The Cromcast: A Weird Fiction Podcast

The Cromcast: A Weird Fiction Podcast episodes:

• 04.04.2024

  Season 19 Episode 1: Meet Poul Anderson

   An eerie mist shrouds the podcast waves, it's plain to hear that the faeries and elves must be about. They are stalking for a new podcast season to steal away before its named. Alas for them, The Cromcast knows exactly...

  
• 02.29.2024

  Season 18 Episode 22: Red Nails Redux

  Welcome back to the show, Cromrades! This week, we take a second look at Red Nails, ten years after visiting the lost city of Xuchotl for the first time. This story is widely regarded as a classic amongst the Conan...

  
• 02.12.2024

  Season 18 Episode 21: Mailbag and The Northman!

  Welcome back, Cromrades! We return with a long-awaited and much merited 'mail bag' at the start of the episode. From there we tackle a discussion of on Mr. Robert Eggers' 'The Northman.' Do we like this movie? NAY! We love...

  
• 01.28.2024

  Season 18 Episode Zubteen: Jim Zub Returns to talk Conan Comics

  Greetings Cromrades! We are so excited to bring you the return of Jim Zub to the show. In the time since we last spoke, Jim has been a part of a high flying launch of Titan Comic's Conan the Barbarian...

  
• 01.09.2024

  Season 18 Episode 19: Hour of the Dragon, Part Two!

  Welcome back, Cromrades, to the conclusion of our discussion on Hour of the Dragon! As always, we hope you enjoy the insights and observations we share during this episode of the podcast.  One ThingsJon: Ed Brubaker's Captain AmericaJosh: Dungeons and Dragons...

  
• 12.18.2023

  Season 18 Episode 18: Hour of the Dragon, Part One!

  Welcome back, Cromrades! Here we revisit Robert E. Howard's "Hour of the Dragon," which you may also know as "Conan the Conquerer!" This is REH's only novel-length Conan story, so we only get through about the front half of the...

  
• 11.16.2023

  Season 18 Episode 17: Beyond the Black River

   Welcome back, Cromrades! Today, we join Conan as he ventures into an area of colonization, where native peoples are being hectored by imperial forces and pioneers. Essentially, we're joining him in Texas circa the late 1600's or the mid- 1800's....

  
• 10.29.2023

  Cromtober 2023 Episode 2: The Underwater World of H.P. Lovecraft

   Welcome back, Boils and Ghouls! Your three-headed podcast hosting ogre has selected a couple of delightfully frightful tales for tonight's Cromtober recording! They are of the nautical horror bent, set in demon-haunted New England: Dagon, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth...

  
• 10.09.2023

  Cromtober 2023 Episode 1: An Interview with John Langan!

  Greetings, Cromrades! We're kicking off our 2023 Halloween festivities with a bang! We're pleased and thankful to have had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Gaunt, otherwise known as John Langan! We meander around a ton of topics, discussing horror...

  
• 10.02.2023

  Season 18 Episode 16: Jewels of Gwahlur

  Welcome back, Cromrades! Here we revisit the Robert E. Howard story "Jewels of Gwahlur," another yarn in the Hyborian Age of Conan the Cimmerian. While it isn't our favorite Conan story, there are some interesting facets to discuss. One ThingsJon: Legacy...

  
• 09.26.2023

  Season 18 Episode 15: A Witch Shall be Born

  Have you heard of the wickedness seeping out from the city of Khauran? The queen, her majesty Taramis, has seemingly gone mad or been possessed by a demon... They're even crucifying men in the dessert. I recently heard all the...

  
• 08.25.2023

  Season 18 Episode 14: People of the Black Circle

   Listen not to this episode if you fear the immaterial but destructive sound waves of the three podcasters of the Black Circle. If you are of steely stuff, then plug those headphones in and join The Cromcast as they analyze...

  
• 08.07.2023

  Season 18 Episode 13: The Devil in Iron & Lord of a Shattered Land with Howard Andrew Jones!

  Welcome back, Cromrades! This week's show is a double-feature! We not only unpack 'The Devil in Iron,' but we're also joined by Howard Andrew Jones! HAJ happens to have a book of his own that has just dropped, entitled 'Lord...

  
• 07.25.2023

  Season 18 Episode 12: The Fantasy Draft

  Welcome back to the show, Cromrades! One of our jokes became an idea for an episode, and now we present to you our fantasy draft of characters featured in the Conan stories we've read and covered up through Queen of...

  
• 06.30.2023

  Season 18 Episode 11: Queen of the Black Coast

   Hello Cromrades and welcome to another nautical episode here on The Cromcast. This is no ordinary sea tale though, today we ride the gusty seas with the one and only Queen of the Black Coast. Tune in for a tale...

  
• 06.15.2023

  Season 18 Episode 10: Iron Shadows in the Moon & Mythos Talk

  Welcome back, Cromrades! This week's show is a banger! Join us as we not only unpack 'Iron Shadows in the Moon,' but also get deep into a discussion of mythos! You can read 'Iron Shadows' here!If you are looking for some guide...

