Monthly Archives:
sIt’s simultaneously the most marvelous and the most aggravating aspect of the really old role-playing games. Every time you pick up the rule book you can stumble across something that you never saw before! Just as the latest example, in the combat example from section 2.31 of 5th edition Tunnels & Trolls, an elf rogue has […]
The Atomic Age Narrative: Broadswords and Cardboard Barbarians
Sunday , 16, April 2017 Uncategorized 11 CommentsOne of the strangest pieces of criticism on Robert E. Howard was an essay called “Broadswords and Cardboard Barbarians” by Gary Hoppenstand from a small press publication called Starwind (Spring 1976). Gary Hoppenstand edited the small press magazine, Midnight Sun in the middle 1970s. Hoppenstand published Karl Edward Wagner in Midnight Sun within the first […]
Geek Gab Featuring Author/Blogger/Gamer Jon Mollison
Sunday , 16, April 2017 Pulp Revolution 10 CommentsThis is a can’t-miss episode with gamer, Castalia House blogger, and author Jon Mollison. And all the hottest topics in fantasy and science fiction are covered: How to get your writing career of the ground… with novellas! How to claw your way to the top… without the resources of an NYC publishing house at your […]
The Strange Career of Robert Sheckley
Saturday , 15, April 2017 Authors, Fiction, Short Fiction 8 CommentsScience fiction writer Robert Sheckley was born in New York City in 1928 and died there in 2005. He lived most of the intervening years in the United States. And yet, he was never more than a moderate success in his native land. His short stories attained some popularity, with a few being adapted into […]
If there’s one topic that’s been done to death in the old school scene it’s the all around adulation they have there for the unmitigated wisdom of classic D&D’s “XP for gold” rules. And it’s no wonder, really. The older XP rules are obviously dumb. Anyone can look at them and come up with more “realistic” ways […]
John Carter of Pellucidar
Saturday , 15, April 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Book Review, Fiction 18 CommentsNot too long ago, HP of Throwback Thursday fame and I decided to both read the same book and write up our reactions. This wouldn’t be the first time for us, though this time we agreed on a book mutually and well ahead of time. Because he is a gentleman, he also offered to let […]
There Are No Good Masculine Female Characters
Saturday , 15, April 2017 Appendix N, Before the Big Three 36 CommentsOver at SuperversiveSF, Declan Finn wades into the strong female characters debate with a roundup of good and bad examples from film and television. The resulting discussion is both brisk and entertaining: Jeffro: Strong Female Characters…? Eh, no thanks. Let’s see some Feminine Female Characters. That’d really be something new! Declan Finn: [Arched Brow] You don’t […]
This short piece from real life rocket scientist is a straight-ahead “Men With Screwdrivers” story. (Note: read it here!) And yes, the details about the challenges his characters face in the harsh environment of the moon ring true. The most striking thing about that to me is that Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke still define “hard” […]
Miracle Town by William F. Temple appeared in the October 1948 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Miracle Town gives off the sort of vibe you get from those more whimsical episodes of the Twilight Zone. It uses some scientific jargon and philosophy to fuel its magical and miraculous narrative; the implausible science (which is actually […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: Who Fears the Devil? By Manly Wade Wellman
Thursday , 13, April 2017 Appendix N 26 CommentsI went to a panel at the WorldCon in San Antonio a few years back on Texas Pulp SF. Apart from the 800-lb. 1800-lb. gorilla in the room, Texans were grossly underrepresented in the pulps. The consensus was that they were writing speculative fiction, and good speculative fiction, but that it was getting published as […]
DUNGEON DESIGN: Start with the Wandering Monsters
Thursday , 13, April 2017 Tabletop Games 8 CommentsTraditionally, dungeon designers begin creating a fantasy adventure by drawing a map. (Really traditional dungeon designers cram as many rooms as they can fit onto a single piece of graph paper, but never mind that!) Then faced with dozens of empty rooms, the Dungeon Master is faced with the soul-numbing task of “stocking” them all. Most […]
The #pulprevolution is in full swing, and new cells of activity are popping up all over the place. People are writing, people are organizing, people are producing things and getting them out into the wild. It’s amazing to watch it happen, but even more amazing to participate in it, and I really hope some of […]