
The Turn of the Screw, and other short novels, 1963 ed., Henry James
I’m always amazed that whether or not the ghosts are real in this story is a matter of contention. It’s not like James didn’t write plenty of other ghost stories. The real question is what, exactly, did those evil brats do?
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The Castle of Otranto, 1963 ed., Horace Walpole
Classic Gothic novel, complete with secret passages, ghosts and a giant. Whose helmet crushes the villain’s son to death.
It’s a bit weird.
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World Apart, 1986, Camilla Decarnin, Eric Garber and Lyd Paleo, eds.
Not a bad selection of material (Delany, Tiptree, Varley, Russ) and it almost entirely avoids the “not really gay because aliens” issue.
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Welfare Wonderland, 1968, Belva Detlof
In one of those charming reminders of how everything new is old again, this screed from the late sixties, full of unsourced anecdotal evidence about welfare cheats and furious anger at deadbeat children asking for medical care and freeloading seniors wanting pensions, pretty much sounds exactly like the rhetoric you’re hearing from the GOP Presidential candidates. Right down to the “let them die” declarations about the uninsured.
It would be funny, except for, you know, being utterly horrifying in its callous disregard for people who have the nerve to not be wealthy.
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Waves of Glory, 1925, R.E. Winsett
And, sometimes, I just grab the first thing that’s at hand and put it on the scanner.
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The Hunger, 1988 ed, Whitley Strieber
It probably shouldn’t come as any great surprise to anyone that I’m not particularly a fan of an “ooh, lesbian vampires” novel by the “no, honest, I know I’m a sci-fi author, but aliens totally really did abduct me” guy.
I’d tell you to just go rent the soft-core film adaptation, except that Catherine Deneuve never wore a ginchy green glitter wig in it.
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A Wrinkle in Time, 1962, undated Scholastic edition, Madeleine L’Engle
It always amazes me that such an assertively Christian book gets so frequently attacked for being insufficiently concerned with doctrine.
In any case, dig that mod cover art.
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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, 1974, Steve Hart
Starring Tom Baker and John Phillip Law, who I don’t remember ever being anywhere near as shirtless as he is on the cover.
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Robotech: Symphony of Light, 1987, Jack McKinney
“And then all the bad guys turned into hippie lights and flew away, the end.”
Yes, it is safe to say that I did find the ending somewhat anticlimactic.
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Robotech: Metamorphosis, 1987, Jack McKinney
It’s a shame that Genesis Climber MOSPEADA got cut down so heavily to fit into the Robotech storyline, as I think it’s the best of the three stories.
That it lacks Minmei or Dana helps with that, certainly.
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