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
Category: Science fiction
The Furies & Other Killer Bees
Sometimes cover art haunts me. The image of a large wasp attacking a human stayed with me for decades even though I never had a 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
Fan Fury: If You Cut Me, Do I Not Bleed in Four Colors?
I have been spending the last three months on research – that essentially means taking apart scans of Pulps so that I can aggregate the Read More
Post-Apocalyptic Heroes: Samson and Hercules
Selling a comic based on straight mythology is a tough go. Wonder Woman is an Amazon but the myths are all in the background. Same Read More
Victorian Monsterfest: “The Monster of Lake La Metrie”
I first encountered “The Monster of Lake LaMetrie”in The Rivals of H. G. Wells (1979) edited by A. Kingsley Russell. This delightful collection has the Read More
V. E. Thiessen & the Leigh Brackett Mystery
In the Winter 1948 issue of Planet Stories, Leigh Brackett published one of her more famous space opera stories, “The Beast-Jewel of Mars”. The tale Read More
Astonishing Stories: Bargain Basement Science Fiction
When you don’t have plenty of money, sometimes you just have to settle for second best. Or you have to be more creative. Certainly this Read More
The Earliest Plant Monsters
Stories of giant man-eating trees or blood-sucking vines have become part of the SF/F/H genres to the point where we don’t really think about their Read More
Toka the Jungle King or How to Edgar Rice Burroughs
Ray A. Palmer, editor of Fantastic Adventures, was always on the look-out for a good Edgar Rice Burroughs clone. He published the actual ERB in Read More