The DMRtian Chronicles, 3/27/2022
This week: A new Conan novel, Elric, Jim FitzPatrick, H.P. Lovecraft, John Severin, Beowulf, pirate films, and more.
Read MoreFritz Leiber, Mike Mignola, and Me
I discovered Fritz Leiber, Mike Mignola, and sword-and-sorcery at the same time. I was a teenager in the suburbs of Houston when I picked up the collection Ill Met in Lankhmar by White Wolf Publishing at a Barnes and Noble. This was a double collection that includes Swords and Deviltry and Swords Against Death.
Read MoreThe DMRtian Chronicles, 3/20/2022
This week: Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Elric, Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, Swords Against Darkness, Bernie Wrightson, Andre Norton, Stonehenge, and more.
Read MoreBernie Wrightson -- Five Years Gone
We lost Bernie Wrightson five years ago yesterday. What a talent. What a titan. Within the field of horror art, he simply had no equal.
Read MoreCatching Up With Tom Barber, Classic S&S Artist
Tom Barber was one of the more striking, talented artists working in the sword-and-sorcery renaissance of the 1970s and early 80s. He painted the covers of many classic paperbacks of the era, including the likes of the Robert E. Howard collection Black Vulmea’s Vengeance (Zebra), three volumes of the Lin Carter paperback revival of Weird Tales, and Adrian Cole’s Dream Lords series.
Read MoreThe Irish Art of Jim FitzPatrick 2022
Jim FitzPatrick is uniquely qualified to illustrate the entire history of Ireland as the Irish have told it to themselves for over four thousand years. For the last half-century and more, he has done just that.
Read MoreThe DMRtian Chronicles, 3/13/2022
This week: Conan, giant spiders, Atlantis, Henry Kuttner, Dracula, Kthulhu Reich, and more.
Read MoreThe Sword and Sorcery Legacy of Donald A. Wollheim: Part Three
Donald A. Wollheim debuted—or ‘broke out’—Tanith Lee’s various S&S/heroic fantasy works, Moorcock’s Elric and Dorian Hawkmoon, Saunders’ Imaro and Dossouye and Shea’s Nifft the Lean. In other words, most of the major sword-and-sorcery protagonists of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Read MoreFantasy Without Tolkien? Yes That Happened, and Yes It Matters
Contrary to what “The Tolkien Professor” Corey Olsen says, the modern fantasy genre does NOT all come from Tolkien, and it would have arrived even without him. In fact, it already had. And pre-Tolkien fantasy matters.
Read MoreReview: The Sword of Hel by Barry Reese
"A Viking warrior dies a dishonorable death...but he has one chance to redeem his soul and enter Valhalla: to return to Earth in service to the goddess of death! As the living Sword of Hel, Grimarr encounters demons, evil warlords, and beautiful sword-maidens!"
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