Blog Archives
sIn the January 1937 issue of Weird Tales, Clifford Ball of Astoria, New York, had this to say in the letters section (“The Eyrie”): “I have been a constant reader of your magazine since 1925, when some author’s conception of weirdness was a gigantic ape dragging a half-naked female about a jungle, and I have […]
Karl Edward Wagner’s story, “Neither Brute nor Human” to me, is one of the best satires on fantasy publishing that I have ever read. The story originally published in the World Fantasy Convention Program Book for 1983. ISFDB.org page has a question mark as to whether it is trade paperback size or not. I have […]
Tales From the Magician’s Skull #1
Sunday , 8, April 2018 Just Released, Publications, Short Fiction 2 CommentsFour weeks back, I received the first issue Tales From the Magician’s Skull directly from editor Howard A. Jones. This is a brand new magazine published by Goodman Games. Howard has this to say about the genesis of the magazine: “Strange but true: this project didn’t begin life as a magazine, and I didn’t plan […]
“The Little Black Train” by Manly Wade Wellman
Thursday , 15, March 2018 Book Review, Fiction, Short Fiction 4 Comments“Only thing is,” the mouth-harp man went on, “folks say the train runs on that track. Or it did. A black train runs some nights at midnight, they say, and when it runs a sinner dies.” While out on a walk, John the Balladeer is pulled into an outdoor party and asked to play. It’s […]
Saint Valentinus of Terni was a priest, a healer, and a hieromartyr. As a priest, Saint Valentine offered aid and succor to Christians in a time when persecution of Christians was a long-standing policy of the Roman Empire. As a healer, he restored vision to the blind daughter of Judge Asterius, who had held him […]
The Mouser did not find his watch a pleasant one. In place of his former trust in this rocky nook, he now scented danger in every direction and peered as often at the steamy pit as at the black entrance beyond the glowing coals, entertaining himself with vivid visions of a cooked priest somehow writhing […]
Quick Reviews: MAGE TOME, KARMA UPSILON 4, and APPALLING STORIES
Thursday , 22, February 2018 Book Review, Short Fiction 3 CommentsIn Mage Tome, Rod Walker turns his pen towards fantasy with the first of a series of adventures featuring master thief Rowan of Kalderon. While his The Thousand Worlds series follows in the footsteps of Heinlein’s juveniles, here Walker casts an eye towards the thieves of sword and sorcery pulps and dungeon crawl games for […]
Saint Valentinus of Terni was a priest, a healer, and a hieromartyr. As a priest, Saint Valentine offered aid and succor to Christians in a time when persecution of Christians was a long-standing policy of the Roman Empire. As a healer, he restored vision to the blind daughter of Judge Asterius, who had held him […]
Rappaccini’s Daughter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Friday , 2, February 2018 Fiction, Short Fiction 3 Comments“For some purpose or other, this man of science is making a study of you. I know that look of his! It is the same that coldly illuminates his face, as he bends over a bird, a mouse, or a butterfly, which, in pursuance of some experiment, he has killed by the perfume of a […]
Broadswords and Blasters #4 In this fantastic issue you will be introduced to the most badass grandmother that has ever existed in print, a retro space opera adventure about a two-fisted blaster wielding pilot, an epistolary tale of the corrupting influence of depraved love, and a new adventure for Benedict Arnold, Josh Gibson, and Genghis […]
Jeff Duntemann’s collection, “Cold Hands and Other Stories” shouldn’t work. The works included span more than four decades of writing. His largely Campbellian style gives way to urban magic and deep looks at the role of religion in space exploration. This collection lacks a consistent voice or theme. And yet it works wonderfully! This collection of short […]
Invincible, by Kit Sun Cheah
Thursday , 19, October 2017 Book Review, Fiction, Short Fiction 2 CommentsIn an Empire beset by internal rebellion and ferocious yaomo, the elite Shenwujun stand ready to defend human civilization. Among the Shenwujun there is none finer than Ensign Zhang Tianyou, who earned the nickname Zhang the Invincible. During a mission to quash a nascent rebellion, a Shenwujun detachment discovers evidence that the Grand Union is […]