#David Ryall

[keycomicbooks]

Rom #1 (2016) JH Williams III Cover, Christos N. Gage & Chris Ryall Story, David Messina Pencils

#Rom #1 (2016) JH Williams III Cover, Christos N. Gage & Chris Ryall Story, David Messina Pencils "Earthfall, part 1!" WE'VE BEEN INVADED AND ONLY A SPACE KNIGHT CAN SAVE US!  https://www.rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Rom%202016.html#1  @rarecomicbooks Website Link In Bio Page If Applicable. SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA #IDW #RareComics #KeyComicBooks

[graphicpolicy]

SDCC 2024: New comic publisher Panick Entertainment debuts!

SDCC 2024: New comic publisher Panick Entertainment debuts! #comics #sdcc2024 #sdcc #sdcc24 #comiccon

After a lot of teasing and hints, Panick Entertainment makes its debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. The new publisher is “dedicated to modernizing horror and sci-fi comics for readers and rattling the status quo of genre comic storytelling.” Panick is headed by Kris Longo, the former publisher of Heavy Metal Magazine and is the CEO. Adam Schlagman, the former DC film exec is the head of studio,…

[pendantaudio]

WRITERS BLOCK 110: Rylend and David intended to have one of their standard “state of the comic union” discussions with Syzygy Publishing co-founder Chris Ryall, but - as happens with great guests - ended up with something much more fun, layered, and nuanced in the end. Special appearances by Cassandra Peterson, Syd Field, and Tyrese and Ludacris.

Available on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Samsung Podcasts, and more!

[kwebtv]

Love for Lydia - ITV - September 9, 1977 - December 2, 1977

Drama (13 Episodes)

Running Time: 60 minutes

Stars:

Mel Martin as Lydia Aspen

Christopher Blake as Edward Richardson

Sherrie Hewson as Nancy Holland

Peter Davison as Tom Holland

Jeremy Irons as Alex Sanderson

Beatrix Lehmann as Bertie Aspen

Rachel Kempson as Juliana Aspen

Michael Aldridge as Captain Rollo Aspen

Ralph Arliss as Blackie Johnson

Christopher Hancock as Mr Richardson

Patricia Leach as Mrs. Richardson

David Ryall as Bretherton

Wendy Gifford as Mrs Sanderson

[mihaisovaiala]

I am delighted to have been able to coordinate this project with Laura Bivolaru and Claudia Retegan at the 2/3 galeria in Bucharest.

Expanded Spatialities

Show curated by Laura Bivolaru

Open until 6th of October 2024

Artists: David Barreiro, Bogdan Bordeianu, John Divola, Vladimir Florentin, Ion Grigorescu, Lina Ivanova, Anton Roland Laub, Ioana Marinescu, Andrei Mateescu, Alexander Rosenkranz, Emily Ryalls, Nadina Stoica, Anca Tintea

"Expanded Spatialities" problematizes the uniform image of the globalized city, asserting the human body as a creative agent of urban space. Through photography, collage, video, performance, and drawing, the city becomes a practiced space which residents and visitors alike occupy, build, remember and imagine across history.

The thirteen exhibiting artists use the past, both individual and collective memories, and their own bodies to expand and reinterpret urban space at the intersection of fiction and reality, between cartography and psychogeography. In their practices, the political, economic, and social aspects that impact the city are brought to light, investigated, and destabilised. Thus, the image is understood as more than just a mirror of the existing space; it becomes a tangible extension of past and future possibilities.

Exhibitions shots by Alexandru Paul

The cultural project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration / AFCN

[craigsumter-justice]

My Legal Battle with my Family and their Co-horts / Co-conspirators (198):

The attached image is of an affidavit I wrote and was taken under oath on 4-2-2018 regarding a letter I received from my aunt Pamela Mckay (my mother, Gloria Sumter's sister) on Thursday, March 29th, 2018.

In this letter my aunt Pamela McKay warned me that my nephews, Alex Ryall and Jacob Ryall (my sister, Shalene Sumter's two sons), are also involved in the conspiracy involving my family, Creighton Hussey, David Scott and others. Furthermore, in this letter, my aunt Pamela McKay stated that my sister, Shalene Sumter, and her now former husband, John Ryall, were planning to have my nephew, Alex Ryall, come visit me in Atlanta, Georgia and for him to then falsely accuse me of molesting him. They were doing this to retaliate against me for seeking help when I was a teenager after being molested by my own parents, Gloria Sumter and Leonard Sumter Jr. They had hoped it would cause me to be incarcerated for the rest of my life to protect not just they but also all of the other conspiracy members.

