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Game Review: Innistrad from Magic the Gathering

Game Review: Innistrad from Magic the Gathering

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innistrad-werewolf

Magic The Gathering has recently released another set, this one featuring the dark plane of Innistrad. The end word of title in itself, Strad, should tell you all you need to know to get started here.

The Vampire Strad, as most older gamers will remember, was the famous vampire found in the classic TSR module I6 Ravenloft. That particular gaming supplement was so popular that it spun off its own boxed set and gothic fantasy dimension in the early 90s.

I’ve always been a fan of I6 for a couple of reasons. A: The cover might be the best work Clyde Caldwell ever did for TSR, and that’s saying something. And B: It featured the first TSR 3D map which detailed Strad’s castle.

Now I recently picked up a copy of this module, took it to Milwaukee, and had Caldwell sign it as Wayne Reynold’s birthday gift because the cover inspired Wayne to become an artist. That in itself should be enough to put it into TSR’s artistic top 10, but as the concept of Strad and his new domain began to grow, the creative think tank at TSR began to fail in how to deliver it.

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Behind the Mask: Dr. Phibes Rises Again from Script to Screen

Behind the Mask: Dr. Phibes Rises Again from Script to Screen

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doc-phibestumblr_lfvzefdggz1qc1sduo1_500Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) brought back Vincent Price and director Robert Fuest for a second go-round with AIP’s favorite madman. Phibes’ original screenwriters William Goldstein and James Whiton penned the first draft of the sequel entitled The Bride of Dr. Phibes. While the resulting film retained significant elements from this work, AIP chose to hand the writing chores over to Robert Blees with director Robert Fuest making final revisions on the produced script. Whiton and Goldstein’s sequel script would resurface several times over the years for AIP as a possible third film re-titled Phibes Resurrectus and later for AIP’s successor, New World Pictures for a revival titled Phibes Resurrected. Between these attempts, Goldstein came very close to getting a television series, The Sinister Dr. Phibes off the ground with comic book legend Jack Kirby providing the designs for the network presentation. A survey of the development of the sequel makes the film’s international title, Frustration seem all too apt.

The October 1971 draft of The Bride of Dr. Phibes makes it evident that Goldstein and Whiton (like many screenwriters before and since) were cheated of a story credit for the sequel since much of the resulting film’s structure is derived from their unproduced script. Phibes’ carefully-planned resurrection and his scheme for reanimating his late wife are exactly as one finds in the finished film. Additionally, the central characters of Emil Salveus and his mistress Daphne Burlingame are virtually identical to the film’s central characters, Jonathan Biederbeck and Diana Trowbridge. Goldstein and Whiton focus the sequel on a the Institute for Psychic Phenomenon which houses a Satanic cult led by the now adult Lem Vesalius seeking vengeance against Phibes nine years after the events of the first film. The Scotland Yard stalwarts, Trout, Schenley, and Crow return to good effect. Although Crow’s role seems better suited to his direct report, Waverley who is missing here. There’s a gripping sequence set at Wembley Arena that is remakably similar to a scene in one of the early Fantomas novels where the detectives think they’ve nabbed Phibes only to discover it is one of his automatons. It is easy to see why this excellent script would not die and resurfaced several times under variant titles over the ensuing decade.

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Goblin Fruit: Autumn 2011

Goblin Fruit: Autumn 2011

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gfwolfieThe new Goblin Fruit is LIVE!!! It’s ALIVE, I tell you!

Now, I know I’ve said that before. Always the same way, too. “LIVE!!!” must be capitalized, with exclamation points, because, you see, I’m pretending I’m Frankenstein. I’m sure you knew. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything.

This new issue features poet Neile Graham, including an interview in which her poetry is described as “very green and very blue, full of cedar and rain and stone and sea.” Here is a hint, a taste, a tongue’s dip worth of her verse:

“…Hillfolk trade their cranky babes for our sweet sleepers. Tempt away

our pretty ones. Make deals we pay for. Seduce our poets
underhill for seven silent years then gift them with sore truth…”

– The Ones Outside Your Door

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Goth Chick News: For Your Halloween Reading Pleasure: The Night Circus

Goth Chick News: For Your Halloween Reading Pleasure: The Night Circus

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image001When I first heard about new author Erin Morgenstern’s book The Night Circus, it was billed as an antidote for the withdraw symptoms Harry Potter fans were experiencing. Though I wouldn’t go so far as saying I’m having Potter DDT’s, I must admit that the sudden void left in my literary life by the lack of pure escapism fantasy was making me a bit twitchy.

