Review of “The Curse” by Marissa Lingen

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Image by Ryszard Porzynski from Pixabay

Plot:

The narrator looks on as her mother and her aunts debate what to do after her twelve-year-old cousin, left alone for just a moment, has picked up a cursed sword. The family will never live down the disgrace if they can’t lift the curse off the sword. They even talk about raising their mother from the dead. She would know what to do.

Unfortunately, the youngest aunt has used up all her necromancy for a year in bringing back a certain king, so the chances she could bring anyone else back now are nil.

No one, however, is asking the cousin how he feels about the curse or the sword.

Thoughts:

The author gives the reader some un-subtle allusions to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the Lord of the Rings, but there is something else going on here. Just the same, the ending is not a surprise.

It was fun listening in on the great aunt debate. They take themselves oh–so seriously. It’s nice to hear a well-known story told from another angle. The narrator offers little opinion, other than to acknowledge her mother’s suggestions are no more helpful than anyone else’s.

This is an enjoyable little read.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Marissa Lingen is a science fiction and fantasy writer living in the Minneapolis suburbs. Her work has appeared in Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and other places.

The story can be read here.

Title: “The Curse”
Author: Marissa Lingen
First published: Daily Science Fiction, May 4, 2020

Review of “The Smiling Ghost” (1941)

Another Saturday and another bad/fun movie.

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Image from IMDB

Plot:

Down on his luck and pinned inside his office by process servers, engineer Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris) places an ad in the paper that he’s willing to go anywhere and do anything legal. Most important to one reader, it notes he’s unmarried. Grandma Bentley (Helen Westley) has just the job for him— to become engaged to her granddaughter for one month. The pay is one thousand dollars plus expenses.

Grandma Bentley tells him the name of his soon-to-be affianced: Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith).

He repeats it.

“You’ve heard of her?” she asks.

“No,” Downing replies. “But I’ve heard of a thousand dollars.”

What Grandma isn’t telling him is that Elinor’s fiancés have not fared well. The first one drowned in a boating accident, perhaps by suicide. The second is paralyzed after his car rolled over on him and spends his days in an iron lung. The third died from a cobra bite…on the eighteenth floor of a hotel. The press has dubbed Elinor “The Kiss of Death Girl.” And Lucky is lined up to be fiancé number four.

Thoughts:

Primarily, this movie is goofy. Clarence (Willie Best) brings his boss lunch through the transom because he doesn’t dare open the door and let all the process servers in the office.

No surprise for the time, the single black character is a sidekick.

The viewer meets Elinor and her household—beyond Grandma—with a menagerie of eccentric and oddball characters like Great-Uncle Ames Bentley (Charles Halton), who collects shrunken heads. A nosy reporter (Brenda Marshall), who wants to scoop on the latest “Kiss-of-Death Girl” engagement is also about. Before long, she and Elinor are giving each the stink eye.

The reporter takes Downing to visit the only survivor among Elinor’s ex-fiancés, the sad Paul Myron (David Bruce). Confined in his iron lung, Myron tells Downing that while he lay pinned under his car, awaiting help, the ghost of fiancé number one, pale and bloated from drowning, came up to him and… smiled.

Part of what makes this movie work is the Downing character. Innocent and full of boyish charm, he’s funny just to watch. He’s no shrinking violet, though, and eventually sees the light. While hardly perfect—let alone realistic—this is a fun little piece of escapism that assumes all wealthy people live in old houses with secret panels and moving walls. (The only old house I’ve lived in had none of above but had a bomb shelter, in case, you know, the Reds ever decided to do away with upstate New York. Wealth didn’t enter into the equation, however.)

I liked this little pic, warts and all.

BTW: Morris would go on to serve in World War II and earn four Distinguished Flying Crosses and Two Air Medals. The butler, Norton, who likes to wave his gun around—and occasionally fire it—is Alan Hale, the father of a mighty sailing man of the same name who would one day keep the Minnow from being lost.

Title: The Smiling Ghost (1941)
Directed by Lewis Seiler
Writing Credits
Kenneth Gamet …(screenplay) and
Stuart Palmer …(screenplay)
Stuart Palmer …(from an original story by)
Ben Markson …(screenplay construction contributor) (uncredited)
Ralph Spence …(screenplay construction contributor) (uncredited)
Philip Wylie …(story) (uncredited)

Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Wayne Morris … Lucky Downing
Brenda Marshall … Lil Barstow
Alexis Smith … Elinor Bentley Fairchild
Alan Hale … Norton – the Butler
Lee Patrick … Rose Fairchild
Willie Best … Clarence

Released: September 6, 1941
Length: approx.. 1 hour, 11 minutes.

