Showing results by author "John L. Flynn" in All Categories

50 Years of Hammer Horror by John L. Flynn, Ph.D. is the follow-up book to his popular 75 Years of Universal Monsters. Hammer Film Productions was the most successful independent film company in the world. Between 1935 and 1983, the company produced more than 250 motion pictures and television shows, and their signature productions headlined theater marquees all around the globe. Those productions included thrillers, comedies, historical dramas, and science fiction. The company was best known for its series of gothic horror films.

Mention The Phantom of the Opera at a dinner party, and each guest will have his or her own vivid, almost visceral, recollection of the tale of a disfigured musical genius and his unrequited love for a beautiful, young singer. Someone will undoubtedly pantomime the famous scene from the silent era film in which Mary Philbin (as Christine Daae) sneaks up behind the Phantom, while he is playing the organ in his subterranean lair, and unmasks the great Lon Chaney, revealing his horribly disfigured face to the audience and her.

Inspector Kate Dawson is called to investigate a mass murder, a call that will change her life, and possibly the whole world - forever. Certain parents have been directed to put their children to death. They believe they are the Chosen Ones, destined by God to inherit the Earth. The charismatic leader of End Times Ministries, whose grand plan includes stoking the fires of Armageddon, has ordered parishioners to close ranks and prepare for a holy war. Kate Dawson knows this is not God’s will, but that of a dangerous, diabolical cult leader who controls the lives of his people.

I met Angelique at a Star Trek convention in 1982, and during the last 10 years of her life, we developed a truly one-of-a-kind friendship. We became inseparable, and there wasn't a thing I would not have done for her. She asked me one final favor, while she lay dying; she asked me to tell her story, warts and all. This book, which has taken 28 years of exhaustive research, is my love letter to Angelique Pettyjohn, her story of tragedy and triumph in show business.

When 2001: A Space Odyssey opened on April 3, 1968, science fiction films were not well-regarded by critics. In fact, most considered them to be juvenile, with little intellectual or artistic value. Except for a few clever efforts like Forbidden Planet and Planet of the Apes, they were mostly low budget quickies that featured lurid monsters and cardboard rocket ships.

What’s your favorite science fiction film? At the start of the new millennium, fans who attended science fiction conventions persuaded Flynn and Blackwood - a.k.a. “The Film Doctors” - to conduct a survey of the top 10 science films of the 20th century. They then embarked on a 10-year odyssey to gather thousands of fan votes. The result: a list of science-fiction films that probably contains at least one of your favorites.

Everything I Know About Life I Learned from James Bond by John Flynn and Bob Blackwood is a light-hearted but thoroughly researched look into the world of James Bond. For the adolescent male growing up in the 1950's and 1960's, 007 was everything that young men were not. This audiobook provides witty and insightful aphorisms about everyday things, ranging from girls to food and drink, cars to clothing and style, and life lessons to fun facts about culture and civilization, as reflected through the prism of James Bond, the world’s most stylish and cultured secret agent.

Thirteen-year-old Mylee is killed during a slave auction, while five other young Asian girls flee from the men who profit from selling them as slaves in the ballroom of an upscale San Francisco hotel. Inspector Kate Dawson is called to investigate the heinous crime. From what appears to be the simple murder of a sex worker, she follows the clues to human trafficking, organ harvesting, and ultimately the Asian sex trade. Then, as the date of the G-20 Summit in San Francisco draws closer, Dawson struggles to connect the lives of five young Asian women with that of the Morag Tong.

Strange, haunting, bizarre, brilliant, and transcendent are some of the words that describe Visions in Light and Shadow, a collection of short stories from three-time Hugo nominee John L. Flynn.

Life on the planet Jupiter? Former Senator Mitchell Ryan had always been told the violent, storm-tossed world was devoid of life. He had dismissed rumors of a strange life form living in the energy rich atmosphere as mere fantasy. Confronted with several mysterious deaths, sabotage, and similar acts of terrorism - possibly perpetrated by wealthy politicians who profit from the current crisis of fear - Ryan faces a dilemma that will change his life and determine the fate of the solar system forever.

Someone has a fetish for murder. Detective Kate Dawson is willing to go undercover to catch a serial killer. But this time, undercover may be exactly what the killer wants. Two very rich and powerful men in San Francisco have been murdered by a mysterious woman, nicknamed “The Angel of Death” by the press. Stephen Collins is targeted as the third victim. Naked, Collins welcomes a red-headed woman, dressed as a dominatrix, into his Pacific Heights home, and together they engage in sadomasochistic play.

For almost seventy years, Hollywood has had a love affair with marauding aliens from beyond space bent on world domination and generally making our lives miserable. In 1951, the first real alien menace was thawed out at a remote arctic outpost, and reflected our Cold War fears as that thing from another world. The call to keep watching the skies was a prophetic warning that other alien terrors would soon be coming our way. Come, they did!