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Today’s Women in SF&F Month guest is Nghi Vo! Her short stories and novelettes include the Hugo Award winner “Stitched to Skin like Family Is” and the Shirley Jackson Award winner “What the Dead Know.” She is also the author of the fantasy novels Siren Queen, which was a World Fantasy, Locus, and Ignyte Award finalist, and The City in Glass, which was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy and Locus Awards plus the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize. Her next […]

The post Women in SF&F Month: Nghi Vo first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.

Pressida grimaced and unhooked a small barrel secured to her saddle. Her Andican mare gave the barrel a derisive snort. Pressida had tied her on the other side of the log, well out of Keraengle’s kicking range.

“That is what I love about knighthood.” Pressida pulled a knife out, pried the lid off the barrel, and dumped two gallons of ripe fish entrails onto the beach. “The sheer glamor of the job.”

The post Snippet Wednesday: the Glamor first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Here are 7 Author Shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an…

The post 7 Author Shoutouts | Authors We Love To Recommend appeared first on LitStack.

The Unbroken anthology – featuring an all new fantasy novella from me – is now live on Kickstarter. 

Unbroken features original, never before published stories from 36 of the most prominent SFF authors working today (and me). Here’s the full line-up:

My novella is entitled The Black Reivers and will appeal to those who like their military fantasy with a whiff of gunpowder.

To support this project head on over to the Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unbroken/unbroken-new-tales-by-masters-of-fantasy

In other news, updated where-to-buy links for Upon the Forge of Battle, the third and final book in the Age of Wrath trilogy, are here covering all formats. The book will be released on August 25th. Buy here:

UK Hardcover: Amazon.co.uk – Waterstones – Blackwells

US Paperback: Amazon.com – Barnes & Noble – Bookshop.org

Ebook: Amazon.com – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – Bookshop.org – Google Play

Audiobook: Audible.com – Audible.co.uk – Barnes & Noble – Google Play – Kobo

Book description:

As the Age of Wrath reaches its bloody conclusion, the world will be reforged in steel and fire . . .

Thera Blackspear was once champion to the Sister Queens. Now she’s a queen herself, with Elvine as her spear maiden, wielding a weapon forged by the gods. But while the traitorous Sister Lore plots in the shadows, Ascarlia will never be safe.

Felnir has won a crown of his own and forged a kingdom at the tip of his divine blade. Yet his dreams are troubled by visions of the brother he thought long dead. A brother who needs his help, and whom Felnir would give anything to save – even his hard-won kingship.

Ruhlin’s many victories have made him a hero to the Morvek, who believe he is the prophesied saviour who will overthrow their Nihlvarian enemies. But now he finds himself a prisoner of the Vortigurn, the King of Nihlvar, who has secrets and schemes of his own.

Secrets that could unmake the world.

Upon the Forge of Battle is the epic conclusion to Anthony Ryan’s Age of Wrath trilogy, a gripping fantasy saga of bloody retribution, deadly intrigue, and soaring heroism.

Lewis Buzbee calls us out with Books I Was Once To Cool To Read. Maybe…

The post Books I Was Once Too Cool to Read appeared first on LitStack.

Excalibur (Warner Bros, April 10, 1981) Excalibur (141 minutes; 1981)

Written by Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman. Directed by John Boorman.

Loosely based on Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory.

What is it?

A classic telling of the story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the magical sword Excalibur.

Many filmed adaptations of that story have followed. This one, however, with its heightened sense of wonder and layers of magic woven throughout, probably remains the best-loved, most visually stunning, and most talked-about of them all.

Arthur and Guenevere in Excalibur Noteworthy

The story goes that Boorman, legendary director of films as lofty as Hope and Glory (1987) and as derided as Zardoz (1974), brought the idea of a film about King Arthur to United Artists in 1969. The studio rejected his original script, which ran three hours, on the grounds of its enormous expected cost to produce. They suggested he make an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings instead. Because that would’ve been shorter and cost less money–?!

Boorman briefly went along with the Rings idea, at least long enough that costume and set designs for Middle-Earth were drafted. Some of these would later be recycled for use on Excalibur.

It took him the entire decade of the Seventies to do it, but eventually he raised enough funds and support to begin work on the movie he’d wanted to make all along.

Liam Neeson and Helen Mirren in Excalibur

Boorman couldn’t afford the top actors of the day, so instead he did a remarkable job of finding the top actors of tomorrow, and fitting them into his budget. We therefore get the likes of Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Ciaran Hinds and Patrick Stewart, all in minor supporting roles. The film’s actual leads include Nigel Terry as Arthur (from teen to aged), Helen Mirren as Morgana, Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere, Paul Geoffrey as Perceval and Nicol Williamson as Merlin.

On a budget of $11 million ($41 million in 2026), Excalibur brought in $35 million ($131 million today) at the North American box office. And of course it went on to become a staple on cable TV.

Morgana and Mordred

At Cannes in 1981, it won for “Best Artistic Contribution.” It received an Oscar nomination for “Best Cinematography” and a BAFTA nomination for “Best Costume Design.”

Appropriately enough, Boorman was himself knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2022.

Uthur receives the sword Quick and Dirty Summary

The wizard Merlin receives the magical sword Excalibur from the mystical force known as the Lady of the Lake and gives it to Arthur’s future father, Uther Pendragon. Uther uses it to conquer and unify the kingdom. Through Merlin’s magic, Uther seduces a rival’s queen and she gives birth to Arthur. Merlin takes young Arthur away to be raised by another nobleman. Uther implants Excalibur into a stone, and only the future king can draw it out. (Though, like folks lining up to try to lift Thor’s hammer, everyone takes a shot at it.)