Review of “The Grandfathers of Benson’s Corners” by Roy Dorman

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Image by tim striker from Pixabay

Plot:

As all grandfathers of Benson’s Corners do when their oldest grandson turns ten, Elmer Ebsen is going into the woods. The whole town turns out for a day of picnicking near the edge of Devil’s Woods. At the end of the day, Elmer, carrying an ax and a gunny sack full of leftover from the picnic, leaves. No one expects to see him again. The adults quickly put him out of their minds.

His grandson Eddie, though, will miss him. He sees Elmer as a hero. He is afraid there are monsters in the woods and doesn’t want his grandfather to die.

“There are monsters in the woods, Eddie, but it’s the job of the Grandfathers of Benson’s Corners to make sure they stay in the woods. Us Grandfathers aren’t crazy; we just want to keep the town safe.”

Besides, his friends Fred and Davey are already there. They’ll take care of each other.

“And you’ll be a Grandfather, too, someday, Eddie.”

Thoughts:

My first thought was, “Geez, virgins usually get the job of being sacrificed to the dragon/fill-in-the-blank monster to keep the people safe. Interesting switch that it’s up to the grandfathers now.”

This monster is playing a long game, though. If your kill off the young people, how do you ensure there will be more people?

I can’t help wonder if this story was inspired, at least in part, by the comments* made last March 23 by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that he would be willing to risk dying for the sake of his grandchildren. This was said in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. He further said that he—and probably many of his fellow grandparents—would be willing to make the same choice because they didn’t want to see the whole country sacrificed by being shut down economically. But I could be wrong. Dorman may have written the story a year ago.

The set-up in the story was more convincing than the delivery. The casual callousness of the adults toward the grandfather whose fate was apparently sealed for the sake of their survival was pitch-perfect. The idea of kids daring each other to come just a little closer to the Devil’s Woods is delightful in its credibility.

For me, the story lost steam after Elmer entered the woods. The “secret” of Benson’s Corners is layered, which is nice, but I couldn’t buy it.

Bio:

According to his blurb, author Roy Dorman retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Benefits Office and has been a voracious reader for over 65 years. His work has appeared in Black Petals, Yellow Mama, Dark Dossier, Near To the Knuckle, Bewildering Stories, Shotgun Honey, and other online and print journals.

The story can be read here.

 

Title: “The Grandfathers of Benson’s Corners”
Author: Roy Dorman
First published: Theme of Absence, May 1, 2020

Review of “Bring Me The Head” by Don Plattner

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Image by Yuri_B from Pixabay 

Plot:

Far from home, on the planet Caratax, the narrator’s unit of Sethorians, receive an offer from their commander:

“Bring me the severed head of a Corgolian, and I will provide nanobots that let you see the color purple.”

Well, yeah, that is pretty brutal. The soldiers understand that. They’re supposed to be winning this war, and how does taking heads speak to winning? But purple! None of the Sethorians can see that far into the spectrum. Wouldn’t it be great?

Thoughts:

The author says this story was written to reflect how, even in the future, the inhumanity inherent in war will find ways to show through. I don’t dispute this, but I saw something else besides. The soldiers have little choice but to fight. When challenged, they kill.

The thing they seek has no inherent market value. It’s not for greed they wish to see purple. The narrator admits the shame of cutting off heads. At first, their wish to do so—aside from an understandable childlike wonder—makes little sense. And why would the commander’s be interested in expanding their color vision? Why would they be interested in the heads of the enemy? They’re winning the war, right?

While it isn’t spoken of directly, it’s clear the soldiers are manipulated by the commanders. They are willing participants in this manipulation, acknowledged or not. What is the advantage?

The ending is not a surprise, but it speaks to the prerequisite of making the enemy into something non-human in a successful war.

The title is a nod to the 1974 Peckinpah film Bring me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.

Bio:

According to his blurb, author Don Plattner is a former chemist who wrote jokes for The Onion‘s ClickHole website. What little I know of ClickHole amounts to 1) it parodies the omnipresent clickbait, and 2) The Onion no longer owns it.

Plattner is on Twitter @dehydrogenation. (I’m not enough of a chemistry nerd to get the joke, but I imagine it has to do with removing hydrogen and making things more explosive.)

