Book Review: The Mist In The Mirror - Susan Hill

An inveterate traveller, Sir James Monmouth has spent most of his life abroad. He arrives in England on a dark and rainy night with the intention of discovering more, not only about himself but his obsession with Conrad Vane, an explorer. Warned against following his trail, Sir James experiences some extraordinary happenings - who is the mysterious, sad little boy, and the old woman behind the curtain? And why is it that only he hears the chilling scream and the desperate sobbing?

A recent discovery of mine, British author Susan Hill (THE WOMAN IN BLACK) almost immediately became a go-to, must-find-all-her-work person for me. In one of my many trips out to the bookstore I grabbed another gothic story that came from her pen called THE MIST IN THE MIRROR and quite naturally I devoured it in one sitting.

The story follows along a few of the structures that I’d recognized from THE WOMAN IN BLACK, namely an older gentleman relating a story of his younger self in which something vaguely ghostly or supernatural figures prominently. That’s where the comparison ends of course as this story is all its own beast and succeeds in being both eerily spooky and fascinating in equal measure.

Perhaps I ought to elaborate.

The British protagonist (the eldery man who’s story we are reading) Sir James Monmouth, had been orphaned at a very young age, raised abroad in Africa by a Guardian, eventually began to follow a rather famous adventurer named Conrad Vane, and set off about he world to see those amazing sights himself. After returning home to London, he begins to search for clues as to the rest of Vanes life  but uncovers hushed whispers, wry warnings, and basically evil things instead. While this goes on, Monmouth also begins to unravel his own previously unknown familial past and ponders his future as well.

Hill is, as far as I am concerned, an absolute master of gothic storytelling. What goes above and beyond here is that the book is also sometimes populated by decidedly Dickenisan characters, thus lending a further air of quality to the narrative. She knows very well how to craft her story, weaving us from creepy, shivering dread moments to a laughing, daylight ease within sentences. One especially shuddering bit has Monmouth walking about a private college in mid-winter, at four in the morning hearing sounds, seeing shadows and basically being scared out of his wits. Again, as a personal taste I much prefer this type of scary story where a lot of what we perceive is in our heads. I absolutely love disappearing shadows, half-seen faces, and even mist in mirrors. Just like the first book I read by Hill, the pacing here is very near to exquisite. There is an ebb and a flow that radiates out and gently lofts you up and over the narrative. The passages are never jarring, which works best  when she builds to a scary moment, since it’s upon you before you know it and can be truly frightening. I shivered more than once reading this tale.

An added bonus is the use of the narrative-style that is:
We are seeing this through the eyes of both Monmouth (on the base level as this is his manuscript), but that is also being read by a young man from his private club (our nameless narrator). This enables Hill to give us an epilogue for Monmouth’s story, and then one for ours as well. The result of which is ultimately chilling and some of the spookiest stuff I’ve read in ages.


This book is a hot cup of tea on a frosty night. Your toes will shiver and you'll need the blanket tucked in over them, the steam from your cup will waft figures and creatures into the air, and the light will cast ominous shadows on your wall.

I said it before, but if you enjoy this type of frightening ghost story, there is no one better out there currently (that I've read at any rate). Susan Hill’s work is on another level, and she will not only entertain, but will make you as devout a fan as I with only a few pages.

Book Review: Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel - Jonathan Morris

 

In 2003, Rebecca Whitaker died in a road accident. Her husband Mark is still grieving. Then he receives a battered envelope, posted eight years ago, containing a set of instructions and a letter with a simple message: "You can save her." Later that night, while picking up a takeaway, Mark glances at a security monitor - to see himself, standing in the restaurant in grainy black and white. And behind him there's a stone statue of an angel. Covering its eyes, as though weeping... except, when Mark turns, there's nothing there. As Mark is given the chance to save Rebecca, it's up to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory to save the world. Because this time the Weeping Angels are using history itself as a weapon...

I collect the David Tennant-era 10th Doctor BBC DOCTOR WHO books, and have read the majority of them (and even listened to the ones that Tennant himself narrates on audio book [a treat, I guarantee you]). I liked those books more often than not as decent DW stories with which to fill the time between watching the show.

As only the second expanded universe/tie-in media book that I’ve read with Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor (and Amy & Rory) Jonathan Morris DOCTOR WHO: TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL had some making up to do. The first of the 11th Doctor books I read was Michael Moorcock’s DOCTOR WHO: THE COMING OF THE TERRAPHILES, which felt less like a DW book, and more like a random sci-fi book starring caricatures of The Doctor and Amy. It was not good.

So when I grabbed DW: TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL I did so based on the fact that the enemy of the piece was…dunh dunh dunh…the Weeping Angels of course! I also liked the sound of the plot about a man who’s wife has died 8 years previously, and he receives a letter from himself claiming that he can “Save Her!” It sounded like a great adventure.

And it is, but there are a few things working against Morris here. The first of those is that The Weeping Angels are Steven Moffat’s brilliant invention, and the last time we saw them on the show was FLESH & STONE and THE TIME OF THE ANGELS two-parter from Series 6 (arguably the best outings on that Series altogether). Morris also has to contend with the fact that attempting to subvert and defeat the Weeping Angels requires a keen mind if it’s going to avoid the pitfalls of repetition, but I’ll get to that.

Basically the Angels here are kind of an amalgam of the scavenger Angels from BLINK, and the more advanced and vigorous ones from Series 6. These Angels are searching for a paradox to feed on, and widower Mark Whitaker is the perfect choice since if given the option of saving his wife he will go to any length to do it, even creating a big, messy [tasty] paradox. Of course The Doctor knows this is bad and with Amy and Rory in tow they set out to prevent this, while trying to help Mark (both a past and present version of him) in the process.

The pacing is great and the story clips along quite well, though there are moments of “Amy did this, and then she did this, and then this” but it wasn’t as often as it could have been so I was okay with it. A lot of time is spent on both Mark’s and that’s the key to enjoyment here since it is his story, which will tug at your emotions. And that’s the main reason why this book can stand above a lot of DW books, since so often they descend into fighting the monster and ignoring the people involved. Mark is as front and center to the proceedings as the Doctor and Co. are so for that Morris ought to be applauded.