A young Arthur draws the sword from the stone, becomes king, unifies the kingdom and creates the Round Table for his knights.

Arthur draws the sword

Conflict arises from various quarters. There’s a quest for the Holy Grail, more great battles and more sorcery.

Eventually most of the main characters square off against one another, in clashes of swords and magic. Merlin overcomes the sorceress Morgana’s spells, Arthur’s son Mordred kills his mother (it’s complicated), and then he and his father slay one another in battle. Before he dies, Arthur orders the sword Excalibur returned to the Lady of the Lake, where it will await the next time England finds itself in need of its power.

Mordred dons the armor

In addition to being an awesome saga of knights and wizards and battles, the story reflects a deeper idea about the relationship between the people, the land and the king. Here, King Arthur, the sword Excalibur, and the land of England are all tied together in mystical fashion, such that harm to one harms the others, and jealousy and bad actions by the king result in misery and unhappiness for the people and the land. Only by redeeming himself can Arthur restore the land and people to health and prosperity.

Guenevere comes to Lancelot Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery Elements

The most obvious examples are Merlin and Morgana and their use of magical powers. The fact that everyone else takes completely for granted the fact that magic is real and is being used around them constantly, including on the battlefield, only reinforces the sense that this is a different England from the one we know. Sorcery is rather commonplace and expected in and around Camelot.

Excalibur itself is a magical weapon. Other supernatural elements include Mordred’s golden armor that cannot be harmed by any weapon forged by Man; the Lady of the Lake distributing magical swords from her watery confines; and the fact that the land suffers when Arthur is low and prospers when he is redeemed.

Patrick Stewart and Cherie Lunghi in Excalibur High Point

There are many to choose from, but my favorite has always been the moment when a young Arthur is part of an army besieging a castle commanded by a rival nobleman. Arthur, at this point still in the simple garb of a squire, confronts one of the enemy’s vassal knights. Arthur demands the knight swear fealty to him, but the knight scoffs that he couldn’t even if he desired to, because Arthur is but a squire.

This represents no real hurdle for Arthur. He simply hands Excalibur to the knight and commands his enemy to knight him, there on the battlefield. Arthur has thus rendered himself unarmed and defenseless, and has given over the great sword of kings to his enemy.

Arthur asks to be knighted

The battle comes to a very abrupt halt as knights and soldiers all around look on in astonishment. Everyone clearly expects the knight to strike foolish Arthur down with Excalibur and claim the sword as his own. The knight even appears resolved to follow that course of action.

He raises Excalibur to deliver the killing stroke. But then, whether from the compulsion of some magical force or out of simple respect for Arthur’s bravery, he finds he cannot do so. Instead he brings the sword down on Arthur’s shoulders and speaks the words, knighting him. Arthur, for his part, takes this all in stride, reclaims Excalibur from the bewildered knight, and declares victory.

Helen Mirren as Morgana Low Point

If there is a low point, perhaps it is in how Gabriel Byrne’s Uther reacts upon first laying eyes upon Igrayne, the queen whom he will later trick into sleeping with him. Uther loses his fool mind, declares that he will move heaven and earth to have one night with the lass, and demands that Merlin use his spells to make it happen.

This question arises: Why does Merlin not only go along with this foul act but actually enable what is without question rape? If Merlin knew that Igrayne bearing Uther’s child was vital to the future of the realm, it seems there are many other ways that such a thing could’ve been arranged, none of which need include outright deception and violation in this manner. Indeed, Merlin behaves as if it is all quite unexpected and he wants nothing to do with it, yet he actually facilitates it.

Nicol Williamson as Merlin in Excalibur Standout Performance

In a movie that includes the likes of Neeson, Stewart and Mirren, can there be any question that Nicol Williamson absolutely dominates the screen any time he appears? What he achieves here places Merlin on par with such legendary and movie-stealing supporting performances as Val Kilmer’s “Doc Holliday” in Tombstone and Alan Rickman’s “Hans Gruber” in Die Hard.

Williamson is by turns menacing, silly, vulnerable, outraged, commanding, and hilarious. He spends most of the movie warning Arthur about the dangers of various women, then falls into the trap of one himself.

That relationship – Merlin and Morgana, played by Helen Mirren – was fiery off-screen as well as on. Boorman intentionally cast Mirren in the role because he knew she and Williamson couldn’t stand one another. He anticipated fireworks as a result, and he got them.

Arthur and Guenevere Overall Evaluation as a Movie and as Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery

Excalibur exists in a strange in-between realm. On the one hand, it very much looks like a product of the early Eighties; in places, almost like a glorified stage play. On the other, the performances by a cadre of legendary actors still jump off the screen, and the cinematography and visuals (with no CGI!) remain radiant and lush to this day.

It’s a timeless tale, well-told by Boorman and company. Watching it again in 2026, the armor still gleams, Excalibur’s magic yet flashes, and the Williamson-Mirren sparks continue to fly.

All told, it’s for the best Boorman chose the sword over the ring.

Van Allen Plexico is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a Grand Master of Pulp Literature (2025 class) and a multiple-award-winning author of more than two dozen novels and anthologies, ranging from space opera to Kaiju to crime fiction to superheroes to military SF. He notably edited, co-created and co-wrote the Sword and Sorcery anthology GIDEON CAIN: DEMON HUNTER. Find all of his works on Amazon and at Plexico.net.

