze Trilogy by Mark Knowles

Neverwhens: Ancient Civilizations Topple and the Age of Heroes ends in the Blades of Bronze Trilogy by Mark Knowles

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Seriously, how many D&D encounters did this one scene inspire? (Jason and the Argonauts, 1963)

I sincerely doubt any Black Gate reader needs an education in who Ray Harryhausen was or why his films, despite the sea-change in special effects technology, remain seminal classics (I’ve been making my way through a bunch of his swashbuckling adventures with my Zoomer son, who notes, time and again, how ‘cheesy and awesome’ the stop motion is, but also calls out how perfect at times the strange movements are at making monsters seem, well…strange and *monstrous* in a way that smooth CGI does not).

I myself am young enough that the only Harryhausen film I saw in theaters was his grand finale, Clash of the Titans (1981), though thanks to Saturday matinee TV I had a steady diet of all that came before.

Clash itself is interesting, because, written by Beverley Cross, while ostensibly the story of Perseus — one of the few *likable* Greek heroes, and one of the few with a reasonably “happy” ending to his tale — the film is to large extent a reworking of an early film Cross had done with Harryhausen, Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

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An Essential Purchase: The Weird Tales Boys by Stephen Jones

An Essential Purchase: The Weird Tales Boys by Stephen Jones

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The Weird Tales Boys (PS Publishing, September 2023). Cover by Les Edwards

How could I not purchase The Weird Tales Boys, by Stephen Jones? It focuses on the three authors whose work has most inspired me for decades: Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith.

In fact, I created a small business whose core product, the Hyperborea RPG, is inspired by the works of these three iconic giants of weird fiction, horror, fantasy, and sci-fi.

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A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Richard Deming’s Manville Moon

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Richard Deming’s Manville Moon

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

(Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)

 

Richard Deming’s career flourished during the end of the Pulps and the birth of the digests. He published short stories in five different decades. After serving in World War II, he was working for the Red Cross when he sold his first story, “The Juarez Knife,” to Popular Detective. He would write a total of sixteen more stories, as well as four novels, featuring his one-legged war veteran, Manville (‘Manny,’ ‘Mister’) Moon, mostly appearing in Black Mask, and Dime Detective.

He wrote three police procedural novels starring Matt Rudd, a vice cop in Southern California. Deming appeared in the final issue of Dime Detective, but had already transitioned to Manhhunt, the digest magazine that was the successor to the hardboiled Pulps.

Deming also wrote for television – an experience he did not speak of fondly.

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It’s Only a Matter of Time

It’s Only a Matter of Time

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The human mind daydreams its way around certain specific topics with exceptional regularity. We fret about personal security, we hope for love (in its innumerable forms), and to round out the likely top three, we focus on death. This last in particular invites a speculative element: we can hardly help fantasizing about an extended or perhaps immortal life span.

But not far down the list comes the earnest desire to travel in time. Backward, forward, sidelong –– “over, under, sideways, down” –– any shift in our current path will do. We want to zip back in time to visit places now impossible to see, or connect with loved ones we’ve lost. We want to zoom forward to get a preview of what is to come.

The urge is powerful, atavistic. It’s as if our very cells, so prone to decay (a driving force of time as we experience it), insist that here lies a field that demands investigation.

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I Like Big Bugs and I Cannot Lie, Part III

I Like Big Bugs and I Cannot Lie, Part III

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Bug Buster (DMG Entertainment, 1998), Mesa of Lost Women (Howco Productions,
1953), and Earth vs. the Spider (American International Pictures, 1958)

Bug Buster – 1998 – Prime

Giant bugs?

Not until the last five minutes, then we get MOTHER BUG (Doug Jones)

CGI heavy?

A couple of unconvincing enhancements, but for the most part, practical and sticky.

Any good?

I started out with a bit of optimism due to the interesting cast including George Takei, James Doohan, Randy Quaid, Meredith Salanger, and a very young Katherine Heigl. Unfortunately, the script was so poor and the direction so pedestrian, that it turned into a bit of a slog.

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A to Z Review: “Basic Agreement,” by Avis Pabel

A to Z Review: “Basic Agreement,” by Avis Pabel

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A to Z Reviews

“Basic Agreement,”  by Avis Pabel appeared in the September 1958 issue of Astounding and was reprinted in the December UK issue of  the magazine. It is the only story by Pabel that appears in the Internet Science Fiction Database, although she wrote articles under the name Avis Brick that appeared in the magazine Persuasion, which was published by the Nathaniel Branden Institute, part of the Objectivist movement championing Ayn Rand.

“Basic Agreement” is an odd little story of Marjorie, who insists she sees something out of the  corner of her eye in her bedroom each night after her parents put her to bed. Her father has little patience with her shenanigans. The fact that Marjorie is unable to describe what she saws just serves to make him less willing to offer her sympathy. Instead, he compares Marjorie to her older sister Jill, who has apparently died and was either a perfect child or whose death has sanctified her in her parents’ memories.

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