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Reviews @ Missions Unknown
By Peter Loxsom, on March 5th, 2010  I have always appreciated the power of the graphic novel as a story telling medium especially when it rises above the comic forms roots of superheroes, and other male adolescent power fantasies to embrace a richer narrative and deeper characters. With that firmly in mind I was quite happy to engross myself in Foiled from First Second Books. Writer Jane Yolen keeps her hands full with both a heartfelt story and a very relatable female protagonist. Mike Cavallaro’s illustration is crisp, captivating and as emotive as the story.
The story stays sharply focused on its protagonist Aliera Carstairs, her determination, her hopes and fears, and the emotional baggage of adolescence. Aliera is a fencer, and a serious student of the sport at that. Fencing also serves as a metaphor for her own psychological state as well as the progression of the chapters in the book. She is also a high school student who is trying to figure out her place in that complex world while also dealing with her feelings for Avery Castle a boy she finds beautiful but who seems to have a smile for every girl as well as a number of strange quirks about him.
Family also is important to Aliera. Her mother is endless delving into garage sales, estate sales, and the Salvation Army. It is from one of her mother’s forays into other people’s histories that the curious foil with the red gem on the end of its grip makes its way into Aliera’s hands. It is her relationship with cousin Caroline though that seems to ground her. While Aliera spends so much time physically testing and proving herself Caroline’s young body is often confined to a wheelchair. Their Saturdays are spent playing role-playing games where Caroline is the Queen and Aliera her defender.
Continue reading Review: Foiled by Jane Yolen and Mike Cavallaro »
By BW Fenlon, on January 15th, 2010
 It was only a matter of time before I read this one. I work at a popular San Antonio bookstore, and I try to shelve the sci-fi and fantasy books whenever I can. It was the cover of The Devil’s Alphabet that initially drew my attention with its gloriously creepy upside-down eyes staring back at me every time I walked by. The synopsis proved interesting enough to suck me in, and Daryl Gregory’s unique combination of science fiction, horror and small-town secrets kept me hooked.
It’s been fifteen years since Paxton Martin left the small town of Switchcreek, Tennessee, and he’s done his best to put his past behind him. Now he has returned to his hometown to attend the funeral of an old friend—her death ruled a suicide. However, Paxton has his doubts concerning the events of that night, and a few questions and some snooping around prove that there just may be more to Jo Lynn’s death than originally thought. This in itself provides the backdrop for a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill mystery; but Gregory doesn’t stop there.
Switchcreek, Tennessee, is the place where the changes happened.
Continue reading Review: Daryl Gregory’s The Devil’s Alphabet »
By Ryan Reavis, on January 8th, 2010  The Reality Dysfunction The holiday season is over, and you’re looking to return at least one well-intended gift. What should you get to replace it? How about The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton? The Reality Dysfunction is the first book in Hamilton’s trilogy Night’s Dawn. It is the 27th century, and the human species has begun a great diaspora throughout the galaxy. New technologies have enabled humans to side-step Einstein’s cosmic speed limit allowing us to colonize worlds light-centuries away. Disease and genetic defects are things of the past, and new “bitek” (short for biotechnology) even allows for “affinity” (telepathy) between those who choose to have the affinity gene spliced into their DNA.
Enter Lalonde. A backwater planet rich in natural resources but completely untamed. Lalonde is one of nine hundred planets that Earth has colonized or has begun to colonize. Life on Lalonde is brutal, low-tech, and hard. The colonists have only a few years to get their homesteads up and running before economic collapse is certain, but something is watching them. Something evil. Not long after settling in (in the roughest of terms), the reality dysfunction begins. The dead begin to come back to life. Not dead bodies, mind you. No, the dead begin to return to the realm of the living by taking over bodies still enjoying life. Thus begins a battle mankind has never even dreamed possible.
The dead return with strange powers which baffle the technologically advanced living, and as they return, certain specific dead people return, like Al Capone. Killing the host of the dead spirit has the unfortunate side-effect of slaying the host him or herself. The death of the host only then adds to the amount of people trying to come back from the void which is the afterlife. The problem is easy to see. Also, the only goal the dead have is staying alive once they attain a living host. They will commit any act, regardless of how heinous, to stay newly alive.
Continue reading Review: The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton »
By BW Fenlon, on December 28th, 2009  The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge and Beyond the Shadows have all been selling well at the bookstore this holiday season, and it’s not just San Antonians who are snapping them up. Brent Weeks’ best-selling Night Angel trilogy has been translated into almost a dozen languages, and the author was recently nominated for the David Gemmel Legacy Award.
The storyline is a familiar one: Azoth, a street urchin in the city of Cenaria, claws his way out of poverty and despair while suffering numerous setbacks and facing difficult moral decisions along the way. What distinguishes Weeks’ story from so many others is that Azoth’s path doesn’t follow the high road, but instead involves training under Durzo Blint, the city’s most dangerous assassin. Our hero must find ways to justify his brutal actions and deal with their consequences all while attempting to be a “better” man than his master. Along for the ride are some well-developed secondary characters, a few brushes with destiny, and some of the nastier demons I’ve seen in the genre. But there are a few minor flaws as well.
Continue reading Review: Brent Weeks’ Night Angel Trilogy »
By Ryan Reavis, on December 15th, 2009 
 The original cover of Varley's "Titan" With the series returning to publication in 2006, now is a good time for readers either to reacquaint themselves with Texas native John Varley’s epic Gaea series (Titan, Wizard and Demon) or read it for the first time.
