Marilyn Monroe at 100: Her Surprising Links to Cool Stuff
Believe it or not, Marilyn Monroe possessed some unguessed connections to Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard and Fritz Leiber.
Read MoreCormac FitzGeoffrey: Howard's Mighty Irish Crusader
Cormac FitzGeoffrey is perhaps the most notable of all the protagonists that Robert E. Howard created in his ‘Crusader’ stories; tales written with a significant element of historical realism. Cormac is reminiscent of Conan: tall stature, tigerish strength, fierce blue eyes, jet-black hair…and a force of nature on the battlefield.
Read MoreA. 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.
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