Media Matters

by Alan Beatts

As much as I love books, SF, horror, fantasy and mystery as a whole are still my first and greatest love.  Which means that movies, TV shows, and even video games within our field have a place very close to my heart.  The last few months have included some good news and neat discoveries that I thought I'd share with you.

The Expanse TV Series
James S. A. Corey's excellent Expanse novels, which begin with LEVIATHAN WAKES, is one of my favorite SF series in recent years.  So I was concerned and pleased in equal parts when I heard that Syfy was going to be producing a series based on the books.  But, I've seen both the regular trailer < http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/videos/the-expanse-season-1-trailer > and the background trailer, which includes interviews with the cast, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydKmedH336Q >.  I've got to say that it looks pretty darn good and the casting also seems impressive.  Of course, it's hard to tell from such limited information, but I'm hopeful that we'll be getting a big treat this December.

And, regardless of whether the series is any good, we fans of the books win at least a little bit because there's an original prequel story, Drive, available on line as part of the promotion for the show < http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/drive/prequel.php >.

Halloween Thrills

by Jeremy Lassen

Hello movie fans.  It’s October!  Time to get your Halloween on!  Leading the pack are several new episodes of Showtime's Masters of Horror.  Jenifer, directed by Dario Argento is a fun little bit of twisted Italian horror cinema.  But the real piece de resistance from Masters of Horror is the episode that Showtime refused to air.  It was directed by Takashi Miike, and called Imprint.  Remember when I mentioned him last month?  Well, this episode was a bit too controversial for Showtime, so it never aired, but it is here now on DVD, and it is really pretty intense, and at the same time smart and engaging.

Other films to fill out your October chills include the just-arrived Lady Vengeance, from Korea.  It’s the final movie in the “Vengeance” trilogy from South Korean maestro Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy).  Another trilogy of hardcore terror from Asia which has just arrived as a three disk set is the “All Night Long” collection.  Japanese grindhouse-esque films reached a peak with this series of films, including the title movie, Atrocity, and The Final Chapter. Rape, revenge, mutilation, etc.

What's in a Name?

by Alan Beatts

Horror is typically considered a genre of fiction in much the same way as science fiction or mystery.  At Borderlands Books we describe our stock as "science fiction, fantasy and horror," a decision that I made over nine years ago when the store opened.  It was based on the way that I perceived the position of horror relative to other fiction genres.

However, while considering the horror genre for this article I looked at some phenomena that caused me to question my definition of horror and its place relative to other fiction genres.  A common (and wildly inaccurate) way that we explain our sections at Borderlands is thus, "If the story takes place on a space ship, it's SF. If it's about a vampire, it's horror.  And if there's a vampire on a space ship, it's still horror."  But vampires are no longer the sole property of horror.  They appear in fantasy, paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and other less defined genres and sub-genres.  Granted, some of these genres and sub-genres are merely the creation of marketing departments.  But, the fact remains that there are plenty of works that feature vampires but which really don't fall within what could even be loosely called "horror".