Growing Old in ‘Salem’s Lot

‘Salem’s Lot Author: Stephen King Page Count: 672 Available Formats: Print / eBook / Audio Book But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way…

Revisiting a Classic: The Lord of the Rings

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” — The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings by…

The Long Night: A Review of Wolf Winter

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck I heard of the novel Wolf Winter when I was looking for inspiration for a campaign of the Swedish horror RPG, Vaesen. I’ve enjoyed a fair amount of Swedish suspense and horror fiction, albeit in English translations. Wolf Winter takes place in Sweden in 1717, in a region known as Lapland,…

Everything They Touch Rots – A Review of Mexican Gothic

Mexican Gothic Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia Publisher: Del Ray / Penguin Random House Page Count: 320 Available Formats: Ebook & Print [E]verything they touch rots. Wuthering Heights meets Dracula meets The Shadow Over Innsmouth? I first heard of Mexican Gothic’s author Silvia Moreno-Garcia,  at Necromicon back in September of 2019. She was speaking at a panel on…

In Their Own Words — Forgotten Sidekicks

Forgotten Sidekicks Edited: Peter Sutton & Steven Poore Publisher: Kristell Ink Published in: 2020 Page Count: 182 Available Formats: PDF and print PDF (Amazon) – $5.99 Paperback – $14.99 The idiom “always the bridesmaid never the bride” is akin to the perception of sidekicks,; never reaching their full potential like their counterparts. Sidekicks are seen…

News Desk: Author John Houhilan Contributor to Forgotten Sidekicks

Fantasy writer and novelist, John Houhilan, has just published a new story as part of a new short story compilation entitled Forgotten Sidekicks. You may John’s name from some of his other fiction including works set in the tabletop role-playing & miniatures world of Achtung! Cthulhu.  The book has just been released in both the…

Orphans of the Sky – Adopting Ideas

Orphans of the Sky Author: Robert A. Heinlein Publisher: Signet Books Published: 1965 Page Count: 128 Purchase on Amazon: Price Varies   Cruising through the blackness of space to Centaurus, a mutiny among the crew erupts on the colonization spaceship Vanguard. The conflict leaves no one left alive with the knowledge to continue the mission….

A Review of Midnight Riot

In November of 2019, Chaosium announced they were producing an RPG for Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London urban fantasy series. The series sounded familiar to me and sure enough, I had the first book, Midnight Riot in my Kindle and Audible libraries, Unread, alas. (Note – Midnight Riot is the US name of the work…

Planet of the Apes – Variation on a Theme

The book was better than the film. How many times have you heard that? A lot I bet. When a book translates into another medium like films it becomes restrained by budget, run times, practical effects, and other factors. The story is usually altered to fit the medium. In the case of Planet of the…

Starship – A Non-stop Trip to Inspiration

Starship (Original Title: Non-stop) Author: Brian Aldiss Publisher: Avon Books Reprinted: 1969 Page Count: 224 Purchase on Amazon: Price Varies Starship or by its first published title Non-stop (1958) is about a group of humans living on a generation ship after dozens upon dozens of generations have gone by. In the story, the inhabitants no longer…