A Stellar Lineup: Harlan Ellison, James Tiptree, Jr, Frederik Pohl, John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, Poul Anderson, and more in The Alien Critic 7, edited by Richard E. Geis

A Stellar Lineup: Harlan Ellison, James Tiptree, Jr, Frederik Pohl, John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, Poul Anderson, and more in The Alien Critic 7, edited by Richard E. Geis

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The Alien Critic Number Seven, November 1973. Published and edited by Richard E. Geis. I subscribed to TAC the following year after reading Geis’s column in IF.

Geis really had the juice back then — this issue includes Frederik Pohl, John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, Damon Knight, Poul Anderson, Robert Bloch, Miriam Allen de Ford, Ross Rocklynne, “James Tiptree, Jr.,” and others — including a letter from Harlan Ellison that lists the then-current contents of The Last Dangerous Visions. Seriously.

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It’s All Rather Hit-or-Mythos, Part I

It’s All Rather Hit-or-Mythos, Part I

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H.P. Lovecraft’s The Old Ones (Laurelwood Pictures, 2024)

Yes, a new watch-a-thon, featuring me, a hopeless procrastinator, plumbing the depths of cinematic misery for your entertainment.

This time around, I will be watching Lovecraftian and Lovecraftian-tangential films, and as usual they must be films I’ve never seen before (which makes the task trickier and bound for disaster).

If you don’t know anything about Lovecraft’s writings, cosmic horror, the Mythos, or Cthulhu, that’s great — keep it that way. Onwards!

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Old Ones (2024) – Tubi

Three years ago, I watched H.P. Lovecraft’s The Deep Ones (and wasn’t overly impressed), and here is Chad Ferrin’s follow-up to his own film. Apparently he has three planned, so bear that in mind.

This one continues the story of Russel Marsh (Robert Miano — excellent as usual), a salty sea captain who was possessed over a hundred years ago by ‘unspeakable horrors’, and who is now out for revenge. His plan is to go back in time using a ‘resonator’ and stop the Esoteric Order of Dagon from doing ghastly, fishy things. An added bonus would be reuniting with his wife, who likes to appear to him in nudie dream sequences.

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Tor Double #11: James Tiptree, Jr.’s Houston, Houston, Do You Read? and Joanna Russ’s Souls

Tor Double #11: James Tiptree, Jr.’s Houston, Houston, Do You Read? and Joanna Russ’s Souls

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Cover for Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by Ron Walotsky
Cover for Souls by Dieter Rottermund

Houston, Houston, Do You Read? was originally published in Aurora: Beyond Equality, edited by Susan Janice Anderson and Vonda N. McIntyre and published by Fawcett Gold Medal in May, 1976. It won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. Houston, Houston, Do You Read? is the second of three Tiptree stories to be published in the Tor Doubles series, with only three female authors previously published in the series (four, if you include Joanna Russ in this volume), Tiptree is the first woman to have a second story included.

Major Norman “Dave” Davis, Captain Bernhard “Bud” Geirr, and “Doc” Orrin Lorimer are completing a year-long mission to orbit the sun in a spacecraft, the Sunbird. Upon nearing Earth, they are surprised, and annoyed, to hear women’s voices on the channels normally reserved for Mission Control in Houston. It becomes clear to the readers, if not the characters, that they have entered a Buck Rogers situation. Their orbit around the sun has resulted in their spaceship being catapulted into the far future.

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The Fundamentals of Sword & Planet, Part II: John Norman

The Fundamentals of Sword & Planet, Part II: John Norman

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The first six books in the Gor series, all from Ballantine Books: Tarnsman of Gor, Outlaw of Gor, Priest-Kings of Gor, and Nomads of Gor (all 1976), Assassin of Gor (1970), and Raiders of Gor (1976). Covers by Boris Vallejo (#1-4 and 6) and Gino D’Achille (#5)

Read Part I of this series, Don Wollheim, Edwin L. Arnold, and Otis Adelbert Kline.

The most controversial of the second generation of Sword & Planet authors was certainly John Norman, which is the pseudonym for author John Lange, a philosophy professor. The first book, Tarnsman of Gor, was published in 1966 and then generally one a year until a break after 1988. There are a total of 37 books at last count but I’ve only personally read up to #23 and don’t own the rest.

From this series, I first read book 2, Outlaw of Gor, which has the main character, Tarl Cabot, enslaved. He must lead a revolt to free himself and other prisoners. Strangely enough, given the later reputation of this series, I found this book in my small town library in Arkansas, in the Bible Belt. That should tell you that the early books in this series were pretty standard fantasy. I found the book quite well written and enjoyable, and began to seek out more. (It was quite a few years until I was able to mail order a copy of Book 1.)

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Movie of the Week Madness: The Horror at 37,000 Feet

Movie of the Week Madness: The Horror at 37,000 Feet

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I’m sure you’ll agree that William Shatner is a man apart. Still going strong at ninety-four, he appears to maintain an admirable sense of humor about himself and the ups and downs of his long career, and he seems to have come to comfortable terms with Captain James Tiberius Kirk and Sergeant T.J. Hooker, and also with his appearances on Dr. Kildare, The Twilight Zone and scads of other television shows, which, considering the highly variable quality of the medium, was undoubtedly a wise decision.

