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sThe most popular fantasy hero today is not Tarzan or John Carter. It’s not Superman or Batman. It’s not even Conan or Elric. No, the most popular fantasy hero of today is probably some video game character like Mario. That’s just how it is, really. And he may not be the most popular one of all right […]
Star Wars Stole Pulp
Monday , 30, January 2017 Appendix N, Before the Big Three, Pulp Revolution 51 CommentsHere is the narrative: Science Fiction was a tiny genre, largely ignored by the general public, a niche of a niche, only appealing to teenage boys… until Star Wars. Then, it got big. Star Wars blew up so big, they had to coin new terms to describe it: summer blockbuster. It was so big, it […]
If you missed yesterday’s episode of Geek Gab, trust me… you want to head over to YouTube and give this a listen straightway! Check it out!!!
The one thing you can count on is that pretty much anything the Poindexter types sneer at is going to be uncommonly good. That’s no joke. Everything they hate is awesome: male power fantasies, colonialism, Madonna-Whore complexes, the failure to pass the Bechdel test, cultural appropriation…. Seriously, if you just make sure to do all […]
Walk through the aisles of any Barnes & Noble and you see the same cover concept over and over: a brilliantly dressed female hero, standing around… looking cool! It is the very antithesis of dynamism. Nothing is at stake. Nothing is happening. There is no danger. There is nothing to thrill or titillate. Decades ago, […]
Post-Christian authors struggle so when it comes to contrast. The bad guys are just misunderstood or else they had a hard time when they were growing up. The good guys…? Their flaws go well beyond quirks and shortcomings and veer into outright psychological damage. But who are you going to root for in a clash […]
The divide between what readers are supposed to like and what they actually like can be no clearer than it is in the career of A. Merritt. The most popular story of all time according to the readers of Wonder Stories magazine back before the Campbellian Revolution had fundamentally transformed science fiction? The Moon Pool […]
As great as swords & sorcery is, it is not the field to enter if you’re looking for a way to put your wife and kids through college. The real story of how Swords Against Darkness editor Andrew J. Offutt made ends meet would come as a shock even to his own son– who only found […]
Jasyn Jones on Why Appendix N Started a Literary Movement
Saturday , 21, January 2017 Appendix N 9 CommentsI called it. I don’t remember the exact date, and someone else gave it the absolutely apt name of “Pulp Revolution”, but I was the first to prophesize that the book in your hands (then a still-incomplete series of web posts) would spark a literary movement. People (among them the august author of this eldritch […]
Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and Edgar Rice Burrough’s tales of Barsoom were my primary entry points into the world of pulp SFF over the past couple of years. For me, the blood-pumping action and arguably unparalleled prose of the old masters are but one source of pleasure. Perhaps equally gratifying is the insight gained in […]
You already know about Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft. You already know about Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan and John Carter. You’ve seen Leigh Brackett’s handwork on the big screen. There’s a strong chance you’ve missed out on the guy that combines the best elements of all of these creators into one tight package. […]
Lewis Pulsipher on Why Appendix N Started a Literary Movement
Friday , 20, January 2017 Appendix N 1 CommentJeffro asked me to write an introduction for his book and talk about “why Appendix N started a literary movement.” But I don’t pay attention to literary movements and don’t care about them. I read what I choose and that’s that. On the other hand, I’m a teacher at heart, and Jeffro is a great […]