Category Archives: Jim Cornelius

Listening to Howard

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Today, January 22, is the birthday of Robdert E. Howard (1906-1936).

There are a handful of writers who have their own dedicated shelves in my library. Leigh Brackett. Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. Ray Bradbury.

But the one with two shelves, plus spillover for paperbacks and duplicate copies, I robert E. Howard.

I’vd been writing these posts for so long, I’m runnig out of things to say for them. But over the last year, I’ve begun enjoying Howard in a new way.

That’s through audio books. I”ve spent so much time behind the wheel of a car in the last dozen months or so that I’ve begun building up a small library.

All the Del Rey editions of Conan, Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, and the Horror Stories are available. There are other productions of many of  the individual storeis included in these volumes as well as stories Del Rey didn’t publish. I’ve not gotten any of those.

I’m slowly working my way through the Conoan stories right now, interspersing them with full-length books. I’m alternating between fiction and nonfiction, so I’ll be enjoying these yarns for quite some time.

The production is good, so if you listen to audio books, you might want to give them a try.

Remembering Karl

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It is December 12 as I write this. I’m trying to get final exams graded, but I’m taking a break to observe the birthday of Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994). I think it’s that important ot acknowledge his achievements.

Karl Edward Wagner probably needs no introduction to anyone who reads this blog. He was one of the greatest writers of sword and sorcery and dark fantasy/horror of the Twentieth Century. We’ve not seen his like since, in my opinion.

Four fourteen years, he also edited The Year’s Best Horror Stories for DAW books. He took over the reins with volume VIII in 1980. The series ended with volume XXII with Karl’s death. Wagner didn’t limit his selections to top genre publications. He read all sorts of obscure publication to find the best horror stories each year.

If you can find copies, which is getting harder and harder to do, grab them. Not onlyl are they an excellent survey of horror in the eighteis and early nineties, but reading them is a great informal course in how to write effective horror. You’ll recognize many of the authors Wagner included, many before they became famous. Others will be new to you. Continue reading →

What I’ll Be Reading Over the Christmas Break

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Quite, I hope.  At least if all goes according to plan.  We’ll find out.  Watch this space.

20161213_122339Two packages arrived in the mail today.  You can see the contents on the left.  At the upper right is Richard Chizmar’s massive collection, A Long December.  With a title like that, I’ve got to read it this month.  Richard Chizmar is the publisher of Cemetery Dance, but this collection was published by Subterranean Press.

The other items are part of the Warriors of the Wildlands Kickstarter.  This was a little project Jim Cornelius put together (see this post).  It’s a book containing short biographies of a dozen frontier partisans.  I pledged the level that got me three signed books (one personalized; thanks, Jim!), a patch, the poster (which has books on the corners to keep it from rolling up), along with downloads of three songs performed by Jim’s musical group, The Anvil Blasters.  If you’re not reading Jim’s blog, Frontier Partisans, you’re missing out.

Anyway, Santa came early today, and I’m looking forward to getting grades in so I can dive into these books.

Guest Post at Frontier Partisans

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Tales From The Otherverse webJim Cornelius runs the excellent blog Frontier Partisans.  It’s become one of my “go to” blogs that I always read.  I don’t always comment, but I read every post.

Earlier this year, in June, Jim posted about an attempt early in the 20th century to import hippos as a food source.  I was struggling to come up with an idea for a story to contribute to Tales From the Otherverse, and Jim’s post kicked off the train of thought that led to “The Assassination of President Broussard”.

Jim was kind enough to ask me to write a guest post about how I wrote the story.  So if any of you are interested in my thought processes in constructing this story, you can check them out here.

And make sure you read Frontier Partisans.  Jim writes about some fascinating stuff.

 

Jim Cornelius and Frontier Partisans

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Former blogger for The Cimmerian Jim Cornelius has a new blog that just launched on June 1.  It’s called Frontier Partisans, and if you have an interest in the men and women of the various frontiers throughout history, you really should check it out.  It’s well put together, informative, and fascinating.  Since historical adventure is supposed to be one of the foci of Adventures Fantastic (I know, I know, I need to emphasize that aspect more), I would be remiss if I failed to encourage you to spend time there and give Jim your support.