Movie Review: Shredder Orpheus

May 12, 2025 By Leave a Comment

Shredder Orpheus
Writers: Robert McGinley
Director: Robert McGinley
Starring: Robert McGinley, Megan Murphy, Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi, Vera McCaughan
Publisher: Boom! Cult, Inc., Image Network Inc.
Genre:SciFi/Fantasy, Horror, Historical
Rating: Stars 3 Stars (6 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

Skateboarder named Orpheus and friends go to Hell to stop television signals that are brainwashing America.

True love makes anything possible, right?

The retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice legend made me smile. Anyone who isn’t already familiar with this Greek myth may want to give it a quick google beforehand so they’ll know the basic plot, but viewers who skip that step will be able to figure things out later on in the film once the plot speeds up. As someone who was only somewhat aware of the original, I thought it was cool to see it reinterpreted on the big screen but didn’t have any strong opinions about what that should look like. There is definitely something cool about seeing how famous old stories can be retold to new generations in ways that feel more modern, and I hope to watch more movies like this in the future.

I struggled with the slow pacing of this film, especially given how long it took some subplots to begin to influence each other. Yes, filming styles were different 30+ years ago, but I still found myself wishing that the fantasy elements of the storyline had been developed more deeply so it would be easier for me to figure out what is going on with those characters. There was room to do that here, and it would have made for a stronger tale in my opinion.

With that being said, the plot was so surreal and dreamlike that the portions of it I had trouble putting together at first ended up making much more sense later on. This may work best for viewers who can go with the flow and enjoy the ride. It may be confusing at times just like trying to explain what happened in a disjointed dream after you wake up and realize that dream you didn’t realize how odd certain moments were, but figuring out what certain scenes may have meant afterwards can be quite rewarding. I especially liked comparing the earliest scenes to what was revealed about them close to the end when certain themes finally wove together and worked in my mind.

Shredder Orpheus kept me guessing what might happen next.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The brand-new novelization of SHREDDER ORPHEUS is available from Encyclopocalypse Publications!

SHREDDER ORPHEUS is now available to rent and/or own digitally at BOOM! CULT, and on a limited edition Blu-ray available exclusively at Vinegar Syndrome.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , ,

Paranormal Jelly: An Anthology of Whimsical Narratives Regarding the Comical Facets of the Occult by Zwahk Muchoney

May 6, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Paranormal Jelly: An Anthology of Whimsical Narratives Regarding the Comical Facets of the Occult by Zwahk Muchoney
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Paranormal Jelly blends the bizarre with the everyday in the early internet era of 1996. Middle-aged author Albert runs a popular website, sharing tales of eldritch horrors, baby Sasquatches, cigarette-smoking ghosts, and dark cultists. A skeptic at heart, he dismisses it all as fiction—until reality starts to blur. Cryptids and hauntings become alarmingly frequent, always just out of the reporter’s sight, but impossible to ignore. As Albert struggles to document these strange events, he’s drawn into a web of the supernatural that threatens his very existence.

Both skeptics and true believers are welcomed here.

I loved the playful and humorous tone of Albert’s adventures. The fantasy and science fiction themes were subtle in some places, but that only made those scenes even more exciting once they popped up again and made me look at what just happened in a new light. It was a nice contrast to the more skeptical characters who didn’t always believe the stories about ghosts, cryptids, aliens, and other creatures they heard.

As much as I liked reading about the various characters in this novella, there were so many of them that only the protagonist was given a chance to become more well rounded. Even then, I didn’t feel like I got to know Albert as deeply as I would have liked to due to the relatively short length of this piece and how much was going on with the plot. With stronger character development, this could have been a four or five-star work as the storyline and themes themselves were fantastic.

