Stephen King’s Cujo
Jan24

Stephen King’s Cujo

The Monster Never Dies: Stephen King’s Cujo   “Once upon a time, not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine… “He was not a werewolf, vampire, ghoul, or unnameable creature from the enchanted forest or from the snowy wastes; he was only a cop named Frank Dodd with mental and sexual problems.  A good man named John Smith uncovered his name by a kind of magic, but before he could be captured – perhaps it was...

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A. C. Doyle : A Study in Scarlet (1887)
Jan14

A. C. Doyle : A Study in Scarlet (1887)

Where It All Began: Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet   I would consider three of the 20th century’s great pulp icons (or literary, if it please thee) to be Tarzan, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes.  Certainly, Dracula is there also; but he is a child of only one book by his creator and that in 1897.  It was down to the cinema to create our enduring group image of the vampire king. And of course that’s true of Tarzan and Bond...

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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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Arthur Machen’s The Green Round
Nov01

Arthur Machen’s The Green Round

Arthur Machen’s The Green Round   It seems odd that, despite sending these little missives out into the world for over five years now, I’ve never touched on one of my favourite writers – Arthur Machen (1863 – 1947). Well, it’s going to seem even odder that now I get to it, I choose what is considered to be his worst novel, The Green Round. And I don’t mean simply considered his worst by a handful of critics — or even a majority....

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