Blog Archives
sPulp Revolutionaries Discuss a Superversive Critique of Sword & Flower
Monday , 10, April 2017 Pulp Revolution, Short Fiction, Superversive 11 CommentsOver at the SuperversiveSF blog Castalia House blogger Anthony M has a couple posts breaking down his criticism of Castalia House blogger Rawle Nyanzi’s anime-fueled pulp story “Sword & Flower”. Now, there’s enough of a fundamental disagreement here that neither side is ever going to completely agree with the other. But for people on the […]
The Atomic Age Narrative: Galactic Empires
Sunday , 9, April 2017 Fiction, Short Fiction, Uncategorized 13 Comments“Campbell saw man as a tool-making animal.”-Brian W. Aldiss Brian W. Aldiss (born 1925) edited some of my favorite science fiction anthologies. I have read a little bit of Aldiss’ fiction but not much. I do respect the guy because he was in the British Army in Burma in World War 2 in Gen. William’s […]
REVIEW: Darla of Deodanth by Louise Sorensen
Friday , 7, April 2017 Pulp Revolution, Short Fiction 6 CommentsWell there’s no way around it. And it’s not like I wasn’t tipped off about this via the exquisite Ben Rodriguez cover depicting a hot adventure-girl in a fungus-filled room with a stock standard Lovcraftian horror tentacle waving at her– and gosh, her torch. What is up with that torch made out of a human […]
This is the one case in short science fiction and fantasy fiction where the author has already delivered that last word on the critical assessment of his own material. Considering this: “The Prolapsing Empire is a Hugo Award worthy short story – about 6,500 words – featuring blunt force political message draped with a thin […]
REVIEW: A Kiss for the Mirrorman by Adrian Cole
Wednesday , 5, April 2017 Pulp Revolution, Short Fiction 8 CommentsOkay, this one’s just plain nuts. Is it a superhero tale? A dystopian cyberpunk adventure? A Philip Marlowe style noir-detective story…? Yes… it’s all three at once. And it’s absolutely crazy. Does it work? You know, you could argue that it all comes down to personal preference, but I think even as offbeat as this is […]
That Than Which There Can Be No More Terrible, by Michael Scalzi
Wednesday , 5, April 2017 Short Fiction 9 CommentsIn retrospect, it makes sense that one might find a ‘philosophical thriller’ lurking within the pages of a full-throated sword and sorcery collection of short stories written by metalheads. Those guys are generally well read and widely read, and the powerful effects in their music arises in part by their drawing inspiration from deep philosophical wells. That […]
REVIEW: War of the Ruby by Brian K. Lowe
Sunday , 2, April 2017 Pulp Revolution, Short Fiction 25 CommentsI’ve held off on turning a critical eye towards Cirsova magazine for several reasons. For one thing, I’d be crazy to say anything bad about the project. P. Alexander is a friend, sure. One of the few people to pay attention to me in those weird days of 2015 when sitting at my lunch table […]
Give me your bland, your depressing, your alienating– your unceasing agony as you yearn to depart from life…! Seriously, who decided that despair is the default setting for “literary”? Who decided that ineffectuality is the starting point for “thoughtful”? And gosh, I know everyone has had their share of hard knocks over the years. But for the life of me […]
Okay, this one is very nearly non-stop action. It’s straight ahead no-frills military science fiction with alien invaders that are just different enough from the ones in the big movie franchises to keep you guessing. There are space marines. There are starships. There’s enough technobabble to make it all seem real and there’s not so […]
Swords of Steel, Volume 2: The Lost City of Tehm
Friday , 31, March 2017 Short Fiction, Uncategorized 8 CommentsMorgan reviewed the first volume of Swords of Steel back in February of this year. The second volume was released in 2016, and it provides an excellent chance to analyze each of the twelve stories as part of Castalia House’s on-going effort to review the wealth of short fiction being produced by small and independent […]
Okay, this one has one of the best opening hooks I remember reading: Master Sergeant Jacobs arose in his tomb, ready for duty. Wait… a tomb, what? What the heck?! Then just before the first section break you get this exquisite knife twist: Most likely, he, and everyone he knew, were already dead. That is […]
Man, I love the title on this one. The Dreaming Wounds. Get inside your Thrilling Wonder Astounding Weirdness place like you would for a late night D&D session and you could really go places with this! No really, it evokes a crazy mashup of Lovecraft’s dreamlands and Moorcock’s Elric. See, there’s this ancient relic. Your […]