Atom Kid

Riddles In The Dark

2012-02-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

Just another illustration on a book page. This one is on a page from The Hobbit from the Riddles In The Dark chapter. I think this is the first one that I've done on a mass market paperback so it's a bit smaller that the others that I've done. I plan on mounting it on a 2.5 x 3.5 canvas so it'll be even smaller.

Happy Thor's day (Þórsdagr) Thor: Hammer Of The Gods

2011-12-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

I just found this today, and I haven't done a Thor's Day post lately so, enjoy!

Anne McCaffrey, 1926-2011

2011-11-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

As a 12 I remember buying a copy of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight at a Walden Books. Now Walden's is gone and so is Anne. Thanks for all the memories....

Ivar The Boneless

2011-11-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

I watched an interesting documentary about Ivar the Boneless, Viking conqueror of England, which supposes that he suffered from brittle bones disease. After watching it I feel that it is more than likely that he did, rather than being a reference to impotence or being an ironic nickname. I guess it's an issue where we will never know for sure because a thousand years of history has to be sifted through but it is an interesting theory.

More Edgar Allan Poe Book Pages

2011-11-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

From the book title page, I just really wanted to do a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe. And the bottom image is from the title page of The Fall of the House of Usher.

A Tell Tale Heart

2011-11-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

This is an illustration that I did on the title page of A Tell Tale Heart. I've been doing these for a few years and I really like the way this one turned out. Poe is in my top 10 favorite authors so I guess it was about time that I did one based on one of his stories.

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

My October has been a bit hectic lately with starting a new job and what not, sorry for the infrequent posts.
I wanted to be sure and wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!!! And who better to do that with than Michael Myers!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 26th, The Great Pumpkin

2011-10-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

No Halloween would be complete without the Great Pumpkin!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 10th, Nosferatu (Eine Symphonie des Grauens)

2011-10-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Probably the first horror movie I ever purchased as a kid. I remember reading various horror magazines and books from the library, pretty much every time we went to check out books. The first time that I saw Max Schrek as Count Orloff, I knew right away that I had to see this movie. Probably the most horrific vampire in the history of horror films!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 8th, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

2011-10-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

A great German expressionist film! Doctor Caligari and his somnabulist minion, Cesare commit a series of murders in a German village. Everything was going right for the good doctor until Cesare falls in love with a German beauty.

I did this illustration as a 2.5x3.5" artist trading card. I haven't done one of these in a while and had forgotten how much I enjoy them!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 7th, Universal Monster Cards

2011-10-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

I've had a hard time keeping up with the postings so today's post is a bit lazy. Here's some older illustrations I did of the classic Universal Monsters!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 6th, Invasion of the Saucermen

2011-10-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

This movie in my opinion, epitomizes the B.E.M. (Bug Eyed Monsters) style horror film. And they are one of my favorite alien designs and lot of fun to illustrate!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 5th, The Robot Monster

2011-10-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

I know what your thinking, that's just a guy in a gorilla suit with a space helmet on. But you'd be wrong, this is The Robot Monster!

Okay so maybe the studios cut some corners by recycling some costumes, and the dialogue is bad, and the whole premise of the movie is bad. But I think The Robot Monster deserves a place in accidental hilarity and movie history. Plus there's something Jack Kirby-like about the creature!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 4th, Preacher From The Black Lagoon

2011-10-04T19:56:00.001-07:00

I decided to do an illustration that was a bit more humorous. But I am still a big Gillman fan! Ever since I was 6 years old, the Creature has always fascinated me. When I was 8 I was able to go to Universal Studios in California, I enjoyed seeing the Battlestar Galactica attraction, Jaws, Psycho House, and standing on a giant chair that was used in The Incredibly Shrinking Man. But I absolutely loved the Universal Monsters attraction! That was almost 30 years ago but it's still burned into my memory.

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 3rd, The Mummy

2011-10-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ardeth Bey (aka Imhotep, aka the Mummy), is my favorite Boris Karloff character! More diabolical than Dracula (actually his character is based off of Dracula) and with more speaking parts than Frankenstein!

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 2nd! I Was A Teenage Werewolf

2011-10-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Acne is the scourge of teenagers everywhere, but combine that with lycanthropy and you've got the crisis of a lifetime! The role of a lifetime that put Michael Landon on every family's television set for the next three decades! Okay, maybe that was a different show, but I Was A Teenage Werewolf must be a close second.

Countdown To Halloween 2011: Happy October 1st! The Crimson Ghost

2011-10-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Crimson Ghost wasn't a horror icon in the strictest sense, mainly he was a criminal mastermind from a 1946 movie serial called "Cyclotrode X". But this iconic figure brings along the sense of horror and the macabre that's perfect for the first day of The Countdown To Halloween! And yes, this is the same guy you see on all of those Misfits t-shirts.

My Favorite Independent Movie: Alien Factor

2011-09-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

I can't say enough good things about this movie, it's a perfect B-movie! I first saw it on television in 1983 on some late horror night show, and it's been a favorite ever since. It's a typical alien invasion movie and the acting wasn't the best but the creature design is just great! Check out the whole thing on Youtube!