Two things fell a bit short for me. Firstly, Morris’ voice for both Amy and Rory ring very true to the characters as they are played on the show. Sadly, his Doctor is less so. Matt Smith’s voice is a difficult thing to capture in word form properly, and though Morris does an admirable job and there were definitely a few 11th Doctor-isms on display here I found that there were passages where the Doctor said things that didn’t really ring true. In a DOCTOR WHO book that is tough to overlook since it’s a key element of the show. The second thing I didn’t much care for is when and how they defeat the Angel’s. It’s a variation on the way they were beaten in BLINK. While not exactly that, it was close enough for me to groan a bit. I’ll admit to early on having the notion that it might have been a rogue Angel sending Mark back in time to HELP him save his wife…but sadly that was not to be, brave though it would have been to take a villain and create a rogue one who does a good thing.

Other than that, this book succeeds on the laurels of the story through and through. So much attention is paid to Mark’s story that the Doctor and Co. almost seem peripheral, and here that really works. Like a Doctor-lite episode. The Doctor did get to invoke a very lovely line that shows respect for the original Angel story where he talks about a past package set up by the person to give to their future selves and calls it “The Full Sally Sparrow Set” and I really loved that bit.

A decent outing for the 11th Doctor, Amy, Rory and a story that will definitely pull at your heartstrings (I always like my DW with emotion best). Is it better than the best of the Tennant-era books? It is better than a few of them certainly, but not better than others. If I am ranking though, this would definitely be in the top 5 of all the ones I’ve read, so that’s probably saying something. As far as DOCTOR WHO books, you could do very well by yourself to read this one.

Movie Musings: METEOR

METEOR is the perfect example of what happens to savy and experienced actors in pursuit of a paycheque.

No less than Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Martin Landau and Karl Malden(for fucks sake) decided to take their good sense out back to the wood shed and put two in its head. The whole film is a mess, part Cold War cautionary tale, part B-movie disaster flick and part tinny soap operatic melodrama.

Remember when you saw ARMAGEDDON and you laughed under your breath at how cheesey and over the top it was? This is like that, only instead of laughing, you're groaning. ARMAGEDDON knew when to play it for laughs. METEOR knows nothing.

Also, the special effects give a new meaning to the word atrocious. A combo of model work, blue screen and stock footage that would make the hoariest Godzilla flick blush.

DOCTOR WHO: Series 7 Trailer!

There are just so many good things here I don't know where to start.

I particularly like the line about anybody who is not an American needing to put down there gun.

Yay!

Book Review: Department 19: The Rising - Will Hill

Sixteen-year-old Jamie Carpenter's life was violently upended when he was brought 

into Department 19, a classified government agency of vampire hunters that was formed to 

deal with a little problem . . . known as Dracula.
But being the new recruit at the Department isn't all weapons training and covert missions. Jamie's own mother has been turned into a vampire - and now Jamie will stop at nothing to wreak revenge on her captors. Even if that means facing down Dracula himself.

One of my favorite books last year (as is evidenced in my review) was debut author Will Hill’s DEPARTMENT 19. Both an urban supernatural thriller and an action-packed historical mystery; the book was a very clever novel that gave us back classic monsters and managed to enthrall me to no end.

I’ve seen one review already of the book and the reviewer likens the second volume to THE GODFATHER PART II, and I initially thought that was high praise indeed and wondered if I would have the same opinion. After reading it I can definitely see why the reviewer chose that particular analogy, since there are whole sections of the book that follow the path to success that Coppola’s masterpiece did and do so with a verve that was as uncompromising as it was entertaining. I have another analogy, but I’ll save that for later.

I can’t talk too much about the plot of the book since I’d rather not give any spoilers away, but I can tell you it picks up three months after the events at the climax of the first novel which took place on Lindisfarne. Jaime, Larissa and Kate are settling into life as Blacklight Operators, though they are missing the stalwart Colonel Frankenstein who was last seen dropping over a cliff edge in battle with a werewolf. The entire organization has become a coil, spring-loaded from the revelation about the remains that the enemy found at a covert base in the snowy Russian wilderness. They name the event that will inevitably follow as Zero Hour. It is mere months away, and Admiral Seward and the rest of Blacklight are attempting to prepare for the oncoming storm. Is that vague? Sorry, you have to read the book folks! :D

I’m a little stunned at the forethought Will must have put into assembling this book. If you like how Steven Moffat assembles the new SHERLOCK, then you will appreciate what Will has done with the narrative flow of his latest novel. Chapters jump around in time (sometimes weeks, sometimes hours, sometimes minutes) and concern different characters, but they always fuse together into a clever puzzle that leaves you NEEDING to keep reading and it never leaves you annoyed at being left hanging. I was pleasantly surprised by how an interrogation (one of my favoruite bits of the novel) takes place over the course of a few chapters, but it never stalls or stagnates and is woven into the fabric of the story quite fittingly. This was a feature of Will’s writing that I noticed in the first novel, since he seamlessly was able to connect the historical bits with the modern bits. Consider me doubly impressed here. Will takes about five or six different plot threads and runs with them all at once and come hell or high water you will follow him down the garden path simply out of the need to know where he’s taking you.

That destination is where my analogy to a Part II of a series comes into play. DEPARTMENT 19: THE RISING is a book I would liken to THE EMPIRES STRIKES BACK. Yes, I am aware how loaded that statement is, but it makes it no less true in my head. Without spoiling anything, I just would say that the reasons that you enjoy that film “the best” are on display here. Will has taken his characters, built them deeper boots to fill, given them umpteen problems to deal with (both professionally and socially), and made the interactions between them well executed and truthful. Teenagers are hard to write, they aren’t ALL ANGST all the time, but neither do they act like adults yet with reason and thoughtfulness (not that adults really do that either). In fact, Will’s balance of the youths in his story is very good. Jaime, Larissa, Kate and Matt all especially ring true to me since they freak out when you would expect them to and Jaime in particular makes some truly boneheaded, and hotheaded choices. Sometimes there are people there to rein him in and sometimes not, but it always sounds to me like how a teenager would deal with these situations. Hell, sometimes it sounded like how I would deal with a situation. Everyone makes abrupt choices in the passion of the moment, and it’s nice to see Will pay attention to that facet of humanity and display it in his characters.

The villains of this piece are explored even more here and with the turncoat of the previous book dealt with, we get into some very meaty historical information about the Rusmanov brothers and further windows into the life Dracula himself. Those portions are absolutely fascinating and I do hope that Will doesn’t stop giving us historical chapters in the future books since they are still a fantastic way to break up the narrative in present day and flesh out the overall arc as well.

