Season 8, Episode 2: The Soul of a Regiment

Cromrades, we merry band of podcasting brothers have another story to discuss! This week's tale is "The Soul of a Regiment" by Talbot Mundy (read it on Project Gutenberg Australia). The story is widely lauded as one of the great stories from the pulp magazine Adventure. What do you think of the story? Let us know!

Word Clouds (47:15)

Note the use of singular words such as "one" and "man" are just as frequent as "regiment" and "men". Interesting, given that the story is about the teamwork of a well trained group being the strength of a regiment. For more commentary, we get into the word cloud discussion at about the 47 minute mark.

One Things

Jon: Creed 2. Go see it! 

Josh: Murder by Death's album The Other Shore. Hear it! 

Luke: Maniac on Netflix. Binge it!

Next time: Back to El Borak with "Hawk of the Hills". 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

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Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Pop music includes "Soul Power" by James Brown. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Bourbon & Barbarians, Season 2 Episode 9: Exploration & Information!

Hile, travelers! We return with another episode detailing the party's delve of  Deathfrost!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "The Chamber" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Season 8, Episode 1: The Daughter of Erlik Khan

Art by Timothy Bradstreet

Here we go, Cromrades: Season 8 has begun! This week, we present a discussion of the Robert E. Howard short story, "The Daughter of Erlik Khan." (read it on Project Gutenberg Australia). This story was first published in the December 1934 issue of the pulp magazine Top-Notch. Though Howard had been writing El Borak stories for years, this was the first story featuring the character that achieved publication! You can certainly see REH's voice coming through in this one, from adventure to westerns to the civilization vs barbarism trope that feature in Howard's works so frequently!

Text Analysis
Over the past few seasons we've made some changes to the format of the show. New for this season is the addition of analytical approaches to the text using a statistics software package called R and a front end called RStudio. Essentially, we will generate three items for each story to aid in our discussions: a word cloud that shows the most frequently used words in the story in tandem with a top ten most frequent words list, and a sentiment analysis score, which provides a numerical rating for the "tone" of the story. Our approach involves taking a .txt file of each story, removing common stop words (i.e. the, is, at, which, on, etc), removing punctuation, converting the words to lower case, and generating the word cloud from the resulting matrix of words. From there, we compare the word matrix to dictionaries of positive and negative words. Here is a look at our R script for those who  might be curious, and here are links to the positive and negative word databases we'll be using.

For a more detailed explanation, we discuss these methods at about the 1:12 mark of this episode.

Word Cloud and Sentiment Score
Within the text of "The Daughter of Erlik Khan", we found a total of 557 positive words and 1,110 negative words using the methods outlined above. That gives us a sentiment score of -553 for this story. That means the tone of the story is generally negative, and you can explain it from the amount of combat and bloodshed that takes place!

It will be interesting to see how other stories in this season score in comparison to "The Daughter of Erlik Khan"!

The top eleven most frequently used words are:

Word	Freq.
gordon	257
man	93
men	93
like	89
one	75
yogok	75
back	67
ormond	64
will	51
came	49
knew	49

We removed the word "gordon" from the word cloud in order to get a better look at the language Howard used. (Click here for a higher resolution copy of the image.) As you can see, "gordon" is an outlier at 257 occurrences vs the next most frequent word "man" at 93 occurrences. As you can see from the word cloud, it's a very masculine story! Hopefully over time, by comparing these word clouds, we can glean some interesting insights into Howard's writing style, demonstrate recurrent themes, and make comparisons between REH and other authors he was influenced by and that he influenced!

What do you think of this new text analysis approach? What jumps out at you from the word cloud? Let us know! 

One Things

Jon: Paradise Sky, by Joe R. Lansdale. 

Josh: Daredevil Season 2 on Netflix
Luke: Downbelow Station, by CJ Cherryh

Finally - check out Rogues in the House, a podcast focusing on heroic fantasy and sword & sorcery in gaming, comics, and pop culture. Tell them The Cromcast sent you!

Other topics discussed in this episode include (but are not limited to): Dodgeball, Ben Stiller, honor culture, Very Bad Wizards, Cassius Clay, Steranko!, Bourbon & Statistics, Disney as the Entertainment Singularity, Afghanistan, yurts, Indiana Jones, and mutton.

Next time
The Soul of a Regiment by Talbot Mundy!

Questions? Comments? Curses?

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Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Pop music includes "Respect" by the Notorious B.I.G. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Bourbon & Barbarians, Season 2 Episode 8: Gettin' Back on the Tracks!

