Paul Davids, the director of the documentary The Sci-Fi Boys spurred this exploration of the afterlife after an odd encounter in a hotel room. While staying at a hote he printed a piece of paper, he then left the room for a few moments and when he returned he found what he believes was proof that his friend, the departed Forrest J Ackerman of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, had reached out him from beyond the grave. Actually, what he found was an unexplained ink smudge on a piece of paper, but this documentary would have you believe it’s proof of the existence of the conscious mind from beyond.

Personally I do believe in something in the hereafter. What exactly that is I won’t speculate on but I do hope there’s something beyond what we know, I wanna believe there’s more than just rotting in the dirt. When my younger tragically brother passed on at a young age I found myself speaking to him while I was alone in the dark, I was full of regret and mourning his death, there were so many things I wished I’d said, and I would find myself speaking these things to him as if he were there. Do I think he was present at the time, was his spirit with me, does anyone really know?

Paul Davids and a small group of true believers, scientists and friends of the departed Forrest J Ackerman would have you believe yes, there’s something out there. we have entries from respected science fiction authors Richard Matheson, Whitley Strieber, Dannion Brinkley and Michael Shermer, whom all chime in. There are also testimonies and research from scientist including Gary Schwartz, the Director of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health, here in Tucson, AZ at The University of Arizona, where I work. Schwartz in his lab attempts to communicate with the deceased through a series of yes/no questions and awaits a metered response, which proves absolutely nothing in my opinion. Seriously, until I see an apparition myself it’s gonna be difficult for me to believe, not that I do not want to, I just need a little proof.

Some of these testimonies are compelling stories, witnesses recount weird happenings that they assign to the afterlife, but c’mon now, papers falling off a chair… one time! If it weren’t for the trappings of Forry Ackerman here I don’t think I would have even given this documentary a shot, I hate shows like Ghost Hunters. I do appreciate the fond remembrances of the the world’s ultimate science-fiction nerd but as a science-based exploration of life after death the film is utterly lacking, simply stating that science cannot rule out communication from the afterlife does not prove squat.

There are 40 minutes of bonus features including audio excerpts from a 2009 tribute to Ackerman with touching tributes from Rick Baker and Ray Bradbury. There’s also a second disc featuring The Life After Death Project 2 – Personal Encounters (101 Mins) with further testimony about personal accounts of supposed life after death. I would much rather watch a documentary about Forrest J. Ackerman’s life and what he meant to legions of fans, what happened after his death is of far less interest. 2 Outta 5

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A great podcast interview Sunni and I did recently about the Beaumont documentary! Check it out!!  http://www.thetwilightzonenetw?ork.com/home/2011/8/14/charles?-beaumont-twilight-zones-magic?-man-jason-sunni-brock.html   We discuss…

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Jason
V. Brock. “Milton’s Children.” Bad Moon Books, 2012.

I
don’t know whether Jason Brock wears a hat or not. But if he does, he must have
been kept busy tipping it while writing his singularly effective novella,
“Milton’s Children.”

The
story begins, perhaps a bit oddly, with a question: “Why are you a vegetarian,
Carter?” This relatively non-horrific question introduces both a primary
character, Adam Carter (the name is highly suggestive, given the novella’s
title and the headnote from John Milton’s Paradise
Lost), and a key issue…although for several pages the ensuing dialogue
between Carter and his equally suggestively named antagonist, Chris Faust (c.f. Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, another Renaissance
disquisition on pride, sin, forgiveness, and hell) seems more a one-sided rant
than the introduction to a short story.

The
two characters cover a number of issues, although Faust is more often than not limited
to a few words or sputtered phrases while Carter is given full play for his
arguments, which include the possibility of animal communication before
broadening to incorporate pollution, global warming, overuse of antibiotics and
chemicals, and a range of additional appalling side-effects of human arrogance.
Finally, Carter asks his own question, “I mean, where does ‘evil’ begin to
enter into the picture, Faust?”

After
a brief hiatus for some necessary backstory, the tale reaches a transition
point and moderates into what is essentially a finely crafted throwback to the
Golden Age of Creature Features. One of the crew has discovered a mysterious, unknown
island, revealed only when global warming causes the Antarctic floes to recede.
Perhaps never trodden on by humans, the island offers a temptation none can
resist. They must explore it.

The first
impression the landing crew receives is of an Antarctic Garden of Eden…but as
with all great Creature Features, first impressions prove woefully,
disastrously, horrifically and bloodily wrong.

And thus
the deaths begin.

In
addition to those already mentioned, Brock incorporates layer upon layer of
allusion to strengthen his modest tale. Several are referred to by name: Jonathan
Swift and A Modest Proposal; Mary Shelley
and Frankenstein (with its insistence
on Paradise Lost as a proof text for
the creature’s moral inquiries); H.P. Lovecraft and At the Mountains of Madness; Skull Island and the various film
versions of King Kong. Others seem
more incidental, although still powerful: E.R. Burroughs’ Pellucidar series
(one of Brock’s characters is Darrell Mahar). The captain of the rescue ship in
the final chapters is Commander Merritt (c.f. A. Merritt?) and the Communications
Officer is surnamed ‘Adams,’ underscoring at least two major themes in “Milton’s
Children.”

(And
one intriguing echo—which I can’t lay this on Brock, of course, since I don’t
know what films he has watched—by the end of his story there are a number of key
resemblances in “Milton’s Children” to one of my favorite ’50s pieces, Roger
Corman’s The Attack of the Crab Monsters.)

Tying
all of these disparate threads together is the introductory note, Satan’s
speech as he surveys the newly created Earth (Paradise Lost, Book IX, ll. 135-139) and brags of the destruction
is he about to wreak on it and on unsuspecting humanity. Although it is clear from
the poem as a whole that Satan is here being self-delusive and that the Father
has in fact planned all that occurs, his words remain powerful. Like others
alluded to in “Milton’s Children”—Milton’s Adam, Marlowe’s Faust, Frankenstein,
Lovecraft’s multifold meddlers in Cosmic affairs, generations of fictional explorers invading unknown
landscapes where they have no right to be—Satan is about to assert dominion over
that which is not his…and pay the ultimate consequences.

In
total, “Milton’s Children” is fascinating. It blends elements that seem on the
surface antithetical. It encourages reminiscence even as it suggests
far-reaching, futuristic possibilities. It combines an elegant command of
language with a relatively fundamental but thoroughly enjoyable plot. It
incorporates clichéd characters and situations in ways that bring them new
life. It manages to tip its hat to perhaps a score of equally intriguing sources while maintaining its own integrity as a narrative. And all within the confines of fewer than seventy pages.

Recommended.

Jason V Brock was a guest on Cardinal Sin’s Masters of the Genre YouTube show on August 16th, 2022. You…

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