Swords - and the day that we met

Me and short story author Robert "Wild Man" Petitt, who's MIA these days but I believe still kickin', walked into a bar.

Actually it was a hotel bar in New Orleans, and we were hanging around the old New Orleans Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival, an annual party we used to all go to.

As we shared a couple of beers the first edition of "Hot Blood" came up. Robert and I were talking over one rather wild story included in that anthology.

Guy a couple of stools down heard us and allowed he'd read that story too and thought it was a wild trip. That guy was Charles Gramlich and we've been friends ever since.

You probably read about his newest book on his blog, but I thought I'd add a banner and a mention here for surfers who might not have our blogs in common. (Or as an extra nudge to those who do.)

I have not read it yet, but I can testify that he his a fine writer, a true lover of swords and sorcery, and I can tell you his tale "Dark Wind," which he donated to animal welfare recently features action-packed prose that is stylish and fabulous.

I'm sure the trilogy which "Swords" begins is penned with the same devotion to excellence and the same love of myth and magic.

If Bayou Bob Petitt was here he'd say Check it Out.

Resistance is Futile

Wayne has uncovered what has been suspected for a while in the Blogosphere. There is a Cult of Sternberg, and Wayne reveals all in his Frankenstein 1959 blog, while holding a Steve McQueen action figure I wish I had.

Wayne has announced that he will remain alert and on guard, but it is clear that resistance is futile. I have reached the point of Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell at the end of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- you know, when he ran into traffic shouting: "You're next!" (Rent it! It's great!)

There are Sternberg minions around every corner. There are perhaps even Sternberg pods waiting to convert you while you sleep. You can't stay awake forever.

It's time to give up, accept it, and use the logo that true believers will be displaying until the great galactic mother ship returns from the Greater Magellanic Cloud.

Visit the House of Sternberg blog.