Dune (2021) directed by Denis Villeneuve
Toby Frost
Dune (2021) is an adaptation of the first half of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel. The film, directed by Denis Villeneuve, tells the story of Paul Atreides, the son…
Toby Frost
Dune (1984) directed by David Lynch
Back in 1984, David Lynch made an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic Dune. It was a troubled production, and Lynch’s original version ran to three hours, which was…
The War of the Worlds – 2019 BBC Adaptation Review
Imagine you go to a concert to see a classic band perform their greatest hits. However, the band only performs some of their best-known songs, and many of those are…
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Novelist Ben Mears returns to his hometown of ‘Salem’s Lot after the death of his wife. He becomes part of local life and begins a new relationship, but things are…
One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence
In January 1986, 15-year-old Nick is told that he has cancer. He begins chemotherapy and struggles to maintain as much of a normal life as he can. But a girl…
40 Years of The Perfect Organism: Does Alien Hold Up?
Spoiler Warning! This article contains many spoilers! When I was about 15, Aliens had a reputation among my friends as a great film. It was part war movie, part science…
Frostgrave and Carnevale – Two Skirmish Wargame Reviews
In the last couple of years, tabletop gaming has become more popular. A lot of people don’t have the space, budget or playing time for vast wargames involving hundreds of…
Taking Comedy Seriously
From Geoffrey Chaucer to Raymond Chandler—and a lot of people in between—all kinds of writers have used comedy to entertain and inform in their writing. Comedy can form a useful…
Worldbuilding: More Than Just Maps
When we think about worldbuilding, we tend to think of it on a grand scale: maps of continents in the front of fantasy novels, or astral charts showing rival galactic…
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
The Dragonlance books were published between 1984 and 2011, and are a group of connected fantasy novels set in the world of Krynn. Krynn was an official setting for Dungeons…
Editing Your Writing
Editing is, in a way, the less fun counterpart to writing a novel. However, in writing fiction, the devil often is in the details, and a good edit can make…
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells
The late Victorian era was a time of new and dangerous ideas. The concept of evolution challenged traditional religious belief. The first few voices were questioning the politics of Empire.…