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John L. Flynn

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War of the Worlds: From Wells to Spielberg by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Earth invaded by Mars! Millions incinerated by heat ray! Panic grips nation as Martian tripods advance on Washington! Remember the headlines? They said it wouldn't happen here, and then, wave after wave, the Martians attacked the Earth with a vengeance. H.G. Wells' great novel, The War of the Worlds, chronicled the first wave. Then Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast, followed by George Pal's 1953 movie. The Martians kept coming! War of the Worlds: From Wells to Spielberg is a tribute to Wells. This funny, informative and well-documented work tells the complete story of the H. G. Wells novel and those movies, shows, radio dramas, comic books, and other adaptations with accompanying photos and illustrations, factoids, trivia, and interviews. The book was recently updated to include an all-new cover and all-new material through 2019. Available for the first time, the book retails for $12, with $5.00 shipping through Paypal. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, use the Buy Now button below.
Visions in Light and Shadow by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Critics have spoken: "Strange!" "Haunting!" "Brilliant!" "Cosmic! "Transcendent!" "...this is an impressive collection of mystery and science fiction stories by three-time Hugo nominee John L. Flynn, Ph.D." For more than thirty years, Flynn's writing has captured the hearts and imaginations of people all around the world. Journey into his wondrous imagination...to the last great library where a robot librarian awaits the return of its human patrons after thousands of years...to the planet Jupiter where strange lifeforms halt the progress of a mining platform...to a nuclear-ravaged wasteland where the last survivors practice a strange ritual of cleansing...to a warm, tropical beach where a vampire stalks its prey among the Spring Break revelers...to a bizarre crime scene that stumps even the great Sherlock Holmes...and to other shadow worlds. Just about everyone seems to like his refreshingly unique fantastic adventures and the breathtaking worlds of his writing. Beautifully-illustrated, it is available for the first time in this new edition, and retails for $10.00, plus $4 for shipping through Paypal. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, use the Buy Now button below.
Intimate Bondage by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Intimate Bondage (June 2014) by John L. Flynn is the first of a series of suspense-thrillers featuring Inspector Kate Dawson, a beautiful but flawed homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department who lost her daughter in a senseless shooting with Kate's own service pistol. Now Kate has the chance to redeem herself by catching a serial killer who has a fetish for murder. In the course of her investigation, she meets John Monroe, a psychology professor with a penchant for mind games and an intimate knowledge of the BDSM community that Kate must penetrate in order to catch her killer. Within days of meeting Monroe, Kate Dawson's world is turned upside down, and she finds herself not only fighting for her own life but also the love of the professor who becomes entangled with the serial killer. Written by three-time Hugo nominee John L. Flynn, Intimate Bondage is an erotic thriller in the tradition of the great Alfred Hitchcock, with a strong female protagonist, a clever but dangerous antagonist, and a series of unnerving twists and turns that build to the ultimate shocker of an ending. The book is available from this website for $15 per book, with $4 for shipping. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, use the Buy Now button below. For Audible listeners, this book is also an audio book now.
 
Architects of Armageddon by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Architects of Armageddon (May 2017) by John L. Flynn is the second book of a series of suspense-thrillers featuring Inspector Kate Dawson, a beautiful but flawed homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department. Someone has a fetish for world destruction. 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 the will of God, but that of a dangerous, diabolical mind that controls the lives of his people. The book is available from this website for $16 per book, with $4 for shipping. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, use the Buy Now button below. For Audible listeners, this book is soon to be an audio book.
Murder on Air Force One by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Murder on Air Force One (September 2017) by John L. Flynn is the third book of a series of suspense-thrillers featuring Inspector Kate Dawson, a beautiful but flawed homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department. Someone has a fetish for murder... When Inspector Kate Dawson is called in the wee hours of the morning, little did she know what would be waiting for her on the tarmac of San Francisco International Airport. Air Force One has landed with a female reporter dead in the lavatory. Madame President and the First Man were on board with a slew of reporters and other presidential personnel. It seems someone enjoyed kinky foreplay, like having their oxygen supply limited, a gasper. It just went too far, or did they? Was she really kiled for the secret she carried? International politics, conspiracies, affairs, cover-ups, and all involving the First Family. The book is available for $16, plus $4 shipping, from the website. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, use the Buy Now button below.  
 
