Paperback Picnic
a newsletter about weird old books

Latest

Feb
18
Cover art depicting an alien playing cards with four hands.

Purest Hazard

The Grand Wheel (1977), Barrington J. Bayley
5 min read
Feb
06
grainy monochrome photograph of mysterious talismanic sculptures

the mystic syllables yop, yeep, and yoop

reviewing every Clark Ashton Smith story, part 3
4 min read
Jan
22
Book cover depicting three women in togas, all bearing knives, apparently mirror images of each other.

The Adventures of "The Adventures of Alyx"

This was in Ourdh, where all things are possible
7 min read
Jan
13

Coming soon: HOUSE OF THE RAIN KING

I'm publishing a novel, and you could get an advance copy
4 min read
Jan
08
Grainy monochrome photo of an eerie, melancholy stone head

Among the Worst Ways to Die...

Reading every Clark Ashton Smith story, part 2
5 min read
Dec
17

Some non-weird non-old books

in which I briefly suspend my vow to read only the strange and obscure
6 min read
Dec
09
Grainy photograph of an eerie stone sculpture sitting among leaf litter on the ground

Dark Flowers of the Pulp Age

reviewing every Clark Ashton Smith story, part 1
7 min read
Nov
24
book cover depicting a flimsy, bone-like castle in a cold and swampy land

The Women and the Warlords (1987)

the second half of a feminist epic
8 min read
Nov
16

Read my new short story "Another Tide"

A story of resistance, radicalism and sea anemones
1 min read
Oct
14
book cover depicting a dragon perched on a crumbling stone arch that overlooks a distant city.

The Wordsmiths and the Warguild (1987)

teenage fantasy protagonist but make him act like an actual teenage boy
7 min read