books
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) wrote some of the more intriguing science fiction of the latt...

movies
An Intelligent Thriller: ‘Ex Machina’

The creation of artificial human beings has a long history in literature and film, going b...

culture101
1950s’ ‘War of the Worlds’—A Model Science-Fiction Film

The 1950s film version of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds is the best version of al...

genres
Star Wars, George Lucas, and the Pitfalls of ‘Auteur Theory’

It's a storyline we celebrate every Oscar season: the uncompromising film director, locke...

fiction1
‘Saint Odd’: A Fond Farewell to Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas

Ozzie Boone said that any talent—whether to write songs or to write novels or to track p...

books
‘No Place’ Is a Bad Place—Le Guin’s Timeless Message of ‘The Lathe of Heaven’

The word utopia literally means "no place" in the original Greek. Thomas More named his f...

books
An Above-Average Superhero Story

Duncan MacMaster is the proprietor of The Furious D Show, one of the most interesting mo...

movies
Cracking Up — ‘A Great Little Popcorn Flick’

At the LA Times, Susan King offers a short review of a classic sci-fi sleeper: It’s a wo...

books
Prose Fiction Update With A Bit of Poetry

Another week, another passel of links into the wide, wide world of wondrous word-smith...

books
Prose Fiction Update

For your reading pleasure, as the work week comes to a close. Spend some time this weeke...

movies
Real ‘Inception’ Star Is Writer-Director Nolan’s Imaginative Vision

By Arthur Briggs At AMC’s flagship theater in midtown Manhattan, I caught the 6:30 sh...

books
Fiction Friday: Stories, News, Reviews & Opinion From the Publishing World

News of publishing's demise is greatly exaggerated. Wander into any bookstore, be it a ...

books
‘Alternating Worlds’—Gary Wolf and the Definition of Humanity

Alternating Worlds by Gary Wolf iUniverse, Inc. ISBN-10: 0-595-34002-4 ISBN-13: 978-059534...

culture101
‘Avatar’—A “Push for a Return to Neo-pagan Animism/Pantheism”

In his January review of James Cameron's latest effort, "Avatar and the 'New' Evolutionary...

books
Dean Koontz’ Relentless, an Odd Mix of Genres

Dean Koontz is a bold writer when it comes to experimenting with genres.  In Relentles...

art
Frank Frazetta, 1928-2010

He was an artist, not an author, but I suspect he was responsible for more fantasy book...

books
George H. Scithers, 1929-2010

I got word today that the first editor to buy one of my stories professionally, and my ag...

comic-books-graphic-novels
Thousands Gather at Comic Con

Between eight and ten thousand sequential art, science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts gat...

books
James Bowman Denies Denying Artistic Standing to Tolkien and Lewis

James Bowman has kindly responded to my comments on his assertion that “fantasy is not A...

art
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien Are Not ‘Real’ Artists?

Not according to James Bowman. They and numerous others create what Bowman dismissively r...

noteworthy
BBC America Announces New Doctor Who Eps

A new series of Doctor Who episodes will get their U.S. premiere on BBC America beginning ...

science-fiction
The Hound of Altair 4

FORBIDDEN PLANET Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956. Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen,...

science-fiction
Giant Bugs vs. The Long Arm of the Law

THEM! Warner Brothers, 1954. James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onsl...

genres
ABC’s ‘FlashForward’ Builds on Interesting Premise

     The interesting new ABC series FlashForward is part of a tre...

science-fiction
science-fiction
More Than One Brain Cell: SF Films with Ideas (Part Twelve)

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science-fiction
movies
The Intellectual Pretensions of ‘Classic’ Scifi Films

     Sometimes the most celebrated scifi films are the silliest, ...

science-fiction
science-fiction
science-fiction
mysteries
Scifi Story Imagines U.S. As Socialist State

TAC correspondent Mike Gray has landed two short fiction stories in the latest edition of ...

commerce
Christian-Themed ‘Transformers’ Sequel Sustains Strong Box Office Appeal

 Despite being trashed by the critics, Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen led at the ...