The Man who Never was

Snow, Glass, Apples by Colleen Doran My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rating 4 out of 5| Grade: A, Haunting. You know that feeling you sometimes get at the back of your neck, like something is crawling up your body, its slithering, hissing rattle which causes you to feel grima like when someone is scratching their fingernails against a blackboard? This story is that. Taking the well known Grimm's tale of 'Snow White', and adds a mature, chilling, haunted twist to it. Before you think of picking this up, be warned, the story contains quite a lot of graphic content, and is not something you read to your toddler for a bedtime story. Going the Maleficent route, the story focuses on the Evil queen, who has to face the ever encroaching calamity that is her step daughter, who is <Spoiler> an immortal Blood sucker [an Immortal Blood sucker (hide spoiler) ] .</Spoiler> Concubine and later second wife to the King, the not so evil queen was merely a girl, quit

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman My rating: 5 of 5 stars Rating 5 out of 5 | Sometimes it's OK to be taken for an unexpected ride; provided it's an entertaining one Gaiman you eloquent bastard, you got me again? Every time I go into one of your books, expecting something un-expected. Yet every time, you manage to hoodwink me like a magician with their pretty assistants. Even this time, when I went into the story looking for something suspicious, you used the familiarity of the reader with the subject matter to subvert their expectations, with a twist, which in hindsight should’ve been seen from a mile away. Anyways, I won’t discuss the specifics, as I don’t want to ruin the experience for prospective new readers. But still, a Spoiler alert just in case. Synopsis It is the turn of the twentieth century, Albion (Great Britain). A Detective & his companion, the Major are consulted to solve the crime of the murder of one of royal blood. Onl

Aliens vs. Predator: Three World War by Randy Stradley My rating: 3 of 5 stars Rating 3 out of 5 | Lowered Expectations lead to a surprisingly better reader experience When I saw this gorgeous cover page for AvP: Three World War, I approached the story with a healthy amount of trepidation. For, In my experience, these series have a history of giving your great cover pages, followed by a mediocre, lackluster story. But this time around, for the most part, I'm glad I was wrong in my assessment. Three world war, deals with a conflict between Colonial humans, & your classic Yautja (Predators), against the 'Killers' a more violent faction of the species, who can control the Xenomorphs using pheromones and use them like disposable attack dogs. This is something that the classic Predators find 'dishonorable' and which needs to be wiped out from their race. So, with a bunch of humans dropped in the middle, the war commences in ful

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison My rating: 3 of 5 stars Rating 3 out of 5| A pop, sparkle and whole bunch of nothing. I have no mouth and I must scream, was one of the first Science fiction Horror stories I'd read as a teenager, and the premise stuck with me through the years. Then again, defining Harlan Ellison's stories are strictly Science fiction, is a misnomer. He, to a lesser extent to Philip.K. Dick, uses science fiction & fantasy to touch upon and explore the more mundane human aspects of his characters, the results of which can range from mildly entertaining to haunting. It feels like writing for him was an exercise of purely self expression, so he held little allusions as to how his audience would perceive the story. Which does affect the quality & their relatability. Out of the anthology of stories listed in this book, the titular one definitely is the one with the most punch. In the near future, where

All Systems Red by Martha Wells My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rating 4 out of 5 | B+ Sardonic, Robots with a personality. Synopsis In a distant world, a group of planetary explorers are engaged in the survey of the land which has been recently uncovered. This group of novice surveyors/ scientists from a group known as PreservationAux had bought a commission from the corporation to scope out the planet’s resources. Once the survey was completed, if the effort was worth the profit they would get a larger share. Assisting and guarding them in this mission is the security unit, which refers to itself as the Murderbot. Part and parcel of the contract from the company, along with the habitats, hub systems, hoppers, and everything necessary to sustain life on the unknown planet. The SecUnit which calls itself Murderbot, was involved in a previous accident, where faulty implants from the company had malfunctioned; resulting in it slaughtering every person in th

Macbeth by William Shakespeare My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rating 4 out of 5 | A Grade; Inquisitive, Era Defining, Ever Relevant. Themes Explored: ⛊ Universal Human emotions such as Greed, desire & lust for power, justice. ⛊ Guilt & Remorse ⛊ Betrayal of the moral order ⛊ Rightful rule of the land ⛊ How unchecked power gives rise to Tyranny. How Power Corrupts. ⛊ A couple as toxic as Frank & Claire Underwood ⛊ Prophesies, Half-truths, misdirection, deceit in sooth sayings ⛊ Fate vs free will __________________________ Review: ♜ Ambition, unfettered by morality is a recipe for tragedy. What was Macbeth's crime? Was it his desire to be king? To have the power that came with? Believing that he was more worthy of the throne of Scotland than Duncan or his heirs? Or Blind trust in the words of witches who dabbled in superstition and black magic? Wanting to be a king, or wanting power is not by itself an evil thing. After all, Arthur wanted

