The Plot Against Heaven by Mark Kirkbride - Book Tour

 

'Death doesn’t stand a chance against love.

'Hell-bent on confronting God after the death of wife Kate, Paul gate-crashes heaven. With immigration problems and a wall, heaven turns out to be nowhere near as welcoming as expected. Both heaven and hell are modern, militarised, and the cold war that exists between them is about to heat up, with him in the middle of it. Caught on the wrong side of heaven, Paul faces an impossible choice if he’s to have any hope of seeing Kate again.'

I'm going to get my big criticism of The Plot Against Heaven out of the way first before delving into the rest of the book. I don't like that this was a novella, because it wasn't long enough for me. I've read countless novellas and short stories that have satisfied me, and have really benefited from their short length, but there are a few that I read that leave me wanting more, that have me cursing the author for not having written it as a full length novel so that I could have spent longer with the story, and this book definitely falls into that category. I just wanted more.

The book follows Paul, a man who was in a car crash with his wife, where he watched her bleeding to death in the wreckage. Angry that God would do this, that he'd been able to live through his own illness and recover, find and marry the woman he loves, only for her to be snatched away from him, he sets out to make things right by confronting God and getting her back.

Paul does this by managing to make his way into heaven, but rather than it being the paradise that myth has made it out to be it's more akin to a dystopian state, where soldiers walk the street, giant walls keep people separated, and a military presence runs everything. This was something that immediately grabbed my attention, as I'd never seen something tackle heaven in this way. It presented the ultimate reward as a harsh, dull place, one with rigid rules and fierce punishments. It made Heaven into the place that you'd never actually want to end up.

Unfortunately for Paul, he's unable to achieve his audience with God after attempting it a number of times, and is cast out of heaven when he tries to force his way in to confront the deity himself. Sent to Hell, Paul is shocked to find that not only did religion get Heaven wrong, but Hell too. Instead of the scores of demons, lakes of fire, and torture for all eternity, he finds what's basically Vegas, a place where souls can relax, kick back and enjoy themselves.

It's also in Hell that Paul meets the other 'bug man', and this version of the devil is pretty nice. He takes the time to listen to Paul, to ask him his problems, and what it is he's trying to achieve. It's here that Paul gets drawn into the devil's plan, his plot against Heaven. Now working for the devil to try and help his public image, Paul feels that the only way to get his wife back is to side with the forces of Hell against God, in a mission that will change everything for him.

I really enjoyed the way that Mark Kirkbride went against expectations in this book, how he altered Heaven and Hell from biblical depictions into things that barely resembled what people expect, yet managed to make them feel true to the bible. God is a figure that demands worship, that sets strict rules, and meets out harsh punishment when their will is broken, so a somewhat fascist dictatorship and military state kind of does make a lot of sense. Angels are the warriors of God, beings designed to fight, so why wouldn't Heaven be filled with soldiers? The version of Hell presented here also acts as a good counterpoint to this version of Heaven. If Heaven is a place based on strict rules and oppression then the opposite of that being a place about enjoyment, decadence, and feeding desires makes perfect sense.

Obviously, things in this book aren't all what they first appear, and there are things about both realms that aren't first apparent that are revealed as the story unfolds, things that will change your views on the story and the characters, so I can't go into huge amount of details without spoiling, but I will say that Kirkbride manages to create a world that feels interesting and keeps your attention, one that subverts your expectations, and goes in some directions that you're not expecting. 

Like I said earlier, I was annoyed that the book wasn't longer, because I felt like there was so much here that could have been given more time, with the story, characters, and world all strong enough to have been able to fill an entire novel. Whilst we don't get that in this book, I'm left hoping by the end that this might be a place that he could revisit in the future, with other short stories and novellas. I hope that proves to be the case, as I want to spend more time with Paul, to see what comes next for him and the realms of the afterlife.

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Animal by Colo - Book Review

 

'Animal is a mirror. A story that aims to ask questions about who we are rather than offering us answers about who he is. Thus, portraits of ordinary people in turn reflect a tired and silent man who seems to want to live without finding the world in which to do so. Is he the one that's broken or is it the world? And what can you hold on to to keep going? Through the different testimonies we will discover the project that he is willing to carry out to its last consequences. To do this, he resorts to several lawyers, until he finally finds one who agrees to bring a strange petition to the UN: his client wishes to renounce the status of Human Being.'