Grindhouse Classics: This Man Can't Die

2011-07-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

I just watched this one the other day, and then found it on Youtube. It's a pretty good revenge story!

Happy Independence Day

2011-07-04T06:57:00.002-07:00

I hope everybody in the U.S. celebrating today has a happy and safe Independence Day! Those not in the U.S. have a happy and safe 4th of July! Today we celebrate the 235th birthday of the nation, it's important not to get distracted by a lot of self serving political noise and just focus on what's important. I always liked the way School House Rock summed up American History, so enjoy!

Joel Rosenberg RIP

2011-06-03T13:43:00.001-07:00

I just found out today that author Joel Rosenberg passed away on June 1st. He was best known for his Guardians of the Flame fantasy series, which is a fun read and I highly recommend it. And he was a great champion of our constitutional liberties. I had just become friends with him on Face Book about a week ago, and was happy to see he was still living in the Twin Cities, which is only a few hours from me. This is unfortunate news and I wish his family well.

Here's an article on Hot Air.

Dolores Fuller RIP

2011-05-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to pay homage to one rockin' gal. Dolores Fuller, Ed Wood's girlfriend and partner in his early movies passed away yesterday at the age of 88. You can read the obituary here.

Along with acting in some of Ed Wood's movies she also wrote many songs for some the Elvis movies and helped launch Johnny Rivers' career.

Grindhouse Classics: Hero Of Rome

2011-05-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

"In ancient Rome, the people finally oust their despised king, Tarquinius, and declare the city a republic. Tarquinius makes an alliance with the Etruscan king, Porsenna, to take back power in Rome, but a Roman general, the heroic Mucius, sets out to stop him."

I quite liked this film! It was a good action movie that didn't get bogged down in historical accuracy but still remained enjoyable. I was glad that the Etruscans were used as the bad guys, you don't see them in movies about rome very often.

Ray Bradbury Saturday! The Chrysalis

2011-04-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

Ray Bradbury's "The Chrysalis" is a short story in the collection called S Is For Space. It takes place after World War III, a group of scientists are trying to figure out a mysterious illness that has afflicted one of their colleagues.

Click Chrisalis Movie for more information about the film.

Micronauts

2011-04-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

One of the toys from my childhood was the Micronauts by Mego! These were so original and cool, I wish they had been more popular. I had a few of them and I usually used them with my Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Fisher Price figures. My favorite was the Pharoid figure that came with an egyptian type sarcophagus and the Baron Zemo figure with magnetic limbs.

It would be great to see these re-released, but then again I don't need another thing to collect.

Ray Bradbury Saturday! The Pedestrian

2011-04-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is a great story, originally in "S Is For Space". The Pedestrian is a story about non-conformity in a police state where everyone is under surveillance and forced to stay inside their houses and watch mindless television (Ghost Machines), on man dares to go outside for a walk.

I can identify with Ray Bradbury's reason for writing this. I too was stopped one time by police, just for walking at night, no other reason. They left me alone after I proved that I wasn't up to anything but it angered me to be harassed like that. I guess that's all police have to do in a small town, harass the citizenry and forget about the real problems going on in town.

Now this episode seems a bit long for the story, it's only about seven pages long. They do take some liberties with the story to flesh it out for an episode. The main character is alone in the short story, but the original concept still remains.

Ray Bradbury Saturday! Ray on the Moon Landing.

2011-04-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Tom Snyder interviews Ray Bradbury on the night of the first Lunar Landing!

Paranormal Tuesday! In Search of The Mummy's Curse

2011-03-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Another great episode of "In Search Of.."

Ray Bradbury Saturday! Illustrated man

2011-03-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Retrobites for posting this video! Filmed during the making of The Illustrated Man movie, Ray Bradbury shares some of his philosophy on writing.

Paranormal Tuesday! Ancient Astronauts

2011-03-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's not really Tuesday but I forgot to post one. Here's another great episode of In Search Of, actually it's the first episode.

Was humanity really a colony from another galaxy who began mankind's civilization? I say no but it makes for an interesting story!

Grindhouse Classics: Django The Last Killer

2011-03-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

A young man, Chico (George Eastman) is driven to revenge after his father is murdered by the henchmen of cattle baron, Barrett (Daniele Vargas). Chico inadvertently saves hired gunman Django (Dragomir Bojanic) and takes a bullet. Django helps Chico and trains him in the ways of the gunfighter. Will Chico get revenge, and will he have to face Django at the end...

It's a pretty decent revenge film with good actors and decent production values. The story isn't too original, but it has enough of a twist to the revenge angle to keep it interesting.

Grindhouse Classics: Massacre Time

2011-03-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

A great Spaghetti Western by the Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci. It's not really your typical western, it's got some intrigue and a lot of fist fights, I don't think I've seen so many fistfights in a western before. The fight choreography is pretty good except for the trampoline acrobatics, and the sound effects are pretty typical for the period.

