I found your even-handed comments regarding de Camp and Carter quite refreshing. I think that people are capable of liking a thing, even as they acknowledge that the person who made it might have been less than optimal. I (and most of my ilk) don't spend any time thinking about de Camp these days--my only issue with him ever was his cavalier treatment of Howard as a man. I had issues with his stewardship of Conan, but I can still think back fondly on my first reading of Conan in the Ace editions of de Camp's "saga." My rebuke of de Camp for his business decisions and personal grievances towards REH do not invalidate anyone's enjoyment of Conan. There are a few who take it personally, however, and defend what he did to the point of trying to gaslight REH fans. It's tiresome.
I think I'm going to do Cimmerian September this year. Seems like a lot of fun.
Mark, just wanted to say directly how much I enjoyed your Blood & Thunder book. Thank you for that; you & E Hoffman Price (his Book of the Dead memoria to pulp writers) restored my REH faith after the deCamp dreck bio.
Okay the Hadron collider for genre made me laugh so thx for that, Christian, as well as a lot of other insightful stuff.
Agreed re deCamp & his awful “bio” (or should it be a phillippic or polemic given the character assassination therein). LSdC has his place but biographer ain’t it; after all, I have both editions of his Science Fiction Handbook on my reference shelves (when they’re not boxed up due to basement being repaired)
I missed The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets the two times they played here. As much as I love all the Lovecraftian references, my favourite song of theirs might be Ogdru Jahad because they were singing about Hellboy stuff before most people knew about Hellboy.
I only got turned onto The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets last year. The lead singer of the band is the illustrator/author/actor Toren Atkinson, who has done lots of work in the tabletop RPG industry.
I found your even-handed comments regarding de Camp and Carter quite refreshing. I think that people are capable of liking a thing, even as they acknowledge that the person who made it might have been less than optimal. I (and most of my ilk) don't spend any time thinking about de Camp these days--my only issue with him ever was his cavalier treatment of Howard as a man. I had issues with his stewardship of Conan, but I can still think back fondly on my first reading of Conan in the Ace editions of de Camp's "saga." My rebuke of de Camp for his business decisions and personal grievances towards REH do not invalidate anyone's enjoyment of Conan. There are a few who take it personally, however, and defend what he did to the point of trying to gaslight REH fans. It's tiresome.
I think I'm going to do Cimmerian September this year. Seems like a lot of fun.
Mark, just wanted to say directly how much I enjoyed your Blood & Thunder book. Thank you for that; you & E Hoffman Price (his Book of the Dead memoria to pulp writers) restored my REH faith after the deCamp dreck bio.
Thanks very much, I really appreciate it!
Okay the Hadron collider for genre made me laugh so thx for that, Christian, as well as a lot of other insightful stuff.
Agreed re deCamp & his awful “bio” (or should it be a phillippic or polemic given the character assassination therein). LSdC has his place but biographer ain’t it; after all, I have both editions of his Science Fiction Handbook on my reference shelves (when they’re not boxed up due to basement being repaired)
I missed The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets the two times they played here. As much as I love all the Lovecraftian references, my favourite song of theirs might be Ogdru Jahad because they were singing about Hellboy stuff before most people knew about Hellboy.
Thank you for the mention!
I only got turned onto The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets last year. The lead singer of the band is the illustrator/author/actor Toren Atkinson, who has done lots of work in the tabletop RPG industry.
Thanks for the shout out! Nice roundup here!