Category Archives: art

Rats Live on No Evil Star: Leiber’s THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR

Posted on March 27, 2025 by JE

In summary: The Swords of Lankhmar has a slow start. In fact, it has two slow starts. But once the beat drops, as it were, the story swings into action and lots of weird things happen at an increasingly rapid … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, fantasy, fantasy art, magic, review or meta-review, Roman history, Rome, sff, sword-and-sorcery | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Mountains and Monsters: Leiber’s SWORDS AGAINST WIZARDRY

Posted on March 16, 2025 by JE

A couple years ago I set out to review all of Fritz Leiber’s books about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—foundational texts for sword-and-sorcery and for my personal imagination. I knocked off the first three (or four, depending on how you … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, cats, fantasy, fantasy art, review or meta-review, sff, sword-and-sorcery, writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Endless Glove?

Posted on March 8, 2025 by JE

I reread more than I read. This has certain bad effects; e.g., the towering stacks of TBR books that constantly threaten to topple over and crush me, which are always growing taller, more numerous, and (if I’m not misreading their … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, art, books, dream, fantasy, fantasy art, language, Morlock, Myth & Legend, sword-and-sorcery, words | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Pseudoplumes, Nom de Nyms, Birds, & Oooze

Posted on February 28, 2025 by JE

I’m not a big fan of literary criticism in any field (although I have committed some), but one of my big books from my late teens onward was Le Guin’s The Language of the Night (1979), especially for the essays … Continue reading →

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Nerves in a bundle? Fall into a morðcrundel!

Posted on February 22, 2025 by JE

I’m rereading Beowulf, preparatory to teaching it in a couple weeks to my Norse Myth class. This kind of thing always involves falling into the dictionary and getting swept away by a tide of weird words. This afternoon’s discovery is … Continue reading →

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No Maps of Hell

Posted on February 19, 2025 by JE

Saw the article below on Bluesky and felt the irritation that almost always accrues when scrolling through social media. But this irritation was really specific. Demanding a historically accurate version of a myth is like trying to find the zip … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, ancient art, art, books, fantasy, fantasy art, magic, Morlock, Roman history, Rome, science, sff, social media, sword-and-sorcery, writing | Comments Off on No Maps of Hell

What Are the Óðs?

Posted on February 19, 2025 by JE

I was thinking the other day about Hengist and Horsa, the two Saxon chieftains/gangsters who show up to assist and then overpower the usurper Vortigern in the run-up to King Arthur’s origin story. Horsa (Horsus in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Latin) … Continue reading →

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Worlds on Worlds Are Rolling Ever…

Posted on February 18, 2025 by JE

I realized this weekend that one of the pleasures of inventing a Martian language was coining new names for all the planets. (Including ones that don’t really exist, like Vulcan, Antichthon, and the Lost Planet that was once supposed to … Continue reading →

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Fire Up the Gat Signal!

Posted on February 18, 2025 by JE

Typos of the day, from trying to type Batgirl in a hurry on a small screen: Vatgirl and Gatgirl. Both of these sound like they belong to the Legion of Regrettable Supervillains.

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I’m Going to Mars

Posted on February 13, 2025 by JE

I was posting on a corporate social media site this AM and I blithely wrote something like, “My New Year’s resolution this year is to blog more and post on corporate social media less.” This was kind of a lie, … Continue reading →

Posted in art, books, fantasy, fantasy art, Heroic Fiction League, sff, sword-and-sorcery, writing | Tagged , , | Comments Off on I’m Going to Mars