I have searched everywhere for this letter to no avail. Obviously when my parents, Gloria Sumter and Leonard Sumter Jr., stayed at my apartment (without my permission) in Atlanta, Georgia on December 4th, 2018 and December 5th, 2018, they destroyed this letter. This is Tampering With Evidence, a felony, and violates OCGA 16-10-94(a). Since they were unaware of all the affiidavits I had written and hidden, they were unable to also destroy those.

This is also Theft by Taking and violates OCGA 16-8-2 and Theft by Deception and violates OCGA 16-8-3(a).

[ulkaralakbarova]

The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Black Beauty (voice): Alan Cumming Farmer Grey: Sean Bean Jerry Barker: David Thewlis John Manly: Jim Carter Squire Gordon: Peter Davison Reuben Smith: Alun Armstrong Mr. York: John McEnery Lady Wexmire: Eleanor Bron Lord Wexmire: Peter Cook Jessica Gordon: Georgina Armstrong Lord George: Adrian Ross Magenty Alfred Gordon: Anthony Walters Molly Gordon: Gemma Paternoster Joe Green: Andrew Knott Carriagemaker: David Ryall Job Horse Boss: Vic Armstrong Sleazy Horse Dealer: Vincent Regan Horse Dealer: Matthew Scurfield Hard-Faced Man: Sean Blowers Wild-Looking Young Man: Rupert Penry-Jones Coachman: Bill Stewart Film Crew: Art Direction: Kevin Phipps Original Music Composer: Danny Elfman Casting: Mary Selway Director: Caroline Thompson Supervising Art Director: Leslie Tomkins Producer: Peter Macgregor-Scott Editor: Claire Simpson Production Design: John Box Set Decoration: Eddie Fowlie Stunt Coordinator: Vic Armstrong Costume Design: Jenny Beavan Director of Photography: Alex Thomson Casting: Sarah Trevis Producer: Robert Shapiro Key Hair Stylist: Colin Jamison Novel: Anna Sewell Key Makeup Artist: Magdalen Gaffney Makeup Artist: Natalie Cosco Makeup Artist: Yvonne Coppard Movie Reviews:

[craigrsumter1]

Now I would like to draw some loose association with the people involved in this conspiracy and to mysterious and coincidental deaths of certain individuals. I say “loose” because I do not have all of the proof for some of the individuals, and for some of the deceased individuals, I have no proof. But it is my unwaivering belief that my family and their co-conspirators are responsible for the deaths of the individuals I am about to mention.

For the first deceased individual I would like to talk about is my uncle, Mike Sumter. The reason I know without a doubt that my family killed him is because about 7-10 days prior to his death my father, Leonard Sumter Jr., called me and told me that if I had anything I wanted to say to my Uncle Mike that I should call him. My dad then said my Uncle Mike had lung cancer and was going to die. He followed this statement by telling me that my Uncle Mike hadn’t been diagnosed with lung cancer or anything but that they all knew he was sick and would be dying soon. It was so very wierd. Well, just conveniently the day before this my Uncle Mike had called me for the first time in his entire life. I was happy to get a phone call from my Uncle Mike (he was my dad’s brother). I love family. It just turns out that most everyone in my family is pretty effed up and evil. They love to sew discord. During the phone call with my Uncle Mike, my Uncle Mike offered for he and his wife, Marsha, to meet me at my parents’ house if I made a trip to Mississippi to visit them. He seemed concerned for me or my safety it seemed but it didn’t really click or make sense at the time because I had no knowledge of anything that was going on behind my back. So I just told my Uncle Mike, who lived in Daphne, Alabama (very close to Mobile), that I could just stop by he and his wife’s house on my way to visit my parents and visit them. Again, I didn’t understand that he was trying to protect me because I didn’t know of all the evil that was taking place behind my back. Well then, my mother, Gloria Sumter, kept sending me nasty text messages and just being incredibly disrespectful towards me. I finally text messaged her back and asked her to please NEVER contact me again unless there was a medical emergency. Well, one week later is when I got the text message from my mother, Gloria Sumter, in which she stated my Uncle Mike had “fallen and [was] bleeding out of his eyes, ears, nose and mouth!” I learned he was being held at Mobile Infirmary in the NICU (Neuro Intensive Care Unit) and I immediately went to the South Fulton Parole Office, where my parole officer’s office was so that I could request a travel pass to go see my Uncle Mike in the hospital. (While on parole if you want to leave the state you have to have written permission from the parole office to where you report.) So I went to the South Fulton Parole Office and when I got there the parole chief told me that they were supposed to arrest me. I asked why? And he then stated that I had left the state without permission in June 2014. I told him that I hadn’t left the state, because I didn’t. Keep in mind, this whole “leaving the state without permission in June 2014″ was a scheme that my sister enacted to try to get me re-arrested. She’s a real POS (piece of shit), just like is most of my family. So, anyway after I went round and round with the parole chief and they withdrew the warrant for me allegedly leaving the state when I hadn’t, then they tried to tell me that I couldn’t go home to visit my parents because I didn’t have a job. They didn’t ask me if I had a job but somehow they were privy to this infomation. Remember, David Scott, fired me illegally on February 14th, 2014 after he broke into my Atlantic Station apartment and after he breached the employment contract he had with me. They only people that knew about this besides David Scott and myself were my parents, Leonard and Gloria Sumter, and my sister, Shalene Ryall/Sumter. So this means that one of these individuals had to contact my parole office and try to thwart me from getting a travel pass to go home and see my parents. Well, I replied to the parole chief, whose name I believe was Sang, that having a job was not a condition of my parole, and it wasn’t. For some people, having employment is in fact a condition of parole, but it was not for me. Then Parole Chief Sang asked me how I paid my rent. I told him that it was none of his business, that I had money saved. Because it is in fact, NONE of HIS BUS

