Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, commonly known as Secret Wars for short, is a twelve-issue American comic book crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Jim Shooter, with art by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. It was tied-in with a toy line of the same name from Mattel.
A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nation and ethnic culture. In literature, the object of a quest requires great exertion on the part of the hero, who must overcome many obstacles, typically including much travel. The aspect of travel allows the storyteller to showcase exotic locations and cultures. The object of a quest may also have supernatural properties, often leading the protagonist into other worlds and dimensions. The moral of a quest tale often centers on the changed character of the hero.
Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Nine musicians have been a part of the band's line-up in its history, which has consisted of singer Hansi Kürsch, guitarists André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen, drummer Frederik Ehmke since 2005, and bassist Johan Van Stratum since 2021.
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely fictional tales set in a familiar setting, such as the European countryside, the American frontier, the Canadian Northwest, the Australian frontier, or the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
The Living Tribunal is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Strange Tales #157 and was created by Stan Lee, Marie Severin, and Herb Trimpe.
Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dread.
Edward Irving Wortis, better known by the pen name Avi, is an American author of young adult and children's literature. He is a winner of the Newbery Medal and twice one of the runners-up.
The Stranger is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
30 Days of Night is a three-issue horror comic book miniseries written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Ben Templesmith, and published by American company IDW Publishing in 2002. All three parties co-own the property.
"The Unnamable" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in September 1923, first published in the July 1925 issue of Weird Tales, and first collected in Beyond the Wall of Sleep. The corrected text appears in Dagon and Other Macabre Tales,. The story's locale was inspired by the Charter Street Historic District Burying Ground in Salem.
The BBCShort Trips books are a collection of short story anthologies published by BBC Books based on the television series Doctor Who, following a pattern established by Virgin Publishing's Decalog collections. Three volumes were published between March 1998 and March 2000, before the BBC decided to stop publishing the books. The Short Trips name was later adopted for hardback collections published by Big Finish Productions and licensed from the BBC.
Tharg's Future Shocks is a long-running series of short strips in the British weekly comic 2000 AD in 1977. The name originates from the fictional editor of 2000 AD and the book titled Future Shock, written by Alvin Toffler, published in 1970.
Lands Beyond is a study of geographical myths by L. Sprague de Camp and Willy Ley, first published in hardcover by Rinehart in 1952, and reissued by Barnes & Noble in 1993. It has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. It was the winner of the 1953 International Fantasy Award for nonfiction.
Conan the Usurper is a 1967 collection of four fantasy short stories by American writer Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, featuring Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Most of the stories originally appeared in the fantasy magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s. The book has been reprinted a number of times since by various publishers, and has also been translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Dutch.
Tales Beyond Time: From Fantasy to Science Fiction is an anthology of fantasy and science fiction short stories, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp. It was first published in hardcover by Lothrop Lee & Shepard in 1973, and in paperback by William Morrow; a large print edition followed from G. K. Hall & Co. in 1974. It was the second such anthology assembled by the de Camps, following their earlier 3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1972).
A horror fiction magazine is a magazine that publishes primarily horror fiction with the main purpose of frightening the reader. Horror magazines can be in print, on the internet, or both.
The Savage Sword of Conan was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. Savage Sword of Conan starred Robert E. Howard's most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, and has the distinction of being the longest-surviving title of the short-lived Curtis imprint.
The Decameron, subtitled Prince Galehaut and sometimes nicknamed l'Umana commedia, is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of the Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence, it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose.
The Handmaid's Tale is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by the streaming service Hulu as a straight-to-series order of 10 episodes, for which production began in late 2016. The plot features a dystopia following a Second American Civil War wherein a theonomic, totalitarian society subjects fertile women, called "Handmaids", to child-bearing slavery.
Tales of the Jedi is an upcoming American animated anthology series created by Dave Filoni and Charles Murray for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, exploring different Jedi characters from the prequel trilogy era. The series is produced by Lucasfilm Animation.
