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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Horror
Is it worse, or better, than a creationist on the school board?
Once again the folks at The Onion have demonstrated their satirical genius! They ‘report’ on an Arkham, MA school board member who is pushing to add the unspeakable, sanity-shattering dark arts to the curriculum: “Fools!” said West, his clenched fist … Continue reading
Posted in Lovecraft, Silliness
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A. Merritt’s Dwellers in the Mirage
Abraham Merritt (1888-1943) was one of the greats of pulp fiction, although up until recently his work was largely forgotten. Recently, two of his novels were reprinted, The Moon Pool (1919) and The Metal Monster (1920), both of which I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction, Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Weird fiction
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Upcoming horror game: The Path
Via StumbleUpon, I came across the website for a short horror game which will be released in March or April 2009: The Path. Produced by a small independent game company called Tale of Tales (and I mean small: two programmers), … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Horror
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A. Merritt’s The Metal Monster
Last week I discussed A. Merritt’s book The Moon Pool (1919), an adventure/horror novel showing genuine flashes of weird brilliance but marred by some rather stereotypical pulp conventions. Merritt’s next novel, The Metal Monster (1920), is something else entirely! Perhaps … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft, Weird fiction
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A. Merritt’s The Moon Pool
Occasionally my random impulse buys at the bookstore turn out to be unusually fruitful! After Christmas, I was looking to spend some of my gift card money and happened across a copy of A. Merritt’s The Moon Pool (1919): I … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft, Weird fiction
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John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos
I’ve been reading through a number of classic science fiction novels that were adapted into the classic science fiction movies of the 50s and 60s; so far, I’ve tackled John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? (turned into The Thing From … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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The Crystal World, by J.G. Ballard
I’ve been slowly working my way through a huge collection of apocalyptic novels in preparation for another major blog post. Amazon has clued in to my bleak, weird taste in books and recommended The Crystal World (1966), by J.G. Ballard: … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Weird fiction
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Lafcadio Hearn’s Oriental Ghost Stories
Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) was a very interesting fellow. Reading through his Wikipedia entry, he was definitely not one to run with the crowd. He was raised in Dublin, but moved to Cincinatti, Ohio at the age of 19. Though he … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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A Skeleton at the Helm, edited by John Richard Stephens
The post-Halloween season is a good time to snoop around for bargain Halloween books at Barnes & Noble, and two weeks ago I stumbled across a very nice collection of classic horror stories set on the high seas! The collection, … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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John Wyndham’s The Kraken Wakes
John Wyndham either didn’t like the world much or worried about it a lot! In a previous post, I discussed his classic horror/sci-fi novel The Day of the Triffids (1951), in which a meteor shower leaves most of the world … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Weird fiction
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