A. Merritt's landmark heroic fantasy novel, The Ship of Ishtar, still resonates a solid century after its first publication. Since that time, it has inspired classic tales from the likes of Robert E. Howard, Leigh Brackett and Michael Moorcock.
Read MoreWho was Clifford Ball? Serious readers of sword and sorcery fiction may think they already have the answer. It goes like this. Clifford Ball was a reader and fan of Weird Tales in its 1930s heyday. As an early successor to Howard, his work has attracted a bit of scholarly mention since the 1970s. But Ball was a fantasy writer for only a brief portion of his life. Who was he beyond that?
Read MoreKlarkash-ton and Monstro Ligriv (Gerry de la Ree, 1974) is a testament to the depth of influence of H.P. Lovecraft in that it prompted a handful of letters between two with whom he himself corresponded: Clark Ashton Smith and Virgil Finlay.
Read MoreThe Thief of Forthe and Other Stories (2018), published by DMR Books, includes an engaging, thought-provoking story that should not be ignored by enthusiasts of dark fantasy or sword-and-sorcery: I am referring to “The Thief of Forthe” by Clifford Ball.
Read MoreRegular readers of the DMR blog should be well acquainted with A. Merritt, whose 137th birthday we celebrate today. In his heyday from the late teens of the twentieth century to the early 1950s, he was arguably the most popular fantasy author in America. His novel, The Ship of Ishtar was voted by the readers of Argosy as the most popular story to have appeared in the pages or Argosy or All Story, consigning Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes to second place.
Read MoreVirgil Finlay died of cancer at the age of 56 on this date in 1971. He left behind him one of the greatest portfolios in the field of SFF art.
Read MoreMonahan, Finlay, Cawthorn, Fabian and Hickman. Some of the greatest artists in the history of SFF have given the best of their talents to illustrate A. Merritt’s groundbreaking novel, The Metal Monster.
Read MorePulp magazines are just plain awesome. Those periodicals were important stepping stones for many authors in the fields I best love--science fiction, sword and sorcery, horror. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edmond Hamilton, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith… and one of the guys I most enjoy collecting--A. Merritt.
Read MoreThere have been many various editions over the years of the works of Virgil Finlay… but none, my friends, precisely like this one.
Read MorePulp artist extraordinaire, Virgil Finlay, would have turned one hundred and five today. He was, arguably, the greatest artist to work in the field of SFF/weird pulps, creating classic art for tales by H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, A. Merritt and many, many other legendary authors.
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