The film is set in 1866 in New Mexico, a young prospector, Tom Corbett (Franco Nero) receives a letter calling him back home to his family. He arrives in his hometown only to find the whole place is being run by a wealthy robber baron named Jason Scott (Guiseppe Addobbati) and his psychotic son Junior Scott (Nino Castelnuovo). Tom stays with his drunk brother Jeffrey (George Hilton) and plot to overthrow the Scotts criminal enterprise, but Tom is about to find out something shocking...

It's a fun movie, and a very underrated film in the Spaghetti Western genre.

Packers! (Shameless Crowing)

2011-02-07T09:56:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine got this tattoo when they made it to the play-offs. So in honor of the Packers bringing the trophy back to Title Town USA, here's Black Flag!

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

2011-01-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

Just a repost on my other blog, My Decade. In memory of the Challenger crew.

Punk New Wave Extravaganza - The Riptides

2011-01-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia! From 1979 - 1983 (Quite possibly the best era in pop music) the Riptides really kicked out the hooky surf inspired power pop jams. Unfortunately they never really hit it big in the U.S. but had quite a following in Australia. Read a short history of the Riptides here.

Just check out these videos!

Happy Birthday Professor Tolkien!

2011-01-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to the founding father of High Fantasy! Check out this great reading of The Hobbit!

Paranormal Tuesday! Bigfoot

2010-12-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

I've always loved stories about the paranormal, cryptozoology, UFOs, etc... and part of the reason for that was the show "In Search Of..." It ran from 1976 to 1982 and I have a lot of memories watching it and getting creeped out.

Here's an episode that ran in 1977 about Bigfoot. I think that out of all the cryptids, sasquatch is the most likely to be real. Based on the Patterson film, credible witnesses, and fossil evidence I think we'll eventually have an encounter with the creature.

What a great show! Originally Rod Serling hosted the show, but he passed away in 1975 so Leonard Nimoy took over hosting duties.

What is best in life?!!! an excerpt from "The Light Fantastic" by Terry Pratchett

2010-11-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

I love this little dig at the Conan the Barbarian movie that Terry Pratchett did in "The Light Fantastic".

"The Barbarian Chieftain said: "What then are the greatest things that a man may find in life? This is sort of thing you're supposed to say to maintain steppe cred in barbarian circles.

The man on his right thoughtfully drank his cocktail of mare's milk and snowcat blood, and spoke thus: "The crisp horizon of the steppe, the wind in your hair, a fresh horse under you."

The man on his left said: "the cry of the white eagle in the heights, the fall of snow in the forest, a true arrow in your bow. "

The chieftain nodded, and said: "Surely it is the sight of your enemy slain, the humiliation of his tribe and the lamentation of his women."

There was a general murmur of whiskery approval at this outrageous display.

The chieftain turned respectfully to his guest, a small figure carefullly warming his chilblains by the fire, and said: "But our guest, whose names is legend, must tell us truly: what is it that a man may call the greatest things in life?"

The guest paused in the middle of another unsuccessful attempt to light up.

"What shay?" he said, toothlessley.

"I said: what is it that a man may call the greatest things in life?"

The warriors leaned closer. This should be worth hearing.

The guest thought long and hard and then said, with deliberation: "Hot water, good dentishtry, and shoft lavatory paper."

A Low Key Gathering of the American Gods

2010-11-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

I spent a most memorable weekend this Halloween at the House on the Rock, celebrating Neil Gaiman and his book "American Gods". This was hands down the best Halloween ever! I met some wonderful people and had a surreal time partying in the HOTR with one of my favorite authors and hundreds of fans dressed as their favorite characters from the book.

We checked in on Friday and and got all of our passes and things, we also received copies of the Newbury award winning book "The Graveyard Book"! Then we met up with some old friends and then went the events tent where Neil made his entrance. On stage he read chapter five from American Gods and then took some pre-submitted questions, moderated by Steve Pauson of Wisconsin Public Radio's "To The Best Of Our Knowledge". Later that night Neil revealed that he approved American Gods to be made into a T.V. series but wasn't more elaborate. He said it was a director that he respects and likes his work, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure that it will pan out, so we'll wait and see.

After that Neil Gaiman did a book signing so I got out my hardback copy of American Gods.

(Thanks to Jennifer Sutherland for taking these pictures)

Saturday there were some panels on various subjects and a scavenger hunt but we missed out on those. A weekend without kids means sleeping in, so we opted out for sleep. We did tour the House on the Rock for a couple of hours.

Later that afternoon was the costume contest. There were so many great, imaginative costumes I'll bet it was hard to choose!

And then the House on the Rock was open at night! There was a drawing to see who got the chance to ride the carousel, evidently nobody has ever rode on it before. Unfortunately I didn't win but it was still a great time! We had Christmas dinner in the House on the Rock surrounded by people dressed as characters for the book, a great band was playing in one of the rooms and Neil Gaiman was walking around mingling with everyone. I can't tell you how magical and surreal the whole event was. Unfortunately I had to return to Earth but I'm left with lot's of great memories that will be with me forever.

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 31! Curse of the Werewolf!!!

