Realms of Fantasy covers by Luis Royo. Row 1: October 1997, April 1998, October 1998. Row 2: December 1999, October 2001, December 2002. Row 3: October 2004, August 2005, June 2006 Three days ago I wrote a quick piece about a pair of late 90s Ace paperbacks by Cary Osborne, Deathweave and Darkloom. The thing that first attracted my interest — as it often is — was the great covers for both books, in this case the work of the…
Deathweave and Darkloom (Ace Books, 1998 & 1999). Covers by Royo I bought a collection of vintage paperbacks on eBay a while back (I do that a lot), and buried in the mix was one I knew nothing about, a midlist ACE SF adventure titled Deathweave by Cary Osborne. Now, I love midlist paperbacks. They’re basically an undiscovered country. If you’re an entry-level author, the theory is that if you work long enough, like countless writers before you, you’ll eventually build…
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1952 (Mercury Press). Cover by George Salter In its early years, one of the most notable characteristics of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction was its regular use of reprints — fantastical stories from outside the genre, often by very well-known writers, given exposure to SF and Fantasy readers. Another notable characteristic was covers by its art director, George Salter. Both aspects are features of this issue — indeed, this seems almost…
So…I found a kinda cool group over on Reddit. And it wasn’t LotR_on_Prime – yeesh. R/bookshelf is a subreddit where people post their shelfies. With over 2,000 books on 90-ish shelves/cubes, that appealed to me! I started with my Jack Higgins shelf, and then my Clive Cussler one. I’ve done a couple fantasy shelves, but mostly I’ve been sharing pics of my over-500 Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle books. And I’ve been adding a comment, talking about some of…
The novels of The Weep: Nightwatch on the Hinterlands and Nightwatch Over Windscar (DAW, October 2021 and November 2022). Covers by Tim Green/Faceout I’m pretty much an impulse buyer. When I pick up a book and it mentions monsters, interstellar Confederations, extra-dimensional horrors, subterranean ruins, witches, and decommissioned battle mechs — all in the first two paragraphs — I’m usually sold. That’s exactly what happened when I read the inside jacket copy for Nightwatch Over Windscar, the new novel by…
Strange Ports of Call (Berkley Books, June 1958). Cover artist tragically unknown August Derleth is remembered these days primarily for his stewardship of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. He founded Arkham House (with Donald Wandrei) in 1939 to bring Lovecraft into print in hardcover, and over the next 30 years he contributed steadily to Lovecraft’s foundational Cthulhu Mythos, both in his own writing, and by publishing numerous books in the cycle from other horror notables. He was also (as Bob…
All four volumes in Michael Moorcock’s Elric from Titan Comics (2014 – 2022) There’s been a lot of comic adaptations of Michael Moorcock’s Elric over the years. Perhaps the most famous is the French artist Philippe Druillet’s ambitious rendition of The Eternal Champion, but there have been many others associated with the character, including P. Craig Russell, James Cawthorn, Walter Simonsen, Mike Mignolia, Howard Chaykin, and many more. First Comics had a lengthy association with Moorcock for many years, producing…
The Collected Science Fiction & Fantasy of Stanley G, Weinbaum, in four volumes: Interplanetary Odysseys, Other Earths, The Black Heart, and Strange Genius (Leonaur, April 20006) Isaac Asimov felt that Stanley G. Weinbaum (4 April 1902 — 19 Dec 1935) deserved to name an entire era in science fiction. The writer died at 33 of throat cancer — though how he got it no one can guess. These four books which I got because, at least when I was young,…
The 13 Short Novels trilogy (Bonanza Books/Crown, 1984-87). Covers designed by Morris Taub I spent a lot of hours last year chasing down, reading, and writing about some very fine anthologies produced by the triumvirate of Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh. Their output in the decade before Asimov’s death in 1992 was frankly amazing: some 70 anthologies, including nearly a dozen each in Isaac Asimov’s Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction and Isaac Asimov’s Magical Worlds of…
Leech (Tor.com, September 27, 2022) I’m a fan of sci-fi horror, but to be honest I find much of it rather unimaginative. So I was very intrigued by Leech, the debut novel by Hiron Ennes, which is set in a crumbling chateau in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic America, and narrated by a parasitic monster masquerading as a human doctor who uncovers a competing parasitic horror spreading through his host’s castle. Part of my interest, I admit, arises from the flood of…