Hellsgarde Enshrined – Jirel of Joiry’s Darkest Hour

November 13, 2017 by Matthew Knight

In the spirit of Samhain which just passed, I would like to talk about one of my favorite ghost stories of all-time – Hellsgarde by C.L. Moore. This tale will be one of the main concepts that my band Eternal Winter will be covering on our upcoming album, Archaic Lore Enshrined: Songs of Savage Swords and Dark Mysticism. As the lyricist of the group, I recently had to become heavily immersed in the story, in order to pen some descriptive words to the coinciding epic that will appear on the release.

I, Barbarian - Reviewed by Dave Ritzlin

November 05, 2017 by D.M. Ritzlin

In the introduction to this edition, Jakes says that he was strongly influenced by Edison Marshall, and I don’t doubt that at all. This is the story of James the Frank, a half-European/half-Mongol who becomes a soldier in Genghis Kahn’s army.

The Dying Earth - Reviewed by Jon Zaremba

November 05, 2017 by Jon Zaremba

As with most things, I find myself being exposed to the classics late in life, rather than during my formative years where most people seem to encounter them. As such, I've never read Jack Vance until now, “The Dying Earth” being my first. I was immediately enthralled by this collection of loosely-related short stories set in the distant future when our civilization is but a forgotten memory, machinery has been replaced by sorcery, and the sun is on the verge of being extinguished.