Blog Archives
sIn light of the extensive discussions on the history of science fiction and fantasy that we’ve had here, I have to say that I was surprised when I heard this excerpt of a lecture by Dr. Jordan Peterson today. See, the overall gist of his thesis is something I’ve heard almost verbatim from the 1934 Edgar […]
Over at National Review, classicist Victor Davis Hanson explains why millions of people are dropping out of contemporary culture in order to read or create books like those on Gary Gygax’s Appendix N list: The fall-off in movie viewership is not just due to the advent of cable television and streaming video over the Internet. Nor […]
New ACKS Supplements Featuring Heroic Fantasy and Pulp Fantasy!
Tuesday , 21, March 2017 Appendix N, Tabletop Games 4 CommentsA lot of people have asked me what “Appendix N: The Game” would look like. I usually just joke that we already have one: it’s called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition! The thing is, people have been arguing about this for decades. Open up early issues of The Dragon and you’ll find longwinded letters […]
Conan meets Cthulhu
Saturday , 18, March 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Before the Big Three, Short Fiction 23 CommentsIn Jeffro’s last Sensor Sweep he made note of the Alexandru Costantin’s recent blog post, which puts forth a rather bold claim – that Robert E. Howard did Lovecraftian horror better than H.P. himself. For those who may be unaware, Howard was one of the major contributors to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. In other words, he wrote stories […]
I’m a BOMB THROWING RADICAL, known for my relentless agitation against the pieties of the moribund mainstream Fantasy & Science Fiction genre. Today, my purpose is radically different: it’s time for some larnin’. That’s right, SCHOLAR Warpig has arrived. BRACE YOURSELVES FOR A DIRECT INJECTION OF KNOWLEDGE.
You hear people talking about a “classic” author as if he were the best thing ever. But you’re unnaturally skeptical, because you already “know” all the big time grandmasters. And you “know” that after Dune and Foundation and Starship Troopers there’s just not going to be much else from the bad old days that really […]
The pulps are supposed to be racist. I mean, if you hear anything about the pulps it generally about how racist they are. Somehow the legions of people that are literally shaking after reading “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” never talk about how the pulpiest of pulp science fiction romances was between an ex-Confederate and a Red […]
One of the most exciting things to come out of the Appendix N discussion is the number of people that have gone from having not much to read to having more in their to-read pile than they can keep up with. And it makes sense, really. The books in Appendix N defined fantasy and science fiction. […]
FROM THE COMMENTS: “I’m Just Reporting What I’ve Seen”
Sunday , 12, March 2017 Appendix N, Before the Big Three 13 CommentsDaddy Warpig’s recent posts are generating a great deal of discussion. Well, discussion may not be quite the right word for it. As Alex has noted, it reads more like an all out brawl set to the fight music from season two of classic Star Trek. People are triggered. Cherished illusions are being mauled before their […]
A. Merritt Defends the Scientific Accuracy of his Stories
Thursday , 9, March 2017 Appendix N, Before the Big Three 8 CommentsYou know the story. In the early days of science fiction, nobody really cared about getting the science right. But then John Campbell came along and changed all that, and a Golden Age ensued. It’s bunk. Science fiction authors were concerned with scientific accuracy even in the bad old days. And there were plenty of readers cruising […]
Indie New Releases – January 2017
Thursday , 9, March 2017 Appendix N, Book Review, Fiction 3 CommentsWhile an invading empire shells planets into volcanic glass all around him, a cloned space captain must decide whether he will take on the memories of a fallen war hero – and his military command. In Britain’s third space war, the Royal Navy must strike deep into the territory of the alien Foxes to bring […]
FROM THE COMMENTS: “I’ve owned that book for 5 weeks and haven’t read a word of the text yet!”
Saturday , 18, March 2017 Jeffro Appendix N, Comment 49 CommentsJohn E. Boyle writes in with this astonishing anecdotal evidence for A. Merritt’s enduring appeal: Merritt’s Magic I’d like to give you an example of just how good A. Merritt was. I read the Ship of Ishtar years ago, and then loaned out the paperback to someone, who either moved or loaned it to someone […]