Animal is a book about man, a man we never get to meet during the story, one who has struggled to find his place in the world, one who doesn't know what he's supposed to do in life and who makes an extreme decision. He wants to renounce his status as a human being, and become an animal.

Whilst this concept is pretty interesting, and raises some big questions about what it means to be human, and what it means to exist in a world you don't feel that you belong in, it never really felt like it reached the point where it was really able to address any of these issues. This is largely because it felt like Colo, the writer and artist on the book, was trying to keep the central plot a mystery.

The book is written in a way that reminds me of a documentary film, with much of it given over to talking heads, as some unseen person is talking to people that have interacted with the central character at some point. These range from family, lovers, friends, to people who only have a passing familiarity with the man. They talk about how he seemed like a quiet man, one who kept to himself a lot, but one they never saw doing what he did.

This is how much of the book talks about this man, 'what he did', 'what he chose', 'what he wanted'. It's not until the final pages that the book even spells out that this man is trying to legally denounce his humanity, to be stripped of his human rights. The book either expects you to know this coming into it, or is revealing it in the final pages in an attempt at a shock revelation, but sadly, by then this 'mystery' had become so dull that I really didn't care too much.

The book seemed so intent on talking about the mans mission without saying what it was that it quickly became quite old, and any sense of mystery was quickly replaced with annoyance. I wanted the book to really go into this subject, to look at things from a bigger scope, to question what it means to be human, but it never really did. The fact that the book ends as a cliffhanger, without revealing if this man gets his wish or not, and what the effect of his case was on the rest of the world, resulted in me feeling like I'd wasted my time somewhat.

Okay, we do get a small sense of what this man was like, and his life, but by the end it felt like much of what this book covered could have been done in a fraction of the pages, and that the real bulk of the story, the part that piqued my interest has been relegated to a second volume. Whilst this might encourage some people to go and buy the second book, make them eager to read more, it did the opposite to me, and I found myself bored with the story. I'd love to pick up the next volume of Animal and get into the rest of the story, but I honestly don't know if it'll only cover another fraction of the narrative before stretching things out for another volume.

Whilst the central story of Animal is an interesting one, I felt like it never quite met the heights it could have, that it never lived up to its promise. Sadly, this means that I'm not sure I want to carry on with the book or not. I think a larger volume, one that encompasses more of the story, would serve the authors vision better than what we have here.

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Warhammer Adventures: Warped Galaxies - Attack of the Necron by Cavan Scott - Book Review

'Brave champions and the forces of the Imperium battle alien beasts and mechanical tyrants accross the gulf of space.

'On the hive world of Targian, Zelia Lor helps her mother search for ancient tech, digging up treasures of the past on the wind-blown plains. They are happy. They are safe. All that changes when the Necrons attack. Without warning, a host of robotic ships appear in the skies above Targian and rip the planet apart. Separated from her mother, Zelia must escape the doomed world, her only hope a scrambled transmission promising safety at a mysterious place known only as the Emperor’s Seat. Launched in an escape pod, she crashes on an icy wasteland far, far from home. But Zelia is not alone. She is joined by a rag-tag group of survivors – the street-tough juve Talen, gadget-obsessed Martian boy Mekki and super-intelligent alien-ape, Fleapit.'

Kids fiction probably isn't the firs thing that you'll think of when someone talks about Games Workshop literature, with the majority of the Black Library publications being aimed at older audiences, big tomes full of horror, gore, and universe spanning stories. So when the Warhammer Adventures stories were first announced I was very intrigued. I wanted to know how they were going to translate the grim darkness of the 41st millennium into something that would be appropriate for kids, yet still felt like it could be part of the Warhammer universe.

One of the things that the series really has going for it, that made me realise that they were probably going to pull off this difficult task well, was the fact that the Warhammer 40,000 series was going to be written by Cavan Scott. Scott has a lot of experience writing fiction aimed at younger readers, and his work on the Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space series was stuff that I found particularly enjoyable, where he was able to craft a more kid friendly version of that universe without it feeling like it lost anything from the more 'adult' material. If he could do that with Star Wars, why not Warhammer?