The story can be read here.

Title: “Bring Me The Head”
Author: Don Plattner
First published: Daily Science Fiction, April 27, 2020

Review of “The Thirteenth Guest” (1932)

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Image courtesy of Pixabay

For last week’s Saturday night pizza and bad movie night, we chose a murder mystery with Fred Astaire’s future dance partner. I added jalapenos to my side of the pizza.


Plot:

Thirteen years before the action of the movie, the Morgan family held a dinner party for thirteen guests. Only twelve showed. The family patriarch announced that he was leaving the bulk of his estate to the thirteenth guest, whose identity nobody knows. He died almost immediately, and his widow shut up the house and moved away with her two children, Marie (Ginger Rogers) and Harold (James Eagles).

The movie opens with daughter Marie Morgan, now twenty-one, arriving by cab at the old house. Someone else she doesn’t see has arrived as well. All the furniture is covered in sheets. Rats are eating the remnants of the thirteen-year-old dinner (EEEEWWW). She was just given a piece of paper by the family lawyer with three numbers on it: 13—13—13. She has no idea what they mean. She finds the supposedly long-unoccupied building has phone service and electricity.

She hears footsteps. Thinking they belong to the family lawyer, she calls his name and walks into another room. The viewer hears a scream and a sound that appears to be a gunshot. Outside, the cabbie runs off to get the police.

When the police find her, she’s perched in a grotesque pose at the dining table. The cause of death is not gunshot but electrocution.

Thoughts:

There are screwball elements to this. Police Captain Ryan (J. Farrell MacDonald) is just this side of incompetent, calling on Private Investigator Phil Winston (Lyle Talbot) quicker than Commissioner Gordon can raise a bat signal. Captain Ryan has a detective on the force, a nephew of an important person. Detective Gump (Paul Hurst) was not hired for his brains, however, and Ryan can’t wait for Uncle Important Person to die. Winston is fond of saying he’s not interested, especially if he’s curled up on the couch with a young lady. He’s also quick to call Marie “child” and to inspect her neck for surgical scars.

The Ginger Rogers, who plays Marie Morgan, is the same Ginger Rogers, who danced with Fred Astaire. She was quite young in this movie, about the same age as the character she played. I did not recognize her.

Outside of her character and maybe her brother, Harold “Bud,” it’s hard to feel much sympathy for any character in the movie. Bud seems genuinely sorry to hear of Marie’s bizarre death. He’s also puzzled by it. The whole Morgan family is vicious and cynical. They might be entertaining—from afar. Winston is able to gather the entire clan together, except for one uncle, who has been living in Yokohama for some years.

Could he have come back when no one was paying attention…?

There are also some elements to the movie that stretch credulity. The bad guy who throws the outsized switch and electrocutes people does so while wearing a hood and mask in a hidden room. He needs to conceal his identity while alone in a hidden room? Only from the audience. He has a peephole/sliding panel from which he can watch the comings and goings in the house. A piece of wooden trim that flips up at an angle hides his peephole from the people in the house when not in use.

(My temptation, were I writing this, would be to have Marie walk by while she’s contemplating her 13–13–13 note, see the trim out of whack, mutter something like, “Damn rats!” and come back with a hammer and several long nails.)

Aside from that, no one, not even the great detective Phil Winston, thinks to call an electrician after people start dying? One who might be able to figure out the wiring in the house?

Having said that, I enjoyed this movie. There are a few twists I did not see coming and several red herrings. The obnoxious Morgans (outside of Marie, of course) do get a comeuppance of sorts. It was a lot of fun, despite its flaws.

Title: The Thirteenth Guest

Directed by Albert Ray

Writing Credits
Armitage Trail …(book)
Frances Hyland …(screenplay)
Arthur Hoerl …(screenplay) (uncredited)

Cast (in credits order)
Ginger Rogers … Lela / Marie Morgan
Lyle Talbot … Phil Winston
J. Farrell MacDonald … Police Capt. Ryan
Paul Hurst … Detective Grump
Erville Alderson … Uncle John Adams

Released: August 9, 1932

Review of “World Builder” by R. Michael

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Orion Nebula Image courtesy of Pixabay

Plot:

Rich, a corporal serving the Panstellar Conglomerate, has orders to destroy a craft. He’s not been told much else about it. When he locates it near the heart of the cosmic cloud, he pulls back to watch in fascination as it appears to convert star debris into a rocky planet.

