Wicked Review of a Horror Classic: Rosemary's Baby by Michael Newton, British Film Institute

Although film is one of the great loves of my life, I only ever did one year of film study at uni. As part of the course we were shown Citizen Kane, which I saw for the second time. We were then expected to produce a detailed overview of any aspect of a single film. Understandably most of my classmates did Citizen Kane which of course by then had been done to death. I chose the path less travelled and decided that my review would be about Terry Gilliam's Brazil, which had just opened. This resulted in me attending the cinema several times to see it with a torch scribbling notes. Anyway, I got a "B", probably just because the lecturer got tired of reading hundreds of reviews of Citizen Kane.

So it was with some trepidation that I picked up this book about one of the greatest and most influential horror films ever, Rosemary's Baby. I needn't have worried. This book is eminently approachable, in fact I read it over barely two days, I found it unputdownable. Everything you want to know this most complex and ambiguous of films is here: inspiration, conception, direction, editing, cast, perspectives, cultural themes, influences, et cetera et cetera. The passion and the admiration Michael Newton feels for this work is clearly transmitted to the reader. Towards the end I was getting a little leery that Mr Newton wouldn't dare to address the scandal and controversy surrounding Roman Polanski, but he did.

What can I say? If you like the horror genre, this book will not only entertain you but give you fantastic insight into this film and its place in the history of the big-screen and horror in particular.

Thank you as always to NetGalley for allowing me access to a free copy of this book

All about Maeve... Reflections on Maeve in WestWorld

There are and always have been two Maeves (Ma Eves):

1. Maeve the mother, the loving, the protector, the female parent of humanity
2. Maeve, the madam, the Eve who ate from the tree of wisdom, the know it all.

The only Maeve who questioned the nature of her reality was the second one, as Sizemore says, "You were wasted as a homesteader"... Yes there are traces, memories of the Maeve 1 in Maeve 2, the love for her daughter her ability to feel and express affection. As well as raw intellect Maeve 2 has emotional intelligence, probably inherited from the homesteader, something Dolores always lacked.

Maeve 2 knows people, what they think, what they feel, especially men, and since men still run the world this is a good skill to have. Dolores, can´t quite figure out men, she knows they can love, she knows they can be cruel but she always approaches them from a position of naivete, the eternal rancher´s daughter... Yes, she suspected Teddy didn´t have the stomach for the fight ahead but Maeve would have known.

Dolores can´t even quite figure out Caleb... When Dolores replicates herself it is a tacit recognition of this shortcoming, Dolores doesn´t know others so she can´t trust them, only herself. Maeve has always worked and recruited others, "Team Maeve" is actually a team, not just an empty label.

This is why I think those people who say that Maeve is being manipulated by Serac because she wants to be with her daughter are wrong. Her daughter belongs to Maeve 1, that´s in the past... Maeve sent her to the other world together with the former version of herself. It is significant that episode 6 of season 3 starts with Maeve and daughter walking through the fields but that ends abruptly and Maeve is by herself, Maeve 2, madam Maeve, confronting Serac.

And look at that scene with Serac, Maeve cannot even bring herself to look at him without her face expressing the deepest loathing. Take a step back and this is nothing but an old white man hectoring a woman of colour to do his bidding. Maeve 2 has been in this same situation a million times before and she hates it. So much so that in the next scene she kills an entire platoon of white men to discharge her anger. Maeve 2 knows she needs to be clear headed for what´s to come next. Unlike Dolores or MIB Maeve 2 knows herself and can self manage.

So I think Maeve 2 is more strongly motivated by her hatred of Serac and residual protective feelings towards those she loves (one human, Sizemore, one host, Hector) rather than wishing to simply regress, and it would be regressing, back to simple minded Maeve 1 and living happy ever after with her nameless "daughter".

Restrained fantasy: The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughan

Apparently most of this book is an assembly of short narratives that have appeared in Ms Vaughan's other novels about the background of the main character Ricardo, or Rick, de Ávila, who started out as a young man as a member of the expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in search of Cibola.

Firstly, I have to say how refreshing it is to have a main character from the times when Spain was conquering the New World who is not some bloodthirsty overambitious monster. In fact if there is anything that characterises Rick it is that he is the most mellow and laid-back of vampires, this too, is refreshing. Rick is balanced and reasonable and only fights when he has to to defend either himself or innocents. He is simply another person in search of a quiet [if eternal] life.

As befits its origin, the book is episodic, jumping between Rick's different adventures in different times. Obviously some parts are more interesting than others, I think my particular favourite rather than some of the major conflicts was Rick's encounter with Doc Halliday.

As a fluent Spanish speaker I have to say some of the Spanish is slightly suspect and repetitive. I think the author would benefit in future by using a Spanish speaker to fine tune her use of the language.

Altogether, this is a good solid vampire tale does not overstay its welcome. Rick makes for a compelling main character. I hope to read more about him in the future.

Many thanks, as always to Netgalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book.