Attack of the Necron begins of the hive world of Targian, where Zelia Lor and her mother have travelled for their latest archaeological expedition. Travelling around the Imperium, Zelia and her mother, along with the martian boy Mekki, and Lexmechanic Erasmus, move from world to world excavating ancient ruins to find old tech and secrets from the past. Unfortunately, it's during their latest dig that the planet comes under attack from the ancient and mysterious living machine race, the Necrons.

After the Necrons appear on the planet things quickly descend into chaos, with the skeletal machines bringing death and destruction with them. Zelia and her companions, along with everyone on the planet, begin a desperate journey to get off world, running from the hordes of nigh unkillable alien machines that stalk the streets of the Hive City, killing all in their wake. This is where Scott really shows how he's able to marry the more child focused storytelling with darker nature of the Warhammer universe, as he's able to bring the death and destruction of the Necrons into the story without having to water them down.

The Necrons kill a lot of people, not just in large, mass scale destruction that feels detached from things, but on a one to one level, and readers see characters killed, sometimes in front of the child heroes of book. Now, the fact that the Necrons use weapons that disintegrate their enemies does mean that this is a bit more sanitised than say if it were Tyranids ripping people to bloody pieces, but this is still a story where thousands, perhaps even millions or more, are killed, and the readers aren't shielded away from those facts. 

Whilst Zelia and Mekki seem to be shielded from the more brutal parts of this, seeing much of the destruction from a distance, Talen, the young gang member who joins them, is confronted with the brutality of these events, watching people killed right in front of him. This isn't something that just gets brushed aside either, as Talen spends time during the story a sobbing mess, near traumatised from knowing that everyone he's ever known and cared for is probably dead, and having seen the brutality of the Necrons up close and personal. It would have been easy for this kind of thing to be made light or, or even ignored all together, so showing how these events are a serious trauma is a surprising inclusion; one that I'm hoping will be explored in more detail over subsequent books in the series.

Despite packing a lot of action and story in the relatively short book, Scott was also able to develop the core group of characters pretty well, and by the end of the book you're left with a pretty good sense of what each of the kids are like, and what they bring to the team. Perhaps the least developed is Flegan-Pala, also called Fleapit, the Jokaero who joins the story towards the end. He's an interesting character, especially due to the fact that he's not human, and because of his very different nature he remains one of the more mysterious members of the group. By the end of the book I got the sense that he was only tolerating the young teens, rather than liking them, and am definitely interested to see how this strained relationship grows over subsequent books, and if he will come to genuinely warm to them or not.

The book leaves a lot of story elements hanging, with a central quest for the teens to make their mission in the next book, but also introduces a mysterious element in the final pages that could lead to some very interesting and possibly dangerous things for the group in the future; and finding out if this new figure will be an enemy or ally is something that's very exciting.

Attack of the Necron is a great start to this series, one that not only sets the tone for what readers are to expect, but also clearly establishes the main characters and the central quest for the upcoming instalments. 

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Sylvia and Marsha Start A Revolution by Joy Ellison - Book Review

"Someday girls like us will be able to wear whatever we want. People will call us by the names we choose. They'll respect that we are women. The cops will leave us alone and no one will go hungry."

'Sylvia and Marsha are closer than sisters. They are kind and brave and not afraid to speak their truth, even when it makes other people angry.

'This illustrated book introduces children to the story of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, the two transgender women of colour who helped kickstart the Stonewall Riots and dedicated their lives to fighting for LGBTQ+ equality. It introduces children to issues surrounding gender identity and diversity, accompanied by a reading guide and teaching materials to further the conversation. '

In today's world LGBTQ+ rights and representations are still being fought for, and remain a 'hot button topic' for a lot of people. There are hate groups that will bombard television networks or movie studios for any queer inclusion in their entertainment, and here in the UK there's an incredibly vocal movement of transphobes who are actively fighting to have trans rights removed. 

In this kind of environment it's incredibly important that children are introduced to the queer community from a young age, to show them that we exist, but that we're also just regular people. Not only will this help to stigmatise the existence of the LGBTQ+ community, but will also help any child who is questioning their own gender or sexuality.

Sylvia and Marsha Start A Revolution is a book designed for younger children, and aims to introduce them to the transgender community, as well as two of the women who helped to birth the entire queer movement, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. 

The book isn't very text heavy, but it manages to get the information across really well, and is accompanied by beautiful and bold illustrations by Teshika Silver. It shows the basics of who the women are, and what it meant to be trans at that time, and how the police were against anyone who was a part of the LGBTQ+ community. However, I do get the sense that whoever is reading the book to the child would need to know a little about the events too, as I imagine there would be a few questions asked as the story unfolded.