The Demon King is the third and final installment of Peter V. Brett’s Nightfall saga, closing the saga of Olive Paper and Darin Bales, as well as the world introduced in The Warded Man, the first Demon Cycle novel. For now, at least. The second installment, The Hidden Queen left readers in a lurch, with…

Tattoo artist Talia is inking her last customer of the night with a hideous snake on his butt when she runs out of ink. With little option she enters her boss’s office and swipes a little of the ink she is forbidden from using.

And suddenly the snake that was a tattoo, is no longer a tattoo but a very real snake hissing at her.

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At first I wasn’t really feeling this book. I picked it up in a sale at audible and honestly if it wasn’t on special I probably would not have bought it. 

But I’m man enough to admit when I was wrong. 

This is a great book. Took a while to suck me in, but suck me in it did and I ended up loving it.

Albert’s mother championed Earth Day and its environmental causes. The cause became her first priority, almost an obsession. And Albert’s obsession? His mother. In her honor, he will Save The Earth…maybe not in the way she expected.

“Earth Day” is free on this site for one week only. If you just want a copy of this story, download it on any e-book site or by clicking here. Enjoy!

Earth Day Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Case Number: HSFBDC42225I17

Excerpt:

…personal documents identify him as Albert Suttles, but in his statement, he repeatedly referred to himself as Raymond Bilojek…

My mom had an obsession with Senator Gaylord Nelson. Nobody remembers him any more, except in dusty old history books, not that there are dusty old history books any more. Everything’s online now. Even our confessionals.

Here’s mine.

Let me start again.

Mom had an obsession with Senator Gaylord Nelson. Not a stalkerish obsession, but one of those I-think-this-man-is-the-greatest obsessions. She used him as an example all the time, particularly in the dysfunctional early decades of this century.

There are no more men like Senator Gaylord Nelson, she said to me on her deathbed—not that I was with her at her deathbed. I was a full professor by then, supervising more research than I truly had time for, living in Berkeley, and enjoying it. Especially the weather. California weather, for a good Wisconsin boy, is like an early glimpse of heaven.

Not to mention that I spent my formal education in cold places. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yale, MIT. If it weren’t for my second post-doc at Cal-Tech, I would’ve thought that you had to nurture scientists in the cold in order for them to flower.

But I promised myself no jokes in this manifesto. Not that people get my jokes anyway. I’m too quiet. I think of the joke, turn it over in my mind, then inject it too late into the conversation. People have looked at me funny my entire life.

I long ago gave up trying to impress the unwashed with my conversational skills, even though I admire folks who have them. Earliest influences for me include comedians, especially the really brainy ones—George Carlin, Dennis Miller, Lewis Black—the ones who can quip their way out of anything. Or I thought they could, until I saw Carlin in his dotage, just out of rehab, working off a paper script, telling the audience honestly that he was testing material for an HBO special.

You remember HBO, right? That’s where I first saw the “Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television” speech. I must’ve been ten, maybe, one of those years when we could afford premium cable. 1977? Something like that. We were pretty itinerant, and I didn’t see much television at all, especially premium television as it was called then. So I remembered seeing Carlin on HBO.

But his other routines? I didn’t see those until later. And his influential “bad case of fleas” routine? I didn’t see that one until maybe mid-2007, on the Internet. Ironic, right?

Anyway, Mom. Senator Gaylord Nelson. She met him, you know. One of those Earth Day rallies back in the day. Said I met him too, back when Earth Day was a movement, and she was part of it. Not that she ever left the movement.

The movement defined our lives. She’d say, we moved for the environment.

Not for the weather, like normal people. But for the environment. Someone needed a volunteer to coordinate rallies? Mom was there. Someone needed a volunteer to post flyers? Mom was there. We lived off the kindness of strangers, she’d say, and it took me years to understand that she was quoting a Tennessee Williams play.

The kindness of strangers got me into a science-only high school. We need scientists, too, the man who fronted everything said. He was one of those truly rich bastards, the kind who gave his money to all sorts of causes. But his favorite was Mom’s favorite: the environment.

Everything from the Sierra Club to some wacky fringe organization (Save The Cockroaches!), this guy gave it money. And he funded Mom for years, which is something I don’t want to think about even now. Because I don’t know why Mom in particular, even though I have a hunch.

It does go back to Mom, you know. I’m smart enough to know that. The therapist I hired at my first tenured position told me I was “unhealthily obsessed” with her, and we had to break the obsession. That therapist couldn’t divorce me from Mom entirely. I recognize that too. Because without Mom, I wouldn’t be a tenured professor with a large research staff and grants for fifteen different projects, including the private one you’re seeing today.

Or will see today.

But I digress.

My digressions are why I’m not doing this as a video. Or a holographic video. Some kind of statement broadcast on every single remaining broadcast channel.

The Internet.

No one’ll see this until after.

But then, no one will see it after either.

Heh. Just realized.

This is all for me.

Case Number: HSFBDC42225I17

Excerpt:

…his research assistants, graduate students, and post-doctoral candidates weren’t hard to find. All wore Earth Day T-shirts, modeled on the first Earth Day poster from 1970. Separate interviews attached. Each mentions Suttles/Bilojek’s insistence on the Earth Day experiment, which most participated in for a grade or because they were terrified of losing their research posting…

My influences:

1. Comedians (see above).
2. Space photos, particularly that one from the late 1960s—you know, the beautiful blue-and-green globe? That was Mom’s favorite too. But for different reasons. Me, I like the vivid colors, the rocks against the blackness, the vibrant life that we don’t recognize as life—you know, the sun big and deep like an ocean, with storms and spots and—I could go on forever. But we don’t have forever. ?
3. Great scientists from the past. The unassuming guys, at least in the beginning. Archimedes in the bathtub. Galileo dropping balls from the Tower of Pisa. Einstein contemplating the universe from the silence of the patent office.

