Author Archive: UncleGeoff
Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 15 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’
If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.
The Norse Myths by Dr. Tom Birkett (book review).
Tom Birkett is recounting the obviously named ‘The Norse Myths’ in this book. As it’s a subject I’m familiar with, the first thing I checked was his bibliography and how far back he went in his ‘Further Reading’ which was only as far as 1980. My own references go back to ‘Myths Of The Norsemen’ […]
Jim Henson’s The Storyteller music by Rachel Portman (CD review).
I haven’t seen ‘Jim Henson’s The Storyteller’ for quite some time but there is always a strong memory for the 1987-89 13 episodes that made up its two seasons. Even without that, the test of any CD soundtrack is whether the music can stand on its own. Soon as you hear Rachel Portman’s rich music, […]
Genius Weapons by Louis A. Del Monte (book review).
The subject of Louis A. Del Monte’s book ‘Genius Weapons’ comes more from its sub-title, ‘Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Weaponry And The Future Of Warfare’. As he describes in his introduction, America is actually lagging behind Russia and China in making robotics and AI working together and where battles will be between machines rather than people. […]
The Art Of Ralph Breaks The Internet by Jessica Julius (book review).
I have to confess from the start that I haven’t seen either of the two ‘Ralph Breaks’ films but I am a sucker for art medium books. There is a lot of banter from the animators in ‘The Art Of Ralph Breaks The Internet’ which must have made life interesting for writer Jessica Julius as […]
Back Issue #109 November 2018 (magazine review).
As you can tell from the cover of Back Issue # 109, the subject is the 1978 film of ‘Superman’ and hard to believe its 40 years since it original release. Mike Eury’s interview with Ilya Salkind in 2018 is really enlightening in that Warner Bros really didn’t know what they had on their hands […]
Working-Class Comic Book Heroes edited by Marc DiPaolo (book review).
As editor Marc DiPaolo points out in his lengthy introduction to the book ‘Working-Class Comic Book Heroes’, this isn’t just about super-heroes but any working-class or ‘blue-collar’ characters in the comicbooks which raises some interesting choices as well as some odd absences. The rich and the blue-collar interact a lot as he points out. It’s […]
Star Wars: YT-1300 Millennium Falcon Modified Corellian Freighter Owner’s Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas (book review).
This volume about the ‘Millennium Falcon isn’t the same as Haynes 2012 volume as there’s more emphasis on the Corellian freighters and their evolution in general with only a 20 page section devoted to its famous crew before the focus shifts to the spacecraft itself. There are lots of designs and photographs from all the […]
Doctor Who: Series 11 (or 36 depending on how you count): Episode 8: The Witchfinders by Joy Wilkinson.
With the latest episode of ‘Doctor Who’, this must be a record in recent series to have 3 stories set on historical Earth and this is the earliest yet with the Team TARDIS appearing in the 17th century. Also back in Lancashire, home territory for all of them except the Doctor, although she can speak […]
Working-Class Comic Book Heroes edited by Marc DiPaolo (book review).
As editor Marc DiPaolo points out in his lengthy introduction to the book ‘Working-Class Comic Book Heroes’, this isn’t just about super-heroes but any working-class or ‘blue-collar’ characters in the comicbooks which raises some interesting choices as well as some odd absences. The rich and the blue-collar interact a lot as he points out. It’s […]
Alter Ego #155 November 2018 (magazine review).
I have to confess to not knowing much about comicbook artist and writer Norman Maurer (1926-1986) but with Richard Arndt’s interview with his widow, Joan, I learnt a lot. Joan, by the way is the daughter of Moe Howard and the connection to ‘The Three Stooges’ should slap you on the face considering Maurer drew […]
