The DMRtian Chronicles, 8/2/2018
Merritt, Burroughs, barbarians, and more.
Read MoreRoy G. Krenkel: A Centennial Remembrance, Part One
Roy G. Krenkel would have turned one hundred on July 11. I was quite busy with real world issues at that point, but I figured that someone out there somewhere would do a substantial centennial write-up. The other day I performed a fairly rigorous internet search and found nothing, more or less. I resolved to do my own write-up…
Read MoreThe DMRtian Chronicles - 7/29/2018
Items of interest from around the web.
Read MoreQuick Reviews: The Weirwoods by Thomas Burnett Swann
In the days when Rome was young, a forest populated by fantastic creatures stood near the Etruscan city of Sutrium. Lars Velcha, a nobleman of Sutrium, abducts a Water Sprite named Vel for his daughter Tanaquil to use as a slave. Tanaquil and Vel befriend Arnth, a wandering minstrel, and together contrive a plan to free the Water Sprite.
Read MoreQuick Reviews: Swordsmen and Supermen
“A most unusual volume of swashbuckling high adventure stories with a heavy accent on the fantastic” promises the back cover.
Read MoreAnnouncement: Summer Sale
For one week only, everything (yes, everything) in our store is on sale!
Read MoreForefathers of Sword and Sorcery: H. Rider Haggard
Haggard stands at the fountainhead and nexus of what I call "exotic adventure fiction." Such fiction moves beyond the sort of stories told up until that time--adventures of pirates, cowboys, swashbucklers, explorers and whatnot-- and adds something extra, something over the top, something truly exotic.
Read MoreMerritt's "The Moon Pool" Turns 100
Today marks the centennial of the first publication of A. Merritt's novelette, "The Moon Pool." Such a small thing--only about twenty thousand words--but one that has had an extraordinarily outsized impact in the century since.
Read MoreStephen Fabian and Robert E. Howard: Part Three
Robert E. Howard died on this date in 1936. Thinking about that tragic day eventually reminded me that I'd never followed up on my first two looks at Stephen Fabian's illustrations of Howard's works. Today, I'll attempt to make the argument that Fabian should be considered the greatest illustrator of Robert E. Howard's characters and yarns.
Read MoreQuick Reviews: The Snake-Man's Bane
Fortunately, we presently have a few writers who understand what REH-inspired sword and sorcery is supposed to be: aggressive, bloody, virile, menacing. Howie Bentley is one of the best, if not the best, writers of this style today.
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