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that provided scientific explanations for why things like orbs sometimes appear in photos and why certain types of people are more – or less – likely to believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal in general. There are many different reasons why strange things happen and why people can have a wide variety of responses to the same event. I thought these passages treated both believers and skeptics fairly and assumed the best of everyone. That makes these sorts of stories so much more interesting to read as I knew the author had good intentions and wanted everyone to think critically about what they’ve read, heard, or maybe even seen with their own two eyes.

Paranormal Jelly: An Anthology of Whimsical Narratives Regarding the Comical Facets of the Occult kept me guessing.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Hands Down by Felix Francis

April 30, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Hands Down by Felix Francis
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Sid Halley, a private investigator, has a new left hand, having had a transplant since his last appearance in Refusal. After receiving death threats, an ex-jockey trainer friend calls Sid to ask for his help, but Sid has his own problems to deal with; like recovering from surgery and saving his crumbling marriage.

When his friend’s stable yard is torched, horses killed, and the friend is found dead, Sid can only blame himself for not helping sooner. The police think it’s suicide, but Sid is not convinced after his friend’s terrified phone calls. Heavy with a guilty heart, Sid starts to investigate and soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that cuts to the very heart of the integrity of British horse racing.

Can Sid figure out what happened to his friend, or will he be the next one that the killer targets?

Sid Halley is having a rough time. His beloved wife, Marina, has decided she needs a break to think about their future and has gone to visit her dying father in the Netherlands with their young daughter. Still reeling from this emotional blow, Sid is asked for help by a friend who is an ex-jockey now trainer. Gary is being threatened and needs a friend he can trust, only before Sid can discuss what’s going on Gary’s stable is torched and his horses killed. Can Sid investigate what’s happening and sort out his marital crisis without anyone getting hurt in the meantime?

I’ve been a big fan of the various Sid Halley stories and found this addition was quite good. While all the previous books don’t need to have been read, I do feel that knowing who the main characters are in this series would give the relationship/emotional plotline a bit more oomph and have more meaning. The mystery aspect is new to this book and doesn’t really have any cross over to the previous books so I feel readers primarily concerned with the investigation side of things should be able to easily pick this book up by itself.

Readers looking for a fast paced or more action orientated mystery might find this doesn’t quite suit their needs. While I do feel the action is quicker than many British police procedural novels, I’ve read this isn’t an American or spy thriller where everything is just go-go-go from the first page till the explosive conclusion, but neither do I feel the is the pace slow or at all plodding. This is a nice balance somewhere in between.

I do admit that Sid’s marital issues take up a fair chunk of the pages and while I personally thought this helped balance out the story and made Sid feel more of a well-rounded family man I could understand if some readers are only really interested in the mystery and investigative aspects to the book.  This was a solid mystery with a well thought out plot.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Mountain Interlude by S.V. Brosius

April 28, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Mountain Interlude by S.V. Brosius
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Can broken hearts mend if they are frozen in time?

Deep in the mountains of Colorado stands an old house shrouded in mist. A lonely, divorced woman will come face to face with the attractive man who owns the property. She will find herself in a world of paranormal mystery: a place where the lost are taken care of, the injured are healed, and time stands still.

Healing is for everyone.

Maizie’s character development was strong and made me want to spend even more time with her. She was an intelligent, resourceful person who could quickly solve problems if she felt threatened or confused. This is something I’m always happy to come across in stories, especially ones involving a woman driving alone in the middle of nowhere who has car trouble and needs to seek help. That’s a situation that just about any woman would feel rather vulnerable in, so it was a relief to meet a character who took her predicament so seriously.

It was never quite clear to me what the limitations of the paranormal elements of the storyline were. They seemed to wax and wane depending on what Maizie and Tony were currently doing, but it was never entirely clear to me if this was because their moods were influencing the spirit world or if this were a coincidence. If more attention had been paid to the logic of how this all worked, I would have happily given this tale a higher rating as it was well-written and memorable.

I must tip my cap at the author for their creative and thought-provoking ending. It was not at all what I expected it to be, but it fit the tone of this tale perfectly and made me wish for a sequel. There’s definitely something to be said for stories that play around with the audience’s expectations in order to keep their genre fresh and interesting.