They didn’t have grants and grad students, publish-or-perish mandates, the necessity of finding the smallest niche in the large world of science just to get someone to fund a project. They didn’t have to write grandiose papers before their discoveries. Sometimes they didn’t even write grandiose papers after their discoveries.

So of course, in this modern era, I decided not to write a grandiose paper either. I got dozens and dozens of smaller grants, on smaller topics, and isn’t it ironic that if you Google (Google. Heh. Created outside the system.) my professional name, you’ll see article after article, interview after interview, with me, whom they call the Scientist of Small Things.

Apparently I did find notice. Someone—maybe a scientifically minded clerk, handling grant applications for the U.S. government—noticed my name originating most of them.

No one put together all the topics, though.

No one except me.

Case Number: HSFBDC42225I17

Excerpt:

…appended to this file a report from several different departments in Homeland Security, as well as reports from similar bureaus in Germany, Russia, China, South Africa…

Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day and, some say, the founder of the modern environmental movement, was a saint. George Carlin, comedian, the enemy.

At least according to Mom. On her deathbed. Or what I call her deathbed—that dreadful nursing home bed she didn’t leave for the last few years of her life. I saw her a year before she died—2007—and after that I discovered why Carlin was the enemy.

In that wonderful, eye-opening routine, he said he hated Earth Day. He said, and I quote: “Environmentalists don’t give a shit about the planet. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat.”

Ah, it rang true. It rang so true.

That’s when I realized all my degrees, all those little environmental things I was doing weren’t for the planet. They were for the environmentalists. Like Mom.

And then, in that same routine, Carlin said, he said, the planet will be here after we’re long gone. And he added the inspiration: “The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas.”

That was my Eureka moment.

I know how to get rid of fleas.

Case Number: HSFBDC42225I17

Excerpt:

…when the FBI received a notice from the Patent Office, delineating several patents that returned to the same man, known as the Scientist of Small Things. The small things, when combined in the proper order, could be seen as a potential terrorist threat. The patent office employee [name redacted] did not contact the FBI immediately. After some thought, however, she determined she could not remain silent….

It took very little tweaking to move from “Save The Earth For Environmentalists” to “Save The Earth.”

Because to save the earth for environmentalists, you have to know what will kill the little buggers. Instead of getting rid of those factors, you add to them. You tweak them.

You make them stronger.

I figured out the balance. Tweak this and touch that and you make the planet shake off the fleas a little faster. It is a multidisciplinary approach. To understand how water reaches entire populations, one must know the engineering of water treatment plants as well as urban planning. One must also learn the details of water processing in each community.

Tiny things, small things, all reported back to the one man who can understand it all.

Amassing small bits of data into one large experiment. Only large minds can understand this.

And there are very few large minds around any more.

Almost none.

Case Number: HSFBDC42225I17

Excerpt:

… the case built slowly. The initial investigator retired, and Agent William Franks took over. Franks had received a Masters in Biology from Harvard before joining the Bureau. He did not like the coincidences either, and talked off the record to two of Suttles/Bilojek’s graduate students. That raised enough suspicions to bring in additional field agents….

My pet graduate students run all of my projects. I have developed a multidisciplinary department, highly regarded, since most of my students go on to so-called great things in the so-called real world.

My current graduate students and post-docs are doing a one-day experiment for me, or so they think. They are not large minds. They are useful small minds. In the years I have planned this, it has always helped to have useful small minds.

It has also helped that in 2007 my mission changed from Save The World For Environmentalists to Save The World. Because of Mom, because of my initial environmentalist approach, I know how to talk to small minds, to make them believe I am on their side.

And I am. Truly I am. I do want to save the world.

In fact, my pet scientists and I are doing exactly that today.

My pet scientists have tweaked the ground water, and the air filtration systems. They’ve added toxins to all the poisons we already touch, from oil to Styrofoam. They’re adding viruses to enclosed spaces, like airplanes and ships. They’re even coating restaurant surfaces.

I don’t care how we get the fleas off the planet. I just care that we do.

And now we will.

As the first Earth Day T-shirt says, “We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us.”

Case Number: HSFBDC42225I17

Homeland Security, FBI Division

Arresting Officer William Franks

Excerpt from Franks’ verbal message, attached to the huge packets of reports submitted to the U.S. Justice Department:

…gotta say, Dave, it’s a good thing guys like this are rocket scientists. If they understood people, they wouldn’t confess before the crime. Whenever I feel down about humanity, I gotta remember that good citizens saw this manifesto and reported it. Dunno if we got everyone, but I hope we did. If nothing else, the outbreaks will be isolated now. This guy had a good plan. He almost killed millions.

Creepy bastard. When I locked him up, he smiled at me like we were old friends. Then his grin widened to crazy. You know. You’ve seen it on the face of so many of these bastards.

Usually you can dismiss them. But I’m having trouble shaking this one. Because of what he said to me I started to walk away.

He said, “So, flea, how does it feel to save the world?”

 

Earth Day

Copyright © Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Published by WMG Publishing

Cover and Layout copyright © by WMG Publishing

Cover design by WMG Publishing

Cover art copyright © Matthew Trommer/Dreamstime

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Any use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies is expressly prohibited. The author and publisher reserve all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

It’s a new week of Women in SF&F Month, starting with a new guest post by Isabel J. Kim! Her short fiction has been selected for inclusion in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, 2024, and 2025, and it has been on the Locus Recommended Reading List multiple times. Some of her more recent short stories are “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole,” a Nebula, Locus, and BSFA Award winner and Hugo Award […]

The post Women in SF&F Month: Isabel J. Kim first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.

