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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
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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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
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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
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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
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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
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C.L. Moore’s Black God’s Kiss
I mentioned in a previous post the “Planet Stories” publications, which are reprints of classic pulp fantasy, horror, and adventure stories. I finished recently one of those publications, Black God’s Kiss, the collected stories of C.L. Moore’s character Jirel of … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Robert E. Howard
6 Comments
A shout-out to some excellent horror publishers
Before I started writing this blog, I hadn’t actively hunted down new (and old) horror for some time. Older works were very hard to find and new books were often… lacking, to put it politely. I’ll have a rant about … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Horror
10 Comments
Solomon Kane and Robert E. Howard’s religious beliefs
Now that I’m thinking of Solomon Kane, I thought I’d do a brief post about the character, his adventures, and the clear influence Howard’s religious beliefs had on both. Solomon Kane is a 16th century English Puritan, warrior and wanderer. … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Robert E. Howard
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