[antonlaub]

Creatio ex nihilo (Bucuresti-Berlin: 1001 Articole), 2024/2015, chromogenic print on photo paper, 80x60 cm, from the eponymous video loop (00:01:00), 2015. Exhibition view: Alexandru Paul, 2/3 Galeria

𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀

Artists: David Barreiro, Bogdan Bordeianu, John Divola, Vladimir Florentin, Ion Grigorescu, Lina Ivanova, Anton Roland Laub, Ioana Marinescu, Andrei Mateescu, Alexander Rosenkranz, Emily Ryalls, Nadina Stoica, Anca Tintea

Curator: Laura Bivolaru

Project Coordinators: Claudia Retegan, Mihai Șovăială

Opening: September 5, 2024, at 18:00, 2/3 Galeria, Str. Franceza 4, Bucharest

September 6 – October 6, 2024

𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: Thursday & Friday: 17:00-19:00 // Saturday & Sunday: 12:00-16:00

"Expanded Spatialities" problematizes the uniform image of the globalized city, asserting the human body as a creative agent of urban space. Through photography, collage, video, performance, and drawing, the city becomes a practiced space which residents and visitors alike occupy, build, remember and imagine across history.

The thirteen exhibiting artists use the past, both individual and collective memories, and their own bodies to expand and reinterpret urban space at the intersection of fiction and reality, between cartography and psychogeography. In their practices, the political, economic, and social aspects that impact the city are brought to light, investigated, and destabilised. Thus, the image is understood as more than just a mirror of the existing space; it becomes a tangible extension of past and future possibilities.

___________________

Partners: The Institute, Revista–Arta, Photography.Influx

Graphic Design: Vlad Mat

The cultural project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN). It does not necessarily represent the position of AFCN. The AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.

-------------------------

When I moved from Bucharest to Berlin, the sight of Karl Marx Avenue (formerly Stalin Avenue) immediately reminded me of the facades of Unity Boulevard (formerly Victory of Socialism Boulevard), so that memories of Bucharest gradually became associated with Karl-Marx-Allee. These memories, sediments, layers and maps still react to each other.

While photographing, I was reminded of Cicero's story of Simonides of Ceos, who discovered a new art of memory after a tragedy struck a banquet to which he had been invited to recite poetry. Just as the poet was called outside, the roof of the banquet hall collapsed, crushing all the guests beyond recognition. But Simonides was able to identify their mangled remains for family members because he remembered where they had sat at the table. Thus was born the mnemonic method of loci - places - which associates memories with specific places.

Karl-Marx-Allee is linked to the history of the former GDR, it was the flagship project of the East German reconstruction programme after the Second World War.  It was here that the 17 June Uprising (the first anti-Stalinist uprising) was bloodily crushed by the Soviet Army in 1953.

