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Book Review: It Came From: …The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction Films by Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison

cover art from It Came From... by Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison

(  Bookshop.org )

It Came From:  …The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films by Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison

Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., 2020

ISBN-13: 9781644300916

Available: Paperback

In this book, critics Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison explore genre films and the written works that inspired their creation,  Each is presented in its own section, chronologically, and the written works that inspired them. While this book primaritly covered fantasy and science fiction films, this review will concentrate on the aspects of  the horror genre presented. The authors include information on the production of the films, as well as the differences between the texts and the movies. At times they also posit the view that the film may be better than the books, a controversial opinion among some audiences.

The author of the horror section introduction argues that horror is the most difficult genre to adapt because movies “that merely provides a book’s ‘Boo!’ moments are but empty shells, lacking the underlying background and context that frequently makes the literary piece the more satisfying experience” (p. 12). He then moves to his example of The Shining. While I do not necessarily agree completely with the author, he does make some interesting points. Films included in the horror section include The Body Snatcher, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Demon, Psycho, The Day of the Triffids, and Don’t Look Now.

Two titles receive special treatment in that they each have a significant chapter devoted to them: Dracula and Frankenstein. The authors look at “several of the best, worst, and most popular of their cinematic incarnations” (p. 11). Dracula films covered range from Nosferatu (1922) to Bram Stoker’s Dracula  (1992), while the Frankenstein films range from the first film version of Frankenstein (1910) to Victor Frankenstein (2015).

My primary criticism of the book is focused more on the overall contents rather than specific chapters. The authors interject their own opinions into the chapters in a way that can be a bit heavy handed. For instance, when it comes to science fiction, one of the authors makes it abundantly clear that he does not like the gritty, darker, current sci-fi storylines. Additionally, while it seems that each chapter is written by an individual author, it is difficult to tell who wrote which one.

This could be a good resource for anyone interested in exploring the literature upon which genre films are based, as long as readers are aware that the authors’  strongly expressed opinions are interspersed throughout.

Recommended with reservations.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on January 24, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz

A note from the editor:

We are midway through October and Monster Librarian still needs to raise the funds to pay for our hosting fees and postage in 2021. If you like what we’re doing, please take a moment to click on that red “Contribute” button in the sidebar to the right, to help us keep going!  Even five dollars will get us closer to the $195 we need to keep going at the most basic level. We have never accepted paid advertising so you can be guaranteed that our reviews are objective. We’ve been reviewing and supporting the horror community for 15 years now, help us make it another year! Thank you! And now, our review of SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz.

cover art for SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire

SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz (   Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

Mocha Memoirs Press, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-1735219554

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

 

The late L.A. Banks’ Vampire Huntress series, and her ability to transform common tropes of vampire fiction into stories that reflected the African-American experience, inspired many of the authors in SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire. Anthology editor Nicole Givens Kurtz continues that tradition here by showcasing Black writers and their imaginings of vampires, slayers, and hunters through their stories, giving Black readers the opportunity to be seen in vampire fiction that takes on the standard Eurocentric tropes and transforms them in a way that is uniquely relevant to Black people and also provides a window for other readers into what they have been missing because of the limited perspective of most vampire fiction. The stories come from all over the African diaspora, but the majority of them are by authors from the United States and Britain. Authors take various approaches to the concept of vampirism, inspired by Black culture, mythologies, history, and experiences, but there is nothing boring here. Interspersed between stories are beautifully calligraphed obituaries.

In the section of stories from the United States and Britain, strong stories include “Dessicant”, by Craig Laurance Gidney, takes place in a badly-kept up low-income apartment building that has red dust in the vents that is making its occupants sick and draining them of fluids. The negligent landlord can’t be reached and the protagonist, a Black trans woman ostracized by other residents, has to find a way to combat the dust, or whatever it is, on her own. “The Retiree”, by Steven Van Patten, is a funny, heartbreaking story that will give readers a new perspective on what goes on in a retirement home In “The Dance”,  by L. Marie Wood, the protagonist is surprised to learn there is more to her sexuality than she realized. In “A Clink of Crystal Glasses Heard”, by LH Moore, Neeka and her friends have a coming-of-age ceremony planned by their mothers that is not what they expected. “Diary of a Mad Black Vampire”,  by Dicey Grenor, puts the reader in the head of a bored, lonely and vicious Black vampire who finds herself intrigued by a fragile-seeming albino white girl. “The Last Vampire Huntress”, by Alicia McCalla, remixes the story of Kendra the Vampire Slayer, with Kendra the reluctant, prophesied, last vampire huntress who must accept her destiny and kill her vampire boyfriend after he attacks her friends. “Unfleamed”, by Penelope Flynn, tackles race and violence in the Victorian era with its take on the Dracula story. “Di Conjuring Nectar of di Blood” , by Kai Leakes, is a gorgeously written historical story of love and generational trauma. In “Snake Hill Blues”, set in 1927,  conjure woman Mamma Lucy eliminates a vampire who has been preying on dancing girls. I hope this author will bring her back in other stories!

