Monthly Archives:
sIN THE MAIL: Dungeon Grappling by Douglas H. Cole
Sunday , 5, February 2017 Tabletop Games 2 CommentsOkay, Doug and I go way back. The first time that really came up on his radar was way back when I wrote a negative review for one of his GURPS articles from Pyramid. Hard to believe that was 2011! And yeah, I was stunned when my rotten tomato was turned into a point of […]
An annoyance of mine are illustrations of stupid weapons, generally for book covers. I enjoy reading history. I enjoy reading fantasy fiction with pre-gunpowder settings. Over the years, I think most frequent readers of fantasy fiction read non-fiction works on weapons and tactics from the days of cold steel. The Osprey Men at Arms booklets […]
In response to some recent questions and reactions, some of the guys have tried to clear up a few points of confusion. Cirsova editor P. Alexander has this to say in Attempting to Define the Pulp Revolution: What It Is and What It Is Not: We are not using the pulps to recapture kitsch; we are […]
I’ve nearly finished with the Solomon Kane stories, but there’s still a lot of chew on. My most recent Howard-inspired musing flows from a line in “The Blue Flame of Vengeance.” Please excuse me as I meander a bit; of course I welcome you to join me. “While evil flourishes and wrongs grow rank, while […]
I just get so sick of them: all these “don’t need no man” characters. They are everywhere and in everything, and Rey’s “stop taking my hand” bit in Star Wars is only the tip of the iceberg. And judging from the recent Through the Looking Glass adaptation, this really is the new standard for making adventure […]
CTRL ALT Revolt! with Nick Cole: Gaming the California Secession and maybe an Anthology… Let’s Discuss.
Friday , 3, February 2017 Uncategorized 49 CommentsOne in Three Californians Want Out! So this post isn’t political. It’s about Strategery. And, maybe an anthology in the making that you get to decide the course of future historical events for. In other words: you get to shape it. Over on my Facebook Page this week I floated the “Hey! Let’s (John Ringo, […]
Short Review – You Can’t Plant Murder, by Donald Bayne Hobart + Beware! and The Black Chamber
Friday , 3, February 2017 Book Review Leave a commentYou Can’t Plant Murder by Donald Bayne Hobart appeared in the June 1943 issue of G-Men Detective. Beware! is an unattributed wartime warning. M. K. Dirigo’s The Black Chamber was a regularly appearing feature of G-Men Detective. You Can’t Plant Murder was very short and simple, so I thought I’d squeeze in a couple other […]
I can’t tell if they can’t or if they won’t. Take the Red Queen from the recent film adaptation of Through the Looking Glass. (And I use the term “adaptation” very loosely.) The Red Queen storms around shouting, bossing everyone around, threatening cut peoples’ heads off. Sounds just like the character I grew up with. […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Thursday , 2, February 2017 Book Review 7 CommentsTension, apprehension, and dissension have begun . . . Alfred Bester may have had a touch of psionic ability himself. The Demolished Man reads like equal parts hardboiled noir and cyberpunk. It’s tense and taut throughout, if it never quite matches its own ambitions. But unlike many writers who set their sights high, Bester never […]
Denki Jidai (A brief history of Japanese SF – Part 2 of 3)
Thursday , 2, February 2017 Uncategorized 6 CommentsAs we saw in part one, Japan’s rich literary history had prepared Japanese writers for the influx of European style speculative fiction in the mid-1800s, and by the end of the century the flow of imported work had reached firehose rates as the literate public scrambled to learn as much as they could about the […]
What is it that sets this book apart from virtually everything else you’ve read and every television show and movie you’ve watched besides…? Well there’s plenty, really. And I do like that they’re are plenty of warrior women here– warrior women that we’ve been told time and again shouldn’t be in the pages of a […]
In this week’s class on tabletop miniature wargaming, you are going to learn the fundamentals of building the ground over which your miniature soldiers will fight, and upon which they will bleed. You should expect to spend no more than twenty dollars for this utilitarian terrain terrain system, which will provide countless variations capable of […]