Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain is a book I wanted to like more than I actually did. I’ve a notion that timing is a factor. Had I read it, oh, 40 years ago, I might have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is, after all, an ambitious piece of fantasy, the language skillfully and often… Continue reading Red Moon and Black Mountain
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A Cimmerian Christmas
Conan wished he was in Argos, or perhaps even Kush. Anywhere warm. Cimmeria was no place to spend the winter. Cold, gray, bleak. And direly lacking in plentiful meat and drink. So he found himself pushing through a howling blizzard, scarce able to see five feet before him, and that only thanks to a strange… Continue reading A Cimmerian Christmas
Cirsova Winter 2024 Issue
Just in time for Christmas I bring you an unalloyed self-promotional post. God bless us everyone! And especially me. The winter edition of Cirsova magazine is out. And — this is the important part, so pay attention — it contains a story by me. It’s The Red Hat, one of my Cesar the Bravo sword-and-sorcery… Continue reading Cirsova Winter 2024 Issue
A Long Expected Party
My grandmother celebrated her centennial on Friday. It isn’t precisely eleventy-one years, but it is an impressive span nonetheless. And she is still chugging along. MBW, the HA, and I jetted off from Casa Lizzi to San Diego. We shared a rented house in the SD suburb of La Mesa with my mother and sister.… Continue reading A Long Expected Party
Alan Garner’s “The Weirdstone of Brisingamen” and “The Moon of Gomrath.”
The cover of the 1960 Ace paperback of Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen guaranteed I’d pick this up when I found it in a used bookstore in Galveston, Texas. It’s Jack Gaughan art, and I had to read the story that inspired that image. The cover blurb states that Weirdstone is “A fantastic novel… Continue reading Alan Garner’s “The Weirdstone of Brisingamen” and “The Moon of Gomrath.”
A Galveston Thanksgiving
Once again the day of thankfulness and overeating arrived. I spent this one with MBW and the HA in Galveston. We rented a room in a mansion in the historic district. Wednesday featured a visit to a used bookstore (from which I was at length pried away by MBW) and a distillery. Thursday consisted of… Continue reading A Galveston Thanksgiving
They Can’t All Be Winners: “Demon in the Mirror” and “Thor: Love and Thunder”
We all know the aphorism: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. The problem is that this week’s post would minuscule, or even absent entirely were I to adhere to that admonition. I did not have high hopes for Andrew Offutt and Richard Lyon’s Demon in the Mirror. So… Continue reading They Can’t All Be Winners: “Demon in the Mirror” and “Thor: Love and Thunder”
Wandering Dunsany’s “Beyond the Fields We Know.”
Beyond the Fields We Know is part of the peerless Adult Fantasy series, edited by Lin Carter. Carter curates and edits selections from Lord Dunsany and once again proves his editorial chops. This is an excellent collection and the editorial material isn’t merely filler. The collection starts with early Dunsany, printing his complete The Gods… Continue reading Wandering Dunsany’s “Beyond the Fields We Know.”
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9
I cut my writing teeth on short stories before turning my attention to novels. I still like to work with the shorter form on occasion. In fact my entire published output this year will, it seems, be a couple of short stories. (I’ve been laboring steadily this year on a three-book series, attempting to get… Continue reading Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9