Category Archives: Home of Heroics

A Summary of Grand Masters

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Christopher Heath has written a great post over at Home of Heroics about heroic fantasy grand masters and who they’ve influenced him.  His assessment is insightful and informative.  Check it out.  The only one I’d add (at least off the top of my head) would be C. L. Moore.  Her Jirel of Joiry series, while barely enough to fill a book, are powerful and eerie.  Jirel was one of the first warrior women, and created in a time when science fiction and fantasy was a male dominated field.  Moore’s stories brought an emotional depth to the field that had been lacking in the bulk of the work published up to that point.  Heath credits Lovecraft for atmosphere.  While Moore’s writing was certainly atmospheric, I would have to say one of the techniques at which Moore excelled was imagery.  I’ve been wanting to take a detailed look at her Northwest Smith series, which is really fantasy in a science fictional setting, for a while now. Imagery will be one of the things that series will focus on.  Hopefully those will start appearing by the end of the summer.

The Battle of the Sexes Continues

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Now that grades are finally in, I’m looking forward to getting some rest.  I had hoped to last night, but before dawn Ragnarok erupted.  There were flashes of light and loud noises, and it seemed the end of the world was imminent.  Turned out it was only a thunderstorm, not Armageddon.  It’s been so many months since we’ve had any rain here on the South Plains that I’d forgotten what it was like.  But I digress.  The point is I’m not going to have anything new ready for a day or so, at least as far as reviews or in-depth essays go.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post entitled “In Defense of Traditional Gender Roles in Fantasy” which I expected to generate some heat.  Instead it sank like a stone.  Although in the last month it’s gotten 20 hits, 10 of them in the last week.  It may resurrect itself, zombie-like.  It seems like someone is taking an interest.

Then this morning, over at the Home of Heroics blog, Jonathan Moeller wrote about anachronisms in heroic fiction.  Since he only has 1000 words, he limited himself to women warriors rather than making an exhaustive list.  Can you say “firestorm”? (He did hint in one of his replies that athiesm in fantasy societies was a possible future post.)

Of course, the new issue of Black Gate, which should be in the mail to me even as I write, is a themed issue.  What is the theme?  Warrior women, of course.  I was planning on reviewing each story individually, although not necessarily giving each story its individual post.  Have to wait and see about that, depending on story length.

But this whole brouhaha over at HoH is making me itch to read the stories.  You can bet I’m going to read and review them very carefully now.

In the meantime, I’m going to be reading history, looking are references to female warriors.

Something to Read

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Between being in the middle of final exams and taking care of my wife while she recovers from surgery, I haven’t had time to post much.  For those of you who have dropped in looking for new content, the best I can do today is refer you to the two latest posts at Home of Heroics:

Steve Moody’s reflections on the popularity of antiheroes:

http://www.roguebladesentertainment.com/2011/05/heroes-and-antiheroes/
and Sean T. M. Stiennon’s examination of heroics in martial arts movies:

http://www.roguebladesentertainment.com/2011/05/ip-man-the-manly-soul-expressed-in-fisticuffs/

A Bit of Shamelss Self-Promotion

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If you’ve read this blog in the last few weeks, you’ve seen me mention Home of Heroics over on the Rogue Blades Entertainment website.  I’ve got a column, Dispatches From the Lone Star Front, there, and the first one went up a little while ago.  Check it out.  The column will be a little different from the type of things I write about here.  I’ll be focusing on factual heroes more than fictional, with the emphasis being on those from Texas, since that’s where I live.  Hence the title.

Odds and Ends

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Between allergies, taxes, and trying to finish my upcoming column for Home of Heroics, I’m a little behind in getting some things up that I’ve been working on.  It might be next week before anything substantial is posted since I’ll be traveling over the weekend starting tomorrow.  In the meantime, check out the new material at Home of Heroics if you aren’t already doing so.  Yesterday’s guest column was by John O’Neill, publisher of Black Gate, in which he talked about how Scholastic Books got him hooked on science fiction and fantasy.  It brought back memories for me, because I used to read those books as well.  My son is now starting to read them, and I’m looking forward to what he’s going to be bringing home.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who’s visited Adventures Fantastic, especially in the last couple of weeks.  Traffic seems to be picking up, and I appreciate your interest, support, and comments.  I’ve got some cool things planned for the next couple of months, including a two-part interview with Robert E. Howard scholar Mark Finn, some Long Looks at Short Fiction, a review of Jasper Kent’s Thirteen Years Later, a look at Henry Kuttner’s Prince Raynor stories, and some more Kull.  So stick around.  It’s only gonna get better.

Cool Stuff at Rogue Blades’ Home of Heroics

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There have been a couple of posts up at Home of Heroics, the new feature on the Rogue Blades Entertainment site, the last few days.  Friday Bruce Durham reviewed Howard Andrew Jones‘ Desert of Souls.  This morning, Luke Forney surveyed the graphic adaptations of Robert E. Howard’s work, including Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, and Red Sonja.  Interesting stuff, so check it out if you haven’t already.

Charles Saunders Guest Blogs at Home of Heroics

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Wednesdays at Home of Heroics is the day for guest blogs.  For the inaugural guest blog,  Charles Saunders, author of Imaro, has written a thought provoking piece on the role of fear in the heart of a hero.  He looks at three examples:  Robert E. Howard’s Conan, Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, and his own Imaro.  Check it out.