Blog Archives
sSensor Sweep: D&D Cartoon, Tim Kirk, Lin Carter, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers
Monday , 10, June 2019 Uncategorized 2 CommentsAnimated Cartoons (CBR.com): When CBS ordered a series based on the latest trend, fantasy role-playing games, perhaps they didn’t know what awaited them. Debuting on Sept 17, 1983, Dungeons & Dragons (inspired by the game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and published by TSR) came to air already surrounded by controversy. The game’s use of […]
Sensor Sweep: Spears of Clontarf, Mech, Max Brand, Melee, Dresden Files
Monday , 3, June 2019 Sensor Sweep 7 CommentsRobert E. Howard (Jeffro Johnson): This is a great story, a fascinating piece. In the first place, it shows us up close the sort of peoples, Christian and pagan, that produced the bedrock of the myth and legends that would define our base concepts of fantasy and heroism. But it also presents the notion that […]
There is a new Robert E. Howard biography available. David C. Smith, a writer of fantasy, horror, and an English book told me about this project two years ago. Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography is from the new imprint, Pulp Hero Press. L. Sprague de Camp dominated Robert E. Howard biography for decades. He […]
Fiction (Bleeding Fool): ‘Red Nails’ is a novella first serialized in 1936 in the July through October issues of Weird Tales, and the last of the tales of Conan the Barbarian penned by Robert E Howard, as well as one of the best. Some of the appeal of this yarn may be lost on any […]
The Cimmerian was a one of the best Robert E. Howard small press magazines ever produced. Editor/publisher Leo Grin had the idea of a magazine that contained well edited, entertaining non-fiction articles, a few poems, and a letter section. Art, all too often bad art would overwhelm many a small press magazine. The Cimmerian had […]
Sensor Sweep: CAS, REH, and HPL; Roger Zelazny; F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Medieval Tales
Monday , 8, October 2018 Sensor Sweep 3 CommentsFiction (DMR Books): Today would be the one hundred and fourth birthday of Donald A. Wollheim. When it comes to a debate regarding which editor had the greatest overall impact on the field of science fiction, Wollheim often gets shortchanged–in my opinion–in favor of Hugo Gernsback and/or John W. Campbell. However, that neglect pales in comparison to the […]
Sensor Sweep: Grimdark, Ray Harryhausen, Pathfinder, Tim Willocks
Monday , 1, October 2018 Sensor Sweep 3 CommentsFiction (Rogue Blades): Cropley’s and Bridgland’s article in a recent issue of Grimdark Magazine got me thinking about what it is that keeps me from buying into the whole grimdark thing. I mean, I think there’s a place for it in fantasy, but it’s neither anything special or particularly new. The way I see it, grimdark […]
Sensor Sweep: Tower of the Elephant, Leigh Brackett, Kenneth Morris, D&D Survey
Monday , 24, September 2018 Sensor Sweep 4 CommentsWriters (Tellers of Weird Tales): Harold S. Farnese didn’t write any stories, poems, or articles for Weird Tales, nor was he a cover artist or illustrator. His eight letters published in “The Eyrie,” the letters column of Weird Tales, failed to land him in the top twenty contributors in that category. You might say that […]
Sensor Sweep: REH Guide, The High Crusade, Pulp Revolution, D&D, King Kong
Monday , 23, July 2018 Sensor Sweep 8 CommentsWriters (Legends of Men): As you know by now I’m a huge fan of the Conan stories, but I’m also a huge fan of Howard’s other creations, even his poetry. Last June I attended Robert E. Howard Days, a gathering of Howard scholars and fans to celebrate the life and works of Robert E. Howard. While […]
Sensor Sweep: Keys to Other Doors, Xenophile, Skylark of Space, Roger Zelazny
Monday , 16, July 2018 Sensor Sweep 2 CommentsPulps (The Pulp Net): When I was first involved in the pulp fandom world in the late ’90s, I saw ads for Keys to Other Doors. Subtitled “some lists for a pulp collector’s notebook,” it was put together by John DeWalt. There were at least two versions, a first version in 1995 with a revised […]
Sensor Sweep: REH Guide, Realism, Short Stories, Street & Smith Pulp Sales, Star Wars
Monday , 18, June 2018 Sensor Sweep, Uncategorized 4 CommentsBooks (Skelos Press): Presenting the English translation of the award-winning book that introduced a new generation of French fans to the father of sword and sorcery. The Robert E. Howard Guide was born out of years of scholarship, but took its final form after answering the same questions from fans over and over again. In […]
“The ancient empires fall. The dark skinned peoples fade, and even the demons of antiquity gasp their last…but above all stands the Aryan barbarian. White-skinned, cold-eyed, dominant. The supreme fighting man of the Earth.” Robert E. Howard, “Wings in the Night” This quote is used at a Youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upSOO8rjHrw#t=15) entitled “He-Man=Nazi.” The “Robert E. […]