2010-10-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

(Sorry for the crosspost)

Happy Halloween everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I had the flu for a couple of weeks and then lost my creative mojo for a bit.

Here's a pic I did a year ago based on my favorite Werewolf movie, "Curse of the Werewolf".

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 9! It Conquered The World !!!

2010-10-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 8! Hunchback of Notre Dame

2010-10-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 7! Gamera!!!

2010-10-07T06:08:00.001-07:00

Go, go Gamera! One of my favorite Kaiju characters ever! I did this one a couple of years ago, I know it's cheating but I have a couple of kids that are home sick from school today.

countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 6! Frankenstein's Monster!!!

2010-10-05T23:40:00.001-07:00

The monster who started the movie mad scientist craze!

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 5! Eegah!!!

2010-10-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

Richard Kiel as Eegah! is a Caveman that goes on a rampage and terrorizes Arch Hall Jr. and his teenage pals. What more could someone want in a movie. I know, the MST3K treatment!

countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 4! Dracula!!!

2010-10-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration I drew a couple of years ago. I would've put a new one up but, unfortunately my daughter added some illustrations to my picture that was almost finished.

This is just my interpretation of Dracula based on the novel. I wanted to give him an ugly and more feral appearance.

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 3! Creature From The Black Lagoon!!!

2010-10-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Probably one of my favorite Universal Monsters, the Gill-Man! He's kind of the Mick Jagger of monsters!
***I currently have The Bride and The Creature on sale on my Etsy shop.***

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 2! Bride of Frankenstein!!!

2010-10-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

Bride of Frankenstein, a monster's dream come true! She's no mail order bride, but a man-made masterpiece!

Countdown To Halloween 2010: Happy October 1! Astro Zombie!!!

2010-10-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

Greetings Boys and Ghouls!

As a kid I loved monsters and I loved checking out books about monsters from the library. Monsters Who's Who was one of my favorites! So I thought I would do a who's who of monsters of my own and I would use my own illustrations. This might be to big of a project for me to tackle but I'll give it a go.

Astro Zombie

If Tolkien glorified war in his stories, did Moorcock glorify drugs, incest and genocide, in the Elric series?

2010-09-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you who have read The Cimmerian will know about an essay written by Michael Moorcock entitled "Epic Pooh". Brian Murphy did an excellent job picking the essay apart, check it out here.

One of my favorite characters that Michael Moorcock created was Elric the 428th sorcerer emperor of Melnibone. Being an albino, he's a sickly king who is kept alive through drugs and sorcery. He's charged with keeping many traditions, many so vile and cruel it makes Drow look civilized. He's also deeply in love with Cymoril who is his cousin. An unlikely character for swords & sorcery fiction. Through the course of the series, Elric finds himself at odds with the evil ways of his people, and his cousin Yrkoon who has been plotting to take the throne by force or treachery.

Elric leaves his homeland, his beloved Cymoril, and leaves his cousin Yrkoon in charge of Imrryr. Yrkoon sits in the throne and rules like a tyrant, but Elric knew that he would be a cruel emperor, and wasn't that the way of things in Imrryr? When Elric finally returns to his homeland he leads an army of barbarians, The Young Kingdoms in fighting Yrkoon and his fellow countrymen. The result is the genocide of Elric's race as well as his lover Cymoril.

Does this mean that Moorcock glorifies these horrific qualities like cruelty, incest, drug use, and genocide? No, not anymore than Tolkien glorified war.

Discovering Lin Carter

2010-09-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've been discovering Lin Carter's work for the first time. I've read some of his short stories in the past and also his Conan pastiches but I've been reading The Gondwane Epic and feel like I'm discovering him for the first time. He was quite a prolific writer in the field of Swords & Sorcery fiction, and was the editor of the popular Flashing Swords anthologies. He's now more of a forgotten favorite to some and a maligned writer credited with hurting the Conan series (I disagree with this).

The Gondwane series is more of a Swords and Planet or Dying Earth story which used to be commonplace in the 60's and 70's but now it's too uncommon. It's kind of a mixture of post-apocalyptic/swords & sorcery/science fiction world of high adventure. Although criticized as being heavily influenced by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, Carter made it his own wonderful fantasy realm. Set on the super continent "Gondawane",think Pangea reforming and you'll have the right idea.

"Millions upon millions of years hence, when all the ancient continents of Old Earth have come together to form the immensity of Gondwane, the Last Continent, in The Twilight of Time, there shall come a Savior of Galendil to wrestle with the Doom of the World: They shall call him Silvermane." - Oth Kangmir (The Book Imperishable)

The main character is Ganelon Silvermane, a human bio-mechanical construct of considerable size and strength, created by the scientists and alchemists of Gondwane as the ultimate hero of mankind. Joined by the Illusionist of Nerelon, Xarda the Knightrix of Jemmerdy, and the Bazonga, a giant sentient robot bird/vehicle, they travel the world of Gondwane to finally bring peace to a troubled world.

Currently I'm reading the second book "The Enchantress Of World's End" and it's as good, if not better than the first. I really like the Death Dwarves! Horrible, mutated form of anti-life!

