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

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Neil Peart, six years gone

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Me and Scott (of Scott's thoughts) at the Neil Peart pavillion. Six years ago we lost Neil Peart .  I still remember hearing the news; o...
Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Here’s to being weird

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I like being weird.  Most never see this side of me; they see a balding, middle-aged man with 20 pounds to lose (I’m working on it). A respe...
3 comments:
Friday, January 2, 2026

Happy 2026! Time to get after it.

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Happy New Year! I can get caught up in unproductive routines, doom loop cycles, and this time of year, overeating and overdrinking. I apprec...
8 comments:
Monday, December 29, 2025

Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth, and the need for lines

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My neighbors (most of them) outsource their lawn care. They used to fertilize and cut their own lawns, maintain flower beds and gardens. Now...
12 comments:
Sunday, December 21, 2025

The Silver Key: 2025 in review

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T-800s like it here... but people too. Traffic to the blog EXPLODED in 2025. Unfortunately some of it appears to be robots, likely using my ...
8 comments:
Friday, December 19, 2025

Stonehenge, Spinal Tap

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Fuck... 2025 has been brutal. Rob Reiner deserved a much longer life. Horrible, tragic. In honor of the man who brought us the finest rockum...
3 comments:
Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Why I believe The Snow Women is a great story (and you might not)

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First appearance of this fantastic story? Fantastic . It feels hyperbolic to describe any sword-and-sorcery story as divisive. So few read t...
7 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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