A Far Out Fantastic Site

Credit: Wikimedia Commons It's the fourth weekend of the month and so time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. In an earlier  Book-To-Movie we reviewed Edgar Rice Burroughs' novella "The Land That Time Forgot" and its 1974 movie adaptation from American International Pictures (AIP). The novella is the first in the Caspak Trilogy of books. The second is "The People That Time Forgot" which AIP also released a movie of. That one was not as good as the first film, not even as good as other 1970s sci fi movies, and definitely not as good as the book. Although not a bad movie, the producers made several changes to the original story particularly in the worldbuilding, the plot and characterisation.  The Novella Published in 1918, "The People That Time Forgot" involves Tom Billings going on a rescue mission to search for his friend, Bowen Tyler, the protagonist of the first boo...

Credit: Pixabay Summer is almost here! And in my region June is typically the beginning of the season. Many people look forward to the pool or beach. Most of us don’t look forward to the excessive heat. And so many of us look forward to lounging in air-conditioned movie theatres watching the next flick that's intended to be a blockbuster. I'm definitely in this last category but the movie doesn't have to be a blockbuster for me to enjoy, although I'll take one if it seems to be good beyond action and special effects. Summer 2022 looks like it has some promising, new sci-fi and fantasy movies as well as ones that aren't so promising although that can be simply a matter of opinion or taste. So, I conjured up two movie lists for you.  One list consists of films that are definitely science fiction, fantasy or horror. The other list consists of movies that some people may consider as falling into any of these genres but that others, myself included, can just as easily co...

Ever since "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" released last weekend, there’s been a lot of media hype about it being Marvel's “first horror movie”. Well, to those people who have been saying that, I have news: it's not Marvel's first horror movie, 2007’s "Ghost Rider" is. It's not even Marvel's second horror movie if you count the 2011 “Ghost Rider” sequel and 2020’s “The New Mutants”. There’s actually been some debate whether the sequel to 2011’s “Doctor Strange” is horror to begin with.  Do I consider “Doctor Strange 2” a horror film? Well, if it isn’t, it at least comes pretty close to being one. Doctor Strange is a character who already had roots in the horror genre. However, director Sam Raimi adds to the movie’s dark elements with his style of directing, a style that has been influenced by many of H.P. Lovecraft's story concepts. It’s a style that he used in his Lovecraftian horror movies that he was already well known for su...

  It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG)  post! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. For today's post, I have my answer to the optional question of the month and a few announcements concerning the blog. But first the monthly question which is: It's the best of times; it's the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)?  I've definitely had both highs and lows in my writing career. One of writer highs actually occurred back in March when I sold my books at my author's table at Sacramento Comic Con in Sacramento, CA.  I could almost swear I wasn't going to sell anything because it was the first time that the convention occurred since the pandemic began. However, I made 11 sales! But it wasn't simply the sales that were a ...

Credit: Wikimedia Commons In this post we have our Book to Movie review which we normally have on the fourth weekend of the month but I had to postpone it as I said last time . In a Book-To-Movie , we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. In the previous Book-To-Movie we reviewed H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Outsider”, and its 1995 movie adaptation. We talked about how this short story was one of his lesser known works and that the movie was missing the cosmic horror element so definitive of Lovecraft’s stories.  In this month’s Book-To-Movie we have just the opposite: a story that is one of Lovecraft’s most well-known ones (at least among Lovecraft fans) and a movie adaptation that catches the cosmic horror. The story is the novella, “The Dunwich Horror”, and the movie the 1970 American International Pictures (AIP) version. This movie actually does more than convey the cosmic horror of Lovecraft’s stories: it captures the weirdness of his “weird” fiction,...

Credit: Pixabay I had said last post that this weekend is our Book-To-Movie review. In most cases we have our Book-To-Movie the fourth weekend of every month. However, and I apologise for this, I'm just not ready to post the review yet and so I'm postponing it to next weekend. I had just barely finished the book yesterday, Friday, when I normally start writing the review. I had also intended to watch the movie adaptation of the book a second time to refresh myself because there was so much going on in it that I couldn't remember enough details to discuss in the post. However, the streaming service it was on was having technical problems so I wasn’t able to watch it. The Book-To-Movie will be on another H.P. Lovecraft story and film.  Speaking about Lovecraftian stories and movies, I do have the latest news in Lovecraftian horror pop culture. The Cthulhu news of the week is two comics and a returning TV series!  Comic: "Army of Darkness" and Re-Animator" Mas...

Credit: Pixabay Why since 1970? Because that was the year of the first Earth Day and next Friday the 22nd will mark its 51st anniversary! Born out of the 1960s/’70s counter culture, it’s a day that both celebrates our planet and raises awareness of the need to care for it. And because of the rise in climate change, it needs a lot of caring for. Science fiction is loaded with works that warn of the fate of the planet if we go on abusing it and also ones that offer the hope of environmentally sustainable futures. So, yours truly has compiled a list of twelve of the best eco sci-fi books (sometimes referred to as ecopunk or solarpunk ) since the year of the first Earth Day!  The basis for the selection of these works were a combination of the awards they received, their occurrence on the best sellers list, and notable critical praise. Although the list is numbered, the books are not ordered from best to worst but, instead, chronologically by their publication year. I'll admit, I’ve o...