While Cirroco “Rocky” Jones leads a group of astronauts to examine the moons of Saturn, they make the most amazing discovery in the history of space exploration-one of Saturn’s moons is not a moon but rather a sentient life form on a planetary scale. The crew explore this new creature they name Gaea and discover within her centaurs with three sets of genitalia (both male and female in the horse part of their bodies and one set in the front which determines gender), a race of angels whose raison d’etre is a blood feud with the centaurs, and whistling, blimp-like creatures who pick up passengers and fly them around.
While much of the joy of reading this trilogy comes from the sense of discovery the reader shares with the humans, the complex relationships between the main characters are what make this trilogy such a completely engrossing read. Themes such as lesbianism, the complex reproduction practices of the centaurs (with three sets of genitals, family trees start to look more like fractal images), and the goddess Gaea weave together in a tapestry of tension, occasional horror, and frequent delight.
Continue reading Review: Titan, Wizard & Demon – John Varley’s Gaean Trilogy »
By Paul Vaughn, on October 12th, 2009  I'll have what he's drinking I caught a performance of the Overtime Theater’s production of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die: A New Musical this weekend and it was a very fun show. Funny and sexy, the show delivered a rollicking good time with genuine laughs from the audience and a sense of awe at the the talent gathered for this production.
One cannot help drawing a comparison to another bad cult horror film turned musical, Little Shop of Horrors. Like The Overtime’s Brain, Little Shop of Horrors started life as a cheesy 1960 B&W comedy/horror film (by schlock legend Roger Corman) that was later turned into an off-Broadway musical. The original The Brain That Wouldn’t Die was filmed in 1959, but its comedic value was unintentional. The movie was so bad that one could not help but laugh.
Clearly the mad men at the Overtime did more than laugh, they saw the germ of a new production. Jon Gillespie’s script and lyrics are quite funny and the actors helped tremendously by breathing a lot of life into his words. The music by composer Philip Luna (Fear Snakeface, Shit City Dreamgirls) was generally unobtrusive, but really shined in the SciFi incidental music that lent a 1959 movie atmosphere. Director Michael Burger and Producer Jon Poole tied everything together nicely.
 The Brain That Wouldn't Die Poster Standouts include Christie Walheim as Jan, the Brain mentioned in the title of the show. Not only does she have a great voice and presence on stage, but that she can maintain such through the majority of the show as a disembodied head is incredible. Robert Jerdee as Dr. Bill Cortner, while not the most stellar vocalist, added a brilliant comedic take to his diabolical “man with the miracle smile”. The scene after the car wreck was a particular highlight with Jerdee lampooning 1950s smoking habits. Jules Vaquera as Doris displayed some powerful pipes and Cary Farrow as Kurt (think Igor without the hump) practically stole the show with this comedic timing and dance moves. The entire ensemble was clearly having fun with the show and this was certainly contagious. Extra props to Roy Thomas whose fall from grace as the title character in Buddha Swings to Dr. Cortner’s father to hamming it up as a cat-fighting drag queen is hilarious.
This show is totally worth seeing. Avoid the front row if you want to stay completely dry, but the advertised “slishy-splashy fun” effects were not so extreme that you’ll need a change of clothes or the plastic sheeting required in a Gallagher show. Tickets are a reasonable $12 ($9 for students and educators). You can purchase soft drinks and brain slices in the lobby and you are welcome to bring your own libations to enjoy with the show. The Brain That Wouldn’t Die: A New Musical runs through October 31st and is something no SciFi fan in San Antonio should miss. This is the kind of production that could really go places!
By Mission Control, on July 30th, 2009  Torchwood - Children of Earth Today we feature our first Guest Commentary. Crystal Shedrock-Rangel is the president of Doctor Who Fans Unite, a Meetup Group created to bring together fans of the long time running television show Doctor Who. They have united through their common interest in the show and its spinoffs and now, in following with the beliefs of the main character, they have adopted the mission is to serve the community as a group. Doctor Who Fans Unite hosts a Doctor Who Appreciation Night every month at the Alamo Drafthouse. We profiled Crystal back in June. So, without further ado, take it away Crystal:
“Torchwood: outside the government, beyond the police. Tracking down alien life on Earth, arming the human race against the future. The twenty-first century is when everything changes. And you’ve got to be ready.”
I will admit my interest in Torchwood had waned in the second season. But with last week’s US premiere of Torchwood: Children of Earth, I am once again in love with the show, and waiting in anticipation to see how it will continue. Children of Earth is a five-part miniseries that began airing last Monday night and concluded on Friday. This Tuesday the DVD of the miniseries was released in both DVD & Blue Ray formats. Best Buy is offering an exclusive Audio CD Torchwood: Lost Souls with the DVD.
Many Torchwood fans may still be shaking their fists in anger at show writer Russell T. Davies, for some of the choices he made involving the Torchwood characters. But the entire miniseries as a whole is an extremely compelling and heart-wrenching story. The central plotline revolves around all of the world governments agreeing to give up 10% of the world’s children in order to save the planet, with a horrible twist on how the children would be used. This brought to light a social commentary regarding our world population and our governments and the atrocities that they can and do commit on our behalf. Warning: if you are a parent some of the scenes will break your heart. I know on several occasions I found myself sobbing.
Continue reading Guest Commentary – Torchwood: Children of Earth »
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Mission Control
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JOHN PICACIO is a World Fantasy Award-winning and Hugo
Award-nominated illustrator of science fiction, fantasy, and horror literature.
On
The Front |
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SANFORD ALLEN is a musician and author with more than
two dozen horror and dark fantasy stories published.
Sanford Allen | Boxcar
Satan |
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PAUL VAUGHN AKA The Mac Guy is a graphic artist,
web designer, writer, consultant and all around techno-geek.
The Mac
Guy | Dingus Design |
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