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Vintage Treasures: To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust
To Reign in Hell (Ace Books, May 1985). Cover by Stephen Hickman In 1983 all my friends in Ottawa were talking about the debut novel by a young fantasy writer from Minnesota. The book was Jhereg, and...
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Medical Alternative History: The Wages of Sin by Harry Turtledove
The Wages of Sin (Caezik SF & Fantasy, December 12, 2023). Harry Turtledove photo by Joan Allen Harry Turtledove has been writing alternative history for a long time: His early stories included...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Inferior Sleuth (Doyle on...
The late Nis Jessen’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’ may be my favorite illustrated Holmes. It’s wonderful. Welcome to week four of Doyle on Holmes. We started with The Truth Behind Sherlock Holmes. Then, it was...
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The Swashbuckling Horror of Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter
Caroline Munro in Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (Hammer Film Productions, April 1974) Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is a classic Hammer Horror film that features supernatural horror combined with...
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Five Tours in the Galactic Security Service: Backflash (Simon Rack #3) by...
Backflash (Sphere Books, January 1975). Cover by Bruce Pennington Here’s another review of an obscure (at least to me!) 1970s SF novel. I found it on the free table at Boskone this year. It is slim,...
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Goth Chick News: One From the Crypt – Vamp (1986)
Vamp (New World Pictures, released July 18, 1986) Over the next few weeks I will be taking some trips that are not leisure-related. When traveling alone these days, I most often spend the evening...
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A to Z Reviews: “The Hat in the Hall,” by Jack Iams
Jack Iams published “The Hat in the Hall” in the August 1950 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and it is an example of a story that has dated poorly. Set in the aftermath of a...
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Vintage Treasures: Strange Monsters of the Recent Past by Howard Waldrop
Strange Monsters of the Recent Past (Ace Books, July 1991). Cover by Alan M. Clark Howard Waldrop passed away in January of this year, and his death was a major loss. It’s common, especially for...
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Back Among the Kencyrath: “The Gates of Tagmeth” by PC Hodgell
One of the earliest reviews I wrote for Blackgate was of P.C. Hodgell’s 1982 sword & sorcery classic, God Stalk. It’s the story of Jame, a relative innocent at large in the very Lankhmarian city...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Doyle’s Favorite SH Adventure (Doyle on...
And it’s another essay by Arthur Conan Doyle about his famous detective. This was also the last one he wrote, appearing in The Strand in March of 1927. The fifth and final short story collection, The...
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Courage Does Not Always Roar
This is one of mine Good afterevenmorn! As I’m prepping for the release of the first part of my free serial story on my person blog (11 days!), I’m thinking a great deal about the characters I tend to...
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The Chronicles of Future Earth Player’s Guide – Out Now!
Way back in 2018, I wrote an article for Black Gate about the Kickstarter we were running for my science-fantasy roleplaying game, The Chronicles of Future Earth. Subtitled “Cosmic Fantasy Roleplaying...
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Goth Chick News: Please, Just No Flannel This Time…
I have made no secret here of how I feel about Twilight; books, and movies. To be fair, I only made it through two of the books, understanding I was far from the target audience. Over the years since...
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A to Z Reviews: “Tank,” by Francis E. Izzo
One of the interesting things in this random selection of stories is how often the selected items share some unexpected and unintentional trait. The two stories that showed up for the letter I, Jack...
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Vintage Treasures: Sandkings by George R.R. Martin
Sandkings (Timescape/Pocket Books, December 1981). Cover by Rowena Morrill Writing is a notoriously poor-paying profession. In 2017, after eleven months of work, I sold my first novel to Houghton...
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Roger Corman, April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024
Roger Corman, the Godfather of American independent film, is gone. He died at his home in Santa Monica, California, on May 9th. He was ninety-eight. Legendary both for his cheapness (no one could...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
Peter Haining was a notable Sherlockian who compiled/edited several useful Sherlock Holmes books. Back around 2005 or so, an article in the Wall Street Journal was about Barnes & Noble’s in-house...
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GEN CON WRITERS’ SYMPOSIUM AUG 1-4, 2024: SPECIAL GUESTS AND PROGRAM RELEASE
Gen Con Writers’ Symposium This post announces our 2024 Special Guests and reveals the Program. May 19th is the official registration day, but attendees can wishlist their events now! Gen Con is the...
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A Paean to the Outsider: A Review of Neither Beg Nor Yield, edited by Jason...
Neither Beg Nor Yield (Rogue Blades Entertainment, April 2024) I can’t say if Jason M. Waltz and his Rogue Blades Entertainment’s swansong is the largest collection of Sword & Sorcery ever...
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Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: Two-Thirds...
The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line Cinema, December 2001) Some of us waited a very long time for these movies — or at least, that’s how it felt. I grew up in the 1960s reading science fiction and...
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