Book Review Archives | Otaku No Culture

Examining I Want to Believe’s Investigator’s Archive

I Want to Believe, An Investigator’s Archive is a terrific read because it looks at the motivations and interests that led these people to become more than just weekend investigators.

Available to purchase on Amazon USA

I Want to Believe, An Investigator’s Archive delves into the backend that television shows rarely feature–getting to know the people. In this book by Jason Hewlett and Pete Renn, we get a down to earth interviews with various paranormal investigators from across the world (North America mostly) who are truly dedicated to this craft, and why they’ve made it their life’s passion.

To cap things off, we hear a story or two of their most memorable finds about the hereafter. They won’t send shivers down your spine, but here, you’ll get a better sense of what these people do than seeing a dramatized take on television. This book is a loose extension these author’s own YouTube series, We Want to Believe, where they investigate the occult.

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Vancouver’s Most Haunted in Review

In what Vancouver’s Most Haunted best offers are a few updated on some well known haunts.

Torchwood Editions
Available to order on Amazon USA

Although Ian Gibbs of Victoria’s Most Haunted (2017) didn’t take a road trip to explore the rest of Haunted Vancouver Island to put into a new book (it’s been tackled by Shannon Sinn), he is back examining the Lower Mainland instead! This time, he’s delving into the secrets Greater Vancouver has tucked away. Instead of always tackling the most well-known places, he went around to find other incidents in Vancouver’s Most Haunted: Supernatural Encounters in BC’s Terminal City.

I’ve looked at his first collection (review here) and it’s an enjoyable read. This latest shows how his narrative has developed over the years. When Gibbs is not telling tales of meeting the undead as one of the many guides in Victoria, BC’s Discover the Past’s Ghostly Walks, he’s working on his next Ghost n’ Bears podcast. What he enjoys the most is extoling the incident that helped shaped the transition of human to spirit. Sometimes, as with a certain “Private Home on Marine Drive,” it’s about testing the cultural mainstays of whether other ethnic cultures believe in this world or not. Kristy’s (not her real name) experience of staying at her grandparent’s luxury home is a standout. It is this chapter and another run-in at a private residence that I found the most engaging to read.

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Lugosi’s All Right in The Rise & Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula

This work by award-winning Cartoonist Koren Shadmiis a fantastic look at not only Lugosi’s career highlights but also briefly looks at the beginnings of the horror film genre in America.

Publication Date: Sept 28, 2021
Available to order on Amazon USA
Spoiler Alert

Ask anyone who their favourite cinematic version of Dracula is, and it’ll either be Bela Lugosi or Gary Oldman. The former lived under the shadow of the vampire Bram Stoker brought to life, and the latter is a man who simply upped the ante. From playing Norman Stansfield in Léon: The Professional (1994) to Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight (2008), these two performers have one thing in common, they played many types of characters throughout their life. They both suffered from alcoholism and married many times.

Goldman is lucky to not get typecast but Lugosi did. Bela’s life and times are excellently handled in the graphic novel, The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula. We see something of his young life, how his father hated his decision to become an actor, his work before and after Dracula, and how he never got the recognition he truly deserved. His private life became a thing for tabloids to play up.

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Breaking Barriers with Rock Critic Confidential

But to know this man means reading his autobiography, which makes up part of why Rock Critic Confidential is essential reading. One detail I greatly appreciated is the index featuring a list of the musicians he’s photographed on stage.

Rock Critic Confidential: Morgan, Jeffrey — **Released: June 28, 2021**
New Haven Publishing Ltd
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

Canada’s best known rock critic Jeffrey Morgan has a secret. Not everything he’s written or published in the past can be retrieved. He’s been in the business of covering the music scene since 1964, and he has a style that many people, musicians included, like. In Rock Critic Confidential, we see how he made a name for himself and has a way of getting his interviewees to open up. It’s funny to think his first career goal was to write for comics (more on this later).

Rock Critic Confidential is a salacious tell-all lands as a hardcover coffee-table book and reading it is a wonderful trip through memory lane—especially when those big names were just getting their start. The distinguishing feature in the book is how readers get to learn something they may not have known. Was it hearsay or from someone in the know? Within this book are his “interrogations” with Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Meatloaf, Nash The Slash and many more.

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Korra: The Art of the Animated Series Gets More Than a Second Wind…

As for what this book offers is additional artwork. There’s twelve chapters, and while the first half is familiar content, it’s the last sections I enjoyed flipping through the most. “Skeletons in the Closet” has information about the darker aspects of this universe. We learn about blood bending and even more production design pages to admire.

Vancouver's Most Haunted By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Dark Horse Comics
Available March 10th, 2021

Click here to order on Amazon USA

The difference between the previous release of The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series–Book One: Air and the new is that it’s almost double the size. This book is enormous! Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have a lot to say, and this edition could not be any more timely with the big news about Nickelodeon’s Avatar Studios opening shop to expand the universe!

Anyone wanting to read about the production process for making Korra is in for a treat. These two creators cover a lot of ground in short expositions instead of a lengthy essay. There’s plenty more they can say, and anyone needing to catch up can also purchase the revised edition of The Last Airbender. Preview pages can be found on Dark Horse Comics’ website.

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One Man’s Journey Into the Paranormal in this Book Review…

Jason Hewlett and Peter Renn share a passion. Each of them had a paranormal experience which defined why they are heavily invested in figuring out what the afterlife is about. This intro is necessary because when we don’t know the personalities–personal problems et al–then why follow their cases?

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Beyond the Fray Publishing
Spoiler Alert

I Want To Believe: One Man’s Journey Into The Paranormal is more like two. The title may well have some people curious, because the meme is straight from X-Files. We can blame the UFO poster Mulder had in his office in the tv show, The X-Files.

In Jason Hewlett‘s case, I imagine the poster in his office is either The Others or Changeling. He’s a Kamloops-based film critic, reporter and radio producer whose lifelong passion for the paranormal has taken him down many roads. In this book’s case, perhaps it’s to give a realistic view of what goes on in paranormal investigations. This primary author’s journalism skill serves him well, as the details are told matter of fact. He’s interviewed his friend, Peter Renn, who’s now the leader of Canadian Paranormal Foundation. He was formerly with the Vancouver Paranormal Society, but has recently passed the reins since he’s relocated to the interior of British Columbia.

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