Artist Retrospectives XX – Bob Peak

Robert Peak, 1927-1992. Bob Peak, an award-winning illustrator, saw his work appear in magazines, on stamps, and especially on movie posters. We'll concentrate on the latter. Bet you recognize a lot of these! His very first movie poster, for West Side Story. Almost looks like a comic book illustrator. Peak was born in Denver in …

Shelby’s Shelfies III – WAAAGH, It’s Warhammer!

My Warhammer shelf. Welcome to the Empire, a rollicking landscape for adventure. Mankind is beset on all sides, Chaos is rampant, and all we can do is fight for as long as possible. Can you survive? What legend will you leave behind? It's time for another installment of Shelby's Shelfies! The first GW store, 1978. …

Review: From Norman Spinrad and Edgar Pangborn, Two Classic Science Fiction Novels

Ah, science fiction. Glimpses of futures that most likely will never come to be. Or will they? I read a lot. Slowed down a bit as the years rolled by, but still a lot when compared with the average. What's amazing is that the number didn't increase during the pandemic! OK, guess I really read …

Fallout: Not Your Father’s Post-Apocalypse

From the Fallout franchise. The single-player, first-person games. I've always been a fan of the end of the world. Wait, I mean the fiction. But I'm not the only one. Fallout's all the buzz at the moment, but coincidentally I've been reading a variety of post-apocalypse fiction recently. And I mean that, it's coincidence. But …

Review: Fallout Nuka Break (The Web Series)

Fooled you! I bet you thought I was going to review the official new Fallout series, didn't you? Just to be contrary, I watched this unofficial fan series instead. Bottom line, it's great and a must-see. Personally the jury has to wait for me to watch the official series before it gets to deliberate on …

Review: My Undead Yokai Girlfriend (2024, Prime)

I’d been doing a little reading on East Asian cultures recently, and what do you know? Amazon Prime just debuted this eight-episode Japanese series, which fit the bill neatly. I’ll try to avoid spoilers in my review, because I want you to dive right in and watch this. It’s a lot of fun. First, let’s …

Artist Retrospectives XIX – Robert McGinnis and the Paperback Revolution

The Paperback Revolution The pulp magazine market began to die in the fifties. Sales were declining. But original fiction in paperback format really became a thing at the same time. As time went on we’d see a growing market for movie posters, record album covers, art books, and magazines such as those from Warren Publishing …

Shelby’s Shelfies II – Middle Earth Gaming

Oh happy shelf! I've always been an avid reader, from a very young age. Librarians were told to let me read books from any section, and schools always put me in advanced classes. Thus I read JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit when I was in elementary school. This painting was cut into three parts, one for …

Part Sixty: 2014-2023, Sturm und Drang – Summarizing the Fifth Decade of Modern RPGs, A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York OK, I've mixed my references, sue me. Oh wait, better be careful what I wish for! Fasten your seatbelts, we're about to delve into the just-passed fifth decade of the history of role-playing games. Incidentally we'll also cover major relevant …

Review: The Vampire Genevieve Stories – Warhammer Fantasy

The omnibus collection. “One sees more devils than vast hell can hold”― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream After having polished off the Gotrek and Felix Warhammer Fantasy books, I went ahead and read the Genevieve series. Turns out that the first book in the series was, in fact, the first book of Warhammer fiction of …