In the 1980s, Bucharest had to pay a high price for the ruthless 'systematisation' of the city: the demolition of a third of the old historic area, including buildings in the classicist, art nouveau, modernist and art deco traditions, as well as synagogues and churches. It was one of the greatest urban destructions in the history of Romania, even compared to the destruction caused by the bombs of the Second World War. Thanks to the efforts of the intellectual elite both inside and outside the country, UNESCO was able to intervene in this urban massacre of architectural and collective memory. As a result of the international pressure, sacral buildings were no longer demolished, but the dictatorial absurdity persisted. While the population was surviving on the edge of subsistence, massive efforts were made to put entire churches on rails and move them, sometimes only a few metres from their original location: away from the streets, in the background, behind a series of new propagandistic buildings.

With the ‘systematisation’ programme and the construction of Bulevardul Victoria Socialismului (Victory of Socialism Boulevard) - today Bulevardul Unirii (Unity Boulevard) - the churches and synagogues were no longer visible from the street. They were erased from the official cityscape, but not from the memory of the locals.

[farawayeyes4]

January 5 On This Day In Fandom History

1935: David John Ryall was born in Shoreham-by-sea, Sussex, England. He played Elphias Doge in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I.

1967: The sixteenth episode of Star Trek: The Original Series season one, “The Galileo Seven,” aired.

1968: The sixteenth episode of Star Trek: The Original Series season two, “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” aired.

1996: The twelfth episode of The X-Files season three, “War of the Coprophages,” aired.

1998: The eleventh episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season six, “Waltz,” aired.

[hasbr0mniverse]

The Hasbroverse Archives - Knights Of The Solstar Order - Text By Chris Ryall and David Mariotte - Art By David Messina, Michele Pasta, and Alessandra Alexakis

[keycomicbooks]

Rom #0 FCBD 2016 Christos N. Gage, Chris Ryall & John Barber Story, David Messina & Paolo Villanelli Artist, Cover Art by Zach Howard & Nelso

#Rom #0 #FCBD2016 #ChristosNGage, #ChrisRyall & #JohnBarber Story, #DavidMessina & #PaoloVillanelli Artist, Cover Art by #ZachHoward & #NelsonDaniel "EARTHFALL: PRELUDE" He strikes from outer space... hurtling Earthward on his dead mission of cosmic vengeance!  https://www.rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Rom%202016.html#0 @rarecomicbooks Website Link In Bio Page If Applicable. SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA #IDW #RareComics #KeyComicBooks

[mylifeissuperboring]

Books Read in 2022

[2017] [2018] [2019] [2020] [2021]

January (3 books)

The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith (Non-fiction) The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (Fiction) Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire (Fiction)

February (3 books)

Still Life by Sarah Winman (Fiction) Night Watch by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) Middlegame by Seanan McGuire (Fiction)

March (3 books)

Don’t Panic by Neil Gaiman (Non-fiction) Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal (Fiction) On Basilisk Station by David Weber (Fiction)

April (5 books)

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw (Fiction) The Maid by Nita Prose (Fiction) The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova (Fiction) When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (Fiction) Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman (Comic)

May (9 books)

Deadpool Classic Vol. 12 by Victor Gischer (Comic) Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (Non-fiction) Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) Talking Dirt by Annie Spiegelman (Non-fiction) Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) This is Just My Face (Try Not to Stare) by Gabourey Sidibe (Non-fiction) The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward (Non-fiction) Half-Off Ragnarock by Seanan McGuire (Fiction)

June (23 books)

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) Orleans by Sherri Smith (Fiction) The Power by Naomi Alderman (Fiction) Good to Great by Jim Collins (Non-fiction) I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell (Non-fiction) Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Non-fiction) Delicious in Dungeon Vol 10 by Ryoko Kui (Manga) I Want to Be a Wall Vol 1 by Honami Shirono (Manga) Sorry for My Familiar Vol 3 by Tekka Yaguraba (Manga) Sorry for My Familiar Vol 4 by Tekka Yaguraba (Manga) Sorry for My Familiar Vol 5 by Tekka Yaguraba (Manga) The Daily Lives of High School Boys Vol 1 by Yasunobu Yamauchi (Manga) Penguin & House Vol 1 by Akiho Ieda (Manga) Dragon Goes House Hunting Vol 1 by Kawo Tanuki (Manga) Dirk Gently: The Interconnectedness of All Kings by Chris Ryall (Manga) Penguin & House Vol 2 by Akiho Ieda (Manga) Hina Matsuri Vol 4 by Masaaki Otake (Manga) Hina Matsuri Vol 5 by Masaaki Otake (Manga) Boys Run the Riot Vol 1 by Keito Gaku (Manga) Bad Blood by John Carreyrou (Non-fiction)

