Archives: Link Day

Link Day

Two quick links for you today —

First, here’s a nice essay from the Paperback Warrior on the excellence of another Marvin Albert title. You may recall that Albert is now one of my preferred 50s-70s era writers. Heck, his ’80s work may be good as well, and I intend to find out.

Second, in case you didn’t know, the new Conan comic from Marvel is on the stands and getting good reviews. Some even mention, favorably, the start of the new Conan novella by John Chris Hocking that is printed in the back. That’s the start of the serialized novella, one of the first things I edited for Perilous Worlds. Here’s a link to one review, and there are plenty more to choose from.

I’ll have more info soon!

Magician’s Skull 2

I’m pretty much busy night and day these days. I’m not complaining, because I’m having an absolute blast with all this writing and editing. But I haven’t quite figured out how to fit in time to update the blog regularly. My new theory is that I’ll try to prep stuff on the weekends, so we’ll see how that works. I still have a couple of more interviews with writers from Tales From the Magician’s Skull to take live.

Speaking of the skull, issue 2 hasn’t gotten many reviews. I’m not sure what’s up with that. But here’s a glowing one that just went live over at Black Gate, courtesy of Fletcher Vredenburgh.

Here’s the kickstarter for a new game by the talented (and award-winning) Sarah Newton, kind of a Dying Earth sort of thing that looks waaaay cool. I’ve yet to be disappointed by any of Sarah’s work, which is always loaded with clever plot hooks and fascinating backgrounds.

And my old friend, that brilliant essayist and award-winning short story writer Ryan Harvey, has a kindle short story just right for a cool October evening.

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, especially the Skull, who doesn’t want to spread the news yet, but I’m working away on issue 3 of Tales From the Magician’s Skull.

Now I must away. I have tales to write and tales to edit…

Link Day

Copyright Darian Jones

It’s me, Link Man! I’ve returned to assist Howard while he toils away on numerous important and mysterious projects, none of which probably involve mucking the stables!

First, Deuce Richardson’s authored an interesting article over at DMR books you really ought to look at, especially if you’re a fan of sword-and-sorcery, H.P. Lovecraft, and/or the origins of modern fantasy.

Second, the redoubtable S.E. Lindberg has interviewed the talented Richard Lee Byers, and you really ought to check it out.

Third, Inwell Ideas has released two new encounter decks. I’m a big fan of these — they’re adventure outlines on cards, with a location map on one side and an adventure outline on the other. It’s great stuff if you’re an experienced game master. Each outline comes with the situation, possible hooks, possible complications, and conclusions. If you’ve got the books with rules and monsters, but you need a quick plot, these things are awesome, and highly recommended by yours truly.

Link Man away!

Link Day

On link days I usually point my visitors towards a whole slew of sites, but today I’m only sharing one, Paperback Warrior. I’ve just started poking around there and already I found it necessary to comment in two of the most recent posts, most recently, Fargo, and the post before THAT on a Harry Whittington title I haven’t tried but now want to. It looks like a site just chock full of info on cool old titles.

I’m a huge fan of Ben Haas, the guy behind the Fargo books, and have written about him at length previously. Here you can find how to get to the books, and here you can get my own ringing endorsement of the writer himself.

As long as I’m discussing ringing endorsements, let me AGAIN mention how fine that Howard Browne Paul Pine collection was from Haffner Press. Dang, but those were good mysteries in the Chandler style, and DANG, but that final complete novel in the collection is one fine book. They’re all really good, but the fourth one is a masterpiece. Highly, highly recommended not just for anyone who likes a good mystery, but for anyone who likes great storytelling. Get your copy, pronto!

Linking to Brackett

Matthew, this is a Gorn. Note opposable thumbs.

Matthew, this is a Gorn. Note opposable thumbs.

Hocking pointed me towards something of a celebration of Leigh Brackett the other day on a site titled Glorious Trash. Seems like it’s a pretty cool site to poke around at, too. Joe Kennedy sat down to read both versions of “The Secret of Sinharat,” which is something I always meant to do, and then compared them in an essay, which is something I always meant to do. And he loved them, which is something I’ve always done.

