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August – 2020 – castaliahouse.com

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Fiction (Goodman Games): Jack Holbrook Vance was summoned into this world just over a century ago in San Francisco on August 28, 1916. A writer of multiple genres, he is best known to fans of Dungeons and Dragons for his Dying Earth novels, one of the inspirations for the magic system, often called ‘Vancian’, in […]

1978 was the high point of disco fever. You could not turn on the radio without hearing a song from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Luckily, comic book readers might find one of the Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian reprint paperbacks. Vol. 4 would cost you $1.95. A key date of 4-10-1978 is given at […]

Of all the terrifying warlords to wreak destruction across the empire, few can match the savagery of Ghorghor Bey. His name alone can cause even the bravest of soldiers to tremble in their boots, and noble lords and ladies throughout the land pray that he never comes knocking at their castle doors in search of […]

Time-lost super-soldiers, living detective saints, swordless swordsmen, and His Majesty’s Naval Service takes to the stars in this week’s new releases. Coven (Saint Tommy, NYPD #7) – Declan Finn Detective Thomas Nolan has finally returned home. In typical police fashion, he is welcomed home with a murder case and gunfire. After one arrest goes spectacularly […]

Ray Bradbury: A Hundred Year Picnic by Lodestone Let us raise our mead-horns (brimful with Dandelion Wine for the occasion) in a toast to Ray Bradbury’s centenary. Of my literary trinity (Howard, Tolkien, Bradbury) I discovered Bradbury first. Robert E. Howard was like a buddy you could drink a beer with and listen to an […]

H. P. Lovecraft (DMR Books): The first thing to keep in mind is that this cache represents one of the great epistolary friendships in the history of letters. The two never met in person, but the Mutual Admiration Society CAS and HPL formed between them was forged of eldritch steel. Both considered the other the […]

Volume 3 of Stan Lee Presents Conan the Barbarian is listed as having a key date of 3-10-1978 at comics.org. Roy Thomas said in the introduction to Vol. 3 that the vol one and two are on sale “simultaneously” as vol. 3. The copyright page has 1978 but nothing more specific as to month of […]

“Then let us pursue without asking what we chase, and when we catch it, let us chase again.” Mangos is the Mongoose, a skilled, boastful, and hotheaded swordsman, while Kat is the Meerkat, a beautiful yet mysterious woman who favors the oblique approach to her well-chosen blade. Together, they’ll take on any job to keep […]

Child heroes, conceited sorceresses, and interstellar bounty hunters fill this week’s new releases. Game Spaced – Justin M. Stone Pirates on a treasure hunt. An ancient weapon lost long ago. Two kids determined to save us all. Oh yeah, and space travel. Trish and Patrick never saw themselves as heroes. But when they go into […]

Popular Culture (Adam Lane Smith): Much has been made about the oft-lamented shift from Hero to Antihero and the modern obsession with romanticizing evil. Most frequently, I’ve heard this complaint directed at modern western media’s fixation on selecting one unyielding human trash fire after another as every main character. There’s a reason modern book sales […]

In 1978, Grosset & Dunlap began reprinting Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian in mass market paperback form. The company used the Ace Books imprint for distribution. Ace was also distributing the Conan Lancer paperbacks repacked under the Prestige imprint.                 Another foray was the publication of trade paperbacks under the Grosset & Dunlap imprint of […]

Somewhere in the vast multiverse that makes up the worlds of fiction, a spoiled brat of an eight-year-old princess is about to bump her head. The blow knocks more than a little sense into the girl, for it will gift her with knowledge of her impending execution as an adult. This may be granted through isekai shenanigans […]