Erotica, fantasy, and horror writer.
Let’s talk about spells. One of the things I loved about Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series, and some of his other works, was the naming of his spells, magical items, and magic practioners. Iucounu the Laughing Magician; that has a certain ring, doesn’t it? Or the Walking Boat, which has legs, and, naturally, clambers over …
The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman Bloomsbury, USA, 2010 Challenge #7: A book in a new-to-you genre (Note: I am reading and blogging these Challenge books out of order) For this challenge, I chose The Aviary Gate, by Katie Hickman, from my pile of TBRs. From the cover copy I assumed it was historical romance, …
There’s nothing more to be said here. (Kiss of Death Statue at The El Poblenou Cemetery in Barcelona)
Starting a new series on this site, Worldbuilding Wednesday, a selection of randomly generated people, places, things, and concepts suitable for incorporating into fantasy — or any speculative — fiction, courtesy of my continued experimentation with Gammadyne’s excellent Random Word Generator. All are free for any writer to use; I have no claim on them. …
He was brave to the last, but this didn’t save him… from unlife, that is. (Art by Roman Chaliy)
Most horror comics of the 1950s are nostalgic rather than horrifying, yet every once in a while I come across an image that is truly startling in its rawness. They were the decade’s way of dealing, sociologically, with the repressed horrors of WWII.
The Cecaelia is an octopoid mermaid who, instead of having a fish’s tail, has the arms of an octopus. The villain of Disney’s The Little Mermaid was one. (X-Ray Art by Benedetta Bonichi)
The cultured alien lifeform had an innocuous beginning, but a bloody end.
Returning last week from a trip to Florida, I have to say the highlight of my trip was seeing, at last, Kennedy Space Center. For a child of my generation this was a place that gained its initial familiarity on B&W TV screens (or color, in wooden consoles, if you were well-off or indulgent) with …