Monthly Archives:
sVIZIGRAPH: “Introducing People to the Past and Inspiring the future”
Wednesday , 15, February 2017 From the Editor 17 CommentsPenny Kenny writes in: Thanks again for putting together the varied, thought-provoking content you do at the blog. I’m not a gamer, so when I read the gaming posts, I’m always learning something. Just off the top of my head, I’m also enjoying the series about the roots of Japanese SF. Alex’s Planet Stories reviews […]
Spengler is chiefly known for his political columns, but back in 2003, he wrote an unusually perceptive article in the Asia Times about the close relationship between Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings and Wagner and the Ring Cycle. Tolkien well may have written his epic as an “anti-Ring” to repair the damage that […]
Superversive: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Romances
Tuesday , 14, February 2017 Uncategorized 28 CommentsI’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a sucker for a good romantic arc in a story. I mean, come on. I’m a Macross fan, and Macross is about three things: fighter planes in space, pop music idols, and love triangles. Don’t get me wrong; I’m here for the explosions, more often than not. But […]
Embrace The Red Revolution!
Monday , 13, February 2017 Appendix N, Before the Big Three, Pulp Revolution 36 CommentsStrong opinions piss people off. Strong opinions, expressed forcefully, piss people off even more. To those offended, I say this: Campbell, confreres, and successors have—for seventy-nine years—pumped out self-serving propaganda that paints the Pulps as worthless. Constant recitation of a litany of calumnies has succeeded in erasing not only the virtues of the Pulps, but […]
Another Class Read Out of the Meeting
Monday , 13, February 2017 Appendix N, Tabletop Games 7 CommentsYou know, I never really liked it but I kind of understood where people were coming from when they eliminated the cleric from their old school D&D games. Not everyone wants to have a flagrantly Catholic Van Helsing style archetype folded into their bizarre post-apocalyptic science fantasy weird future Mediaeval setting. People just can’t handle that […]
GEEK GAB: Terrible Teens and Terrific Tabletop Games! (Episode 86!)
Monday , 13, February 2017 Comment 1 CommentThe latest episode of Geek Gab is downright epic and you won’t want to miss it! Daddy Warpig responds to feedback on his recent posts here at Castalia House blog, Brian Niemeier responds to fears that SuperversiveSF and Pulp Revolution will become the new gatekeepers, the hosts discuss yet another example of something from before 1980 […]
Why has romance in fantasy and science fiction gotten less effective with each decade since around 1940 or so…? The SuperversiveSF crew weighs in! Check it out!
I have mentioned before that the small press is where the action is with sword and sorcery fiction. Case in point, Swords of Steel. The back cover says “Not For Wimps!” Swords of Steel came out in February 2015. I had heard about the anthology before it came out. Editor/Publisher Dave Ritzlin had an […]
The Last Redoubt passed this on to me. Yet another example of how almost nothing from before 1980 has survived translation into the twenty-first century: Once upon a time, in what used to be a far away land called Hollywood but is now a state of mind and everywhere, a young actor was handed a […]
Guest Post by Karl Gallagher: Genre and Emotion
Friday , 10, February 2017 Pulp Revolution 17 CommentsJeffro’s Appendix N crusade is smashing the idols of the SF establishment and chasing off their high priests, to the joy of readers discovering forgotten works. But one of the idols being smashed is John Campbell, founder of hard SF, and his Big Three writers. As Jesse Lucas said, there’s some irony in that: “Note […]
Short Reviews – Death by a Dusty Blade by Frank Johnson
Friday , 10, February 2017 Book Review 2 CommentsDeath by a Dusty Blade by Frank Johnson appeared in the June 1943 issue of G-Men Detective. With Death by a Dusty Blade, I’ll be wrapping up on the June 1943 issue of G-Men Detective. Not counting the Beware! feature, Death by a Dusty Blade was the shortest piece in this issue of G-Men Detective, […]
Rick Stump on the Pulps, the Hero’s Journey, and the Un-imagining of Conan!
Tuesday , 14, February 2017 Jeffro Appendix N, Comment 16 CommentsRick Stump picks up on a couple of recent topics we’ve touched on here: the abuse of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey template in film, the way the industry relentlessly un-imagines characters from before 1980, and of course… Conan: This is another reason the arc of ‘avenge my father’s murder’ is slapped onto the Conan movies; […]