A photographer’s obsession with an unsettled subject exposes two friends to a darkness that won’t be contained by frames…
The Dark House
Enhancing the Diversity of the Community: Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black (Part 6)
Welcome back to Reading the Weird, in which we get girl cooties all over weird fiction, cosmic horror, and Lovecraftiana—from its historical roots through its most recent branches.
This week, we continue Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black with Chapter 7. The novel was first published in 2005. Spoilers ahead!
[“The world beyond the glass is the world of masculine action…”]
Series: Reading the Weird
Check Out Rachel Weisz and Rachel Weisz in This Dead Ringers Trailer
Are you a big fan of Rachel Weisz, star of the 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy? If so, the series Dead Ringers might be just the thing for you. It might also be just the thing for you if you like dark comedy full of twists and general weirdness (it is a remake of a David Cronenberg film, after all).
Victor LaValle’s Lone Women Has Been Optioned for TV Adaptation, LaValle to Pen Script
Author portrait by Henry Söderlund (CC BY 4.0)
Lone Women, the latest book from Victor LaValle (The Changeling, The Ballad of Black Tom), came out yesterday, but it turns out that an adaptation of the novel for the small screen has been in the works for months.
The Mandalorian Deepens a Few Mysteries in “The Pirate”
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
Get ready for the first live-action appearance of any member of a very special Rebel crew…
I’m Sorry, But Super Mario Bros. Is Actually a Great Movie
Credit: Hollywood Pictures / Walt Disney Studios
There’s only one real problem with the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie: its name.
I saw this so-called video game adaptation for the first time in mid-90s, shortly after it came out on video. My memory of it was of a mind-bogglingly weird movie that had nothing to do with the game, made no sense, and was a beautiful train wreck of a thing. Rewatching it as an adult, I expected to have the same reaction and was looking forward to enjoying what was certainly a movie that’s so bad, it’s good.
But taking another look at Super Mario Bros. turned out to be so surprising that it bordered on horrifying. Luigi just said something funny. I laughed at it. This dinosaur-themed dystopia looks really cool. I don’t understand. Why isn’t this a bad movie? That’s the trick to Super Mario Bros. If you’re not intent on it being about a video game, it becomes an engaging, well-acted (mostly), fascinating, original story. And it pulls this off almost completely by accident.
To Every Other Jobu Tupaki After Jamie Lee Curtis’s Oscar Win
Screenshot: A24
To every other queer daughter of immigrant mothers who goddamn saw this coming.
To every gay kid in every universe who can feel this life making a villain of you.
Hi. I’m one of you. And this should’ve been our year.
Five SFF Sports I Would Try in a Heartbeat
Image: Nickelodeon
My favorite fantasy worlds tend to be jam-packed with fascinating nuggets of worldbuilding , details that help to flesh out the setting and give us a better sense of the places and societies in which the story unfolds. Sports and games, in particular, can contribute to our understanding of the culture of a fantasy or sci-fi world, even if they aren’t central to the narrative. These pastimes—whether played for fun or for much higher stakes—bring the structure of competition into magical and futuristic worlds, and hell, I just wanna give them a go!
Wes Anderson Welcomes You to Asteroid City
Every so often, Wes Anderson gives us SFF folks a reason to talk about him—and Asteroid City is certainly one of those times. Set in a fictional American town in which a whole host of characters find themselves at a dramatic moment, it’s also a movie with an alien. Maybe? Maybe there’s not an alien? Maybe it’s a metaphor? Look, it’s just a trailer; you’re going to have to decide some things for yourself.
Five Books About Magical Teachers and Mentors
Photo: Janko Ferlič [via Unsplash]
Fantasy abounds with daring young people who study magic on their own, expanding their grasp with bold experiments into fields they only poorly understand. Fantasy also abounds with sensible young people who, perhaps observing the scorch marks left behind by daring autodidacts, have found experienced elders to guide them past dangers of which novices are unaware.
Sometimes the students make do with a single mentor. Sometimes an entire educational institution is available. Sometimes the students chose their mentor. Sometimes the mentor chooses them. As these five works show, this seemingly simple arrangement lends itself to a wide variety of tales.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks Have Both Been Renewed for Another Season
Screenshot: Paramount+
These journeys aren’t ending anytime soon. While Star Trek: Discovery has just one more season to fly, the rest of Paramount’s Starfleet of shows show no signs of slowing: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a third season, and Star Trek: Lower Decks for a fifth.
What’s more, both shows return to Paramount Plus this summer! The second season of Strange New Worlds arrives June 15th; the fourth season of Lower Decks hasn’t got a specific date yet.
Author Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah on Tour for Chain-Gang All-Stars
Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in Chain-Gang All-Stars, the hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black.
This spring, join author Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah on a coast-to-coast tour—check out the full list of dates below!
The River and the World Remade
When the waters rose, the people who stayed on the River learned they weathered the storms best together, but what happens when one of their own becomes curious about the Land?
Pixar’s Elemental Feature Will Include New Up Short Called “Carl’s Date”
On the heels of the release of the new trailer for the Pixar film, Elemental, we’ve gotten word that the feature will be preceded by a short with two main characters from the movie Up.
Read an Excerpt From That Self Same Metal
Sixteen-year-old Joan Sands is a gifted craftswoman who creates and upkeeps the stage blades for William Shakespeare’s acting company, The King’s Men.
We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from young adult fantasy That Self Same Metal by Brittany N. Williams, out from Amulet Books on April 25.
Dungeons & Dragons Movie Reunites Freaks and Geeks Cast for a Quick Game
Screenshot: Paramount Pictures
The well-loved and short-lived Freaks and Geeks ended twenty-three years ago after one season, but a promotion for the upcoming movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, brings three of the nerdy friends back together.
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