The book is insanely riveting. On Saturday morning I picked it up and I was on page 100-ish, and by about noon I was rounding page 500. The pace is as clean as it was in the first book. Will had found a nice niche in the pacing of DEPARTMENT 19 and it really, truly worked. Well, in THE RISING he gets to turn that pacing up to ten! I simply could not stop reading and the more I thought “Just one more chapter.” The later in the day/night it got. In a nutshell, if you sit down with this book do yourself a favour and clear a little space in your day. It really is that good, and will melt your brain into a wondrous fiction puddle.

The latter half of the book has some crazy action set-pieces that were wholly exciting and well-written. The weapons, activities and executions of Blacklight operatives are able to be unabashedly on display here and so when someone uses a T-Bone or a UV-Grenade you can really sink into it this time since those items are under your belt so to speak.

Something I wasn’t expecting was how well certain scenes build tension. Will has been able to craft some really palm-sweating moments here and I found myself more often than not having to remember to breath. So expect that there are sequences where Will plays with your limits of tension and just at the right moments he goes for the jugular.

He is also the king of twists and revelations. There are some jaw dropper moments in this book that make the ones that impressed in the first book look like child’s play. I was jaw-on-the-floor stunned at least twice. If you like revelations, not to worry as they abound in this story.

Definitely one of the best titles of 2012, D19: THE RISING an absolute roller coaster of a book. Emotionally charged, terrifying, and what I term as a “Wee Hours” book that will keep you burning the candle late into the night. Just don’t let the candle go out, for who knows what’s lurking in the darkened corners of your bedroom.

If you’ve not read the first novel DEPARTMENT 19, then you need to pick that up ASAP, and while you are there you may as well grab the sequel and save yourself time since you are going to want to dive right in straight away.

The book comes out in Canada on April 13th, for those of you who are waiting for this one, that will be the day to hit the store. You can find out more about it and buy it through Harper Collins Canada HERE!

Movie Musings: GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE

Plays like a 1942 version of THE MONEY PIT.

Only not as funny. (Which is damning in and of itself)

Jack Benny is doing his radio shtick, which is funny enough as far as that goes.

But with two hours of endless dated sight gags, jokes on repeat and a structure completely devoid of any plot development, once you get past the setup, the film can leave you pretty cold, pretty quickly.

I loves me some Benny, but I've yet to find something he's done for the big screen that's as good as his radio work.

Doctor Who News: New Companion for Series 7 Named!

It’s big news day folks. The news DOCTOR WHO fans have waited to hear since learning that Amy and Rory would be leaving the show and a new companion would be accompanying the Doctor on his adventures has finally dropped.

Announced today, Jenna-Louise Coleman (EMMERDALE) will be the new companion joining Matt Smith’s Doctor after the departure of Amy and Rory, which will happen (according to showrunner Steven Moffat) in Episode 5.

I applaud the choice simply because I am a big fan of EMMERDALE and Jenna’s role on it. I think she’ll provide a great foil to Smith’s manic Doctor.

What does everyone think about this choice? Aside from blowing my crackpot theory about it being The Master out of the water, I am curious to find out where she’ll be from and what her backstory will be.

UPDATE: I've added a video below of Jenna's first interview about the part. Enjoy!

Movie Musings: BULLIT

I first sat down to watch this something like 13 years ago after I was accepted to film school and I thought the damn thing was so boring I fast forwarded through the bulk of it.

I always felt I owed it a rewatch.

It’s definitely a bit of an anachronism as a film though. McQueen is playing a gritty, rogue cop before gritty rogue cops were two dimensional clichés.

This was a rough and tumble cop film that defined its grittiness through the excessive usage of a jazz flute, so, you know, context.

Bullit brandishes a gun only once. He's in a stable relationship. And rather than bust his balls with screaming tirades his captain quietly backs him up behind the scenes.

Made three years before DIRTY HARRY, and isn't it ironic that both characters are based out of San Francisco, this is what Harry would be like if his Mom hugged him once or twice as a child.

Also, every time I see Robert Vaughn I just write him off as the villain, even if he isn’t.

Book Review: THE POSTMORTAL by Drew Magary

The cure for aging was supposed to bring health and prosperity to the world. After all, think of what you could accomplish if your lifespan was near-infinite.

But it doesn’t quite work out that way. Rather the discovery of the cure marks the beginning of a massive social, economic and political transformation, whose consequences will play out over generations.

John Farrell was one of the first people to take the cure. Farrell manages to use his business connections to get in on the ground floor when the cure was still illegal. But overnight the plans for the rest of his life are thrown into disarray. After all, who in their right mind would want to be a real estate lawyer forever?

Set amidst the massive upheaval in a time where death has become an outdated concept Farrell struggles to give his life meaning and purpose in an increasingly chaotic world.

THE POSTMORTAL by Drew Magary is 384 pages of mind blowing insight into a world that is slowly choking to death on its greatest wish. It’s like a post-apocalyptic future where none of the main characters are aware that Armageddon has actually taken place.

Magary has crafted a measured and considered examination of Earth’s slow, downward spiral towards its inevitable demise. With an infinitely prolonged lifespan the social mores that once kept the social order stable no longer apply. Life, death, family, marriage, core precepts reinforcing our cultural and social identity, are torn down and the interpersonal bonds that reinforce and inform our humanity are irreversibly mutated.

POSTMORTAL is clearly an allegory, dialed up to 11, for the many budding social concerns that grip us today. Magary throws out a hodge-podge of brainy social issues for readers to noodle over, from resource depletion to overpopulation and the reckless implementation of scientific discoveries. Thankfully he manages to do so, in a fairly natural way, without beating the reader over the head with a rubber hose whilst proclaiming “and now we’re going to discuss the threat of planetary disease vectors”. There’s no preachy social commentary being shoved down anyone’s throat, just an interested observer peeking behind the curtain.

I can’t emphasize enough how much I was impressed by Magary’s delivery of these concepts. As the story progresses, what would be shocking and radical to us in 2012 is obviously blasé and every day to Farrell. But rather than hold our hand and lead us from Point A to Point B through humankind’s social and technological development, Magary gives us just enough information to draw our own conclusions. It takes a lot of faith to trust the reader to get there on their own and I imagine that the temptation to spell things out must be a powerful one. But I’m glad Magary resisted temptation as the book feels more natural as a result. (As natural as a post-apocalyptic future where people don’t age can feel of course.)

