Let me teal-deer it for you: it is not strictly possible to establish a consistent internal chronology for H.G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, but the best guess is: the invasion occurs in 1907 ( Read more... )

If you're planning to attend Capricon, the more capricious of the two Chicago-area SF conventions, you may be delighted and surprised to hear than I shall be empanelled thereat. If you're not currently planning such attendance, but are still delighted or surprised by this news, then hie thee to the Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling on Friday, ( Read more... )

I already have a credo. It's a terrific credo:

"Every day my eye grows keener, my good right arm stronger, and my silly enemies more futile."
-- Ignatz Mouse

But if I were in the market for a new credo, this would be it:

"Then there are those who, like the author, ensconce themselves on a thunderous crag of omniscience, and with ( Read more... )

* Imagine my surprise when the Chicago Public Library actually had Cherie Priest's two monster novels, Fathom and Those Who Went Remain There Still, sitting on the shelves like they belonged there. When they so clearly belonged on my shelf, but in lieu of that I checked them both out and read each one in one sitting. Those Who Went Remained There ( Read more... )

I suppose it was inevitable that something like this should happen. I finished up Avram Davidson's novel Masters of the Maze today, but not before flinching at this paragraph:He descended level after level, like someone in a bad dream or in a (bad, ex officio) story by Merritt or Lovecraft. The latter, at least, he recalled, had been obsessed with ( Read more... )

I just spent the last four hours reading Gene Wolfe's new Cthulhu Mythos novel An Evil Guest cover to cover. I can think of no higher praise for it than to say that it repeatedly and forcibly reminded me of Robert Heinlein's jawdropping horror pulp thriller The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, which I am almost certainly going to have to ( Read more... )

* I'm back from Omaha, where I drove for my niece's wedding. Hence the dissociation, no doubt; a man doesn't just come out of an Omaha wedding the same kind of man he was going into it. Sure, we've all heard the words, seen the movies, read the comics, until "Omaha wedding" has become just another cliched genre trope, like "alien invasion" or " ( Read more... )

I recently (two months ago, which is how far behind I am in usefully posting here) finished reading every work of science fiction by H. Beam Piper, with two relatively marginal exceptions (Crisis in 2140 and Fuzzies And Other People). This was as close as I can get to a sheer cultural lark these days -- nobody is breathing down my neck for an H. ( Read more... )

* Since I know all you excellent people hurried off to vote for Trail of Cthulhu for "Best Writing" and "Best Rules," and Hobby Games: The 100 Best for "Best Regalia" in the ENnie Awards, you can imagine the joy it gives me to say that all votes cast on Monday (and Tuesday until about 8 a.m.) were entirely wasted! Hurrah! So if you were nice enough ( Read more... )

* If you're a fan of chadu's sweet supers RPG, Truth & Justice, now's your chance to dig up the horrific past of your campaign -- or to start a new one in the badly color-registered 1940s! Yes, Adventures Into Darkness, the definitive guide to Lovecraftian Golden Age superheroism, is finally available in Truth & Justice format on DriveThruRPG. It's the ( Read more... )