Beyond Rue Morgue (2013)

Beyond Rue Morgue Anthology:
Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st Detective (2013)

Editors: Paul Kane / Charles Prepolec | Authors (in the order presented): Edgar Allan Poe / Mike Carey / Simon Clark / Weston Ochse + Yvonne Navarro / Jonathan Maberry / Joe R. Lansdale / Elizabeth Massie / Lisa Tuttle / Stephen Volk / Clive Barker | Page Count: 332 

"Between ingenuity and the analytic ability there exists a difference far greater, indeed, than that between the fancy and the imagination, but of a character very strictly analogous. It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic."

The detective in Edgar Allan Poe's short story Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, was used by the author in two more of his works, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (1842) and later The Purloined Letter (1844). Considered the world of literature's first mystery detective, Dupin was solving horrific crimes long before either Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

Famously, the word 'detective' hadn't even been coined when Poe penned his first Dupin mystery. His crime-solver used what the author called 'ratiocination'. But you can read about all of that in the book's introduction, so I won't spend any more time on it. Commenting on the stories in the pictured book is why I'm here. As the full title says, it's 'further tales' of Dupin, written by a number of different authors and in a number of different styles.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Season (2008)

The Sarah Jane Adventures:

The Complete First Season (2008)

Dirs: Various | Episodes: a one-hour pilot + 10 episodes, approx 25 mins each.

A Doctor Who spin-off aimed primarily at teenagers might not sound overly exciting, but The Sarah Jane Adventures is something very special. It addresses questions that many long-time Doctor Who fans have probably asked themselves at least once: what happens to the travelling companions after they leave? When they go back to a 'normal' life, how do they readjust after the wonders they've seen?

Created by Russell T Davies, the man credited with making the parent show such a renewed success, it offers the same kind of action packed flights of fantasy, grounded regularly by relatable emotions and characters guided by concern for each other.

It exists within, and expands upon, the same fictional universe, populated by the same kind of threats, and through it all remains faithful to the existing continuity, while creating some of its own. You can think of it as Doctor Who diluted, if you want to, but it's arguably just as exciting as the real thing, no matter what age you are.

The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship That Sank Twice (2013)

Tommy Taylor and the Ship That Sank Twice (2013)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 160

"You mustn't touch the box."

A standalone comic book prequel to The Unwritten that functions as a dual origin story for scheming fantasy author Wilson Taylor's two special projects: the Tommy Taylor™ novels and Wilson's actual son Tom Taylor.

The Tommy side of things makes up the bulk of the work and is like reading a standard fantasy comic book. The Tom side of things is slotted in-between the other. One of them is passable, but both have their problems.

Firstly, the 'boy-wizard at wizard school' story is as dull as it sounds. In the original The Unwritten series the Tommy character was as bland as Hollywood - it was solely the juxtaposition with Tom that gave him anything of value. That juxtaposition is in its infancy herein, which means Tommy has almost nothing interesting to say.

Let the Right One In (2004)

Let the Right One In (2004)

Author: John Ajvide Lindqvist | Translator: Ebba Segerberg | Page Count: 519

'They could give a number of reasons for why they had to torment him; he was too fat, too ugly, too disgusting. But the real problem was simply that he existed, and every reminder of his existence was a crime.'

Swedish author Lindqvist has been described as 'the new Stephen King' in the press. It quickly lets you know that you're getting a well-written horror novel, but it isn't just a lazy journo way of getting an idea across: he really does write like King. His character development, his plotting and his reliance on the reader to fully invest in the magic realism of the world are uncannily similar.

He also has almost identical failings as King: the awkward wording at the end that ruins an otherwise perfect paragraph (but to be fair, some of that may be in part due to the translation?), the over-indulgence, the pop culture references that date the work, etc.

Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)

Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)

Dir. Fred Olen Ray

From the safety warning at the beginning to the very last cut, HCH is a lot of cheap fun.

What separates it from the bucket-load of 80s B-Movie crap is the addition of a private dick, unsubtly named Jack Chandler (Jay Richardson), who provides an occasionally clumsy but primarily enjoyable hard-boiled medium-boiled noir-esque v/o. His wit and male weaknesses make him a likeable loser.

The hookers play up to the scream-queen, comedy/horror stereotypes in a fully self-aware script. Despite the title, however, there's very few actual deaths by chainsaw, but having Gunnar Hansen oversee them adds an extra in-joke for fans of horror (although his passionless acting is far from memorable).

It's released in the UK as part of 88 Films' themed Slasher Classics Collection (it's #6), but it only marginally fits that description, I feel.

The Owl Service (1969-70)

The Owl Service (1969-70)

Dir. Peter Plummer | 8 episodes, approx 24 mins each.

Adapted from Alan Garner's 1967 novel of the same name, The Owl Service is a story that draws from Britain's pagan past in order to comment on present day social situations (c. late 1960s).

At its core are three youths in their late teens, not blood relations but through circumstance living in the same country house in a remote Welsh valley.

Firstly there's Alison (Gillian Hills), whose mother Margaret is newly married to a man named Clive.

The second youth is Roger (Francis Wallis), Clive's privileged son who over the course of the eight short episodes begins to lust after his step-sister.

The final corner of the triangle is Gwyn (Michael Holden), the son of cranky housekeeper Nancy and the only one of the trio that's working class.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: TV Movies (1987-94)

Star Trek: TNG: The Complete TV Movies

Dirs. Various / 10 feature-length TV Movies / 835 mins (approx total)

I've covered the individual seasons of The Next Generation elsewhere on The 7th and Last blog, but in order to keep those posts at an acceptable length I didn't dwell too much on the two-parters; aka the TV 'movies'. This post indulges my desire to give them a little more attention.

There are ten in all, and because there's some TNG moments in Deep Space 9's pilot episode I'll add it, too. Naturally, given the number, it'll be longer than my usual post length.