The Snarky Cats of Ulthar

In The Pale Blue Eye (2022), a retired police officer, Augustus Landor, is asked to solve a gruesome case of organ theft at the US Military Academy of West Point. The Academy’s honour is at stake and they’d appreciate it very much if Landor would solve this quickly and discretely. Unfortunately for Colonel Thayer and Captain Hitchcock, the case of corpse tampering turns out to have been preceded by murder and that won’t be the only death at West Point. The fact that the cadet standing guard over the first dead body was sent away by someone he claims was dressed as an officer makes things even trickier. Landor isn’t alone, though. Another cadet by the name of Edgar Allan Poe takes an interest in the case and offers his help. Soon, things take a turn for the very, very weird. Warning: SPOILERS . Since this involves Edgar Allan Poe, you can expect a macabre, Gothic atmosphere, a young woman afflicted by a strange illness, a weird family, occultism, death, and poetry. So, write what you k

Get Out (2017) is Stepford Wives meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers with a racial spin. By now everyone is surely familiar with basic plot: black Chris goes to meet his white girlfriend Rose’s family and finds out they’re part of a group of evil white people (and one Asian guy) who’s been kidnapping black people and stealing their bodies thanks to a hypnosis/brain transplant method developed by Rose’s parents. Jordan Peele was motivated to create this movie because he was shocked that his fellow Americans had seemingly become convinced that Obama’s election had magically ended racism in the US. So, to better show just how ridiculous the notion that African Americans’ lives had suddenly become perfect truly was, he decided to make a movie in which a bunch of upper class white people are desperate to become black. Not just black adjacent like the Kardashians - real black people . Because that makes perfect sense in a story taking place after Trump was elected with the enthusiastic s

(AKALLABÊTH and OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD AGE) This is the end of our ongoing review of The Silmarillion . Parts I , II , III , IV , and V have already covered the Ainulindalë, the Valaquenta, and the Quenta Silmarillion. Set after the defeat of Morgoth, the Akallabêth chronicles the rise and fall of Númenor, the island kingdom gifted to the loyal Houses of Men by the Valar. Their first king was Elros, half Elven son of Eärendil and Elwing, who, unlike his brother Elrond, chose to tie his fate to the human side of the family. For a while, everything is fine. The Númenóreans learn from their Elven friends, who have split between Eressëa and the Middle Earth, where Elves like Gil-Galad and Elrond still live, worship Eru Ilúvatar, and are content to follow the Valar's advice, which forbids them from travelling too far West, where Valinor was located. Their good behaviour results in physical benefits: they live longer than Man's normal lifespan, they're taller, and