With superheroes becoming more popular, they have begun to spread outside their traditional comic-book and movie-screen mediums. Serious novel writers are taking notice of the dramatic possibilities inherent in superheroics–which are, after all, no more implausible than the flood of modern-fantasy stories (vampires, werewolves, and witches, oh my!) taking over every genre. Of course this … More You must remember this…
When one thinks of time travel stories, H.G. Well’s Time Machine comes to mind, and Ray Bradbury’s The Thunder Of Its Wings, and then of course Back To The Future I, II, and III, and… The point is that most time travel stories lead to far-distant adventures, danger, or history-threatening paradox. And then there is … More Its name is Montmorency.
I have noticed that some of the best fantasy stories rely on an interesting device; they start out rather mundanely, in a mundane setting with a rather mundane though interesting protagonist. Then they move the protagonist–and the reader–into the fantastic realm where most of the adventure takes place. Sometimes the move is sudden, a matter … More The Wardrobe Door
It has been a long time since a book kept me up at night. But Kindles make impulse-buys so easy, and what started as research ended after midnight when my eyes rebelled and I had to stop. Some background: I have recently self-published my first novel, Wearing the Cape, on Amazon for the Kindle. WtC … More A Kindle Can Ruin Your Night.
Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson were serious writers of serious sci-fi, so I’ve always wondered if somebody lost a bet, or if they just got way too drunk at a convention and talked each other into it. The result was perhaps the funnest alien race ever. Picture teddy bears. Inhumanly tough and strong teddy … More Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery.
Silverlock is not so much a lost book as one that is constantly being rediscovered. John Meyers Meyers wrote it back in 1949, so this is a fantasy untouched by JRR Tolkien’s genre-redefining work. But it’s been touched by everything else. Like Robinson Crusoe, Silverlock opens with a shipwreck. The wrecked ship is the Naglafar–named … More Adventures in the Commonwealth.
Happy Easter everybody! In keeping with my commitment to begin with Forgotten Books, stories that were fresh, wonderful, ripping good reads from years gone by, that, for one reason or another, didn’t get the coverage I felt they deserved, I’ve decided to begin with an obscure novel, Illegal Aliens. Imagine this plot. Sadistic alien criminals … More Illegal Aliens
Marion G. Harmon, A Writer in Vegas. 