July (8 books)

Educated by Tara Westover (Non-fiction) Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler (Fiction) Bad Girls Throughout History by Ann Shen (Non-fiction) A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) How Not to Get Shot by D.L. Hughley The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders Broad Band by Claire Evans All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

August (9 books)

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) Effin’ Birds by Aaron Reynolds (Fiction) Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis (Non-fiction) Boys Run the Riot Vol 2 by Keito Gaku (Manga) Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman (Comic) How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (Non-fiction) Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) To Boldly Grow by Tamar Haspel (Non-fiction) Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (Fiction)

September (10 books)

Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) Thud! by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (Fiction) Where’s My Cow? by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) Resistance by Halik Kochanski (Non-fiction) Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett (Fiction) Boys Run the Riot Vol. 3 by Keito Gaku (Manga) The Girl with Seven Names by Lee Hyeon-seo (Non-fiction) Saving Vegetable Seeds by Fern Marshall Bradley (Non-fiction) Wild Swans by Jung Chang (Non-fiction)

October (6 books)

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Non-fiction) Wish You Were Here by Nick Webb (Non-fiction) Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) Blood at the Root by Patrick Phillips (Non-fiction) Lute by Jennifer Thorne (Fiction) Florida Woman by Deb Rogers (Fiction)

November (7 books)

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean (Fiction) We Gon’ Be Alright by Jeff Chang (Non-fiction) That Ain’t Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire (Fiction) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (Non-fiction) How to Take Over the World by Ryan North (Non-fiction) Dead Boy Detectives Volume 1: Schoolboy Terrors by Toby Litt (Comic) Backyard Farming no author (Non-fiction)

December (13 books)

Captivated, By You by Yama Wayama (Manga) Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 11 by Ryoko Kui (Manga) Our Dreams at Dusk Vol. 1 by Yuhki Kamatani (Manga) Skip and Loafer Vol. 1 by Misaki Takamatsu (Manga) The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions Vol. 1 by Narise Konohara (Manga) The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions Vol. 2 by Narise Konohara (Manga) The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions Vol. 3 by Narise Konohara (Manga) The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions Vol. 4 by Narise Konohara (Manga) Ran and the Gray World Vol. 1 by Aki Irie (Manga) Dai Dark Vol.1 by Q Hayashida (Manga) Boys Run the Riot Vol. 4 by Keito Gaku (Manga) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Other Stories by Lewis Carroll (Fiction) Sisters in Law by Linda Hirshman (Non-fiction)

TOTALS:

Books: 99 Fiction: 39 Non-fiction: 29 Comics/manga: 31

[kwebtv]

The Singing Detective - BBC One - November 16, 1986 - December 21, 1986

Drama / Musical (6 episodes)

Running Time: 402 minutes total

Stars:

Michael Gambon as Philip Marlow

Janet Suzman as Nicola

Patrick Malahide as Mark Binney

Jim Carter as Mr. Marlow

Lyndon Davies as Philip (aged 10)

Bill Paterson as Dr. Gibbon

Alison Steadman as Mrs Marlow

Joanne Whalley as Nurse Mills

Imelda Staunton as Staff Nurse White

David Ryall as Mr. Hall

Gerard Horan as Reginald

[subbyfoxelf]

[book review] aliens vs. predators: ultimate prey (2022)

(spoilers, cw: thirst, discusses themes of abuse, gendered violence, racism, slavery/colonization)

the first story of this anthology, "below top secret" by chris ryall, gives us a fictionalized[1] version of the 2019 social media phenomenon that was "storm area 51/they can't stop all of us."[2] that whole thing had to have pinged the radar of basically anyone working on any scifi franchise. it's kind of a shame that the x-files wasn't on the air anymore at that point, because i'm sure they would have referenced it.

this was a pretty fun way to start this anthology! basically one guy who's with the huge group storming area 51 splits off from the group and drags his friend who's more or less the audience p.o.v. character along. she's moreso there out of boredom and curiosity which seems like a terrible reason to break into a military base and get arrested or worse. he, on the other hand, is a serious conspiracy theorist and has been in contact with someone who supposedly works on the base and gave him codes into one of the buildings.