Mountain Interlude was full of surprises.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Movie Review: Shiver Me Timbers

April 28, 2025 By 2 Comments


Shiver Me Timbers
Writers: Paul Stephen Mann, E.C. Segar
Director: Paul Stephen Mann
Starring: Murdo Adams, Stephen Corrall, Paul Dewdney
Publisher: Gravitas Ventures
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Historical
Rating: 3 stars (6 stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

In 1986 Northern California, Olive Oyl, her brother Castor and friends, go on a camping trip to see the meteor shower with Halley’s comet. But the night turns into horror as a meteor transforms Popeye, into an unstoppable killing machine.

Comets are nothing to mess around with.

I must admit that Popeye the Sailor Man is just about the last character I’d ever associate with the horror genre, so I was intrigued to see what the writers and director were going to do to make him scary. It was funny to see how they used his catchphrases and habits in news ways to keep the audience entertained. He made me laugh and shrink back in fear at the same time which is exactly the reaction I hoped I would have.

While I didn’t need a lengthy explanation of why Popeye appeared, I did find myself wishing for more plot development here. The reason given for his murderous escapades never quite made sense to me, and trying to figure it out was a distraction from both the horrifying and the comical moments in this film. I would have chosen a higher rating if this wasn’t the case.

It isn’t necessary to be familiar with 1980s slasher flicks in order to enjoy this homage to them, but viewers who have seen at least one or two horror films from that decade may notice some cool throwbacks to the way things were filmed a few decades ago. Without giving away spoilers, I’m specifically thinking of the way rural settings were sometimes used to amp up the suspense back then and how isolation and fear could lead a character to make impulsive decisions that they might not have chosen if, say, they’d been in a city surrounded by other people.

Shiver Me Timbers was creative.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , ,

Watch and Prey by JM Dalgliesh

April 25, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Watch and Prey by JM Dalgliesh
Publisher: Hamilton Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

You can hide, but you can’t run…

When the body of a church warden is discovered hanging from the belfry of a village church, DI Tom Janssen and his team must investigate the circumstances that led to his death.

Whilst navigating the fallout from the conclusion of their previous case, the Norfolk CID team is under intense scrutiny with another police force investigating their recent conduct. Some people would like nothing more than to see the team fail. With no clear motive for murder or a reason to take his own life, the team have little to go on.

Meanwhile, a hit and run accident on the Sandringham Estate leaves a pregnant woman in hospital and when the fleeing vehicle is located – abandoned beside a coastal sailing club – the investigating team find more than they bargained for when they look inside.

The hunt is on for a brutal murderer whose motives and goals are unknown, and when other interested parties appear in the area the stakes are raised further. Just who are the hunters, who is watching, and, more importantly, who is the prey?

Still trying to navigate and digest the ramifications of their previous case, DI Tom Janssen and his team are shocked to be called back in to work almost immediately. The body of a church warden has been found hanging from a belfry, and small inconsistencies have them all agreeing the scene isn’t quite what it appears to be. When a hit and run then leaves a pregnant woman and her toddler in hospital, the team is stretched thin and working hard to keep afloat. Can DI Janssen and his team uncover the truth behind everything before it’s too late?

I have found this to be an enjoyable British Police Procedural mystery series. This latest book picks up almost immediately after the evens of the previous book wrap up and while there are still some tendrils of the past case woven into this story, I do feel they are explained well enough that readers should feel comfortable reading this book even if they haven’t read the previous one.

What I thoroughly enjoyed though was there were two different cases in this book and while I felt from the beginning, they might be linked the author took everything at a solid pace and there were plenty of turns and investigation. While I didn’t feel at any point, I had to suspend my disbelief there were a few coincidences and I think some readers might feel the cases are a little too closely linked. That said this is a fairly rural area and so to me it does seem fair that residents and families are quite overlapping at times.

