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Monday, 29 February 2016

The Witch | review by Douglas J. Ogurek

Fellow horror fans: we’ve been duped!

The critic endorsements that decorate the trailer for The Witch would have us believe that this film, written and directed by Robert Eggers, would scare the pants off us. “One of the most genuinely unnerving horror films in recent memory,” says one. “… will make your blood run cold,” cautions another. That’s verbal candy for the horror aficionado.

Friday, 26 February 2016

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #54: now out!

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Theaker’s Quarterly Fiction #54 is here. It features a new short story by Charles Wilkinson, “Septs”, and an entire novella – complete in this issue! – by Patrick Whittaker, former winner of the BFS Short Story Competition. “The Policeman and the Silence” concerns a murder investigation in the weird town of Kaza-Blanka. I think you’ll love both stories. The issue also includes a tremendously exciting editorial where I (a) apologise for this issue being late, (b) talk about a publisher who doesn’t pay their reviewers slamming people who don’t pay other types of writer, and (c) look back at my reading in 2015. The issue also includes thirty-one reviews, by Douglas J. Ogurek, Jacob Edwards and me.

We look at the work of Charles Chilton, Felicia Day, Warren Ellis, Johann Peter Hebel, K.J. Parker, Terry Pratchett, H.G. Wells, Royce Prouty, Malcolm C. Lyons, Pu Songling, Sam Dyer, Leo, Garth Ennis and John McCrea, Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, CLAMP, Robbie Morrison and Brian Williamson, Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming, Alexandro Jodorowsky and Zoran Janjetov, and Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. Plus there are reviews of Ant-Man, Goosebumps, The Green Inferno, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2, Krampus, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (twice), The Visit, Trials Fusion Awesome Max Edition, Arrow Season 2, Doctor Who Season 9, and The Flash Season 1.

The amazing wraparound cover art is, as ever, by the marvellous Howard Watts.



Here are the kindly contributors to this issue:

Charles Wilkinson’s books have included The Pain Tree and Other Stories (London Magazine Editions) and Ag & Au, a pamphlet of his poems. His stories have appeared in Best Short Stories 1990 (Heinemann), Best English Short Stories 2 (W.W. Norton), Unthology (Unthank Books), Best British Short Stories 2015 (Salt), London Magazine, Under the Radar, Prole, Able Muse Review, Ninth Letter, The Sea in Birmingham and in genre magazines/anthologies such as Supernatural Tales, Horror Without Victims (Megazanthus Press), Rustblind and Silverbright (Eibonvale Press), Phantom Drift (USA), Bourbon Penn (USA), Shadows & Tall Trees, Prole, Nightscript and Best Weird Fiction 2015 (Undertow Books). He lives in Powys, Wales, where he is heavily outnumbered by members of the ovine community. A Twist in the Eye, his collection of strange tales and weird fiction, is forthcoming from Egaeus Press. Several of the stories first appeared in Theaker’s Quarterly Fiction.

Douglas J. Ogurek’s work has appeared in the BFS Journal, The Literary Review, Morpheus Tales, Gone Lawn, and several anthologies. He lives in a Chicago suburb with the woman whose husband he is and their pit bull Phlegmpus Bilesnot. Douglas’s website can be found at: http://www.douglasjogurek.weebly.com.

Howard Watts is a writer, artist and composer living in Seaford who also provides the wraparound cover art for this issue. His artwork can be seen in its native resolution on his deviantart page: http://hswatts.deviantart.com. His novel The Master of Clouds is now available on Kindle.

Jacob Edwards also writes 42-word reviews for Derelict Space Sheep. This writer, poet and recovering lexiphanicist’s website is at http://www.jacobedwards.id.au. He has a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/JacobEdwardsWriter, where he posts poems and the occasional oddity.

Patrick Whittaker has made the occasional foray into short film making and has two feature film scripts in pre-production. Two of his shorts – The Raven and Raspberry Ripple – have won awards. He has an honours degree in Media Production. In 2009, he won the British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition with “Dead Astronauts”, a tale of odd goings-on in English suburbia. His dystopian novel, Sybernika, is published by Philistine Press: http://www.philistinepress.com.

Stephen Theaker’s reviews have appeared in Interzone, Black Static, Prism and the BFS Journal, as well as clogging up our pages. He shares his home with three slightly smaller Theakers, runs the British Fantasy Awards, and works in legal, medical and political publishing.



As ever, all back issues of Theaker’s Quarterly Fiction are available for free download.

