21st Century Sword-and-Sorcery: An Introduction
The 1990s were a pretty horrible time for Sword-and-Sorcery. However, by the early 2000s, there were signs of a new dawn for S&S.
Read MoreThe Sword and Sorcery Legacy of Donald A. Wollheim: Part Three
Donald A. Wollheim debuted—or ‘broke out’—Tanith Lee’s various S&S/heroic fantasy works, Moorcock’s Elric and Dorian Hawkmoon, Saunders’ Imaro and Dossouye and Shea’s Nifft the Lean. In other words, most of the major sword-and-sorcery protagonists of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Read More2021: A Reading Retrospective
This past year has given everyone their fair share of trials and tribulations. It's a wonderful thing to find respite from our daily grind in a good book. In this past year I read about sixty books. In this post I wanted to share some of the books that made my year not only bearable but enjoyable.
Read MoreReview: Mr. Cannyharme by Michael Shea
Michael Shea wrote Mr. Cannyharme in 1981. The H.P. Lovecraft story "The Hound" was the inspiration for this story. Although, as S.T. Joshi points out, with the elaboration of the plot and the change of setting Shea has written a novel that is far more than a literary pastiche.
Read MoreBejeweled in Weirdness — Michael Shea’s The Pearls of the Vampire Queen
When authors of a certain genre tend to draw inspiration from like sources, it is not surprising that their work might yield similar results. This makes it quite noteworthy when a very different and unique idea emerges. Michael Shea is one of the authors whom I’ve always admired for having a fresh approach to weaving interesting, out-of-the-ordinary plots into his sword and sorcery tales.
Read MoreMichael Shea -- Five Years Gone
I first encountered Shea by way of the Cthulhu Mythos. I'd heard he was a good writer--this being in reference to his classic, Nifft the Lean--but I stumbled onto his Mythos novel, The Color Out of Time, first.
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