Blog Archives
sWe continue reading Robert E Howard’s Conan yarns in publication order, and noting how they have improved with age. Often dismissed as a mere boyish adventure tales, adult eyes rereading these alleged boy’s stories will see depth to them.
Two thousand years ago, aliens destroyed Earth. Our fleets shattered. Billions died. The last humans fled a burning planet, heading to the stars. Today we are still refugees. Hungry. Afraid. Our enemies hunt us everywhere. So we hide. On distant asteroids. In rundown space stations. In deep caves on frozen worlds. And we dream. * […]
“KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars—Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women […]
The Disney revival of Star Wars has been riven with controversy and growing discontent. For every Rebels, there has been an Aftermath or three–and host of blogs, podcasts, and videos from fans searching for that lost feeling of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Fortunately, in the frontiers of independent science fiction, a […]
For those of you still not convinced that the old pulp magazines have far more to offer than second rate writing by hacks and literary shysters, allow me to present to you the grossly unheralded John Buchan. A Scottish author whose work mainly appeared in the British Magazine Blackwood’s Magazine, John Buchan’s novel Prester John […]
The Heretics of St. Possenti, by Rolf Nelson, presents the story of a disillusioned bishop heading off into the American backwoods to establish a monastery dedicated to the usual sorts of monkish activities. You know the kind: growing their own food, praying at regular hours, singing matins every midnight, studying the bible, learning a trade, […]
“Cally’s War”: It’s a Great Date With a Beautiful Women Who Murders You Bloodily at the End of the Night
Monday , 27, November 2017 Book Review 6 CommentsLook, I like John Ringo books as much as the next guy, maybe more. I’ve read The Last Centurion at least a half-dozen times, and read “Dark Tide Rising” more times than that. I’ve read his “Monster Hunter Memoirs” entries (co-authored with Larry Correia) twice, even buying the pricey pre-release ebooks (“eARC”) from Baen because I […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: A Place Called Hope by Daniel Humphreys
Thursday , 23, November 2017 Book Review 4 CommentsHappy Thanksgiving. If you are looking for things to be thankful for, here are a couple: Good books No zombie apocalypse (yet) If you haven’t read Daniel Humphreys’ A Place Outside the Wild, go read my review of that book. I can’t really talk about its sequel, A Place Called Hope, without spoiling major surprises […]
Jeff Duntemann’s collection, “Cold Hands and Other Stories” shouldn’t work. The works included span more than four decades of writing. His largely Campbellian style gives way to urban magic and deep looks at the role of religion in space exploration. This collection lacks a consistent voice or theme. And yet it works wonderfully! This collection of short […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: A Place Outside the Wild by Daniel Humphreys
Thursday , 9, November 2017 Book Review 2 CommentsCampbellian science fiction, especially hard science fiction, gets a hard time around here. Epic fantasy is denigrated in favor of slim sword and sorcery paperbacks. I like a good pulpy adventure as much as the next guy, but I refuse to give up on my original love, epic fantasy, or my more recent discovery, hard […]
THROWBACK SF THURSDAY: The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard, Part 3
Thursday , 26, October 2017 Book Review 10 CommentsMy blood ran fire when the deed was done; Now it runs colder than the moon that shone On shattered fields where dead men lay in heaps Who could not hear a ravished daughter’s moan. With All Hallows’ Eve right around the corner, my coverage of The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard draws to […]