Whilst the book gives a very sanitised version of events, and hardly even brings up the riots, it could be used as a starting block. This is a way of introducing a child to this history and these events, but you'll definitely want to explain more to them as it does paint a somewhat unrealistic version of history. But then I don't think a book aimed at such young children could really do the history of Sylvia, Marsha, and the Stonewall Riots justice as it's too deep, and frankly upsetting, thing to convey to a child. But as an introduction to the concept of trans people, of the queer community having to fight to be seen as human beings, it's really good.

The back of the book also contains a glossary of terms that are used, explaining what it means to be trans, or some of the slang that was used as code words for police. This is useful to both the children, and a parent that might not completely know everything on the subject too.

I'm sure that there will be some angry transphobes who will be foaming at the mouth at the mere existence of book for children that acknowledges that trans people exist, but those are outliers. This book is sure to be a welcome and useful addition to any home library or school, where it can educate, and tell children about a moment in history that went on to change the world.

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Too Long A Sacrifice #4 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The final issue of IDW’s new Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series comes to a close with an issue that not only brings a satisfying conclusion to the mystery that has been plaguing readers for months, but also gives some deeper insight into the Star Trek universe.

Set during the height of the Dominion War, this story has put Deep Space Nine into a precarious position; whilst trying to stabilise alliances with other species to help with the fight against the invaders from the Gamma Quadrant, the station has been host to a number of attacks that have claimed the lives of innocent civilians, and important delegations.

As such, the security of the entire federation has been at risk, rather than just that of one station. The stakes have been high throughout, especially when the Federation sent in a special investigator, Retlaw, to assist with the case. Because of all this, any resolution was going to have a difficult job. Not only would it need to provide a satisfying conclusion to this mystery, but it would also need to tie into wider events across the Star Trek universe.

I’m going to have to talk about the resolution in order to put my feelings on not just this issue, but the series as a whole, into words, so if you don’t want things spoilt for you click away now. It turns out that the whole series of attacks, this big plot to possibly destabilise the Federations war efforts was all down to one woman wanting personal revenge. The culprit was Lavin, a Bajoran woman whose business was bombed in the very first issue.

It turns out that Lavin, like many of the Bajorans, suffered horrifically under the rule of the Cardassian occupation, and that her entire series of attacks was her trying to get even with those that hurt her and her family. Lavin had been so broken down and abused by the Cardassians that she was consumed by thought of hate and vengeance, which led her down this murderous path, where innocents were caught in the crossfire.

Not only does this story go back to many of the plots and themes that were a big part of what made Deep Space Nine great, but it also built up the universe a bit more, especially in regards to the occupation of Batezed by the Dominion, something that we saw briefly in this series thanks to the inclusion of Retlaw. This was a plot element that was never included in the show, though did feature in a few of the novels, so it’s nice to see it expanded upon here.

The character of Lavin and her struggles are used to highlight how bad it would be on Batezed, and how an occupation by such a brutal force could potentially change a planet of empaths and telepaths, a planet where the population are not only subjected to physical end psychological torture like any species would be, but have their very souls tainted by the presence of their occupiers. The show was always described as one of the darker series in the franchise, and this comic embraces that to make the reader think about the longer lasting impact of the Dominon War, and the scars it would have left on billions of people.

The issue is one of the better ones of the series, giving not only a satisfying answer to the mystery, but some action too as Odo and Retlawy chase Lavin through the station. Not only does this make this one issue great, but it also means that the series as a whole gets a bold conclusion that will leave readers satisfied.

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Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology by Mur Lafferty & S.B. Divya – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of cutting-edge science fiction from the hit podcast, Escape Pod. Escape Pod has been bringing the finest short fiction to millions of ears all over the world, at the forefront of a new fiction revolution.

'This anthology gathers together fifteen stories, including new and exclusive work from writers such as from Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, Mary Robinette Kowal, T. Kingfisher and more. From editors Mur Laffterty and S.B. Divya comes the science fiction collection of the year, bringing together bestselling authors in celebration of the publishing phenomenon that is, Escape Pod.'

Escape Pod began life as a science fiction anthology series fifteen years ago, created by Steve (now Sarah) Eley, a fan of science fiction short stories who wanted to share some great tales with the world.

