Book Review: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
The back cover of Through the Woods claims that it contains five mysterious, spine-tingling stories. Sure, I thought, but really it’s not going to be that scary, right? I expected to feel the small frisson that comes with reading ghost stories and the visual delight of paging through some cool looking art. Pleasant, simple, fun. A nice summer read. So I put it in my bag and took it to Vermont. Vermont, in case you were wondering, is full of woods. Let me properly set the scene here: we’d gone for a weekend to get away from all the hustle and bustle of work and city life. We had not packed our laptops, we did not bring our phone chargers, and each of us brought exactly one book to read (Moss’ was the excellent Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, which I had already read). During the day, we stopped to meet friends for lunch in New Hampshire, and then hiked for four and a half hours in the green mountains, getting back to our car right as the sun was beginning to set. We checked into our hotel, The Vermont Inn, which was lovely and remote, and the sort of independent old inn that has lots of creaky charm in the stairs and floorboards. We ate a lovely dinner in the inn’s restaurant, followed by a delicious dessert cocktail — which tasted like a maple milkshake — in the inn’s bar. We soaked in the inn’s hot tub under the stars. And then we went upstairs, and read our books. Before bed.
210. Sarah Lotz (a.k.a. Planecrusher 1000) — The Three (An Interview)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode210AnInterviewWSarahLotz/SandF%20–%20Episode%20210%20–%20An%20Interview%20w%20Sarah%20Lotz.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSCreepy children, fallen planes, and a world gone mad, oh my! Author Sarah Lotz joins us for our World SF Tour bonanza to talk about her new book, The Three. We talk about her fascination with plane crashes, horror and religion, writing multiple cultures, and much more! We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 210 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Sarah’s Website Sarah’s Books Sarah’s Twitter You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
The Disquieting Guest — Tentacles and Patriarchy
As something of an appendix to our Shoot the WISB discussion of the new Godzilla (where we were joined by Rachael Acks), I thought I’d talk a bit about something that I’ve always found very striking about It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955): the portrayal of Faith Domergue’s character, Professor Lesley Joyce. She is, on the one hand, part of a mini-trend in 50s monster movies where women are scientists (Them!, Creature from the Black Lagoon), roles that were virtually non-existent in the films of the preceding decades.* What makes It stand out, though, is that the narrative is at least as concerned with Joyce’s struggles to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world as it is about Ray Harryhausen’s magnificent octopus. Joyce is, unsurprisingly, the only female character of any importance in the film. What is unusual, however, is that we are meant to notice her position, repeatedly pointed out in her interactions with submarine commander Peter Mathews. The latter is played by Kenneth Tobey, doing very much the same self-confident officer as in The Thing (1951). He keeps refusing to take her seriously, and the body language in the (colourized) still below is pretty telling:
#21. Prince of Darkness (1987) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB21PrinceOfDarkness1987/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2321%20–%20Prince%20of%20Darkness%20%281987%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSPossessions, creepy churches, and mirror demons, oh my! For our 21st Shoot the WISB discussion, Shaun, David, and Paul tackle John Carpenter’s 1987 low-budget horror flick, Prince of Darkness. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: This episode was selected as a perk for Shaun’s Worldcon fundraiser by Usman Malik. The fundraiser is, as of this posting, $115 shy of completion. If you would like to help out, please head to the GoFundMe page and donate! Spoiler Alert: the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Download the episode here. [audio http://archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB21PrinceOfDarkness1987/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2321%20–%20Prince%20of%20Darkness%20%281987%29.mp3] Show notes (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Prince of Darkness (1987)(IMDB) Comment away!
The Disquieting Guest — A Few Thoughts On ‘The Quiet Ones’
The Marvel logo that introduces the company’s movies (and their respective trailers) is a pretty sharp piece of work. That flipping by of comic book images primes the viewers, gesturing toward the history of all that came before. I bet that many viewers feel a bit of a thrill the moment that logo appears, even if — when seeing a trailer for the first time — they don’t know what movie is coming up after those images. I have much the same reaction to the new Hammer logo, which you can check out here. Hammer Studios are a storied institution. They brought Quatermass to the big screen and revived Gothic horror with 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein. That first pairing of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee has a hallowed place in horror history, as do the films that followed. But the late-sixties and early-seventies brought difficult times to Hammer. Films such as Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist changed the face of the horror film. Hammer’s period pieces, which had been so radical with their colour, gore and sexuality (tame though those elements appear today), now seemed quaint. Attempts to modernize (Dracula A.D. 1972) were met with mixed success (to put it kindly). The last theatrical hurrah was To the Devil… A Daughter in 1976, an attempt both to follow up the earlier success of The Devil Rides Out and mimic The Exorcist.
#16 — Godzilla (1954) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB16Godzilla1954AShootTheWISBDiscussion/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2316%20–%20Godzilla%20%281954%29%20–%20A%20Shoot%20the%20WISB%20Discussion.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSKaiju classics, Tokyo destruction, and mad science, oh my! Shaun, Julia, Paul, Mike, and Kaiju Master David join forces to tackle Ishiro Honda’s 1954 classic, Godzilla (or Gojira), for the World SF Tour! Question for everyone: What is your favorite kaiju movie and/or favorite kaiju? Spoiler Alert: the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Download the episode here. Show notes (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Godzilla (1954)(IMDB) Godzilla (Criterion Edition on BluRay, DVD, or Digital) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNKPY3LkotE
