Search Results for: lengeman

Fairy Tales, Space Stations, and a Sequel to The Thing: The Nebula Awards Showcase 2018, edited by Jane Yolen

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The annual Nebula Awards Showcase anthologies, which collect the Nebula Award nominees and winners, are edited by a revolving committee of editors, and that means the criteria used to select the fiction varies every year. I think this is a great idea. Essentially, each year it gives editorial power to a new individual to select which stories to showcase. The winners are always included, of course, but picking between the nominees (especially in the novella category, which frequently would fill one and a half…

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Vintage Treasures: Nebula Winners Fourteen, edited by Frederik Pohl

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Back in May, more or less on a whim, I paid $6.59 for a copy of the British paperback edition of Nebula Winners Fourteen, edited by Frederik Pohl. I already had the Bantam version (see below) but the gorgeously moody cover by the great Bruce Pennington hypnotized me, and what could I do? I’m glad I did it, anyway. In this hot Illinois summer, a book I can dip into while relaxing on the porch is a perfect antidote, and…

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Future Treasures: John Silence–Physician Extraordinary / The Wave by Algernon Blackwood

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I’ve heard a lot of praise heaped on Algernon Blackwood’s 1908 collection John Silence–Physician Extraordinary over the years. In his review of Blackwood’s 1914 collection Incredible Adventures, Ryan Harvey wrote: Of all the practitioners of the classic “weird tale,” which flourished in the early twentieth century before morphing into the more easily discerned genres of fantasy and horror, none entrances me more than Algernon Blackwood. Looking at the stable of the foundational authors of horror — luminaries like Poe, James, le…

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Old Dark House Double Feature VI: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) and Hillbillies in a Haunted House (1967)

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This time around, two old dark house flicks that are separated by about a year. A classic of the genre and one’s that’s a bit of a dud. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken Universal Pictures (1966) Directed by Alan Rafkin Written by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum Starring Don Knotts, Joan Staley, Liam Redmond, Sandra Gould, Dick Sargent and Skip Homeier Your opinion about The Ghost and Mr. Chicken will probably depend on how you feel about Don Knotts, someone…

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Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

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As a TOS fan who came to the other Star Trek series relatively recently, I have to admit that The Next Generation, although entertaining, didn’t grab me as much as its predecessor. Nor did the first entry in the TNG run of movies — Generations. Fortunately, First Contact fares quite a bit better than that installment. Part of the appeal this time around, in this the eighth of the Star Trek movies, is that it centers on the Borg. Who…

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Old Dark House Double Feature V: The Cat and the Canary (1939) and Ghosts on the Loose (1943)

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The Cat and the Canary Paramount Pictures (1939) Directed by Elliott Nugentdard Written by Walter de Leon and Lynn Starling Starring Bob Hope, Paulette God, John Beal, Douglass Montgomery, and Gale Sondergaard Growing up, I never quite understood the appeal of Bob Hope. At the time, he was an oldish guy who told mostly unfunny jokes, usually while holding a golf club. I wasn’t familiar with his many film roles of yore and I’m still not familiar with a lot…

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Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek: Generations (1994)

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I think the statute of limitations on spoilers has probably run out 22 years after this movie was released… but be advised that there’s a sort of big spoiler ahead. I suppose I should also mention that I was a TOS guy back in the day and didn’t even get around to watching the other Star Trek series until about a decade ago. I ended up liking The Next Generation well enough, although oddly it always seemed to me that…

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Old Dark House Double Feature IV: Two Haunted Honeymoons

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For this Old Dark House Double Feature I’ve chosen two films that are unrelated except for the fact that they share a title — Haunted Honeymoon. You might rightly make the argument that the earlier of these movies is more of a standard whodunit than an old dark house movie, but the coincidence was too good for me to pass up. Haunted Honeymoon Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1940) Directed by Arthur B. Woods Screenplay by Monckton Hoffe, Angus MacPhail, and Harold Goldman Starring…

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Old Dark House Double Feature III: The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966) and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)

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The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini American International Pictures (1966) Directed by Don Weis Written by Louis M. Heyward and Elwood Ullman Starring: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley, Aron Kincaid I’m not sure how the phrase “everything but the kitchen sink” originated. Perhaps to describe this movie, which pulls out all the stops. As with Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, I went into it with very low expectations and ended up being surprised. I’m pretty sure this is…

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Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek V – The Final Frontier (1989)

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Early on I was inclined to be charitable about Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and I wasn’t really sure what all the fuss was about. As you may be aware, the consensus seems to be that it was one of the worst of all of the Star Trek movies. But up until about the halfway mark I didn’t quite get it. Not that the first half of this movie is a masterpiece, mind you. But as the second half…

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