  
• 06.01.2023

  Season 18, Episode 9: Conan in Comics with Jim Zub!

  Welcome back to the show, Cromrades! This week we are thrilled to share a conversation we had with sword and sorcery fan and comic book writer Jim Zub! Jim tells us about the upcoming Conan comic series from Titan Comics....

  
• 05.18.2023

  Season 18 Episode 8: The Rogues in the House

  Today's Cromcast ventures into the home of Nabonidus, who knows what wonders and magic we may perceive. We are also joined by a friends fourth rogue, Matt John of the aptly named, Rogues in the House podcast!Tune in for cartoonish...

  
• 05.08.2023

  Season 18 Episode 7: The Pool of the Black One

  Welcome back, Cromrades! This week we join Conan to sail the seas and explore a fantastic island where intrigue abounds! Hope you brought a jaunty hat and your cutlass!If you are looking for a great review / lit crit piece...

  
• 04.18.2023

  Season 18, Episode 06: Xuthal of the Dusk

  Welcome back, Cromrades! We are still cruising down the ReRoad of Kings, and it's time to make a stop at Xuthal! Do we have any thoughts about titillating and exciting Slithering Shadow? Do we ever! Join us, won't you? One ThingsJon:...

  
• 03.28.2023

  Season 18 Episode 5: The Black Colossus

  Howdy, Cromrades. Today The Cromcast continues down their 10th anniversary trail by stopping in at the small kingdom of Khoraja where we'll come face to face with Natohk... or is that Thugra Khotan hiding under those mummy bandages? Tune in to...

  
• 03.07.2023

  Season 18 Episode 4: The Tower of the Elephant

  Hile, Cromrades! We continue our season with another humdinger! For this episode we read the much lauded The Tower of the Elephant, and frame up the episode in a less conventional fashion using the old TSR Conan Role-Playing Game System from 1985!...

  
• 02.21.2023

  Season 18 Episode 3: The Scarlet Citadel

  Welcome back, Cromrades! This week, we follow Conan (or is it, Amra?) into the bowels of hell beneath The Scarlet Citadel. Here we meet Pelias, who, as it has been said, does like to party. We spend the majority of...

  
• 01.31.2023

  Season 18 Episode 2: The Frost Giant's Daughter

   "The clangor of the swords had died away, the shouting of the slaughter was hushed; silence lay on the red-stained snow. The bleak pale sun that glittered so blindingly from the ice-fields and the snow-covered plains struck sheens of silver...

  
• 01.17.2023

  Season 18, Episode 1: The Phoenix on the Sword!

  "Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of..."Here it is - a return to Conan...

  
• 12.31.2022

  Season 17, Episode 4: Robert E. Howard's Poetry Pals

  Happy New Year Cromrades! Thank you for tuning in for our last episode of 2022 and our last episode dedicated to poetry. We have enjoyed digging into poetry by our patron saint, Robert E. Howard, as well as his lyrical...

  
• 12.23.2022

  Announcing The Cromcast Chronicle #3!

  Hello Cromrades! We are proud to announce the release of The Cromcast Chronicle #3! You can find the newest issue here, as well as our past years' entries here!You can peruse the Cover and the Table of Contents below. And, you...

  
• 12.15.2022

  Season 17, Episode 3: Pulp Weirdos!

  Hile, Cromrades! We continue our poetry season by opening things up a bit... For this episode we contrast select poems of the Weird Tales Three! Read the entries here:Clark Ashton Smith's Nyctalops!H.P. Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth!Robert E. Howard's Adventurer!One ThingsLuke: The...

  
• 12.01.2022

  Season 17 Episode 2: The Many Hues of Robert E. Howard's Poetry

  Hello again Cromrades and welcome to another lyrical Cromcast episode featuring even more poetry by Robert E. Howard. Today's selections come from Luke and he was inspired by REH's use of color in his poems and pulled three top shelf...

  
• 11.17.2022

  Season 17, Episode 1: Pulp Poetry

   Well met, Cromrades! We are beginning a brief jaunt into the weird world of pulp poetry this week, with a look at Robert E. Howard as a poet, and some of our favorite poems of his. We discuss what a...

  
• 10.27.2022

  Cromtober 2022 Episode 2: Dickens' 'The Signalman' and Leiber's 'Belsen Express'

  Hile, Cromrades! We return for our second spooktacular episode for this October. Our Halloween festivities this year are focused on spectral locomotives! For this episode we read Dicken's 'The Signalman' and Leiber's 'Belsen Express.' Heady talk around the firepit await you!One...

  
• 10.13.2022

  Cromtober 2022 Episode 1: Get on the Ghost Train and Head to Willoughby

   Howdy Cromrades! It's the most wonderful and spooktacular time of the year, around these parts we call it Cromtober. Our 2022 Halloween festivities are focused on spectral locomotives, you know,  ghost trains! Trains have long inspired tales of ghosts and...

