The Silver Key

"Wonder had gone away, and he had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other." --H.P. Lovecraft, The Silver Key

Friday, February 20, 2026

Heavy metal, sword-and-sorcery, the Outsider ... and Iron Maiden's “Drifter”

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Anecdotally, readers of S&S listen to heavy metal in higher proportion than country or rap music. There are reasons for this. The sound ...
1 comment:
Monday, February 16, 2026

Taking a stand against LLMs in the arts (it’s what Conan would do)

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“In a system where men are protected by hired forces, and waited on by machines, how can any real self-confidence and self-reliance be induc...
4 comments:
Friday, February 13, 2026

Desert Plains, Judas Priest

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It's July, 7 o'clock in the evening. The New England night is warm. I'm sitting in my car, windows rolled down. The moon and sta...
4 comments:
Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Unboxing Savagery

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It had been more than 30 years since I last bought an issue of the original Savage Sword of Conan*, and almost as long since I read one cove...
7 comments:
Tuesday, February 10, 2026

New email newsletter: Arcane Arts: Dispatches From The Silver Key

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That email newsletter widget on the side of the blog, over there ==> ? I'm finally putting it to use. The first issue of Arcane Arts:...
2 comments:
Monday, February 9, 2026

Struck dumb by Tolkien

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So much in Tolkien “hits different,” to use a popular catchphrase of the day. I think because it comes from a place of deep wisdom, so deep ...
Saturday, February 7, 2026

On seeing bands, of which you have no familiarity, live: A night with Opeth and Katatonia

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Somewhere around 1998 I stopped keeping up with new heavy metal. I could not tell you precisely why, only that I gave up the ghost somewhere...
8 comments:
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About Me

Brian Murphy
Marketing professional by day; skald in the Hall of Fire by night; and member of the S.H.I.E.L.D.W.A.L.L. Author of Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery (2020, Pulp Hero Press). Essayist and reviewer for numerous web and print-based fantasy and sword-and-sorcery publications, including The Cimmerian, Black Gate, Tales from the Magician's Skull, Mythprint, REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, The Dark Man, DMR Blog, Skelos, and SFFaudio.com. Two-time Robert E. Howard Foundation award winner: The Atlantean (Outstanding Achievement/Book for Flame and Crimson) and The Venarium (emerging scholar in REH studies).
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