With two solid murder mystery plots and a primary cast of strong and memorable characters I feel this is a well plotted and enjoyable book and a good series to sink your teeth into. I’m looking forward to more of these books soon.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Murder Of The Bride by Faith Martin

April 23, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Murder Of The Bride by Faith Martin
Publisher: Joffe Books, London
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

DI Hillary Greene is called out to attend a suspicious death at Three Oaks Farm in the picturesque village of Steeple Barton.

The large farmhouse is filled with music and revellers, but when she steps into the farm’s cowshed, Hillary finds a dead bride. Dressed in a sumptuous white wedding gown, the young, beautiful redhead had clearly been strangled.

But not everything is what it seems, and the victim turns out to be at the centre of a web of jealousy and intrigue in the close-knit village. Many of the villagers have a motive for murdering her but they’re not giving up their secrets easily.

Can Hillary discover the real reason for this brutal crime and cope with the spiralling revelations about her dead ex-husband?

When a young lady at a fancy dress party is found murdered in a cow shed DI Hillary Greene and her team are called in to investigate. The beautiful woman – dressed as the bride she would never become – doesn’t appear to really have any enemies. But the more Hillary digs into her life, the more she realizes just how complicated people really are.

I have been greatly enjoying this series and found this to be a strong addition. The murder mystery is interesting and while the pace is a little slower – more that of a Police procedural rather than an action/adventure – I really did find that the plot unknotted quite well. I also really enjoy that there are a few longer running story arcs through this series, like that of Hillary trying to get her house back and the leftover dregs of her ex-husbands schemes. The possibly blossoming romance also is a very slow-burn and seems to be starting to get somewhere. I also appreciated that there is a new boss for Hillary and her team and the author made it clear this character was going to have quite the mysterious background and motivations for his transfer.

Overall I found this a really interesting book and I’m eager to keep reading. While the mystery plot can absolutely be read alone readers who dislike reading longer story plot arcs out of order might want to consider reading this series in the correct order. I do feel that everything is explained well enough people can pick this up by itself and still thoroughly enjoy it, but for me personally a lot of the fun is in the fact there are a few longer-running character storylines, and I could understand if readers wanted the full story in order and not get muddled or spoilers. I’m enjoying this British police mystery.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Killing By Numbers by MS Morris

April 23, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Killing By Numbers by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A work of art. A mysterious number. A secret worth killing for.

When reclusive artist, Gabriel Quinn, is gunned down outside a gallery on Oxford High Street, Detective Inspector Bridget Hart investigates the world of contemporary art, where paintings can change hands for millions in the auction room.

Bridget is convinced that the last words spoken by the artist – a mysterious code of 8 digits and a letter – are key to unravelling the mystery of his death.

But when her ex-husband, Ben, now a senior detective with the Metropolitan Police in London shows up with new information about the murdered man, Bridget’s personal and professional lives are brought crashing together with dramatic consequences.

After her success with leading her first murder investigation, DI Bridget Hart is enjoying a well-earned day off and looking forward to a date later that evening at the opera. Her relaxing day is toppled, however, when she’s called in on a new investigation. A young artist has been shot outside a gallery on Oxford High Street and it’s up to Bridget and her team to discover what’s going on.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was very pleased to find this second book just as enjoyable. A solid British Police procedural style of murder mystery set in Oxford I found the pace and plotting to be well written and enjoyable to follow along as it unfolded. I really enjoyed the various characters of the main team and found the few secondary characters in Bridget’s personal life to be equally well written and an excellent source to round out Bridget and her day-to-day life.

There’s a bit of understandable conflict between Bridget and her teenage daughter. While I admit I found it a little annoying that Chloe was the typical teenager I have to give kudos to the authors for the fact she is realistic and utterly relatable to anyone who knows young adults around that difficult age. This also added some conflict to the plot without dropping too far into the usual “love life is a disaster” arena which gets a lot of use in many series like this.

