It’s not an easy task to worldbuild a fictional rock band. You need to have polished writing skills, a finger on the pulse of contemporary culture (or history of pop culture, if set in the past) and an in-depth knowledge of the music world. That’s a rare order. Nevertheless, some writers in recent years …
I like how casually this woman is aiming the gun. The illustrator caught her right at the moment before she pulls the trigger. How cold-blooded and hard looking she is! This is one tough cookie. Usually crime pulp cover women are plumper-cheeked and younger: Dames. This woman is firmly in Broad territory. Incidentally, I’ve …
The American military has a long tradition of giving colorful nicknames to its various companies, divisions, and specialty groups. To go along with these nicknames are specially commissioned patches to be worn proudly on uniforms or jackets. Take a look at the assortment above. The graphics reached their height of bizarreness during the Vietnam …
Despite the name, these demons have nothing to do with King Solomon of the Bible. They are supernatural beings listed in a spellbook known as The Lesser Key of Solomon, or Salomonis Regis, which contains descriptions of them along with summoning instructions. This meaty tome is divided into five parts, compiled by an anonymous author …
Many people would agree that it’s been a terrible year. Usually such a year would generate some cleverly epic Halloween costumes, but there’s nowhere to show them off, except virtually. And that’s not a lot of fun. Still, if you’re up for it, here are some randomly generated ideas. (And check out costumes for …
Yes, there is such a thing as beer for dogs. You can buy it here. One of my favorite things to randomize is food. Because it itself is so random — most people don’t know exactly what they’re going to eat that day. They grab a hot dog from a cart on the street, have …
Cocktails, or mixed alcoholic drinks, are one of those workhorse culinary items whose exact origin is unknown. Most pinpoint it to the United States in the early 19th century. But it wasn’t until the 20th century until they really took off, especially after WWII when boozing and socializing went hand-in-hand with the middle class …
In The Last Battle, Lewis introduces the reader to Narnia’s equivalent of Satan: Tash. Tash is the foremost deity of the desert nation of Calormen, mentioned first in The Horse and His Boy. However, in that book we are not told what he looked like, only his temple: it has a silver-plated roof and sits …
Lewis ended the Narnia Chronicles after seven books. Not only that, he burned that bridge behind him: In The Last Battle, both Narnia and the child protagonists are destroyed. But what if he made a never-ending series of Narnia, or allowed other writers to carry on his work, as L. Frank Baum did with Oz? …
Lewis never again got as exotic in the Chronicles as he did in with Calormen. The Valley of Ten Thousand Perfumes, Lake Mezreel, the crossroads city of Azim Balda, the Flaming Mountain of Lagour… these places don’t come into the plots, they are mentioned only in passing. But they do add to the richness. Writing …