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sSensor Sweep: The Destroyer, Almuric, Galaxy’s Edge, Thomas Burnett Swann
Monday , 15, October 2018 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentFiction (Black Gate): There are guilty pleasures, and there are guiltier pleasures, and then there are the pleasures that have you wearing an orange jumpsuit and standing in front of a stone-faced judge with your hands and feet shackled together, wretchedly staring at the floor, unable to look anyone in the eye, so tongue-tied with […]
The Cimmerian was a one of the best Robert E. Howard small press magazines ever produced. Editor/publisher Leo Grin had the idea of a magazine that contained well edited, entertaining non-fiction articles, a few poems, and a letter section. Art, all too often bad art would overwhelm many a small press magazine. The Cimmerian had […]
Castalia House and Arkhave are pleased to announce that The Ember War comic crowdfunding campaign has reached its funding goal of $20,000. Thank you to all 317 backers who have ensured that The Ember War team will be bringing Dragon Award-winner Richard Fox’s bestselling series to life with five issues and 120 pages of action-packed […]
New Release Roundup, 13 October 2018: Fantasy and Adventure
Saturday , 13, October 2018 Just Released Leave a commentThis week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure features ancient conspiracy theories, Saxon warriors, a Comanche rescue, the ultraviolent Goblin Slayer, and Haruki Murakami’s newest novel. The Aryan Agenda (Harvey Bennett #6) – Nick Thacker Ancient conspiracy theories. Neo-Nazis. Nonstop action. Harvey Bennett and his CSO team receive a distress call from their […]
Yesterday, IndieGoGo cancelled the Alt-Hero:Q crowdfunding campaign for allegedly violating their Terms and Services. IndieGoGo has begun notifying backers and refunding contributions. If you backed Alt-Hero:Q, please check your email for a message from IndieGoGo confirming that a refund was issued. Per IndieGoGo, “refunds are issued back to the credit or debit card used to make the […]
The Xi Effect, by Philip Latham was the cover story for the January 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. For whatever reason, it was stripped out of the Archive.org scan of the issue, but if you’re a masochist, it can still be read here at Wikisource. Welcome to my Friday column, where each week I […]
When Everything is Special, Nothing Is
Wednesday , 10, October 2018 Short Fiction, Uncategorized 17 CommentsBeating up on Dungeons And Dragons Official ™ licensed works rightfully has a reputation for playing the literary criticism game with the difficulty set to “I’m Too Young To Die”. The lifestyle brand sells the books, and the community, not the actual prose, and Wizards of the Coast has only rarely made an effort to […]
Venom: Sony Should DEFINITELY Fire Their Trailer Guy
Monday , 8, October 2018 Movies Leave a commentSo I went and saw Venom. It’s a Tom Hardy movie, and he was phenomenal in Warrior and also The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Dunkirk, and so forth. He’s a great actor, but all the trailers for this film were terrible: among other things, the special effects for the Venom parasite were awful. The parasite […]
Sensor Sweep: CAS, REH, and HPL; Roger Zelazny; F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Medieval Tales
Monday , 8, October 2018 Sensor Sweep 3 CommentsFiction (DMR Books): Today would be the one hundred and fourth birthday of Donald A. Wollheim. When it comes to a debate regarding which editor had the greatest overall impact on the field of science fiction, Wollheim often gets shortchanged–in my opinion–in favor of Hugo Gernsback and/or John W. Campbell. However, that neglect pales in comparison to the […]
The days are getting shorter, cooler, and the leaves are changing colors. I generally turn to macabre fiction during October through Halloween (my favorite “holiday”). One collection that I reread portions and finished what I originally did not read is Darker Tides by Eric Frank Russell. I had bought this book as part of four […]
New Release Roundup, 6 October 2018: Science Fiction
Saturday , 6, October 2018 Just Released Leave a commentA futuristic Los Angelese skyscraper implodes, the Four Horsemen return, and the Salamander of Manticore unleashes her fury in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction. Dust & Iron (The Adventures of the Starship Satori #9) – Kevin McLaughlin Charline Foster was marooned on a desert planet during an alien attack. Taking […]
With Cirsova Submissions open, I haven’t had a chance to get started on the January 1950 issue of Astounding [which will likely be my last for some time]. So I wanted to highlight a few classic stories I’ve covered here at Castalia House. The following are examples of the sorts of stories I’m looking for […]