Murder and Courtship: Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers

Murder and Courtship: Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers

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Strong Poison, by Dorothy Sayers (Avon Books #328, 1951)

In Strong Poison, Sayers gives Peter Wimsey a love interest, and makes this central to the story. Traditional mystery writers had avoided this kind of plot (Irene Adler, for example, was clearly not romantically involved with Sherlock Holmes, however profound an impression she made on him).

Not all of her readers welcomed the innovation. In particular, Harriet Vane, a successful author of detective stories, was sometimes looked at as what fan fiction readers now call a “self-insertion” by Sayers — a view that gains plausibility from Vane’s involvement in a love affair, given what we know now about Sayers’s life story.

We first meet Vane in a courtroom, where she is being tried for the murder of her former lover, Philip Boyes, a less successful but more artistically pretentious novelist (what little is said of his books suggests Aldous Huxley’s early novels, before Brave New World made him immortal).

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A Vintage Horror Collection: Young Blood, edited by Mike Baker

A Vintage Horror Collection: Young Blood, edited by Mike Baker

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Young Blood (Zebra Books, March 1994). Cover uncredited

Young Blood, from Zebra 1994, Edited by Mike Baker. Cover looks like a photo: Artist unknown.

Here’s another book I picked up originally because it had a Robert E. Howard story in it. This one’s different, though. It isn’t a collection of Sword & Sorcery tales, but of horror stories. The Howard story is “Pigeons From Hell,” which is somewhat universally recognized as the best of his supernatural tales. In Danse Macabre, his nonfiction book on horror, Stephen King called it “one of the finest horror stories of our century.” I agree.

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Late to the Game – My First Ever D&D Campaign

Late to the Game – My First Ever D&D Campaign

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Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

So… I’m a nerd. I know, surprising, right? What might actually be surprising, though, is that I’ve never actually played a game of Dungeons & Dragons. I mean, I’ve had a couple of home-brewed one-shots many years ago, but I’m never actually played a proper campaign, with a regular crew. That changed this year. I started with a friend, who was part of another group, who then created a splinter group for a different game. I am part of that splinter group, starting a new campaign at ground zero.

Can I just say, I am loving it. It’s a very excellent way to explore character and motivation, as well as world-building and story-telling. If you struggle with any of these, consider starting a D&D campaign. Let’s explore what’s going on in my game, because I’m too enamoured with it currently not to share.

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When is a Sidewalk Fully Dressed? – The Hudsucker Proxy

When is a Sidewalk Fully Dressed? – The Hudsucker Proxy

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The Coen Brothers are among the finest filmmakers of my lifetime. Joel and younger brother Ethan started with Blood Simple in 1984, writing, directing, and producing together for the next few decades. And they produced some of the era’s best films. Dark comedies like Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, and Intolerable Cruelty. The Big Lebowski is a prolific meme generator. And O Brother, Where Art Thou is a masterful ‘modern’ retelling of The Odyssey.

They raised the Noir stakes from Blood Simple, making The Man Who Wasn’t There (a black-and-white film in 2001? That’s bold). And the chilling No Country for Old Men.

Miller’s Crossing – heavily influenced by Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key – is one of my Top Five Hardboiled films of all time,

Joel worked as an assistant film editor (back in the days when they literally cut and spliced together reels of film) for 1981’s Evil Dead. That was the first movie which Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell made (that’s a post subject some day). A friendship formed between Joel and Sam, and the ‘two camps’ would intertwine.

The Coens made a ‘fake trailer’ for Blood Simple, and Campbell – who is not in the movie – played the murder victim. The Coens’ next film was Crimewave (written with, and directed by, Raimi), and they wrote the lead for Campbell. He wasn’t remotely a star yet, and the studio wanted ‘a name’ and vetoed the choice. The brothers and Raimi created an entirely new part – Renaldo ‘The Heel’ – to get Bruce in the movie. …

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The Cornerstones of High Fantasy: E. R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin

The Cornerstones of High Fantasy: E. R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin

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The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King (Ballantine paperback editions, October & November 1965). Covers by Barbara Remington

I’ve defined Heroic Fantasy (HF) as a type of fiction in which a heroic (bigger than life) figures use a combination of physical strength and edged weapons (Swords, Axes, Spears) to face bigger than life foes. The hero may be either male or female, but the focus is primarily on personal conflict between the hero and various villains.