So many of these big ideas are casually tossed out and left for the reader to mull over. Even after I put the book down at night my brain would constantly be churning and turning, trying to get a handle on what I was processing.

But it’s the book’s smaller, more personal moments that I found truly moving, the baby who’s development is forever frozen, cured of aging by the sick love of an addled mother, the seemingly solid relationship that begins to fray and fall part because the couple can’t bear the thought of staying with each other forever or the last goodbye from a dying sister.

It’s these little details, where the author reveals how much thought he’s put into fleshing out the implications of the ‘cure’, that separates POSTMORTAL from the herd.

POSTMORTAL is written in a diary format, which is a structure that allows for a lot of character introspection but generally not so hot at giving readers a glimpse of the larger narrative. Too often I’ve seen writers twist their story into a pretzel with artificial info dumps in order to explain the narrative developments to the reader. Magary neatly avoids these traps by making the diary more of a blog, incorporating snippets of interviews or a friend’s social media feed, a la Twitter or Tumblr. It’s a clever work around, giving the reader a sense of the larger world without talking down to them in the process.

The ending is POSTMORTAL’s weakest link. The reader is asked to accept the likelihood of a lot of unlikely coincidences in order to help the story move forward. This includes a chance meeting between two characters who haven’t seen each other in over sixty years. It’s a bit of a stretch, but thankfully the powerful emotional resonance that Magary has built up throughout the book helps carry skeptical readers over the implausibility gap. It took me a ridiculously long time to digest the last 20 pages or so because the book’s climax was just that powerful and I kept slowing down and rereading it in order to savour that goodness.

THE POSTMORTAL was a phenomenal read. From page one to when I reluctantly put it aside I was hooked. There’s so much at play here, the stakes are so high and the characters so remarkably crafted that it’s impossible to read this book just once and think you’ve got a handle on it all. Every time you peel a layer of the story back there’s another underneath, waiting to challenge you.

Movie Musings: GAME CHANGE

After having seen this video comparing Moore's performance to Palin's actual appearances I'm willing to believe the filmmakers here made an honest effort to portray events realistically.



So this didn't feel like an overt smear job.

But of course I'm dying to know what's a recreation here and what's artistic licence. Because some of the more disturbing moments in the film are powerful precisely because you're worried they might actually be true, but you just don't know.

Anyway, Moore did a phenomenal job as Palin. At times during recreations of some of the campaign events I had to look hard to see if it was the real deal or a redo.

Harris didn't take the same approach and his McCain comes off as a well meaning, but slightly naïve and idealistic grandfather figure.

Woody Harrelson is great, but as always he's Woody Harrelson, so, you know, CHEERS.

I loved GAME CHANGE although, like in TOO BIG TO FAIL, I was a definitely discomfited by how close the States keeps coming to the edge of disaster.

A Comic Publisher's Form Letter

Dear (INSERT NAME OF ANGRY FAN HERE)

Thank you for your letter. We here at (INSERT NAME OF COMIC COMPANY HERE) want to thank you for taking the time to write to us. I just wanted to personally let you know that your concerns about (INSERT TITLE OF COMIC BOOK HERE) have been taken very seriously. We hear you when you say that (WRITERS\ARTISTS\NEW COSTUMES\OLD COSTUMES\FONT CHOICE\GLOSSY PAPER\SILVER AGE ENTITLEMENT\CONTINUITY GAFFES\VARIANT COVERS) are important to you. Believe me; they’re important to us too.

Without important feedback like yours we’d have no idea about the multitude of things we’re doing wrong. It’s your keen eye and literary aptitude that helps keep us on track when we’re (SWIMMING IN OUR MONEY PIT\DEFILING YOUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES\RITUALLY SLAUGHTERING UNICORNS\PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH THE SUPPORTING CAST). Please be assured that we have unleashed an army of unfed and unpaid interns to look into the matter and report back to us at their first available opportunity. You can sleep easy knowing that we won’t rest until we have completely addressed your problem by making additional changes to the characters you know and love until they are completely unrecognizable. It’s the unwavering support of fans like you that makes (INSERT NAME OF COMIC COMPANY HERE) one of the biggest names in the comic book industry.

Thank you and don’t forget to check our new (CROSSOVER\SPIN OFF\ADDITIONAL TITLE\TEAM BOOK\MEGA\ULTRA\ULTIMATE\SUPREME\ENDLESS) event hitting shelves this summer.


Sincerely,
Money McBaggsington, Esquire III
Publisher
(INSERT COMIC COMPANY NAME HERE)

See also, Every forum conversation about every publishing decision DC ever made...

Book Review: The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

 

Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero one Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north to attend the funeral and settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the nursery of the deserted Eel Marsh House, the eerie sound of pony and trap, a child's scream in the fog, and, most dreadfully, and for Kipps most tragically, the woman in black.

As I sat in the theatre late last year a trailer began that seemed to be a post-Victorian era ghost story starring Daniel Radcliffe of HARRY POTTER fame. It also looked like it was working off the notion of creepy & spooky in place of gore & gratuitousness. I didn’t get out to see it when it came out and part of that was because... I can be a bit of a wuss and can get freaked out easily. So the other day I was perusing the bookstore as I am wont to do and what do I spy? THE WOMAN IN BLACK, a slender book by author Susan Hill.

Huh. I thought. I didn’t know it was based on a book.

Now, I can’t argue when it is a good idea to read the book first and when it is not, but in this case I truly wanted to know the story and figured I might fare better with the spookiness of the book rather than with the visual frights of the film. So I happily picked it up.

Now, I’d never read (or even heard of) Susan Hill before, but what I immediately noticed was the ease and charm of her prose. She crafts stories like a master wordsmith and I quickly settled into this period piece. In fact, I fell so in love with her yarn spinning and story that I wished I’d been sitting in a big comfy chair in front of a roaring fire with a scotch and candlelight. It’s that kind of book, and she’s that kind of author. She weaves a fantastic ghost story and then walks alongside you as you read it... nudging you, whispering hushed words, and creating deep, moving shadows to be jumped at.

Sidenote: I am in the last stages of moving house and I got within about ten pages of the end of the book on my way home on the subway, and so I decided to quickly finish it in my old place (where I’d gone after work to get rid of some lingering junk and trash). So there I sat on the steps leading down to my old basement apartment, lit by the only remaining [bare] bulb over my head, nose tucked in the ending of the story. I don’t think it helped that there were no other lamps (as they have been moved), nor other furniture of any kind in my old apt. but I actually shivered a few times and the ending truly creeped me out sitting there in the cold on the edge of the dark.

