Blog Archives
sThe first episode of this series stumbles out of the gate, but I had to wonder… does it eventually find its stride? After all the hue and cry last time, I had to stop and think: maybe whatever it is that this series’s fans love so much comes along later and it’s worth giving this […]
The Dead Zone. A classic Christopher Walken film from 1983, featuring not just one of Stephen King’s better stories, but also a gorgeous Brooke Adams, a heart-wrenchingly beautiful Apple II, and the awe-inspiring 1970’s edition of Mastermind– they one whose cover features a cunning high powered business man doing the Mr. Burns while his sultry […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard
Thursday , 6, July 2017 Appendix N 12 CommentsHither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet. The first volume of Del Rey’s three-volume collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories is my introduction to Howard and almost […]
The Last Kingdom: Trapped in a World of Mediocre Inspirations
Thursday , 6, July 2017 Appendix N 66 CommentsI’ve heard good things about The Last Kingdom, so I decided to check it out. Judging from the first episode, it’s basically Vikings meets Game of Thrones… but without the most aggressively awful elements of each. It’s still bad, though. Now, I’m no historian. But the Christians depicted in this are just plain stupid. From […]
Easily the most controversial observation to come out of my survey of the fantasy and science fiction canon was that they pulps were (by and large) both Christian and Western in their overall outlook. And given that word for word and sentence for sentence, many of these authors have yet to be surpassed within their […]
There’s something about Edgar Rice Burroughs that just causes some peoples’ heads to explode. They short circuit. Their monocle pops off. They let slip the mask. Their skin peels off to reveal the scaly lizard flesh beneath. It’s as bizarre as it is reliable. Here’s only the latest example: The idea that pulp Sci-Fi was […]
Leaning into Leigh Brackett
Saturday , 24, June 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Before the Big Three, Pulp Revolution, Short Fiction 20 CommentsLeigh Brackett is something of a staple here at Castalia House and for the Pulp Revolution crowd at large, but I must admit it’s taken me quite a while to get to her stuff. I’ve seen Alex’s reviews, of course, and I’ve noted her constant exclusion by the “women have historically been excluded from SFF!!1” […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: The Gondwane Epic by Lin Carter
Thursday , 22, June 2017 Appendix N 4 CommentsThe full Gondwane Epic runs six books. Lin Carter apparently planned ten. I have the first four chronologically—The Warrior of World’s End, The Enchantress of World’s End, The Immortal of World’s End, and The Barbarian of World’s End (there are rather expensive copies available on Amazon; I can’t vouch for their quality). Carter really should […]
Son of the Pulps Part 3: The Wold Newton
Saturday , 17, June 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Fiction 2 CommentsWe conclude our discussion of the influence of pulp on Philip Jose Farmer with a look at his Wold Newton family. In Tarzan Alive, Farmer links his favorite British lord to dozens of fictional characters, many from the pulps, including Sherlock Holmes, Bulldog Drummond, The Shadow, Sam Spade, Nayland Smith of Dr. Fu-Manchu fame, James Bond, Professor […]
You Just Went the Full Mr. Peanut. NEVER Go the Full Mr. Peanut!
Saturday , 17, June 2017 Appendix N 11 CommentsEvery few months lately we get another round of comment from people that are concerned about the #PulpRevolution getting co-opted by infiltrators. I’m not really worried about this sort of thing. Seriously, bring up the topic of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the snake people will out themselves every single time! This post from the ODD74 boards […]
D&D History for People that Hate D&D
Thursday , 29, June 2017 Jeffro Appendix N, Comment 4 CommentsCecilia D’Anastasio is back with another D&D article that puts the early days of the fantasy role-playing hobby in the worst possible light. Save Versus All Wands has already pointed out some of the inaccuracies it contains, and I won’t go into that aspect of the piece. I’m more concerned with what this article says […]