Author of adventure/thriller and horror fiction

THE EXPANSE

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I’m furious with everybody I know for not drilling into my head that I needed to watch THE EXPANSE. I’m nearing the end of the second season. In my view, it’s one of the best things on television, as good as GAME OF THRONES, and [gets ready to duck tomatoes] better sci-fi than even FIREFLY and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Based on the series of novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (writing under the name James S. A. Corey), this sprawling epic is set in a future in which humanity has colonized the solar system using pre-FTL propulsion technology, but is hardly united. Three factions push against each other in constant tension that threatens to break out into all-out war. Run by the UN, Earth is polluted and decadent, filled with teeming unemployed, but remains the strongest faction. Its corporations operate mining operations along the asteroid belt and outer planets, where a recluse and rough Belter faction longs for independence. In between is Mars, strong, independent and militaristic.

THE EXPANSE focuses on multiple characters and interweaving storylines without a weak link in the lot. The main storyline focuses on James Holden and his crew of Belters, who have taken over a Martian warship and are riding freelance between the factions. At the heart of the conflict is an alien lifeform that offers either an amazing leap for humanity or its extinction, depending on who is judging it. Additional storylines involve a Martian marine, Belter detective and senior UN official.

The world building is deep and richly detailed, the dialogue crackling, the plot ebbing and flowing just right with tension, the characterization perfect even with minor players, and the action heartpounding. I really don’t have anything negative to say about the show other than lament it might end after the third season, based on rumors it might be canceled.

If you like great sci-fi, check it out if you haven’t already!

LITTLE HEAVEN by Nick Cutter

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little-heavenNick Cutter (Craig Davidson) roared onto the horror scene with his novel THE TROOP, quickly following up on that success with THE DEEP, THE ACOLYTE and most recently LITTLE HEAVEN.

His books hit me in a unique way, a completely mixed reaction. The writing is always terrific. The pages fly by. The dialogue is generally good. The monster element is the real star of the show. It’s fantastic, especially in THE TROOP. Those freaking worms. He packed so much skin-crawling horror out of one simple device that it’s clear the guy’s a genius at the horror game.

On the other hand, for some reason I never really connect with his characters, who strike me as stereotypes, and the books often feel kitchen sinked to me. THE DEEP starts off with a horrible pandemic that is largely tangential to the plot; the second half is basically one very well-written, horrifying but ultimately fatiguing set piece after another. About 80% into it, completely numbed, I was flipping pages past brilliant horror scenes just to get to the end. Otherwise, there are plenty of conventions popularized by Stephen King, resulting in books that read like King on crack.

LITTLE HEAVEN is his most ambitious work to date and probably his best. A big book with plenty of action, plenty of horror, an intriguing evil, and parallel timelines that come together nearly flawlessly to double the tension and final impact.

The novel begins with introduction of three major characters, Micah, Ebenezer and Minerva, outlaws who decide to join forces after a gunfight. As I said, their story is told in two timelines. In the past, they’re hired by a woman to travel deep into the wilderness to Little Heaven, a community built by a religious movement similar to a cult, and maybe rescue her nephew. They arrive to find the community under siege by an ancient evil that wants them all. In the present, they must return to the black rock overlooking the site to confront the evil one last time.

Again, I didn’t quite connect with the characters, whom I found unlikable. But Cutter does his magic, sweeping me, a horror snob, through his epic. Every night I returned to its pages to see what happened next, finding the narrative, story development, descriptions and the antagonist all executed brilliantly.

If you like mass market horror, Cutter’s a must read, and LITTLE HEAVEN is one of his best.

THE DISCOVERY (2017)

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Starring Robert Redford and Jason Segal, THE DISCOVERY (2017, Netflix) starts off with a fantastic premise. What if a scientist discovered proof that human consciousness departs the body at death?

It’s months after the Discovery, and the world is not a happy place. Millions have committed suicide, opting out of this existence–maybe in hopes of something better, to join loved ones they’ve lost, or because their lives on Earth have become too difficult. Will (Jason Segal) rides a ferry to the island where he grew up. He wants to see his father, Dr. Thomas Harbor (Redford), with whom he worked to achieve the Discovery. Will meets a woman named Isla (yes, all these names are symbolic) on the ferry, and we come to understand he think the Discovery was a mistake.

His father is now living in a secluded mansion with Will’s odd brother, which is overrun by people directly impacted by the Discovery–suicides and those who lost loved ones to suicide. These people live at the house organized in something like a cult, and they’re helping Harbor with the Discovery’s next phase–to see where the soul goes after death.

Wow, right? But the result is pretty mixed.

The film has gotten some criticism for being a bit of a slog. It is slow and a bit dreary, true, but I liked the low-key aspect of it, how it worked with the fantastic nature of the Discovery itself. There’s quite a bit of philosophy in the dialogue, as people question life and death in light of knowing with certainty something comes after. Big ideas are made deeply personal within the context of the relationships between Will and both his family and Isla.

