Many people, myself included, have thought that the book of Middle Eastern fantasy tales, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, is a unified work of one author or compiler from the 16th century, ala The Brothers Grimm. But it isn’t. It’s a far older collection of folk tales and poetry from a far wider range …
What Galadriel became after she was seduced by the power of the One Ring.
Arabica for Audiophiles My short story, Arabica, about the erotic nature of how to brew a good cuppa joe, is now available for your listening pleasure in the audiobook version of MASHED, available on Audible.com. There are also food-related sexy stories from other fine authors. Remember, that if you don’t have a subscription (yet) you …
Yellowtail, Crown Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief As told to Michael Oren Fitzgerald University of Oklahoma Press, 1991 [Challenge # 8: A book with a color in the title] This book wasn’t at all what I expected. I thought it would be a straightforward bio, like Lame Deer Speaks. Instead it was more of …
Harm by Brian W. Aldiss Ballantine Books, New York, 2007 [Challenge # 10: A book based in a religion not your own.] British SF author Brian W. Aldiss, who died recently at the age of 92, was one prolific writer. He started his SF writing career in 1954 and by the end of it, had …
Oh, lookies! I found another book of forgotten magic in the vast dungeon library I call my home! Wonder if it has anything this fellow is looking for? Perhaps something to animate that pink lightbulb heart? A new group of randomly generated, mostly useful, magic items that may find a home in your story or …
Turn on your heartlight Let it shine wherever you go Let it make a happy glow For all the world to see… Venus, by ceramic artist Kate MacDowell
How do (mostly male) adventurers spend their hard-won leisure time? They might visit a brothel. Game of Thrones has shown fantasy fans what such a brothel might look like, but whorehouses, or rollicking inns filled with willing (or working) women have long been a staple of the genre, especially in sword and sorcery. Straight female …
I thought I felt something in my eye!
Without dispute, pulp author Robert E. Howard invented the fantasy character trope of The Barbarian Hero, specifically with his creation Conan. But the roots were laid before that in the Tarzan tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli. Both pitted a stoic, nature-wise man (or boy) of the wilds against corrupt human civilization. …