Tonight… we explore a pre-Appendix N piece, “The Heads of Cerberus,” by the creator of dark fantasy, Getrude Barrows Bennett. When four people in Philadelphia inhale dust developed by an occult scientist who has discovered parallel universes, they are transported into an interdimensional no-man’s land that is populated by supernatural beings. From there, they go on to an alternate-future version of Philadelphia—a frightening dystopian nation-state in which citizens are numbered, not named....

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast, where we plumb the depths of Appendix N as it pertains to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. We’re here to help you serve these literary offerings at your DCC RPG table. Tonight… we explore the solar system with the exciting inaugural volume of the final series imagined and penned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Pirates of Venus. This episode's Spotify List: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/77bL7ugbry64uGO5jvSJA2?si=69dc9015ac8544e1 Marc's...

Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast, where we plumb the depths of Appendix N as it pertains to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. We’re here to help you serve these literary offerings at your DCC RPG table. Tonight… we are discussing a book that was reviewed by Thrilling Wonder Stories as “space opera with a vengeance”. Tonight, The Legion of Space by Jack Williamson.

Tonight… we examine a singular work by Abraham Merritt, The Moon Pool. Technically, it is a fix-up of two works, The Moon Pool and Conquest of the Moon Pool, but who are we to quibble?

Tonight… we take a look at a time torn classic by L Sprague de Camp, and a book that has been cited as extremely influential by authors such as S. M. Sterling, David Weber, and Harry Turtledove. Tonight, Lest Darkness Fall.

Tonight… we examine a singular work by one of Michael Moorcock's favorite authors. Join us as we discuss Fletcher Pratt's, The Blue Star.

Michael Moorcock returns to the Sanctum Secorum podcast to discuss his new book, his experiences with Hollywood, and his upcoming musical projects.

Tonight… we “burrough” to the center of the earth with a classic novel from over a century ago. Written by the creator of Tarzan, tonight, we discuss Edgar Rice Burroughs’, At the Earth’s Core!

Tonight… We celebrate the Halloween season with something that is… Lovecraft adjacent. While August Derleth is known for rescuing the works of HP Lovecraft from obscurity through the founding of Arkham House, he also wrote his own stories tying in to Lovecraft’s works. Some were original works by Derleth and others were “posthumous collaborations with Lovecraft” (which were also original works by Derleth - essentially with Lovecraft’s name slapped on them). This is one of the former, not too...

his triad of tales begins with Sailing to the Future. Elric is lost somewhere in the Young Kingdoms and near the sea. A mysterious ship appears and he is welcomed aboard by its captain and introduced to three other powerful warriors. The captain informs the adventurers that they are traveling across time and between realities. They have been found because they alone have the power to stop alien sorcerers from destroying their worlds. In Sailing to the Present, Elric finds himself on another...

Middle-aged San Francisco horror writer Franz Westen is rediscovering ordinary life following a long alcoholic binge. Then one day, peering at his apartment window from atop a nearby hill, he sees a pale brown thing lean out his window…and wave.This encounter sends Westen on a quest through ancient books and modern streets, for the dark forces and paramental entities that thrive amidst the towering skyscrapers of modern urban life…and meanwhile, the entities are also looking for him.

In the dim far future of Earth, when the sun had shrunk to a small red disk in the dark sky and the race of man lived in isolated cities that echoed with the vastness of the world’s history, science, myth and magic had become one. Sorcerors who read the books of ancient times held great power, and fearsome monsters created in ages long forgotten stalked the land. In this world of mystery and danger, the scoundrel known as Cugel the Clever was forced to undertake a quest for Iucounu the...

Our Lady of Darkness

Cugel the Clever

This week, the Keepers of Mystery discuss a work by the Queen of Space Opera, Leigh Brackett, as they dive into The Hounds of Skaith. In this second volume of Leigh Brackett's exemplary trilogy The Book of Skaith, Eric John Stark, having expelled the Lords Protector from their northern Citadel and released his friend and mentor galactic ambassador Ashton, heads south to find the wise woman Gerrith, to foment rebellion, and –in spite of the Wandsmen and the Lords Protector's wishes—to open...

