John Jakes’ Dark Gate Novels
In 1970 and 1972, Jakes produced a duo of planetary adventure novels; MASTER OF THE DARK GATE and WITCH OF THE DARK GATE.
Read MoreThoughts on Karl Edward Wagner’s “Cold Light”
“When you seek to destroy an absolute evil, you must destroy it absolutely. Show mercy in expunging a blight, and you only leave seeds to sprout anew. Kill them all.”
- Gaethaa the Crusader
Read MoreOn The Hole of the Pit by Adrian Ross
The reader is treated to a well-paced array of surprisingly sensational developments, including a ghost, a sorceress, a satanic rite, and the protean, unknowable Thing that rises from the pit to harass and slay the poor humans trapped in Deeping Hold.
Read MoreThe DMRtian Chronicles, 1/13/2018
This week: Stephen Fabian, Moorcock, Kuttner, Conan and more.
Read MoreForefathers of Sword and Sorcery: Jack London
Jack London was born on this date in 1876 and we should be damned glad of it. His intense and gritty prose, imbued with the bleak lyricism of a street poet, inspired admiration not only in Robert E. Howard, but also other sword and sorcery authors as well as a few of his fellow "forefathers."
Read MorePoul Anderson's "Northern Cycle": Part One
We have not had a post dedicated to the late, great Poul Anderson on the DMR blog up 'til now. I missed his birthday in November and this situation simply cannot stand.
Read MoreTolkien and Howard: Two Roads Diverged in Haggard’s Kor
It’s not immediately clear where these two very different men developed such similar lines of thought and expression. The most likely answer is a revolt against modernity. But another is their literary influences. Tolkien and Howard shared a common interest the works of H. Rider Haggard.
Read MoreBarbarian Life: A Literary Biography of Conan the Barbarian (Volume One)
Over the years I would go on to collect all the works of Conan’s creator Robert E. Howard, an author who became a major influence on my own writing. But as much as I love Howard’s prose, it is the Conan the Barbarian comic that rests still at the heart of my mania.
Read More"The Moon Pool" Re-Read: Part One
The centennial of the All-Story publication of "The Conquest of the Moon Pool" looms on the horizon. It seemed to me that a reread of the original novelette which spawned it would make an excellent lead-up to this new Merritt centennial.
Read MoreMichael Wm. Kaluta and Robert E. Howard
Michael William Kaluta exploded onto the Howardian art scene with the publication of FAX's The Lost Valley of Iskander in 1974. He was a Howard fan before the Lancer Conans were ever published.
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