The Life Eaters by David Brin My rating: 4 of 5 stars During the final years of the Second world war, the Axis forces have all but been defeated. The allies have amassed the largest Armada ever known to man, and are getting ready to deal with the final death blow to the Reich. That is when everything went to shit. It started with the defeat of the Russians on the Eastern front, who were pushed back to their lands due to interference of some new force. The allied offensive pushed forwards, and were shattered, their massive fleets sundered and sent to the bottom of the ocean due to a vengeful sea and the monsters that it spewed. That is when they encountered the beings that came to be known as Aesirs. Reanimated gods from the Norse Pantheon, Odin, Thor, Baldr all who had appeared on the battlefields in Europe, and were fighting for the Nazis. Each of these one man armies fell with the lethality of a comet upon unsuspecting allied forces & laid

1984: The Graphic Novel by Fido Nesti My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's the 75th year of Independence for the world's largest democracy 'Happy Independence Day'; and Ironically I'm reading the graphical adaptation of 1984 . The titular year has come and gone, and the world is moving towards more freedoms & progress. But in some ways you could say we have less freedom & progress. We are seemingly headed towards an amalgamation of 1984 7 Aldous Huxley's Brave New World ; with some Fahrenheit 451 added to the mix. Then again the ccp & the North Korean regime are still a thing, perfectly embodying the Orwellian themes of doublespeak, doublethink and 'Big Brother is always watching'. Which comprises of a fifth of the world populace under some totalitarian regime, so I suppose there is still ways for us to go. Few others works have had such a profound effect on the collective psyche of mankind; and painted a pla

Batman Black and White, Vol. 1 by Mark Chiarello My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rating 4 out of 5 | A Grade; Enthralling A menagerie of short stories featuring the caped crusader, sometimes kicking ass & taking names. Sometimes putting the fear of ever loving God into goons, sometimes solving impossible crimes, and sometimes just helping the neighborhood lady get the cat out of the tree. All the different aspects of the Dark knight, the facets of the person underneath the cowl, and a glimpse into the never ending, impossible mission which he has assigned for himself. Tell me where to sign up! Bruce Wayne is not just some dude who decided to put on an animal themed costume to beat up goons and flirt with the ladies; although he does that a lot. Batman is someone who believes in people, and sees the good in them. He wants to genuinely help them, to save them from themselves and not so gently guide them towards their personal ideal. Even at the cost of hi

Batman vs. Predator by Dave Gibbons My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'll admit it, this is hands down one of the best Batman crossovers out there. An intergalactic trophy hunting predator going up against the Giga Chad Plot armored Batman? Sign me up for the tickets to that match. Now, to anyone who has ready any Batman comics, you can pretty much guess how this is going to end. The Predator is good, but not the Title character of a major comic conglomerate, or one of the long running flagship characters of the comic book industry. So you know it's gonna bite the dirt in the finale. But this is one case, where the journey is more entertaining than the conclusion. So the premise is pretty standard stuff. A Pradator from the Yautja race has landed in Gotham, and he's taking out the big guns of the city one after the other. Prize fighters, Gangsters, Cops, Corrupt politicians, everyone's on the hit list. And naturally, its attention turns to

Batman Versus Predator II: Bloodmatch by Doug Moench My rating: 3 of 5 stars A crime lord in Gotham has placed a huge bounty on the caped crusader; 7 assassins from across the globe have assembled to cash in on the Bat's head. But the human hunters are the least of his problems. An old visitor, or visitors have returned from the stars and is keen to initiate round two of the intergalactic death game between Predator & Prey. However Batman is not alone this time around; His on again off again partner The Huntress is right in her element as she and Batman track down the trophy hunters from outer space. Right from the get go, one thing which I found jarring was the drop in quality of the artwork, which lacked the polish, grittiness and kinetic aesthetic which made the first so picturesque. Then there is the storyline, which is pretty generic, well as generic as the bout between Batman, Huntress, human assassins and the Predators can be made. It