WS Punk’s look at out-of-print and forgotten classics in fantasy, science-fiction, and horror
The Pan Book of Horror Stories Selected by Herbert van Thal Reviewing anthologies is always a tricky proposition. By their nature, an anthology is uneven and unpredictable. Every story has the potential to be the best thing you’ve ever read … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Desperation by Stephen King I never intended to do a review like this. Part of the philosophy behind this article series was looking at lesser known genre stuff, with no intention to engage with the bestsellers or popular fiction. Yet … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Hiero’s Journey a novel by Sterling Lanier While Dungeons & Dragons has become a genre unto itself, it was initially informed by a whole host of influences, primarily pulp adventure, weird fiction, sci-fi and fantasy novels. The first edition Dungeon … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan The blame can squarely be placed upon George Lucas. Unable to secure the rights to make a Flash Gordon film, instead in 1977 he produced Star Wars which made a huge, lasting impact … Continue reading Paperback Punk
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn Some preliminaries out of the way: romance is not a genre I have a great deal of experience with, outside of romantic comedy films, but I have no prejudice against it. I do … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Flash Gordon: The Lion Men of Mongo By Con Steffanson “Flash Gordon” is one of those properties that has always been with me. I saw the Filmation feature length cartoon and watched the corresponding Saturday morning cartoon enough times … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Bulldog Drummond by “Sapper” I must admit to some level of apprehension when I started reading this book. I initially snatched it up together with The Thin Man about six weeks ago, but in the interim someone in the movie … Continue reading Paperback Punk
The Star Fox by Poul Anderson One of the things I like about science fiction is that aside from all the laser beams and spaceships, the stories are all about contemporary society. When Captain Kirk meets an alien with half … Continue reading Paperback Punk
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett Confession time. We’re all friends here, right? I have never seen one of the William Powell and Myrna Loy “Thin Man” films all the way through. I’ve managed to catch bits and pieces of … Continue reading Paperback Punk
The Riders of the Sidhe Champions of the Sidhe Master of the Sidhe by Kenneth C. Flint Irish mythology is sort of a mess. Before the Christianity reached the island, literacy did not exist, so none of the pre-Christian legends … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Cyborg by Martin Caidin “Colonel Steve Austin, a man barely alive. We can rebuild him. Better, faster, stronger. We have the technology.” So declared the opening lines to every episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, a sci-fi superhero TV … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Legion from the Shadows by Karl Edward Wagner The Picts were an historical people who inhabited the region we now call Scotland during the early period of the Roman occupation of Britain. Not much is known about them. Even their … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Last Stand at Saber River by Elmore Leonard These days, Elmore Leonard is probably best known for creating the TV show Justified, or maybe as the creative mind behind Get Shorty. But before he got into television and film, Leonard … Continue reading Paperback Punk
Quag Keep by Andre Norton Andre Norton is one of the Grand Dames of speculative fiction. Ironically, she achieved that level by dropping an “a” from her name to increase her marketability, because “only boys” bought science fiction. She wrote … Continue reading Paperback Punk
One of my favorite past times is haunting used bookstores, looking for out-of-print and forgotten classics. My taste in literature tends to run toward fantasy, science-fiction, and horror, and I find modern novels too often weighed down by bloat and … Continue reading Paperback Punk
One of my favorite past times is haunting used bookstores, looking for out-of-print and forgotten classics. My taste in literature tends to run toward fantasy, science-fiction, and horror, and I find modern novels too often weighed down by bloat and … Continue reading Paperback Punk
One of my favorite past times is haunting used bookstores, looking for out-of-print and forgotten classics. My taste in literature tends to run toward fantasy, science-fiction, and horror, and I find modern novels too often weighed down by bloat and … Continue reading Paperback Punk
One of my favorite past times is haunting used bookstores, looking for out-of-print and forgotten classics. My taste in literature tends to run toward fantasy, science-fiction, and horror, and I find modern novels too often weighed down by bloat and … Continue reading Paperback Punk
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