Hile, travelers! After a lengthy break in our actual play content, we have returned to the delve into Deathfrost! In case you need to get back on the rails alongside our adventurers, be sure to check out this episode list for our B&B content. Stay tuned... The end to this adventure quickly approaches...

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "The Chamber" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Season 8: The Road East

The trail is placed and run that we must follow,
The Destin'd trail. 'Tis none of ours to choose,
The trail that only runs from night to night
From out the grey dawn's cynic and mocking light
Into the smoldering sun-set's crimson wallow...

-Futility, by Robert E. Howard

Welcome, Cromrades! We enter our eighth season soon, and the road appears to lead us eastward! We will intersperse The Road East with some of Robert E. Howard's El Borak stories. We're excited to read these well-loved tales of adventure! We will also discuss some of Howard's influences in the historical adventure genre! We think you're going to like this season of the show! The story list and links to electronic versions of the stories are below!

So gather your gear, mount your fleetest horse, and get ready for adventure!

Art by Tim Bradstreet

Reading List for Season 8: The Road East

The Daughter of Erlik Khan, by Robert E. Howard
The Soul of a Regiment by Talbot Mundy
Hawk of the Hills, by Robert E. Howard
A Khlit the Cossack tale by Harold Lamb (Story TBD)
The Man Who Would be King [Film], Directed by John Huston
The Soul of a Turk, by Abdullah Achmed
Blood of the Gods, by Robert E. Howard
The Sowers of the Thunder, by Robert E. Howard

Cromtober 2018 The Coda

On our final episode for Cromtober 2018, we discuss the history of our witch and perhaps the origin of the animosity between us. We are joined by friend of the show, Justin Stewart, for a short interview and finally we also talk about some witch folklore from our respective homes. Tune in for some Halloween fun!

One Things Jonathan: Hellboy Library Editions vol 1-3 Luke: All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By by John Farris Josh: The Occult: A History by Colin Wilson Witches of interest:  Irene Ray of Indiana: https://blog.history.in.gov/irene-ray-alleged-witch-of-rochester/  Witch Ghost Girl: http://theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.com/2014/03/debunking-kentucky-cemetery-legend.html 

  Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

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Beginning theme: Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Theme

Closing theme: "Season of the Witch" as covered by the incomparable Joan Jett

Cromtober 2018 Part 3: Wine and Witches (It's Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus!)

Welcome back, our Witches and Warlocks! For this episode of Cromtober content our favorite powerful sorceresses, the Brides of the Cromcast, hit the studio for a discussion about their favorite movie to watch during Spooky Season - 1993's Hocus Pocus, directed by Kenny Ortega, and starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, and Vinessa Shaw. Other topics include nostalgia, depictions of witches in popular culture, and baking inspired by The Great British Bake-Off! 

One Things Liz: Celebrating birthdays - particularly her own! (Happy birthday, Liz!)  Ashleigh: The Binge Mode Harry Potter podcast!  Kara: NBC's The Good Place (Also available to stream on Netflix!)  Email and let the ladies know your thoughts on Hocus Pocus, nostalgia, etc. What things from your youth are you nostalgic for?  Next time: Will our heroes get their final Cromtober content together in time? And will they escape or placate The Witch? 

Smart money is on The Witch!

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Beginning theme: Hocus Pocus main theme composed by John Debney. 

Closing theme: I Put a Spell On You arranged for the Hocus Pocus soundtrack and performed by Bette Midler.  

Cromtober 2018 Part Two: Dorothy Quick's "The Witch's Mark"

Welcome, Cromrades! It's our favorite time of the year, the season of Cromtober! This year, we focus on the witch in pulp stories and in this episode we discuss Dorothy Quick's "The Witch's Mark," originally appearing in Weird Tales in January of 1938. Misc. sources from this episode include:

Phil Ford and J.F. Martel's podcast, Weird Studies

Terence Handley's blog, Tellers of Weird Tales

One Things
Jon: Eric Von Danikan's "Chariots of the Gods"
Josh: Benito Cereno and Chris Sims's biblical podcast, Apocrypals
Luke: Henry Mazzeo's "Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural"

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Opening material is "Follow the Goat" from The VVitch OST. Ending theme is "Season of the Witch" by Vanilla Fudge. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Cromtober 2018 Part One: Howard and Poe

Welcome, Cromrades! It's our favorite time of the year, the season of Cromtober! This year, we focus on the witch in pulp stories and selected two stories that might not ordinarily be thought of as witch stories - "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe, and "Sea Curse" by Robert E. Howard.  The folkloric link between black cats and witches is well known. And "Sea Curse" features a character that strikes the figure of the crone-like witch, contrasted with many of Robert E. Howard's other presentations of witches.   What are your thoughts? Is "The Black Cat" a witch story per se? Does old Moll from "Sea Curse" strike you as a witch figure? Let us know!

