by mike | Jan 22, 2024 | Adventure fantasy, Books, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Movie Lines, Movies, Quotes |
A wizard of the Istari order, Gandalf the Grey—later, after his death during a battle with a Balrog, Gandalf the White—is a dominant figure in the two remarkable screen trilogies, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Admirably portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen, he also...
by mike | Jan 15, 2024 | Adventure fantasy, Aging, Books, Life, Science Fiction, Uncategorized |
This hardcover copy of the Jules Verne classic, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, has been in my life for as long as I can remember. A “Rainbow Classic,” this edition was published in 1946, the year of this “young fart’s” birth. It is generously illustrated and...
by mike | Nov 20, 2023 | Adventure fantasy, Editing, Humor, Publishing, Science Fiction, Sword & Planet, Sword & Sorcery, Uncategorized, Writing |
Back in the day—the “day” being the 1970s and ’80s—I emulated my two muses, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, with a spate of novels in genres such as Lost Worlds, Sword & Sorcery, and—of course—Sword & Planet. My five-book Reglathium series—which has...
by mike | May 29, 2023 | Adventure fantasy, Fantasy, Guilty Pleasures, Humor, Movies, Music, Uncategorized |
Seeing that title, most folks would immediately think of the animated segment in the 1940 classic, Fantasia, starring Mickey Mouse, which was remastered in the 1999 sequel, Fantasia 2000. But no, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was also a 2010 live-action fantasy/comedy...
by mike | Nov 14, 2022 | Adventure fantasy, Books, Fantasy, Humor, Science Fiction, Sword & Planet, Uncategorized |
Erstwhile earthling Bernie Smith was zapped up from an Iowa cornfield to the deadly planet of Persus in my Sword & Planet spoof, The Wizard from Harrmel. In book two, The Horrors of Harrmel, Bernie and his bride, Thanna Dora, set out on a dangerous quest after...
by mike | Nov 7, 2022 | Adventure fantasy, Books, Guilty Pleasures, Movies, Science Fiction, Uncategorized |
You’d think that any movie based on a popular Michael Crichton novel would be a major hit. But the 1995 action/adventure film, Congo—while it did kind of okay at the box office—suffered the vitriol of critics, and its Razzie nominations were numerous. Even so, I love...
