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 hear about the first world war in Hyborea and the role that Conan plays in it. Dissect the role of the Yasmeela, the woman in charge or Khoraja and wonder at the cold open with us. All that and a big ol' mail bag!

Useful Reads about The Black Colossus

http://shareduniversereviews.blogspot.com/2015/11/short-story-sunday-09-black-colossus.html

http://www.howardandrewjones.com/sword-and-sorcery/the-coming-of-conan-re-read-black-colossus

https://www.blackgate.com/2019/07/01/hither-came-conan-deuce-richardson-on-black-colossus/

Email Grab Bag 

A chronology for Kull of Atlantis by listener Tom!

Paracosom explanation from Tom as well. 

One Things

Josh: Swiss Army Knives, the utility, the beauty, the history, and it all fits in your pocket

Luke: Pity the Beast by Robin McLean, prepare to have your notions of the west and masculinity challenged (at least that's what the cover says!). 

Jonathan: Venture Brothers from Adult Swim

Questions? Comments? Curses? 

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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/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: The Wizard's Vengeance by Slough Feg. 

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! Join us, won't you?

Useful Reads about The Tower of the Elephant

Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward's Reread and Discussion

Waltz's Hither Came Conan Essay

Romeo's blogpost about the Lancer version of the story (with references to previous bits of scholarship)

One Things

Luke: Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay!

Jon: Promethea, by Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III!

Josh: Raiders, by Freedman and Crom!

Questions? Comments? Curses? 

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

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We're posting photos on the Instagrams!

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Or, check us out on iTunes!

We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

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. Outro: Hearts on Fire, by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band and as featured in the incomparable Film, Rocky IV. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

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 the discussion devoted to the labyrinth beneath the Scarlet Citadel and its denizens. Join us, won't you? 

One Things
Jon: Rosalind Kerven's Viking Myths and Sagas.Josh: Wednesday on Netflix. Luke: Rian Johnson's Poker Face on Peacock. 
Be sure to check out the Swords & Heroes Kickstarter before Feb. 23! You'll dig it!

Questions? Comments? Curses? 

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
We're posting photos on the Instagrams!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

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. Outro: 'Dungeon Master' by Visigoth. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

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 from rent corselet and broken blade, where the dead lay as they had fallen. The nerveless hand yet gripped the broken hilt; helmeted heads back-drawn in the death-throes, tilted red beards and golden beards grimly upward, as if in last invocation to Ymir the frost-giant, god of a warrior race."

Here we are, on the Road of Kings, and things have taken an icy turn. The Cromcast goes back in time to an earlier adventure with Conan in the frozen lands of the north as we analyze "The Frost Giant's Daughter". This is an epic and mythical feeling story but also one that contains unsettling material which we try to unpack. Join us won't you, for a trip to the land of Ymir!

One Things

Luke - Warhammer 40K and his new Redempter Dreadnaught, paint, fight, win. 

Josh - STAR WARS, specifically, Andor and the feeling you get when you want to wander around the Star Wars universe and you want to play games like Battlefront and Jed Fallen Order. 

Jonathan - Superman/Batman DC comics series from 2003

Questions? Comments? Curses? 

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

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We're posting photos on the Instagrams!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

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. Outro: 'The Frost Giant's Daughter' by Sword. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

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 on The Cromcast!

A decade in the making, we circle back around to REH's Conan! We discuss the "The Phoenix on The Sword", published in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales. You can find a copy of The Phoenix on the Sword in this excellent collection of Robert E. Howard's Conan tales from Del Ray. Otherwise, you can read it for free on the web at WikiSource. Beyond Patrice Louinet's material in the Del Ray, we also rely a bit on Bobby Derie's essay from 2019 on The Black Gate. Find it here for some additional insight!

We'll be back, and in our next episode we'll address "The Frost Giant's Daughter!" Read it also in the Del Ray, or on the web here!

One Things

Jon - Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ice Sword Saga: Disney Masters Vol. 9 by De Vita, Gray, and Torcivia! Low magic and high jinx!

Josh - Hollow Knight by Team Cherry! Low magic and low jinx!

Luke - Billy Bookcases from IKEA! Get stacked!

Questions? Comments? Curses? 

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
We're posting photos on the Instagrams!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

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. Outro: 'Anvil of Crom' by Basil Poledouris. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

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 companions in "Weird Tales" H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. For this last episode in Season 17, we thought we would take a whirlwind tour through six of REH's favorite poets and let you hear where he may have been inspired and what stirred his soul. Let us know if you hear someone you enjoy!

If you would like to read along as we cover the poems, here are links to each, in order, as well as links to some biographical info on each poet: 

Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon 

Lament for Thomas MacDonagh by Francis Ledwidge 

The Listeners by Walter de la Mere

Boomer Johnson by Henry Herbert Knibbs

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert E. Service

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes 

Special Holiday Edition of One Thing

Jonathan: Two kings of Kentucky brought him, "The Rivers of Kentucky", "It Happened in Kentucky", and the "Kentucky Encyclopedia" 

Josh: On the third day of Christmas was gifted, Skeletor and a cold steel Kiridashi Knife, as well as his own "Kentucky Encyclopedia"

Luke: King Moonracer and Santa brought him "Robert E Howards Selected Poems" by Frank Coffman and "Corto Maltese", as well as some trout fishing gear. 

We also deeply appreciate the Cromrades who answered the call for poetry readings and who gave us permission to share their beatnik side on our show. In this episode, towards the end, you will hear from:

Colin Duncan

Nils Hedglin

Robert Coleman

Sarah Elkins

And to cap the year off right, our very own Luke wanted to share with you some of our statistics for the year-

It was another productive year for us. The data junkies we are, here’s the lowdown of The Cromcast in 2022:

We published a total of 30 podcast episodes spanning around 35 hrs of content!

In total, ca. 13 hrs of content specific to REH!

Otherwise, 4 episodes on Tanith Lee, 10 episodes on the 'Gothic' as reflected by Shelley, Stoker, and Stevenson, and some other miscellanea to boot :) 

Nomination for the Black Lotus Award by the REH Foundation!

We were honored to have received an inaugural Trigon Award by Spiral Tower Press!

And of course, we have continued publication of The Cromcast Chronicle, with the newest issue spanning over 90 free pages of art, lit crit, and fiction for the fandom!

What else can we say? We're lovin' it. And we hope you love it too :)

Questions? Comments? Curses? 

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

You know you want to follow us on Twitter!
Did you know that we're on Facebook?
We're posting photos on the Instagrams!
Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner!
Or, check us out on iTunes!
We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play!

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. Outro: Auld Lang Syne - The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!