One Things Jon: Reddit Unsolved Mysteries Josh: The history podcast Our Fake History, especially episode #37 featuring Robert Johnson and a certain crossroads transaction. Luke: Joe Hill's novel NOS4A2, and Joe Hill in particular. Questions? Comments? Curses?

Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

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Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!

Or, check us out on iTunes!

We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Ending theme is "Season of the Witch" by Sam Gopal. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 7: The Black Stone (Epic Closer for Season 7)

Greetings, Cromrades! This week we conclude our seventh season with a discussion of REH's The Black Stone. It's free on Project Gutenburg or, if you're on the hunt for an audio retelling of the story, check out an older post by SFF Audio. They give some great shout-outs to podcasts that narrated The Black Stone. Their post also presents some additional art inspired by the story! Here's the  cover art for Bantam's 1979 edition of the "Wolfshead" collection...

This widely-lauded "Cthulhu mythos" story was first published in Weird Tales in November of '31... We think this is a tremendous story! While there are arguments to be made about its derivative qualities (see this well-written essay by Price), this is as much a tale that exhibits "Howardian" themes as those typically associated with Lovecraft....

One Things

Jon: Magic for Humans on Netflix.

Josh: Aw...Crap, A Hellboy Podcast and the Hellboy Book Club Podcast.

Luke: Trilogy by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

Also... Be sure to check out "The Terrible Parchment" by Manly Wade Wellman, as recommended Rusty Burke!

Next time... Cromtober!

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

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Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!

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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Pop music includes Donovan's "Season of the Witch." All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 6: Grimoires on Film! Evil Dead, In The Mouth of Madness, and The Ninth Gate

Greetings, Cromrades! This week on the show we consider three films that make use of the grimoire trope in different ways. Under consideration are Evil Dead (1981), directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell (et al.), In The Mouth of Madness (1995), directed by John Carpenter and starring Sam Neill (and others), and The Ninth Gate (200), directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Johnny Depp (etc).

Joinnnnn Usssssss....

Can you see the underlying influences in these works? Is there Howard, Lovecraft, Smith, or Bloch to be found? The Ninth Gate was based on the book The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte which we have not read. However, there is a certain element of pulp adventure to be found in the film!

Certainly some good discussion fodder to be had here! What is your favorite movie featuring a grimoire?

Want more Deadite discussion? Check out The Faculty of Horror Episode 14 for a deeper dive into all things Evil Dead!

Want more Hollywood grimoire discussion? We appeared on Episode 275 of Trick or Treat Radio back in November 2017 and discussed the pulpy film Residue. Check it out!

One Things

Jon: Generation Wealth. (Mo money, mo problems.)

Josh: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (originally for TurboGraphx-16 CD in Japan, you can play this on the PSP. (Or emulate it! Shhh...)

Luke: Clint Mephisto's Shit-Kickin' Road Show on Radio Free Satan.

Next time: An baleful black obelisk beckons.

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Where Is My Mind by The Pixies. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 5: De Vermis Mysteriis

We continue down this path of weird, arcane books and our next tome to read is Robert Bloch's De Vermis Mysteriis. This grimoire first appeared in Bloch's "The Shambler from the Stars" and is such a powerful book that it summons forth something our narrator cannot deal with! Bloch even based one of the characters off of his idol, HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft picked up the thread and used De Vermis Mysteriis himself in "The Haunter of the Dark". 

These two tales are our featured stories and we hope you'll read them and join us for a discussion on these mysterious worms!

One Things
Jon: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars by David Bowie
Josh: James Acaster's "Repetoire", streaming on Netflix (dun dun)
Luke: Luke's gotten wise and gone to church, The Church of the Cosmic Skull that is, Check out their album "Science Fiction"

Next time we'll cover De Vermis Mysterious, as referenced in Bloch's Shambler in the Stars and Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark.

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Shamble on, you crazy, fleshy diamond

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Starman by David Bowie, The Thin White Duke. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 4: The Book of Eibon!

Hello again, Cromrades! We meander a bit with this episode, but after a solid front-end covering bourbonz, books, TV, and podcasts, we finally get into a big discussion of three Clark Ashton Smith stories, namely The Door to Saturn, Ubbo-Sathla, and The Coming of the White Worm.