If you get the opportunity to read the series you should, it's a fun read!

A Fitting Tribute to Ray Bradbury!

2010-08-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

My Response To Frog God Games...

2010-08-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

...just a bit of amateur art, straight from the bargain basement.

If you want to read about the controversy, you can check out Chicago Wiz's blog, he sums it up best.

If you buy S&W I suggest supporting an indie publisher like John Adams at Brave Halfling Publishing. As for me, I've already made the move to Tunnels & Trolls. It's a better system and the game is still owned by Ken St. Andre and the original publisher Flying Buffalo.

Happy Birthday To Me

2010-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

It really is my birthday, so I thought I would post an appropriate birthday movie!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Ray Bradbury...

2010-08-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

...90 years of sci-fi greatness!

Batter Up!

2010-08-09T23:24:00.001-07:00

Happy Thor's day (Þórsdagr)

2010-08-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Young Thor!

Alternate History

2010-07-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

We all know how the battle of the Alamo ended, don't we?

Well let me refresh your memory. When Santa Anna's army thought they were going to deliver the final blow the the rebels, Col. Travis' swooped in on a Pterodactyl and leading a T-Rex towards the Mexican Army. After the T-Rex had properly gorged himself on most of the army, General Santa Anna was executed in front of a cannon.

Okay, maybe home schooling isn't the right way to go this year, but this is how my kids re-enacted the battle of the Alamo!

This is more like Ray Harryhausen's "Valley of Gwangi"

Inner Child

2010-07-23T08:13:00.001-07:00

I gave the stats for Tunnels & Trolls on my RPG blog. Here!

Does Anyone Know This Artist?

2010-07-21T09:56:00.001-07:00

I was going through my old sci-fi/fantasy paperbacks and came across this ACE Double of "Flight From Yesterday" by Robert Moore Williams and "Envoy To New Worlds" (A Retief novel) by Keith Laumer.

I just love the cover and I'm positive that I've seen his/her artwork before. I would love to see artwok like this on current RPG material today! If anyone knows this artist, could you drop me a line. I'd just like to see more art similar to this. I've been brushing up on my painting skills lately (pun intended) and would like to come up with some paintings that are inspired by (not ripoffs) paintings such as this.

OSR Logo

2010-07-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the cross post, but check it! Use it it you wanna!

German D&D commercial

2010-07-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Deinen zeit ist gekommen!

B.P. Board Game

2010-07-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

I just thought this was an interesting link and here.

Conan Poll

2010-06-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

I'm working on some house rules for Song Of Blades and Heroes set in Conan's Hyborian world and wanted to see what people thought of the title ideas. Song of The Hyborian Age, Song of The Road of Kings, Song of The Nemedian Chronicles and Song of the Riddle of Steel. I can't make up my mind on which I like most!

Also, should I include other sources besides R.E.H.'s stories like other novels, comics etc. or just keep it Howardian. I more than likely going to keep it Howardian mainly because of all the dilution of the story in various media. But I'd like to hear your thoughts.

The Ultimate Action Figure

2010-06-25T10:15:00.001-07:00

I found this on Fail Blog and had to repost!

Awesome Thundarr illustrations!

2010-06-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Just surfing the web and came across some awesome Thundarr fan art!

Art by Jose Holder, check out his page here!

Awesome Ookla picture by David Wachter

This one is by Cheeks74, I love the style!

Nelson Daniel

My Favorite Science Fiction Novels

2010-06-22T08:48:00.001-07:00

And I mean "Science Fiction" in the broad sense like it used to mean back in the 1950's, no sub-genres. This isn't really in any order of importance, this is just a list of books that have been important to me through out the years.

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

3. Conan by Robert E. Howard

4. Dune by Frank Herbert

5. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

6. Bill The Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison

7. The Puppet Masters By Robert Heinlein

8. At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

9. The Witch World by Andre Norton

10. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

11. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

12. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

13. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle

14. Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

15. Dragon Flight by Anne McCaffrey

16. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

17. Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber

18. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

19. Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock

20. Hrolf Kraki's Saga by Poul Anderson

21. Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg

Okay, so it turned out to be an odd number. Maybe I'll do another 21 later!

The Hellacopters

2010-06-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

One of my all time, top 10 favorite bands! Formed in Sweden in 1994 and then calling it quits in 2007, releasing 6 full length albums (not a bad run). The band consisted of Nicke Andersson (singer, guitarist), Dregen (guitar) who was later replaced by Robert Dahlqvist, Kenny Håkansson (bass), Robert Eriksson (drums) and Anders Lindström (keyboard). I had the good fortune to see them live in 2002 at The Rave in Milwaukee! One of the greatest live shows that I've ever seen. I even met Kenny and Robert at a Taco Bell before the show and got to talk to them for a little bit.

Their music is a blend of 60's and 70's blues fueled rock (think the MC5, Stooges, The Saints, Radio Birdman...etc.) with a Swedish spin. If you ever get the chance to check them out you won't be disappointed! Check out their website here!

