Collection
October 2018
Weinbaum’s Old Mars
This morning I started reading Stanley Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey,” and had intended to write a full reaction to it, but, well, I ran out of time and…
Ogre Battle
My recent post on hawkmen got me thinking a little about Ogre Battle. And then yesterday Thomas of Weird Catholic decided to revisit his series on tarot cards.…
The Original Greek Superhero: Prometheus
It’s been observed that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter was an early inspiration for the modern superhero. I believe he was actually a direct inspiration for the genesis…
The Hawkmen cometh
Hawkman, the comic book superhero, was apparently created in 1940 by Gardner Fox of Appendix N fame. This post wasn’t originally intended to include him beyond a cursory…
The Word-Hoard: Schloss
Schloss n. A castle or palace. There are a number of words for castles and other great houses or fortified compounds – keep, citadel, fortress, stronghold, manor, estate,…
Trees get all the glory (lamentations for cacti)
This is probably going to sound kind of unhinged, but has anyone else noticed that trees get all the vegetational glory in SFF tales? Mirkwood and Lothlorien and…
SFF Weapons: Some Interesting Implements
Scifi and Fantasy are absolutely littered with famous weapons – from Excalibur to the lightsaber to Indiana Jones’ signature bullwhip. The further back you go, the more and…
Dilvish, the Damned: Zelazny does #NotTolkien Fantasy
You might argue that Roger Zelazny’s brand of fantasy is plenty infected by modernism, as some would put it. You might also argue that he was doing some…
The Word-Hoard: Beldame
Beldame n. 1. An old woman, especially an ugly one; a hag. 2. (Obsolete) Grandmother. When I did a Google search for “beldame,” the first several pages…
Hallowread: Carmilla
It’s become something of mine to do a little special reading for the Halloween season. Two years ago, I read and blogged about Frankenstein along with HP of…