Blog Archives
sThe terror is daimonic. The sorcery is real. But enough bullets will kill even the most dangerous supernatural operator. HAMMER OF THE WITCHES is the second volume of The Covenant Chronicles, the supernatural Mil-SF series by Kai Wai Cheah, Hugo-nominated author of Flashpoint: Titan. Hesperians loved to see themselves as the good guys fighting for the […]
An Important Predecessor to Pulp, Fantasy, and Science Fiction: The Ruritanian Romance
Saturday , 3, February 2018 Before the Big Three, Book Review, Fiction 12 CommentsI first came across the Ruritanian romance, a genre featuring adventure in a small, fictional, usually European kingdom, in Nabokov’s Pale Fire. While that version was decidedly un-heroic, as Nabokov’s tragicomic works tend to be, it still impressed me as a promising setting for a story. Later, in Philip Jose Farmer’s Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of […]
Rappaccini’s Daughter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Friday , 2, February 2018 Fiction, Short Fiction 3 Comments“For some purpose or other, this man of science is making a study of you. I know that look of his! It is the same that coldly illuminates his face, as he bends over a bird, a mouse, or a butterfly, which, in pursuance of some experiment, he has killed by the perfume of a […]
Castalia House New Release: HAMMER OF THE WITCHES
Tuesday , 30, January 2018 Fiction, News, Publications 1 CommentThe terror is daimonic. The sorcery is real. But enough bullets will kill even the most dangerous supernatural operator. The Hexenhammer underground has aided the operators of the Nemesis Program in their war against the global supernatural terror campaign, but now Hexenhammer is accused of being the terrorist group responsible for carrying out a spectacular […]
Urban Fantasy/Science Fiction: Lazy Gimmick or Legitimate Genre?
Saturday , 20, January 2018 Authors, Fiction 12 CommentsTyping “Urban Fantasy” into Google results in 7.7 million results, dozens of Wiki articles, and a slew of book recommendations, many with covers that call to mind late 90’s schlock like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. (I can hear the furious typing already…) Now, I don’t pretend to have read every popular work classified as “urban fantasy”, especially […]
‘There are girls here now, in this building, so much lovelier than I that I am humbled to think of them. No mortal man has ever seen them, except the Alendar, and he— is not wholly mortal. No mortal man will ever see them. They are not for sale. Eventually they will disappear. ‘But the […]
Castalia House Blog Picks of 2017
Thursday , 11, January 2018 Comics, Computer Games, Fiction, Games 13 Comments2017. It was the year where the wild west of indie science fiction, building on the momentum of previous years, surpassed the traditional publishers. It was the year when Marvel Comics collapsed, shuttering comics shops in its fall. It was the year when Disney divided Star Wars enthusiasts. When passion project games scored big and […]
An Excerpt from AN EQUATION OF ALMOST INFINITE COMPLEXITY
Sunday , 7, January 2018 Fiction, Publications Leave a commentWhen the devil moves in next door to Cooper Smith Cooper’s house, Cooper doesn’t know what to make of him at first. But when the unexpectedly neighborly Scratch helps the unemployed actuary find a job at a local insurance company with the help of some inside information into the activities of Death, Cooper decides the […]
Science Fiction New Release Roundup: 06 January 2018
Saturday , 6, January 2018 Fiction Leave a commentThis week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction features an intrepid reporter trying to discover the source of the bio-plague sweeping her galaxy, villainous secrets in a science theme park, and a starship of Neanderthal ancestors seeking sanctuary on Earth. * * * * * […]
Yumiko Moth has discovered her name, but she still does not know who, or what, she is. What she has learned is that her mother is dead, her master has disowned her, and her beloved has vanished. And she also knows that the Day world is a very dangerous place for a Twilight girl, especially […]
Fantasy and Adventure New Release Roundup: 30 December 2017
Saturday , 30, December 2017 Fiction Leave a commentThis week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure features an American Civil War fought with sword and sorcery, a sequel to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Moon Maid, and the return of the Shadow to audiobook in one of his most celebrated adventures of all time. * * * […]
An Excerpt from THE BOOK OF FEASTS & SEASONS
Sunday , 24, December 2017 Fiction, Publications Leave a commentWith Christmas a day away, it’s a perfect time to take another look at John C. Wright’s THE BOOK OF FEASTS & SEASONS, a collection of 10 holiday-inspired science fiction stories. This is not your average cup of Christmas tea, as a look at the story titles alone will tell you. Over the course of the year, […]