Even if you haven’t fallen in love with the work of Leigh Brackett, you can get a sense of what a great writer she was if you swing by for a visit. And poke around a while there, because there’s other cool stuff to be found as well.

Links and Sundry

AgricolaThe brief interchange here on the site (and the much longer one on Facebook) about the Michael Moorcock Corum books Wednesday has me thinking about a web site re-read of the series. I’m in the midst of too many projects, as usual, but I thought I’d gauge interest about joining me for a Chronicles of Corum read-along. I already know that there’s some interest on FB — what about from my site visitors?

Link Day

link hogthrob 2First, I’m overdue pointing you towards a fundraiser for Robert Zoltan’s Literary Wonder and Adventure Show. He and Edgar the Raven are seeking backers to keep bringing you interviews and information about your favorite writers and genres. Check it out! Robert’s a great guy and huge fan of the genre, and very supportive of his guests. And Edgar the Raven is a hoot. Or, rather, a caw.

Second, here’s a cool article written by someone who attended one of the woman-only showings of Wonder Woman. I’ve yet to get to the show (it was sold out BOTH times my wife and I took the kids to see it, this weekend AND last), but I hear good things. This article better made me appreciate how empowering it must feel to women viewers.

Link Day

Copyright Darian Jones

Linkman! Copyright Darian Jones

Week 2 of my Spring Cleaning tour continues. I’ve repaired all the horse fence. I’ve still got to get all the weeds and weed trees and vines from off of the back horse fence, clean out the barn, organize the basement, clean a bunch of tile grout, and other mundane things that Asim would never bother telling you about.

I have just a handful of links to share. First, Dark City Games keeps developing their nifty little solo adventure games, and there’s a newish one in their science fiction one available now. It’s been years since I reviewed one (back when Black Gate was a print magazine) but I find them a lot of fun.

Second, over on James Reasoner’s site there was a lengthy discussion of Ki-Gor and Harold Lamb and all sorts of pulp goodness you might find of interest. As a matter of fact, Reasoner’s site is almost always of interest and I myself need to visit more often.

Speaking of interesting sites, my third link is to Frontier Partisans, run by Jim Cornelius, where he celebrated Ben Haas, aka John Benteen, and much discussion of the excellence of Fargo and Sundance commenced. Regular visitors to my own site should know just how much I like the work of Ben Haas.

Right, time to finish breakfast and do daring deeds!

Link Day

gate in the seaLast Friday Black Gate posted a mini-interview with me about my upcoming Pathfinder novel. While John was asking me questions it reminded me just how much I love the characters in these two most recent books.

…and there’s not a great deal else to report. I’m still putting finishing touches on a major rewrite on my longest novel yet. I’m working on a couple of secret projects on the sidelines. While those projects are back burnered, I’m researching them a bit with some World War II research that has included re-watching Band of Brothers, reading the book (I’d previously read Major Dick Winter’s memoir, Beyond Band of Brothers, and reading some of Sven Hassel’s novels about the German side of the war. And here’s a thankful hat tip to Chuck Dixon for recommending those books to me, because they’ve been highly enjoyable, and another hat tip to Chris Hocking for pointing me towards Dixon to ask, because he’d sure he’d heard about a series some years back but couldn’t recall the author’s name.

Three Cool Things

snapFirst, while checking the weather forecast this weekend I clicked through on an interesting headline to discover a pretty cool article. Just how many planets could fit in a star’s habitable zone, anyway?

Second, the spookiest story I’ve heard in a loooong time, courtesy of the folks at Snap Judgment. Definitely worth a listen if you’re in the mood for a good scare!

Third, in case you didn’t know, the election season is almost over. And wow, am I looking forward to seeing it in my rearview mirror. It’s even more annoying than my “n” key being so touchy on this computer that these days I have to click it three or four times before it works. Probably have to take it into the shop for repair. Blech. Which is a word that kind of describes how I feel about this whole election season. At least that should be over in two days, barring a court challenge or someone refusing to concede. My computer will probably be out for repairs for a week.