Alien (20th Century Fox, May 1979). Directed by Ridley Scott, screenplay by Dan O’Bannon I am constantly making Alien/Aliens references to my wife and she is constantly reminding me that she has not, in fact, ever seen any of the Alien movies except Prometheus (damn the luck). Having just finished up the 1979 cadre of sci-fi magazines, and noting that many of them had references to the movie Alien, it was finally time to fix this situation — at least…
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #49 was released to the world in August. Fiction “A Song of Pictish Kings,” by Adrian Cole, artwork by Andrea Alemanno and Gary McClusky. Elak of Atlantis returns to our electronic pages! Generations of Pictish raiding along the Atlantean coast comes to a sudden halt and a bold Chieftain of the Picts requests the aid of the Atlanteans against a mutual supernatural enemy. Or is it a trap? Or is it both? Thrill to the adventure of…
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #48 was uploaded to the world on May 1, 2021! We’ve got a full compliment, three short stories, three poems, art and audio! Fiction Intrigue in Aviene, by Steve Dilks, Hardened mercenary Bohun of Damzullah, finds himself between wars and trying to get by in the great city of Aviene. But even in peaceful times, there are plots and dangers aplenty. King Yvorian’s Wager, a classic reprint by Darrell Schweizter, Young king Yvorian is swept up into…
Inherit the Stars (Del Rey, 1990 reprint). Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet James P. Hogan’s Giant’s Trilogy has been a presence at my parents’ house since the late 70s. Sometimes on the shelf, sometimes on the coffee table, sometimes on the end table. I had to move my mom into assisted living last year and in sorting the books (oh, the books!) into ‘take with her,’ ‘move on,’ and ‘keep for myself,’ I gently slipped them into the ‘keep…
Amazing Stories, November 1989. Cover by Janet Aulisio An unexpected issue came up during my reading of the November, 1989 Amazing Stories. In 1979 I was 10 years old, and I barely remember being 10 years old. In 1989 I was 20, and I remember being 20; maybe not 100%, but I remember enough. In fact, I remember enough to know what 20-year-old me (20YOM) would think of the stories in the November, 1989 cadre. Sometimes, 20YOM’s views conflicts…
I finally got around to listening to the epic podcast produced earlier this year by the staff and contributors to Tales From the Magician’s Skull. It features the brain trust behind my favorite sword & sorcery magazine, including its illustrious publisher Joseph Goodman, mastermind behind Goodman Games; editor Howard Andrew Jones (Managing Editor emeritus of Black Gate); and authors John C (Chris) Hocking, James Enge, and S.E. (Seth) Lindberg. The whole thing is well worth listening to, roaming free-form over…
Tales From the Magician’s Skull #5 (Goodman Games, December 2020). Cover by Sanjulian I don’t think there’s a magazine out there I look forward to as much as Tales From the Magician’s Skull, edited by Howard Andrew Jones and published twice a year by Goodman Games. Yes, partly it’s because it regularly features so many people I consider friends, including James Enge, John C. Hocking, Ryan Harvey, Violette Malan, Adrian Simmons, and of course Howard, who was Managing Editor here at…
We let Heroic Fantasy Quarterly loose on a chaotic world on January 31st. We’ve got a full compliment of stories and poems, including: The Medallion’s Song, by Ginny Patrick, with artwork by Karolina Wellartova. Having been gifted a mysterious amulet by her imperious owner, young Serena is on the run, trying to get the funds to hitch a ride on a caravan out of town. But Macaea City has more than its share of dangers, and Serena has more than her…
The Holy Trinity With the 1969 and 1979 magazines behind me I prepare to delve into 1989. A problem with the decadal review is that, well, it comes in decade intervals. I was 10 years old in 1979, but in 1989 I was a well-seasoned 20. The answers? I had them. In the intervening decade I had gotten a car, a job, started taekwondo, finished high school, and was deep into college. Unlike 10-year-old me, 20-year-old me had a full…
For the second round of the quatro-decadal review, I read and reviewed six periodicals from November 1979, in the following order: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Galileo Magazine of Science & FictionAnalog Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Amazing StoriesOmni I would put Analog at the top of the list, solid stories — especially Mark McGarry’s “Phoenix,” Clifford D. Simak’s The Visitors installment (a ‘part two’ that stands on its own) and Kevin O’Donnell Jr’s “Old Friends” — interesting science…