But good luck living up to my Hogwarts-sized expectations, I thought. Another book about magic we don’t need.

However, once The Night Circus hit store shelves on September 13th I couldn’t seem to get around the title. It just kept nagging my imagination, which conjured up images of an entire carnival appearing over night in what yesterday was just an empty field, and only being open for business after dark.

“If they’re grouping it in with Harry Potter, it must be a kids book,” I thought, and tried my best to ignore it.

After all, J.K. Rowling’s ability to hit that perfect chord between writing for kids yet entertaining adults was a rare thing indeed.

I busied myself with other things and shunned The Night Circus for a whole 10 days.

Then I read that on September 22nd Ms. Morgenstern’s very first outing as a novelist had reached number eleven on USA Today’s bestseller list, and that a full nine months before the book had hit the stands Summit Entertainment had purchased the movie rights.

All right, fine.

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Art Evolution 2011: Steve Prescott

Art Evolution 2011: Steve Prescott

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prescott-paizo-254

Art Evolution 2011 ends this month with our final artist of the year, but I have to say that once again it was a thrilling ride. Black Gate had the distinct pleasure of featuring the talents of Russ Nicholson, Janet Aulisio , Eva Widermann, and Chuck Lukacs this year and our final entry comes from the epic talents of Steve Prescott.

Now Steve has been doing this a long time, all the way back to the early days of White Wolf when an art director from the company visited his college campus and reviewed portfolios. For my part, I found Steve through Paizo’s Pathfinder. I remember waiting with anticipation for each Pathfinder adventure path to arrive at my home as the company slowly rolled out Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne.

Both of these six volume series helped set the stage for each of the Pathfinder Iconic characters which were all done by artist Wayne Reynolds. When the company’s 3rd adventure path, A Second Darkness, began I was greeted with a cover credited once again to Wayne, but as I looked over the image I knew another artist had taken over the project with an incredible eye for detail.

Let’s try to put this in perspective, however, because taking over Iconics from Wayne is like replacing Joe Montana at quarterback. Thankfully, like the 49ers of the early 90s, Paizo had their own version of Hall of Fame QB Steve Young with Steve Prescott.

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On the Trail of Vanished Pulps

On the Trail of Vanished Pulps

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canadian_war_stories2Collectors have at times in the past discussed the possibility that there may be some fiction magazines issues from the last 100 years for which no copies exist anywhere. Anyone who is disheartened by this news, might take comfort from the following tale which I thought some might enjoy and/or find interesting.

I maintain a sizable online index of fiction magazines at Galactic Central, and although I don’t plan to start any serious work on the Adventure Fiction Index until 2012 (at least), I have spent a little time identifying where there are gaps in the data I have so as to maximise the time I had to fill the gaps.

Top of my list is Canadian War Stories for which, when I started, details were known only of 3 of the presumed 14 published issues – see here.

I knew of the existence of one other issue in “fannish” hands, but in five years had been unable to persuade the owner to send me the Table of Contents (ToC) for the index. As it happened, when I nudged him, he sent me the ToC by return – 4 down, 10 to go!

I put out pleas on the Fictionmags and PulpMags newsgroups, but nobody had any other issues, so the next step was to look at online library listings. No issues were listed for the British Library (or any other British academic library) or the Library of Congress, which wasn’t surprising, but AMICUS (the catalogue of Canadian libraries) identified a single library (the Canadian War Museum) which had a single issue, but it was one I was missing and they kindly sent me the ToC free of charge (they would charge me $15 for a scan or mail me a photocopy free – go figure) – 5 down, 9 to go!

Next up was Google.

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Movie Review: It Don’t Mean The Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing

Movie Review: It Don’t Mean The Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing

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thing-prequelThe Thing (2011)

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen.

A dialogue that occurs in the 1982 John Carpenter movie The Thing, as scientist Blair (Wilford Brimley) explains the nature of the twisted dog-mass corpse on his operating table:

Blair: See what were talking about here is an organism that imitates other life-forms, and imitates them perfectly. When this thing attacked our dogs it tried to digest them, absorb them, and in the process shape its own cells to imitate them. This, for instance … [points to bone] That’s not dog. It’s imitation. We got to it before it had time to finish.

Norris: Finish what?

Blair: Finish imitating these dogs.

