Author: admin

Writer of two-fisted fabulism.

Leigh Brackett’s The Coming of the Terrans. Mars as God and ERB Intended.

Leight Brackett’s The Coming of the Terrans is a slim volume, packaging five thematically related stories. Slim, yes, but not light weight. Brackett takes what could be a frothy, fun topic of men on ancient, dusty Mars and instead gives us insightful tales in her own unique Martian setting: a grim intersection of Edgar Rice… Continue reading Leigh Brackett’s The Coming of the Terrans. Mars as God and ERB Intended.

Poul Anderson’s Rogue Sword.

I picked up Poul Anderson’s Rogue Sword in a batch that also contained Clark Ashton Smith’s The Last Incarnation and Leigh Brackett’s The Coming of the Terrans. So, good company all around. Insofar as the book is historical fiction marketed as fantasy, it reminds me of Edgar Rice Burrough’s I Am a Barbarian. However, whereas… Continue reading Poul Anderson’s Rogue Sword.

Clark Ashton Smith. The Last Incantation

I picked up a copy of Clark Ashton Smith’s The Last Incantation. I figured I’d probably read some of the stories before in collections or anthologies before, and such proved the case. But there were some I had the pleasure of reading for the first time, and re-reading CAS is never a chore. It was… Continue reading Clark Ashton Smith. The Last Incantation

Lawrence Watt-Evans’ “The Lords of Dûs.” Immanentizing the Eschaton.

It was the Darrell K. Sweet cover that lured me to the first book, The Lure of the Basilisk. This introduced me to the world of Lawrence Watt-Evans’ The Lords of Dûs tetralogy and his unique character, Garth the Overman. The overmen were, it seems, magically created genetic mutations of men, made larger, stronger, less… Continue reading Lawrence Watt-Evans’ “The Lords of Dûs.” Immanentizing the Eschaton.

Currently Reading.

Happily I will never run out of reading matter. There are five books waiting in the ever-replenishing to-be-read pile. Currently I am finishing up Glen Cook’s The Dragon Never Sleeps. This is an epic, sweeping, galaxy crossing space opera of improbably massive space ships clashing, power dynamics, and the pursuit of quasi-immortality. At over 400… Continue reading Currently Reading.

Dust Off Your Fluffy Cthulhu Birthday Hat

Next week marks the 133rd birthday of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. I wonder if he would be surprised at his influence. He spawned an entire sub-genre: Lovecraftian Horror. Its tentacles reach from prose to film to games to seemingly every type of collectible merchandise imaginable. I wonder if this prominence, this degree of ubiquity would tickle… Continue reading Dust Off Your Fluffy Cthulhu Birthday Hat

Tower at the Edge of Time. Not Precisely a Towering Achievement.

  The indefatigable Lin Carter published a slender novel in 1968 titled Tower at the Edge of Time. I have been open in my admiration for Mr. Carter’s gifts as a scholar, editor, and stylistic imitator. I even enjoy, on occasion, his more independently innovative works. That being said…Well, let me just get into it. Tower… Continue reading Tower at the Edge of Time. Not Precisely a Towering Achievement.

Old Stomping Grounds. Part Two.

Only days remain in my stay back in Oregon. I will be returning to Casa Lizzi in Texas early Tuesday morning. I’m beginning to look forward with some eagerness to my own bed, my library, my familiar routine. Yet it has been a good trip. MBW joined me Tuesday. As per her wish (happily granted)… Continue reading Old Stomping Grounds. Part Two.