Myths reveal emotional truths, in their way as important as recorded history. The myths are what give life meaning, what motivate us to action, and thus have a reality of their own. Robert E. Howard tapped into this vein of true myth deeply, striking a femoral artery with “Marchers of Valhalla.”
Read More"The Master of the Crabs" is a somewhat typical Clark Ashton Smith tale (whatever typical means in the context of the great hierophant Klarkash-Ton). My enjoyment of this particular Clark Ashton Smith story has less to do with the story itself but more its evocative imagery and symbolism that is surprisingly deep and profound on an esoteric level.
Read MoreIn most of Smith’s writings, there is a brooding, a rapturous fixation on doom, destruction, decay, and destroyed things; there is also a relationship between the beautiful and the dead or doomed.
Read MoreThe writings of Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961), where do they fit in the square of Romanticism, Dark Romanticism, the Decadent, and Gothic fiction? They certainly do more than open up new worlds, new genres, new modes of writing. Smith’s works are those which are enamored with the wicked, the profane, with the purest, succulent evil that makes humanity what it is.
Read MoreThis week: Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Tanith Lee, Esteban Maroto, Leigh Brackett, Italian SF movies from the ‘60s, and more.
Read MoreMany very familiar characters and locales are featured in these stories, from Barsoom to Lemuria, from Ki-gor to Elak.
Read MoreTwo years ago DMR Books published Byron A. Roberts’ first collection of tales about his barbarian hero, Caylen-Tor. Now the release of the second volume draws nigh!
Read MoreThis week: The Cthulhu Mythos, King Diamond, Jirel of Joiry, Clash of the Titans, Barsoom, a vintage Norse mythology board game, and more.
Read MoreI was on social media a little bit ago and saw somebody wishing everyone a ‘Happy Hollow Earth Day!’. A quick online search didn’t turn up anything definitive, which means nothing. The whole thing could’ve been shadow-banned by Those Who Dwell in the Valley of Silicon with none the wiser. All I can say is, if there isn’t such a thing, there should be.
Read MoreRichard F. Burton exerted a huge influence upon the dawn of the Heroic Age of Exotic Adventure Fiction. Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling were among his admirers.
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