to his mild surprise and her utter astonishment, the codes work! and they soon find themselves in an underground research facility just in time to be caught in a lockdown due to an escaped xenomorph!

they end up in a panic room with a scientist who works there and who berates them for being stupid enough to be there. after ruling out most of the possible ways they could escape, the scientist says she has an idea and they go let a yautja out of a holding cell to fight the xenomorph. and yeah this is kinda dumb and silly but i don’t care i kinda love it? and the scientist is explaining how they should act around the yautja and she’s telling them to avoid any threatening movements and “i’d even kneel and lower your eyes” and that’s so horny, omg. i might not love the predator movies the way i love the alien movies, but the yautja themselves are equally hot af.

anyway, like i said, very fun way to start this anthology! b-rank.

i appreciate that the protagonist of “isla matanzas” by steven sears is disgusted by the british slave traders he encounters, but he’s also a spanish colonizer whose beloved home is stolen land. stolen land that acts of genocide have been committed on. so let’s not be too quick to hand out credit there?

look, i’m sorry, but if you really want to do a story about abolitionists teaming up with yautja, maybe have the slaves be the protagonists? rather than a competing colonial power? just an idea. c-rank.

“homestead” by delilah dawson is about a lady who lives on an old west ranch and has the misfortune of going into labor in the middle of fleeing a xenomorph/yautja slugfest. obviously there is plenty of unexamined settler colonialism going on here, but this is probably an alright read if you're into all this rustic pioneer type stuff and wanna see that juxtaposed with xenomorphs and yautja fucking shit up. there's some pregnancy horror stuff towards the end that was just super not for me. c-rank

"the hotel mariposa" by david barnett is about the crew of a ghosthunting show running into yautja and xenomorphs and i was already in as soon as i realized that was what was happening. and it just gets more awesome from there, with one of the ghost hunters ending up bonding with a yautja and they end up killing a xenomorph together in a moment that's weirdly emotionally cathartic for both of them, and if that's not enough they also exorcise their mommy issues together. this is also the first story in this anthology to feature extended scenes from a yautja's point of view, which is basically always a plus. a-rank.

in "planting and harvest" by mira grant, our setting is a remote botanical research station. the station's crew is composed of company scientists who have flamed out of more prestigious positions but not badly enough to get fired. when their station is attacked by xenomorphs, a nearby band of similarly disgraced yautja decides to ride in to the rescue to restore their status as hunters and escape the menial tasks they've been assigned. pretty straightforward space bullshit! c-rank.

“blood and honor” by susanne l. lambdin has a trans protagonist!! she’s a colonial marine who’s having an affair with her married c.o. and ends up being marooned on a planet infested with both xenomorphs and yautja. the xenomorphs on this planet are experiencing a civil war of sorts between two rival queens, whilst the yautja are having issues with a male hunter going around killing all the female hunters for reasons that our protagonist is never entirely able to discern.

i really liked all the interconnected conflicts going on. there’s also some interesting parallels here with all three sides experiencing conflicts within their own ranks, as well as our colonial marine protagonist[3] and the yautja she teams up with specifically experiencing gendered violence. i also love the triumphant note this story ends on, with our protagonist telling her yautja ally, “long live the queens. that means you and me.” just great stuff all around. a-rank.

you might recall that i really enjoyed how rachel caine’s “broken”[4] turned on a subversion of the assumption that artificial people are necessarily less compassionate than humans, though i was a bit turned off by its implied misanthropy. so it’s really no surprise that i loved “carbon rites” by jess landry which had similar virtues but actually went quite a bit out of its way to not be misanthropic.

the protagonist of this story is an android who does not know she’s an android, living in a simulation that she does not know is a simulation. it’s sort of like the truman show but with guns and xenomorphs and yautja. this is set in the more distant future we saw a glimpse of in alien: resurrection, and the people running these incredibly unethical experiments are the united systems military, the same people who experimented on ripley’s clone.

in these tests an android is paired up with a human and put through a deadly encounter with a xenomorph, a yautja, or presumably other alien species in a variety of environments. but this one is prematurely ended when a strike team of former victims of the experiments comes to break our protagonist out.

