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sMarvel’s been carving a vast swathe through cinema history. With 19 movies released over the last 10 years, all of them inhabiting the same shared universe, they’ve built one of the most impressive and lucrative film empires in cinema history. (Even their flops are better than, say, most of DC’s offerings.) According to the best sources […]
Sensor Sweep: Ivy Frost, Rebel Songsters, Dying Earths, Tarzan, and Clark Ashton Smith
Monday , 30, April 2018 Sensor Sweep 3 CommentsPulp Fiction (Haffner Press): THE COMPLETE IVY FROST Donald Wandrei Introduction by D. H. Olson Cover by Raymond Swanland Decorated Endsheets 18 Double-page Chris Kalb-designed Chapter Spreads 700+ pageSmythe-sewn HardcoverPre-Order price: $45 Cinema (Pulp Catholic): I’m reviewing the old MCU films in preparations for Infinity War. The Star Wars fiasco of this past Christmas has me very concerned for […]
In January 1939, had you perused the magazines stands, you would have seen a new pulp magazine, Strange Stories. The magazine was published by Better Publications, the company that put out the pulp magazines with “Thrilling “ in the title. Strange Stories was a bimonthly magazine that lasted for 13 issues February 1939 to February […]
One-on-one with Shields: Upsetting the Conventional Wisdom
Saturday , 28, April 2018 Game Design, Games 3 CommentsToday’s guest post marks the return of Douglas Cole to the Castalia House blog. Douglas wrote the series Violent Resolution which appeared here as well as his own blog Gaming Ballistic. His most recent project is Dragon Heresy, a Norse-inspired fantasy RPG now in its final hours on Kickstarter. The lessons discovered in this guest post on adapting the […]
New Release Roundup – 28 April, 2018: Science Fiction
Saturday , 28, April 2018 Just Released Leave a commentRobot geneticists, grand strategists, A. I. invaders, and time-lost explorers feature in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction. A. I. Battle Fleet (The A. I. War #5) – Vaughn Heppner It came from deep space. It sent the signal. Now our computers are killing us, helping the enemy drive us into […]
The Aristocrat by Chan Davis appeared in the October 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It can be read here at Archive.org. My next issue of Astounding begins promisingly enough with Chan Davis’ The Aristocrat. While it certainly falls into the category of “thinky stories,” this one manages to strike a balance between the actions […]
When perennial loser and MMO junkie Kazuma Satou dies trying to save a girl from a runaway tractor, he finds himself in the waiting room of heaven, where, after a goddess roasts him for being an idiot, she gives him a choice. Kazuma can enter heaven, or take a continue in an MMO-inspired world as […]
Well, that was…definitely an experience. I have no idea what to make of “Kill la Kill”, an anime about evil clothing and the naked men and women who fight them. Let’s just go the standard route. Synopsis: Get ready, because this one is convoluted. “Kill la Kill” is the story of Ryuko, who has enrolled in […]
Arkhaven New Release: RIGHT HO, JEEVES #3: BERTIE AT BAY
Tuesday , 24, April 2018 Comics, News 2 CommentsRight Ho, Jeeves #3: Bertie at Bay is now available in Kindle format. BERTIE AT BAY is the third issue in the RIGHT HO, JEEVES series, which tells of the travails of the inimitable Bertie Wooster, summoned from the comforts of #3A Berkley Mansions, London to Brinkley Manor by his imperious Aunt Dahlia. Love is in the air and […]
Far Cry 5: I Was Wrong About Why It’s Bad… But It’s Still Bad
Monday , 23, April 2018 Computer Games 13 CommentsI was wrong about Far Cry 5. When I saw the first publicity photos—featuring a panoply of villains with an American flag with crosses on it—I assumed the game would be a hatchet job on Americans, Christian Americans, and gun-owning Christian Americans. Mea bad. Mea maxima bad.
Sensor Sweep: Dungeon Fantasy, Infinity War, Saber & Blood, Halo for Hire
Monday , 23, April 2018 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentRPG (Walker’s Retreat): “Geek Gab Game Night is irregular these days, but worth it when it happens. It happened today, and Dorrinal hosts both Douglas Cole and Sean Punch (“Dr. Kromm”) to talk about their new hotness: Sean Punch, also known as Dr. Kromm, works for Steve Jackson Games. He joins us along with our […]
In the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales, Clifford Ball of Astoria, New York, had this to say in the letters section (“The Eyrie”): “I have been a constant reader of your magazine since 1925, when some author’s conception of weirdness was a gigantic ape dragging a half-naked female about a jungle, and I have […]