Northwest of Earth: A Look at C.L. Moore’s Iconic Space Adventurer
Nov20

Northwest of Earth: A Look at C.L. Moore’s Iconic Space Adventurer

Northwest of Earth: A Look at C.L. Moore’s Iconic Space Adventurerby Bill WardPopular media is resplendent with celebrations of the romantic outlaw. From Robin of Locksley to the six gun strapping figures of the American Frontier, or the hardboiled gumshoes of detective fiction, the anonymous masked vigilantes of the pulps, even the globe-trotting adventurers of the Victorian era, and continuing right up to the spice-smuggling...

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Short Sorcery: C.L. Moore’s “Shambleau”
Oct15

Short Sorcery: C.L. Moore’s “Shambleau”

Short Sorcery: C.L. Moore’s “Shambleau”by Bill Ward“And this conflict and knowledge, this mingling of rapture and revulsion all took place in the flashing of a moment while the scarlet worms coiled and crawled upon him, sending deep, obscene tremors of that infinite pleasure into every atom . . . And he could not stir in that slimy, ecstatic embrace—and a weakness was flooding that grew deeper after each succeeding wave of intense...

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Ten Sword-and-Sorcery Tales For the Haunting Season
Oct08

Ten Sword-and-Sorcery Tales For the Haunting Season

Ten Sword-and-Sorcery Tales For the Haunting Seasonby Brian MurphyOn a blog such as this, I doubt I’m alone in my irrational love of Halloween, a holiday for me that, more than Thanksgiving or Christmas, evokes a Ray Bradbury-like level of nostalgia and anticipation. Here in New England, I find that as the leaves begin to turn and October shadows lengthen, so too do my thoughts drift from my natural sword-and-sorcery bent toward the...

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Short Sorcery: C.L. Moore’s “Hellsgarde”
Apr23

Short Sorcery: C.L. Moore’s “Hellsgarde”

Short Sorcery: C.L. Moore’s “Hellsgarde”by Bill WardC.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry is the kind of character a writer can build a series of stories around, sharply defined in ways that make her both immediately compelling and comprehensible to an audience, but with enough nuance to not only keep a reader engaged, but to ground the character in believability. And believing in Jirel – a flame-haired Medieval Lady with a temper...

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Jirel of Joiry: First Heroine of Sword-and-Sorcery
Apr13

Jirel of Joiry: First Heroine of Sword-and-Sorcery

Jirel of Joiry: First Heroine of Sword-and-Sorceryby Ryan HarveyThe sword-swinging, laser gun-blasting, wooden-stake carrying women who are an enormous part of today’s popular entertainment owe their existence to a medieval lady who first appeared more than eighty years ago in the pulp pages: Jirel of Joiry. Flame-haired, tenacious as a she-lion, “a shouting battle-machine,” sojourner in forbidden magical lands—Jirel was the first...

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