Stormbringer, Michael Whelan

Elric of MelnibonĂ© is where fantasy meets horror. It was the prototype for so much dark fantasy, and heavily inspired works like The Witcher and Game of Thrones. But Michael Moorcock’s Elric was first.

He was an emperor of an evil land, but he had something of a conscience. Problem was, his sword, Stormbringer, had none. Elric was a wonderful brooding anti-hero, who thought deeply, cared passionately, and lost everything.

I read a ton of these books in the 70s, when I was definitely too young to be doing so. Eh, I turned out fine. Right? I also stopped reading in the 70s. I shouldn’t have. I just didn’t realize that Moorcock never stopped. Hasn’t stopped yet. There are a lot of Elric stories.

White Wolf, Michael Whelan

I only found out today, in fact, because of the video that inspired this post. Exits Examined, a favorite channel of mine, did a great essay on the history of Elric. If you are curious, I encourage you to check it out.

There are few tellers of true ghost stories that I enjoy. I want to like The In Between, but she just tells the most outlandish, unbelievable stories I can’t do it. But Peter Laws, ah, that guy can tell a damn story. The only reason I’m not subscribed anymore is because he started using AI images in his videos. If that doesn’t bother you, check out Into the Fog with Peter Laws.

Here’s an older story that I don’t think he used AI on. My memory is a sieve, and I might have forgiven him once or twice before it became a regular thing. But man oh man, this is great stuff.

It used to be, when I posted a video, I would find a still I could put below it, so when I shared my post on social media, it would look good. I find I no longer care if my blog looks good on social media. Maybe I’m grumpy, maybe I see the forest that used to be the independent web, burned down by the social media wildfire.

I’m definitely grumpy. Here’s a horror short for ya.