“The Hyborian Age” is an essay by Robert E. Howard pertaining to the Hyborian Age, the fictional setting of his stories about Conan the Cimmerian.
It was written in the 1930s but not published during Howard’s lifetime. Its purpose was to maintain consistency within his fictional setting
Little did then-obscure Texas writer Robert E. Howard know that with the 1929 publication of “The Shadow Kingdom” in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, he had given birth to a new and vibrant subgenre of fantasy fiction.
Sword-and-sorcery went from pulp obscurity to mass-market paperback popularity before suffering a spectacular publishing collapse in the 1980s.
But it lives on in the broader culture and today enjoys a second life in popular role-playing games, music, and films, and helped give birth to a new literary subgenre known as grimdark, popularized by the likes of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series.
Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery provides much-needed definitions and critical rigor to this misunderstood fantasy subgenre. It traces its origins in the likes of historical fiction, to its birth in the pages of Weird Tales, to its flowering in the Frank Frazetta-illustrated Lancer Conan Saga series in the 1960s.
It covers its “barbarian bust” beneath a heap of second-rate pastiche, a pack of colorful and wildly entertaining and awful sword-and-sorcery films, and popular culture second life in the likes of Dungeons & Dragons and the bombast of heavy metal music.
Who is The Shadow? How did he come to be? Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow delves into the murky origins of perhaps the most significant media creation of all time.
Between 1930 and 1954, The Shadow was a dominant figure in American popular culture. A multi-media sensation, he emerged from the creative cauldron of the earliest days of radio drama, and soon migrated to magazines, comic books, film and eventually paperback books. Only Superman and Batman, who were created a few years later, rivaled The Shadow in global public recognition.
A century later, this enigmatic personality and his famous mantra, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” remains recognizable to new generations born long after his remarkable reign.
Popular culture historian and novelist Will Murray explores radio’s first superstar and talks to the writers and artists who took a nebulous radio personality and brought him to blazing life in the pages of more than 300 classic pulp novels. Packed with revelations, Master of Mystery reveals how The Shadow inspired the creation of Batman in 1939!
Including rare interviews with Walter B. Gibson, Theodore Tinsley, John L. Nanovic, Graves Gladney and Edd Cartier.
second book here
These were the watchwords of old-school pulp fiction: fun, fast-paced, and immensely popular with readers.
The pulp era is coming back.
Blending timeless lessons from the grandmasters of the pulp era with the genres, tastes and technologies of today, PulpRev forges boldly ahead into the future of fiction.
Hugo and Dragon Award nominated writer Kit Sun Cheah teams up with Misha Burnett to compile a selection of essays on the PulpRev aesthetic from some of the leading writers in the movement. Pulp on Pulp covers:
PulpRev is the Revolution, Revival and the Renaissance of Pulp. Take the plunge into the new pulp era and become the best writer you can be!
A military history of the campaigns of Flavius Belisarius, the greatest general of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian.
Back in the 6th century, Belisarius twice defeated the Persians and reconquered North Africa from the Vandals in a single year at the age of 29, before going on to regain Spain and Italy, including Rome (briefly), from the barbarians. This book discusses the evolution from classical Roman to Byzantine armies and systems of warfare, as well as those of their chief enemies: the Persians, Goths, and Vandals. Belisarius: The Last Roman General reassesses Belisarius’s generalship and compares him with the likes of Caesar, Alexander, and Hannibal. It is also illustrated with line drawings and battle plans as well as photographs.
Called “the best account of combat since Black Hawk Down” by Men’s Journal, Thunder Run is a no-holds-barred look at the sweep of Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 by U.S. armed forces. One of the boldest gambles in modern military history, the surprise attack on Baghdad by three battalions of tanks and APCs and less than 1,000 men total was the single stroke that is credited for ending the Iraqi war.
The three days of fierce fighting that followed the initial attack are captured in stunning detail by Richard M. Davidson’s powerhouse narration.
Part of the serie about Hunter S. Thompson gonzo style journalism through the 70-90 american political landscape
From the bestselling author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the legendary Hunter S. Thompson’s second volume of the “Gonzo Papers” is back. Generation of Swine collects hundreds of columns from the infamous journalist’s 1980s tenure at the San Francisco Examiner.
Here, against a backdrop of late-night tattoo sessions and soldier-of-fortune trade shows, Dr. Thompson is at his apocalyptic best―covering emblematic events such as the 1987-88 presidential campaign, with Vice President George Bush, Sr., fighting for his life against Republican competitors like Alexander Haig, Pat Buchanan, and Pat Robertson; detailing the GOP’s obsession with drugs and drug abuse; while at the same time capturing momentous social phenomena as they occurred, like the rise of cable, satellite TV, and CNN―24 hours of mainline news. Showcasing his inimitable talent for social and political analysis, Generation of Swine is vintage Thompson―eerily prescient, incisive, and enduring.
