Monthly Archives:
sSENSOR SWEEP: The Anti-Conan, Purging Humanity, Risk-Free R&D, and Pervasive Nihilism
Monday , 20, February 2017 Sensor Sweep 15 CommentsErasing the Pulps (Hooc Ott) Tarzan in Strange Beds — “Heinlein got the idea for the novel when he and his wife Virginia were brainstorming one evening in 1948. She suggested a new version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1894), but with a child raised by Martians instead of wolves.” Role-Playing Games (Just The […]
Book Review and Interview with the Author (First in a series of book and film reviews, focusing on lesser-known works.) Too many fantasy writers fall into two categories: imitative of Tolkien, or consciously reacting against Tolkien. But once in a great while, a writer strikes out into uncharted territory. THE SEVEN CITADELS is a four-book […]
Author and game designer James Cambias explains why he uses a home-brewed alternative to the official setting of his preferred role-playing system: Why use a fantastical Earth rather than a made-up world? Two reasons: laziness and obsessive attention to detail. Laziness means I can let Google Maps, the CIA Factbook, and Wikipedia do my world-building for […]
Isaac Asimov was not a fan of action fiction. He had this to say about sword and sorcery fiction in an editorial for Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine: “I imagine that almost any male would at least occasionally wish he had biceps as hard as chrome steel and could wield a fifty pound sword as […]
Bradford Walker of Walker’s Retreat is banging the drum for today’s much ballyhooed episode of Geek Gab: Daddy Warpig, Dorrinal, and Brian Niemeier deserve all this hype for making this happen- especially adding John C. Wright after this initially being only Razorfist and Jeffro talking Appendix N and related matters. If you’re not already subscribed […]
Here, things differ. It is not as on Earth. Approach the tree naked, carrying no ax, no saw. Explain in a clear voice your sorrow, but do not use words. Sing. Our trees know music as our universal language. Perhaps there is much which cannot be expressed in such a language, but these things, the […]
You’ve seen the lists. You’ve heard the way they talk. It would go right past you if you didn’t know what to look for, but really… outside of our circles here it’s as if science fiction just mysteriously leaps from H. G. Wells and Jules Verne directly to Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert […]
We are reaching the end of our 2017 subscription drive, and while we have long since been “funded”, we are trying to expand our reader base. That is why a digital subscription to Cirsova will only cost you $1. There are a lot of reasons why you should check us out. Castalia House blog contributor Misha […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: Have Space Suit—Will Travel by Robert Heinlein
Thursday , 16, February 2017 Book Review 4 CommentsI don’t read a whole lot of YA fiction these days (or ever, really). Even less middle school fiction. And I suppose Have Space Suit—Will Travel, like The Hobbit, would be marketed as middle school fiction were it to be released today. There isn’t a love story, and a book simply must have a love […]
Another Hero – on heroism and storytelling
Thursday , 16, February 2017 Comment, Pulp Revolution 7 Comments(Note: my brief history of Japanese SF will continue next time as I track down some references.) Heroes. Who needs them! Just another holier-than-thou vehicle for someone’s personal hangups. Just another overinflated cardboard cutout, a power fantasy made flesh. Too strong, too competent, too perfect. Real life isn’t like that. Real people aren’t heroes. And […]
Humility and the Canon
Thursday , 16, February 2017 Jeffro Appendix N, Comment 22 CommentsI want to talk about humility. And I know that’s going to seem like an odd thing, but the subject does come up extemporaneously even if it’s not a common choice for the subject of a blog post. And it does relate to several other things we spend a lot of time digging into around […]