Monday, 22 February 2016

Deadpool | review by Douglas J. Ogurek

Sorry Iron Man: you’re no longer the most entertaining superhero.

We expect a couple of things from a good superhero movie. First, of course, is action punctuated by violence. We’re happy if we walk away with a favourite scene or two. Second is a superhero who’s fun to watch. If we’re lucky, he or she will charm us with a couple of quotable quotes.

Wednesday, 17 February 2016

King Ted Reading Challenge: 25% done

In the editorial for TQF54, which should be out by the end of the month, I look back at my reading from 2015. I read plenty of books, and on the whole I really enjoyed them, but they were quite homogenous, and mostly written by men. So when I saw the reading challenge set by the school that my older daughter attends (which I have nicknamed King Ted), I decided to do it too. The pupils are challenged to read two books in each of twenty categories, without counting any author more than once.

They get a green certificate after reading four books, a blue certificate after eight books, a red certificate after twelve books, and the ultimate yellow award for reading 39 books and completing every category. (One book counts double, if you write a review, because the author is a friend of the school.)

To their rules, because I read so few books by women last year, I've added my own wrinkle, that a maximum of one book in each category can be from a male writer, and at least half the books used to claim a certificate must be by female writers. And while the children do the challenge over the school year, I'm doing it over a calendar year (which gives me a bit longer).

It's been very good fun so far. Reading challenges are inherently awesome, of course, and it's got me reading a slightly wider range of books than usual, and, in combination with my resolution to stop buying new books this year, at least until after my birthday, it's really encouraged me to dig into my extensive and often neglected book collection.

If you fancy giving it a try too, here are the categories, plus which books I've read so far, a quarter of the way into the challenge:

Short story zone
1.
2.

Mystery zone
1.
2.

History zone
1. The Silver Branch, Rosemary Sutcliff: a brilliant story set during the decline of Roman power in Britain; almost post-apocalyptic in places, as they stand among the ruins of the Empire's glory days.
2.

Thriller zone
1. Thieves Fall Out, Gore Vidal. After watching his brilliant demolition of William F. Buckley in the documentary Best of Enemies, about their televised arguments during the 1968 Republican convention, I wanted to read some Gore Vidal, and this is the only one of his available as an ebook. It's a hardboiled story set during an attempted Islamic coup in Egypt. A book that's much more topical than it should be all these years later. Would make a great movie.
2.

Diary zone
1.
2.

Witch Child by Celia Rees and review
1.
2. [Counts as two books, if you write a review.]

Biography zone
1.
2.

Science fiction zone
1.
2.

Horror zone
1. I Travel By Night, Robert McCammon. Average novella about a vampire gunslinger.
2.

Fantasy zone
1.
2.

Comedy zone
1. The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman. A book of facts that are not true. Probably slightly more fun for Americans than UK readers, because half the time we won't get what the real-world jumping-off points were for these flights of fancy, but it's still very good. And it's a masterpiece of typesetting.
2.

Romance zone
1. Come Close, Sappho. One of Penguin's little black classics, this seems to be a series of fragments from longer pieces, but it's hard to tell. Very sweet, though.
2.

Friends and family
1. Patchwerk, David Tallerman. A good novella in Tor.com's new range from an old friend of the magazine. Review to appear in TQF55.
2.

Classic zone
1. Mrs Rosie and the Priest, Giovanni Boccaccio. Another Penguin little black classic, this is a set of rude stories about bad people.
2.

Myths, fairy tales and legends from around the world
1.
2.

Award-winning
1. The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold. This won the Hugo. It's the story of Miles Vorkosigan, who joins the space navy and gets himself into some very sticky situations, but none so sticky that he can't talk his way out of them. Very enjoyable.
2.

Non-fiction
1. The Caped Crusade, Glen Weldon. An excellent overview of the Batman's career by an NPR journalist. (Review planned for a future issue of Interzone.)
2.

Adventure zone
1. Jacaranda, Cherie Priest. A gunslinging priest investigates a hotel with a history of mysterious deaths in a novella from Subterranean Press. (Review to appear in TQF55.)
2.

Crime zone
1.
2.

Friends recommended
1.
2.

So I'm a quarter of the way through so far, and I have claimed my green and blue certificates! (My daughter is making them for me.) I'll post an updated version of the list when (or if) I get to 50%, 75% and 100%. I'm currently listening to the excellent audiobook of Amy Poehler's Yes Please, which'll go into either biography or comedy, and reading The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien, which'll go into friends recommended (John Greenwood thought I would like it, for the bit about drinking tea you don't like, if nothing else). Thanks to the teachers or librarians at my daughter's school who came up with this challenge – I do recommend it to others.

