Charles R. Saunders Remembered

Charles R. Saunders would have turned seventy-five this past Monday. When news of his death got out to sword-and-sorcery fandom in late 2020 and the tributes were posted , I felt I didn’t have that much to add. Upon further reflection, I decided that my interactions with CRS—and the coverage he was given at The Cimmerian blog—should be remembered.

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Howard Days 2007, Chris Hale and The Ship of Ishtar

Some readers of the DMR Books Blog may remember my recent post on the sword-and-sorcery/heroic fantasy legacy of Chris Hale. Well, as it turns out, pics from the trip Chris and I made to Howard Days 2007 have survived. Those photos, plus other cool stuff, can be found in this post.

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Jean Ray: Birth of the Belgian Poe

Jean Ray, known as the Belgian Poe, was born today in 1887. I have written about Ray before, particularly in my essay, The Weird Fiction of Jean Ray. This essay contains a short biography and reviews of Ray’s works that were available in English at the time. Since then Wakefield press has released two more works by Ray, The Great Nocturnal and Circles of Dread, and plans to release more.

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August Derleth -- Fifty Years Gone

August William Derleth died of a heart attack on the Fourth of July, 1971. Thus ended a literary career that spanned six decades. Derleth won awards for his fiction, co-founded one of the most beloved small presses in the history of publishing and nurtured the careers and literary reputations of a legion of legendary authors—H.P. Lovecraft and Ramsey Campbell being just two examples. AWD also helped co-found the Cthulhu Mythos along with HPL, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith.

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"Dinosaur Destroyer" and Robert E. Howard's "Spear and Fang" To Be Reprinted in Prehistoric Adventures

July will see the release of Prehistoric Adventures, the second themed anthology of the summer from DMR Books. The cover story is “Dinosaur Destroyer,” the cult classic novella by Arthur Petticolas written in the tradition of Robert E. Howard’s James Allison tales, where a modern man remembers his life in a savage age of the distant past.

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