The on-board companion first warns him he’s out of target range. It then reminds him that his objective is to destroy the target. “Failure to do so will result in obliteration on grounds of presumed desertion.”

Why should he destroy such a machine? It should be studied! But that’s not his call.

Thoughts:

At first, I was unsure about Rich. One could sympathize with his desire to hold back on destroying such a powerful and apparently creative device. One could also understand the frustration at being told to do things without given the rationale for them, especially where the stakes are so high. On the other hand, doesn’t he wonder where all that star debris came from? Was it just hanging around, waiting for the ship to happen upon it?

There is a nice twist at the end. What began as a study in combat ethics ends up as an exercise in reality vs. illusion. I like this little tale.

Bio:

According to his blurb, R. Michael lives in rural Minnesota with his spouse, one son, and a border collie foot warmer. He has four books published on Amazon and has works published in 365 Tomorrows, Altered Reality Magazine, and Ink & Fairydust Magazine.

The story can be read here.

Title: “World Builder”
Author: R. Michael
First published: Theme of Absence, April 25, 2020

Review of “The Sword of Saints and Sinners” by Kat Otis

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Image courtesy of Pixabay

Plot:

As people are led to the gallows in London, the narrator tells the reader, they have the right to face his sword. A wound from his sword will let all know whether the condemned is a saint or a sinner by whether it draws blood. The narrator prays they will decline the offer.

The story consists of the hangings of several people and the crowd’s reaction. Most of the condemned, as might be expected, decline to be stabbed. Perhaps they have enough on their minds. However, those exceptions prove to be heartbreaking.

Thoughts:

According to her notes, author Kat Otis drew on the digitized records of London’s criminal courts from the Old Bailey Online project (oldbaileyonline.org), for her characters. Perhaps this is one reason this story is peopled with human and real actors, both those who are terrified and those who don’t seem all that bothered.

I like this sad little tale. It says a lot in a small space, though it’s not necessarily one to enjoy.

Bio:

Author Kat Otis says she when she’s not writing, she’s a historian, mathematician, singer, and photographer. Her work has appeared in Kaleidotrope, Mysterion, Factor Four Magazine, and in the anthology Alternate Peace.

The story can be read here.

Title: “The Sword of Saints and Sinners”
Author: Kat Otis
First published: Daily Science Fiction, April 20, 2020

Review of “The Crooked Circle” (1932)

This week, we had enough leftover pizza in the freezer we didn’t have to venture into the world to buy any more for Saturday pizza and bad movie night.

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Image from IMDB

Plot:

The Crooked Circle is a gang of criminals, engaging in thievery, counterfeiting, and other wayward and unproductive acts against society. Hot on their trail is the Phoenix Club, a group of amateur criminologists. The opening scene is of the Crooked Circle meeting, complete with black hoods and club slogan (“To do for each other, to avenge any brother, a fight to the knife and a knife to the hilt.”) The order of business is to assign one of their number the task of dealing with Col. Walters (Berton Churchill), a Phoenix Club member who has sent a Crooked Circle to jail. They draw lots. The sole female member gets the job.

Col. Walters has just bought an old house (“Melody Manor”) in an isolated place because, well, of course, he has. Once he receives notice from the Crooked Circle he’s on their list, the other Phoenix Club members join him at his new, creepy, old place in the middle of nowhere to guard him against attack. One Phoenix is in the middle of leaving the club at the insistence of his fiancée. A new member, a Hindu mystic by the unlikely name of Yoganda (C. Henry Gordon), joins the party at Melody Manor.

Before the Phoenixes arrive at Melody Manor, there is a silly scene in which some creepy neighbor with apparently nothing better to do convinces the excitable maid, Nora Rafferty (Zasu Pitts), the house is haunted. It leads to one of the taglines of the movie, that is, “Something always happens to somebody.”

Melody Manor is chockful of mysterious violin music, clocks that strike thirteen, secret passages, hidden panels, a skeleton in the attic, and all the amenities. Suspicion is cast on nearly everyone. A bumbling cop (Tom Kennedy) later shows up. We know a female assassin is about. Just why was that fiancée so adamant that her dearly beloved leave the Phoenix Club? Who is the mysterious Yoganda, who goes around muttering, “Evil is on the way!” (When the maid Nora first sees him in his turban, she says, “I’m sorry you have a headache. Can I get you a Bromo-seltzer?”)

