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

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Ten things I’ve learned after 1000 blog posts

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I said this was coming after The Super, Super-Secret History of Sword-and-Sorcery. And here it is. This isn’t a summarization of everything ...
4 comments:
Friday, April 3, 2026

Defender, Manowar

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"More emphasis on 'ride' here, Ross? This morning while working out under heavy-ish iron I found myself able to recite every li...
2 comments:
Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Arcane Arts #8 is out, in inboxes everywhere

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Your free weekly roundup of all things sword-and-sorcery with my own weird and personal, highly curated bent is just a click away.  Sign up ...
2 comments:
Sunday, March 29, 2026

Some notes on Crime and Punishment

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I just finished Crime and Punishment (Bantam Books 1958 edition, translated by Constance Garnett), and its story of Raskolnikov, an idealis...
6 comments:
Saturday, March 28, 2026

The super, super-secret history of sword-and-sorcery is hidden in plain sight

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The super, super- secret history of sword-and-sorcery is that there isn’t a secret at all. Sword-and-sorcery, like all genres, was created w...
6 comments:
Friday, March 27, 2026

"Mountains," Manowar. RIP Ross the Boss

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RIP Ross the Boss/Ross Friedman, co-founder and ex-guitarist of the mighty Manowar. Ross played on Manowar's classic first six albums, B...
2 comments:
Thursday, March 26, 2026

The votes have been cast. The 1000th post shall be...

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And the 1000th post on The Silver Key shall be (actually the 1001st, as this post is technically no. 1000): The Super, Super-Secret History ...
1 comment:
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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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