Little Darlings Melanie Golding Crooked Lane Books April 30, 2019 Having given birth to a pair of twins, Lauren Tranter is filled with the mixture of delight and anxiety that is to be expected from a new mother. But then, something strange happens in the maternity ward. Lauren becomes convinced that there is a woman…
Poltergeist Girls, Part 4: The Enfield Variations
In 1977, the British press reports an outbreak of alleged poltergeist phenomena that occurred in the Enfield home of single mother Peggy Hodgson and her four children Janet, Margaret, Johnny and Billy. Claims of strange activity at the house continued until 1979, and the case of the Enfield poltergeist has provoked heated debate ever since….
The Vampyre’s Legacy, Part 10: Sympathy for the Devil
During the sixties and seventies, pop culture was hit by an explosion of interest in the occult. Aleister Crowley glowered from the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band while Mick Jagger sang “Sympathy for the Devil”, and before long Black Sabbath would be embracing Gothic imagery as part of the nascent metal scene….
Poltergeist Girls, Part 3: Fact and Fiction in The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Exorcism of Emily Rose was released in 2005; this was long after the 1970s heyday of the poltergeist girl subgenre, but the film nonetheless has its roots in that era. It was based on a real-life incident that occurred in 1976 – one far more horrific than the 1949 case that inspired The Exorcist.
’70s Horror at its Grooviest in Misty: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection
Misty: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection Jordi Badia Romero (art) Rebellion October 2019 Just in time for Halloween comes this spooky new addition to Rebellion’s line of books reprinting classic British comics. Misty: The Jordi Badia Romero Collection is an inviting hardback tome that dips into the Misty archives and pulls out a shimmering set…
Poltergeist Girls, Part 2: From Carrie to Carol Anne
The Exorcist was part of a flurry of late sixties and seventies films about supernatural children. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) was the trendsetter, and in 1976 The Omen would expand upon the theme with the exploits of young antichrist Damien Thorn. That year also saw the release of Carrie, based on the 1974 debut novel of…
Poltergeist Girls, Part 1: The Exorcist and Regan’s Rebellion
After she foolishly plays with a Ouija board, an innocent and cheerful early-adolescent girl begins showing a distinct change in personality. Her behaviour becomes strange, even sinister. Before long, she is the focal point of apparently supernatural phenomena: objects around her are moved by unseen forces, while her body undergoes hideous transformations. All the time…
The Vampyre’s Legacy, Part 9: Atom-Age Vampires
As far back as the nineteenth century, certain writers had tried to demystify vampires by coming up with scientific explanations for their condition and behaviour. James Malcolm Rymer’s ramshackle Varney the Vampire introduced – and later abandoned – the notion that its main character was a man resurrected through galvanism. Charles Wilkins Webber’s Spiritual Vampirism…
Baen Wins Big at the 2019 Dragon Awards
Tens of thousands of science fiction and fantasy fans gathered at this year’s Dragon Con in Atlanta, which offered its participants a variety of events and attractions. One of these was the fourth iteration of the Dragon Awards, representing science fiction and fantasy across a range of media — the victors being decided with the…
The Vampyre’s Legacy, Part 8: In the Shadow of Hollywood
As noted in the previous post of this series, the biggest change faced by vampire fiction of the 1930s and ‘40s was that authors in the genre were now competing with films. Admittedly, dramatised vampires were not a new phenomenon: after all, the 1819 publication of Polidori’s “The Vampyre” had been swiftly followed by a…
2019 Hugo Awards Celebrate the Fantasy Existing Among Us
Thousands of science fiction and fantasy fans arrived in Dublin this month to take part in the 77th World Science Fiction Convention. The activities and attractions culminated on Sunday with the Hugo Awards, when a selection of winners were presented with coveted socket ship trophies.
2019 Hugo Award Reviews: Novels Part Two
Welcome to the final set of reviews for this year’s Hugo Awards! The previous post in this series covered three of the six books in the running for the Best Novel Hugo. Now, it is time to cover the remaining three…