Thoughts:

According to IMDB, this was the first movie shown on commercial television, specifically, on March 10, 1933. Only a few people owned television sets. An experimental station, W6XAO-TV, broadcast it while it was still playing in theaters.

Zasu Pitts received top billing for a part that more or less unnecessary to the plot but apparently for adding… atmosphere? She wrings her hands and spends a lot of time worrying about ghosts, saying, “Oh,” while repeating the tagline. Apparently, she was an inspiration for Olive Oyl of the Popeye cartoons.

The opening scene of the meeting of the Crooked Circle in their black hoods contains some admirable camera work. At one point, the viewer looks down from above and sees the five clasp hands over a skull set on a circular table. The effect is not only creepy but over-the-top in seriousness. These are bad’uns who mean business.

There is a lot of just plain silliness in this movie, both in action and in dialogue. The slapstick is minimal, but it exists. This is not one to take seriously. Nora’s hand-wringing can become tiresome.

There are a couple of twists near the end, which are enjoyable. Overall, I liked this flick. Best with wine and pizza.

Title: The Crooked Circle
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Writing Credits
Ralph Spence … (screenplay)
Tim Whelan … (additional dialogue)

Cast (in credits order)
Zasu Pitts … Nora Rafferty
James Gleason … Arthur Crimmer
Ben Lyon … Brand Osborne
Irene Purcell … Thelma Parker
C. Henry Gordon … Yoganda

Released: September 25, 1932
Length: approx.: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Review of “The Food Critic” by Carol Scheina

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Image courtesy of Pixabay

 

Plot:

The restaurant critic, Anabelle Mitchell, seated at table four, has ordered the specialty zombi de boeuf, which takes the beef of zombie cattle. It is coated with garlic and butter, then grilled to perfection. Working with zombie beef is tricky and comes with certain risks. The chef must wear goggles, mask, and gloves to handle the meat. She cuts away the really rancid parts but leaves just enough to give the customer that “slightly dead” feeling for a couple minutes without turning them.

Anabelle signed all the standard waivers. Her magazine has retained the right to write a review, regardless of her condition. On this one meal rests the fate of the restaurant’s three-star rating.

Thoughts:

Of course, nothing goes to plan.

The obvious analogy that comes to mind is blowfish (fugu), eaten in Japan and other places, which contains a toxin. It requires expertise to prepare the fish and remove the parts where the toxins are concentrated. It won’t make the consumer a zombie, however.

The ending is not a surprise, but there are cute elements to the story that make it fun to read. I enjoyed it.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Carol Scheina is a deaf writer living in a traffic-jammed world [though I bet that’s let up in that past couple of weeks], dreaming of new places to explore. She has been published in Enchanted Conversation Magazine and On The Premises. Her works can be found at page.

The story can be read here.

Title: ”The Food Critic”
Author: Carol Scheina
First published: Theme of Absence, April 18, 2020

Review of “Gaia Hypothesis” by Eden Fenn

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Image courtesy of Pixabay

Plot:

The colonists on Mars keep dying regardless of what intervention the experts take: increased exercise to combat the difference in gravity, a stronger ion shield to protect against radiation and to ward off cancer, sunlamps, vitamins, antidepressants, and sleeping pills. After its founding ten years earlier, no one from the first two expeditions survives.

One of the colonists, “an irrelevant old biochemist who hadn’t published since [her] arrival on Mars, an old woman … whose time was running out,” starts looking for answers beyond chemistry and physics. She’s laughed out of the room. She explores religion and philosophy and eventually hits upon the Gaia hypothesis, that is, the earth is the source of life on the planet. Once removed from the environment, earth life dies.

Thoughts:

The story is more a statement on religion than it is on interplanetary colonization. Is the irrelevant old biochemist insane? Or has she come across the answer to the colony’s problem? It’s not really made clear, but the ending is logical and familiar to literature either way.

This is not a little pick-me-up or a tale of humankind’s triumph over adversity. It is a portrait of people in extremis and what measures they find necessary. While I admired the way the author packed a lot of story in a small space, I can’t say I enjoyed it.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Eden Fenn is a software developer and vat meat enthusiast—whatever that is. Her work has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (COOL!) and the Baltimore City Paper. She’s currently finishing a young adult novel about gender and power on a strange planet. She lives in Baltimore with her wife and a very bad dog. Aww, no bad dogs.

The story can be read here.

Title: “Gaia Hypothesis”
Author: Eden Fenn
First published: Daily Science Fiction, April 13, 2020