Finally reading Peter Atkins' All our Hearts are Ghosts & Other Stories

Finally reading All our Hearts are Ghosts & Other Stories (Shadowridge Press, 2022) by my pal Algie (aka Peter Atkins). Here it is, in my Winnipeg hotel room. I was recently out west for a reading with local spec-fic writers SM Beiko, Keith Cadieux and host Susie Mohoney at Raven's End: The Horror Book Shop. They astonished me. I had ordered my elusive signed copy (at least in Ontario) late last year from the new bookstore. 

I thought the short-story collection would be good. But I must admit that instead, it is very, very good. 

Toured with Peter and Glen Hirshberg (Artie) as part of The Rolling Darkness Revue 2010: Curtain Call, a traveling roadshow of horror writers where the two scribes would travel with a contributer from that year's chapbook. 

I am happy to say I am still learning from Algie. What a gift Peter's short stories are—efficient, incisive, eminently readable, smart and so very, surprisingly, funny. Why did I wait so long to read it? Why?

The collection feartures ten stories in all, all strong or superb, as well as the script for a Marvel Hellraiser comic (without the artwork) and prose examining the backstories of three characters in the film Hellraiser: Hell On Earth, a project which Peter was attached to. The latter two are not my cup of literary tea, but as admittedly akin to  bonus material for a DVD, they are intriguing. Still, Peter's fantastical stories, though, are pithy, sometimes gorey, and always clever. 

The opener, a banger of a novelette, "The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of" is a compelling first-person pulpy prequel to "Intricate Green Figurines", a clever, engaging story  from his last collection Rumours of The Marvelous concerning the pursuit of emerald figurines of Lovecraftian creatures. As I recall, the piece was portentous with an underlyimg sense of menace.

So, naturally, when we recently tried the Greek version of the board game Horrified, in Winnipeg, at a faming café, this green Medusa figurine caught my attention. One must ask, is it one of your characters', Algie?

That aside, Atkins' clever use of intergenerational character I admire greatly. These  include Private Dick Steve Donnelly, protagonist of "The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of" and his daughter Tabby in the charming "The Thing About Cats". His grandaughter Kitty appeared in stories in Rumours of The Marvelous. Such intergenerational connection adds a certain weight, texture and je ne sais quoi to reading the pieces. Peter's story notes are an enjoyable complement to each story as well, being both potty-mouthed and playful with the reader.

I remain grateful that I know Peter (aka Algie). Read him. It's terrific work, really, with each story revealing further delights, dread and disquietude.  

As well, I am thankful that Chelsea shipped this signed edition from Raven's End: The Horror Book Shop last December. 

Review: Superman film mostly soars! Some of my thoughts

So, that there new Superman film, eh? Here are my spoiler-free thoughts.

Liked it. Entertaining. Stellar cast,  fight scenes, and an array of characters that is arguably also the flick's Kryptonite. Director James Gunn brings his signature poppy, colourful, rock-n'-roll musical style that he applied to the Guardians of the Galaxy films.

David Corenswet as Clark/Superman is superb. I knew he would be from findung him in Hollywood (netflix), the alternate timeline show that posits: what if a matinee idol modelled on Rock Hudson came out of the closet in 1930's studio  Hollywood? As a square-jawed, handsome, athletic invested actor, I thought then he could be a dead-ringer for Jack Kerouac ... or Superman. And Corenswet's Superman? Idealistic, good-hearted, earnest, imperfect.  Nails it. Corenswat's Clark Kent? Finally a worthy foppish success to Christopher Reeve. The film, though, could have used more Clark. In all, Corenswat's is a more upbeat, hopeful and colourul Kal-El. He's not landing like Henry Cavill's brooding Supes, with a boom that cracks the pavement. Yet Clark still struggles. The decisions he grapples with define him and challenge his optimism. In many scenes, there is a visual delight and almost serene acceptance of super-powered, otherworldly menace occurring around him, and Clark is just doing his best.

Clark/Supes, getting some help from someone he once saved.

Clark and Lois Lane, a rather sexy Rachel Brosnahan, are passionate. This bickering, passionate couple is terrific and the actors have chemistry.

Nathan Fillion as smarmy Green Lantern Guy Gardner just shreds the scenery. The supporting Daily Planet cast gets something to do, drawing from Grant Morrison's all-time quintessential comic-book masterpiece All-Star Superman. The news staff are great chaotic comic relief. And the Superdog, Krypto, Gunn's own pooch, wrecks every proverbial China shop he can in an abundance of comic relief. I like the dog; many don't.

