A post-human civilization of synthetic beings, fixated on the concept of children, grapples with the meaning of life…after life ceases to exist.
After the Animal Flesh Beings
Good Omens 2 Clip Has Crowley Getting Existential as He Tries to Protect Ducks
The second installment of Good Omens is coming our way at the end of July, and based on the clip that Amazon just released, it looks like Crowley (David Tennant)—like many of us (all of us, really)—is musing about what’s the point of everything, anyway?
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Ends Far Better Than it Begins
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
It is clear that the fifth (and final, if Harrison Ford and Lucasfilm are to be believed) Indiana Jones serial intends to be a “return to form” right from the opening credits—which pointedly use the exact same font as the opening credits of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. (The irony of trying this move when the very first sight in the film is Disney’s 100th anniversary logo cannot be overstated.) This would seem to be a bit of wishful thinking on the part of director/co-writer James Mangold, the man who Hollywood has decided should be the go-to for aging heroes and their final chapters, after his success with X-Men’s Logan.
Dial of Destiny is by no means a return to form. It’s only half of a good movie, in fact. But that half, funny enough, is still lingering in my mind.
[Some spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]
Five Summer Reads Perfect for Star Gazers
Photo: Greg Rakozy [via Unsplash]
I’ve always been in love with stars. It’s why my young adult novel, Sometime in Summer, spends so much time looking up, and it’s why I find myself drawn to stories that do the same. Imagine exploring the cosmos from your couch, floating through asteroid fields while wearing your pajamas. Whether set on Earth or floating somewhere above it, based in our world or set in a fantasyland, the following books all left me feeling a little less alone in the vast expanse of space.
Terry Pratchett Book Club: Monstrous Regiment, Part I
Join me in a rousing chorus of “Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier,” if you like. Then we’ll jump right in.
Series: Terry Pratchett Book Club
The Gattaca Series Will No Longer Head to the Stars on Showtime
It was kind of an odd idea in the first place: a prestige series based on a stylish but hardly-a-blockbuster ’90s film? Could work, could be weird. But it’s not to be, at least not on its intended network. Variety reports that Showtime “is not moving forward” with several projects, one of which is Gattaca.
Five Classic SF Stories About Invasive Species
Promotional image from The Day of the Triffids (Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Invasive species” is such a judgmental term. After all, it’s the nature of life to spread when it can. Humans, originally found in Africa but now global, could be seen as invasive. Is it so terrible if other species follow our example—if zebra mussels find their way into the Great Lakes, if Argentine ants find extraordinary success in Europe, or if walking, carnivorous Triffids kill and eat unwary English people? The consensus appears to be “yes,” given how invasive species are treated in science fiction and fantasy.
Kevin Bacon Set To Star in Horror TV Series The Bondsman
Screenshot: Marvel Studios
The Bondsman, an original horror idea from Grainger David, earned a straight-to-series order from Prime Video and now has none other than Kevin Bacon taking on the lead role. Read More »
Read an Excerpt From Sucker
Chuck Gross would like nothing more than to prune himself from his family tree.
We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Sucker by Daniel Hornsby, out from Anchor on July 11.
Trailer For Live Production of Rogers: The Musical Gives Us Nick Fury Singing, Among Other Things
The fictional Broadway production we saw in Marvel’s Disney+ series Hawkeye is finally about to premiere in our own slice of the multiverse! We found out in February that a one-act version of the musical based on the events of 2012’s The Avengers would be coming to Anaheim California’s Disney California Adventure park. The show’s premiere is tomorrow, and we’ve got a trailer that gives us a glimpse of what performances we’ll see.
Dark Legacies and the Price of Admission in Funhouse and the Fear Park Trilogy
A day out at the local amusement park sounds like some good old-fashioned summer fun: the rattle of the roller coaster cars whizzing by, the music of the carousel, the lights of the Ferris wheel, the smells of fried foods and cotton candy, the laughter and delighted screams of children as they run from one ride to the next. The amusement park is a kind of liminal space, a break from the stressors of everyday reality on the other side of the gates, a place intentionally designed for fun. But in Diane Hoh’s Funhouse (1990) and R.L. Stine’s Fear Park trilogy (The First Scream, The Loudest Scream, and The Last Scream; all 1996), that fun turns to terror and the screams are real. In addition to the horrifying events that take place at these parks, each must also reckon with a dark legacy.
After the Revolution: The Faithless by C. L. Clark
Author C. L. Clark knows that revolution is only the first act in a larger story of freedom won, senses of self and worth affirmed, hearts bruised and broken. What comes after the revolution has the potential to be just as, if not more, dramatic, engaging, and heart-rending; nowhere is this on finer display than in The Faithless, the sequel to Clark’s debut novel The Unbroken. Touraine and Luca are learning that is not enough to make a change. The true battle lies in the cementing of that change once the smoke of conflict has cleared.
MGM+’s From Will Return for a Third Season
Image: Epix/MGM
In news that must come as a relief to fans of From—which just ended its second season on a cliffhanger—the oddly named MGM+ series has been renewed for a third season.
Some of Our Yesterdays — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”
Image: CBS / Paramount+
When writing the script for the original series’ “Space Seed,” Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber probably figured that setting the devastating Eugenics Wars some thirty years in the future was a safe bet. After all, television as a popular medium was less than two decades old at that point. By the time the actual 1990s rolled around, who was going to remember a line from a 1967 TV episode?
Obviously, the answer was “a lot of people.” The latest episode of SNW is a wacky time-travel adventure that is the latest attempt to reconcile Trek’s predicted future with the reality that has ensued.
The Latest Trailer for Dune: Part Two Promises a Saga of Belief, Revenge, and Power
If the first trailer for Dune: Part Two seemed like it might be fun sometimes—sandworm riding, and all—the second is here to remind you that it’s rarely, if ever, fun and games on Arrakis. It’s more like piles of dead bodies, explosions, and prophecies, with a bit of revenge and a whole lot of dramatic dialogue.
And hey, Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) is back!
History, Fantasy, and Mythmaking: The Origins of the Green Man
James Frazer has a lot to answer for.
He was born in 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland. He became a Fellow of Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. From there he leapfrogged sideways into folklore studies and comparative anthropology, two disciplines he knew nothing about (although to be fair, at the time, neither did anyone else really.) His masterwork was The Golden Bough, two volumes of meticulously researched albeit fairly wrong comparative mythology from all over the world. His research was conducted mostly by postal questionnaire since he wasn’t into travelling. The title of the book comes from one of the more mysterious bits of the Aeneid , where the Roman epic hero finds a magical golden branch which he then has to hand over to a priestess in exchange for passage to visit the land of the dead.
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