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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: Weird fiction
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Venus series
I’ve talked a bit about Edgar Rice Burroughs’ sword and planet adventures before; in particular, I’ve discussed his ‘Barsoom‘ (Mars) series briefly and did a post on the first two books on his ‘Pellucidar‘ (Hollow Earth) series. In preparation for … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Maracot Deep
One of the fun things about my blogging is that I keep turning up relatively unknown works by famous authors which, although not on par with their classics, give fascinating insights into the authors’ views. They’re usually quite entertaining, as … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction, Weird fiction
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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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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
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Bertram Mitford’s The Sign of the Spider
It’s hard to find out information about author Bertram Mitford (1855-1914). Even Wikipedia doesn’t have information about him, instead redirecting to another Bertram Mitford who wrote about Japan. He was, like H. Rider Haggard, a writer of adventure stories set … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction, Horror
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Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii
One of the fun things about blogging about both science and horror fiction is the unusual connections that one can find between them. On of my favorite science topics outside of physics is vulcanology, which is why I read blogs … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Mystery/thriller
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Richard Marsh’s A Metamorphosis
I continue with some reviews of the works of Richard Marsh, in celebration of the release of Valancourt’s edition of The Beetle. This time I discuss a book that is, as yet, only available through Google books, Richard Marsh’s A … Continue reading
Posted in Mystery/thriller
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Richard Marsh’s “Philip Bennion’s Death”
As promised, here’s the first discussion of some classic Richard Marsh, in celebration of the release of Valancourt’s edition of The Beetle. I start with a brief discussion of another Valancourt edition, Richard Marsh’s Philip Bennion’s Death (1897).
Posted in Mystery/thriller
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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
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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
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