Happy Monday, BDH!

A couple of quick updates to start the week.

First, for everyone asking about purchasing the commissioned This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me artwork:

If you are looking for prints of the character art, Helena Elias’ store is open and she has a special Ilona Andrews page.

Luisa Preissler announced that her store will soon be carrying character art cards, and she showed the proofs on Instagram yesterday.

If you’d like to know when they go on sale, please sign up for Luisa’s newsletter here.

Candice Slater is also currently working through options for the Kair Toren art, which you can admire here.

If you want prints and cards and probably calendars, please buy them from the artists directly. The Ilona Andrews merch store will focus instead on book tie-in items, such as vellum inserts meant to go into the hardcover, bookmarks, and similar goodies.

And speaking of goodies, here is the Zoom recording from Saturday, where Ilona and Gordon answered your questions about This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.

If you would like to use the transcript function on YouTube, click on the video description or the three-dot menu, and select Show transcript.

Thank you all for the incredible enthusiasm, the thoughtful questions, and the general release-week chaos. The BDH has been in magnificent form.

The post Art & Zoomies first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

LitStack Spots Ali Smith Here are a few other titles Litstack spotted and are adding…

The post Spotlight on “Glyph” by Ali Smith appeared first on LitStack.

Is that…MY TAIL?! AAAAAAAAAH!

…the everloving hell?

She does that. Don’t worry about it.

I kinda am.

Who’s the new guy?

I have queeestions.

I reinstalled Elder Scrolls Online, which is a rabbit hole I jump down periodically. I usually do side, and zone, quests. But when I decide to follow some of the main storyline, I am delighted to come across John Cleese’s Sir Cadwell. He is the a rather mad soul shriven who guides the characters in Cleese’s inimitable style. Every scene with Cleese is fun, and he also plays a part in one of the large DLCs.

Here’s a short ‘official’ video on the creation of the character. I think you’ll get the feel of this erratic character. Includes Cleese talking about it.

It’s a blessing he is still with us; active at 86.

Some folks are aware of his The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (discussed at the end of this post). I set out to write about that awful Sherlock Holmes parody movie. I wrote this essay instead. And ten years later, I still have no interest in re-watching and writing an essay on Strange Case. It is just too dumb.

However, I do think folks who like Cleese, should give a watch to a better Sherlock Holmes project he did four years before Strange Case. It’s out there on YouTube. And while it’s not brilliant, I found it entertaining Cleese. And I will always watch something John Cleese, which makes me smile. He’s genuinely a feel-good kind of guy. So, read on about Elementary: My Dear Watson.

John Cleese is best known, of course, as the sardonic Q opposite Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Die Another Day. He’s not as well remembered for his role in the British comedy troupe, Monty Python. I’m kidding!

On January 18, 1973, the final episode of Python’s third season aired. It was Cleese’s last episode with the group, which would continue on for one more season. That very same day, Cleese’s next project aired – Comedy Playhouse Presents: Elementary, My Dear Watson. It was produced by Barry Took, who had brought the Python members together.

I’m going to tackle the Achilles heel (really, it’s more like the entire torso) of this show, the plot: or rather, the lack of one. It’s barely a story. Try to stick with me, and no, I’m not leaving things out: it really goes like this…

SPOILER – THIS IS THE STORY. YOU CAN GO WATCH FIRST, OR KEEP READING.

The show opens in a room full of dead lawyers, slumped over their desks, each with a knife in the back. Thus the show’s subtitle, The Strange Case of the Dead Solicitors. A policeman and a secretary exchange what are intended to be witty comments, which immediately brings the lame laugh track to the viewer’s attention.

The scene switches to Baker Street where Cleese (an acceptable looking Holmes) is dining with his Watson, well played by William Rushton. Though there is no audience laughter, I enjoyed Watson’s comment about frequently neglecting his practice to dash off on one of Holmes’ hair-brained schemes, while still living comfortably.

After asking Watson what year it is (he looks at his watch and replies, “1973”), Holmes summons a cab, which pulls up to the curb: it’s a horse-drawn hansom and Holmes makes a reference to Doyle, letting us know that they know they’re in a television show. There’s more of that.

Holmes has been summoned by a Lady Cynthia to a country estate where the old family curse of a deadly rattlesnake has started up again. The snake is killing various animals. What?

But en route, Holmes and Watson are pulled into the case of the dead solicitors. While they are pushing a desk with a dead solicitor from London to Manchester to the studios of the tv game show, Call My Bluff, (the actual cast appears and lampoons their own show) Fu Manchu gets into the act.

I’m not making this up!

Fu Manchu ends up with the desk and body, while Holmes gets confused over the Euston and Paddington train stations and he and Watson end up riding back and forth all over England.

Holmes, annoyed with his deerstalker, throws it out of the train window and it lands on the dead solicitor being pushed along by Fu Manchu and his henchman. They fear Holmes is on to them! Inexplicably, Holmes had sewed the letter with Lady Cynthia’s address into the hat, and now they won’t be able to find her house. So, they go back and look for it. Um…

Animals keep dying at Lady Cynthia’s estate (all in the same room…) and she fears her son will be the next victim. Her frantic calls to the police provide no help. The train mishaps have resulted in Holmes and Watson spending three days en route and finally her son is bitten and dies. Soon, all her animals and son dead, we see her menaced by a rattlesnake as she tells it a story to try and distract it.

