-
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: Fantasy fiction
Lord Dunsany’s Pegana
A bit over a month ago, I decided to read a few of Lord Dunsany’s plays after reading Lovecraft’s glowing review of them in Supernatural Horror in Literature. The plays are wonderfully eerie and capture the spirit of ancient myths … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Lovecraft
4 Comments
Fletcher Pratt’s The Well of the Unicorn
Though I’m quite well read these days with respect to pulp fiction of the early 1900s, I’m much less familiar with those genres which followed, namely science fiction and fantasy. Occasionally, however, my literary wanderings cross my path with something … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction
3 Comments
Bertram Mitford’s The King’s Assegai
Those who have been reading this blog for a while know that I’ve become a really big fan of Bertram Mitford (1855-1914). His novels, written in the late 1800s, are on the surface adventure novels which draw on his experiences … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction, Fantasy fiction
1 Comment
Henry Kuttner’s Elak of Atlantis
I’m a complete sucker for sword-and-sorcery fantasy, and actually I’ve written a significant amount of it for my own amusement. Of course, the true master, and really the originator of the genre, is Robert E. Howard, whose Conan stories are … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Robert E. Howard
2 Comments
Dennis Wheatley’s They Found Atlantis
I’ve discussed a few of Dennis Wheatley‘s books in past posts. Wheatley was a prolific author from the 1930s through the 1980s (though his most famous works were written from the ’30s to the ’50s), and he could rightly be … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Horror
7 Comments
H. Rider Haggard’s She
Before Indiana Jones, there was Allan Quatermain, elephant hunter and adventurer/explorer of Africa. Quatermain was the creation of H. Ridger Haggard (1856-1925), and was featured in the novels King Solomon’s Mines and Allan Quatermain. Haggard’s work was informed by his … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction, Fantasy fiction
7 Comments
Richard Marsh’s The Magnetic Girl
I thought I’d do a post on one more book by Richard Marsh that I’ve read, The Magnetic Girl (1903), currently only available on Google books. The Magnetic Girl is significantly different than the other books by Marsh that I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction
2 Comments
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ At the Earth’s Core and Pellucidar
Regardless of what you think of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ writing, he himself was no slacker! Burroughs wrote well over fifty novels in his lifetime, including 26 featuring Tarzan, and used incredibly imaginative, now iconic, settings as backdrops. I’ve briefly discussed … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction
5 Comments
Robert E. Howard’s Almuric
Hot on the heels of a discussion of various ‘planetary romances’ set on Mars, I turned to Robert E. Howard’s own take on said romances: the tale of the savage world of Almuric: I have to admit, Howard fan that … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Robert E. Howard
2 Comments
Get your ass to Mars!
(Title courtesy of the movie Total Recall.) The planet Mars has always been a source of fascination (as is its sister planet Venus, but that’s another post). As we have seen (here and here), in reality Mars can be quite … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction
3 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 