BOND… THEMES BOND (Part 1)
James Bond themes: love ‘em or not, they’re an indisputable part of a long-lived franchise. SF or not, who cares? Steve talks about his favourites.
Noticias Literatura 23-8
Two new speculative fiction books have been released in Spanish: La canción de Bêlit, an exploration of a lost period in the history of Robert E, Howard’s Conan the Barbarian; and Transcrepuscular, which considers a possible evolutionary symbiosis between humanity and nature, exposing our ethnocenrtic view of the world.
Noticias Literatura 12-7
An overview of the rules of the 2017 Domingo Santos Award for short stories and the launch of “Ambition to the Light of the Moon” by Robert E. Howard.
REVIEW: Skelos: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy
The first issue of Skelos is sure to please (if that’s the right word) fans of dark fantasy.
DOUBLE, DOUBLE, WHAT’S THE TROUBLE?
An all-new follow-up to Steve’s Ace Doubles columns. He’s doubled up with laughter, because he’s doubling his Ace writings!
Noticias literatura 24-8
The first issue of a new Spanish language fantasy magazine, Iron and Bones, has been released, and Cixin Liu, author of the 2015 Hugo Award winning novel The Three Body Problem, will appear in Barcelona.
Roy G. Krenkel: Artistic Contradiction
Even if you don’t recognize the name, you know who Roy G. Krenkel is.
Ken Kelly: An Artist I Can Trust
Ken Kelly: NOT a Frazetta wannabe, as Mr. Jackson is quick to point out
The Clubhouse; Fanzine Reviews: Dean A. Grennell, the “Crottled Greeps” man.
Fanzines reviewed: GRUE (#29 & 28), published 1956/1958. About forty years ago Harry Warner Jr. described Grennell as “the forgotten fan.” Yet only twenty-five years earlier (in the early fifties) he’d been widely respected and renowned among fans worldwide. With his sense of humour and innovative publishing techniques, Grennell, who lived in Fond du Lac, […]
Hugo Award by the Numbers Part 4
Since 1966, the average length of Hugo nominated novels has more than doubled…
MOORCOCK vs. ULTRON: Two Reviews
Two new reviews by Steve: the new Michael Moorcock book and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Are they worth it? You bet they are!
Manly Art for Manly Men
You don’t have to be “manly” to paint “manly”.
MY PERSONAL TIME MACHINE: AMAZING STORIES’ FIRST YEAR (part 1)
Steve begins a series of columns examining Amazing Stories’ first full year of publishing!
Indie Book Review: “Red Shadows, Green Hell” by David Hardy
Earlier this year, Hardy showed his versatility with a very different type of historical fantasy, “Red Shadows, Green Hell”.
Conan, by Crom!
Depictions of Conan have evolved over the years, from Emshwiller to Brundage to Arnold and now, to Jackson.
The 72nd Worldcon Voters will Forge History
The Hugos are upon us. RK gives you even more (and better reasons) to join up and vote!
Interview with Robert MacAnthony, Founder of Long Count Press
An interview with Robert MacAnthony, founder of the new speculative fiction small press Long Count Press.
ROBERT E. HOWARD and the Many Faces of CONAN
Conan, from Weird Tales to remakes – with a dash or two of Frazetta thrown in for verisimilitude.
PAPERBACKS: ACE Doubles, “D-Series,” the “Good Old Stuff”
Ahh nostalgia. For a book series? Certainly, so long as its the tete-beche wonder of the Ace Double. Two books in one! Steve waxes eloquent on a reading experience that is sadly largely forgotten.
The Ultimate Science Fiction Reading List
Notable and award winning authors talk about what’s on their science fiction reading list.
Bad Science Fiction and Fantasy Art
In order to understand what makes really good science fiction and fantasy art, you have to look at a few pieces of bad science fiction and fantasy art.
Worldcon Report
Worldcon both met and fell short of my expectations.
Walking the River at LoneStarCon 3
LoneStarCon 3 promises to be one of the truly landmark events in the history of science fiction. Something so magnificent owes a great debt to San Antonio Fandom
Sword & Planet
Discussions of what is and what is not Sword & Sorcery can be a thorny proposition. On the one hand S&S is largely no different than epic Fantasy (ala Tolkien) except in scope or tone. On the other side is a branch of Science Fantasy known as Sword & Planet, and to many is called […]
L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP 2 HYBORIAN TIMES
As mentioned in an earlier post, L. Sprague de Camp attempted to turn Sword & Sorcery down a logical, Science Fictional route (ala John W. Campbell’s Unknown) with his Pusadian stories, but in this he failed largely because of his other activities in Fantasy: the Gnome Press release of Conan in hard cover. Gnome Press […]
What Gets Preserved?
The library of Alexandria was the largest and most comprehensive repository of knowledge in the ancient world. In 46 AD (according to some sources) it burned. Countless scrolls went up in flames, in some cases the only copies of famous texts were lost to history. The destruction of the library at Alexamdria is considered to […]
Slammin’ Pulp Hero Stories
There’s a new book out I’d like to recommend to anyone who’s a fan of pulp fiction– or anyone who just appreciates good writing. My friend Fred Blosser, known in some parts as an authority on Robert E. Howard, among other things, has published SLAMMIN’ PULP HERO STORIES, a collection of fiction he’s written over […]
SWORD & SORCERY & J. R. R. TOLKIEN
In September 1937 an English Don named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien published a children’s book called The Hobbit. Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, had been dead for fifteen months. In 1950 Gnome Press published the first Conan stories in hard cover. July 1954, Tolkien begins publishing a second version of his mythology, but […]
PUSADIAN REWRITE: L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP 1
Two things happened in 1950. One: L. Sprague de Camp read his first Conan story. And two: L. Sprague de Camp would try to direct Sword & Sorcery down another track altogether. Those two don’t really make much sense. Didn’t L. Sprague de Camp become the editor/posthumous collaborator of Robert E. Howard? It went something like […]
JACK VANCE: VISIONS OF A DYING EARTH
After the last few S&S works of the early 1940s, such as “Dragon Moon” by Henry Kuttner and the short-lived Unknown, Sword & Sorcery lost steam. With Robert E. Howard dead for five or more years, Heroic Fantasy became a thing of the past with only the occasional Edmond Hamilton Weird Tales fantasy or anomalies […]