Search Results for: tale covers

The Fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Part III: The Westerns and The Mucker

Comments 5 comments

Like many pulp writers of his day, ERB dipped his toes into the western genre. He wrote four: two pretty standard ones and two that incorporate the Native American experience. He knew something of what he wrote, having worked on his brother’s ranch in Idaho at age 16, and having served with the 7th cavalry in Arizona in the late 1890s. His first standard western was The Bandit of Hell’s Bend (1924), followed by The Deputy Sheriff of Commanche County…

Read More Read More

A Masterful Three Novella Original Anthology: The New Atlantis, edited by Robert Silverberg

Comments 5 comments

The New Atlantis (Warner Books paperback reprint, 1978). Cover by Lou Feck My latest look at a book from the 1970s treats a major anthology from 1975. The New Atlantis and Other Novellas collects three long stories: “Silhouette,” by Gene Wolfe; “The New Atlantis,” by Ursula K. Le Guin, and “A Momentary Taste of Being,” by James Tiptree, Jr. The project received plenty of notice at awards time – the book as a whole was fifth in the Locus Poll…

Read More Read More

The Fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Part II: Tarzan and The Land That Time Forgot

Comments 14 comments

Any discussion of Sword & Planet fiction needs to start with Edgar Rice Burroughs and his book A Princess of Mars. I discussed that series extensively — and also his other S&P series, the Carson of Venus books, and his Moon Maid trilogy, which is partially S&P — in Part I of this series. But, of course, ERB wrote many other books that have no connection to S&P fiction. They are still very good stories, though, entertaining and worth discussing….

Read More Read More

An Eternal Champion’s Legacy: 64 Years After his Debut, Fantasy’s Original Edgelord Still Reigns Supreme

Comments 13 comments

Paperback editions of the first six Elric books (DAW Books, 1972 – 1977). Covers by Michael Whelan It may not seem like it, but this winter has given fans of fantasy plenty to celebrate. Less than a month ago, Michael Moorcock turned 84, his most recent Elric novel turned three, and the latest reprint of his vaunted Eternal Champion series hit store shelves in the US. Thanks to a boatload of new collections, there is no better time to be…

Read More Read More

The Fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Part I: Sword and Planet

Comments 7 comments

For sheer fun and adventure there’s nothing better in my opinion than Sword & Planet fiction (also called Interplanetary Adventure, Interplanetary Romance, or Planetary Romance). But exactly what is Sword & Planet fiction? Well, Edgar Rice Burroughs (ERB) created the prototype in 1911 with A Princess of Mars, which featured an Earthman named John Carter who is mysteriously transported to Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabitants. The basic Sword & Planet story involves an earthman (rarely an earthwoman up to…

Read More Read More

Howard Andrew Jones, a Mentee’s Perspective

Comments 9 comments

In 2019, I had an idea: a lot of my friends loved reading sword and sorcery fiction, but they didn’t write it. They would say, “One day.” Many of my undergraduates also expressed interest in writing fantasy, but they often felt discouraged by form rejection letters (genre magazine slush piles are epic). Having studied the history of genre fiction, I knew about the old tradition of “fanzines”— not-for-profit amateur publications that provided a low-stakes outlet for new writers. Just submitting…

Read More Read More

Howard Andrew Jones, July 19, 1968 – January 16, 2025

Comments 47 comments

Howard Andrew Jones is dead. It’s hard to write those words. Howard has been a huge part of my personal and professional life since 2002, when I opened a submission to Black Gate magazine and found a long, rambling, and extremely enthusiastic cover letter from him, expressing his delight at finding a quality magazine devoted to heroic fantasy. The letter ended with “I want in, bad,” and was attached to a terrific tale featuring two adventurers named Dabir and Asim….

Read More Read More

A Locked Tomb Mystery in Space: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Comments 3 comments

Gideon the Ninth (Tor Books, September 10, 2019). Cover by Tommy Arnold The back cover of the hardcover edition of Gideon the Ninth features this assessment from writer Warren Ellis: “The author is clearly insane.” Three things made me shunt Gideon the Ninth to the front of my TBR stack. First, both my older son and his girlfriend read it, and, once finished, they promptly named their cat Harrow after one of the two main characters. Second, the cover art…

Read More Read More

You Will Know—Singularity! Singularity Sky by Charles Stross

Comments 1 comment

There’s a backstory to my reviewing Singularity Sky. Its 2003 publication date made it chronologically eligible for the 2004 Prometheus Award for Best Novel. But it was Stross’s first book publication, and none of the Libertarian Futurist Society’s members happened to read it until that year’s finalists had already been chosen. However, there was a campaign to write it in, and in fact it received a substantial number of votes, though not quite enough to win; had it been nominated,…

Read More Read More

Action, Intrigue, and Glorious Battles: William R. Forstchen’s The Lost Regiment

Comments 12 comments

William R. Forstchen was born on October 11th, 1950, eight years and three days before my birthday. He earned a Ph.D. in history, specializing in the American Civil War, and teaches at Montreat College in North Carolina. He’s one of my favorite authors. He isn’t quite Sword & Planet but has a series that is adjacent with lots of S&P elements. It’s called The Lost Regiment and ran to 8 books. He later wrote a 9th book that took place…

Read More Read More