Plot: Captain Julian Escobar leads a small detail, including his friend, Lieutenant Maria Bazan, on a mission to administer a dose of post-mortem justice. They have orders to exhume the remains of a war criminal, Commandant de Alvarado, confidante of the Fascist dictator of the former regime. The old Commandant has been lying in aContinue reading “Review of “The Exhumation of Commandant De Alvarado” by Richard L. Rubin”
Author Archives: 9siduri
Review of “Protocol” by Sean Soravia
Plot: The unnamed narrator of this story is about to be sent one month into the future on a test mission. His mission is to wait for someone to open the door, check in with the technician, then press the yellow button to return. He is never to leave the machine. No words are toContinue reading “Review of “Protocol” by Sean Soravia”
Review of “Just Before Dawn” (1946)
Saturday pizza and bad movie night. Yum. Plot: After hours inside the Ganss Funeral Home, two sinister-looking men meet. One hands the other what appears to be a kit containing a syringe and a small glass bottle marked “insulin.” “It’s not what it says on the label,” one man tells the other. In the nextContinue reading “Review of “Just Before Dawn” (1946)”
Review of “Fast Forgotten” by Ronald Schulte
Plot: Sometime after being struck by a truck, the unnamed narrator suffers from retrograde amnesia. He remembers the rehab. Before the accident, he was a runner. He has no memory of running, or of anything that occurred before the accident. At home, he has a trophy room and a family to corroborate it, however. HeContinue reading “Review of “Fast Forgotten” by Ronald Schulte”
Review of “Just Deserts” by Gordon Pinckheard
Plot: An alien ship drifts to earth and lands in a field outside Liverpool, England. The area is cordoned off and, much to the delight of the scientists, an Alien is recovered. It is promptly taken to a prison. The Alien is banged up, with patches of its surface skin torn off and its limbsContinue reading “Review of “Just Deserts” by Gordon Pinckheard”
Review of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
This week’s offering of Saturday night pizza and bad movie night was a classic. We watched it with Svengoolie. Plot: While bringing the Princess Parisa home for their wedding at Baghdad, Sinbad stops at the island of Colossa for fresh water and supplies. While there, the crew notices enormous cloven footprints, and an entrance toContinue reading “Review of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)”
Review of “Suckers” by Tim Boiteau
Plot: Jameel has just moved into a house in an unhappy neighborhood of northern Detroit. Half of the houses are habitable. The rest shelter crackheads. His wife Marta has recently passed away. Jameel waits, avoiding the sun, going out once a month for groceries, cleaning his pump-action shotgun. He watches new neighbors move in nextContinue reading “Review of “Suckers” by Tim Boiteau”
Review of “The Seven Billion Habits of Highly Effective Robots” by Aidan Doyle
Plot: There is no plot. This is a list of satiric inspirational sayings for robots. A coherent world view emerges, one that is (as it should be) a reflection of own. The list begins: Recharge your batteries. Keep a gratitude journal. I’m grateful this city is our home. I’m grateful The Supreme Council of RobotsContinue reading “Review of “The Seven Billion Habits of Highly Effective Robots” by Aidan Doyle”
Review of “The Man With Nine Lives” (1940)
Saturday night pizza and bad movie. The usual pepperoni, pineapple, and—on my side— jalapeno. And Svengooli. Plot: The opening title card scroll describes a new form of medical treatment: “frozen therapy.” Enter our hero, Dr. Tim Mason (Roger Pryor), detailing the technique to an audience of his learned colleagues. It’s still in the early phases,Continue reading “Review of “The Man With Nine Lives” (1940)”
Review of “Dark Father” by Mary E. Lowd
Plot: The narrator is the daughter of the warlord Erith Danaya. She, her mother, and her twin toddlers have been trying to escape him. They are functional captives on his starship as he travels from world to world. Shortly before the action of the story, the narrator has hidden her mother and her children inContinue reading “Review of “Dark Father” by Mary E. Lowd”
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 