 
Terror at G-20 by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Terror at G-20 (December 2017) by John L. Flynn is the fourth book in a series of suspense-thrillers featuring Inspector Kate Dawson, a beautiful but flawed homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department. From what begins as the simple murder of a sex worker, Inspector Kate Dawson follows the clues to human trafficking 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 Asian women, who have presumably disappeared in Chinatown, with that of a mad North Korean Generals master plan of bringing about economic chaos in the West and his nuclear submarine playing hide-and-go-seek with fishermen in the Bay. As world leaders and economists converge on the annual summit, Dawson must prevent terror from breaking out at the G-20. The book is available from this website for $16, plus $4 shipping. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, click Buy Now below.  
 
Merchants of Death by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Merchants of Death (2018) by John L. Flynn is the fifth book of a series of suspense-thrillers featuring Inspector Kate Dawson, a beautiful but flawed homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department. When a BART subway car arrives at its destination, with twenty-four passengers all dead, Kate Dawson must find out what killed them and who is responsible for their deaths. Her investigation takes her from the treacherous back streets of Chinatown to a luxurious Chateau nestled in the Northern California hills, and from a lavish horse race track to a perilous underground lair. She is pitted against a young rival who covets her job, a twisted but wealthy brother and sister duo who deal in illegal arms and drugs, and a deadly group of U.S. Army deserters, known as Task Force Red. The story twists and turns its way through the streets of San Francisco to a thrilling climax aboard a runaway train loaded with a deadly toxin headed to Game #1 of the World Series, where the President of the United States is schedule to throw the first pitch. The book is available for $18, plus $4 shipping, through the website. For a personalized, autographed copy from the author, use the Buy Now button below. For Audible listeners, this book is also an audio book now.
 
Everything I Know About Life I Learned from James Bond by John L. Flynn, Ph.D. and Bob Blackwood, Ph.D.
Everything I Know About Life I Learned from James Bond (October 2015) by John L. 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 1950s and 1960s, 007 was everything that young men were not. He was sexually irresistible to women. He was well dressed and well groomed, socially astute, clever and witty, athletic, debonair, dangerous, and heroic. He drove the coolest cars, possessed the greatest gadgets, traveled to the most exotic places, made love to the most beautiful women, and had the most fun of any cinematic hero. Over the years, he has certainly had his rivals, from Derek Flint and Matt Helm to Indiana Jones and Austin Powers, but he was, by and far, the greatest and the best. James Bond represented everything that authors John and Bob wanted to be. And now, as they look back over the years as middle-aged adults and college professors, both realize how much Bond helped re-define their understanding of what it meant to be manly, particularly at a time in our culture when the roles of men and women were becoming so fractured and confused. Written by three-time Hugo nominee John L. Flynn and Bob Blackwood, Everything I Know About Life I Learned from James Bond 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 book is available through this website at a cost of $18, plus $4 shipping. For a personalized, autographed copy from the authors, use the Buy Now button below.
 
Future Prime: The Top Ten Science Fiction Films by John L. Flynn, Ph.D. and Bob Blackwood, Ph.D.
Future Prime: The Top Ten Science Fiction Films (October 2015) by John L. Flynn, Ph.D. and Bob Blackwood, Ph.D. Science Fiction fans have spoken! Members of the World Science Fiction Society have chosen their top ten science fiction films. Some are familiar ones; some are surprising, while still others are quite controversial. The Film Doctors, John L. Flynn and Bob Blackwood, surveyed several thousand fans to compile a list of top favorites. Over the years, our popular culture has made celebrities out of film critics like Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, Janet Maslin, Pauline Kael, and Leonard Maltin. We've endowed their "thumbs-up" acceptance or "thumbs-down" condemnation with the same sort of power that Caesars in the gladiatorial arena once had. But mainstream critics have proven time and again they just don't get the genre of science fiction. Only fans know what they like, and with this book, at last they have a voice! With accompanying photos and illustrations, factoids, trivia, and interviews, you can forget every other list! This is the one that counts to science fiction fans. The book is available through this website at a cost of $18, plus $4 shipping. For a personalized, autographed copy from the authors, use the Buy Now button below.