Nicholas Hoult, always superb and emotional, makes a terrific, tortured, megalomaniac Lex Luthor and also a barn-burner in all his scenes. His hench-people are gleefully invested in being bad. Lex even explains why he does what he does. Gene Hackman, a standard-bearer as Lex Luthor in  Superman: The Movie (and arguably Superman II), never really did explain the why—only the how about his evil plots. Hoult also portrayed the Beast, aka Hank McCoy, in X-Men: First Class.

There is a veritable parade of comic characters at last receiving a live-action treatment and likely many cameos I missed.

But not my old pal Kim Brunhuber, who read at the Tree Reading Series I ran in Ottawa back in the day. I yalloped when I saw Kim in his cameo appearance as a news anchor. Way to go, Kim! You're my hero. P.S.; my mother-in-law harboured a crush for you and was knocked back when I said I knew you.

Because of all of the elements James Gunn jammed into this two-hour-plus feature, I have many mixed feelings because it's a big ball of everything and the above-mentioned surplus of characters. Maybe more Superman would have been better? Perry White is black, which is a change. The Superman S and costume are both slightly altered new takes on the 87-year-old design. As well, some characters have powers they don't have in the comics. There's more wanton widespread destruction that I care for (and find tedious these days, frankly). The depiction of quantum physics, as exoected in a superhero flick. But still, the Superman film is quite spectacular. Will see it again, actually.

It's also a film brimming with hope. I can overlook many quibbles for hope. We need it now, more than ever. And Superman remains a symbol of hope.

Note: Stick around for the credits. There are two post-credit scenes. Also, I love the special thanks section, not only because co-creator Canadian artist Joe Shuster is listed along with American co-creator Jerry Siegel, but also Grant Morrison and friendly Jerry Ordway, my favourite (and masterful) artist from The Adventures of Superman and The Power of Shazam! is in there, too.

As well, all photos are from Warner Bros. and I believe fall under fair use.

Winnipeg readin': A Spec-Fic Midsummer Spectacular at Raven's End Books

Say—do I know anyone in Winnipeg? Because I am reading there with a fabulous spec-fic crew there this Thursday, July 24!

Raven's End Books: The Horror Bookshop Presents 
A Spec-Fic Midsummer Spectacular
with readings by Canuck speculative fiction voices:
Samantha Mary Beiko 
Keith Cadieux 
Susie Moloney 
& special guest: 

Ottawa’s James K. Moran 

hosted by Susie Moloney
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Doors 6pm; reading 6:30pm. Free.
Raven’s End Books: The Horror Bookshop
1859 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
info@ravensendbooks.com

Bios

S.M. (Samantha) Beiko pens award-winning fantasy novels for teens including The Lake and the Library, The Realms of Ancient Trilogy (Scion of the Fox, Children of the Bloodlands, The Brilliant Dark) and her new queer monster romance series, The Brindlewatch Quintet (The Stars of Mount Quixx, The Door in Lake Mallion, followed by The Sleuth of Ferren City in 2026). Beiko created the Aurora Award-winning webcomic Krampus is My Boyfriend! and is the editor of Gothic Tales of Haunted Love and Gothic Tales of Haunted Futures.

Keith Cadieux, a horror writer and editor of modest publication history, has stories in Grain, Prairie Fire and ELQ. Of his short story collection Donner Parties, the Winnipeg Free Press said, "Cadieux is a master of letting the horrors which lie beneath and outside us press up relentlessly into our troubled minds. No one should miss that experience." He lives in Winnipeg with his wife and big dog named Bear.

Susie Moloney has authored four novels of horror and supernatural, Bastian Falls, A Dry Spell, The Dwelling and The Thirteen and the short-fiction collection, Things Withered. She continues publishing in journals and anthologies. Currently Moloney is writing television and film in the genre and you can see Bright Hill Road and Romi wherever you rent movies. She’s working on a new novel, her first in ten years.

James K. Moran fell hard for horror with Universal Monsters and Weird Tales covers. Moran’s speculative fiction and poetry have appeared in Bywords, Glitterwolf, and On Spec. Lethe Press published his collection Fear Itself and small-town Canada horror novel Town & Train. Moran reviews for Arc Poetry Magazine, Plenitude and Strange Horizons. Findable at jameskmoran.blogspot.ca & jamestheballadeer.bsky.social.