Over the years the podcast grew, gaining more and more contributors and vocal talent, as well as winning awards and spawning spin-offs that would do the same thing in other genres. To celebrate the success of the podcast, as well as the talent featured on it, Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology brings together a number of stories that have featured on the podcast, as well as a host of brand new tales.

The line-up of authors for the book is amazing, and features some names I was already familiar with, as well as a load of new authors I’d never come across before. Despite all falling under the umbrella of science fiction, the stories presented in this new collection cover a huge variety in themes and content, ranging from the surreal to steampunk, involving multiverses, cloning, time travel, and amazing alien creatures.

There are stories that will make you laugh out loud at their absurdity, and others that take the time to comment on very real world issues, such as racism in the world today and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement. This is one of the things that’s wonderful about science fiction, that this book takes the time to celebrate: that it’s a genre of almost infinite diversity, and one that allows readers and writers to look at important issues in new ways.

‘Citizens of Elsewhen’ by Kameron Hurley is the first story in the book, and deals with the complexities and intricate nature of time travel, and how difficult it would be to meddle in time. It follows a group of people who are sent backwards in time to assist with births. This team of midwives are sent to select times and places, tasked with saving either the mother or child, sometimes both, who would otherwise die in childbirth, shifting the course of history ever so slightly.

If the team fails, they try again to get it right, getting do overs until they succeed and move on to the next assignment. The idea of travelling around time saving mothers and babies is an interesting one, but the way that Hurley plays with time is even more engaging. The team get to try different tactics if their last attempt failed, having an almost Groundhog Day approach to things until they get things perfect, but because there are other teams out in time saving others, sometimes in earlier time periods, it means that sometimes the timeline can change around them whilst they’re there, further complicating things. It’s a novel approach to time travel, and I’d love to see more happen with this story.

A story with something of a lighter tone is John Scalzi’s ‘Alien Animal Encounters’, which is presented like a reporter on the street talking to the public about the different alien animals that they’ve come across and how strange it is for them. Not only do readers get introduced to some funky new alien species, some of which are fascinating, but they also get to experience it from the other side, when an alien talks about their experiences with a dog; something that injects a little bit of wonder and newness to an animal that we’re intimately familiar with, and might take for granted. It’s a charming story, and one that has a few laughs in it.

The book doesn’t just deal with aliens and time travel though, and incorporates some interesting ideas from other genres too. One story that does this in an interesting way is ‘A Consideration of Trees’ by Beth Cato, which sees a portion of woodland from Earth transplanted to a space station, and the strange things that begin to occur. The first indication that there might be something different is when the narrator starts to talk about La Llorona, a ghostly woman from Hispanic folklore. Over the course of the book we come to realise that this isn’t just a science fiction story, but one that incorporates aspects from myths and legends, introducing supernatural elements to a genre that normally shies away from ghosts and ghouls.

The biggest story in the collection is ‘Clockwork Fagin’ by Cory Doctorow, which as the name suggests, takes inspiration from the works of Dickens to create a steampunk story of disabled and disfigured children forced to live in a home for children, run by a brutal taskmaster who allows them to live in squalor and beats them for his own enjoyment. The story chronicles what happens when a new child enters the home, and the revolution that he leads against their oppressor, and a society that sees them as nothing more than broken children that are good for nothing.

Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology has a lot more stories to offer, stories that have a huge range of appeal and will keep any reader entertained for hours. Not only is it a book that shows the beauty and versatility of the science fiction genre, but it’s one that will leave you wanting to read more, as well as checking out the podcast that brought this book together.

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Tanz! Volume One by Maurane Mazars - Book Review

 

'Germany, April 1957. Uli has a dream: to become a famous Broadway dancer. But as a modern dance student at the prestigious Folkwang school, Uli’s energetic and outgoing personality stands out in sharp contrast to the melancholy of post-war Europe. During a trip to Berlin, he meets Anthony, a young American dancer. The attraction is immediate. Anthony convinces Uli to come to New York and try his luck on Broadway. The young men part ways, but Uli will pack his bags and embark on an adventure that will take him to a new life overflowing with life, color, and movement — but also disappointment, harsh reality, and a good dose of heartbreak.'

