Design by Sara Felix
I turned in the completed Rayguns Over Texas earlier this week. Weighing in at nearly 100,000 words, the all Texas writers anthology contains 17 original stories, 2 reprinted tales, 2 introductions, a history of Texas science fiction, and 3 appendices. Continue reading
I am the guest speaker for The San Antonio Writers Guild‘s April meeting. The topic purports to be Apes & Rayguns: A Conversation with Acclaimed Editor Richard Klaw about the 21st Century Anthology, whatever that means. Since they call me an “editor/anthologist and essayist,” I’m guessing the talk will be about why whys and wherefores of anthology construction along with liberal ape mentions. Possibly even a few references to Texas science fiction.
The Thursday, April 4 meeting is open to the public, so I look forward to seeing all you San Antonio area people there.
The skinny:
April 4, 2013 at 7pm
Bethany Congregational Church
500 Pilgrim Dr
San Antonio, TX 78213
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Written by Scott Snyder and James T Tynion IV
Art by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, Jason Fabok, Rafael Albuquerque, Becky Cloonan, and Andy Clarke
Cover by Greg Capullo
Promo copy:
• After a series of deadly discoveries, Bruce Wayne has learned that the Court of Owls is real — and a deadly threat out to control Gotham City!
• Unleashing their deadly assassins known as the Talons, Batman must stop the insidious Court of Owls before they claim the city for their own. In doing so, The Dark Knight will uncover dark secrets — not just about the city he’s sworn to protect, but about the history of the Wayne family.
• Collects BATMAN #8-12 and BATMAN ANNUAL #1. Continue reading
Beginning in December 2005 with my history of apes in film essay “Gorilla of Your Dreams” (the substantially update and revised version appears in The Apes of Wrath), I regularly contributed to Moving Pictures Magazine. First in the print incarnation and then for primarily the website. I contributed reviews and essays for the last three years of the publications existence. Following the June 2011 demise of both the print and website editions, all of the digital work for MPM disappeared into the ether. In the coming months (years?), I plan on reposting many of my reviews and article.
This time I’m dusting off my review of The Oxford Murders, a fairly obscure mathematical murder mystery, based on the book Crímenes imperceptibles by Guillermo Martínez. It is available for streaming via Netflix. Continue reading
The esteemed Library Journal reviewed The Apes of Wrath in their March 15 issue.
The Apes of Wrath. Tachyon. Mar. 2013. 384p.
ed. by Richard Klaw. ISBN 9781616960858. pap. $15.95. FANTASYBringing together such classic writers such as Gustav Flaubert (“Quidquid Volueris”), Edgar Allan Poe (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”), Edgar Rice Burroughs (“Tarzan’s First Love”), Franz Kafka (“A Report to an Academy”), and Robert E. Howard (“Red Shadows”) with modern fantasy and horror authors, editor Klaw, co-owner of Mojo Press, a noted publisher of graphic novels and themed anthologies, has assembled a collection of 13 stories revolving around the great apes and playing upon their similarities to and differences from humans. Including James P. Blaylock’s steampunk comedy of errors (“The Ape-Box Affair”) featuring a space-traveling ape, several bumbling Londoners, and a mysterious silver box or two, and Philip Jose Farmer’s continuation of a classic ape story (“After King Kong Fell”), this volume attests to literature and film’s fascination with our primate cousins. The foreward by Rupert Wyatt, director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and a pair of essays by Jess Nevins (“Apes in Literature”) and Rick Klaw (“Gorilla of Your Dreams: A Brief History of Simian Cinema”) make this more than just a curious short-story collection. VERDICT Aficionados of apes in literature and film should enjoy this gathering of new and old stories.
Overall a good review. But why do people have some much trouble spelling “foreword?” Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
by Ben Katchor
Promo copy:
From one of the most original and imaginative American cartoonists at work today comes a collection of graphic narratives on the subjects of urban planning, product design, and architecture—a surrealist handbook for the rebuilding of society in the twenty-first century.
Ben Katchor, a master at twisting mundane commodities into surreal objects of social significance, now takes on the many ways our property influences and reflects cultural values. Here are window-ledge pillows designed expressly for people-watching and a forest of artificial trees for sufferers of hay fever. The Brotherhood of Immaculate Consumption deals with the matter of products that outlive their owners; a school of dance is based upon the choreographic motion of paying with cash; high-visibility construction vests are marketed to lonely people as a method of getting noticed. With cutting wit Katchor reveals a world similar to our own—lives are defined by possessions, consumerism is a kind of spirituality—but also slightly, fabulously askew. Frequently and brilliantly bizarre, and always mesmerizing, Hand-Drying in America ensures that you will never look at a building, a bar of soap, or an ATM the same way. Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
by Connie Willis
Promo copy:
Few authors have had careers as successful as that of Connie Willis. Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and recently awarded the title of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Willis is still going strong. Her smart, heartfelt fiction runs the gamut from screwball comedy to profound tragedy, combining dazzling plot twists, cutting-edge science, and unforgettable characters.