In the second half of the film, however, it started to get off track for me for one big reason: it started to scream ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND ripoff. Charlie McDowell, the writer-director, was previously compared to screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann for his debut THE ONE I LOVE. In the beginning of THE DISCOVERY, we have a lot of similar elements as ETERNAL SUNSHINE–downcast man meets and spars/flirts with wacky but troubled girl with dyed hair, there’s a fantastic invention that changes everything, a funny lab tech, etc. By the second half, THE DISCOVERY became so blatantly aligned with ETERNAL SUNSHINE that I knew exactly how it would end far before it happened. Even the score sounded the same. But unfortunately without the same strong emotional chemistry that Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet achieved.

The result is a thoughtful film with good writing and terrific potential that falls flat, especially if you’ve seen it before in ETERNAL SUNSHINE.

WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP (1999)

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In 1890, hard times fell on the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The mines shut down, dooming its residents to poverty. Over the next 10 years, many people left, and those who stayed–mostly German, Norwegian and other immigrants–succumbed to despair and madness.

A woman is buried alive. Two boys run away from home, find a farm, and promptly murder its owner. A young woman takes her three children to the beach and drowns them, one after the other, while other people watch. A woman is repeatedly arrested for smashing windows. A Norwegian farmer goes insane every winter. Another farmer commits suicide by blowing his head off with dynamite. A woman, afraid the rash on her back was lethal, burned herself alive with gasoline.

In 1973, Michael Lesy collected images by Charles Van Schaick and newspaper articles depicting murder, insanity, hauntings, suicide, disease and devil worship in his book WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP. In 1999, the book was made into a documentary, which you can watch below. Grim stuff.

THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers

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heart is a lonely hunterPublished in 1940, Carson McCullers’s first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, provides a fascinating character study of misfits in a Southern town during the 1930s, making it a standout in the Southern Gothic genre. These people include John Singer, a deaf-mute; Mick Kelly, a tomboyish and intelligent girl with aspirations to become a famous musician; Jake Blount, a tormented drifter who wants to be a labor agitator; Biff Brannon, who runs a local diner; and Dr. Benedict Copeland, a Black doctor who wants more for his race.

The story meanders without a unifying plot, portraying these people’s lives and their intersections, notably the special relationship they have with the deaf-mute Singer. They connect with him in a deep way because he is a good listener, making them feel like he understands their dreams and torments in a uniquely empathetic way. All of them are smart and see things differently than most people, which creates a source of suffering. Mick wants to be an artist in a town where nobody seems to appreciate it, Jake wants to fight capitalist exploitation in a town where everybody more or less accepts it, and Copeland wants the Blacks in town to better themselves and gain opportunity and rights, though they don’t fight for it the way he thinks they should. These people are not complacent about mistreatment and oppression, but they live in a complacent world.

McCullers wrote HEART at 23, and it’s quite a literary achievement, beautifully written and capturing human nature, particularly the nature of those who don’t fit in, perfectly. Strangely, though there is hardly a plot, the writing and characters suck you in and keep you turning pages. The book rocketed to become a bestseller in 1940 and was adapted to film in 1968.

A deep dive for readers who enjoy Southern Gothic or are looking for interesting character-driven literary fiction.

ULTRAVIOLET (1998)

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In the UK Channel 4 series ULTRAVIOLET (1998), Michael, a police detective, discovers an ancient war between vampires and a secret government organization supported by the Vatican.

This is a brilliant series. The first episode has a 90s British TV quality that took this North American a little getting used to, but by the second episode I was thoroughly hooked, and by the third, blown away. Get ready for intense and original plots, moody and dark atmosphere (with a terrific score), and excellent acting by a cast including Jack Davenport and Idris Elba.

The series treats vampires as people who chose to become infected and thereby immortal, and thereby have conflicting interests with the rest of humanity, blending in science and politics. Michael’s addition brings an investigative eye to the vampire hunting team, which includes a priest, former soldier and scientist. ULTRAVIOLET plays with your sympathies, as the vampires appear at times to be the underdog, and the vampire hunters to be a ruthless death squad. It also focuses heavily on the psychological toll of being a vampire hunter, as the vampires excel at finding your weakness and exploiting it to try to get you to do what they want. That means endless killing, virtually disappearing from normal society, and no meaningful human contact outside the team.

By the end of the first season (six episodes), the clandestine human-vampire war approaches its climax, resulting in a thrilling finish that left me wanting more. Unfortunately, the writer-director apparently was so busy with the first season he never outlined a second, and he also apparently had a belief that TV series shouldn’t play out too long and thereby go soft. As a result, prepare to be thoroughly entertained, then addicted, then go through withdrawal. I’d followed the news way back when that an American network was trying to remake it for the US market–and starring Idris Elba reprising his role–but the project flopped after the unaired pilot, they just couldn’t pull it off.

The first season is hard to get, and I had to buy it used on DVD through Amazon. If you’re a hardcore vampire fan, though, you may find it worth the effort.