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
Category: Weird Tales
The Case of the Ghost-Finder: Carnacki
In a house at No. 472, Cheyne Walk, five men assemble for a delightful dinner. Jessop, Arkright, Taylor and Dodgson (the narrator) all come to Read More
Link: The Handy-Dandy Mythos Plot Structure
It would be ridiculous to suggest that all Mythos stories have the same plot. As more and more tales are spun, this becomes less and Read More
Link: Dreamer’s World: A Tribute to Normal Bean
Edmond Hamilton wrote seventy-nine stories for Weird Tales and amongst them are several classics including “Thundering Worlds,” “Day of Judgment,” and “He That Hath Wings” Read More
Link: Top Ten Mythos Tales Not By Lovecraft
This particular piece is highly subjective. I’m just going to say that now. We all like different things and my choices won’t be your choices. Read More
Boris Dolgov: Weird Tales Artist
Being an artist for Weird Tales was not a fast track to fame and fortune. It is only in retrospect that names like Hugh Rankin, 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 Feud That Never Was
I was enjoying Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl (Dark Horse) and something in the editorials got me thinking. Why didn’t Edgar Rice Burroughs sue when Read More
Link: When Planets Clashed: War in Space
Manly Wade Wellman continually surprises me. “When Planets Clashed,” his writing debut back in Wonder Stories Quarterly Spring 1931 is no exception. I expected a juvenile Read More
Matson Bell, The Ghost Cop
The career of a writer is usually driven by commercial success. What writer would choose to compose unsellable works if they knew they could sell Read More