The story is simple, but told in such a way that it sucks you right in and makes you experience it with the wonderfully developed characters. Like I said above, Hill’s prose is delicious and wonderful throughout. Arthur Kipps' family is telling ghost stories at Christmas in 1920 and they ask him for one, to which he is initially quite reticent, but eventually he writes a memoir recalling the most frightening experience of his life. We then jump back to when he was a young London Solicitor who is sent to take care of the estate and papers of an old woman who has died in a small northern village in the country. Upon his arrival, strange townsfolk and reactions about the old woman's house in question out on the marsh lead Kipps to believe that something isn’t quite right. Upon seeing a strange and sickly-looking woman in black at the old woman’s funeral events begin to unfold at the house in question (Eel Marsh House) which is located at the end of a long tidal causeway.

The book is a brilliant slow burn, as Arthur begins to experience stranger and stranger phenomenon but can never truly account for any of it. He spends his days convincing himself that he is quite alright and steels himself to returning to the spooky house and finishing his work, but by night the strange goings-on serve to unnerve, distract, and ultimately frighten him to his very core. This is a gothic story in every sense of the word. It’s a carefully constructed narrative that gently reveals aspects of the underlying backstory, while all the time affecting Arthur in deeper and more nerve-wracking ways. The addition of the dog Spider (whom Arthur is lent by a local land baron) is a plot point you assume to be a good thing since she will keep our intrepid solicitor company, yet it only serves to crank up the tension with a dog’s senses being so acute. For example, Arthur will wake to find Spider standing at attention, every hair on end, growling low at a closed door. I don’t need to tell you that as a dog owner this is something that always gives me gooseflesh when our dog does it. They have that sixth sense you see. Spider is a wonderful addition to the events, but I fear that the poor thing only joins Arthur in his fright.

If you can’t tell already I flat out adored THE WOMAN IN BLACK and it prompted me to go right out last night and buy all the Susan Hill books that I could find. It only took one book to make me a big, big fan of her writing, and I love that she has so many books under her belt (the book in review here came out in 1983 originally I believe).

If you are looking for subtle spooks and scares and a lot of “tell but don’t see” then you will have a hell of a time with THE WOMAN IN BLACK. Someone once said “The human mind can scare itself far more than anything that can be put on the screen” and I am a wholehearted supporter of that notion. The fact that this book leads you to many scares without fully revealing everything about them is what kept me on my toes and treated me to proper, bone-chilling scares. Hill basically allows your mind to conjure a lot of the fright's from her prose and that works very well. I am altogether more frightened by the thought of what is behind the billowing curtain than I am if you show me what is behind the billowing curtain.

Now, I have since heard tell of the differences between the book and the film and that they are large and staggering. It almost feels as if the producers of the film decided that they needed to “show” and not “tell” and for me that’s never a great thing. It feels like pandering to the audience, which is something that Hill doesn’t do in her book, and I applaud her for it. The movie folk seemingly decided that the subtle nuances of the book were too much to expect from their audience and so they have made a simple, yet elegant, and spooky ghost story…become merely a simple movie with a few “boo” moments thrown in. I will still see the film as I am quite curious, but I am endlessly glad that I not only read the book first, but that it led me to discover such a wonderfully entertaining author.

If you've not yet discovered Susan Hill's work then this would be a great starter book. The other books I picked up are fiction and she also writes a rather thick series of mystery books as well. She's won a number of awards and quite frankly I can see why now that I've read this one. Not to be missed folks!

Book Review: THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER by Christopher Buehlman

Frank Nichols is looking for a fresh start. Driven from the academic world in disgrace he has fled to the backwaters of Georgia, to the little town of Whitbrow, with his wife Eudora in the hopes of starting a new life.

Frank’s plan is to write a book about his grandfather, a former slave owner, who was killed shortly after the end of the Civil War when his slaves rose up and killed him.

In reality Frank accomplishes little beyond playing checkers with the locals and bemusedly taking in the town’s tradition of releasing live pigs into the forest each month. One day, in search of his grandfather’s plantation, Frank ventures deep into the woods surrounding the town. His discovery feral half-naked child leaves him to believe that there are more secrets in this town then he suspected.

As events begin to unfold Frank begins to realize that he has made a terrible mistake. There is a vicious presence in the woods, one that that will stop at nothing to get what it wants. The citizens of Whitbrow are helpless to protect themselves and soon the threat of bloodshed threatens to consume them all.

After a couple weeks of reading nothing but epic shooty-shooty space opera I was looking to cleanse my palette somewhat. “Enough genre books,” I mumbled irritably to myself. “It’s time to switch gears and read something that doesn’t involve alien lazer-bots or wizarding sword jockeys."

I thought RIVER would be just the kind of book to help me do that. But when you’ve got a pull quote from one of horror’s biggest names on the front of the book that goal is easier dreamt of than achieved.

Thankfully RIVER is so well written, its story matter so deftly handled, that I completely forgot I was reading a genre a book at all. I mean, this book is trading in subject matter that in the last five years has been turned into the exclusive stomping grounds of moody love struck teenagers.

Hello TWILIGHT, et al. I’m looking at you)

If anything author Christopher Buehlman harkens back to an older set of horror style rules, where rampant fornication and a propensity for illegal drugs was more likely to bring a quick end to your brief life. Only Buehlman manages to transcend even these well-worn platitudes and deliver a story that tips its hat to the past but refuses to be bound by it.

That’s what makes RIVER so refreshing actually, the complete and utter rejection of the cloying motifs and clichés that have stuck to our contemporary literary creature features. Buehlman eschews emo adolescents stuck in clumsily formed love triangles and instead gives us complex and nuanced characters with more on their minds than simply making it through another day of high school. I hadn’t realized how pervasive these superficial themes had become, and how much I shunned books that showcased them, until I started revelling in their total absence in RIVER.

When I started reading the book I didn’t realize the baddies were going to turn out to be werewolves. With Buehlamn choosing to set RIVER against the Depression era poverty of the Deep South I thought the book’s antagonists were more likely to be affiliated with WICKER MAN-style fertility cultists than anything else. Now either that says something about my ability to pick up on the clues left by Buehlman or I was simply so engrossed in the story that I didn’t have the time or the inclination to pick it apart and figure out its inner workings. I choose to believe it was the latter.

