Horror author Matt Cowan examines the genre past and present
The barbarian adventurer Conan, created by Robert E. Howard in the 1930’s, has continued on from his short story roots to be featured in novels, movies, role playing games, cartoons, live-action television shows, and comic books on his way to becoming the single most iconic sword and sorcery character ever. While these further exploits penned […]
Read More Conan!Weapons have long played a key in role in the fantasy genre, most commonly taking the form of swords, but everything from daggers to bows to magic rings and more have made their mark along the way. Many of these iconic tools of combat have been granted names, including those possessing no magical properties whatsoever […]
Read More THE ULTIMATE FANTASY WEAPONS LISTI was saddened to hear Mark Justice passed away suddenly this week. Although I never met him in person, I communicated with him regularly over the years via Facebook, email and message boards. When I sold my first short story, Mark was the one I reached out to for advice on what to write for […]
Read More MARK JUSTICE REMEMBERED“The Colossus of Ylourgne” (1934) is a novelette by Clark Ashton Smith set in his often used fantasy realm of Averoigne. This one begins with the mysterious disappearances of newly-buried bodies from their graves. This continues to occur throughout the land, and soon people begin to encounter the corpses running full speed toward some mysterious […]
Read More THE COLOSSUS OF YLOURGNE BY CLARK ASHTON SMITHSomewhere south of the city walls, the thunderous, keening screech continued to split the night air, sounding neither of man nor beast but rather some twisted amalgamation of the two. Battalions of young men clad in shinning unblemished suits of armor trailed behind the racing footfalls of their elders, whose scared and dented adornments had […]
Read More SWORD AND SORCERY MONTH RETURNS THIS FEBRUARY!Among the gifts I received from my wonderful wife this Christmas was Ramsey Campbell’s new novel, THIRTEEN DAYS BY SUNSET BEACH from P.S. Publishing. After all the holiday craziness finally slowed down, I managed to find the time to give it a read. The story unfolds from the point of view of Ray, the aging […]
Read More THIRTEEN DAYS BY SUNSET BEACH BY RAMSEY CAMPBELL REVIEWGertrude Atherton was born in California in 1857. She wrote extensively during her lifetime, producing novels (one of which was adapted into a silent film), short stories, essays and magazine articles. She never shied away from expressing her opinion on such controversial subjects as politics and feminism in an age when it was uncommon for […]
Read More GERTRUDE ATHERTONIf you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, my love for anthologies should have become pretty obvious. This primarily manifests itself in the form of book, but I also love a good anthology horror movies as well. Although they seem to have fallen out of favor these days, that doesn’t stop me from […]
Read More ANTHOLOGY FILMS: FROM BEYOND THE GRAVEBack in 2009, my short story “Here He Comes A Wandering” won The Pod of Horror Christmas Horror Story Competition and was read by the show’s fantastic host Mark Justice near the end of episode #58. I recently sent it to the editors at Grinning Skull Press for consideration for the third and final iteration […]
Read More REVISED AND EXPANDED “HERE HE COMES A WANDERING” TO BE PUBLISHEDLooking to listen to some free Christmas horror stories? The excellent Tales To Terrify Podcast read two of my favorites a few years back on episode #50. “Smee” (1931) by A.M. Burrage and “Number Ninety” (1895) by B.M. Croker are both absolute classics which were featured on last years Annual Christmas Horror Stories Reading List […]
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