PDFs and Print-on-Demand Books Only

NEW! For iPAD and Kindle Users
Dissecting Aliens by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
In 1995, prior to the release of "Alien: Resurrection," John Flynn wrote an interesting and informative study of the popularity of the Alien films. 20th Century-Fox opened its vaults so that John could read the original scripts and look at the background material for Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), and Alien 3 (1993). He conducted interviews with most of the original casts, and compiled an exceptional work. The book was first printed by Boxtree Publishing in 1995, and proved to be a huge success in England and throughout Europe; a limited edition was also published in the United States. Today, the book has been updated to include material from the Predator films, the two Alien-Predator crossovers, Prometheus (2012), Alien: Covenant (2017), and other alien movies. An updated edition of this book is now available (September 2019) through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book. You can purchase a PDF version for iPAD and Kindle users below.
Phantoms of the Opera: The Face Behind the Mask by John L. Flynn, Ph.D
Gaston Leroux's famous novel The Phantom of the Opera has inspired forty-four different adaptations for the stage, television, and film. This informative and well-documented work tells the true story of the Opera Ghost, his appearances, his loves, and his tragic life. The revised and updated edition includes lots of new material from the Gerard Butler-Emmy Rossum Phantom as well as dozens of other productions that have come out in the last fifteen years since the book was first published. Dr. Flynn's latest edition is available as an e-Book version, and (as of September 2019), the revised and updated edition is also available through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book.
NEW! For iPAD and Kindle Users
The Jovian Dilemma by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Life on the planet Jupiter? Former Senator Mitchell Ryan had always been told the violent, storm-tossed, impenetrable world was devoid of life. He had dismissed the rumors of a strange life form living in the energy rich atmosphere as mere fantasy. In a solar system gone mad with civil war, the last thing he needed was an “unknown” factor to complicate his mission to supply critical energy resources to Earth and its fracturing colonial empire. But when the vain, self-serving politician actually takes command of the embattled space station, Ryan begins to learn the unsettling truth about his new assignment. With equal parts of a political thriller and a first contact story, the author weaves a tale of suspense and awe that will keep you guessing until the final page. Available as an eBook for iPAD and Kindle, and an audio book through Audible. Also, an updated edition of this book is now available (September 2019) through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book.
NEW! eBook Version for iPad and Kindle
75 Years of Universal Monsters by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
They were like Gods. Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Phantom of the Opera, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon formed a modern-pay pantheon that ruled the mythical kingdom of Hollywood. They dwelled at Universal, their Olympian-like home in the hills of northern Los Angeles. Their stories were the stuff of legend in the most successful horror films ever made. For twenty-five years, from 1931 to 1956, these famous monsters of filmland headlined box office marquees around the world. This book is a loving tribute to the immortal gods and monsters that we celebrate on this seventy-fifth anniversary of the Golden Age of the horror film. Available as an eBook for iPAD and Kindle users. Also, an updated edition of this book, which includes King Kong (2005), The Mummy (2017), The Shape of Water (2017), and the Jurassic Park sequels, is now available (September 2019) through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book.
NEW! For iPAD and Kindle Users
50 Years of Hammer Horror by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
50 Years of Hammer Horror (January 2007) by John L. Flynn 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, now termed Hammer Horror, that were produced from the late Fifties to the middle Seventies. Chief among its box office successes were new incarnations of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, the Werewolf, the Phantom of the Opera, and many others. In fact, Hammer emerged as the successor to Universal Pictures' horror film legacy. Available as an eBook for iPAD and Kindle users. Also, a second edition of this book is now available (September 2019) through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book.
NEW! For iPAD and Kindle Users
101 Superheroes of the Silver Screen by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
Since the debut of Superman in 1938, superheroes have been a ubiquitous part of our popular culture. They have dominated American comic books for nearly 70 years, and their stories have crossed over into other media. They have been featured in daily comic strips, filled the pages of pulp magazines, figured in radio dramas, appeared on television, and headlined cinema marquees around the world. In many ways, their legendary tales of courage and derring-do form a modern mythology that has deep roots in our culture, our moral and spiritual beliefs, and our whole way of life. Myths are, after all, nothing more than narratives about heroic beings that are intended to explain some broader truth about the universe and our place in it. Superheroes represent our innermost desires and ideals. They show us how we wish to see ourselves. Available as an eBook for iPAD and Kindle users. Also, an edition of this book is now available (September 2019) through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book.
NEW! eBook Version for iPad and Kindle
2001: Beyond the Infiniteby John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
When 2001: A Space Odyssey opened on April 3, 1968, science fiction films were not very well regarded by critics; in fact, most considered them to be juvenile with little intellectual or artistic value. The New York film critics hated Stanley Kubrick's epic space adventure, in part, because he defied their expectations by producing a literate work of science fiction. Ironically, their reviews didn't stop moviegoers from lining up at the box office. Very few understood what Kubrick was trying to do. Some just went for the spectacle, while many others dropped acid and waited for the light show to take them on the ultimate trip. Today, audiences have come to regard 2001 as a masterpiece not only for its technical achievements in special effects but also for its hopeful, possibly prophetic vision of the future. Three-time Hugo nominee John L. Flynn documents the production of the film, from Arthur Clarke's initial short story through Kubrick's final edit; looks at the motion picture's critical reception, and speculates on what the film was trying to say. Available as an eBook for iPAD and Kindle users. Also, a second edition of this book is now available (September 2019) through Amazon as a POD or Print-on-Demand book.
NEW! eBook Version for iPad and Kindle

