Category Archives: sword-and-sorcery

I’m Going to Mars

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

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Mail Call

Looking forward to (re)reading the vintage paperbacks. The history book is more for figuring out how teaching will work in the future, now that everything old is new again. I already have a copy of Van Vogt’s The Book of … Continue reading

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Longish, Re Dilvish

Roger Zelazny was unquestionably one of the great American fantasists of the 20th century. That’s not to say he was perfect. His woman characters were often 2-dimensional, and he paired an unwillingness to work with an outline (“Trust your demon” … Continue reading

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Garum + Chili = ?

I was trying to figure out why you couldn’t say this in Latin, then thought, “Well, it could only improve garum”, and finally realized: oh, they mean cocina latina. Some of these keywords for Bluesky feeds are deeply ambiguous. (“Conan” … Continue reading

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Outlaws, Were-Bears, and Skunks

I’ve been reading the Gesta Herwardi (“The Deeds of Herward” a.k.a. “Hereward the Wake”), one of the original outlaw stories from England (although it’s written not in English, but in Latin—because, no doubt, Everything Is Better With Latin!™). The Robin … Continue reading

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Some Typos are Typoier Than Others

Typo of the day, possibly of the decade, is Ratlick, for an intended Tatlock (the author of an old myth textbook). If a character named Ratlick doesn’t appear in an upcoming Morlock story, my name isn’t James Enge. (Um. So … Continue reading

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Creepypasta

Seen on Bluesky: Gustaw Gwozdecki’s “Evening Melancholy”, c.1905. I didn’t know it on sight, but somehow it felt familiar. I wonder if I saw it a long time ago and it re-surfaced from my subconscious when I needed a creepy … Continue reading

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The End of the Beginning

By the power vested in me, I declare this rough draft COMPLETE. Now to knock off some of the rough edges. I will need my largest and most abrasive rasp.

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Eldritch Lore of Lightning, Stars, and Magic

On Facebook, Michael Swanwick mentioned a historical (or maybe apocryphal) episode when the Pope invited Etruscan seers to use lightning magic to defend Rome against Alaric and his Ostrogoths. It’s a pretty good story, whether or not it’s actually history. … Continue reading

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ΧΑΟΣ

I don’t know if you knew this about me, but I’ll buy a book every now and then. Because I am not a crazy person (anyway, I’ve never been officially diagnosed), before I’ll buy a book I see if I … Continue reading

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