Blog Archives

Fiction (Endless Bookshelf): In 1923, a century ago, Welsh author Arthur Machen was at the height of his literary reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. It had been a long path from his “horrible” juvenile poem Eleusinia (1881)(1881) and such early books as The Anatomy of Tobacco (1884) and the numerous translations of the 1880s and early 1890s. […]

Firearms (You Tube): Wow, ejecting shell makes bullet go off inside ammo box. RPG (Grognardia): Between 1978 and 1985, TSR Hobbies published eighteen stand-alone adventure modules carrying the byline of Gary Gygax, starting with Steading of the Hill Giant Chief in 1978. Because it was the first of its kind, module G1 does not include a suggested level range […]

Aviation (Aviation Geek Club): The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing […]

D&D (Grognardia): An old mantra of this blog has long been that “roleplaying games were born in the megadungeon.” By this, I simply mean that most of the earliest examples of what we would today recognize as RPGs were played in the context of exploring an immense, subterranean locale filled with monsters, magic, and mysteries […]

New (Cirsova): The Cirsova Winter 2022 Issue is Out Now! Sister Winter By JOHN DAKER On a cold night, Martin is confronted by a strange aetherial being calling itself Sister Winter! There are dangerous men looking for her, and she needs Martin’s help! Lights By LOU NORMANN On an isolated stretch of highway in the […]

Popular Culture (Isegoria): When Ray Bradbury passed away a decade ago, I remembered reading a borrowed copy of Fahrenheit 451 in one school day in eighth grade. I don’t know whether the teachers failed to notice, or they opted to show some discretion in ignoring my transgression that day. Cinema (Frontier Partisans): Synchronicity rides the Frontier Partisans […]

Cinema (Inverse): In the ‘80s, failed genre films could also come across as sweet and well-meaning (1984’s Supergirl, for example). The best example is also the biggest flop of ‘80s sci-fi flicks: Krull. 39 years ago, Krull hit theaters at a time when no one was ready for it. Tonally, Krull is like an animated Disney film from the 1940s brought to life […]

Comic Books (AIPT): Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures’ upcoming Conan the Barbarian series is getting a Free Comic Book Day comic. Announced today, the FCBD edition will kick off the brand-new ongoing written by Jim Zub and will feature art by Roberto De La Torre and colorist José Villarrubia. Free Comic Book Day will take place on […]

Cinema (Horror Obsessive): I’m a huge fan of Lovecraftian horror. I’ve read a bunch of Lovecraft’s stories, and I absolutely eat up films that riff on the themes and ideas he popularized. So from the moment I heard about Freeze, I knew I had to check out the trailer. Not only is this an obvious […]

RPG (Walker’s Retreat): If you managed to make a not-crap game, document it in a competent manner, target the right audience, and shill it to them properly then you will get attention that converts to sales- and sales that convert to an audience of users that want to give you more money. Robert E. Howard […]

Cinema (We’ve Got Back Issues): To put it bluntly, the road to Hollywood accepting that women can carry action movies has been as smooth as the back of a Stegasaurus with scoliosis, but as bad as things once were with such comic books movies spectacularly missing the point as Elektra and Catwoman, mismanaged female led […]

Gaming (Walker’s Retreat): IIOf course there’s the question of “Can I play this?” and the answer is “Yes.” This is the ruleset that Jon Mollison mentioned in his video that I posted the other day. Review (John C. Wright): Crucifixion Press Resurrects Pulse-Pounding Pulp Action In The New Anthology, ‘Shoot The Devil’: Nearly a century […]