Blog Archives
sUrban fantasy is a more recent genre that I have not read much. Declan Finn’s Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy is the first in the series first published in 2018. Detective Thomas Nolan of the New York Police Department starts his day bringing in a purse snatcher on the way to work. He smells something really […]
This is is a guest post by Matthew Pungitore: Obsession in The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers; a Sentiment, or Review By Matthew Pungitore Introduction Benvenuti, signore e signori, my ladies and gentlemen! I am Matthew Pungitore, and in this article, I’ll be briefly discussing, con amore, my personal opinions on the theme of obsession […]
There used to be something called the paperback midlist. The midlist were books that were not best sellers but made some profit. Used to be publishers made money by making a little money on many titles. Not so much now. There were writers who wrote paperbacks who started out in the pulp magazines: Louis L’Amour, […]
Looking upon Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan; a Review and Reverie
Wednesday , 26, April 2023 Review Leave a commentThis is a guest post from Matthew Pungitore: Introduction Ciao and bienvenue, meine Damen und Herren, ladies and gentlemen! I am Matthew Pungitore, arcane flâneur and xanthic-robed hermit, once again drawn back from the pessimum of today and looking towards the golden past—hence, the phrase “où sont les neiges d’antan?” from Villon—albeit, were I to […]
S. M. Stirling’s Conan: Blood of the Serpent is the first in a new period of Conan the Cimmerian pastiche novels. What is a pastiche you ask? A pastiche is an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period. L. Sprague de Camp began writing Conan pastiche stories in […]
Black Mask magazine is considered to be one of the most influential of pulp magazine along with Weird Tales, Astounding Stories/Science Fiction, and Argosy. All had a profound impact on popular fiction and culture. Black Mask was the magazine that changed crime-mystery-detective fiction from the locked room to the mean streets. Dashiell Hammett and Carroll […]
I wrote that William R. Forstchen’s One Second After was the scariest book I ever read. The Final Day is the third book in the series. This picks up six months after the events in One Year After end. John Matherson is delivered a message from the neighboring community from an army officer who claims […]
I read the last third of stories in Dark Forces. Karl Edward Wagner, “Where the Summer Ends”: I read this one back in summer 1983 in the collection In a Lonely Place. Wagner was a rising star in the late 1970s. He was viewed as the new hope in sword & sorcery. He also wrote […]
Philipp Meyer’s The Son is a novel covering four generations in Texas from the 1830s to modern times. I had heard about the AMC T.V. series and my interest was piqued with the setting in the Texas oil boom. I have some interest in the Texas oil boom towns of the 1920s as it had […]
Dark Forces (Viking Press, 1980) is viewed as one of the greatest horror short fiction anthologies. Editor Kirby McCauley was able to bring together new and some of the still living Weird Tales writers for a very large book. I have read a few stories reprinted elsewhere back in the 1980s. I can remember seeing […]
I enjoy reference books on classic fiction magazines. Whether indices or annotated guides, I love pouring over details and trends. I have annotated guides on Starling Stories and Fantastic Adventures. I have indexes on Weird Tales and Black Mask. My newest addition is The Manhunt Companion by Peter Engantino and Jeff Vorzimmer from Stark House. […]
Military science fiction is a sub-genre that should be undergoing some changes due to introduced technology and weapon systems. World Breakers is an anthology Baen Books published in trade paperback in August 2021 and mass market paperback a couple months ago. Subtitled “Super-Tanks to the Stars!,” this is an anthology of new military science fiction […]