The stories from African authors are also strong.  A few that stuck out to me included Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s “Attack on University of Lagos Law Faculty”, an entertaining story narrated by a pompous, egotistical law student who finds himself in the surprising position of vampire slayer, and “His Destroyer”, by Samantha Bryant, is a powerful rendering of the Passover story from the point of view of  the avatar of the Angel of Death. “Quadrille” is an engaging and occasionally darkly humorous story about friendship narrated by a vampire who has become a reporter in conflict zones in order to cover up his feeding habits, abetted by a djinn and a shapeshifter.

A last section contains stories about the future. These stories aren’t really horror, but they are compelling. In “Bloodline” scientists make a terrible mistake, enhancing a vampire’s powers.  “Message in a Vessel” is a science fiction story about the consequences of human enslavement to vampires, and “Blood Saviors” is a more fantasy-oriented tale in which an investigator for the vampires’ council discovers that a vampire has been enslaving and draining earth elementals to make a rejuvenating serum for humans, whose blood has become polluted, leading to vampires getting sick.

This is a great collection overall, with fresh takes on vampire lore that I really haven’t seen elsewhere, informed by Black experiences and perspectives. There’s enough here to love that it has taken me much longer than I expected to write this review. If you love vampire fiction or horror anthologies, and want to support Black authors, publishers, and readers of horror you should definitely pick this up. It’s a great way to discover some really talented Black writers, if you haven’t already. Highly recommended.

Contains: Animal killing, body horror, blood-drinking, torture, scientific experimentation, mutilation, murder, gore, violence, sexual situations, racism, sexual assault, rape, dehumanization, insects, genocide.

Posted on October 20, 2020 by , 1 comment

Book Review: Temporary Planets for Transitory Days: Poems of Mykol Ranglen by Albert Wendland

cover art for Temporary Planets for Transitory Days: Poems of Mykol Ranglund

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Temporary Planets for Transitory Days: Poems of Mykol Ranglen by Albert Wendland

Dog Star Books, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-947879-18-8

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

Mykol Ranglen, adventurer, talented finder of rare Clips left behind by the Airafanes, keeper of secrets, and central character of Albert Wendland’s science fiction books The Man Who Loved Alien Landscapes (2014) and In a Suspect Universe (2018) has always been a poet. In the first book, he describes one alien landscape as “dazzle” running through “the dew-laced savanna” with “scents of basil and almond” as the grass makes “soft cracking sounds like static electricity.” In the second book, apocalyptic visions from his poems become real and threaten the safety of the woman he loves. So, it is no surprise that Wendland was inspired to write a third book, a collection of speculative poetry, supposedly written by this enigmatic character.

Temporary Planets for Transitory Days is a more concise version of ideas introduced in the novels. In all three books, Wendland looks at what might happen in futuristic human/alien worlds that continue to be influenced by past civilizations and mythologies. He imagines these worlds as places which have devolved. They are inadequate for living and never change because they are controlled by technology and lacking in what we might recognize as a humanizing touch. Creatives like Ranglen and his lover Mileen, a painter, are living in worlds that the reader can still recognize as having links to our times with “aircars” for speedy transportation, competitive people using “card-links” to make business contacts, and gangsters who traffic “the deprived and homeless.” At the same time, these new worlds are nightmarish developments of what might have once seemed like exciting possibilities such as teleportation (but with time glitches, so at what point is Ranglen in his relationship with Mileen in a certain place?) or the projection of the imagination into harmful and even deadly objects or scenarios that cannot be controlled (was someone killed by a unique type of aircar that only existed in a poem Ranglen wrote?).

The poems are divided into groups and include some that directly reference characters and events in the books, some that might be about the author’s actual life, and others that seem inspired by Wendland’s own reading and teaching as a professor of literature. There are even poems involving superheroes, Native American mythology, and vampires. Overall, Wendland and Ranglen seem to be attracted to writing about their eclectic, science-fiction infused personal interests as well as sudden, intense encounters and events that are best captured as poetic memories. In addition, the poems even predict Ranglen’s future because Wendland notes that these poems will lead to two more Ranglen novels “yet to be written.”

In the poem “Notes Toward a Supreme Science Fiction,” we learn what Wendland values most in writing science fiction: “The obsessed, the pursued, / And the space / In between.” He sees, as he says in “Negotiating a Dream” an opportunity when we might be able to “Maybe even appropriate/ Some other era’s / Lost stellar dreams.” In contrast, the love poems in the Planetary Love section of the book are more immediate, focusing on what loving someone means and how that love is an action and unifying force rather than being an exploration of complicated emotions. Ranglen talks about that “singular moment” when the “world of another person is open” (“In a Moment”) and about loving in a “language” “that came before words” (“The Touch”). The poem that defines Ranglen best has the same title as the first novel and appears toward the end of the collection. However, there is also an excellent introduction to the poetry that helps the reader for whom Ranglen is a stranger to understand, in broad strokes, the context of the poems as a whole.

If you want to experience a pleasant feeling of recognition, like a memory, read the novels first. If you decide to read the poems first, it would be worthwhile to avoid dipping into the book randomly so that the poems will unfold in a logical way, thus providing enjoyment and understanding through a narrative approach as spare and direct as the prose of the novels.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on October 8, 2020 by , Reply
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