In 2020, award-winning author Susanna Clarke published this slender but monumental novel about a man living in a vast labyrinth filled with many statues and a few dead bodies, and pervaded with mystery.
Author Archives: JD DeLuzio
Star Trek Discovery: “All is Possible” and “The Examples”
The most recent episodes of Discovery showed the season hitting a stride, with each having at least one solid plot.
Doctor Who Review: “The Vanquishers”
“It’s not like we haven’t had enough to do.”
–Doctor Who
The Flux ends in a chaotic mess of excessive plot threads, extraneous characters, unanswered questions, and wasted potential. The current Doctor will return on New Year’s for an encounter with the Daleks, but we’re no wiser about the mysteries and retcons added by Chris Chibnall, we’re possibly staring into a Whovian multiverse, and a certain arch-enemy of the Doctor’s is possibly back in play.
Anne Rice, Requiescat in Pace
Anne Rice, the writer who birthed or at least midwifed the late-twentieth-century vampire mania, has died at the age of 80 (December 11), surrounded by her family. She will be interred in a family mausoleum in New Orleans. A more public celebration of her life will take place at some future date.
She first gained fame with Interview with the Vampire (1976), a modern reconsideration of the undead mythos, and went on to pen multiple works in gothic, fantastic, erotic, and religious genres (mostly as Anne Rice, but she also penned a few as Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure). Her works have been widely adapted in other media including movies and graphic novels. The rights for future adaptations were purchased by AMC.
Anne Rice will be missed by family, friends, and her legions of fans.
The Expanse Review: “Strange Dogs”
Later for Doctor Who and Star Trek: Discovery.* The great outer space series of this century (so far) has returned for what will be its last season. We get a glimpse of what war looks like– but we’re reminded that the universe holds dangers and wonders greater than any human conflict.
*Literally later. We’re reviewing both of those seasons a pair of eps at a time, so you’ll see the next Who after Sunday’s show and Discovery next week.
Star Trek Discovery Reviews: “Anomaly” + “Choose to Live”
You’re about to read an unfair review. My decision to consider a few episodes at a time (due to the story-arc heavy nature of season four) ran into difficulties right away, as Discovery followed the season premiere with one of the weakest episodes and one of the strongest episodes. I stand by my comments, but the scores will be a bit divided in areas other than acting and production, both of which remain strong. Feel free to adjust the scores accordingly (or search for absent tachyons).
Xenobots: The living robots can now self-replicate
The same team from University of Vermont, Tufts University, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University who created xenobots in 2020 from repurposed frog embryo cells have now made self-replicating xenobots that can reproduce in a manner entirely different from their amphibian progenitors.
These programmable and reproducing organisms might be developed to serve a range of beneficial purposes, from medicine to environmental clean-up. But technology, to be frank, sometimes contains a stein full of potential risks, too.
Drop by in another decade or so to see how this is playing out.
“I am Nicholas Cage…. I bid you welcome!” Guess who will play Dracula in “Renfield”?
Universal has made multiple, generally unsuccessful attempts to revive their classic movie monsters as something other than nostalgic Halloween images. Their forthcoming Renfield, a dramatic/comedic, modern-day exploration of the toxic relationship between the vampire and his underling, may be the most unusual to date. The film will star Nicholas Hoult, who has appeared in some X-Men films as Hank McCoy, turned up in Mad Max: Fury Road, and played Tolkien in the eponymous biopic. Awkwafina, fresh from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has also landed a key role.
Most of the attention, however, has gone to the decision to cast Nicholas Cage— he of intense and decidedly mixed past performances– as the Count.
Will this batty project fly?
Doctor Who Review: Survivors of the Flux
This installment of the season-long arc features some excellent moments and it does move several of the disparate plotlines closer together. Overall, however, I do not know if I will be among those who survive the Flux.
Movie Review: The Voyeurs (2021)
Star Trek: Discovery needs another episode before the next review– this week’s (somewhat disappointing) installment was too much a chapter– so here’s a review of a recent thriller. It’s not exactly our genre, but it does start with a classic suspense premise, and the plot turns on multiple applications of technology.