‘The Worst of Us’: a Book Review of J. J. Shurte’s The Land of Long Shadows

A final World War. A Manhattan Project 2.0. A last-gasp experiment which literally unravels the fabric of reality…. But all of this is just prologue. The tales that unfold in The Land of Long Shadows could be called many things: cryptic, disgusting, enervating, gratuitous—yet also intriguing and refreshingly unorthodox. Set in the remnants of an […]

THE HERO AS A SYMPTOM: a thematic refresher on Frank Herbert’s Dune

***SPOILERS AHEAD for Frank Herbert’s DUNE*** THIS MAY BE OBVIOUS to anyone already captivated by Frank Herbert’s seminal science fiction classic, but in light of fresh public interest (*cough* new mega-budget movie *cough*), I think it is worth reiterating: Dune is not a Hero’s Journey. Understanding this is essential to a fuller appreciation of this wild modern mythology Herbert has created. […]

Of Malice & Mercy: A Book Review of Peter Hackshaw’s EVER WINTER

A fairly common presumption exists within the realm of fiction (notably much maligned indie or self-published fiction) that a book must either be a highfalutin work of literature or crowd-pleasing fast-food genre fare—and never the twain shall meet. An ugly and rigid bit of dogma that stymies the imaginative potential of our collective storytelling. It […]

Failure To Communicate: A deeper look at the critically-maligned ‘Mute’

WARNING: Full spoilers for MUTE (2018), partial spoilers for CHINATOWN (1974) [Note: I don’t usually write film/tv criticism. If I’m honest, my interest in cinematic mediums has been slipping in this age of content-rich/ imagination-deficient programming, but I digress. As it is, there’s so much already written, consistently written, immediately written; within nanoseconds of any […]