Link: The Desolation of Tolkien: Not a Movie Review
First, a little explanation of the title. I saw that one of the chapters in John C Wright’s book, Transhuman and Subhuman (2014) was “The Read More
Category: J. R. R. Tolkien
Link: Sword & Sorcery Cliche No. 1: The Ming the Merciless Haircut
I am currently re-reading John Jakes’s entire Brak the Barbarian saga, and I was struck by an odd thought. Why do wizards in sword-and-sorcery always Read More
The Sword & Sorcery of Clark Ashton Smith
Sword & Sorcery as an idea never existed back in 1936. I chose that date because it was the year Robert E. Howard killed himself. Read More
Link: The End of a Beautiful Friendship: Creators’ Rights
The fight over creators’ rights seems like ancient lore these days, but for those of us who remember Destroyer Duck and all the fuss that Read More
Link: The Battle of Five Armies: Of Orcs and Epics
As I sat watching the last of The Hobbit trilogy of films I realized something. We take so much for granted in the 21st Century. Read More
Link: Sword & Sorcery and J. R. R. Tolkien
In September 1937 an English Don named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien published a children’s book called The Hobbit. Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, Read More
A Brief History of Sword & Sorcery
So, What the Heck Did You Think It Was Made Of? This piece is a condensed history dedicated to a sub-genre of fantasy called “Sword Read More
The Monster Genre II
My obsession with monsters is well known. You can dribble on about H. G. Wells and Socialism, his work for Humankind until you’re blue in Read More
The Men Who Saved Sword & Sorcery
It’s easy to assume, while perusing through old Lancer paperbacks or any of the dozens of 1970s novels, that Sword & Sorcery was a roaring Read More
The Monsters of Grettir the Strong
This piece uses quotes from the Gutenberg version of Grettir the Strong. Available here. Grettir the Strong is a 13th Century heroic saga of the Read More