Blog Archives
sSensor Sweep: Wizards of the Coast, D.C. Comics, Kull, Tolkien, Bradbury
Monday , 22, April 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentSword & Sorcery (Echoes of Crom): Join me and co-host, Matthew Knight as we discuss the Elak of Atlantis tale “Dragon Moon” by Henry Kuttner. This is the story that inspired the Cauldron Born song, “Dragon Throne”. Conan (Sprague de Camp Fan): “Hyborian Names” is an article by L. Sprague de Camp that appeared in […]
Sensor Sweep: Poul Anderson, Prince Valiant Game, Blue Sonja, Ballantine Fantasy
Monday , 15, April 2024 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentScience Fiction (Type Bar Magazine): A recent Washington Post articleindicated that only 12% of the reading public were interested in reading science fiction. A perusal of bestseller lists for science fiction shows an even more alarming truth: the science fiction books that do sell are a shrinkingly small number of reprints, classics and novels that […]
Sensor Sweep: Bad Books, Ramsey Campbell, Weird Tales
Monday , 8, April 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentReading (John C. Wright): Readers who do not want to read a curmudgeon (me) being curmudgeonly, please go away. This is not a review or a philosophical analysis. No attempt at balance or fairness has been made: the following consists of merely a description of negative reactions. These are some books I just could not […]
H. P. Lovecraft (Aeon): Lovecraft honed these elements through his short stories (along with two novellas and a single novel), developing a unique version of the weird fiction pioneered by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Machen and M R James. However, Lovecraft did not enjoy mainstream success during his lifetime. Fantasy (Sprague de […]
Sensor Sweep: Elden Ring, James Ward, Hyperborea RPG, Appendix N
Monday , 25, March 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentRPG (Grognardia): When I first read Astonishing Swords & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, two things about it greatly impressed me. Most significant was that this roleplaying game of “swords, sorcery, and weird fantasy” demonstrated an obvious love for the pulp fantasies of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. Robert E. Howard (Echoes of Crom): […]
Sensor Sweep: Dune Movie, Greyhawk, Maximum Mayham Adventures
Monday , 18, March 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentConan (Essential Malady): Whatever the truth is, Conan the Adventurer was certainly one of my earliest introductions to Robert E. Howard’s most popular character. The show originally broadcast in late 1992 and had a longer second and final season in late 1993 but I don’t believe I watched it until a year or two after […]
Sensor Sweep: Gas Station Knives, Ka-Zar, Wally Wood, Rooster Teeth, Drones, Poul Anderson
Monday , 11, March 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentSword & Sorcery (Echoes of Crom Records): I list my top ten classic sword-and-sorcery collections by author. Knives (Blade HQ): Put simply, gas station knives cheap out on materials. Where there should be metal, there is often plastic. Where there should a blade steel with a real name and a known composition, there is mystery-meat […]
Sensor Sweep: Lovecraft, Elric, Hugos, Forgotten Realms
Monday , 4, March 2024 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentHorror (RT Book Reviews): It’s always hard to believe that such prolific and influential writers died in relative obscurity during their time. The works of authors like Poe, Hemingway, and the focus of this list, HP Lovecraft all put out numerous works during their time on earth just to die penniless and unknown, with their […]
Sensor Sweep: King Kong, Cyberpunk 2077, Edmond Hamilton
Monday , 26, February 2024 Sensor Sweep 3 CommentsWeird Tales (Tellers of Weird Tales): So it looks like Weird Tales is back to its old habits of not providing good service to its readers and customers. This has been going on for years. A couple of people have left comments on this blog telling about their own lack of experience in receiving what […]
Sensor Sweep: Andre Norton, Conceal Carry Picks, Dracula’s Wives
Monday , 19, February 2024 Sensor Sweep, Uncategorized Leave a commentFiction (Goodman Games): Born as Alice Mary Norton in 1912, Norton started writing while she was still in high school in Cleveland, Ohio. In fact, she completed her first novel while still attending high school, though it was not published until later in 1938. Wishing to pursue writing as a career, in 1934 she had […]
Sensor Sweep: D&D Anniversary, Dorothy Quick, Arthur Conan Doyle
Monday , 12, February 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentSword & Sorcery (Echoes of Crom Records): Join me and Mark Dexter ( Marco Concoreggi ), the vocalist for heavy metal band, Dexter Ward as we talk about H.P. Lovecraft, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Dracula, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter of Mars, Dracula, Conan vs. Kull, sword […]
Sensor Sweep: Battle Tech, Hugos, Philip Jose Farmer, Dungeon Crawl Classics
Monday , 5, February 2024 Sensor Sweep Leave a commentHugos (Esquire): Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects to resemble a star nebula, this is the 59,000-square-foot Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, constructed at lightspeed over the course of a single year to host the 81st World Science Fiction Convention, also known as WorldCon. For writers and readers of science fiction and fantasy, it’s like the National […]