Never having met the man, this is just a guess, but I think there might be an exception to his amiable acceptance of his service record; I suspect that there’s one of his television assignments, the mention of which might well provoke a lapse into sullen silence or prompt an eruption of foul-mouthed fury: the made-for-TV movie The Horror at 37,000 Feet.

I’ve often sung the praises of the iconic ABC Movie of the Week, but old-school network television being imitative if nothing else, CBS and NBC also bombarded a supine 1970’s public with their own original TV films. As with ABC, all the usual genres were on display, and the shows ranged from the socially serious to the unashamedly schlocky; the quality level veered as wildly as a drunk trying to walk a straight line on an episode of Adam-12, and most of these films were as disposable as what is euphemistically called “bathroom tissue.”

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Wrestling With Fan-Fiction

Wrestling With Fan-Fiction

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Image by Лариса Мозговая from Pixabay

Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I’m afraid my Doom hyperfixation is still in full effect. And as with all things that has my attention for longer than a few days my brain has latched onto it and created a story out of it. This one is set in the Doom universe, and deals specifically with Doom Guy/The Doom Slayer. Which means it’s not actually an original. It is, I made the realisation late last week, a fan-fiction (cue horror stinger). I have complicated feelings about this. Let’s dive in.

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What I’ve Been Listening To: June, 2025

What I’ve Been Listening To: June, 2025

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I continue to listen to audiobooks daily. I frequently drift off to sleep with a fifteen minute timer on. The BBC radio plays of the two Dirk Gently novels are regular late night listens. So is the terrific Marx Brothers homage, Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel. It was originally done by the Marxes themselves. BBC radio made a new version in 1990 and I frigging LOVE it.

Since I often have an audiobook on while I’m doing other things, I re-listen to things; or listen to books I’ve already read. It works great for me. I get some through my library app, but I mostly use Audible.

Here are some recent listens.

LEE GOLDBERG’S EVE RONIN

In the most recent What I’ve Been Listening To, I talked about Goldberg’s ‘buddy cop’ series featuring Sharpe & Walker. They are arson investigators in LA, and book one was pretty good. I just got the audiobook for number two, and I’m thrilled it crosses over with Lee’s Eve Ronin series. Even more thrilled that Nicol Zanzarella is doing Eve again – she’s terrific!!

The books are part of Kindle Unlimited, and number six is coming out later this year. I re-listened to all five in less than a week. Eve and her partner Duncan are a terrific buddy cop pair. Eve rose to fame when she was off duty and subdued a drunken action movie star who was smacking around his girlfriend in a parking lot. The video went viral on the Net and she parlayed it into a big promotion.

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Where Dreams and Nightmares Come True: Greyhawk Adventures: Saga of Old City by Gary Gygax

Where Dreams and Nightmares Come True: Greyhawk Adventures: Saga of Old City by Gary Gygax

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Greyhawk Adventures: Saga of Old City (TSR, October 1985)

Greyhawk…

A cruel city.

A harsh, pitiless city for a young orphan boy with no money and no friends — but plenty of enemies!

Enter the Old City of Greyhawk, that marvelous place where dreams — and nightmares — come true. Travel through the world of Oerth along with Gord, the boy who becomes a man as he fights for his survival in a world of mysterious wizards, fearsome monsters, dour dwarves, and beautiful women.
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You Can’t Handle the Tooth, Part III

You Can’t Handle the Tooth, Part III

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Boys from County Hell (Six Mile High Productions, April 2020)
and Twilight (Summit Entertainment, November 21, 2008)

20 vampire films, all first time watches for me.

Come on — sink ’em in.

Boys from County Hell (2020) – Prime/Shudder

Ah, British and British-adjacent horror comedies. When they’re done right, there’s nothing better, and this one is done right.

I had a blast with this one, I’d put it right up there with the likes of Dog Soldiers, Grabbers, Shaun of the Dead, Doghouse, Severance, and The Cottage. They all have something in common; a close-knit group, localized setting, extreme gore, and flowery language.

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Tor Double #10: Robert Silverberg’s Sailing to Byzantium and Gene Wolfe’s Seven American Nights

Tor Double #10: Robert Silverberg’s Sailing to Byzantium and Gene Wolfe’s Seven American Nights

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Cover for Sailing to Byzantium by Brian Waugh
Cover for Seven American Nights by Bryn Barnard

Seven American Nights was originally published in Orbit 20, edited by Damon Knight and published by Harper & Row in March, 1978. It was nominated for the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. Seven American Nights is the first of two Wolfe stories to be published in the Tor Doubles series.

Sailing to Byzantium was originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in February, 1985. It was nominated for the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, winning the latter.  Sailing to Byzantium is the second of five Silverberg stories to be published in the Tor Doubles series and aside from the proto-series Laumer novel, it is the first time an author has been repeated.

Wolfe’s story opens with a short note from Hassan Kerbelai indicating that he is sending the travelogue of Nadan Jaffarzadeh back to his family, noting that Jaffarzadeh seems to have gone missing. The final paragraphs of the story are focused on Jaffarzadeh’s mother’s reaction to the travelogue. The majority of the story is Jaffarzadeh’s description of his first week visiting America.

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