But let’s take a closer look at what Buehlman does right. Character. That’s a big one right there. The strong character-work is what carries this story on its back. Whether it’s the tortured but determined narrator, his strong willed wife, or the parade of bit characters who wander off after a chapter or two, but leave an indelible mark on the reader nonetheless, each character feels like a whole, completely realized individual.

Buehlman creates wonderfully damaged souls who aren’t defined by their emotional turmoil. Instead these people gamely struggle through life the best they can without resorting to moping glumly in their rooms. This emotional impairment deliciously flavours their personalities and influences their decisions but it never takes over the pulse of the story.

A lot of the credit for Buehlman’s strong character work has to do with his decision to set the story during the Depression. The American South in the 30’s, with its distinct character and attitudes, creates a rich backdrop for Buehlman to extract the visceral helpless and desperation of the times and feed that emotional frailty back into the dark subtext of the story. The invisible legacy of history is always present, from the Civil War to WWI, as the violence and cruelty of humanity steers the tale along to its tragic and seemingly predestined conclusion.

Read RIVER long enough and you’ll soon pick up a distinct undertone of Stephen King. Buehlman has King’s same eager engagement, equally at home plumbing the darker depths of the human psyche or outlining the timorous strands of a young couple in trying circumstances. He channels King’s best qualities, while retaining a fresh and distinct voice of his own.

THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER unflinchingly stares and witnesses the compromises and concessions we all make when we struggle to live; where other books would withdraw to happier pastures, shielding their readers. It’s a fast paced, pull no punches, modern horror story that refuses to gloss over the rawness of its subject matter. For anyone burnt out on the TWILIGHT-ification of modern horror, this is the book for you.

Doctor Who Crackpot Theories! Series 7! The Master as the new Companion! Multiple Doctor 50th Anniversary!

Sorry about the slow week folks. I’ve been moving house for the last two weeks or so and my reading/watching time has been seriously reduced by packing/cleaning/throwing out stuff ect. Moving sucks. I also had read Will Hill’s mammoth 700-page DEPARTMENT 19 sequel THE RISING, and though I wrote up my review for it, I’ve been asked by Harper Collins Canada to not post until close to the release date and I’m abiding those wishes. I had also planned to begin doing reviews of MERLIN (like I do with DOCTOR WHO) starting with Series 2, but now I am having my girlfriend watch Series 1 so we can watch the second Series together. So that will have to wait as well. The life of a blogger when life interferes eh?

So I thought for Friday that we’d do a DOCTOR WHO Series 7 Informational and Crackpot Theory Post, which will include all the info we have so far.

First things first, when it comes to info about Series 7 the only clearly admitted and defined fact is that both Amy and Rory will be exiting the Series (and if Karen Gillan is to be believed her character at least will be killed and un-revivable) and that an all new companion will be joining the Doctor. The talk from Moffat was that this person is not from earth and is “the last person the Doctor would expect”. The other somewhat knowable info is that Matt Smith MAY be leaving at the end of the Series which will also be the excitement-inducing 50th Anniversary Special(s) and he MAY not. If he does, I’d be fine with that as he’s had a good run, but I’d also be quite comfortable with him staying on board for an 8th Series. Some guest actors have been announced like Mark Williams (who played Arthur Weasley in the HARRY POTTER films) who’s character has been revealed as Brian Williams which we can all safely assume is Rory’s father. I’ll be very interested to see Rory’s parent since his family has been conspicuously absent so far. The cast has left for Spain where they will be shooting an Old West-based episode. They will shoot another episode there as well and there is a rumor that the Tabernas Desert will be standing in for the ruins of Skaro.

Now onto crackpotted-ness.

Achievement Unlocked: Point-Form-io!

- I personally think that Amy will die and Rory will live, since only Gillan has mentioned about wanting her character completely killed off. I have a feeling that her goodbye will have something to do with making the Roman Soldier Who Waited Rory “let her go” and that will be the catharsis for his character and an end to his arc since he spends so much time protecting her, it would be a nice dovetail for his end to not be marred by trying to save her once again. I also think that the “They always kill Rory” aspect will be flipped around and he will live to a ripe old age.

- I think Matt Smith WILL leave the role with the 50th Anniversary since that’s not only a natural stopping point, but it will really place his 11th Doctor into a very nice spot in the fandom and people will really remember him that way.

- When I heard the news that the new companion wasn’t from earth and was the last person the Doctor would expect I had two thoughts. Both utterly outrageous, one not really do-able and the other one is tantalizingly feasible. First I’m sure everyone has heard about Moffat trying to get people to follow Sophie Myles on Twitter (who played Madame De Pompadour in the Hugo-winning episode he wrote in Series 2 THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE, but she’d be negated because she doesn’t fall into the category of “not from earth” so she’s not all that feasible. The second guess is wild but I love it. What if the Doctor’s new companion is …The Master. Think about it. John Simm’s Master not only helped the 10th Doctor in THE END OF TIME against the rogue Time Lords led by Rassilon, he also spent that episode proving that perhaps his madness came from the implanted “four beats” in his head. I just think it would be a really excellent juxtaposition between the Doctor’s good nature and the Master insane nature. It would make for a VERY interesting series if nothing else. Plus TWO Time Lords!

- I have been discussing the 50th Anniversary with Chris for a while and we both feel that they might perhaps spread the 50th over a few specials (and not just one or a two-parter) and that makes sense in my head since the running belief is that it will be a multiple-Doctor story arc. We expect the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), the 8th Doctor (Paul Mcgann), the 5th Doctor (Peter Davison), and maybe even the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccelstone) to appear, and possibly even a wibbly wobbly timey wimey version of the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker). I think if the 50th happened without hosting multiple Doctor’s then that would be an utter travesty to the show. So my thinking is that they might have separate episodes that each concentrate on a different Doctor (in their era or not) and that all of them will have some over-arcing threading into the 11th’s death on the fields of Trenzalore when the question that must be asked is asked... “Doctor Who?”