Tanz! tells the story of Uli, a young ballet dancer from Germany in the 1950's. Uli is, for the time and place, a very happy and enthusiastic young person, traits that not all of his friends share, what with the country recovering from the ravages of the second world war. Over the course of several months the reader follows Uli has he travels around Europe, and eventually moves to New York, in his mission to find a career in dance.

I wish there was more to really talk about in regards to the plot, but I have to be honest, not a huge amount really happens in this first volume, with large sections of the book given over to sequences that show Uli and his friends dancing, or travelling around Europe. Whilst these sections look pretty, thanks to the artwork that Mazars utilises in the book, they don't really move the story forward very much. Whilst not a problem on its own, these moments probably came to about half of the page count of the book, meaning that by the time I was done I was left a little disappointing that I hadn't gotten more from it. 

I wanted to lean more about Uli, I wanted to know why he loved dance and theatre so much, what drove him to push himself to succeed, yet I never really felt like I got to know him very well over the course of this first volume. He would do certain things, but I never knew why he was doing it, what his motivations were, so I never felt too connected to him or his journey.

Even when the book touched upon potentially important and interesting discussions, such as the queer community in the 50's, or the difficulty that Black dancers faced in comparison to their white counterparts, these moments didn't really go into any real depth. Yes, a character would say 'you've got it easy Uli, I don't get the same opportunities as a Black man', and that was about it. I wanted these issues to be explored more, but they didn't get the chance to really shine here.

I'm hoping that the future volumes of the book will go into these things more, that we'll get some interesting social commentary, and that Uli will begin to feel more fleshed out. I'm hoping that as this is just the first volume that Mazars is simply still setting the stage for more interesting stories to come. It's possible that I might have missed some things, that there was more to this book than I was able to pick out, and I hope that others will enjoy it more than I did, but sadly I was left feeling a bit empty by the read. Fingers crossed future volumes will change my mind.

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Dawn of the Dead (1978) – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Zombies are a big business, with hundreds of films, video games, TV shows, and comics all including the shuffling (and occasionally running) undead. Despite the prevalence of zombies in pop culture today, and some would say over-saturation of the creatures, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would deny that George A. Romero is still the undisputed king of the zombie genre, and the man who made the creatures what they are today.

Whilst some of the later films in the series would be less well received, the early films are still considered some of the best in horror, and cinema in general. The new limited edition release of Dawn of the Dead from Second Sight Films presents one of these amazing movies in what might be the best package yet.

The film follows a group of survivors following a mysterious phenomena that has swept through the United States, resulting in the dead coming back to life as walking corpses that seek to eat the flesh of the still living. Three weeks into this event we find Peter (Ken Foree), Stephen (David Emge), Fran (Gaylen Ross), and Roger (Scott H. Reiniger), four survivors who come together in a plan to try to flee from the carnage that’s overwhelming Philedelphia. Together the four of them find their way to a local shopping mall that they decide to make their home. Blocking the entrances and killing the zombies within, they make the mall habitable and settle in to ride out the crisis. But things don’t quite go as they planned…

There have been a lot of releases and editions for Dawn of the Dead – it is after all one of the most beloved horror films of all time – so what makes this edition stand out amongst the competitors? Well, for starters it’s been given a new 4K scan, and the film has been given a restoration, meaning that this is easily one of the best looking versions of it that you’ll see. With so many older films being transferred to DVD and Blu-ray, it can be easy to find some where they’ve just been put onto new formats with little care given to the quality, and there are Blu-rays out there that look barely above VHS quality. This edition has been given the time and care it deserves to make it jump out on the screen, and it definitely shows.

Not only has the film been given a lovely restoration, but it’s also packed with extras. The set comes with seven discs in total, as well as some extra treats like a 160 page booklet filled with essays, and the novelisation of the film. The first disc has the original theatrical cut of the film, as well as two audio commentaries, including one with director George A. Romero, special effects artist and horror legend Tom Savini, and actress Christine Forrest; who is also married to Romero. The second disc has the extended ‘Cannes’ cut of the film, along with a commentary from producer Richard P. Rubinstein. Disc three has the third version of the movie, the Argento Cut, which is slightly shorter than the theatrical edition, but also comes with a cast commentary.