Here's the video for "Carry Me Home" and "The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord" for a little taste:

More Conan than the new upcoming movie...

2010-06-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Thor's day (Þórsdagr)

2010-06-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Thor's helmet photographed in outer space! Read about it here.

Puffy Ami Yumi & Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

2010-06-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

How cool is this?!!!

Madness - Baggy Trousers

2010-06-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite Madness songs!

Al Williamson passed away...

2010-06-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

...he was one of the greats among comic artists. I first read it over at Atomic Pulp.

It's hard to think of Flash Gordon, and not think of Al Williamson's artwork! I loved Alex Raymond's art as well, he was the original artist/creator of the series. But Al Williamson illustrated the comics that I grew up with, especially those Flash Gordon trade paperback series comics. I used to order those from those Troll Books catalogs that I used to get in grade school. I would spend hours trying to draw Flash fighting Ming using the Al's artwork to study from.

Equally as memorable was his work in Creepy, one of my favorite horror comics. As well has the Star Wars dailies that Dark Horse has reprinted.

Al Williamson has influenced me as kid, and I'll always cherish his artistic imagination.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1970's

2010-06-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Continuing from the 80's post...

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1980's

2010-06-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

You know the movie, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Well this is my version for the 80's! Yeah, I know it's mostly action movies and TV shows, but who cares!

Jonah Hex

2010-06-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

I'm look forward to seeing this film! I've been a fan of the comic series for years, and not to see it in film!

Vincent Price Reads Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

2010-06-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

I can't think of anyone better to read this!

Originally posted by MasterMagi.

Farewell to The Cimmerian

2010-06-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

I've just read in the REHupa blog that The Cimmerian will be calling it quits. This is very unfortunate to Robert E. Howard fans and fans of Pulp Fiction as well. The Cimmerian has been the online answer to what Amra was in the 60's and 70's. Bringing great analysis of REH's writings as well as other mainstays of Fantasy fiction. I myself, looked forward to reading their posts every day. Hopefully it will remained archived online.

A Tribute To Geek Orthodox..

2010-05-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

..probably the saddest song ever! Thanks for everything Reiss!

Punk Rock Garage Mayhem - The Makers!

2010-05-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bands from the Garage Rock revival from the late 80's and early 90's is the Makers! They just have a raw, primal sound to their music. They're more punk than any of the nancy boy emo bands and more rock than a lot of the cookie cutter bands that followed in the wake of The White Stripes (no dis to The White Stripes). Imagine how the nineties would've been had the media moguls paid attention to the Seattle garage scene than to bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana. We could've been rocking raucous retreads instead of victims of 90's complaint rock!

In my opinion, "Hunger" was their last great album. I'm not as big of a fan of the direction they started going in when they put out "Psychopathia Sexualis".

Check out "Four Button Suit" from my favorite Makers album "All Night Riot"!

Here's "Don't Cross Your Man" from "The Devil's Nine Questions"

Here's a great performance of The Makers' "I Just Might Crack" with April March on vocals!

Like what you hear? Go to Estrus Records or Sympathy For The Record Industry to buy their records!

Frank Frazetta RIP

2010-05-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Frank Frazetta passed away this week. Here's the artile if you haven't read it.

His artwork has meant a lot to me personally and a lot to fans of sci-fi and fantasy as well. I just wanted to post some of my favorite pieces in tribute.

Mil Mascaras

2010-04-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

I love luchadores! For some reason the Mexican pro wrestling is more appealing to me than WWE. I had the chance to go to The Incredibly Strange Wrestling about 10 years ago. But it wasn't authentic Mexican wrestling. One of these days I'll go see a real Lucha match.

Oddly enough, a couple of weeks ago my wife was talking to her father about some trips he had taken to Mexico as a kid. My wife's grandmother was originally from Mexico, and she has lots of family still there so they would go to visit quite often. Apparently she used to send my father in law to stay with a friend of hers. Who was that friend you ask? None other than Mil Mascaras! Man of a Million Masks!

How cool is that! I don't know many details but that's cool enough for me!

Just watch him in action!

Renaissance or Reformation?

2010-04-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

Click here.

Blank Generation (So long and thanks for all the Rock)

2010-04-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

I always felt I was born at the wrong time. I don't appreciate anything that Gen X (my generation) has accomplished, to the hubris of the 60's generation. I'm too far removed from generation Y to care. But when I put on records from they hay days of rock 'n roll (by hay day I mean whenever new ideas were being put forth) I wish I could go back in time.

Whether it was Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Dick Dale, Link Wray, The Yardbirds, The Sonics, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, T-Rex, Thin Lizzy, Slade, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Mountain, Deep Purple, David Bowie, Iggy and the Stooges, MC5, The Ramones, The Dead Boys, The Dictators, The Real Kids, Television, Bauhaus, Joy Division.....I could go on and on and bore you to death but I think you get the point.

It just seems that rock music today pales in comparison to pre-90's music. In fact, I think the 90's is where it all started to go wrong. A lot of new bands were doing new things in the early 90's, and at first it was really exciting! But before we knew it, MTV had packaged and processed the whole thing to death and now we have the milk toast that infests the music scene today.

