Guide to Elsewhere

We look behind the curtain and explore the man behind the dark mythos of Cthulu. We talk fish people, bigotry, and cosmic dread. The stories we read from: 'Herbert West -- Reanimator', and 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth'. Come along as we enter the lonely and tragic mind which spawned the Necronomicon.

In this episode we discuss Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Fritz Leiber's most famous creations. We read the story of their first meeting and consequent adventure together, spilling blood in the filthy streets of Lankhmar.

In this episode we discuss Ursula K. Le Guin through her first published short story: The Rule of Names. Published in the mid-1960s, the short story kicks off her literary journey through the world of Earthsea, spanning five full-length novels and eight short stories. Other works covered: The Left Hand of Darkness Spirited Away

In this episode we talk proto-fantasy: the strange and wonderful mind of Lord Dunsany, prolific author of early fantasy, and his short story 'The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save For Sacnoth.' Luckily we had Sacnoth.

This week Evan asks Ben about his experience creating fantasy worlds for tabletop roleplaying.

This week we discuss some of the ways in which famous fantasy worlds are built. We talk about Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, Frank Herbert's Dune, and the original short stories of Robert E. Howard's pulp hero Conan the Barbarian.

This week we talk about fantasy that was important to our childhoods. In this episode we cover The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and the 1991 Super Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.