If you’re still hungry for more after watching all those versions and listening to the multiple commentaries, the fourth disc comes packed with a host of special features and behind the scenes extras, including several new documentaries and interviews. One of these new special features, ‘Memories of Monroeville’, follows Michael Gornick, Tom Savini, Tom Dubensky, and Taso Stavrakis as they return to the mall where the film was shot, and share memories and behind the scenes stories about the production. The disc also includes two documentary films, including Document of the Dead, which followed Romero during the production of the film, and even comes with an extended cut and commentary too. The final three discs are audio CDs packed with music and soundtracks from the film.

I don’t think it’s too big a stretch to say that this is easily the definitive set of Dawn of the Dead, and is a must have for any fan of the franchise, horror nerd, or movie lover in general. An absolutely stand out set.

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Stage Mother - Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Stage Mother is the story of a mother dealing with the loss of her son, whilst also discovering acceptance and love of the LGBTQ+ community, and finding a fresh new start in life.

Maybelline Metcalf (Jacki Weaver) is a Texan housewife and conservative church choir director whose life is suddenly altered when she receives a phone call telling her that her son Rickey (Eldon Thiele) has died. Having not seen her son in ten years after he came out as gay, Maybelline insists on travelling to San Francisco to attend his funeral, against the wished of her homophobic husband.

Once in San Francisco she discovers that Rickey owns a drag club, Pandora’s Box, and that she has since inherited it. She also comes to meet a number of his friends, including his neighbour Sienna (Lucy Liu) who named her son after him, and his partner Nathan (Adrian Grenier), who is now looking at losing his home and his business as he inherited nothing from Rickey, who refused to marry Nathan until his mother accepted him and came to his wedding. Feeling guilt over having not been able to reconcile with her son, and not wanting to see Nathan and Rickey’s other friends suffer and lose out, Maybelline decides to stay in San Francisco for a while and try to turn around the failing club.

Queer cinema can be a tricky area; there are so many films that centre on LGBTQ+ people that turn out to be films that try to send a message that being queer is wrong, or that living ‘the lifestyle’ will result in a person suffering or dying, that it can be hard to find a really good, uplifting one. Yes, some of these films are amazing and moving, like Philadelphia or Boys Don’t Cry, but they often leave you feeling sad, and can paint a very depressing picture of life as part of the queer community. At first glance you might think that Stage Mother would be walking a similar path – after all, it does open with a gay man and a drag queen literally dying on stage – but this is a film that seems to have a lot of love for the LGBTQ+ community, and wants to show people how much joy, love, and hope that it has.

Maybelline is a definite outsider to this community, a woman whose only experience with the community is a son she hasn’t seen in a decade, who her husband wants to pretend doesn’t exist anymore. Suddenly she’s thrown into a world where she’s meeting a man who’s essentially her son-in-law, gay drag acts, and trans women. But despite having no experience interacting with people like this before she doesn’t judge, she doesn’t mock, or turn away. She sees them as people, real people with feelings and accepts them for who they are. She was never able to tell her son that she loved him, that she accepted him for who he was and adored the man he grew up to be, so she pours those feelings into the people at the club. She not only teaches them to be better singers and performers, but she reaches out to them and gives them the very real help that they need.

There are a few scenes in this film that really hit hard, that I think will make any member of the queer community pause for a moment because that pain of losing family and friends is something we’ve all experienced to some degree or another. Even if your family accepted you, there will have been times where you ran through scenarios where they would disown you, where you’d lose them. So many queer people have experienced that fear, and some have had to live that reality too. These moments in the film made me cry, but not always for bad reasons. There are characters that Maybelline helps who get that acceptance, who get reunited with family who’ve turned away from them. She makes parents see that they can still love their children even if they didn’t turn out the way they though, and that’s a powerful message of hope.

Stage Mother not only represents the queer community in content, but also in its cast, with some great gay actors and drag queens taking part in the project, including Oscar Moreno, Jackie Beat, and Allister MacDonald. It also features an openly trans character, Cherry Poppins, played by real life trans woman Mya Taylor, who starred in the critically acclaimed Tangerine in 2015. It might not seem like much, but including gay and trans actors in these roles is a hugely important thing, especially in an industry that still hires cis men to play trans women.

The film doesn’t pull its punches with the hurt that can sometimes come with being a part of the queer community, but it also shows that it is a community, that love and strength can be found within it. It has a wonderful message, presented in a heartfelt and moving story full of laughs and fun moments. It’s a film that surprised me with how great is was, and whilst I was crying at the end, it was for some really good reasons.