Out of Print Books

Future Threads by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
This book was actually a collection of feature articles about costume design in science fiction films that Flynn had written for several prominent film magazines in the early eighties. The first four chapters were devoted to Robert Fletcher, the costume designer for the first four Star Trek films, The Last Starfighter (1981), and Shogun (1980) and subsequent chapters featured the costume design from other science fiction films and television series. Apparently, Fletcher was impressed with Flynn's costume design that he invited John to join his team at Western Costume, just off the Paramount Lot. Future Threads is regrettably out of print, but Amazon.com usually has a copy or two available for sale.
Cinematic Vampires: The Living Dead on Film and Television by John L. Flynn, Ph.D
Cinematic Vampires began life as volume one in a four-volume study of the horror film, collectively titled Cinematic Nightmares. Flynn had intended that each volume would focus on a particular sub-genre of the horror film, with volume one dealing with the Vampire film, volume two the Frankenstein mythos, volume three Phantoms and Ghosts, and volume four Werewolves. McFarland & Company only wanted one book, and thus, Cinematic Vampires was published in 1992 to coincide with the debut of Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula and the first of many vampire crazes. The book was extremely popular, and sold well in the first couple of years, especially among film fans and horror aficionados. His material on Frankenstein, Phantoms and Werewolves was later incorporated into 75 Years of Universal Monsters and 50 Years of Hammer Horror. He also packaged his material on The Phantom of the Opera in a separate book, titled Phantoms of the Opera. Today, twenty-five years later, the book is considered a thoughtful, well researched pioneering study of the Vampire film, and is liberally quoted in contemporary articles and works. The book is out of print, but individual copies may still be available through Amazon.com.
The Films of Arnold Schwarzenegger by John L. Flynn, Ph.D.
In 1993, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the number one box office star in the world, and Flynn's book on the superstar was published by Citadel Press, a major New York publisher. It went onto become his best selling work to date. Less than two years later, the book was issued with additional material, and sold even more copies. At the time when the book came out, Wendy Leigh's Arnold: An Unauthorized Biography had painted a very unflattering portrait of the bodybuilding superstar as a womanizer and Nazi sympathizer, and Schwarzenegger had sued Leigh over her allegations. Flynn's book provided balance, showing Schwarzenegger as a superstar with a heart of gold. Critic John Mort in Booklist wrote: "Flynn offers an adulatory biographical sketch, and Schwarzenegger's attitude toward his work comes through in Flynn's commentary. The best Schwarzenegger films--such as the two Conan epics--tap deep, primitive myths of warriors and their quests, Flynn says. His portrait of what went on behind the scenes in John Milius' filming of Conan the Barbarian is very good indeed. Details concerning the filming and reception of the Terminator movies, The Running Man and Total Recall are also here. Schwarzenegger the man emerges...as a shrewd, arch-conservative capitalist. Fans of the films will enjoy this." Copies of this out-of-print book are occasionally available through Amazon.com.

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This site was last updated 10/20/19.