Readers looking for a slightly different (i.e. non-Met, non-London based) British mystery should find this a refreshing change of pace. I liked it and am eager for the next in the series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Numbered Love – A Story from American Buddha by Maysam Yabandeh

April 18, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Numbered Love – A Story from American Buddha by Maysam Yabandeh
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Nam never stopped thinking about the girl who once held his heart. For thirty years, he kept her memory alive through ancient romantic tales from the Far East. But when he returns to America to find her, his hopeful search unravels into a journey full of unexpected turns as he confronts the realities of love in modern times.

There’s nuance to everything in life, even love.

The plot twists kept me on my toes, especially when it came to the relationship between Nam and Livia, his young friend who promised to fall in love with him once they both grew up. Just when I thought I’d discovered the most unusual places this childhood vow took these characters, they ended up in a slightly to dramatically stranger place than they’d been just a moment before. I’d like to tip my cap to the author for taking these sorts of risks as they make reading – and reviewing – so much more fun!

It would have been nice to have a deeper exploration of Nam’s personality as he didn’t feel well-rounded to this reader. He came across as someone who was unaware of how sexist he was but who would have been mortified and possibly changed his ways if he were better at noticing his own flaws. His intelligence and willingness to work hard were easy to spot, but I needed more details about him in order to sympathize with the double standards he set when it came to how men should behave versus how women should behave.

With that being said, I enjoyed the sections of this short story that discussed what Buddhism has to say about suffering, the consequences of one’s actions, and how people should live. There were several nuggets of wisdom there that I can’t go into detail here for spoiler reasons but that made a lot of sense to me. It’s always nice to walk away from characters with something to ponder over.

Numbered Love was a wild ride.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sketching Love by Mikala Ash

April 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Sketching Love by Mikala Ash
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Erotic Romance, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Dicentra

Her reputation in tatters following a lapse of judgement with the handsome Lord Randolph Cressy, Amelia Keystone returns to London destitute and alone. Events rapidly unfold on the platform of Victoria Station and Amelia is plunged into a deadly adventure.

Charles Graves, charming Agent of the Queen, is quick to engage Amelia’s skills as a sketch artist to help solve a murder and save the empire. Meanwhile she is stalked by an indefatigable assassin.

Lord Cressy insists on making amends for his role in her disgrace, and the three brave souls face an unseen killer. Will true love blossom, or will bloody murder destroy Amelia’s chance for happiness?

Sketching Love by Mikala Ash, the first book in the Empire of Hearts series, was an interesting cross between the mystery and steampunk genres with a lot of promise. The story itself kept me invested, though it was hard to connect to the actual characters. In terms of vibe, I’d liken it to Millie Bobby Brown’s Enola Holmes on Netflix, Robert Downey Junior’s Sherlock Holmes, or TNT’s The Alienist tv show.

I really liked the story and the setting. It was obvious the author had done a fair amount of research, as I was amused by things like what a “whore’s bath” is. There are also things like marriages of convenience and mistresses popping up in the book, which wouldn’t be out of character for that time period. The steampunk mystery element of the book is at the forefront of the novel, though there is undoubtedly some romance at play as well.

The characters were hard for me to connect to. I wanted very much for Amelia to find a ‘happily ever after’ ending but I never found myself invested in her personal struggles. Additionally, while I’ve never shied away from the more explicit and intimate scenes, some of the words (like redolent among other non-PG 13 terms) were a little too niche of vocabulary terms. It took me away from those pivotal moments to have to figure out what the author meant. With regards to the other characters besides Amelia, I couldn’t tell you much about them as there wasn’t a lot to make them stand out in my memory.

Overall, this was an okay read. Though there were some hiccups, I think the overall story held up and it was worth finishing. If you’re familiar with the author’s other works, it is similar to the Elizabeth Hunter-Payne series. It’s worth noting that this is very much an adult series that I wouldn’t recommend for younger readers.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,
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