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Bone Harvest by James Brogden - Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Struggling with the effects of early-onset dementia, Dennie Keeling now leads a quiet life. Her husband is dead, her children are grown, and her best friend, Sarah, was convicted of murdering her abusive husband. After Sarah's tragic death in prison, Dennie has found solace in her allotment, and all she wants is to be left to tend it in peace. Life remains quiet for twelve years, until three strangers take on a nearby plot and Dennie starts to notice unnatural things. Shadowy figures prowl at night; plants flower well before their time. And then Sarah appears, bringing dire warnings and vanishing after daubing symbols on the walls in Dennie's own blood. Dennie soon realises that she is face to face with an ancient evil - but with her dementia steadily growing worse, who is going to believe her?'

Bone Harvest tells the story of retiree Dennie Keeling, a woman suffering with the affects of early dementia, and her life working on her allotment. A sweet and kindly woman, Dennie is the hero of the book, a hero who is forced to step up and fight against otherworldly horrors as a bizarre and deadly cult begins to form when two new members join the allotment.

Dennie has been living alone for a number of years, her husband having passed away and her children all grown up, and as such has been pouring all her spare time into her allotment; even sleeping in her shed some nights, much to the annoyance of those running the place. As such, when she begins to suspect that there's something strange with these new members she feels like it's down to her to protect her home away from home, as well as the other people who use the allotments. However, Dennie has been suffering from ill health, and any claims she makes of something unusual going on will only be blamed on her dementia, forcing her to investigate alone. 

When Dennie begins to see the ghost of an old friend, who seems to want to help her in her mission, she must figure out if there are strange forces at work, or if perhaps others might be right, and she may be losing her mind.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Bone Harvest was that James Brogden skipped over some of the sense of mystery that other books would use to hook you. Instead, you get a lot of answers up front, as the first hundred or so pages of the book are given over to Everett and Ardwyn, the books antagonists. We learn who these people are, why they do the things they do, and if there actually is a supernatural being behind everything. Other books wouldn't have done this, they'd have teased these revelations out over the narrative and used the mystery to hook the readers.

Instead of relying on mystery to keep you reading Brogden lets you in on the secrets and uses the horror of the truth to keep you hooked. Instead of thinking 'what bad things might happen?' the reader knows exactly what might happen, and is instead worried about who it might happen to. It also meant that instead of learning things along with the hero like a lot of novels, we're one step ahead in this mystery, and get to see her close calls with danger, or getting nearer to answers. It's a strange position to be in, knowing more than the protagonist, and leads to some frustrating moments where we see her getting so close to the truth but just missing out on her answers.

Another thing that really jumped out at me about the book is just how English it is. The horror is rooted in how ordinary and somewhat boring the narrative is. Dennie lives in a small town that feels very real and recognisable (she at one point talks about getting her doll from Loughborough, a town next to mine). The allotments are such an English institution that you'l find them in most towns around the countryside, and I've spent time in them with my grandparents more than once. I loved how grounded the book felt and how relatable it was. These were people and places that I knew, and I'm sure other readers will find familiar too. This could have very easily been my grandparents and their allotment neighbours as opposed to made up characters. It was really nice to get a horror book that felt so relatable when so many horror stories seem to be set in places around the world rather than rural England.

It was also nice to have a book where the protagonist isn't you're average kind of hero too. Dennie is an older woman, her body isn't as fit as it used to be, and her mind is beginning to suffer thanks to dementia. Things that other characters would be able to do without issue are a struggle for her. Something as simple as sneaking along in the dark to spy on the strange new people at the allotments are a difficulty for her as her joints hurt, she can't move as fast, and has no way to protect herself if she gets caught. It highlighted how things that most people might simply take for granted could be a challenge for others. As a disabled person I love getting to read a protagonist who isn't able-bodied, who has some of the same struggles that I do.

I've got a few James Brogden books on my self but haven't gotten round to reading them yet (the issue with a TBR pile that's hundreds big) but after reading Bone Harvest I'm definitely exited to read more. He's managed to craft an engaging and engrossing tale, one that goes against a lot of horror any mystery conventions by letting the audience in on the secrets, but manages to never feel boring or predictable. Bone Harvest is a book that took my expectations and turned them on its head, and one that's definitely going to stick out in my memory.

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