A. Merritt's "Adventurer Archaeologists"
A. Merritt helped create and define the 'adventurer archaeologist' trope. Without his influence, we might not have the likes of Indiana Jones, Dirk Pitt or Lara Croft.
Read MoreThe H. Rider Haggard Project: An Update
The H. Rider Haggard Project was created and funded by a husband-and-wife team of SFF art collectors, Howard and Jane Frank. The Project contributed greatly to the Haggard legacy and its paintings are excellent in their own right.
Read MoreMisleading Marketing - Why You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover
Whether browsing the shelves of a bookstore or the catalog of an online dealer, when you come across a really striking image, you’re going to want to pick it up and find out what the book is all about. Unfortunately, sometimes the contents of the book don’t match up to what’s promised on the cover.
Read More"On Fiction" by H. Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard’s essay, “On Fiction”, was written in response to literary attacks by “The Dean of American Letters”, William Dean Howells. In the essay, Haggard makes one of the first great arguments for the inherent worth of adventure/fantasy fiction. It remains an early landmark in the field of literary criticism, penned by a titan just coming into his full strength.
Read MoreThe Dead Hand of William Dean Howells
One hundred fifty years ago, William Dean Howells fabricated the elitist rules by which American ‘literature’ is guided. American fiction still suffers from his boring legacy. Learning how we got here can help get us out of the pit he dug.
Read More(Not) Lost in Translation: The Influence of Old Norse Saga and Myth on Robert E. Howard and Sword-and-Sorcery
Old Norse literature undoubtedly served as a model for the eventual sword-and-sorcery tales of Kull and Conan. Saga and Norse myth inform sword-and-sorcery more than the more popular Greek and Roman myths, with their warm climates and heroes hailing from civilized lands.
Read MoreKeep Calm and Swashbuckle On: The Legacy of H. Rider Haggard
Today we salute the life and work of one of the founding masters of modern speculative fiction, H. Rider Haggard. Though his creations remain classics in world literature, his name isn’t widely recognized among the general public. So today, May 14th, on the ninety-sixth anniversary of Haggard’s death, let’s take the opportunity to celebrate him and his legacy.
Read MoreThe Literary Afterlife and Legacy of Richard F. Burton (Part Two)
Richard F. Burton exerted a huge influence upon the dawn of the Heroic Age of Exotic Adventure Fiction. Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling were among his admirers.
Read MoreH. Rider Haggard -- 95 Years Gone
The passing of H. Rider Haggard marked the end of a heroic era. He was the foremost titan amongst a titanic generation of mainly British authors--many of whom became Forefathers of Sword and Sorcery--who rose to prominence in the late 1800s. Haggard's torch was in good hands, having already been passed to the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Talbot Mundy, A. Merritt...and to a young Texan Haggard fan named Robert E. Howard.
Read MoreThe H. Rider Haggard Project
“The H. Rider Haggard Project” has been the subject of speculation for almost two decades. A veteran art collector has recently dispelled most of the mystery around the Project.
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