Conan (Paperback Warrior): If you look online for the definition for “convoluted”, it should just provide a link to Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp’s “Hawks over Shem” short story. In my quest to absorb as much Conan literature as humanly possible, I read half of this particular short story and found myself so confused that I re-read the first half again, which led to even more confusion.

Pulp (Rough Edges): ’Ive read quite a few Dan Fowler novels by various authors over the years, but “Snatch!” goes back to the series’ origin, appearing in the very first issue of the pulp G-MEN, cover-dated October 1935. Dan Fowler is an agent of the Division of Investigation, a name still used by author George Fielding Eliot even though the DOI’s name was changed officially to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in July of that same year.

Old Books (Semicolon): Here’s a list of children’s books published in 1923. See if one of these catches your fancy, and if so, let me know what you thought. (I have not read most of these books, but I do plan to read and review some of them this year.) The Arabian Nights: Tales of Wonder and Magnificence by Padraic Colum. A selection of stories from the Arabian Nights, using the direct translation by Arabic scholar Edward William Lane. Colum selected and abridged some of the tales to make up his own version of the timeless stories of Shahrazad.

D&D (Grognardia): I was recently re-reading Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, largely due to its distinction as the first adventure module published by TSR for use with any version of Dungeons & Dragons. My intention was to see what, if anything, the module had to say about itself and how it was intended to be used by the referee.

Fantastic Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Adventures Underground! What an amazing place to tell a story. Jules Verne chose it well when he wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth in 1864. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Verne took his explorers inside the Earth. Hugo Gernsback reprinted that novel in 1926, knowing that future Science Fiction writers could use a similar setting to tell new tales of wonder and discovery. Clare Winger Harris, in her 1931 survey of Science Fiction topics listed it as: “#14 – Unexplored portions of the globe; submarine, subterranean, etc.”

New (Dennis McHaney): Robert E. Howard and the Pulps is a 196 page look at the work of Robert E. Howard in the pulps. It is a companion volume to Dennis McHaney’s Robert E. Howard and Weird Tales and covers all the pulps Howard worked for besides Weird Tales. Howard experts Rob Roehm and Morgan Holmes also contributed to the book. The book is illustrated with interior drawings that appeared with the original stories and features the covers of every pulp in which he appeared in full color, most of them are full-sized. This book is essential for serious collectors of the works of Robert E. Howard.

Tarzan (Sprague de Camp Fan): On April 3, 1968, Fritz Leiber wrote a postcard to L. Sprague de Camp discussing his workload. Apparently, Glenn Lord had asked Mr. Leiber to continue the adventures of King Kull. But Fritz had to turn down the job as he was busy consolidating his own Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series.

Firearms (Spec Ops Magazine): The CZ BREN is a cutting-edge assault rifle unveiled in 2009. It is designed to fire 5.56×45 rounds and utilizes a gas piston system to harness the powder gases generated during firing. Its rotary shutter carrier makes it a reliable and efficient weapon. Developed in collaboration with the Czech Army, the CZ BREN was created as a replacement for the aging SAMOPAL vz.58. Its advanced design and performance capabilities made it a top choice for partial rearmament of the Czech Army in 2009.

Publishing (Walker’s Retreat): Chris’s tales of TradPub, down to Baen being a decent partner, is pretty typical of those who manage to claw out of the bottom and into somewhere in the midlist where most working authors end up. Most TradPub publishers are Death Cult fronts these days, so they are more used to launder payments and sinecures to fellow travelers for the purpose of narrative (and thus cultural) control than making a profit.

Popular Culture (Wasteland & Sky): Regardless of all that nonsense, this weekend I wanted to share this documentary series on Jim Henson I found from Defunctland with you. It really goes to show you how much things changed in the modern world, even over the lifetime of a single person. Henson’s creations certainly outlived him like he wanted them too, though not due to the quality being carried on in his stead.

Comic Books (Rageholic): Comic Crash II: The DC Death Spiral.