From a near future mourning the extinction of dogs to an alternate history in which invading aliens were defeated by none other than Emily Dickinson; from a madcap convention of bumbling quantum physicists in Hollywood to a London whose Underground has become a storehouse of intangible memories both foul and fair—here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today.
All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners—some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story—plus a special look at three of Willis’s unique public speeches—this is unquestionably the collection of the season, a book that every Connie Willis fan will treasure, and, to those unfamiliar with her work, the perfect introduction to one of the most accomplished and best-loved writers of our time. Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
by Mark Chadbourn
Cover by Chris McGrath
Promo copy:
1593: The dreaded alchemist, magician, and spy Dr. John Dee is missing. . . .
Terror sweeps through the court of Queen Elizabeth, for in Dee’s possession is an obsidian mirror, an object of great power which, legend says, could set the world afire. And so the call goes out to celebrated swordsman, adventurer and rake Will Swyfte—find Dee and his looking glass and return them to London before disaster strikes. But when Will discovers the mirror might solve the mystery that has haunted him for years—the fate of his lost love, Jenny—the stakes become acutely personal.
With London under siege by supernatural powers, time is running out. Will is left with no choice but to pursue the alchemist to the devil-haunted lands of the New World—in the very shadow of the terrifying fortress home of the Unseelie Court. Surrounded by an army of unearthly fiends, with only his sword and a few brave friends at his back, the realm’s greatest spy must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice—or see all he loves destroyed. Continue reading
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.
Written by Scott Snyder, James T Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, Judd Winick, Peter J. Tomasi, Duane Swierczynski, Gail Simone, Scott Lobdell, Kyle Higgins, Justin Gray, and Jimmy Palmiotti
Art by Greg Capullo, Jason Fabok, Tony S. Daniel, David Finch, Marcus To, Patrick Gleason, Travel Foreman, Ardian Syaf, Kenneth Rocafort, Guillem March, Eddy Barrows, and Moritat
Cover by Greg Capullo
Promo copy:
• In this new hardcover, evil spreads across Gotham City as Batman’s allies, including Red Robin, Batwing, Robin, Batgirl, the Birds of Prey, Nightwing and even Catwoman find themselves in a battle coming from all sides.
• The Court of Owls makes its move against justice in this sprawling tale of corruption and violence.
• Collects BATMAN #8-9, BATMAN ANNUAL #1, DETECTIVE COMICS #9, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #9, BATWING #9, BATMAN AND ROBIN #9, RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #9, BIRDS OF PREY #9, BATGIRL #9, NIGHTWING #8-9 and ALL-STAR WESTERN #9. Continue reading
In Fall 2010, twenty-eight of my friends and I compiled the Uncanny Un-Collectibles: Missing Comic Book Trades, a list of 52 comic series that deserved to be collected. In April 2012, I revisited the six part bitchfest to see if any of our wishes had been granted. I reported that six of the titles had been collected: Sugar and Spike, the Murphy Anderson and Neal Adams Earth-2 1960s Spectre stories, All-Star Squadron, Levitz/Giffen Legion of Super-Heroes, Flex Mentallo, and Chase.
Let’s see what’s changed in the year since.
Collects SHOWCASE #20, 21, 25 and 26 and RIP HUNTER: TIME MASTER #1-15
Published July 18, 2012
The comic that my father forbade me to read because of the way it distorted history. The early issues — before the team started wearing spandex — featured incredibly cool stories in which aliens turned out to be meddling in most of the important events in human history. The art was fun at worst, and at best, when Joe Kubert was at the helm, it was fabulous.
This would be a good candidate for the current Showcase Presents black and white titles from DC.
Collects SHOWCASE #27-29 and SEA DEVILS #1-16
Published May 23, 2012
It remains utterly baffling to me why DC has not devoted one of their Archive Editions to the Sea Devils. While the stories were, of course, ridiculous, they were no more so than those in Strange Adventures or Green Lantern or any of the other DC comics of the day. And the art was staggeringly beautiful, Russ Heath at his finest — King Neptune riding a giant seahorse, the Octopus Man with a monstrous octopus on an anchor-chain leash — and the wonderful colors, with everything blue-shifted (the team’s red wetsuits are purple underwater, etc.). This needs to be reprinted in full color on good paper.
Pretty pathetic especially when compared to last year’s new collections.
Come on publishers, get on the ball and collect these excellent comics!