Monthly Archives:
sI have been reading Robert Bloch for over forty years. I never wrote to him like I did to Fritz Leiber, Donald Wandrei, Carl Jacobi, and Hugh Cave. I first discovered him in that all so influential anthology Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. I still like rereading a story by him from Weird Tales here […]
Sensor Sweep: Dungeon, Donald Wandrei, Tolkien Christmas Cards, Texas Wind
Monday , 25, December 2023 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentAppendix N (Goodman Games): We’ve talked a lot about Fritz Leiber, whose birthday we’re celebrating today, over the last few years. Leiber, born December 24th, 1910, is most widely known among gamers as the man responsible for the fantastic Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories. In the years running up to DCC Lankhmar, a lot of […]
I enjoy a good weird western. Somehow Richard Matheson’s Shadow on the Sun got past me when first released in 1994. The odd part is I was reading the Richard Matheson westerns and enjoyed them. Journal of the Gun Years was great, The Gun Fight was competent but nothing special, the collection By the Gun […]
Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 23 December 2023
Saturday , 23, December 2023 Uncategorized Leave a commentEvery week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp, and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy. Emergence (Terra Incognita #1) – Luke Messa During a routine territory skirmish with the Hypirions, an alien race hostile toward humans, a mysterious third party attacks. With no other options, Commander Shawn […]
SUPERVERSIVE: “Godzilla Minus One” Earns all the Hype!
Tuesday , 19, December 2023 Uncategorized Leave a commentWhat a difference a month makes. I watch nothing in theaters all year besides a few limited release Miyazaki movies and “Sound of Freedom”, and now I’ve seen three movies in the past three weeks. John C. Wright already reviewed “The Shift” and I have little to add, and I reviewed Miyazaki’s “How do you […]
Sensor Sweep: Jagged Alliance 2, Baldur’s Gate, Michael Moorcock, Endless Quest
Monday , 18, December 2023 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentEdgar Rice Burroughs (ERB Zine): Edgar Rice Burroughs admired fellow-author Jack London enormously. Following the amazing success of his own early writings, ERB’s ambition was to become a rancher-writer, modeling his life on the one that Jack London had pursued and then abruptly lost due to his sudden death in 1916. In fact, Burroughs and […]
David Drake died this past Sunday on December 10th at age 78. I had read that he had Parkinson’s disease a couple years ago. He mentioned in his November newsletter of having mini-strokes. He has been a part of my reading life the past 40 years. I first heard of him looking at the Tor/Pinnacle […]
Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 16 December 2023
Saturday , 16, December 2023 Uncategorized Leave a commentEvery week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp, and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy. Cirsova #17/Winter 2023 – edited by P. Alexander Tales of heroic adventure and daring suspense that include: Nick’s crew were a solid heist team, but their successes have caught the attention of […]
SUPERVERSIVE Review: “How do you Live?”, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Tuesday , 12, December 2023 Uncategorized 2 Comments(The original Japanese title is perfectly comprehensible when translated to English and far superior, I’m not using the stupid title “The Boy and the Heron”). After writing a full retrospective on Miyazaki’s filmography, it was quite the surreal experience to walk into a theater and actually watch a new Miyazaki movie on the day of […]
Sensor Sweep: El Borak, Raymond Chandler, D&D Stamps
Monday , 11, December 2023 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentRobert E. Howard (Essential Malady): El Borak has the distinction of being the first character created by Robert E. Howard though the stories he appeared in had a long gestation and weren’t published until Howard had already seen a number of his much better known characters in print. The historical background to these stories is […]
Atomic Werewolves and Man-Eating Plants
Sunday , 10, December 2023 Men's Adventure Magazines Leave a commentNew Texture has been producing very well made books of contents from the men’s adventure magazines including story collections, themed anthologies, and art books. The newest is Atomic Werewolves and Man-Eating Plants. This is a themed anthology of weird fiction and “true stories” from 1953 to 1966. The first three entries are non-fiction pieces. Mike […]
Sensor Sweep: Godzilla, Poul Anderson, Keith Taylor, Solomon Kane
Monday , 4, December 2023 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentPublishing (Free Press): It’s about a parallel publishing space that has risen up while the legacy publishing houses in New York have been declining thanks to a combination of threats that are both external (the internet; the upending of print) and internal (new progressive staffers; sensitivity readers; etc.). Cinema (Stephen Mark Rainey): As a diehard […]