On Halloweens Past

Years ago I lived in Amish country, a little east of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There were some Amish farms on my road, and there were kids in the neighborhood. As Halloween approached, I felt a bit giddy inside — there were kids in the neighborhood! Halloween! Amish kids! Halloween! I’d never really lived anywhere that trick-or-treatingContinue reading “On Halloweens Past”

On Dracula vs. King Arthur

Last week, at the Baltimore Comic-Con, as I was walking past a table, I heard, out of the corner of my ear, the words, “King Arthur.” And my interest piqued, I had to see why I’d heard those words. I stopped, turned, and then the guy behind the table said, “Dracula versus King Arthur!” HeContinue reading “On Dracula vs. King Arthur”

Sherlock Holmes against the Irrational

Yesterday I received in the mail the latest Faction Paradox novel, Philip Purser-Hallard’s Of the City of the Saved….. The novel takes place in the City of the Saved, essentially a secular heaven after the Big Crunch where humanity in all of its forms, from Homo habilis to post-human intelligences that bear no physical relationContinue reading “Sherlock Holmes against the Irrational”

Van Helsing

Friday afternoon I asked people, several times over, what they thought of Van Helsing as they left the theatre. “Better than Hellboy!” some said. “Better than LXG!” others said. I loved Hellboy, enjoyed LXG for the most part. It seemed, then, that my fears that Van Helsing would reveal itself as a disaster were unfounded.Continue reading “Van Helsing”