Mouse Koan
I like poetry. I prefer poetry that rhymes. I’m old fashioned like that, but i’m prepared to bed some kinky, funky non rhyming poetry too, cause while i’m a slut with preferences, i’m still a slut. So as i prepare […]
books
Spring Heeled Jack: The 1st Super Villain?
One character who was an early fixture of penny dreadfuls was Spring Heeled Jack. He would leap in out of nowhere, slap you, cop a feel, or rip your dress and then leap away. He could leap over tall shrubbery, […]
Penny Gaffs
From 1830 to 1870, the exact time the macabre and violent incarnations of the penny dreadful were being published, otherwise known as penny bloods, a complementary form of theater was also taking place, Penny Gaffs. The penny gaff alludes to […]
Penny Dreadfuls II: From Blood To Boys
For decades, since their conception in 1832, Penny Dreadfuls, 8 pages of lurid tales printed on cheap paper and sold for a penny, specialized in highly gruesome material. For the first 10 years or so there was a fair amount […]
Penny Dreadfuls. Before the comic book, before the pulp…
The comic book probably remains the dominant medium for fanciful, fantastic literature pumped out industriously for youth consumption. Actually if you ask me, the comic book has been replaced by the video game, but if we stick to just literature it’s the […]
Mary Poppins
You know what’s kind of steampunk? Mary Poppins. You know what’s awesome? Mary Poppins. You got a problem with Mary Poppins? Gtf outta here right now. You and i have nothing to discuss. Dudes. Dudettes. The Mary Poppins movie is […]
Charlie Chan
During the 1920s and 30s, one of the most famous screen detectives, featured in numerous serials and feature films, was Charlie Chan. He was created by writer Earl Derr Biggers as an Asian detective based in Honolulu in an attempt to throw a […]
Fu Manchu
This post was originally going to be about Charlie Chan, but before we get to that famous character of Dieselpunk era serials, i figured it might be interesting if we start with the even more famous Fu Manchu, for whom Charlie Chan […]
Starmaker & First And Last Men: Olaf Stapledon
One of the towering giants of sci-fi fantasy, writing in the 1930s and whose works blew me out of the water when i read them 60 years later is Olaf Stapledon. In particular, his two books First And Last Men […]
China Mieville: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and rage against Tolkien.
So, what DO you consider exceptional fantasy? I’m glad you asked. We’ve been talking about pulp fiction, and i’ve made numerous mentions to the idea that as literature it lacks in certain departments. And it does. It’s fun and creative, well written […]