So what’s going on? Oh, lots of things. Hereabouts, I talk at random about The Writing Life, What’s Worth Watching, Audio Content I Love (aka Listen Up), and good old-fashioned News of the Weird.
You can also Click Here and buy any of my stuff that’s currently available (and I offer it when I can through bookshop.org, at the same price as Amazon, that also shares its money with independent bookstores around the country. Check it out. What’s more, the ebooks and audio products I offer I sell from here, downloaded directly to you, so I don’t have to split anything with Big Daddy Bezos or anyone else. I’m greedy that way.
Regardless: welcome aboard, check back often, follow me on the socials like IG and BlueSky (at this point), and stay in touch!
Random Number Generator Horror Podcast Number 9: a great horror-movie podcast you probably haven’t heard of (but should)
This weekly horror podcast from two of the key creators of Welcome To Night Vale is smart, funny, and unexpected. A great surprise every episode.
The Weekly Planet: An Aussie podcast about comic book news, reviews, and rumors … and damn good fun
I confess to having a soft spot in my heart – and head – for Australians. Never been down unhah, and probably will never get there, but Ozies have been plaguing me for nigh on to fifty years now. I’ve been working with that crazy-ass musician and writer John G. Jone...
Gogglebox: UK TV at its … finest?
It’s been days since I pleaded with you to get a good VPN and peek into TV from England and Canada and Australia and everywhere else that you can’t get to if they think you're from the U.S. And now I’m going to do it again, with a review o the frankly impossible UK...
Kennie JD: One of the Best Things About YouTube
I’ve been hanging around the edges of YouTube for years and years, and for a long time, I was a snob about it – imagine me, a snob. Back in its early days, I saw YouTube was kind of the junk drawer of original content: so many people doing so much stuff, with no rhyme...
This Wretched Valley: survival horror with great promise … and something missing
I just finished Jenny Kiefer’s This Wretched Valley, by first-time novelist Jenny Kiefer … and I almost liked it. But there was something missing… and I wonder if anyone else felt it, too. You remember the podcast, Talking Scared, that I reviewed a while back? They...
Ten Recent Posts
Musical zombies!
Musical zombies? Really. No kidding: it’s not quite as rare as you’d think. Strangely enough, zombie music spans the decades, including two features, at least one theme song and an Off-Broadway show. One thing that’s been pointed out a million times is the reallly...
School Spirits is a spooky high school drama that’s surprisingly effective and ultimately frustrating
School Spirits, a supernatural teen-drama mini-series in nine parts on Netflix by way of Paramount Plus, tells an engaging story about a plucky, troubled high school senior who suddenly has to deal with the fact that she’s … well, dead. And worse than just dead:...
Joe Abercrombie: The best damn fantasy novelist working today
Yeah, it's that simple: Joe Abercrombie is one of the best writers of gritty, realistic fantasy working today. His only flaw is that there isn't enough of him. Abercrombie has created a number of interlocking series set in a world of barbarian nations, very difficult...
Rehabilitated Sleaze: Half satire, half nostalgia, all inappropriate
I'm not a huge Facebook fan (who is anymore?), though I still use Messenger with clients and the occasional friend. Still, there is one group -- a strange little corner of the Intertubes called Rehabilitated Sleaze" where a number of talented artistic assassins create...
Revisiting Mike Flanagan’s Absentia
Sometimes it's worth looking back. I've been so impressed by Midnight Mass, and basically be everything Mike Flanagan has done so far, that I took a couple of hours on a quiet Friday afternoon and re-watched Absentia, his first (available) feature film made more than...
The Plague is a long-forgotten zombie (ish) post-apoc (sort of) movie from Clive Barker … and actually pretty good
I have no idea how I stumbled on this, but I recently found myself slightly stunned at just how interesting – far from perfect, but damned interesting – I found a forgotten TV movie from 2006 – yeah, fifteen years ago – unfortunately called The Plague, or...
Winchester is just … a waste
I just waded through Winchester on Netflix and … I am at a loss. At a loss to explain how so much money and talent could be wasted on such an utterly uninvolving, derivative, boring ‘haunted house’ movie. This shambling, unfeeling, tedious thing has beautiful...
The Stranger is pretty good, but Harlan Coben? Meh.
Harlan Coben's The Stranger is the firt indication than heis adaptations don't have to be kind of limp and half-baked.. Maybe there's hope. Coben makes a few jillion dollars a year on his suspense novels (though 'suspense' seems like a pretty strong word for his...
Why doesI Am Not Okay With This feel so incestuous?
Seriously, who are they kidding? This moderately engaging I Am Not Okay With This is a Netflix mini-series that smells so strongly of Carrie and IT that it makes your nose twitch. So why are the producers claiming complete astonishment at the parallels? Don't get me...
Making Funny Horror is Hard (but Snatchers did its damnedest)
One of the most interesting things about Snatchers is its wonderful history. It began as a web series created by a bunch of newbies (as far as I can tell), and ended up as a feature-length film. It's not going to change the course of mighty rivers, but it's kind'a...