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Cub Kuker Supernatural Podcast EP375 To understand the book of Job within the biblical narrative, we have to go back to the Canaanite pantheon of deities… The Canaanite pantheon, discovered through historical artifacts, represented a divine clan led by the supreme god El. Over time, this pantheon evolved, with El and Asherah prominent in earlier eras, while later years saw the ascendancy of Baal and his consorts. Notably, many Canaanite deities influenced the Greek and Roman pantheon, with parallels seen in Zeus, Aphrodite, Athena, Poseidon, and Hades. Key deities in the Canaanite pantheon included:
Joshua Pollock in conversation Rishabh C. Kothar. This episode is part of the Voices of Faith series for JLF Brave New World, presented by the Kamini and Vindi Banga Family Trust.
Clio Yun-su Davis joins us to discuss Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse", sexual violence, sword and sorcery LARP ideas, non-stop magical hijinx, video game boob physics, the journey in gaming, using the "rule of cool" with cultural sensitivity in mind, monsters that represent human populations, coincidences as plot devices, creative death curses, power levels for heoric gaming, and much more!
Hoi and Jeff chat with Elizabeth Chaipraditkul about Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar and the Demon Queen", demon summoning, cheesy erotica, sword and sorcery traditions, and much more!
Hoi and Jeff discuss Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar of the Magic Sword!" with special guest Liz Stewart.
J.R.R. Tolkien and perhaps Robert E. Howard aside, no Appendix N author has had as a large a pop culture footprint as Gardner F. Fox, but not for any of the works cited by Gary Gygax. Although hardly a household name today, Gardner Fox was among other things one of the most prolific comic book writers of the 20th Century. Fox was originally a practicing attorney in New York City, but still must have found it hard to make ends meet during the heart of the Great Depression--in 1937 he began writing for DC comics as well as contributing stories to many of the pulp magazines of the era. Over the course of his 30 year career with DC Comics Fox was responsible for such seminal creations as the Golden Age Flash, the Sandman, Doctor Fate, Hawkman, and the Justice Society of America. During the Silver Age of the 1960s, he would help re-vamp the Atom and Hawkman, create the Justice League of America, introduce Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, and write his most famous story, “The Flash of Two Worlds!” (The Flash #123, 1961), which introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics. Fox left or was cut loose from DC Comics in 1968 when the company shamefully declined to give health insurance and other employee benefits to its older writers and artists. He then turned to writing novels and short stories full-time, churning out tales of all genres both under his own name and under at least 15 pen names. Fox’s works included science fiction, fantasy, Westerns, historical fiction, and the sexploitation spy series Lady from L.U.S.T. (as Rod Gray) and Cherry Delight (as Glenn Chase). Among the over 100 novels that Fox would pen over the next decade and half was the first of the Kothar series, Kothar Barbarian Swordsman (Belmont Books, 1969). Kothar Barbarian Swordsman was clearly meant to cash in on Conan/swords and sorcery boom of the era, but an old pro like Fox couldn’t resist having a little fun along the way, such as with the absurdly pompous introduction by “Donald MacIvers, Ph.D” which leaned heavily on the theories of the obscure German philosopher “Albert Kremnitz”. One can’t help but think that Fox was tweaking the likes of L. Sprague de Camp and other well-educated writers who were insecure about toiling in the vineyards of fantastic fiction. Fox by contrast wears his learning lightly, throwing in a myriad of historical but obscure terms such as “hacqueton”, “athanor”, and “cotehardie” more to amuse himself and because he may have liked their sound in a sentence than as a means to place himself above the material. The Kothar stories are presented with economy, craft, and imagination, so it’s not surprising that they stood out to Gary Gygax amidst all of the other derivative swords and sorcery in print at the time. The most well-known borrowing from Kothar in Dungeons & Dragons would be the lich, a powerful sorcerer who has prolonged his life into undeath--Gygax confirmed this borrowing here. Liches made their D&D debut in the Original edition’s Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975) by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz. The lich would then appear in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (1977) and as the demi-lich in the notorious deathtrap module S1: Tomb of Horrors (1978). Gardner Fox and Gary Gygax became friends somewhere in this time period, paving the way for Fox to create the third of his swords and sorcery heroes, Niall of the Far Travels for Dragon magazine. Niall of the Far Travels premiered in issue two of The Dragon (1976) and would eventually appear in 10 stories over the next five years. Gardner F. Fox was a man of many interests and it ultimately fitting that his presence is felt in a broad swath of pop culture from comic books to fantastic fiction to roleplaying games and all the media that have derived from them.
Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox
You deserve a short break while the podcast loads.Our Guest+Tim CallahanShow Notes after the jumpDrinkingOddside Ales Red Eye PAArnold Palmer, not the golferTour de Franzia (Franzia Chianti)SpinningClint MansellDrive soundtrackSolaris soundtrackNels Cline SingersSoggy Bog of Doom (Adam might have gotten a detail or two wrong here)CandlemassReadingTOR.com Appendix N seriesThe Witcher (the "Lord of the Rings of Poland") Andrzej Sapkowski, the Last WishTim & Adam agree: the Dresden Files really fucking sucksKothar & The Wizard Slayer, Gardner FoxAdam earns hate mail over DuneDesigners & Dragons 1970's by Shannon AppleclinePlaying At The World by Jon PetersonBridge of Birds by Barry Hughart - Chronicles of Master Li & Number Ten OxRunningAstonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and mad props to +Jeff TalanianAdventurer Conqueror King System Iron CoastDungeon Crawl ClassicsDwimmermount - Labyrinth Lord - and mad props to +James MaliszewskiTraveller'd By The ApocalypseMetal Gods of Ur-HadadDelving Deeper HyperbarbariaOther NotesRest in peace, Tom Magliozzi of Car TalkAs always, thanks to Blue Snaggletooth for the badass theme. Their new album "Beyond Thule" is out now and rocks!Thanks for joining us for this episode of Drink Spin Run. We'd love to read your comments on the show, suggestions, where exactly we can stick what and other thinly-veiled threats. Send us your thoughts at dsr@kickassistan.net. Once again, thanks for listening.