This 2019 novelette, published by Tor, relates the tale of early-twentieth workers exposed to radioactive material—as it might have transpired if elephants were sentient.
It won the Nebula, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Shirley Jackson, Locus, and Theodore T. Sturgeon Awards.
So, is it a musth-read?
Actually, it’s June on the line.
The Handmaid’s Tale reminds us that some people should never be trusted.
Jessica Jones’s third season lacks the power of her earlier outings. They’ve reduced the budget, and the R-Rated content has been toned down, though not removed entirely.
Nevertheless, the cast remains strong, the humor, frequently sharp, the storytelling, intriguing, the villains worthwhile, and the themes, disturbingly relevant.
We reviewed the first two episodes here.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
–Theseus (V.i.7-8)
Summer is icumen in the Northern Hemisphere and a certain midsommar horror will see release soon, and so we’re going to review Shakespeare’s popular play of fantasy. So many film adaptations exist that we might make this an annual tradition. For now, we’ll start with the two most star-studded cinematic interpretations, Warner Brothers’ 1935 adaptation with luminaries like James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, and Olivia de Havilland, and the 1999 version starring Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Calista Flockhart, and Christian Bale, among others.
Greek mythology, faeries, magic, lovers young and old, and a well-meaning troupe of dubious actors await you.
Commander Lawrence offers June a Sophian Choice, June uses her position to subvert Gilead, Emily reunites with her family, Luke and Moira have Nichole baptized, and Aunt Lydia grows increasingly unhinged.
Is Aunt Lydia crying because she feels shame that she lost control? Or because she knows she will lose what power she has? The elite and privileged classes of a society might accept the brutality and injustice that benefit them– but God help the person who forces them to see these things.
Jessica Jones’s third season—and the final Marvel season for Netflix—dropped today. We’re reviewing the first two episodes now, and the rest of the season next weekend.
Season Three lacks the strong start of the first two seasons, but it reunites an impressive cast. Perhaps because it’s the final season, or because Disney wants to inspire hope that they will reuse the Netflix characters when they regain rights in a couple of years, we’re reminded that, yes, Jessica and company exist in the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Hand-Maid’s Tale begins a very different third season, as June finds her place in Lawrence’s household and with the growing rebellion.
The scenes in Toronto’s “Little America” and the news from Chicago remind us that Gilead occupies only one part of a politically-fragmented, disaster-ravaged North America.
The revived Twilight Zone brings it first season to a curious and confusing conclusion.
The first sequel to Mary Robinette Kowal’s Hugo-nominated novel, The Calculating Stars takes us to Mars—in the early 1960s.
“The Traveller” was perhaps the best outing this season, and the same author’s second script also scores high among the new Twilight Zone episodes. The premises feels like The Twilight Zone and, despite Peele’s epilogue, which emphasizes one particular interpretation of the episode, “The Blue Scorpion” could be about many things.