Join two of our Keepers of Mysteries as they dive into The Knight of the Swords, by Michael Moorcock. Corum is the last survivor of the Vadhagh race and an incarnation aspect of the Eternal Champion, a being that exists in all worlds to ensure there is “Cosmic Balance”. Prince Corum of the Scarlet Robe sets out on a personal crusade against the Sword Rulers, Lords of Chaos, puppetmasters to Man. First of these is the loathsome Arioch, Knight of the Swords, master of five of the fifteen...

Join the Keepers of Mystery for a special episode of the Sanctum Secorum, recorded live. Joining us to discuss his debut work, Hungers as Old as This Land is author Zachary Rosenberg. This novella, currently the #1 Amazon new release in Western Horror Fiction, Hungers as Old as This Land is a novella filled with chills, and comes from a fresh new voice in the space. Order your Kindle copy of Hungers as Old as This Land at...

Join two of our Keepers of Mysteries as they dive into Red Nails, by Robert E. Howard. Red Nails begins in the jungles far to the south of any known civilized or barbarian kingdoms. Valeria of the Red Brotherhood is fleeing persecution and is followed into the wilderness by Conan, a fellow adventurer who wishes for an alliance with Valeria. The pair journey towards a mysterious walled city, which appears deserted. The city, which is known as Xuchotl, is a massive structure completely...

Tonight the Keepers of Mystery discuss one of the novels of Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword. Specifically cited on Appendix N, it has also been cited by author Michael Moorcock as having greatly influenced his stories. The book tells the story of Skafloc, elven-fosterling and originally son of Orm the Strong. The story begins with the marriage of Orm the Strong and Aelfrida of the English. Orm kills a witch's family on the land and later half-converts to Christianity, but quarrels with the...

Tonight, in their 50th episode, the Keepers of Mystery are joined by guests Stephen Newton, Francis Roberts, and the Dark Master himself - Joseph Goodman. The Keepers and their guests discuss Joseph Goodman's favorite Appendix N work, Robert E. Howard's The Tower of the Elephant. In the Zamorian city of Arenjun,also known as the "City of Thieves,” a young Conan  is drinking in a rowdy tavern when he overhears a Kothic rogue describe a fabulous jewel known as the "Heart of the Elephant,"...

Join two of our Keepers of Mysteries as they examine Armor, by John Steakley. The planet is called Banshee. The air is unbreathable, the water is poisonous. It is home to the most implacable enemies that humanity, in all its interstellar expansion, has ever encountered. Body armor has been devised for the commando forces that are to be dropped on Banshee—the culmination of ten thousand years of the armorers’ craft. A trooper in this armor is a one-man, atomic powered battle fortress. But he...

Tonight the Keepers of Mystery discuss a work by Lord Dunsany, The Charwoman’s Shadow. Published in 1926, before the term “fantasy” had ever been used to describe the genre. An old woman who spends her days scrubbing the floors might be an unlikely damsel in distress, but Lord Dunsany proves once again his mastery of the fantastical. The Charwoman's Shadow is a beautiful tale of a sorcerer's apprentice who discovers his master's nefarious usage of stolen shadows, and vows to save the...

Join two of our Keepers of Mysteries as they examine The First Book of Swords, by Fred Saberhagen. For those wishing to support Ashraf Braden's first RPG release - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/424089/The-Kakondo Plus, tune in for our latest fantasy book give away! Originally broadcast live on the Goodman Games twitch channel on January 24, 2023.

The story picks up the saga of the two protagonists from the Face in the Frost, Prospero and, to a much lesser extent, Roger Bacon. In this adventure, war has come to the South Kingdoms and Prospero finds himself kidnapped and exiled on an island. While he manages to escape, he finds himself an unwitting captive a second time, with a situation even more dire. Meanwhile, he is unable to completely unravel why he was captured in the first place. Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. Tonight,...