  
• 09.22.2022

  Season 16 Episode 4: The Winter Players, Part 2

  Welcome back, Cromrades! We're closing in on the end of this short road. The temperatures are dropping, and the sound of wolves echoes around us. Time feels a little... strange, these days. Doesn't it? Whatever the case, you should pour...

  
• 09.05.2022

  Season 16 Episode 3: The Winter Players, Part 1

  Hile, Cromrades! We gather for an episode centered on the front half of Tanith Lee's 'The Winter Players.' Join us, won't you? One ThingsJon: Better Call Saul. 'nuff said.Josh: The Standups on Netflix. Get some chucks in...Luke: Warhammer's Kill Team. If...

  
• 08.26.2022

  Season 16 Episode 2: The Finale to Companions on the Road

   Welcome back to the show Cromrades! In this episode, we return the road with some ghosts on our tail. Join us as we wrap up Tanith Lee's "The Companions on the Road" and discuss some cool motifs, the evocative imagery,...

  
• 08.12.2022

  Season 16, Episode 1: Companions on the Road by Tanith Lee, Part 1

  Welcome back, Cromrades! It's a new season and a journey down a new road, with new companions. We're taking a trip with Tanith Lee! Join us as we discuss the first half of her sword and sorcery novella "Companions on...

  
• 07.19.2022

  The Cromcast S15 EP 10: The Gothic Road Finale!

  Hile, Cromrades! We gather a final time on the end of our Gothic Road. Join us as we put some final nails in the coffin of this season!One ThingsJon: Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics!Josh: Jason...

  
• 07.05.2022

  The Cromcast S15 EP 9: The Strange Analysis of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    The Cromcast has reached the final story of the Gothic road and boy is it a doozy. Before we jump into it though, you should probably drink this potion. It might help... release your inner podcaster. Join the fellas as...

  
• 06.30.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 9 - A Chat with Matt John of Rogues in the House!

  Hile, Cromrades! For our final episode from Howard Days 2022, we present a most excellent crossover event! In this recording from Saturday, June 11, Josh and Luke are joined by Matt John of Rogues in the House Podcast, Monolith Games,...

  
• 06.29.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 8 - What's Up with REH?

   Hile, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!The panelists discuss the latest news regarding Howard publishing, entertainment and how his influence continues. Panelists include Joel Bylos, Paul Herman, Matt John, Fred Malmberg, Matt Murray, Steve...

  
• 06.28.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 7 - A Chat with Rusty and Shelly Burke!

   Welcome, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!In this recording, Josh and Luke chat with Rusty and Shelly Burke at the Cross Plains Public Library on Saturday, June 11th.If you enjoy this recording, or you...

  
• 06.27.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 6 - Conan the Barbarian at 40!

  Hile, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!In this recording from Saturday, June 11, Paul Sammon shares comments and stories related to his involvement with the first two Conan movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger .If you...

  
• 06.24.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 5 - Late Night Conversation at the Pavilion!

  Hile, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!For this recording, Josh and Luke are joined by various attendees for afterhours conversations on Friday, June 10th.If you enjoy this recording, or you have ever enjoyed a...

  
• 06.23.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 4 - The Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet!

  Hile, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!This recording is from Friday, June 10th, and is from the Robert E. Howard Celebration Banquet. The guest of honor is Fred Malmberg, who shares comments and stories...

  
• 06.22.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 3 - The Glenn Lord Symposium!

  Hile, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!This recording from Friday, June 10th includes academic papers delivered by Drs. Dierk Guenther, Gabriel Mamola, and James McGlothlin. The panel is moderated by Dr. Jason Ray Carney.If...

  
• 06.21.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 2 - Robert E. Howard in 1932!

  Hile, Cromrades! For this episode, we present another recording from Howard Days 2022!The panelists discuss the 90th Anniversaries of Conan, Worms of the Earth, the poem "Cimmeria" plus other notable REH events in 1932. Panelists include Rusty Burke, Patrice Louinet,...

  
• 06.20.2022

  Howard Days 2022 - Part 1 - The REH Influence on Gaming!

  Hile, Cromrades! What a whirlwind, Howard Days 2022 has come and went! If you didn't get a chance to attend, gird thy loins! The rest of this month will be dedicated to the audio we recorded while at this gathering!For...

  
• 06.16.2022

  Season 15, Episode 8: Frankenstein Movies

  Welcome back to The Cromcast Theater! This week, we discuss different variations of the Frankenstein story as filtered through the lens of Hollywood. In particular, we discuss I, Frankenstein, the classic Universal Frankenstein movies, and give the briefest of nods...

  
• 05.24.2022

  Season 15 Episode 7: Frankenstein Part 3

  Hile, Cromrades! We gather yet again! In this episode we cover the final act of Mary Shelley's seminal novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. We pack in a ton of discussion in this episode, and set ourselves up for one...

  
• 04.26.2022

  Season 15 Episode 6: The Meaty Torso of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Part 2

  Welcome back Cromrades! When last we met, we saw the twisted fruits of Victor Frankenstein's machinations spring to horrible, terrible life! Now, tune in to hear about how the Monster spends his first months on Earth. He takes a bit...