Sure, there are a few stand out bands (none come to mind at the moment) but for the most part newer generations are being force fed paler versions of the same music. Copies of copies if you will.

And can you point to me any real personalities in music today. I can't think of any! I remember thinking that Alice Cooper was some dark ringmaster in the circus of Rock and Roll, and Ozzy Osbourne was a creepy cult leader who ate live bats and pissed on American landmarks. But no Alice Cooper is a normal guy who plays golf and Ozzy's myth was busted by his reality show. I want my rock stars to be larger than life and a little dangerous!

I want rock critics who are interested in giving honest critiques instead of the fluff you read in Rolling Stone (the most bland music magazine ever). I guess we need a new Creem magazine and a new Lester Bangs to keep the music industry on it's toes instead of being content to lap up all the swill that they send us.

I can dream...

Just like witches at black masses....(Music in rpg post)

2010-04-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here's some ruminations on the music of Black Sabbath over at my rpg/wargame site Maximum Rock & Role Playing. I figured it was more appropriate for the other blog.

My Favorite Orcs Part 2

2010-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Frank Frazetta is the epitome of Swords & Sorcery art! Some of my favorite orcs were drawn by him (although they aren't really orcs, but it's how I prefer to imagine orcs).

Here's Conan obviously fighting an orc horde!

Conan fighting more orcs!

And you can't forget the subhumans from Fire and Ice! They have an orcy look to them!

These images are burned into my mind when I think of orcs in my rpg world. Sort of aboriginal/neanderthal/mongol barbarians with greyish green skin....I'll have to sketch some up sometime.

My Favorite Orcs Part 1

2010-03-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of the classic D&D Pig Face Orcs, and especially Other World Miniatures' orcs. But overall I prefer Tolkien inspired orcs. And nobody makes them better than Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures.

Just check them out!

One of these days, I'll have to put in an order for these!

"Why I Dont Care" an editorial by Chad Thorson

2010-03-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

The views of this post are not necessarily the view of this blog, in other words the views are entirely my own.

The latest battles in the whole OSR movement about "When is too much too much" have left me complacent. Some say the more the merrier and some say we are diluting what's already out there by filling the net and game stores with house rules variants and what not.

I just have to say that, I don't care. If somebody wants to create their version of OD&D, let them run it up a flag pole and see if people salute. If you like the rules you already play, keep playing. It's a simple solution.

I have preferences that I like S&W, Labyrinth Lord, Rules Cyclopedia, B/X, Holmes, Red Box, yadda yadda... It doesn't matter what you prefer because in the end we are all still playing the same game.

Right now, I'm more interested in Tunnels & Trolls but I'm sure I'll be playing something else later on. That's the beauty of variety!

Be excellent to each other, and play on dudes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

To all of you with Irish blood. Unfortunately I got punched in the nose in a barroom fight and lost what little Irish blood I had!

Contest on my Maximum Rock and Role Playing blog!

2010-03-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

Details here!

Via Con Dios, Corey Haim

2010-03-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

Corey Haim was only a couple of years older than me, so I kind of grew up watching him grow up. Unfortunately Hollywood has a way of just discarding child actors, especially when they fall on troubled times (sometimes Hollywood is to blame for their troubles). It's sad to say goodbye, but he left a lot of fun, light hearted movies to remember him by.

Firefly - Manga

2010-03-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

This was a piece i did about 2 years ago. I never completely finished it but I liked the way it turned out. I've just been thinking about how much I enjoy watching that show. Has anyone ever tried running Traveller set in "The 'Verse"?

Trollzine #1

2010-03-02T08:35:00.001-08:00

Finally the answer to The Hobbit Hole, Trollzine is a labor of love by a lot of people on Vin's Troll Bridge. It's got plenty of Tunnels & Trolls gaming material on it and some great artwork (even some of my artwork made it on Trollzine). So check it out, it's Free!

Ogre: Commissioned artwork for Ken St. Andre's "Rose of Stormgaard".

2010-02-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

Back to the Future!

2010-02-17T07:24:00.000-08:00

It seems that the time stream has been radically altered. Two alternate realities have met and the world hasn't been destroyed. Time travel has happened and a few temporal marauders have drastically altered history as we know it!

And it's all good!

I'm not talking about Delorean's with flux capacitors or a TARDIS transversing time and space, or even H.G. Wells' steampunk style time machine. I'm talking about the Retro Clone Movement or the OSR!

Dungeons & Dragons has been taken in a direction that it didn't take back in 1979 or so.

We've got Swords & Wizardry that hasn't departed from the original 1974 rules but has given it's own twist within those very rules (like the ascending/descending combat system).

There's Labyrinth Lord which gives us the Moldvay/Cook rules as they were in the original printing, and in an advanced and original 1974 style of play as well. Plus Mutant Future which takes Gamma World using OE rules.

OSRIC has given us a vision of the First Edition rules in one very playable and well edited volume.

