Search Results for: book club

When Immortals Die: The Arc of a Scythe Series by Neal Shusterman

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Neal Shusterman is the author of dozens of books for young readers, including The Dark Side of Nowhere, The Shadow Club, The Star Shards Chronicles, The Skinjacker Trilogy, and the Unwind Dystology. His latest series, set in a far-future world of eternal life, where teenagers train to become sanctioned killers to control the population, began with Scythe in 2016 . Here’s Kirkus Reviews on the opening novel. On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear…

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Modular: Trouble in the ’80’s with Tales from the Loop

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As a child of the ’80’s, I grew up with the understanding that a group of kids might stumble upon a series of mysterious events and have to band together to deal with the challenges from it. Parents, law enforcement, and other authorities would be of no help, so there was no point in telling them what was going on. They either wouldn’t believe it or, worse, would stop the kids from fixing things. The kids, through determination and luck, were the only…

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Shark Ships and Marching Morons: The Best of C. M. Kornbluth

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The Best of C. M. Kornbluth (1977) was the eighth installment in Del Rey’s Classic Science Fiction Series. Kornbluth’s long time friend and collaborator Frederik Pohl (1919-2013) served as editor; he also provided an introduction and brief intros to each story. Dean Ellis (1920-2009), who did the cover art for the first four volumes, returns to the series to do the cover art for this one — a scene from “Marching Morons.” Unlike previous volumes, there is no afterword. Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923–1958)…

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Oz Goes Thrift Shopping: “This is [bleeping] Awesome!”

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On Wednesday, January 17, 2018, after I clocked out from work, I decided to do a 5 for 5: Hit all five of Med City’s thrift stores (at least that I know of) — 2 Goodwills, 2 Salvation Armys, and a Savers. I also dropped in at Nerdin’ Out, a store that specializes in collectible comic books and action figures. It was a challenge, as I had just sprained my ankle that morning, and the walks down the aisles started…

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London Wins Great Game

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The Pittsburgh Pirates owned the National League at the start of the 20th century. They won the pennants in 1901, 1902, and 1903 by a total of 41½ games. Then came the disastrous, injury-filled season of 1904 when the club fell to fourth behind the Giants, Cubs, and Reds. John McGraw’s New York team ran away from the rest of  the league and refused to play the upstart American League after the season. Pittsburghers undoubtedly took that personally,  since the…

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Giving up the Ghost: All Hallows 43

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When I was at the 2016 World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio last year, I accomplished something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: buy the current issue of All Hallows, the acclaimed Canadian journal of spooky fiction. It’s been published since the mid-90s, and was nominated for the International Horror Guild Award in 2003, and the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Back issues are still available at their website, but I wanted to hold a copy in my hot little…

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The 4th International Science Fiction Conference, Chengdu, China, November 2017

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I’ve been cataloguing some of my Paddington-the-Bear adventures in 2017. This year was the first time I went to New York (see A Babe in the Woods: Derek’s Literary Adventures, and Questing in New York! NYCC 2017). I had some other secret adventures this fall that I haven’t blogged about, but recently I had a bigger adventure! For the first time ever, I was invited to a literary conference to be an Author Guest of Honor. It was the 4th International…

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Fantasia 2017, Day 14, Part 2: Folklore and Fans (November and Tokyo Idols)

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I wrote the other day about 78/52, the first movie I saw at Fantasia on Wednesday, July 26. It played at the De Sève Theatre, the smaller of the two main Fantasia cinemas, and as it happened I’d see two more movies there the same day. The first was an Estonian movie (technically an Estonian-Dutch-Polish co-production) called November, a period piece set among Northern forests, rich in folklore and cinematic beauty. The second was a documentary called Tokyo Idols, about…

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Goth Chick News, New Treasures: Demon Freaks by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison

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As a huge fan of Grady Hendrix’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and since I was trying to figure out what to do with myself now that I’ve binge-watch Stranger Things 2… twice… I was particularly excited to open up the latest intriguing book release from my pals over at Wunderkind PR. First, the author’s name is J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison, and whether that’s a joke or not, it’s funny, at least to me – like he wanted to outdo John O’s…

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