- Now, if the multi-Doctor arc turns out to be true then can we expect any previous companions to return? Strangely I doubt it (even though seeing Rose one more time would fill me with immense joy!), simply because Moffat is seemingly a fan of leaving the past in the past when it comes to the Doctor’s relationships. That said, if we could see married couple Martha and Mickey kicking ass, or Rose + Torchwood Alt Earth and maybe even the Human Doctor too, and Donna…oh how great would it be to see Donna again? I think that seeing any of these people again is the most ephemeral of wishes and they probably won’t come true, but a fan can still dream.

- Lastly, in the mention of the rumor about the Spanish desert standing in for “the ruins of Skaro”, that gets me excited beyond belief. Simply because the aspect of “ruins” implies that this will be post-Time War Skaro and therefore will include some sort of facet of the aftermath of the Daleks and the Time War. Because if you think about it, so far we’ve only dealt with remnants, secret police and escapees (including Davros) of the time War when it comes to the Daleks. What we haven’t seen is properly what happened to the race as a whole. We also have Dorium Maldovar’s cryptic statements about the reasoning behind the Silence’s attempts to prevent the Doctor being on the “fields of Trenzalore and the Fall of the Eleventh”. I foresee a possibility where those fields are actually on Skaro, but who knows since the Doctor wasn’t given much time to react to that revelation at the end of THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG. At any rate, the ruins of Skaro also further makes the case for the multi-Doctor arc since it is post-Time War and you could literally have anything happen. 

So, what think all our faithful readers of the Crackpot notions I have put forth? Or the info we have that is confirmed? Amy and Rory leaving (yeah I’ll be honest and say that I’ll miss Rory more than Amy as she was kind of a bore in Series 6 as a character)? Speculation on the new companion? Is Matt leaving? What say you? Have at it in the comments section folks.

Author Interview: Dave Duncan

Dave Duncan is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy author. He’s also an incredibly prolific writer with over 40 books to his name in the last 30 years. Duncan is one of the few authors that I mercilessly push on others and one of a remaining handful whose books I continue to buy in a physical format. When his latest novel, AGAINST THE LIGHT, was published I took advantage of the opportunity to request an interview with Duncan, to pick his brain about some aspects of his writing that I’ve been ruminating about for years.

Iceberg Ink: Your bio suggests that you made the leap to writing professionally later on in life. Was writing something that you were always working at or did you pick it up as time went on?

Dave Duncan: As a kid I used to scribble stories in notebooks—never finishing them, needless to say. I do recall trying to write on my grandfather's old Remington 4, which I found in the attic, and getting furious because I couldn't make the right margin align the way it did in real stories. When I had to think of a career, it never occurred to me to try making a living as a writer.

For the last twenty years or so of my life as a geologist I was largely reporting to non-geologists, so I got rather good at expressing complicated ideas in simple language. In fact my biggest problem when I switched to fiction was padding it out. Some authors write big and cut (Kipling used the Victorian equivalent of a black marker pen to edit) but I mostly add. I never write a sentence that I don't change somehow.

I tried an evening writing course in my forties but couldn't spare enough time. My first attempt at a novel came when I was in my fifties: the kids had left home; the house was complete; I had my own business and could sneak time off when I felt like it. I found novel writing vastly preferable to short storytelling. And the rest as they say is His Story...

II: You’ve primarily written fantasy but you’ve dabbled in science fiction from time to time. What is it about these genres that appeals to you?

DD: They are what I enjoyed reading. I couldn't manage “literary” writing or westerns or detective stories (at least police stories; I do slip mysteries into fantasies once in a while). Nowadays I find I rarely read any fiction, having stories of my own on the go. I read history and science, and that ought to answer your question. Fantasy sells better than sci-fi and is easier to write and I have a reputation as a fantasist. POCK’S WORLD in 2010 was my first sci-fi in almost twenty years. WILDCATTER, coming out this year, will be another.

II: I think your affection for history comes across strongly in a lot of your books. What is it about history that you find so compelling, is there a particular period that interests you?

DD: I never thought about it, but maybe it's because history comes with answers. Should Napoleon invade Russia – well, we all know the answer to that question, don't we? And yet there are always mysteries. I know one of my ancestors was a ferryman, but what did he do? Row? Reef? Splice mainbraces? And there are always What-Ifs. Suppose Wolfe hadn't taken Quebec in 1759, and thus removed the American colonies' need for British protection from France? Would there have been a revolution 17 years later?

And no, I don't stick to one period. The Bronze Age is fascinating –Troy and Mycenae – and before that, even, the coming of the horse people, with their chariots, conquering everywhere from Greece to India and possibly even as far as Britain, because the woad-painted Britons used chariots against Caesar. Venice, the first World War. I've spliced all of them into my stories.

II: While we’re on the subject of inspiration, I’d be curious to know what writers you read when you manage to find the time to read fiction.

DD: I prefer not to answer that one.

II: Hmm. Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. Two of your latest books, POCK’S WORLD and AGAINST THE LIGHT have been printed through smaller publishers, is this a result of the changing publishing landscape?

DD: You're into complicated matters here. I admit that my numbers have fallen off lately, but almost everyone's have. Not many years ago LOCUS magazine was proclaiming a 2000-book year. Last year they tracked 3000, and LOCUS is perversely bogged down in the twentieth century, ignoring e-books and Print On Demand. The real total must be thousands more. Furthermore, there's no secret that long fantasy series sell very much better than standalone fantasy novels, and I feel too ancient to start in on any more multi-volume sagas. I've been there, done those, and had good fortune with them. That's the bad news.

The good news, for me, is that I have a huge backlog of out-of-print books which are now available as e-books, and bring me into a healthy royalty income. So now I dabble at writing as a hobby and get by on my pensions and royalties whether the books sell or not. (I do like to see them selling, though!) In the case of POCK'S WORLD, Brian Hades of Edge Books is a personal friend and I have been promising him a book for a long time, so I was happy when he accepted a sci-fi book from me, my first in 20 years. I was very shocked at how small presses are treated, though. POCK was well received by those who read it (see the Amazon comments) and ignored by reviewers who had frequently given me starred reviews in the past. There seems to be a major snobbery at work there.
AGAINST THE LIGHT was a standalone fantasy, and I sent it to my agent as usual. It was he who suggested that he try Amazon. I would never have thought of submitting a book to them, but I must say they have treated me very well in editing, cover art, and promotion. I am proud to be one of their first authors in the genre.

II: Has the transition towards digital books changed the way you get your stories out to readers? I imagine having your back catalogue available in perpetuity can only be a good thing.