As referenced in our episode, below are two of CAS's depictions of Tsathoggua!

One Things
Jon: Priceless, by Wittman and Shiffman
Josh: Retrogaming podcasts, including Retronauts and Watch Out for Fireballs, and Graveyard Duck!
Luke: Sharp Objects, both the HBO series and the book!

Next time we'll cover De Vermis Mysterious, as referenced in Bloch's Shambler in the Stars and Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark.

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!
Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Closing theme: In the Evening, by the Led Zeppelin. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 3: Have You Found The Yellow Sign?

 “I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow.” 

 - Robert W. Chambers, "The Repairer of Reputations".

Cover of the 1895 edition.

Hello again, Cromrades! We trust that you have been keeping up with your reading. This particular book is most enlightening. Tell us - Have you found The Yellow Sign? This week, we take on Robert W. Chambers' influential collection of short stories, THE KING IN YELLOW. It's easy to see how these tales influenced the authors we've discussed thus far on the show, from Lovecraft to Howard to Smith and beyond. We focus our discussion on THE YELLOW SIGN, but other stories from the collection are also considered.

Note: This episode contains spoilers for True Detective, Season One! They start at around the 60 minute mark, if you want to avoid them!

Extra Resources

Listen to The Repairer of Reputations on the Tales to Terrify podcast, and The Yellow Sign on Pseudopod!

Consider whether life is worth living and the notion of anti-natalism while you listen to David Benatar on Waking Up with Sam Harris.

Do Slenderman and other creepypastas spring forth from the same fount as pulp grimoires like The Necronomicon?

Should THE KING IN YELLOW be considered a weird fiction grimoire in the same way as The Necronomicon? Let us know what you think!

One Things
Jon: The Nintendo Switch, and Mario Kart! Who is your go-to kart racer?
Josh: Supergods, by Grant Morrison. (But is it a grimoire?)
Luke: Zeal & Ardor's 2018 album Stranger Fruit.


Next time: Klarkash-Ton tells us of The Book of Eibon. What terrible wisdom lies within the pages of this dread tome?  Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Cirice by Ghost B.C. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Season 7, Episode 2: Behold the Necronomicon!

Welcome back, Cromrades! Episode 2 on our road of grimoires features that magical book we all know and love, The Necronomicon! To get acquainted with this particular tome, we have read "The Hound" by HP Lovecraft and also discuss "The Nameless City" and "The History of the Necronomicon". What sort of terrible knowledge did Abdul Alhazred write down? 

To read with us: 

H.P. Lovecraft's "The History of the Necronomicon" and "The Hound"

Join us, if you dare!

One Things

Luke: Monster Talk podcasts on grimoires and the history of the esoteric 

Josh: The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and Sam Keith 

Jon: The Museum of the Bizarre in Wilmington, NC 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

You know you want to follow us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!

Or, check us out on iTunes!

We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: "Do the Necronomicon" from Evil Dead the Musical. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Bourbon & Barbarians, Season 2 Episode 7: Delved Right Off the Rails!

Hile, travelers! In this episode of B&B, our adventurers delve through the rest of a session. Strong drinks and stronger laughs begin to take their toll, but never fear... Another exciting episode is coming soon!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "The Chamber" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Season 7, Episode 1: Grimoires in the Pulps!

gri·moire: noun. a book of magic spells and invocations, that may itself possess some magical properties.

Take a look, it's in a book... 

Welcome back, Cromrades! It has been a bit since our journey to Howard Days and the wrap-up of our adventures with Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser. We're sure we'll be seeing them again someday. But for now, our journey takes us down some dark paths. We are searching for knowledge, and to that end have purchased some ancient tomes that ought to open new vistas in our perceptions of reality! To that end, Season Seven will focus on Grimoires and their use as literary devices and tropes in pulp fantasy and horror! This week, we dive into a general discussion of grimoires both real and fictional and ponder why this trope is so prevalent in the pulps!

One Things
Jon - Kolchak the Night Stalker
Luke - His raised bed - zukes & cukes!
Josh - Altered Carbon on Netflix

Next week: H.P. Lovecraft's classic grimoire, The Necronomicon! We'll be reading "The History of the Necronomicon" and "The Hound" for our eldritch, gibbering discussion!

