Buchan and the Picts
'No Man's Land' by John Buchan immediately recalled themes very familiar to sword-and-sorcery enthusiasts.
Read MoreMerritt's Dwellers in the Mirage: Ninety Years of Inspiration and Influence
Merritt’s Dwellers in the Mirage hit 90 today. Everyone from Robert E. Howard to Karl Edward Wagner drew inspiration from it.
Read MoreMerritt in Japan
The Hayakawa Bunko SF series line reprinted several vintage U.S. SF and fantasy stories in Japan during the 1970s, including works by Edgar Rice Burroughs and A. Merritt. The Merritt books are profusely illustrated, each with a double-page color interior as well as several black and white interiors.
Read MoreEdgar in the Air: Poe and America’s Golden Age of Radio
Edgar Allan Poe’s writings have long been a perennial subject of adaptation to other media. But there is one largely forgotten medium that even devoted followers of Poe adaptations rarely encounter anymore: radio drama. And, though few realize it today, it’s here that some of the finest of all Poe adaptations have been created.
Read MoreKlarkash-ton and Monstro Ligriv – A Gerry de la Ree Tour de Force
Klarkash-ton and Monstro Ligriv (Gerry de la Ree, 1974) is a testament to the depth of influence of H.P. Lovecraft in that it prompted a handful of letters between two with whom he himself corresponded: Clark Ashton Smith and Virgil Finlay.
Read MoreRex Stout, Fantastic Adventure Novelist
Rex Stout will forever be linked with his immortal creations Nero Wolfe and his Boswell, Archie Goodwin. Stout's tales of the two detectives in the brownstone on West 35th Street rightly cement his place in the canon of American popular fiction. Much less well known is his lost race novel Under the Andes.
Read MoreThe DMRtian Chronicles, 1/16/2022
This week: Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Karl Edward Wagner, Nifft the Lean, Brak the Barbarian, Black Sabbath, and more.
Read MoreKlarkash-Ton's Sword-and-Sorcery: Another Look
It seemed to me that I should revisit my old essay for The Cimmerian blog, “The Sword-and-Sorcery Legacy of Clark Ashton Smith”. While recognition of Klarkash-Ton as the co-founder of Sword-and-Sorcery has increased since I wrote that essay in 2010—most notably in Brian Murphy’s excellent Flame and Crimson—it appears to me that Smith’s influence on the S&S genre is still very undervalued.
Read MoreThe Sensuous and Savage Art of Rudy Nebres
When you’re Big John Buscema’s “favorite inker” and Neal Adams considers you to be one of the all-time great comic artists, you just might be Rudy Nebres.
Read MoreREVIEW: Blood on the Blade
Sword and Sorcery is alive and well today, just take a look at the new release from Flinch Books, Blood on the Blade. Ten stories of monsters, swinging swords, and sorcery. The table of contents is a who's who of talented individuals working in the genre today.
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