Now imagine this conversation repurposed slightly:

Blair: See what were talking about here is a movie that imitates a popular movie with enormous name-recognition, and imitates it outwardly perfectly, while inwardly lacking its essential qualities. When it attacked John Carpenter’s The Thing it tried to digest it, and in the process shape its screenplay to imitate it while masquerading as a prequel. This, for instance … [points to film on screen] That’s not The Thing or a prequel to it. It’s a cosmetic imitation. We didn’t get to it before it finished.

Norris: Finished what?

Blair: Finished re-making The Thing while pretending that it wasn’t.

And so my review is finished.

But, if you want some further details, there is a bit more after the jump.

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The Hound on a Hunt: The Evie Scelan Trilogy

The Hound on a Hunt: The Evie Scelan Trilogy

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spiralhuntSpiral Hunt
Wild Hunt
Soul Hunt
By Margaret Ronald
Harper Voyager (320/320/320 pages, $7.99, Jan 09/Jan 10/Dec 10)

Evie Scelan doesn’t want to be a hero. Unfortunately for Evie, she is the Hound. If it’s lost, she can find it, but in her world there is much that’s best left lost. This natural ability keeps drawing her into elaborate mystical conspiracies, drawing more and more unwanted power – both the social and metaphysical kinds – her way.

She’s more than happy to cruise under the radar, using her talent to sniff out lost objects (literally) on a freelance basis, but really doesn’t want much to do with the “undercurrent,” the supernatural world around modern-day Boston in Margaret Ronald’s urban fantasy setting.

You can’t really blame Evie for wanting to keep on the outside of things, because these undercurrent types seem kind of kooky. And not a good-natured type of Harry Potter wizard kooky, but more like Harry Dresden with Asperger Syndrome, sometimes with some pyromaniac tendencies thrown in. Any sane person would want to stay completely clear of this bizarre world, if they could.

Evie, unfortunately, can’t.

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Supernatural Spotlight – Episode 7.4 “Defending Your Life”

Supernatural Spotlight – Episode 7.4 “Defending Your Life”

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This week begins with a car chasing a man through the streets of Dearborn, MI. He gets into his 10th floor apartment … only to find the car in the room waiting for him, slamming him into the wall.

Sam defends his brother, Dean, when put on trial for his life by the Egyptian god Osiris.
Sam defends his brother, Dean, when put on trial for his life.
Sam and Dean are happy to be working a more normal case. They briefly wonder if the case could be a Christine-style living car, but that doesn’t explain how it gets onto the 10th floor. The victim is a recovered alcoholic and makes monthly flower deliveries to a cemetery.

Seems the guy may have been a drunk driver who killed a girl a decade earlier. The boys dig up the girl’s body and burn the bones, which should take care of everything … but another guy goes through a similar situation, this time mauled by a dog.

Looks like there’s more going on here than just a ticked off spirit.

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A Pleasure to Read

A Pleasure to Read

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bradbury-burn1Ray Bradbury’s A Pleasure to Burn is a collection of short stories that served as the basis for one of his novels (and what few novels he has written are based on his short stories) Fahrenheit 451. This is repackaging, recycling, and rebranding old stuff (really old, as the novel appeared in 1953 and the stories date back to 1947) to make it appear fresh. Now in his ninth decade, Ray has more than earned the right to let his publishers generate some cash for him the same way the Beatles (as well as a multitude of musical groups from the era) and their heirs keep coming up with repackaged versions of the same old catalog. But, just like repeated listening to the Beatles over the decades, anything that makes you reconsider some “old” notions in a new context still has value.

If you’re not familiar with Fahrenheit 451 (and you really need to rectify that), the premise is that of a dystopia in which television is the ruling order’s opiate to keep the masses content and placid; to that end, reading is literally outlawed as disruptive to social conformity. Firemen no longer put out fires but set fires to surreptitious libraries of the banned books. The protagonist is a fireman who begins to question his purpose and eventually decides to take a look at what he’s supposed to be destroying. Needless to say, his experience in reading books proves the authorities right. Which, of course, Ray wants us to understand, is actually a good thing.

Remember, this was written in the 1950s, back before anyone could even begin to imagine something as stupefying today as The Situation and Snooki, or the anti-intellectualism of the Republican presidential field, or 150 channels and nothing much to watch. This was also the era of McCarthyism, though Bradbury always maintained his novel was not about censorship, easy as it would be to interpret it that way, but rather a critique of American culture.

It still is.

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