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, March 6, 2026

Among the Living, Anthrax

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Not nearly enough Anthrax on the blog. Let's change that this Metal Friday. I don't listen to a whole lot of this band these days, b...
4 comments:
Wednesday, March 4, 2026

The Tower and the Ruin by Michael D.C. Drout, a review

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“Tolkien’s vision is deeply and essentially true, and it gives shape and meaning to the grief and loss that is our common and inescapable in...
4 comments:
Friday, February 27, 2026

Weird Studies podcast tackles The Fellowship of the Ring

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Ever have a podcast hit your feed that you can’t click on fast enough? A handful of podcasts have stayed in my rotation from the moment I fi...
2 comments:
Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Subscribe to Arcane Arts: Dispatches From The Silver Key

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The third issue of Arcane Arts went out earlier today. I've gotten a couple of responses from readers who seem to like what I'm doi...
2 comments:
Tuesday, February 24, 2026

I played Gorgar

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I marveled at its glory... and writhed at my suck. … and I sucked at it.  This past weekend I took a short dude’s weekend trip to Southingto...
3 comments:
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 ...
4 comments:
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:
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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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