Monthly Archives:
sDungeon Grappling – Part 2, the Monster of Gravity
Thursday , 9, February 2017 Tabletop Games 12 CommentsIn my previous column, I gave an example of how Douglas Cole’s Dungeon Grappling, could be used to add tension to a combat using the classic fight scene by Robert E. Howard. In this one, I discuss an adaption of the Dungeon Grappling rules of my own devising. Disclaimer: I did back the Kickstarter for […]
Journey to the West is an astonishing film. It simply couldn’t be made here. In the first place, the Orient lacks the sort of contempt for fairytales that is all too prevalent here. Whatever force it is that impels Hollywood revise them to fit our contemporary anti-morals, fill in touching backstories for the villains, and […]
Deconstruction. For many readers, it signifies a mean-spirited exercise in demolishing a genre’s conventions by a clever-in-his-own-mind critic. However, in the culinary world, a deconstruction is an attempt to distill a dish down to its essential ingredients so that they can be arranged into a new form. For pulp fiction fans seeking to reintroduce the glamour […]
Over on Slashdot, this recent comment on Scientists Discover Evidence of a ‘Lost Continent’ Under the Indian Ocean is surprisingly reminiscent of the best pulp stories: I am from Tamil Nadu the state on the southern peninsula of India. It is very commonly believed by Tamil people there was a lost continent south of the southern tip […]
We Are Go for Secession… California Burnin’ Anthology Greenlit!
Wednesday , 8, February 2017 Uncategorized 66 CommentsTom Kratman and I have approached Castalia House with an idea put forth in this blog last week about doing a California Secession Anthology: and it’s a go!
Tabletop Officer Training Corps: The Grow or Die Edition
Wednesday , 8, February 2017 Tabletop Games, Wargames 1 CommentLast session we explored a quick and easy way to get game ready terrain for your miniature wargame. Today we’re taking things into a whole new dimension – the third dimension, to be precise. Once again, our focus will be on a few key items that add visual interest, force player choices, and won’t break […]
After discussion amongst some of the Wargame Wednesday regulars if 3D printing has come of age for tabletop wargames and due to having spent a lot of coin on figures over the years, I decided to take a look. This excellent article summarizes the evolution of the miniature gaming up to the introduction of 3D […]
You have to see this video. Razör has read all of the Elric books and all of the Elric comics and his excitement for this character is positively infectious. He intercuts interviews with Michael Moorcock, making this even more informative. He puts forward the claim that French comics have actually improved on the original stories. […]
SUPERVERSIVE Review: Bablyon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey
Tuesday , 7, February 2017 Uncategorized 4 CommentsThe Expanse didn’t initially thrill me, although it’s hard to remember that now, six books later. Leviathan Wakes— the series first book– didn’t really impress me until about a two-thirds of the way through. The first two-thirds followed a boring character (Holden) in an interesting plot arc, and an interesting character (Miller) in a boring […]
JUST RELEASED: Daughter of Danger by John C. Wright
Monday , 6, February 2017 Just Released 13 CommentsThe nameless girl does not know who or what she is. She does not even know her name. But she quickly learns that she has enemies who are trying to kill her, as well as lethal skills that no girl her age should know. And, she inadvertently discovers, she can also fly. Her only clue […]
The Great Myth of the Golden Age of Science Fiction
Monday , 6, February 2017 Appendix N, Before the Big Three, Pulp Revolution 65 CommentsHere’s the Great Myth of the Golden Age of Science Fiction: “Science Fiction sucked until the coming of John W. Campbell and the Big Three—Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein. Together they swept away the puerile garbage of the Pulps and brought about Science Fiction’s Golden Age.” This is, not to put too fine a point on it, […]
Castalia House Blog: The Embiggening
Monday , 6, February 2017 Jeffro Comment 3 CommentsWe have three more bloggers joining us in the past couple of weeks here: PC Bushi with Solomon Kane: The Original Dark Knight and Man’s Best (SFF) Friend John C. Wright with WRIGHT ON: Lost Works – The Real Buck Rogers and The Real Buck Rogers II Jasyn Jones with Star Wars Stole Pulp Bushi you’ll recognize from the Top […]