In the Men Who Made the Monsters, Paul Jensen chronicles the careers of five men who made shamelessly scary, enjoyable, and sometimes classic films: James Whale (whose films include Frankenstein, 1931, and The Invisible Man, 1933), Willis O'Brien (King Kong, 1933; Mighty Joe Young, 1949), Ray Harryhausen (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 1958; Jason and the Argonauts, 1963), Terence Fisher (Dracula, 1958; Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, 1969), and Freddie Francis (The Skull, 1965; Tales That Witness Madness, 1973). Usually working within tight budgets and short production schedules, these three directors (Whale, Fisher, Francis) and two masters of special effects (O'Brien, Harryhausen) turned out films that proved them to be not only skillful craftsmen but artists. In the inhuman, the unearthly, the monstrous, they found and explored the depths of our most human fears and fascinations.
In the riveting conclusion to the acclaimed dystopian series, a boy and girl caught in the chaos of war face devastating choices that will decide the fate of a world. As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption, or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the turmoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale.
Life exists all around us, in forms that we can readily and easily identify. But what if there were, lurking in the shadows, other forms of life that are not so familiar, creatures created not by Nature, but by Man? We know their names—Frankenstein, the Golem, the homunculi of the ancient alchemists; they exist in our stories and myths. But just what are these mysterious creatures, and do they actually have some basis in reality? In his fascinating and wide-ranging new book, Dr. Bob Curran explores man-made monsters and the truth behind the myths. You’ll learn fascinating details about: The 19th century scientist who tried to bring the dead back to life—the model for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein The Man of Clay who lumbered through the streets of medieval Prague at the command of early rabbis Tales of robots that may have existed in the ancient world and threatened Greek and Roman warriors. Cloning and the artificial creation of life, and what strange and mysterious areas they may be heading into. Man-Made Monsters is essential reading for anyone who wants to explore artificial beings and peer into the dark recesses of the human mind...where they may indeed be hiding.
Hollywood's Masters of Illusion and F/X Cinema is illusion, and the 12 masters of magic to be found in this book are the best to be found in Hollywood. The films featured include: Terminator Two, Aliens, Living Dead, Hellraiser, Jurassic Park, The Fly, The Exorcist and many more. Ideal interested in learning the craft of movie make-up or for film buffs who want to know how its all done. Foreword by Clive Barker.
The definitive biography of the visionary publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine that inspired filmmakers Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Joe Dante, and many more. This heavily illustrated biography features eye-opening ― often outrageous ―anecdotes about Warren, a larger-than-life figure whose ability as a publisher, promoter, and provocateur make him a fascinating figure. In addition to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland, he published Help!, a magazine created by MAD’s Harvey Kurtzman, which featured early work by John Cleese, Gloria Steinem, Terry Gilliam, Robert Crumb, and Diane Arbus; Creepy and Eerie magazines, with covers by painter Frank Frazetta and comics art by Steve Ditko, Wallace Wood, Bernie Wrightson, Al Williamson, and many others. His most famous co-creation, the character Vampirella, debuted in her own magazine in 1969, and continues to be published today.
An official guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer describes the mythology and influences behind the monsters, ghouls, and characters through interviews with the creators and details of the episodes.
Denis Johnson's New York Times bestseller, The Laughing Monsters, is a high-suspense tale of kaleidoscoping loyalties in the post-9/11 world that shows one of our great novelists at the top of his game. Roland Nair calls himself Scandinavian but travels on a U.S. passport. After ten years' absence, he returns to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to reunite with his friend Michael Adriko. They once made a lot of money here during the country's civil war, and, curious to see whether good luck will strike twice in the same place, Nair has allowed himself to be drawn back to a region he considers hopeless. Adriko is an African who styles himself a soldier of fortune and who claims to have served, at various times, the Ghanaian army, the Kuwaiti Emiri Guard, and the American Green Berets. He's probably broke now, but he remains, at thirty-six, as stirred by his own doubtful schemes as he was a decade ago. Although Nair believes some kind of money-making plan lies at the back of it all, Adriko's stated reason for inviting his friend to Freetown is for Nair to meet Adriko's fiancée, a grad student from Colorado named Davidia. Together the three set out to visit Adriko's clan in the Uganda-Congo borderland—but each of these travelers is keeping secrets from the others. Their journey through a land abandoned by the future leads Nair, Adriko, and Davidia to meet themselves not in a new light, but rather in a new darkness.
I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist and fishing detective. For twenty-five years, I've explored our planet's remotest rivers and lakes, hunting for monster-sized fish. It's become something of an obsession for me. . . . Called "the greatest angling explorer of his generation" (Independent on Sunday), Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet's wildly popular TV series River Monsters, takes viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet's inland waterways. Now, Wade goes truly beneath the surface, disclosing full details of how he tracks down and catches each species while also recounting the off-camera highlights of his extraordinary life. From his arrest as a suspected spy in Southeast Asia to a plane crash in the Amazon, every page of River Monsters is packed with adventure. Each chapter unfolds an enthralling detective story, where fishermen's tales of underwater man-eaters and aquatic killers are subjected to scientific scrutiny. Follow Wade step-by-step as, armed with just a fishing line, he closes in on his prey and separates fact from fiction. From the heart of the Congo, where he wrestles with supernatural goliath tigerfish, to the depths of the Amazon, where the most feared creature is one that could fit in your palm, the results are fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor. Wade also reveals monsters from upcoming episodes, including deadly electric eels, a giant described as a cross between a shark and a chainsaw, and a snake-like beast that truly is the stuff of legend. In the tradition of the most gripping adventure writing, River Monsters shows that there's more to this world than what's visible on the surface. As Wade says, with a fishing line anything is possible--sometimes it can even reveal the future, or at least one possible version of it. In similar fashion, Wade's writings are much more than exhilarating stories: they reveal a vision of the world more awe-inspiring than any individual myth made flesh. Ultimately, River Monsters explores the real mysteries that still exist, capturing the story of one man's obsession -- and his relentless pursuit of the truth.
God Made Us Monsters, the debut Novel by Bill Neary, is a tale of the South Seas written in the tradition of James Michener, Jack London and James Clavel. Early in the 20th Century, Hawaii's Molokai Island was not the expected explosion of color, light and trade winds it is today, but a sepia nightmare. Where men, women and children, suspected of contracting leprosy, were cast into the shark-infested waters from the decks of condemned cattle boats and made to swim to shore only to be met and sadistically preyed upon by the members of their own kind, the Lepers of Molokai. Sent there by the Catholic Church, Father Damien is unprepared for the staggering suffering, the loss of limb, sight and mind. He is attacked from every dimension, colonial, social spiritual and forces unexplainable by natural law. All orchestrated by one individual. The "Colonel is an imperial man, dapper, brilliant and ruthless. Contracted by the British, his mission is to destabilize the growing economy and America's influence. However, he has a much darker and sinister agenda. God Made us Monsters is historical fiction, a tale of how an unspeakable hell, where monstrous violence, horror and hopeless desperation was converted into an idyllic paradise by the love and determination of a simple priest