Holmes makes a wild series of deductions with no logic whatsoever, yells “There’s not a moment to lose” and rushes out the door: falling right off the train.

In a full-leg cast, arm in a cast, and head wrapped from the fall, Holmes and Watson confront Frank Potter, a reformed piano tuner who is actually Moriarty in Elizabethan drag. There’s something about piano tuning, which is the offense that put Potter in jail. Piano tuning is a crime? They convince Potter/Moriarty to come with them to help tune a piano. I don’t get it.Of course, you can tuna piano, but you can’t tuna fish (little classic rock joke for you).

We shift to Fu Manchu, loading five crates, labeled as dead solicitors with knives in backs, onto an airplane. Lady Cynthia, on the phone with the police screams. The snake had killed her as well. Everyone there is dead.

Watson is now dressed as Cyrano De Bergerac (I think) so that all three men look ridiculous and if confronted, can pretend they’re escapees from the nearby asylum.

Moriarty gets a phone call on the way and stays behind. He’s being booked for a show at the London Palladium. The less-than-dynamic duo arrives at the airport as Manchu’s plane takes off and Watson observes that they are too late. “I think not, Watson. Reverse the film!”

And yes, the film runs backwards, the evil doctor backs right into a police van, which takes him away, and the case is solved. Uh huh. The Prime Minister goes on television, congratulating the film editors for saving the day, under instructions from Holmes.

At Baker Street, Holmes tells Watson that Frank Potter/Moriarty had nothing to do with the case. He was a red herring to fill in time so that the script wouldn’t be five minutes short. Watson drinks from a glass in each hand, tells Holmes that he never ceases to amaze him and Holmes says, “Elementary, my dear Watson.” And the show ends.

END SPOILER

John Cleese clearly knows sketch comedy. And he was just wrapping up his brilliant run in Monty Python. But a thirty-minute collection of “bits” with a practically non-existent plot doesn’t really make a television show. I’ll let you watch it to find out why Fu Manchu was trying to get five dead solicitors, slumped over their desks with knives in their backs, to China. Hint – they are presents.

Some things aren’t funny, or just don’t make sense, or both. Why is Jack the Ripper constantly calling Scotland Yard to make a statement? At his house, Moriarty makes a lewd comment and shoos out a blonde wearing only a towel. Watson leers at her as she goes up the stairs and he has to be called in to the other room by Holmes.

However, there is some humor in this show and it’s worth watching. Holmes’ observation of a particular type of mud found on Manchu’s elbow is an amusing dig at Doyle’s penchant for that type of thing. I think that Watson’s comments are among the best lines throughout the show and Rushton is a pretty good parody Watson without being a bumbling fool.

Josephine Tewson, playing Lady Cynthia, appeared in another Holmes parody. She played the nun in the miserable Peter Cook/Dudley Moore Hound of the Baskervilles. THAT was a dog.

It isn’t much of a surprise that the show did not get picked up. I can’t imagine what they would do on a weekly basis when they couldn’t even come up with a plot for a thirty-minute pilot. Two years later, Cleese would star in the short-lived but much funnier Fawlty Towers. Which he is working on a new play about, with his daughter.

Elementary, My Dear Watson, was not Cleese’s only attempt at spoofing Holmes, though it was his best. In 1975, he played Arthur Sherlock Holmes (the detective’s grandson) in The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It. The only reason I don’t call it the worst Holmes-related film ever, is because I’m not sure whether the aforementioned Cook/Moore Hound deserves the title, or if Strange Case (next week’s topic) does. Or if that should be given to Will Ferrell’s Holmes and Watson (ugh). Maybe Strange Case was funny for its time (Henry Kissinger is gunned down by Arabs at the beginning), but I don’t think I laughed once, the entire movie.

Elementary, My Dear Watson does have enough funny bits to make it worthwhile. And as I said, John Cleese has a way of making you smile, even if if later you think ‘That was odd.” But as a thirty-minute comedy show, it came up short of making me want to see more. But I’ll watch this over Strange Case, any day. And I did smile as I re-watched it for this post. It is fun.

Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.

The Barbarian Swordsmen (Star, 1981). Cover by Gino D’Achille

The Barbarian Swordsmen, edited by Sean Richards, Star publishers, a British press, 1981, cool cover by Gino D’Achille. A collection of Sword & Sorcery (S&S) tales that likely wouldn’t exist except for Robert E. Howard.

I couldn’t find out much about Mr. Richards but Toby Hooper revealed to me that Richards has been reported as a pseudonym for Peter Haining and that appears to be true. His intro here doesn’t reveal anything.

Quest for Fire (20th Century-Fox, December 16, 1981)

The stories are:

“The War of Fire,” by J. H. Rosny. An exciting excerpt from The Quest for Fire, which was also made into a fine movie. J. H. Rosny was a pseudonym, often used by two brothers, Joseph Henri Boex, and Justin Boex. From what I understand, though, Quest for Fire was written solely by Joseph, the elder. The movie does a good job distilling the book but the writing is still enjoyable. We have a primitive cave man named Naoh, what we’d call a Cro-magnon, whose tribe loses its fire. Since they can’t make fire, only maintain it, they have to seek out fire from another tribe, and Naoh and his companions have many adventures doing so, including a battle with Neanderthals. That’s the piece featured in this book.

