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May – 2020 – castaliahouse.com

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There are some Poul Anderson stories never reprinted in book form. Last week, I posted about the new collection Swordsmen from the Star from DMR Books collecting three of Poul Anderson’s swashbuckling sword-and- super-science stories from Planet Stories. I began working on a post on various stories by Poul Anderson and how to fit them […]

As Armando Catalano, a holy relic dealer, raids the underground tombs of 18th century Rome for the bones of martyred saints, a prince of the Church plots with a Gypsy poisoner to murder him. For Armando bears the mark of the scorpion on his shoulder, a devil’s mark identifying him as the son of a […]

In THE HERETICS OF ST. POSSENTI, Bishop Thomas Cranberry finds himself at a loss when he is confronted by a thief and realizes some disturbing truths about himself. The experience sends him in search of the men who are increasingly absent from the Church, who find themselves at a loss in a world that has […]

Deadly alien games, pulp champions, and electronic warfare fill this week’s science fiction new releases. Annihilation! (Outcast Starship #1) – Joshua James and Daniel Young A disgraced captain. An alien invasion. One last shot at redemption. When Eli Bryce stumbles upon a plot to attack Earth, he shrugs it off. He’s not in the Earth-saving […]

Review (Brain Leakage): In terms of pure entertainment, I can’t recommend Hernstrom’s story enough. And if all you’re craving is a dose of pure, adrenaline-filled awesomeness with alien ruins, axe-wielding barbarians, motorcycles, and talking monkeys, then stop reading this review NOW. Buy Hernstrom’s new collection, The Eye of Sounnu from DMR Books, which is where […]

Sometime last year, John Ringo’s The Last Centurion came on my radar. I added it to my wish list and months went by. Finally, I pulled the trigger at what seemed to be an opportune time. The novel starts in the year 2019 and narrated by a U.S. Army office known as Bandit Six. He […]

(What follows is a repost from April 2017, updated to include the chinoiserie explosion of the past three years.) Readers familiar with the Pulp Revolution have certainly by now heard that with the death of the pulps, many genres fell out of favor. Hero pulps, sword and sorcery, and planetary romance have all declined from […]

Spies, thief-takers, and guild politics fill this week’s fantasy new releases. Cirsova Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense: Summer Special #2 – edited by P. Alexander Eleven tales of heroic adventure, including: “Just Don’t Open the Door” by Mark Pellegrini Sean lives next to a weird house with bricked-up windows and an overgrown yard… One […]

I am much less interested in figuring out why something is bad then I am in figuring out why something is GOOD. This is integral to how I approach analysis. People have accused me in the past, because I now watch more than I read, of passively consuming my media, taking dopamine hits without engaging. […]

The newest offering from DMR Books is Swordsmen from the Stars. This book collects three novellas by Poul Anderson that originally appeared in the magazine Planet Stories, all in 1951. Anderson was one of the stalwarts if not the main writer for Planet Stories in the early 1950s. He wrote adventurous space opera for the most […]

Gaming (Modiphius): Today we’re delighted to announce the release of Conan the Adventurer in PDF a major new sourcebook for the acclaimed Robert E. Howard’s Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed of RPG. Conan the Adventurer is the definitive guide to the lands south of the Styx River, including serpent-haunted Stygia, Kush, Darfar, Keshan, Punt, […]

There are few truly enduring characters of popular culture: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, James Bond are first string. Doc Savage, The Man with No Name, Batman are in the list. You can’t argue with the inclusion of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian. The character is primal which probably accounts for the continued popularity in prose […]