DD: I've already answered most of that. The answer to both questions is YES. In my first career, as a geologist, I saw the science turned on its head by plate tectonics. It blew our minds as half of everything we'd learned in college was turned upside down. Now I am watching the same thing happen to the publishing business. At the time I am answering your questions, AGAINST THE LIGHT is unavailable in many cities, including the one I live in, because the booksellers are supporting the publishers, who are in a snit about Amazon because Amazon won't issue the e-book in any medium except Kindle. This is a sort of juvenile suicide pact, kindergarten kamikaze. Amazon is begging to have its books pirated, and the merchants are driving buyers to buy from Amazon. I am hopeful that cooler heads will prevail soon.
II: It just seems like its publishing’s turn to go through the digital revolution. Music and film and television are further along in the process but so far publishing, for the most part, seems to be holding onto traditional business models.

You mentioned that you’ve pretty much finished writing multi-volume fantasy but you’ve got a new book due out shortly, THE DEATH OF NNANJI, which picks up on your first published series, THE SEVENTH SWORD books. What made you decide to check in with Wallie and Nnanji? What was it like visiting the World so many years later?

DD: I feel sorry for writers who strike it rich early on and then have to keep digging in the same hole all the rest of their careers. Either they lack imagination or they are only doing it for money (and writing should be a labor of love). The Seventh Sword series was my first success, my previous two standalones having been strictly midlist. In fact it was the first thing I ever wrote in long form, although it went through several re-writes before becoming publishable. At the end of Book Three, the deus-in-machina predicted that there would be no more miracles, which I thought tied a pretty good knot in the tale/tail. My publisher then was Del Rey, and Lester Del Rey insisted a fantasy must have magic in it, which in the World of the Goddess meant miracles, so I staunchly refused many requests for sequels and played Alexander, seeking new worlds to conquer.

In due course the books went out of print, and then were resurrected as e-books by E-Reads. In the fall of 2010, Amazon ran a loss-leader on them and they were a terrific success. That did sort of catch my attention, and I rationalized that a surprising event is only a miracle if a god says it's a miracle, and I could weasel, I mean justify, another book that way. And besides, it would be fun to go back and revisit the world, even if I never published the results. (Self-deception is not uncommon among mortals.)

So, am I prostituting my art to Mammon? I honestly don't think so in this case. I found that the book almost wrote itself, the characters I needed were all happy to come out of retirement, a few new ones volunteered (remember Vixini? he's grown up a lot) and in the end I felt I had contributed a better ending to the series – it truly fits. My first-reader friends agreed that I had even caught the tone of the original, which really did surprise and flatter me. I shall be interested to see if my larger group of fans agrees with them.

E-Reads has the original series, so it was natural to offer Richard Curtis the book, and he accepted it sight unseen, which was flattering also. I think it will be well received.

(And while we're on the subject of sequels, my latest, AGAINST THE LIGHT, is NOT the first of a series, no matter how many Amazon reader-reviewers say so. The characters have played their part and at the end of the book they go offstage. The basic problem remains, and always will. In the real world you can't just kill Sauron and live happily ever after.)

II: I wonder if that’s because, as readers, we’ve been conditioned to think that any genre or fantasy novel that isn't wrapped up neatly must have plans for a sequel.

But I’m glad that you mentioned magic because I have a question for you about that. One of my pet peeves about fantasy is that ‘magic’ is used too often as a get out of jail free card. Its limitations are poorly defined and it serves as a convenient out for authors who may have written themselves into a corner.

Yet, in your writing, the characterization of what magic is and the restrictions behind its usage are different in every book. How important is it to you in your work that magic is specifically quantified and understood?

DD: Very! One of the few things that can be taught (as opposed to just learned) about writing is that fiction must be about people. Whether human or not, characters must want, fear, hope, love, etc. in a way that furniture does not. But Speculative Fiction is also about worlds. Fantasy is defined as the deliberate use of the impossible, so in that sense it must include Science Fiction, which is almost invariably about the future, or faster than light travel, or time travel or possibly all of the above. Much of the pleasure I get from writing is devising a world where the impossible seems possible or at least plausible.

The Pandemia series was born when I wondered how politics would work in a world of magic, and so came up with the Wardens. (And had many a headache working out just how the words of power could function: if just knowing a word gave you magical power, why weren't the words passed around like jokes?) So logic is very important, for without constraints, magic will dissolve plots.

Another way of looking at this, and perhaps a better way, I learned from Orson Scott Card on the only occasion when he and I shared a panel at a convention: magic must have a price. When you look for it, you'll find that any well-constructed and satisfying system of magic obeys that law: the ring corrupts, Gandalf laments that he had to use a word of power (not the same as my words of power).

I went home from that particular convention and wrote THE CURSED, where a nasty disease either kills you or leaves you with one of seven types of magical after-effects, and every one of those powers is a two-edged sword. The power to heal includes the power to blight; the ability to “premember” the future means that you can't recall your life before the present, even your childhood and parents. And so on.


The system of magic defines the story, and vice versa. In sci-fi of the spaceship variety, the limits of star travel serves the same purpose. In Hollywood the Millennium Falcon goes Whoosh! and nobody ever bothers about refueling. But the dilithium crystals can overheat and she's going to blow any minute, Captain.

I expect you've guessed by now that I enjoy writing fiction more than I do reading it. That may be the secret of my success, such as it has been.

Thanks for the interesting questions!

II: Thanks for the interesting answers!

Dave Duncan can be found online at http://www.daveduncan.com/. His latest book, THE DEATH OF NNANJI, will be published by E-Reads in 2012 as well as his first entry in a new two book fantasy series, THE STARFOLK. He is a very busy man.

Podcast: The Giggle Loop #07 - Sherlock, Spiderman Web Shooters, & Rants

I'm a day or so late with this post, but that is because I needed the time to sit down and edit this one. It's time again for another rollicking edition of our Podcast! Okay, okay, settle down. There's no need to cheer...honestly.

Well okay then.

So this is a pretty TV/Film-heavy episode, but we touch briefly on books and a few other notions. Hopefully we entertain you though, which is all we can hope for. Personally I feel that this is the best of our existing podcasts, and we simply found an ebb and flow this time. It's also a tad longer than normal, but we can definitely vouch for it being time well-spent.

So, without further ado.



The Giggle Loop #07 - Sherlock, Spiderman Web Shooters, & Rants
Running Time: 1:17:32
Downloadable MP3 HERE