Blog Archives

“The Horror on the Links”, by Seabury Quinn, first presented in Weird Tales, introduces the adventures of the French occult detective, Jules de Grandin. De Grandin is a step on the progression from Semi-Dual, one of the earliest–if not *the* first–occult detective, to the weird menace of Marvel and beyond. (The Pulp Super Fan has […]

This week’s science fiction new releases feature a dementia-stricken hitman, the son of a genetic slaver, a galactic crusade, and two anthologies by science fiction’s best. Authority – A. K. Meek The aliens came to conquer. We won, but billions died. Now, it’s time to rebuild. The neons do as they’re told. Chemically bound to […]

David V. Stewart’s work returns to the Castalia House blog with The City of Silver.  Regular readers will recall last August’s review of his sci-fi horror and military bloodbath novel, Voices of the Void.  This time around David presents another fairly short novel with an equally straightforward premise.  A reluctant countess chooses to leave her […]

Corporate Cancer: How to Work Miracles and Save Millions by Curing Your Company is now available at Arkhaven and at Amazon. The corporate cancer of social justice convergence is costing corporations literal billions of dollars even as it drives both productive employees and loyal customers away, destroys valuable brands, and eats away at market capitalizations. From Internet startups to […]

Black Mask alumni Frederick Nebel’s Jack Cardigan was one of the main reasons behind the success of the legendary Dime Detective Magazine. Cardigan first appeared in “Death Alley.” This is a tale for jazz and bourbon. Cardigan’s partner is dead–done in by drive-by–and the case is apparently closed. Only Cardigan believes otherwise. It doesn’t take long for […]

This week’s fantasy new releases feature living saints, Depression-era folk magicians, online magi, and refugees hiding in a world of pike and shot. Awaken Online: Ember (Awaken Online: Tarot #1) – Travis Bagwell Finn Harris should have been the one to die. But he wasn’t – his wife took his place. What was worse, he […]

Pulp Modern: TechNoir Special pulls the rug out from under the reader in the best possible way. Scotch Rutherford serves as guest editor for this themed collection of darkly themed near future science-fiction stories.  None of that should surprise, given the title of the collection.  It’s all right there, just what it says on the tin, […]

The June 1923 issue of Black Mask was notable, not only for its anti-Klu Klux Klan theme, but also for the appearance of the first hard-boiled detective, Carroll John Daly’s Race Williams. Per pulp expert Robert Sampson, Williams: “strains the definition of detective. A hired adventurer who may occasionally detect if he blunders into a clue the size […]

This week’s science fiction new releases feature time-traveling peacemakers, cross-and-planet space templars, junkyard space engineers, powered armor mercenaries, and more. The Best of Us (Galaxy’s Edge: NOMAD #1) – Karen Traviss Half the world is a wasteland: the other half is on borrowed time. The West has been devastated by epidemics, bio-terrorism, war, and famine. […]

Just in time for Halloween! The hard boiled detective in a fantasy city has been done before, but never so authentically as in Misha Burnett’s Bad Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Case Files of Erik Rugar.  Even if you don’t like Urban Fantasy, all you need is a love of hard boiled detective works and […]

Yesterday, on the 29th of October, Silver Empire Publishing, a publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and Christian fiction, awoke to find that pre-orders to their newest releases of explicitly Christian science fiction and fantasy were cancelled without notice, and the pages deleted–allegedly by the rights-holders themselves. While the books were eventually restored this afternoon, Silver […]

She invited Joseph into the woods. Whether for a cult or a one night stand, he was not sure, but either way, he followed her. What Joseph encountered instead were Gray kidnappers, aliens who were using corporations to mold humanity into their own genetic image. Some people, enchanted by ancient lies, would get a choice […]