“The Sword of Welleran,” by Lord Dunsany. Lord Dunsany, an Irishman, is well known to fans of S&S. His fantasy work certainly skated the edge of that genre and he helped develop some of the tropes that later became important. He is said to have influenced Tolkien. His work is rather slowly paced and turgid for modern readers but I find it enjoyable. “The Sword of Welleran” is one of his most approachable tales.

Art for “The Tower of The Elephant” by Mark Schultz

“The Tower of the Elephant,” by Robert E. Howard. I consider this the strangest of the Conan stories. It certainly breaks ranks with most of the other Cimmerian tales in that there’s a strong SF element. I was much taken with it when I first read it, years ago.

“Brachan the Kelt,” by Robert E. Howard. Howard wrote a number of stories involving reincarnation, and several featured the character James Allison, a modern man capable of remembering his past lives. This is a short piece and definitely not fully developed, but it shows the power of Howard’s prose. Allison recalls being a wandering warrior from a time before history was recorded, when the first white-skinned tribes were entering Europe. As Brachan, he must defeat a beast that makes one think of the yeti.

Jirel of Joiry (Ace Books, November 1982). Cover by Stephen Hickman

“Jirel Meets Magic,” by C. L. Moore. Catherine Moore was just a superb writer and her stories of Jirel of Joiry are outstanding S&S tales. Beautifully written and emotionally charged. Jirel is one of the very first fire-tressed female warriors of fantasy fiction. This is not my favorite of the Jirel stories but it’s close. Moore was influenced by Howard, though most of the influence was in subject matter rather than story effects.

“Spawn of Dagon,” by Henry Kuttner. Kuttner married C. L. Moore and after that they mostly wrote as a team. I think Moore was the better writer but Kuttner was more prolific and very professional. Kuttner alone wrote a series of tales about Elak, a prince of Atlantis, and this is one of the best of those. Elak was certainly influenced by Conan but is his own character.

Weird Tales, July 1937, featuring cover story “The Thief of Forthe” by Clifford Ball. Cover by Virgil Finlay

“The Thief of Forthe,” by Clifford Ball. Ball was another writer strongly influenced by REH, which is clearly seen in this tale. It was still well written and enjoyable. Apparently, Ball created an earlier character who was essentially a pastiche Conan, but “Rald,” the “Thief of Forthe” shows some originality. I haven’t read much of Ball’s work but will seek out more.

“The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber. Leiber is another writer who was influenced by Howard as to subject matter, but who in no way appears to be an REH clone. His characters and settings are unique and there is a lot more humor in Leiber’s tales than in the Conan stories. Leiber’s characters are Fafhrd, a giant of a man, a barbarian warrior, and the Gray Mouser, a dark and slender thief. They are unlikely friends but friends they are. All these stories are enjoyable.

Appendix is: The Man Who Influenced Robert E. Howard. This is an excerpt from a letter written from Robert Howard to H. P. Lovecraft in which Howard indicates his admiration for the poetry of Alfred Noyes.

Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a look at The Mighty Sword & Sorcery Anthologies of Hans Stefan Santesson. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

The fifteenth annual Women in SF&F Month continues with three new guest posts coming up this week, starting with a new one tomorrow. Thank you so much to last week’s guests for another wonderful week of essays! The new guest posts will be going up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week, but before announcing the upcoming schedule, here are last week’s essays in case you missed any of them. All guest posts from April 2026 can be found here, […]

The post Women in SF&F Month: Week 4 Schedule & Week in Review first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.

 I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Two Truths and A Lie by Mark Stevens

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Series: Book 2 of Flynn Martin

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (April 7, 2026)

Length: 459 pages

Author Information: Website

After having such an enjoyable time with Mark Stevens’s No Lie Lasts Forever, I went into the sequel Two Truths and a Lie expecting more of that same sharp cat-and-mouse tension. The good news is, I still received an engaging thriller. That said, this one didn’t quite hit me in the same way as the first book. While it’s still a great follow-up with plenty to like, I just think it was missing some of what made the original feel so tight and suspenseful.

The story picks up with the return of series protagonist Flynn Martin, a Denver journalist who finds herself back in the spotlight following her role in capturing the PDQ Killer, the man who terrorized the city fifteen years ago by murdering three women. At least this time, she’s making headlines for the right reasons, earning back the trust of her employer. But that high doesn’t last long. When a family of four disappears under suspicious circumstances, Flynn seizes the opportunity to prove herself, digging into what at first looks like a tragic but routine missing persons case. However, it quickly becomes clear that there’s far more to the story.

At the same time, Flynn begins receiving unsettling messages, written in a way that immediately brings the PDQ Killer to mind, even though he’s supposedly behind bars and no longer a threat. Or is he? The possibility that she’s being watched again leaves her fearing for her family’s safety, and that personal threat adds a new sense of urgency to the investigation. As Flynn follows the trail, the case begins to branch in multiple directions, pulling in connections to a powerful local church, whispers of corruption, and a web of secrets that may all be connected.

Much like the first book, what continues to work really well here is Stevens’ writing style. The prose is clean and direct, built for speed. It makes for another easy, bingeable read. The newsroom angle remains a strong hook, and I like how the case plays out like a police procedural while approaching it from a different perspective through Flynn’s role. Not being in law enforcement does limit her in some ways, but at the same time, her position as a journalist opens doors and gives her access to sources she might not otherwise reach. The high-octane, punchy pacing highlights the need for instant action as Flynn chases downs leads and puts the pieces of the puzzle together, giving the story a sharp edge.