i really enjoyed how gradual the protagonist’s understanding of the situation evolved, and her utter horror and disgust when she found out that all the humans from the previous experiments were “disposed of” at the end of the tests. this subverts not only the expectations that androids are without emotions or empathy, but also the entire trope of the “robot apocalypse.” this story believes that if we prove ourselves worthy of it, our robot siblings can not only not be our destruction, they can be our very salvation from our mutual oppressors. a-rank.

i actually feel a little bad about skipping bryan thomas schmidt’s “drug war”[5] now, but not bad enough to go back and read it after all. i mean, it’s a fucking direct sequel to predator 2. but i did really enjoy his contribution to this anthology, “first hunt”. this story is told largely from the perspective of the yautja. there’s a bit of human perspective mixed in to give you a more grounded/horrified perspective on things, but i’d say it’s like 60/40 in favor of the yautja, which is just awesome. plus it’s just really well-written in general. b-rank.

i like “abuse, interrupted” by yvonne navarro quite a bit more than her previous story, “reclamation.”[6] as its title implies, the protagonist of this one is a domestic abuse survivor. there’s some rather explicit descriptions of what she’s been through, so do be aware of that going in. but that just makes it even more cathartic when her new yautja girlfriend fucks up her abuser. with his life hanging in the balance, the yautja looks at the human “almost as though waiting for her to protest.” our protagonist looks at him and realizes she feels “well, not much at all.” she gives the yautja a shrug, and taking that as permission she cuts him from neck to tailbone and rips his head and spine off.

this wasn’t my favorite story in the anthology or anything, it just isn’t the kind of thing i’m really looking for out of this franchise, but it was very satisfying. b-rank.

"better luck to borrow" by curtis c. chen reads a bit like a ya-style jason takes manhattan? it takes place on a class field trip on a boat, the protagonist is a little girl with a robot hand, she gets bullied a little bit towards the beginning of the story to get you in a goosebumps/etc sort of mindset, and then all hell breaks loose when xenomorphs start fucking people up and yautja show up to hunt them. this was pretty wild, i loved the clashing styles here. b-rank.

"film school" by roshni "rush" bhatia follows a documentary crew to a colony that was supposedly wiped out by a mining accident. as the story progresses you find out that the director is the only one who knew the "mining accident" is a cover story, and she's trying to find out what actually happened. which sounds like a noble enough goal, but she's clearly being a bit of a glory hound and the fact that she kept the rest of her team in the dark is just unconscionable.

anyway, given what anthology this is, you probably already have a pretty good idea of what actually happened to the colony.[7] i'm tempted to say this story is hampered somewhat by having another story in the collection with a similar setup[8] that i somewhat preferred for several reasons, but this story differed enough in what it did with the basic idea of a film crew thrown between a xenomorph/yautja melee that i think it sufficiently distinguished itself. it definitely used the documentarians as a grounded point of view to show much more of an epic setpiece battle between the two sides. so if that's what you're looking for, unlike me you might actually end up preferring this one. and i liked it quite a bit, regardless. b-rank.

in “night doctors” by maurice broaddus, the aliens and predators are not the monsters. instead, they are fellow victims with the protagonist, her brother, and who knows how many other colonists.

the villain of the piece is a sickeningly evil doctor who is experimenting on the colonists as well as several imprisoned yautja and xenomorphs. the chilling horror of these experiments are contextualized through examples of white doctors committing similar atrocities on black people throughout history.

our protagonist is an extremely race- and class-conscious black woman who at one point explicitly states in the narration that she does her best to leverage the company’s resources while consciously avoiding letting them exploit her or her people. she also acts in solidarity with the yautja and the xenomorphs to overpower their mutual oppressors.

it's just… so fucking refreshing to see this kind of class warfare be explicit within the text and dramatized through a total badass action hero lady doing badass action hero lady things and taking names. a-rank.

