Hyperion, an epic tale from Dan Simmons reads like an intergalactic Canterbury Tales. It’s a massive tome that once it got rolling, completely engaged me. A pilgrimage of seven are summoned together to journey to the world of Hyperion. A planet that has a strange mystery at its heart, the time tombs, and a strange…
Tag: discoveries
Sphere (1987) – Micheal Crichton
It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by Michael Crichton. There was a time when there were a number of novels on my bedside table that had his name on them but nothing for a couple of decades, and I thought perhaps I should revisit those I knew and explore the ones I didn’t,…
Barbarian (2022) – Zach Cregger
Wow. Writer/director Zach Cregger blew me away with this one, completely subverting my expectations while playing with the traditional horror rules in this fantastic thriller of a film. From his framing to camera movement to casting to the way he doles out the story, Cregger plays with an increasingly film-savvy and educated horror audience and…
Map of Bones (2005) – James Rollins
James Rollins second novel in his Sigma Force series continues the highly enjoyable combination of science, mythology, history and high adventure. This time, Sigma Force’s Grey Pierce is assigned with his team to investigate a massacre at a church in Germany, and the subsequent theft of ancient Catholic relics. Relics that have some strange properties,…
Congo (1995) – Frank Marshall
A script based on a Micheal Crichton novel, creature effects by Stan Winston, directed by Frank Marshall who has a long association with Spielberg and Amblin, an all-star cast including Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell, Dylan Walsh and Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje. Seems like a sure-fire win right? I hadn’t watched this one since…
Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka (1983) – L. Neil Smith
L. Neil Smith ends his adventures with Lando Calrissian this week in the third book in the series that followed the young gambler, rogue and scoundrel. It would be a long eight years before any of us realised that the world could tell more, then, official stories. Smith’s novel wraps up all the story and…
Redemption Ark (2002) -Alastair Reynolds
I return to the universe of Alastair Reynold’s space opera this week, with a story that ties directly into Revelation Space, though it also ties into the expanded universe as glimpsed in Chasm City. The Inhibitors are back, they are an ancient mechanical race that prunes back intelligent life, stopping them when they venture too…
Star Trek: Voyager (2001) – The Void, and Workforce
Captain’s log: stardate 54553.4 Raf Green and James Kahn pen the teleplay for this episode from a story developed by Green and Kenneth Biller. It first debuted on 14 February, 2001. As the Voyager continues it’s homeward journey, they tumble into a subspace pocket which has trapped ships over the years, and those aboard the…
She (1935) – Irving Pichel
I return to the action genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film. Having seen the main title, Raiders of the Lost Ark countless times, and of course, having written about it, I move now onto the recommendations following the title. Irving Pichel directs this epic adventure, She, based on the H. Rider…
Cop Car (2015) – Jon Watts
Releasing today from Anchor Bar on Blu-Ray and DVD is this wonderfully taut, coming of age thriller starring Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford. Two young boys, Travis (Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Wellford), are off on an adventure, they’re running away from home, experimenting with swear words, and daring one another as they walk…
The Mind Reels 