Blog Archives
sShort Reviews – No Winter, No Summer, by Damon Knight and James Blish (as Donald Laverty)
Friday , 19, May 2017 Uncategorized 2 CommentsNo Winter, No Summer, by Damon Knight and James Blish (writing as Donald Laverty) appeared in the October 1948 Issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. While there were a couple stories in this issue that I didn’t like, particularly Bradbury’s “crazy people aren’t crazy if you stick them in an environment that nurtures and caters to […]
Classic Traveller: Gearing Up for a Campaign
Thursday , 18, May 2017 Tabletop Games, Traveller, Uncategorized 11 CommentsSpace Opera seems to be in the air these days. And, I gues I’m not immune. I’ve been talked into it. It being running a Classic Traveller game. Which is the original and first Space Opera role playing game. The wrinkle we are taking is to play Proto-Traveller (term coined by this blog’s el jeffe […]
#SpaceOperaWeek: We Are All Groot by Misha Burnett
Thursday , 18, May 2017 Uncategorized 12 CommentsI recently saw Guardians Of The Galaxy 2. I loved it, it was a great big multi-colored thrill ride of a film, pretty much non-stop from the ELO-fueled dance/combat sequence that opens the movie to the final post-credits sequence. (You don’t have to be told not to leave until the ushers physically drag you out, […]
Dwight Graydon Morrow (1934-2001) better known as Gray Morrow was a major contender for a few years in the realm of sword and sorcery illustration. Born in Indianapolis, attending the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to New York City in 1954. He became friends with Wally Wood, Angelo Torres, and Al Williamson. He […]
The Double-Edged Sword of Dogmatism
Saturday , 13, May 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Before the Big Three, Fiction, Uncategorized 12 CommentsLast week, I wrote an observation about Lovecraft’s works. In the comments, several readers mentioned The Shadow over Innsmouth, a tale I had embarrassingly not read at the time. I rectified this error soon after. And wow, what an amazing story! An imaginative gem from beginning to end, with steadily mounting tension, an inspired explanation to the […]
The Last Kingdom is a historical fiction series based on the Saxon Stories novels by Bernard Cornwell. The first season was produced by BBC, with Netflix co-producing the second. Set in the 9th century during the viking invasions of the British Isles, the story follows the exploits of a fictional noble Saxon taken by the invaders […]
The impact of dynamic covers painted by Frank Frazetta for the Conan paperbacks from Lancer Books in 1966 had a ripple effect in paperback books. Those abstract Richard Powers’ painting that had dominated science fiction paperbacks gave way to something more dynamic. Every paperback house was looking for their own Frank Frazetta. Avon Books seemed […]
Reverse English by John S. Carroll appeared in the October 1948 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Reverse English is the first (or closest thing to a) Big Men with Screw Drivers story that I’ve come across in this issue of Thrilling. A guy who builds radios and other electronic devices for a living has a […]
Game Conversions and Chromatic Soup 01
Thursday , 4, May 2017 Tabletop Games, Uncategorized 3 CommentsIt’s obvious that the rules of a game influence the play of the game. After all, they are the game. But, for role playing games there seems to be this idea that system doesn’t matter. This is so obviously wrongheaded that it seems like it would have been dismissed immediately. Yet people keep coming back […]
WARGAME WEDNESDAY: Frank Chadwick Interview at The Player’s Aid
Wednesday , 3, May 2017 Uncategorized 4 CommentsMost people in these parts are going to know Frank Chadwick from his grav-tank design sequences from GDW’s Striker or maybe for doing Steampunk before Steampunk was cool with the Space: 1889 rpg. But yes, it’s true: Mr. Chadwick is a wargamer at heart. And even better… he’s still in the game! The Player’s Aid […]
James Desborough continues his march through the genres featured in the pulps with this western tale. The general plot is a classic so prevalent that it even makes an appearance in Toy Story: “Somebody poisoned the water hole!” (That’s not a bad thing, the poisoned water hole is one of those themes that affords countless variations.) Of […]
The Forsaken Sequel: The Unforsaken Hiero
Monday , 1, May 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Book Review, Fiction, Uncategorized 8 CommentsAppendix N entry Hiero’s Journey by Sterling Lanier is one of my favorite books. A thrilling masterpiece of fast-paced creativity and high adventure from start to finish. Its protagonist is Hiero Desteen, a powerful telepathic Christian warrior riding a “morse”, a mutation of a moose and a horse, in a post-nuclear wasteland filled with oddities, horrors, and […]