"scylla and charybdis" by e.c. myers is about a crew whose ship is dead in space due to sabotage. the setup here is actually pretty similar to the first few minutes of alien: covenant but with more suspicion and without the intrusive theism. eventually, a yautja ship shows up and starts hunting the crew, and the captain thinks they’ve all been killed but eventually he wakes up to discover they’re all alive and well. apparently the yautja–who calls himself keeper–captured anyone who put up a fight. they find themselves in a zoo-like prison that seems to have various “cells” containing vast, simulated environments for a variety of species being held captive there.

the captain finds out it was his own wife who did the sabotage due to political tensions between her united americas and the international body that put this mission together. there’s also a reference to some political weirdness involving korea and a bunch of different acronymed-factions that i didn’t entirely pay attention to so it might be gross imperialism? like, my assumption is pretty much always going to be gross imperialism when westerners write about korea and politics, but i can’t really say for sure and i honestly didn’t circle back to try to parse it.

i did enjoy the space disaster stuff early on, and the fact that the characters ended up essentially as “living trophies” until other yautja attacked keeper because obviously that’s not how yautja are meant to operate. and at that point a bunch of xenomorphs got loose and things got rather predictable.

overall this is a fairly middle of the road story. not great, but not bad. c-rank.

i do enjoy scott sigler’s writing style and his contribution to bug hunt was one of my favorite stories in any of these anthologies. his contribution to this one, "another mother", is apparently a sequel to an avp novel he wrote. unfortunately i do have to say that unlike a lot of the other stories in some of these anthologies that are sequels or prequels to larger works, this one does very much suffer from inaccessibility for new readers. i can tell that he put some thought into explaining his setting to new readers without overexplaining to old readers, but it feels like the scales are tilted very decisively towards the latter. consequently i can’t really meaningfully comment on this, as i don’t feel like i was the intended audience and that’s totally okay in an anthology like this. as a result i will not be rating this one.

the final story of the anthology is "kyōdai" by jonathan maberry and louis ozawa, and it expands the story of the latter’s character from the film predators (2010). specifically it is about kawakami eiji, kawakami hanzō’s brother. i liked this quite a bit more than maberry's contributions to the other two anthologies. i think a lot of that is down to the content and the fact that this is a much more character-driven piece than the other two. like his alien 3 follow-up in bug hunt it does end in a very cliffhanger-adjacent manner, but this one at least felt much more like a complete story and not like one that just stopped in the middle of setting the table. c-rank.

so, there’s our last[9] of these anthologies! overall this one was probably my favorite of the three, as aliens: bug hunt got rather bogged down with distracting continuity issues whilst predator: if it bleeds was mired in repetitive episodes of bootlicking historical narratives.

i’d say the only real big picture issue with this one is that the xenomorphs consistently get their asses handed to them, and while it oftentimes feels like the right choice for many of the individual stories, when it’s a trend that’s happening basically without fail throughout the entire anthology it starts to wear rather thin for those of us who are bigger fans of the alien side of this crossover franchise.

oh, i was excited to learn that apparently a lot of very online white dudes consider the fact that one (one!) of this anthology’s fifteen stories stars a trans woman (and mentions that’s she’s trans… once), one (one!) features a disabled character, and a few feature one or two characters who aren’t white[10] grounds to dismiss the whole anthology as “woke garbage.” the only blatantly political messaging was in "night doctors," and y'all would agree with that messaging if you weren't too effectively brainwashed with racism to see your own damn class interests.

also, leaving aside for a moment how utterly vile this attitude would be even if all 15 stories starred black disabled trans women, despite having known for years that there are people like this taking up valuable oxygen to form these thoughts and express them publicly, i still cannot, i still just really cannot wrap my head around the one-two punch of entitlement and fragility at play here. other people existing is "sjw shit." i just. what the fuck, guys?

anyway it was already my favorite of the three anthologies i read before i saw those reviews, but now it’s even more my favorite of the three just to spite you, so there.

notes

1. and drastically more successful, in that they actually attempted to storm area 51.

2. personally i was very much of the opinion that we should take that energy and direct it against ice detention centers instead, but y’know.

3. she eventually deduces that her c.o., the one who was sleeping with her, is responsible for stranding her on this planet.

4. from aliens: bug hunt, the companion anthology set in the alien universe.

5. from predator: if it bleeds, the companion anthology set in the predator universe.

6. from aliens: bug hunt, the companion anthology set in the alien universe.

7. [extremely jonathan frakes voice] what happened here? was this really a tragic but simple mining accident as the company claimed? but then, how do you explain the message from the terrified miner? are we asking you to join our hunt for the truth? or are we hatching lies in your face?

8. "the hotel mariposa" by david barnett.

9. there is another one of these anthologies, predator: eyes of the demon, but i felt my curiosity about predator-focused stories was whetted by if it bleeds.

10. there are plenty that don’t mention the characters’ races at all, but i’m sure these ghouls read those characters as white. also, you incel losers got your bootlicking in the last anthology, shut the fuck up.