Star Wars (Arkhaven Comics): There was a big pow-wow at Disney on the future of Star Wars. Iger, the senior executive leadership at Disney as well as the leadership of LucasFilm. Disney has massively over-invested in Reylo Star Wars. The sunk costs are too big to reskin the rides and attractions at Disney Parks. Disney hates the idea of retconning away Rey anyway, they NEVER throw away a property, that company’s executives are as repelled by that idea as fish is of getting a suntan.

History (Jon Mollison): Although overshadowed by its big brother, World War Two, the Spanish Civil War makes for a fascinating study.  As is usually the case, you have to wade through a bunch of history nerds booty-tickled because their commie friends took the Big L on this one, but once over that hurdle you find a ripping good tale of a very complex suite of strange political bedfellows aligning in some strange ways.  You also get big, sweeping actions and ironic tales of teams scoring short-term wins that cost them big in the long run.

D&D (Hack & Slash): I ran this module for a group of friends, as my first experience running third edition. It was a well-designed linear adventure. The part nobody remembers is that there’s an evil tree sprouted from a stake used to kill a vampire, protected by an evil druid, that blooms two evil fruits with seeds that create twig blights. There’s a couple of quick and minor encounters on your way into the valley, with enough distraction to lull the players into a sense of security.

Fiction (Cirsova): As you may remember, due to a dispute with our distributor last year, several of our titles fell out of print, including our Illustrated Stark. As of right now, all three volumes are once again in print and available on Amazon.com!

Games (Playing at the World): Of all the things that I never imagined I would end up working on, I was asked to help put together the Trivial Pursuit D&D edition, which has just been released. It is, well, Trivial Pursuit, but with D&D-specific questions: on monsters, spells, campaigns, characters, and of course the game’s fifty-year history. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, you can find it at the usual places online and in person — my FLGS just got it in this weekend.

Fiction (Chimney Sweep Reader): “The Seventh Scroll”, by Wilbur Smith is the follow-up to “River God”, one of the best historical novels I have read in a very long time. “The Seventh Scroll” was meant to be read after “River God” but it is not exactly a sequel. It actually takes place in the present day with a couple of archeologist types who are out to discover the hidden tombs that were depicted in the first book. What an intriguing concept! What we got to live through before is now seen through the eyes of history, including all the distortions of history that are bound to happen. After all, what we assume to be true through archeological research isn’t necessarily the way it really happened.

Science Fiction (Razord Zen): Alan E. Nourse was barely on my radar as a writer until fairly recently. I’d read one book by him, Raiders from the Rings, and liked it quite a lot. It was young adult SF, and so I picked up another YA SF book by him called Trouble on Titan. This one was even better. An exciting story and really well written. There’s a fair amount of poetry in Nourse’s work.

Western (Western Fiction Review): The first three books in this series were written by Gary Clifton Wisler. Three other authors then wrote behind the pseudonym of Will McLennan, these being Ed Gorman, Robert J. Conley and John Legg – the latter writing most of the books.

This story takes place over a number of months and sees Matt enjoying being in one place, becoming friends with Wapley’s family. Matt invites one of his younger brothers, Bucky, to join him and the Wapley’s.

Pulp (Glorious Trash): The Spider #29: Slaves Of The Murder Syndicate, by Grant Stockbridge

February, 1936  Popular Publications. Picking up two months after the previous volume, this 29th installment of The Spider again finds our hero, Richard “The Spider” Wentworth, struggling against a national threat pretty much all on his own. While last time Wentworth dropped his Spider guise, this time his entire existence as The Spider is called into question, with Norvell “Grant Stockbridge” Page instilling the yarn with more emotional depth than the previous volumes.

Horror (Too Much Horror Fiction): If you’ve followed Too Much Horror Fiction at any time over the past 13 (!!!) years, you’ll know Clive Barker is one of my lodestars of genre fiction, up there in my own personal pantheon with H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Harlan Ellison. It’s not just Barker’s fictional writings that have influenced and inspired me, but also the many interviews and intros to other books he did in which he discusses his beliefs about what horror.