A series dedicated to examining the science fiction and fantasy films from 1979 to 1989. The series will investigate whether these films possess certain ineffable qualities missing from today’s films of the same genres. This time, “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Continue reading 80sSFF: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
“I Don’t Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t),” by Leah Hager Cohen is a slim hardcover packs in plenty of information and does so in a way that entertains and enlightens. Like a Science Friday broadcast, one can read this short book during a couple of commutes. Continue reading I Don’t Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t), by Leah Hager Cohen @ NYJB
I review Zbig, an anthology about Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, and Trade, a dystopian novel about the commodification of sex. Continue reading Week in Reviews: Zbig @ NYJB and Trade @ CCLaP
“Tyrant Banderas” is a campy and hallucinatory novel that is also accessible to mainstream readers. Continue reading Translation Tuesdays: Tyrant Banderas, by Ramón del Valle-Inclán
Richard Melo is the author of the new novel, Happy Talk, about gun-toting nursing students and farcical nation-building efforts in Haiti. We discuss nation-building, literary form, and the publishing website Red Lemonade. Continue reading The Richard Melo Interview
This week I review the underground gay classic about hustlers and their world, John Rechy’s City of Night. Continue reading The NSFW Files: City of Night, by John Rechy
Today at CCLaP: Mark Hodder, master of steampunk, uncorks a ripping yarn full of airships, occultism, murder, and abduction in his latest installment of the Burton and Swinburne Adventures series, “The Secret of Abdu el Yezdi.” Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Secret of Abdu el Yezdi, by Mark Hodder
I’m heading to CONvergence in Bloomington, MN for the July 4th weekend and I joined the National Book Critics Circle. Continue reading Driftless Area Review Metapost: CONvergence is nigh and the National Book Critics Circle
This week, Karl Wolff returns to the NSFW Files to investigate “Naked Lunch,” by William S. Burroughs, the 1959 sensation that marked a watershed for free expression in literature and included Mugwumps, heroin, and lots and lots of sex. Continue reading The NSFW Files: Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
This week at CCLaP, I review “Happy Talk” by Richard Melo, a novel set in 1950s Haiti about gun-toting student nurses, Baron Samedi, and UNESCO filmmakers. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Happy Talk, by Richard Melo
The Driftless Area Review 