Blog Archives
sThe Chilling Secret of the Decline in Science Fiction
Tuesday , 20, January 2015 Uncategorized 5 CommentsIn Jeffty Is Five, the narrator has a lifelong relationship with a childhood friend who never ages. The titular Jeffty, Jeff Kinzler, seems stuck in an alternate timeline, where Robert E. Howard keeps coming out with new stories (but only for Jeffty) and there’s always a new Captain Midnight every week on the radio, decades […]
The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry
Sunday , 18, January 2015 Black Gate, Book Review, Fiction, Uncategorized 16 CommentsThis is a new anthology in the Mammoth series published by Running Press in the U.S. and Robinson in the U.K. Trade paperback in format, 515 pages, $14.95 price and Sean Wallace is the editor. Twenty-five stories, most on my guess around 10,000 words length on average with a couple that get into novelette territory. […]
Please enjoy my first foray into fantasy: a short story, for the New Year. WHITE TAIL The warg with the white tail stared dumbly at the dead elf. He had been staring for some time, and now the dark had swallowed the blue suns for supper, and the snow was falling fast in the taiga […]
I’m in the process of taking a more comprehensive look at the past 60 years of science fiction or so (ending at 2010 for now, to avoid the potential noise of the recent ebook explosion, independent press, and general diversification of the market), but an intriguing development has emerged. Some have argued that one of […]
When I received my copy of Swords & Dark Magic, I had to laugh at the cover. It struck me as so clichéd with the dainty swordswoman in armor sort of like the Roman lorica segmentata hoisting a very large medieval sword. One can’t have a fantasy painting these days without a female warrior (warrioress?) […]
Evidence for the Bust Years: The Decline of Science Fiction, According to Readers
Tuesday , 6, January 2015 Uncategorized 23 CommentsI have always wanted to take a look at an exemplar of the bestselling science fiction novel from each year since 1950, and take each one’s current temperature to see if there are any measurable quality trends. It is hard to do. Aside from the historic New York Times general fiction lists, it is remarkably […]
Sometimes your opinions get challenged. This happened recently when I received the new first issue of Worlds of the Unknown from the revived Spectre Press. This small press magazine contains the second “Elak of Atlantis” story written by Adrian Cole. Henry Kuttner wrote the original four Elak stories for Weird Tales that were published from […]
John C. Wright is the visionary author that Publisher’s Weekly called “this fledgling century’s most important new SF talent”. If you’ve had the pleasure of reading his blog, you’ll also know he is a Catholic philosopher, a Catwoman fanatic, and a senior supervillain in the United Underworld Evil League of Evil. His memory banks inform me that he […]
Defending Ambiguity Against the Cannons of the Brave New World
Tuesday , 30, December 2014 Uncategorized 14 CommentsA cartoon that I know absolutely nothing about has come under fire from its fanbase for tacking on a Pink SF message to the series finale. Of course, the usual media advocates of the Brave New World don’t even bother with a fig leaf of objectivity in their reportage: So let’s continue to celebrate both […]
The Mid-1980s Paperback Sword and Sorcery Extinction Event
Sunday , 28, December 2014 Fiction, Uncategorized 14 CommentsIn the early 1980s, if you were new to the sword and sorcery genre, you could go to your local chain bookstore, generally B. Dalton or Walden Books and get the core library in short order. Robert E. Howard’s Conan, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Michael Moorcock’s Elric were all there. There was […]
SNAPSHOT REVIEW: The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies by Peter Jackson
Friday , 26, December 2014 Uncategorized 6 CommentsMuch of the criticism directed towards The Hobbit trilogy revolves around the films’ faithfulness to the source material; the irony of the concluding chapter is that Jackson and company aren’t even faithful to their own narrative inventions; the film might more properly be called “Battle of the Unresolved Plot Threads”. The various set-ups, given so […]