Bite Me, Tony

What eventually became the Alien Franchise  was unleashed in 1979 when 20th Century-Fox rolled out Alien , director Ridley Scott's seminal, cosmic space shocker that wound up making a ton of money and establishing Sigourney Weaver as a major star. For better and for worse, Alien  spawned a string of sequels, prequels and interquels  that have endured for 45 years--with no end in sight. That first movie was an edge-of-your-seat, all-out horror show lurking beneath the trappings of science fiction. James Cameron's 1986 follow-up, Aliens , striking a slightly different tone, became an even bigger box office smash than the first. A nail-biting, non-stop roller-coaster ride, Aliens  featured Sigourney Weaver in the lead role that made her famous. Her triumphant return as Ripley in Aliens subsequently netted the actress an Academy Award nomination. Realizing they were on a roll, 20th Century Fox brought back Weaver (this time, with a shaved head), and an entirely new...

After my marathon excursion into  House of Leaves  (see post from July 28), I decided to dial it back on the density and laboriousness of my next reading effort. Instead of choosing one of the unread books from the pile next to the bed, I opted to revisit a work  from one of my favorite British authors, Ruth Rendell. For those of you who don't know, Rendell, who died in 2015, was a bestselling novelist who won multiple awards for her standalone psychological thrillers, and long-running detective series featuring Chief Inspector Wexford. During her down time, Rendell also managed to be appointed a Commander of the British Empire, sat in the House of Lords (Labour Party), and was a bona fide Baroness. During her long and prolific career, Ruth Rendell produced more than 60 novels, a number of which were published under her pseudonym, Barbara Vine. Whether writing as Rendell or Vine, the author offered up a diverse and inclusive cast to help populate all her works: in additio...