Arrival (2016)
Nov19

Arrival (2016)

Shadows Out of Space and Time: Arrival (2016)     This article originally appeared in ‘The Lovecraft eZine’ and is in fact a Lovecraftian interpretation.  It contains mild spoilers.   Yesterday evening – a miserable and rainy night – I bought a ticket for a film that I was seeing cold.  I knew little about it other than that it starred Amy Adams and was a science-fiction film on the theme of First Contact. I’m sure that thirty minutes...

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Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Nov19

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Glossy Surface, Little Depth: Nocturnal Animals (2016)   You know, the more I think about this film, the more I dislike it.  Not hate.  That would be too strong for something this well made and acted. Indifferent to it, maybe?  Yeah, that sounds a bit more like it. I’m a little late in getting around to seeing it, but I’m amused by the perfect timing of its release in the same week that Donald Trump snatched the American Presidency...

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Robert E Howard – Black Hounds of Death
Nov16

Robert E Howard – Black Hounds of Death

Black Hounds of Death The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 9 Edited by Paul Herman Part Two   These ongoing pieces are overviews rather than reviews and therefore contain spoilers galore.     “Many of us sometimes wonder what Howard would have done if he had continued to write for the rest of his life, whether he would have continued writing pulp stories – westerns, boxing yarns, oriental tales, and supernatural adventure – or...

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H.P. Lovecraft’s The Haunter of the Dark
Nov16

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Haunter of the Dark

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Haunter of the Dark and other Grotesque Visions John Coulthart   An Occasional Look at Lovecraftian Anthologies: 9   If there were any justice in this old world then the name of the truly gifted artist John Coulthart would trip off the tongue as easily as does that of H.  R.  Giger for many people.   And his work would be just as recognizable. I doubt that Coulthart takes that view.  Judging from the sources he...

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Dan Simmons’s Hyperion
Nov16

Dan Simmons’s Hyperion

Dan Simmons’s Hyperion   I’m going to open here by repeating the sentiments of another of this novel’s reviewers:  I don’t know how on Earth I have missed reading this purely astonishing novel for all of these years. It’s been around since 1989 and I’ve picked it up several times; but I’m not always in the mood for ‘hard’ science-fiction and my last big encounter hardly had me rushing off to read more.  (Peter F. Hamilton’s The...

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