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sAs Castalia House continues to grow we need another graphic design professional to help with cover typography and pre-press needs. Ideally the candidate will have a strong background in graphic design with a love of composition, type, and an understanding of the pre-press process including ICC color profiles, color conversion from RGB to CMYK for […]
I’m in the process of taking a more comprehensive look at the past 60 years of science fiction or so (ending at 2010 for now, to avoid the potential noise of the recent ebook explosion, independent press, and general diversification of the market), but an intriguing development has emerged. Some have argued that one of […]
I admit, I have a very difficult time being objective about this game. It was the first hobby game I ever bought way back when I was in the fourth grade and I just haven’t gotten over it even to this day. It quickly became a monster hit and I wasn’t the only one that played it […]
When I received my copy of Swords & Dark Magic, I had to laugh at the cover. It struck me as so clichéd with the dainty swordswoman in armor sort of like the Roman lorica segmentata hoisting a very large medieval sword. One can’t have a fantasy painting these days without a female warrior (warrioress?) […]
REVIEW: The Book of Feasts & Seasons by John C. Wright
Saturday , 10, January 2015 Book Review 5 CommentsJohn C. Wright’s latest offering The Book of Feasts & Seasons is precisely that—an offering, not of blood but of ink, a tinsel-wrapped gift presented to both his God and his readers. A couple of stories in the collection are about as heartfelt and beautiful as anything I’ve read, since, well, Awake in the Night Land. Wright […]
Evidence for the Bust Years: The Decline of Science Fiction, According to Readers
Tuesday , 6, January 2015 Uncategorized 23 CommentsI have always wanted to take a look at an exemplar of the bestselling science fiction novel from each year since 1950, and take each one’s current temperature to see if there are any measurable quality trends. It is hard to do. Aside from the historic New York Times general fiction lists, it is remarkably […]
Before I review this work, I have to be up front about the fact that I am not the target audience of this sort of product. I am perfectly happy playing vintage role-playing games like Classic Traveller, Moldvay Basic D&D, and Car Wars. I am simply not looking for a replacement for those games and […]
Sometimes your opinions get challenged. This happened recently when I received the new first issue of Worlds of the Unknown from the revived Spectre Press. This small press magazine contains the second “Elak of Atlantis” story written by Adrian Cole. Henry Kuttner wrote the original four Elak stories for Weird Tales that were published from […]
John C. Wright is the visionary author that Publisher’s Weekly called “this fledgling century’s most important new SF talent”. If you’ve had the pleasure of reading his blog, you’ll also know he is a Catholic philosopher, a Catwoman fanatic, and a senior supervillain in the United Underworld Evil League of Evil. His memory banks inform me that he […]