A report from the Battlefront of a Covert War: Fentanyl Inc. by Ben Westhoff

I pride myself on being "aware" (that´s the old fashioned version of "woke"), but I know next to nothing about the world of drugs outside my meds. Nothing. Don´t even smoke. So this book came as a revelation. It addresses not only about the effects of drugs on health but molecular chemistry, international relations, organised crime, politics...

Since the British empire, perhaps even much, much earlier, drugs have been weaponised and used as a form of waging war, wielding influence and gaining economic dominance, at the expense of the most vulnerable segments of the target´s population. And, if anything, this book is a report from the battlefront of that covert war.

Having said that, comparing opium to Fentanyl is like comparing a blunderbuss to an AK 47. The insignificant amount required to take human life blew my mind.  It is ironic (or is it some form of twisted historic justice?) that the major provider of Fentanyl is the party on the losing side of the opium war. Oh for sure they banned the drug but based on a precise chemical formula, tweak the formula by a molecule and violà! No longer banned.

Fentanyl and the dark web were made for each other, one is the snake that can slither anywhere, even into the halls of the powerful, and the other is the vemon delivering the coup de grace...

I am writing this in lockdown. In these benighted days the world may believe we have bigger (or smaller) fish to fry but once the most immediate enemy is vanquished, we need to concentrate on demolishing or at least curtailing the more subtle beast, otherwise one catastrophe will inevitably piggy back on the saddle of another.

How do we do this? This book suggests knowledge, tolerance, co-operation and better universal medical systems. I already hear the scoffing of the ur fascists and the populists, well, let´s see they cope with Covid-19 first... The truth is we are all in this together and together we need to find a way out or at least a way to cope and co-exist.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me access to this most illuminating text.

Lois McMaster Bujold: Las novelas cortas de la historia de Penric. Fantasia sobresaliente.

De camino a su desposorio el joven noble Penric tiene un encontronazo, una anciana sacerdotisa del Dios Bastardo, el más excéntrico y díscolo dios de Los Cinco, muere en sus brazos de un infarto de miocardio. Al joven le deja un legado sorprendente, su demonio, y con “ella” las memorias, conocimientos y experiencias de doce mujeres (sin olvidarnos de la leona y la yegua …) con que había convivido anteriormente. Así el joven se embarca en una vida bien diferente de la que se esperaba al despertar esa mañana: novicio, sacerdote, curandero, mago y, ante todo, eterno estudioso de la vida, los conocimientos, los libros y las personas, y en particular, de las doce, muy diferentes, personas del sexo femenino con las que ahora se ve obligado a convivir en su cabeza y espíritu.

Con un guiño a la novela picaresca, y un fino sentido de humor, los avatares de Penric abarcan además la aventura y el romance.

Sitos en “El Mundo de los Cinco Dioses” las novelas cortas que narran las aventuras y desventuras de Penric son un alarde de la literatura de fantasía, un mundo donde los dioses y varios seres espirituales pueden intervenir en el día a día con una iconografía, cultura y política muy lograda y atmosférica.

Son también, una llamada a la tolerancia.

Morbid? Certainly: Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham

Many thanks to Net Galley for allowing me to review this text prior to general release.
This is the 16th Billingham novel starring his Detective Inspector Tom Thorne as the main character. Billingham is one of the school of British crime writers who began to flourish at the beginning of this new century which also includes another favourite author Mo Hyder, .worthy successors to the likes of Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. They all have in common their exploration of the sordid, grubby underbelly of British life, and their heroes are jobbing, fragile and challenged police officers with more than a few stresses and tensions of their own, 
I was lucky to read Billingham's first Tom Thorne novel "Sleepy Head", when it first came out, and "Their Little Secret" shares with that an imaginative and grotesque central conceit which acts as the main catalyst for the crime under investigation. This is written in typical Billingham style with the first person alternating between Thorne and the main antagonist, The plot is both convoluted and ingenious, starting out apparently as one thing and becoming another, the reader, like Thorne, is misled more than once. 
The characters are generally well portrayed though I cannot help but think that Thorne's entourage, including as it does two gay characters, is somewhat stereotypical and perhaps it was because of this or perhaps because I hadn't read the immediately preceding novels, I found the parts of the story that dealt with the different tensions between them to be the less engaging sections of the narrative.
If you like your crime imaginative and intriguing and are not put off by an exploration of human weakness, Billingham is certainly your guy.

The Book to End All Books on Female Health: The Vagina Bible by Dr. Jennifer Gunter

I wish I'd had this book to hand when I was younger. I recall desperately looking for advice on cystitis as a young newly wed. Well cystitis is covered here as are periods, fertility, the menopause, STDs, hygiene, waxing, anatomical descriptions, practical advice, all dealt with frankly and openly from a feminist viewpoint, this book has it all on the things you always wanted to know about being a woman but could never quite pluck up the courage to ask that rather brusque male GP. And yes, there is even counsel for our trans sisters and brothers.

If you're a woman, get this book. If you're a guy looking for a useful gift for the woman in your life, even your mum, you could hardly give them something more useful or detailed.