Besides writing these reviews for This Week in Texas, he has written the books The Acorn Stories, Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, Holding Me Together, and New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio.

He also edited and co-wrote the spin-off The Acorn Gathering, a fund-raiser for cancer research. Visit his website, DuaneSimolke.Com for an excerpt and more information.

Pandemonium By Duane Simolke Feb 28, 2008

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While gay science fiction novels now seem less unusual, gay scifi fans still canʼt find many movies that combine their interests. So far, the few examples are mostly campy and low budget. One such film flies its camp flag and its made-at-home special effects as proudly as it frequently flies the rainbow flag. That film is Pandemonium, a hilarious barrage of one-liners, blue screens, and inter-dimensional battles.

Phil Connor (Brandon Grimaldi) arrives in San Francisco to work for a law firm that helps with gay causes. Besides immediately falling for the wrong guy, he also immediately picks up the wrong box, one that brings strange creatures from another dimension into our world. Opening the box also gives Phil the powers he needs to fight the creatures.

While many of the other characters seem frightened by the situation, Connor takes it in stride and basically becomes a gay super-hero. Fortunately, though, Grimaldi never covers up his handsome face with a mask.

After writing the screenplay, writer/director/co-producer Paul Jack used craigslist to find volunteers to star in the film. In fact, craigslist in-jokes occur throughout the film, along with possible titles for other gay scifi films. Poet Beware, the name of Jackʼs production company, even appears on a refrigerator door in one of the early scenes.

Jack worked with Dex Craig, who co-produced and edited the film, designed the special effects, scored the original soundtrack, and played the role of Brandon, Philʼs stalker. Craigʼs deadpan delivery makes his lines especially amusing, but all the actors obviously enjoyed their roles.

For escapist fun with a fast pace, some surprising twists, and a scary drag queen or two, Pandemonium delivers! As an extra bonus, the DVD also includes Alone, an animated film by Dex Craig that won the short film competition sponsored by Austinʼs 2006 OUTer Gay and Lesbian SciFi/Fantasy Film Festival.

Paul Jack and Dex Craig are currently working on Applesauce, an animated movie with gay heroes named Unity and Identity. Details about that project appear at http://youtube.com/user/gaymecha. Visit Amazon.Com or PandemoniumMovie.Com to learn more about Pandemonium.

Duane Simolke, author, A Science Fiction Adventure Degranon: editor and co-author of the fund-raiser The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer.

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