Ancient Logic

I'll keep this short because although the reasons this film fails are many and complex, the end result is fairly easy to state. Don't watch this movie. It's worth neither your time nor money.  Emma Watson as Mae Holland with a plausible reaction to watching this film. It disappoints me to have to write the above because I did have high-hopes for this work. I read the novel when I learned who would be starring in the movie version of the book. Having read the book I thought The Circle was one of those rare works which might work really well as a movie. Sadly, this isn't the movie I imagined. It's not for lack of trying at the outset. The producers were able to bring in undeniable talent for this film. Tom Hanks in the semi-villain role Eamon Bailey, Emma Watson as the trusting and ambitious Mae, and half a dozen actors and actresses you've heard of before. The story is timely (although already rapidly fading in topicality - the half-life of near-fut...

This movie exceeded my expectations by a wide margin and the more I think about it the more excited I become of what the film's director could produce in the future. I read the source material for the movie -- an eponymous non-fiction account of Percy Fawcett's early 20th century explorations of Amazonia and the lost civilization he was certain lay hidden within its depths -- a few years ago. The book stuck with me for three reasons. Firstly, the descriptions of the "Green Hell" of the Amazon rainforest, where every creature from microbe on up to man actively sought the explorer's destruction, are vivid and terrifying. David Grann, the author of the Lost City of Z, was very successful in convincing me I don't want to go into a rainforest. Grann was also, to move to my second point, adept in pointing out the many paradoxes and complexities of Fawcett's search for his city. Described as one of the last great explorers, Fawcett's efforts drew signif...

I'm thrilled to announce my flash piece, "The Green Rope," has been published at the online literary magazine " Subtle Fiction ." This is my first general fiction piece to have been published and to have it appear here is a great honor. The story is about fear and how it lingers. "The Green Rope," is one of the shortest works I've ever written so if you were inclined, you would have plenty of time to check out the other available works. Thank you, Jill Chan for selecting my story! From Subtle Fiction's "About," page: We are a new literary magazine which aims to publish the best short fiction online. We are interested in short stories and flash fiction pieces of no more than 3,000 words. Fiction which does not fit into a box. It must be lively, daring, and filled with subtlety, hence our name. Give us stories which surprise and move us. We are looking for beautiful, complex, and uncompromising work.

Alright, first full disclosure. The author of " And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe ," Gwendolyn Kiste, asked me to contribute a blurb to this collection. So let's classify this review as not entirely unbiased. I have enjoyed her stories since the first one I've read and my fandom of her work has only grown since. But I will plow ahead regardless because the simple fact is I would like you to buy this book and read it.  I say that because I figure if you're reading these words, what with all the innumerable blogs, e-zines, and pod casts to enjoy then we may share some interests. Perhaps a similar taste in the strange and macabre. Maybe a desire to read and appreciate works crafted with subtly, passion, and power. If you like to think and feel deeply about the weird quiet places of the world, then Gwendolyn Kiste's work is for you. It was written for you. You should read it. The anthology includes fourteen of her best short stories. Most of them ha...

With all that happens around a person's 40th birthday, I somehow managed to find some time to read some excellent short fiction in March. The ones included below come from a variety of online magazines but I'm not going to pretend that this is an exhaustive list: Things Crumble, Things Break by Nate Southard. Liked this one quite a bit. Chemical spill or accident leaves a town of crippled, their bones so fragile a gentle push could stave in a chest. A man and his girlfriend contemplate leaving their quarantine even as a heavy sadness fills in all of the weak parts of their determination. The horror here is in the ease of emotional investment in fragile, doomed beings.  In the Shade of the Pixie Tree by Rodello Santos (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) something about this reminds me of Lord Dunsany: a sweet but ultimately tragic tale of a young witch and the slow unwinding of a difficult spell. Fantasy that takes familiar tropes like pixies and witches and makes them new a...

I saw "Ghost in the Shell," on Friday and overall I think I'd recommend it. There are plenty of cyberpunk or influence-by-cyberpunk movies coming out this year but I think this will carve out its own distinct niche: stylish, garishly beautiful in places but ultimately middling science fiction. Things I liked: the action scenes are very cool, sharply executed, and kinetic. It gave me the impression that the director Rupert Sanders has spent some quality time watching the first John Wick movie, which I mean as a compliment. The version of the future here is neon-drenched and weird, with enormous holograms peeking out from behind sky-scrapers kaiju style. The streets crawl with criminal low-lives, augmented with ghastly prosthetics and weaponry, and everything is sort of splashed on the screen without exposition. For some one raised on Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Neuromancer the effect was strangely comforting - ah, here's the future I was promised! - but I co...