Capsule TPB review Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, art by Gabriel Rodriguez

Beautiful artwork from Gabriel Rodriguez, a stunning first comic-book script by Joe Hill (his pseudonym, of course, as he is the son of an equally obscure writer named Stephen King), and a great idea make this series sing. Recommended.

Capsule TPB Review, Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams III

Worth the trip, and certainly worth the GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) award it garnered, Batwoman: Elegy is dynamic comic book storytelling, beautifully drawn, incredibly panelled, and driven by Rucka's suspenseful prose. Readers also get to enjoy discovering how Katherine Kane (aka Batwoman) met her lover, Detective Renee Montoya. The flirtatious meeting of Kane and Captain Maggie Sawyer, a longtime gay character of the DC Universe, is another gem.

Priest, Capsule Review

One can summarize the 2011 film Priest in three words - derivative, laughable and hodge-podge. Not only does Priest steal from sci-fi tropes (including but not limited to Star Wars  and the Matrix) and horror tropes (mediocre fare such as the film adaptation of I Am Legend which turns the protagonist into an American Finding a Cure instead being seen as serial-vampire-killer), but the film can't seem to hold its own story together. In one riotously nonsensical throw-away scene, Cam Gigandet's rough-and-tumble character decided to a kick a chicken out of his way, for no particular reason. Paul Bettany, who has done much better work, can't save the movie from itself. Christopher Plummer also finds himself in the midst of this tomato. Perhaps he was seeking directions for a way out of the script.

"Living Under the Conditons" published in Megapack

My sci-fi story, "Living Under the Conditions" has been published in The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack (epub or Kindle). I am in good company. Fiction from Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Ayn Rand, and Philip K. Dick appear in the anthology. Other contributing luminaries, for those who know the business, include Theodore Sturgeon and Henry Kuttner. Kuttner was one of Ray Bradury's mentors. At a price of only 99 cents, The Megapack is worth purchasing. 

"Living Under the Conditions" originally appeared in On Spec: The Canadian magazine of the fantastic in 2007 and made the longlist for the Writers' Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize.

Feature - Jeffrey Round's Lake on the Mountain

The latest assignment off my desk - my feature on mystery/thriller/literary author Jeffrey Round appeared on the national site of Xtra: Canada's gay & lesbian news on Thursday, April 26. Round possesses an eye for literary asthetics and observations, but also an enthusiasm for a great caper and mystery, as evidenced in his latest novel, Lake on the Mountain.
http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Lake_on_the_Mountain-11906.aspx
 

3:10 to Yuma Capsule Review

Notes on the 2007 film 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and Ben Foster

This contemporary western, the second remake of an Elmore Leonard novel (the first was in 1957), grinds out a low, character-establishing pace at first, but compensates for this overindulged classical feel in the second half. Ben Foster stars as ambiguously gay, tough-as-nails Charlie Prince, while Russell Crowe, as outlaw Ben Wade, winks, nods and flirts with Christian Bale's character (Dan Evan) throughout. Evans is supposed to put Wade on the proverbial 3:10 to Yuma train. It is like Crowe, playing the obviously bisexual Wade right down the middle, is making up for being unable to play the John Nash character as openly bisexual in the film A Beautiful Mind. With a marvelously surprising ending, Yuma has a lot to offer, either way the viewer looks at it.