Monthly Archives:
sWARGAME WEDNESDAY: Elements of Wargaming: Rattling the Saber
Wednesday , 11, January 2017 Wargames 3 CommentsTo continue on the theme from my last article on morale, I want to touch on another area Wargames do not typically handle well–the setup. Major happenings before or leading up to a battle often determine the outcome far more regularly than the actual fighting. I was struck by this while reading Xenophon’s Anabasis, in particular […]
REVIEW: Starship Liberator by B. V. Larson and David VanDyke
Tuesday , 10, January 2017 Book Review 2 CommentsMy whole life I have yearned for epic space battles. And no, Starship Troopers and Ender’s Game are not enough to slake my thirst. Many years back when I got hold of the Honor Harrington series, I was done for. I couldn’t stop reading them! After a while I burned out. Honor was great, sure. […]
SUPERVERSIVE: Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
Tuesday , 10, January 2017 Uncategorized 2 CommentsI think I’m going to do a series on the Disney Renaissance. The logical starting point would be its beginning – which is semi-officially “The Little Mermaid”, but has seeds being laid as early as the underappreciated “The Great Mouse Detective” – but I had a lot of this written already. So, we start with “Hunchback”. […]
Fourteen of the best speculative fiction stories by Christian authors, spinning science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal genres into worlds of intrigue and delight. Featuring “Graxin” by Kerry Nietz, author of Amish Vampires in Space and A Star Curiously Singing, Mythic Orbits 2016 has something for every speculative fiction fan. Also: “Cameo” by Linda Burklin […]
SHORT FICTION: “It’s Me or the Robot” by Mark Kirkbride
Monday , 9, January 2017 Short Fiction 12 CommentsWell I sure picked the perfect time to subscribe to Sci Phi Journal. I was very pleased to receive a copy of Forbidden Thoughts as a subscriber bonus just this week! If you haven’t already, you might want to cruise on over to their website and get on board. The subscription has more than paid […]
I had mentioned two years back about the idea of an anthology of orphan sword and sorcery characters– Jirel of Joiry, Elak of Atlantis, Rald of Forthe, Prester John, Kothar etc. We have seen some characters continued by other hands, Adrian Cole has written two Elak of Atlantis stories and now we have a full-fledged […]
JUST RELEASED: Wraithkin (The Kin Wars Saga Book 1) by Jason Cordova
Sunday , 8, January 2017 Just Released Leave a commentHow far would a man go to protect those he loved? For Gabriel Espinoza, the answer was simple: to the ends of the universe. When a failed genetic test ruins his life, Gabriel and his fiancée prepare to run to a world where the laws aren’t as strict. There they could remain, in peace, for […]
The Golden Age of Science Fiction is NOT Twelve
Saturday , 7, January 2017 Appendix N, Comment 26 CommentsThere is a lot of great stuff in The Frisky Pagan’s latest post, but this part especially struck me: Q: I’ve read that the target audience of most pulps was twelve year old boys. Have you consciously ‘written down’ to your audience at times? A: Twelve-year-old boys? No, no. Kids didn’t read the pulps. Not […]
JUST RELEASED: Murphy’s Law of Vampires by Declan Finn
Saturday , 7, January 2017 Just Released Leave a commentAfter saving Brooklyn from a nest of vampires, Amanda Colt and Marco Catalano are a little banged up. He’s been given a job offer to deal with vampires in San Francisco, and it’s a tempting offer – it would get him away from Amanda, his feelings for her, and get her away from the darkness […]
People that have no idea what Appendix N really is are quick to leap to conclusions about it. Rather than reading the stories singled out on it, they instead start making up their own: The list was, instead, a collection of works that were personal favorites of Gary Gygax, and from all indications were the […]
Pa Howdy Goes Fishing by Laurence Donovan appeared in the June 1943 issue of G-Men Detective. Though much better known for his 18 Doc Savage novels, Lawrence Donovan apparently wrote several Pa Howdy stories for various detective publications through the 30s and 40s. Pa & Ma Howdy are Montana ranchers who’ve moved to west coast in […]
2016 Planetary Award Nomination: John C. Wright and Schuyler Hernstrom
Sunday , 8, January 2017 Jeffro Comment 6 CommentsIt’s time to get your 2016 Planetary Award Nominations in! Here are mine: Longer story (novels) — Without a doubt, the best novel I read last year was Swan Knight’s Son. I thought it was just me at first. I mean, surely I’m about the only person that really wants an undiluted vision of knightly […]