Science Fiction
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The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Title: The Day of the Triffids Author: John Wyndham Year: 1951 Publishing Details: Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc., 2003 Modern Library Paperback Edition Genre: Science Fiction Topical Category: Man-eating Plants, Post-Apocalyptic Synopsis and Background: Post-apocalyptic imaginings are a fixture of science fiction. From the hypothesized post-Martian future of War of the Worlds (1898), …
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The Plants by Kenneth McKenney
Title: The Plants Author: Kenneth McKenney Year: 1976 Publishing Details: Bantam Book, published by arrangement with G.P. Putnam’s Sons, February 1977 Genre: Science Fiction, Horror Topical Category: Man-eating Plants, Eco-horror Synopsis and Background: I love love love man-eating plants. Sadly, they are few and far between. More often they are some variants of man-killing plants…
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Man-Eating Varieties and Other Unusual Flora
During the age of discovery and afterwards European explorers all over the world sent back travelogs recording their adventures in foreign and exotic lands. Some of them were perhaps not as…accurate as the public came to believe. But the more sensational they were, the better they sold. There were tales of living dinosaurs in Africa,…
Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic, Flora Curiosa, Horror, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, Jim Endersby, Little Shop of Horrors, Man-eating plants, Orchid:A Cultural History, Roger Corman and Jim Jerome, Roots of Evil: Beyond the Secret Life of Plants, Science Fiction, Science Fiction by Gaslight, Searching for Hidden Animals: An Inquiry into Zoological Mysteries, The Little Shop of Horrors
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The Fleet and the Fluffy: Feathered Dinosaurs as Movie Monsters
In a half-remembered time a few years ago now, I had a great many rambling thoughts and feelings about feathered dinosaurs as movie monsters and wrote them down. After reading Relic I am not ready to embark on a full Jurassic Park review quite yet, but I figured I would post this here as it…
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Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Title: Relic Author: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child Year: 1995 Publishing Details: A Forge Book, Tom Doherty Associates, Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. First Mass Market Edition, January 1996 Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery Topical Category: Mutant-on-the-loose Synopsis and Background: “Doug pitched me a murder mystery set in the museum that was literally called ‘Zero at…
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Natural Selection by Dave Freedman
Title: Natural Selection Author: Dave Freedman Year: 2006 Publishing Details: Hyperion Books, First U.S. Mass Market Edition Genre: Science Fiction, Horror Topical Category: Eco-horror, Sea Monster, Animals Attack! Synopsis and Background: While Jaws (1974) spawned many imitators in the 70s and 80s, it’s position as a monster thriller was usurped in 1990 by the publication…
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The Accursed by Paul Boorstin
Title: The Accursed Author: Paul Boorstin Year: 1977 Publishing Details: Signet Classics, First Signet Printing, November 1977 Genre: Science Fiction, Horror Topical Category: Animals Attack! Synopsis and Background: Full-disclosure, I decided to read this book based solely on the cover which gave me both infant Hercules and creepy baby Voldemort vibes. From the title I…
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Orca by Arthur Herzog
Title: Orca Author: Arthur Herzog Year: 1977 Publishing Details: Original Pocket Book edition, June 1977, a Simon and Schuster Division Genre: Science Fiction, Horror Topical Category: Sea Monster, Animals Attack! Synopsis and Background: Once upon a time there was a movie called Jaws. Released in 1975, it was based on a bestselling novel from the…
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Prophecy by David Seltzer
Title: Prophecy Author: David Seltzer Year: 1979 Publishing Details: Ballantine Books, Random House, Inc., First Edition February 1979 Genre: Science Fiction, Horror Topical Category: Eco-horror, Mutant-on-the-loose Synopsis and Background: Rachel Carson published her environmental opus Silent Spring in 1962, warning about the harm done to the environment through the use of industrial pesticides. Its publication…
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Megalodon by Robin Brown
Title: Megalodon Author: Robin Brown Year: 1981 Publishing Details: PBJ Books, First Paperback Printing December 1982 Genre: Science Fiction, Horror Topical Category: Sea Monster, Animals Attack! Synopsis and Background: Before there was Steve Alten’s Meg, there was Megalodon. After the massive, mid-70s success of Jaws, many novelists (and filmmakers) wanted to get their slice of…
Lady Scientist Reads 