Monthly Archives:
sREVIEW: Cottage in the Woods by Gisele Peterson
Wednesday , 12, April 2017 Short Fiction 18 CommentsOne of things Sci Phi Journal does with their stories is append a little “Food for Thought” section at the end where they unpack a little of the point of the story. I think this is a little bit risky, personally. After all, there are plenty of people that will read a story and enjoy […]
A Fever-Dream Quest of Grab-Your-Infogalactic Kadath
Wednesday , 12, April 2017 Book Review, Short Fiction 7 CommentsThe works of H. P. Lovecraft are often imitated, but never reproduced and certainly never surpassed. It’s a rare sort of genius that can launch an entirely new genre of literature, and rarer still is the genius whose imitators so consistently fail to improve upon his works. In the decades since the great old one […]
GUEST POST: Rick Stump on the Dawn of Sword & Sorcery
Tuesday , 11, April 2017 Appendix N, Short Fiction 12 CommentsMy take on Conan is just a little different than that of some others, as can be seen here. But I want to look a bit more closely at the actual stories of Conan to see why they are some of the most influential and popular works of the last 80+ years. As I have […]
Aaron B. writes in with a question: “Okay, that frequency of deaths is new to me, so I’m intrigued. I really like this idea of not seeing a new character as a hero with a destiny that the player is immediately attached to. As a practical matter, though, what do you do when it happens? […]
Bradford C. Walker on Excessive Mechanics in RPGs
Tuesday , 11, April 2017 Tabletop Games 32 CommentsOver at Walker’s Retreat, Bradford Walker calls out a trend away from role-playing towards a more rules-oriented style of play he characterizes as “piloting the mech”: As this phenomenon accelerated, more and more people abandoned TRPGs for videogame counterparts because videogames did all of the mechanical operations better, faster, and with better visualization…. Meanwhile, the real […]
Audaciously Weird: my favorite kind of SF story
Tuesday , 11, April 2017 Short Fiction, Uncategorized 12 CommentsYou know the type. It’s the kind of story that takes a crazy, dream-logic premise and runs with it. The most famous example is “Scanners Live in Vain” by Cordwainer Smith. “Martel was angry. He did not even adjust his blood away from anger.” And then there’s “Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall” by Frank […]
900 WORDS OF EPIC RANT THE LIKES OF WHICH THE WORLD HAS SELDOM SEEN!
Monday , 10, April 2017 Book Review, Computer Games, Pulp Revolution 12 CommentsYES! It’s blog post time, time for me to crank out 900 words of scintillating prose in the form of a scathing review, a brutal editorial, or a brilliant and inspiring speech calling for the brave Pulp Revolutionaries to storm the citadel of Tradpub and cast down their Golden Idols. Hey, I’m Daddy Warpig—it’s what […]
Pulp Revolutionaries Discuss a Superversive Critique of Sword & Flower
Monday , 10, April 2017 Pulp Revolution, Short Fiction, Superversive 11 CommentsOver at the SuperversiveSF blog Castalia House blogger Anthony M has a couple posts breaking down his criticism of Castalia House blogger Rawle Nyanzi’s anime-fueled pulp story “Sword & Flower”. Now, there’s enough of a fundamental disagreement here that neither side is ever going to completely agree with the other. But for people on the […]
SENSOR SWEEP: Disparaging Implications, Penetrating Philosophy, Dirdir Heaven, and Straight-up Adventure
Monday , 10, April 2017 Sensor Sweep 11 CommentsD&D (Autarch) Alien Technology in BCK, Or “Science Fantasy is Best Fantasy!” — “The primitive mortal residents of Kanahu have little understanding of the nature of the alien contraptions carried by the mysterious visitors. Before they can use a piece of alien technology, they must first understand what it is. This carries risks far greater than […]
Peter Dell’Orto has an interesting observation over at Dungeon Fantastic: “We tend to discuss campaigns as if they belong to the GM. Peter’s game. Chris’s game. Gary’s game. That guy at the hobby shop’s game. But you’ll get people who say, no, it’s not the GM’s game. It’s the players’ game. If you as the […]
The JimFear138 Podcast with Special Guest Jon Mollison!
Sunday , 9, April 2017 Pulp Revolution 9 CommentsOkay, this one‘s been in the works for what’s seemed like ages. It has now arrived at this webzone! Fire up a plate of pizza rolls and tune into this monster podcast that weighs in at well over two hours. Hear more about Sudden Rescue and Sword and Flower. Discover astonishing insights into the genesis […]
The Atomic Age Narrative: Galactic Empires
Sunday , 9, April 2017 Fiction, Short Fiction, Uncategorized 13 Comments“Campbell saw man as a tool-making animal.”-Brian W. Aldiss Brian W. Aldiss (born 1925) edited some of my favorite science fiction anthologies. I have read a little bit of Aldiss’ fiction but not much. I do respect the guy because he was in the British Army in Burma in World War 2 in Gen. William’s […]