Forgotten Authors: Hal K. Wells
Hal K.Wells Harold Kerton Wells, who wrote as Hal K. Wells, was born on September 2, 1899 in Little Hocking, Ohio and grew up there and in the nearby town of Belpre, both along the Ohio River border...
View ArticleForgotten Authors: T.P. Caravan
Charles Carroll Muñoz (a.k.a. T.P. Caravan) T.P. Caravan was born Charles Carroll Muñoz on July 2, 1926 in the Bronx, New York. His parents were O.A. and Constance (née Stoutenburgh) Muñoz. During...
View ArticleWhat I’ve Been Reading: October, 2026
I listen to a dozen audiobooks a month, easy. Often, a re-listen. I fall asleep with an audiobook timer set, every night. Having bought my bungalow in June, I try to spend a little time reading on the...
View ArticleInto the Weird: Weird Tales, June 1923 (Volume 1, Number 4), Part 1
Weird Tales, June 1923, front and back coversThe fourth issue of Weird Tales, dated June 1923, keeps the same format as the issue previous — starting with the large bedsheet size, about 9 inches by 12....
View ArticleForgotten Authors: Richard Tooker
Richard Tooker Richard Tooker was born in Farina, Illinois on July 3, 1902 to George Lattimer Tooker and Laura J. (nee Switzer) Tooker. His family eventually left the small town of 600 people to move...
View ArticleForgotten Authors: Carl Selwyn
Carl Selwyn Carl Selwyn Pugh, Jr. was born on December 12, 1918 on Roanoke Island, North Carolina to Carl Selwyn Pugh and Amelia (née Myatt). He was the first of two sons. He attended the University of...
View ArticleCimmerian September: Five Things I Think I Think – REH Edition
Welcome back to the final week of Cimmerian September. I realized that I’ve never done a Ten Things I Think I Think for REH. Now THAT seems remiss of me. So, we’ll ease into that with Five Things. 1)...
View ArticleForgotten Authors: Robert Arthur
Robert Arthur Robert Arthur, Jr. was born on November 10, 1909 at Fort Mills on Corregidor in the Phillipines to Robert Jay Arthur and Sarah Abbie (nee Fee). His father was a Lieutenant stationed there...
View ArticleDark Muse News: Reviewing SOIL by James D. Mills
SOIL by James D. Mills (Arcanist: Fantasy Publishing, December 2026); cover art by Henrik Karippen This Dark Muse News post reviews James D. Mills’ soon-to-be-released, stand-alone novel SOIL (coming...
View ArticleCimmerian September -Conan and the Lost Valley of Iskander
Welcome back to week three of Cimmerian September. Now, El Borak rivals Conan for my favorite REH character. I REALLY enjoy those stories. And I like Kirby O’Donnell, and I’ve covered those three...
View ArticleInto the Weird: Weird Tales, May 1923 (Volume 1, Number 3) Part 2
Weird Tales, May 1923 The new format Weird Tales adopted for its third issue reached right into the table of contents, which dropped from two pages to one, with of necessity a more cramped layout. One...
View ArticleForgotten Authors: Margaret Irwin
Margaret Irwin Margaret Irwin was born on March 27, 1889 in Highgate Hill, London to Andrew Clarke and Anna Julia (nee Baker) Irwin. Her father was originally from Perth, Australia. After her mother’s...
View ArticleThe Literacy Crisis: Dialogue Skimming
Here we go again Good afterevenmorn, Readers! I am back again with more internet drama that I believe is all interconnected and all very much related to the current literacy crisis we are suffering....
View ArticleThe Unfinished Monument: The Steranko History of Comics
The Steranko History of Comics, Volumes One and Two, front covers Imagine Mount Rushmore with only one president on it. Picture a Washington Monument that’s only 185 feet tall instead of 555. How about...
View ArticleBy Crom, It’s Cimmerian September: The Birth of Conan Scholarship
We’re back for week two of Cimmerian September. Hopefully you saw last week’s post on Marvel’s King Conan comic, which I read for the very first time, to write about. Having read three, it definitely...
View ArticleWeird Times 5: Food
A postcard showing an early-20th century Horne & Hardart automatThis is the fifth post in a series reflecting on the world of 1920s as a background for discussing the early issues of Weird Tales....
View ArticleForgotten Authors: John Lymington
John Lymington John Lymington was born on April 21, 1911 in London, England. His birth name was John Richard Newton Chance. His father was Dick Chance, who served as the managing editor of Amalgamated...
View ArticleThe Literacy Crisis – Audiobooks
Me… yet again Good afterevenmorn, Readers! I made an attempt this past fortnight to return to social media. As a small author, it’s really important to make attempts at getting seen if I have any hope...
View ArticleBy Crom, It’s Cimmerian September: Marvel Does King Conan
Even as another Summer of A (Black) Gat in the Hand ran in my Monday morning slot (nine years now!), I’ve been spending a lot of time in Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone on West 35th Street, in Manhattan. But I...
View ArticleInto the Weird: Weird Tales, May 1923 (Volume 1, Number 3) Part 1
Weird Tales, May 1923, front and back coversThe third issue of Weird Tales saw the magazine experiment with a significant change in presentation. The first two issues had been a standard pulp size,...
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