John Varley is always an interesting writer. His stories are very reminiscent of Heinlein and other Golden Age masters, but with a contemporary feel. So, I was looking forward to his latest novel, Slow Apocalypse. It starts in a way that is very similar to one of my favorite movies, Miracle Mile, in the slow buildup with one person knowing a disaster is coming and snowballing into madness. Unfortunately, after a good beginning, the book sort of peters out amid the humdrum details of life after the apocalypse. Let’s check out what happened.
Author Archives: Mark S
Hell to Pay by Matthew Hughes
Matthew Hughes has an interesting take on the superhero story with his To Hell and Back series. He’s combined the superhero tale with an interesting take on religion (specifically Judeo-Christian religion) and made an compelling series. The series comes to a conclusion now with the latest book, Hell to Pay. It finished off Chesney’s journey, but it doesn’t stick the landing. And I’m left wishing for a better book. Let’s check it out.
Monsters University Review
I love Monsters, Inc. It’s one of my favorite Pixar movies. The interactions between Mike, Sulley and Boo were just perfect and the emotion carried the story throughout the entire picture. So, I was a little worried about the prequel, Monsters University, especially since Pixar’s last few movies were not at the same level of their earlier films (and Cars 2 was just plain mediocre). The movie is…decent. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s certainly not anyway near the level of Monsters Inc. Let’s check it out.
Continuum Season 2 so far
The first season of Continuum was one of my favorite science fiction TV shows of the last few years. It melded a time travel story with a police procedural that didn’t lean too heavily on the bad guy of the week storyline. And the creators picked a wonderful way to end season 1 to shake things up for season 2. Having said that, I wasn’t thrilled with the first few episodes of season 2. It seemed like it was too disjointed and not really that interesting. That all changed with the latest episode, “Second Skin”. I finally feel like I’m in with season 2 and am excited for future episodes. Let’s see what’s happened so far. *SPOILERS AHEAD* for season 1 and the first few episodes of season 2.
Netflix Rewind: Dr Who: The 9th Doctor
With the recent introduction of Netflix into my household, I now am fully into the 2010s and have the ability to watch prior seasons of shows that, for whatever reason, I had missed in the past. I decided to start with Doctor Who: Series One(aka the Ninth Doctor). I only started watching Dr. Who series 5, so I had missed both the Ninth and Tenth Doctors (technically, since I hadn’ t watched the old series either I missed the first 10 Doctors). This looked like a good starting point and, while the season started off slow, the back half of the season made the whole season worthwhile. Let’s check it out.
Man of Steel movie review
There’s a minute in the latest Superman movie, Man of Steel, where I think I’m going to like this movie a lot. One of my chief complaints about superhero movies is the extended and mostly useless origin story. The origin lasts 30-45 minutes and doesn’t really add much to the story. We just end up with less time to tell the story the filmmakers really want to tell. And, for most superheroes, we don’t need to know or care about their origin.The Man of Steel gave me hope for a minute, but then it descended into a loud, dreary mess that should embarrass everyone associated with the movie. Let’s see what went wrong. WARNING: Spoilers inside
Harbinger by Joshua Dysart review
Years ago, in the age of Valiant under Jim Shooter, I read and enjoyed Harbinger. That series marked the re-ascendance of Jim Shooter in the comics world after his ignominious expulsion from Marvel. Shooter soon wore out his welcome in Valiant (in a move that everyone expected) and my interest in Harbinger waned. 20 years later, Valiant decided to restart Harbinger again, this time written by Joshua Dysart and drawn by Khari Evans. I was reluctant to read this due to my affection for the Shooter books. However, I picked the first two TPBs up at a recent comicon and have been kicking myself for not reading them sooner. Let’s check it out.
Orphan Black Season 1 Review
Having never heard of Tatiana Maslany prior to her star making turn as the lead (actually 7 leads) of the new BBC American sci-fi show Orphan Black, I’m amazed that this talented woman hasn’t had a higher profile previously. The show features Maslany as several clones and surrounds her with a mystery about what happened to create the clones and then track them as well. It’s an interesting show that features some fun plot twists and several wonderful performances by Maslany. Let’s check it out.
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
For years, my friend has told me that I need to check out the Dresden Files and I’ve put it off. I’m very cautious about a lot of supernatural fantasy books, because I’ve found so few done well. But after getting into Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter books, I decided that I really should check out Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. So I cautiously started reading Storm Front and truly enjoyed it. It’s a good fun book with the core of a mystery novel in a supernatural fantasy setting. Let’s check it out.
Reflex by Steven Gould
Steven Gould had a hit with his book Jumper(my review), which was not only popular, but also spawned a movie. Gould has expanded on the book with three sequels. Two sequels to the book and one sequel to the movie (which doesn’t have the exact same plot as the book). Since I enjoyed the first book, I decided I should check out the first book sequel, Reflex. It was decent, but not quite as enjoyable as the original novel. Let’s check out what happens.