Monday, 15 February 2016

The Brenda and Effie Mysteries: Brenda Has Risen from the Grave, by Paul Magrs (Bafflegab Productions) | review

Effie might be in love, “in a whirlwind of amour” in fact, with a man named Keith, who has an elephantine proboscis upon his face. Brenda, former bride of Frankenstein’s monster, doesn’t like Keith, and that leads to a fall-out with Effie, who even stops opening her little shop. As she worries about her friend, memories return to Brenda of another old friend, Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man back when they were in a travelling circus together. She was the Half-Dead Woman, who could let her stitches loose and horrify the crowds by wriggling her bits when they weren’t attached to each other any more. She was a callow young thing then, less than a century old, and just like Effie she didn’t listen to the advice of a well-meaning friend when she should have. What’s more, women were being killed back then, and they are dying now as well in a very similar way. It’s too soon for Brenda and Effie to go their separate ways. We learn much more about Brenda in this story (at least those of us who haven’t read more than one or two of the original novels yet). She has been in the course of her long life “a graverobber, a vagabond, a woman of ill repute, a warrior, a witch, a handmaiden to a queen, a sorcerer’s assistant, a lady pirate” and one suspects that isn’t all, but what she needs to be in this fourth story is a good friend, and perhaps she’s better at that than anything else. Another entertaining story, though it’s rather less light-hearted than earlier instalments. Stephen Theaker ***

Thursday, 11 February 2016

Douglas J. Ogurek's top five mass market genre films of 2015

The top grossing films of 2015 were Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. All achieve five-star status, but none makes my list for the top five mass market sci-fi/fantasy/horror films. 

Perhaps it all boils down to originality: Each of the three top moneymakers are part of a series. None of my top picks are. Click on the film name for a full review.

#5: It Follows, directed by David Robert Mitchell. This critical darling emerges as one of the most original and stylish horror films in the last decade.



#4: The Visit, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This one stands out from the pack of horror films with child protagonists. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s quite frightening. And true to M. Night’s canon, it offers a twist and a positive message. 



#3: Pixels, directed by Chris Columbus. Inventive concept, stunning special effects, and a juvenile cast of characters. Great dumb fun.



#2: Krampus, directed by Michael Dougherty. Krampus surprises as a new Christmas horror classic. It far transcends the anticipated “slasher” film and delivers a positive message while crossing several genres: comedy, action, horror . . . even drama. 



#1: The Green Inferno, directed by Eli Roth. Everyone’s talking about “the bear maul scene” from The Revenant. Obviously, they haven’t seen The Green Inferno, which gushes cartoonish violence and over-the-top gore. Surely most critics (and moviegoers) will disagree with me. Too bad. If you make it through this one without cringing or squirming, then you closed your eyes. 



Let’s hope that 2016 offers as much moviegoing fun as last year! – Douglas J. Ogurek

Monday, 8 February 2016

The Brenda and Effie Mysteries: Spicy Tea and Sympathy, by Paul Magrs (Bafflegab Productions) | review


Brenda, former bride of Frankenstein, tells most of this third story while strapped to a table in the murky underground base of a villain. Her blood is being drained and infused with a special tea, in hopes of bringing a dried-up corpse back to life. The situation dredges from the depths of Brenda’s imperfect memory the events of a night in the fifties, when she worked as housemaid to Professor Tyler. He is one of the Smudglings, a group of fantasy writers much like the one frequented by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. One of their meetings was disturbed by the attack of a mummy, who made off with their best tea set and all of its contents. In the present day this is somehow connected with the Tipple teahouse (and massage parlour), owned by international traveller and explorer Professor Marius Keys, of whom Brenda says “everything about him speaks of quality and polish”, a phrase that would be even more apt in description of this series of audio plays. Anne Reid is terrific as Brenda, bringing both the sweetness and the toughness that the role requires, and the writing is a constant delight, full of detail, care, specificity, and ideas. Effie sounds uncannily like Sarah Millican, which makes me smile every time she speaks. From the moment the now familiar theme music plays, you know it’s going to be good. Stephen Theaker ****

Monday, 1 February 2016

The Boy | review by Douglas J. Ogurek

Just when you thought the creepy doll approach had run its course, along comes Brahms. 

Years ago, Mr. Heelshire, having imbibed one too many spirits, described his long-deceased son Brahms with a single word: “odd”. Such is the tone that characterizes The Boy, a film about a doll that may or may not embody the spirit of its namesake, who died in a fire at age eight.