I divide Heroic Fantasy into four categories: Sword and Sorcery, Sword and Planet, High Fantasy, and Heroic Historical. I’ve previously discussed S&S, S&P, and Heroic Historical (HH). Today let’s check out High Fantasy.

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The Enduring Legacy of Jack Kirby: Kamandi, Fantastic Four, Conan, and Much More

The Enduring Legacy of Jack Kirby: Kamandi, Fantastic Four, Conan, and Much More

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Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth by Jack Kirby (DC Comics,
October 1972 and February 1973). Covers by Jack Kirby

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth, written and illustrated by Jack “King” Kirby (1917-1994), has long been an inspiration to my creative works. The tone, the setting, the characters and creatures — pure brilliance. Highly recommended.

Kamandi #16 is a fascinating issue. An ape doctor who encounters Kamandi knows of Cortexin, the chemical which stimulated evolution and intelligence in animals and turned them into parahumans. The Last Boy on Earth discovers more about the post-cataclysmic Earth, in which men have devolved to beasts, and beasts have evolved to higher intelligence.

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Forgotten Authors: G. Peyton Wertenbaker

Forgotten Authors: G. Peyton Wertenbaker

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G. Peyton Wertenbaker

Green Peyton Wertenbaker was born on December 23, 1907 in New Castle, Delaware. He attended the University of Virginia. After graduation, he worked as a technical writer and eventually a journalist in addition to writing fiction. During World War II, Wertenbaker services in the U.S. Navy and was later associated with the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine.

Wertenbaker married Barkley Barbee and they had one son, George.

His first story, published in Science and Invention when he was 16 in 1923, was “The Man from the Atom.” Gernsback reprinted the story three years later in the first issue of Amazing Stories. The next month, he would become the first person to publish an original story in Amazing (as well as the first repeat author), when Gernsback published his obviously titled sequel “The Man from the Atom (sequel).” Wertenbaker would go three issues for three the next month with the appearance of “The Coming of the Ice.”

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Dark Muse News: There’s something about Return to Silent Hill – It’s Mary!

Dark Muse News: There’s something about Return to Silent Hill – It’s Mary!

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The movie Return to Silent Hill (2026) is an adaptation of the psychological horror Silent Hill 2 (SH2) video game that was rebooted by Konami under Bloober Team in 2024. This ‘return’ film is directed by Christophe Gans, who championed the original 2006 film (which loosely adapted the first video game released in 1999). With the resounding success of the Bloober SH2 video game reboot, fans of the horror series had hope that the movie would pack a 1-2 punch, but it has been received poorly. Why?

Not helping the United States release was an ill-timed blizzard that stretched across the country (Wikipedia even has an entry about the storm). I suspect if that were a fog-storm (do those exist?), then ticket sales would have skyrocketed. At this point, almost every blogger and reviewer who has seen the movie has been pissed since it did not seem to represent the core elements of the game; I was in a similar camp until I dissected the film for this article. Here’s the Deal.

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S. E. Lindberg is One of the most unique voices in Modern Sword & Sorcery

S. E. Lindberg is One of the most unique voices in Modern Sword & Sorcery

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Lords of Dyscrasia by S. E. Lindberg (IGNIS Publishing, July 7, 2011). Cover by S. E. Lindberg

One of the most unique voices working in Sword & Sorcery today is S. E. Lindberg. I met Seth a few years back and we’ve corresponded frequently as well as running into each other here at Black Gate, where he is the Managing Editor, and at Goodreads. Lindberg has put together a unique setting for what he calls Dyscrasia Fiction.

Dyscrasia means “a bad mixture of liquids,” which is related to the Greek concept of the four “humors” of Blood, Phlegm, Black Bile, and Yellow Bile. In Dyscrasia fiction, these humors are sources of magical power and often soul and body corrupting influences.

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Excalibur: The Holy Grail of King Arthur Movies

Excalibur: The Holy Grail of King Arthur Movies

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Excalibur (Warner Bros, April 10, 1981)

Excalibur (141 minutes; 1981)

Written by Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman. Directed by John Boorman.

Loosely based on Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory.

What is it?

A classic telling of the story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the magical sword Excalibur.

Many filmed adaptations of that story have followed. This one, however, with its heightened sense of wonder and layers of magic woven throughout, probably remains the best-loved, most visually stunning, and most talked-about of them all.

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