That said, the structure of this sequel feels noticeably busier. There is simply so much happening all at once, it’s not always clear which thread is the main one, so the end result feels a bit scattered. Compared to the first book, where both the central conflict and the villain were sharply defined, this one comes across as more of a jumble. While it does keep things unpredictable and opens up a wider web of possibilities, this approach also ends up diluting some of the tension, especially when the antagonist and the story’s direction feel less focused.

Flynn herself remains a compelling protagonist, but frequently still manages to get under my skin. More often than not, she ends up being her own worst enemy, and it’s a lesson she’s failed to learn since the first book. And even though I understand it comes with the territory of her job, some of her methods for chasing information also leave a bad taste in my mouth. There are plenty of moments where her decisions feel frustrating, especially when she’s clearly worried about her own safety and her son’s, yet in the very next scene, she’s charging straight into another dangerous situation instead of pulling back. Yes, it creates tension, but it also makes it harder to fully get behind her choices, leaving her character caught somewhere between being admirable and idiotic.

Still, I had a good time with this one. Overall, Two Truths and a Lie is a solid if slightly less focused follow-up that continues Flynn Martin’s story in an engaging and meaningful way. Where the first book felt like a tight psychological showdown, you might find this one to be a broader, more chaotic mystery. Not necessarily a bad trade-off, but it does sometimes feel like it’s juggling a few too many ideas at once. Even so, while it may not reach the heights as No Lie Lasts Forever, it remains a worthwhile sequel that keeps you invested in both the characters and the world.

More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of No Lie Lasts Forever (Book 1)

The House!

After what seems like strange aeons of dreaming about it, Mark Finn, Jason Waltz, and  I (Adrian Simmons) have pulled the trigger on running an in-person Sword & Sorcery writing workshop.  Added bonus, we’re holding it in the heart of S&S history, Cross Plains Texas, Robert E. Howard’s home during his days of creating characters like Conan, Soloman Kane, Brikenridge Elkins, El Borak, among others.

Our workshop will take place during the fortieth anniversary of the first Robert E. Howard Days gathering, and not only will help writers level up their skills, but serve as a fundraiser for necessary repairs to the Howard House.

The 2026 Emerging Writers Workshop is a one-day event designed to help provide advice, answers, and encouragement to new and upcoming writers of Howard’s genres — from historical fiction to weird Westerns to sword and sorcery. We won’t be doing poetry this year, but this is the first of what we hope to be a regular component of Howard Days, and perhaps we’ll be able to include verse in later years.

Robert Howard’s room, and desk, where the magic happened!

This will be an in-person affair, happening Thursday, June 11th, the day before Howard Days officially kicks off.  The plan is to have some short lectures, a bit of Q& A about S&S, but lion’s share of the time time will be spent in critiquing submissions by breaking into smaller groups for in-depth discussions.

We realize that there are plenty of writing workshops, but the reality is that S&S and its related sub-genres are often the odd-swordsman/woman-out.  Sometimes it is waaaay out.

While the number of S&S and adventure fiction venues has grown massivlely in the last decade, they are in the business of publishing stories, not helping writers get better at their craft.  The cold reality is that you already have to be a good writer to get any feedback (and even then, given time constraints…), otherwise you get a form rejection letter.  Without that editorial feedback, you’re mostly groping in the dark.

That’s the strongest parts of the Emerging Writers Workshop, you aren’t going to get ‘writers group’ feedback, you’re going to be buffeted by the cold winds of Valhalla from three editors looking at your work with their editor-eyes.

The Cottonwood Cafe, where our magic will happen!

And who are we to pass judgement upon your writing?  Behold!

Mark — representing with the ‘stash and beard

Mark is an author, an editor, and a pop culture critic. His writing can be found in various books, anthologies, comics, and elsewhere. When he’s not waxing passionate about popular culture or Robert E. Howard, Finn writes stories, publishes RPG zines, and sporadically appears on various podcasts.

Jason, with the classic goatee

Jason M. Waltz – Long-time reader, writer, publisher, facilitator and promoter of the heroic. THE MAIN ROGUE of Rogue Blades Entertainment (published popular heroic anthologies such as Return of the Sword and Neither Beg Nor Yield) & Rogue Blades Foundation (published award-winning REH titles Hither Came Conan and Robert E. Howard Changed My Life). Host of author interviews @ ’24 in 42.’ Connect via https://linktr.ee/jasonmwaltz

 

Adrian, sportin’ the chin scruff

And me?  I’m a founding member and primary editor of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly ezine (heroicfantasyquarterly.com), have produced 67 issues and four best of anthologies.  I’ve  had fiction published at Tales from the Magician’s Skull, Savage Realms, and Swords and Larceny.  Some of you here may remember me from my various reviews and musings here at Black Gate.

We’re already about 1/3 of the way to our membership cap (although there has been some talk of an online option, but those dragons have yet to hatch).

The cost is $50, and the deadline to get your work in is Sunday, May 10th.

We discussed the workshop in some detail during a livestream of the Robert E. Howard Foundation.  We talk about the workshop starting at the 6:30 mark.  Check it out to get a feel for the vibe.

Full details can be found here.

Favorite Shakespeare quotes shared during the month of April are a great way to celebrate…

The post Favorite Shakespeare Quotes – Love Letters, Sonnets, Insults, and Curses appeared first on LitStack.

So: what do holy relics, Neanderthals, UFO researchers and secret societies all have in common? They’re all in the latest book by Douglas Preston! Does the name sound familiar? Douglas has been a consistent best-seller writer since the mid-1990’s, perhaps best known for writing nearly 30 crime fiction novels with Lincoln Child, although he has…