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sDuring the seven centuries between our age and Valerian’s, the International Space Station has been cut loose from Earth orbit after growing to the size of a small moon. Now known as Alpha, “The City of a Thousand Planets”, it drifts through space, an intergalactic hub for humanity and its hundreds of alien neighbors, protected […]
Identifying Post-Christian Storytelling
Wednesday , 26, July 2017 Appendix N, Pulp Revolution 11 CommentsIf you have not read very much science fiction or fantasy from before 1940, then you are liable to struggle with this. If your concept of science fiction and fantasy is derived primarily from movies and television, then you will definitely struggle with this. And if Christian thought is so offensive to you that you’re […]
WARGAME WEDNESDAY: Elements of Wargaming: The Illusion of Equality (Part 1)
Wednesday , 26, July 2017 Wargames 1 CommentIn several of my previous articles in this space I have discussed how often war is fought on unequal terms, yet Wargames, especially tabletop Wargames, play things out with even forces. From the simple Risk to the more complex tournament games, the essentials of the Wargames which keep hobby shops alive through sales and events represent this navel-gazing viewpoint on […]
This game is something else! Not that it doesn’t come in for a lot of guff from the “real” wargaming set. You see, due to the command card system, you can’t always move the pieces you want. All the action might be happening on the right and you can end up being unable to respond […]
Cult Classic (noun): A movie liked only by a tiny group of unhealthily obsessed fans. Probably garbage, possibly repellent, the reason it failed commercially is usually immediately obvious to anybody who isn’t one of the unhealthily obsessed fans. See The Rocky Horror Picture Show. To be fair, cult classics are not always totally terrible. In […]
SENSOR SWEEP: Pop Culture Purgatory, Curly-toed Shoes, Low Cunning, and Good-natured Fun
Monday , 24, July 2017 Sensor Sweep 5 CommentsPulp Revolution (Kairos) PulpFail — “There are people whose lives have no other meaning than Star Wars. They are legion. And now their last common cultural touchstone is being strip-mined of all value. It’s like some kind of memetic disease. They pay people who hate them to be insulted. Delude themselves into thinking they enjoyed […]
Astounding Frontiers is a brand new magazine that embraces the pulp brand– one that promises to “evoke wonder in the way the golden age of science fiction did.” This is absolutely a step in the right direction and I have no doubts that if there had been magazines on the newsstands during the nineties even […]
One of the stranger entries in the franchise, Lupin III’s 40th anniversary special, the 2008 Green vs. Red, took a risk by not featuring its namesake character at all. Instead, it pitted two of the most iconic versions of Lupin against each other in a fight for the Lupin name, the Green Jacket against the […]
Carl Lundgren (born 1947) is an artist who you probably have seen but did not realize who he is. He started out in the mid 1970s with a post-Frazetta style for the first printings of the first two Horseclans books by Robert Adams. These covers in my opinion are superior to the later Ken Kelly […]
Do Good Science Fiction Novels Require Memorable, Powerful Protagonists?
Saturday , 22, July 2017 Authors, Book Review, Fiction 38 CommentsMy own column from two weeks ago got me thinking recently. Has there ever been a good, nevermind great science fiction novel that did not feature a strong, unique hero? We’re not considering short stories or novellas, as some don’t even have significant protagonists, but full-length works. At first, my mind couldn’t come up with an […]
Another day another nontroversy, with the usual crowd this week cheering the announcement that the next Doctor Who protagonist will be a woman and simultaneously gnashing their teeth at the mouth-breathers who aren’t ready for a Strong Woman Doctor! Meanwhile the rest of us carry on not watching Doctor Who and not caring much either way. […]
A. Merritt’s Burn, Witch, Burn is structured almost like a song. Each of the first three chapters ends with its half cadence consisting of either a grisly death or else a stunning revelation. But how exactly do you get to those thrilling crescendos…? There’s the interplay between the tough but superstitious mob boss, the speculations of […]