Monthly Archives:
s“The Little Black Train” by Manly Wade Wellman
Thursday , 15, March 2018 Book Review, Fiction, Short Fiction 4 Comments“Only thing is,” the mouth-harp man went on, “folks say the train runs on that track. Or it did. A black train runs some nights at midnight, they say, and when it runs a sinner dies.” While out on a walk, John the Balladeer is pulled into an outdoor party and asked to play. It’s […]
The debut Young Adult novel by Jay Barnson. Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, a monstrous evil rises, and the only one who can stand against it is a teen-aged witch who doesn’t believe in magic. Grieving and lost after the death of her parents, Jenny Morgan is sent to West Virginia to live with an […]
An Second Excerpt from SUPERLUMINARY: THE LORDS OF CREATION
Wednesday , 14, March 2018 Fiction, Publications Leave a commentBeing assassinated once may be an accident. Being assassinated twice is enemy action. Aeneas Tell of the House of Tell is one of the youngest Lords of Creation. His family rules the Nine Worlds through its control of the ultra-advanced technology that has permitted the colonization of the entire solar System. More gods than men, […]
In 2160, a Void Dragon ate the sun. In 2322, eight-year-old Jay Scattergood found a Void Dragon egg in his garden. Humanity survived the death of the sun, but now we’re under attack by the Offense. These intelligent, aggressive aliens also lost their sun to a Void Dragon. They lost their home planet, too. Earth, […]
SUPERVERSIVE: The Key to Strong Female Characters is Strong Male Characters
Tuesday , 13, March 2018 Superversive 21 CommentsThis is a minor update of a post originally made down at Superversive SF. I have a feeling this is going to be a controversial article. On one hand you’ll have the usual crowd of squawkers yelling that I’m a misogynist. That’s easy enough to predict. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got some link […]
Borderlands 2 is one of those games where it’s a damn shame the people who made it are such total creepos and jerks, because it really is quite good but the experience of playing it is ruined if you know anything about them. Pandora, the planet Borderlands is set on, is a crazy funhouse version […]
Sensor Sweep: A Wrinkle in Time, William Hope Hodgson, and The Shape of Water
Monday , 12, March 2018 Sensor Sweep 6 CommentsD&D (Jeffro Johnson): “This is one of the coolest things on the internet right now: Ron Edwards delves into the topic of how D&D was actually experienced by most people most of the time from the seventies on through to today’s mainline derivatives. And note: this is not about what went on in at Dave […]
Some years back, my mom had to get new insulation for the attic. She found some items of mine including some toys. One prized batch were the Marx dinosaurs. Another batch were boxes of Airfix army men. I grew up with Marx toys, their main factory was right here in Erie, PA. Among their toys […]
A few months ago, I watched Lifeforce (1985). Directed by the late Tobe Hooper, a group of astronauts unwittingly discover a colony of space vampires nestled inside Halley’s Comet. Naturally, they bring the queen, played by 20 year-old Mathilda May, back to Earth, who proceeds to run amok all over London. It’s a crazy little film. […]
New Release Roundup: 10 March 2018 – Fantasy and Adventure
Saturday , 10, March 2018 Just Released Leave a commentA knight striving to free a sorceress from her magical prison, Tesla’s lost notebooks, hushed tales about a set of forbidden stairs, and two new Doc Savage adventures charge into this week’s collection of fantasy and adventure new releases. Alien Arsenal (Full Metal Superhero #4) – Jeffery H. Haskell They don’t call her ‘Arsenal’ for […]
Short Reviews – Breath of Beelzebub, by Larry Sternig
Friday , 9, March 2018 Uncategorized 2 CommentsBreath of Beelzebub by Larry Sternig appeared in the Winter 1946 issue of Planet Stories. It can be read here at Archive.org. I’ve noted in the past that drug-use, particularly use of hallucinogens, are so prevalent in pulp science fiction that it’s a wonder that it took rock music decades to fully catch up. Sometimes […]
Over the past couple years, the marriage of tabletop and video game RPG rule with fantasy adventure novels, known as the litRPG, has been the major development shaping fantasy genres, perfectly complimenting the logical fantasy and hard magic championed by Brandon Sanderson. But where most logical fantasy stories are content to remain in the safe […]