Worlds collide in The Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game, OE meets 3.0 to create a chimera game that is very fun to play!

X-Plorers has brought the OSR to outer space!

We have Three Headed Dragons and Brave Halflings leading the charge!

And not to mention a horde of bloggers who are too numerous to name but you all know who you are.

People said it couldn't be done. People said this was just a pathetic nostalgia trip. You've proved them wrong, won awards and have caused the corporate giants to finally look your way. Maybe we'll hear the term "old school" used as a marketing word.

I just wanted to say thanks! Thanks for transgressing the laws of time!

Lerotra'hh: commission for Ken St. Andre's "Rose of Stormgaard"

2010-02-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hackmaster Basic: Review

2010-02-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

The guys at Kenzer & Company sent me a free pdf copy of Hack Master Basic, so I thought I would post my thoughts on it. This is my first real review of an rpg product so I hope I don't fall short on expectations.

When I heard about this products upcoming release, I was pretty stoked. I really like Hack Master and the way it was executed, but found the 400 page rulebook to be a little daunting. Hack Master Basic was paired down to 200 pages making it a little more readable (although the original AD&D players handbook was around 126 pages).

Right at the beginning there's a quick start rules section that will get you into gameplay with a minimum of reading. Allowing for the additional rules to be added later once you ease into the groove of Hack Master game play. This is a plus for my ADHD sensibilities. This is also a nod towards "Old School" play.

Characters have seven attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Looks and Charisma. Plus you have an Honor (honor being a measure of deeds of the character and the character's associates) score which is the total of the seven attributes divided by 7.

Character class choices are: Fighters, Thieves, Clerics and Mages.

Character races are: Human, Dwarf, Elf or Halfling.

So far fairly old school. The introduction of weapon proficiencies and skills represents the newer school game design. I'm not completely for or against proficiencies and skills. It's nice to be able to give your character an edge that makes him/her stand out a little in the game.

I'm not a fan of the quirk and flaw chart, where you add depth to your character by giving him/her character flaws. I can see using it on the fly if you can't really think of anything but over all I would omit this part from my game. I think the quirks and flaws should develop during game to add depth to the role playing rather than adding something to a character sheet. But this is just a minor gripe.

Then each character class receives a supply package that would fit the appropriate class. I like this a lot, it makes it a lot easier for on the fly games so you don't have to check out the supply list and decide what you need for your character.

There's a nice list of mage and cleric spells. And a comprehensive combat system with a very nice example of combat in the book. Just reading about the system isn't enough for me personally, having an example of play really helps out.

There's a sections titled Miscellaneous Rules which covers things like falling damage, healing time, illumination, doors & portcullises and aging. And also a section on detailed character backgrounds. I would probably omit some of these rules, especially the character backgrounds. I think that a character's background should be a little more free form, and up to the player as to what that character's background should be. But the way they are presented in the book makes it easier to decide which ones you want to use in your campaign.

There's a very extensive section on gaming dice which I have never really seen in an RPG before. It covers topics like Choosing/Purchasing your dice, dice etiquette, roll zones, priming, care and maintenance, lucky dice, bad dice, dice cleaning etc. I've never thought about some of the topics about dice maintenance before, I found it very interesting.

The addition of a game master's section with a nice list of monsters, treasure, potions and magic items make this a completely playable game in one volume!

The artwork throughout the book is beautiful, with an Erol Otus illustration on the front cover. And lot's of black & white illustrations inside, many of which are homages to older editions of gaming illustrations.

Over all I would say this game rates as AD&D era of old school game play rather than OE. There are a lot of rules for most situations and isn't a completely free form style of play. But I do intend on giving the game a chance. There's a group in my gaming community that want's to start playing Hack Master, so I hope to steer them towards the basic game.

My rating system is based on my Barsoomian White Ape that I keep in a cage in my basement. As we all know White Apes have 4 arms with 4 hands and 4 thumbs. One thumb being the low score and 4 thumbs being the high score.

My ape gives Basic Hackmaster 3 thumbs up, if it was a little more rules light it would've gotten 4.

We have Rust Monsters!

2010-02-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

Over at Other World Miniatures they've just released Rust Monsters! They look awesome!

Beatalica- Ktulu (He's so heavy)

2010-01-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Ktulu, he's so bad he's driving me mad!

"Ice Tower of the Salka" is out!

2010-01-26T08:06:00.001-08:00

Shameless plug of gaming material with my illustrations in it!

Ice Tower of the Salka

Sixty years ago, a mysterious flood of glacial ice utterly buried the tower stronghold of the Salka, a powerful and evil sorceress known throughout the land. Now, fissuring of the deep ice has revealed the rooftop of this lost tower. The secrets and treasurers of the Salka lie within, awaiting a band of powerful adventurers to explore the depths of her ice-entombed stronghold.

Written by James C. Boney, this Swords & Wizardry adventure is for PC levels 8-12 and is 20 pages long.

The print version is saddle stitched and sells for $11.00 US. The e-book version sells for $5.00 US.

Both versions are available now through the Black Blade Publishing online store:

Black Blade Publishing