Questions? Comments? Curses?
Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)
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Finally.... Call us! (859) 429-CROM!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Bourbon & Barbarians, Season 2 Episode 6: Keep Delvin', Delvin', Delvin'

Hile, travelers! In this episode of B&B, our adventurers begin their dungeon dungeon delve! Stay tuned for another exciting adventure coming soon!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "The Chamber" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Bourbon & Barbarians, Season 2 Episode 5: The Shaft (Shut Yo' Mouth)

Hile, travelers! In this episode of B&B, our adventurers drop into the bowels of Oerth... What will they uncover?!?! Stay tuned for another exciting adventure coming soon!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "The Chamber" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

The Cromcast Attends Howard Days 2018!

Hey everyone, we just returned from an epic trip... TO CROSS PLAINS, TEXAS!

This year's Howard Days celebration was a whole lot of fun, and The Cromcast was there to take part in this special gathering. Make sure to listen to our special episode recorded while on location and, if you're interested, what follows is a bit of a short visual diary of our trip! To set the stage, here's the overall schedule of the Howard Days 2018...

Thursday, June 7th

We Cromrades Three flew into DFW, and forthwith sought nutriment as we continued down the dusty, windy road to Callahan County, Texas!

Once provisioned with a goodly supply of bottled water, Texas beer, and Kentucky Bourbon, we checked into our accommodations. From there is was a short jaunt to to Cross Plains, wherein we were able to attend the annual fish fry at the Senior Citizen's Center, and then the parade that passed through downtown!

From there, we headed to the Robert E. Howard House for our first evening of fellowship. Old friends were greeted, many new friends were made, and great conversation were had!

Friday, June 8th

After just a few winks, we awoke for our first full day in Cross Plains! A tour of the Howard residence was of immediate importance... A hot dog lunch with a celebratory birthday cake for Solomon Kane (90 years strong!) was a great treat at the pavilion!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Accompanying activities at the Howard House, there were an abundance of panels held throughout the day at the First United Methodist Church. A hearty thanks to those folks for providing that venue! Panels included "From Fan to Pro," "The Clubs of REH," and of course the Third Annual Glenn Lord Symposium with talks offered by Bobby Derie, Karen Kohoutek, and Dr. Nicole Emmelhainz.

 

 

Following these scholarly offerings was the presentation of the 2017 Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards... Many thanks to the voting members of the foundation for our second Black Lotus award!

From there it was soon time for the silent auction and the banquet, which was held at the First Baptist Church. Thanks to those folks for providing that venue! Fierce bidding wars, mammoth country-fried steaks, and a heartfelt keynote speech by the guest of honor, Bill "Indy" Cavalier, all contributed to a GREAT evening. Following this, folks returned to the Pavilion for more (ahem) relaxed conversation!

 

 

Saturday, June 9th

Rounding out Howard Days 2018 was a full docket of panels, a (second) trip to the Cross Plains library, as well as the town's "Barbarian Days" festival... It was truly a whirlwind of events!

 

 

 

At this point we were sad to realize the end of Howard Days was in sight. That said, our final hours in Cross Plains were incredible. Rusty Burke led a tour around the grounds of the Howard Residence, and much fellowship was enjoyed over BBQ. The capper to the day's events was the recitation of poetry... With the notable inclusion of "Cimmeria,' delivered in nine different languages!

 

Sunday, June 10th

An early morning ensured we Cromrades Three would catch our flights back home. It was a heck of an experience for all of us, and we can't wait to make a return trip!

Episode notes

1. Ed's voice mail

2. On The Road Again - Willie Nelson

3. Winding up! The Cromcast, Post-Fish Fry

4. Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack - Theology/Civilization

5. Hot Dog Lunch and Luke's Thoughts on Day 1

6. The Sword - Untitled Track

7. Keith West - Adventures Fantastic!

8. Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack - Mountain of Power Procession

9.  Karen Kohoutek: REH Foundation's 2017 winner of The Cimmerian Award! 

10. Ghost - Miasma

11. Indy Cavalier (2018 REH Days Guest of Honor) and Rusty Burke (Unanimously voted "Rad Dude" by The Cromcast) - Howard Luminaries!

12. We Banjo 3 - Kentucky Grind

13. Hanging out with Indy Cavalier, Rusty Burke, Mark Finn, Jeff Shanks, Ben Friberg, Jim Howard, and Patrice Louinet - Check out the Solomon Kane board game on Kickstarter!

14. Conan Soundtrack - Battle of the Mounds

15. Winding Down w/ The Cromcast

16. Skyrim - Unbroken Road

17. Jason Waltz, Ty Johnston, and David J. West 

18. Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers - So Familiar

19. Wind Down - Heading Back Home w/ The Cromcast

20. ZZ Top - Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

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Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!