Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the stories of pulp heroine Jirel of Joiry, the Medieval French woman-warrior created by female author C.L. Moore in 1934. For the first story click HERE.
QUEST OF THE STAR STONE (1937) – It’s crossover time! C.L. Moore decided to do a story in which her two most famous pulp creations – Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry – meet each other. Trouble is Jirel’s adventures take place in Medieval times while Northwest Smith’s stories are set around 2500 A.D. Any reader of pulp fiction knows that’s no real obstacle so let’s dive in.
The story opens in Jirel’s time. She is leading her obedient soldiers in an assault on the castle of a sorceror named Franga. Our sword-wielding heroine battles her way through to Franga’s chamber where she seizes a mystic gem called the Star Stone. That jewel is so powerful but so unfathomable that even Franga was still trying to discover how to harness its arcane energies.
Jirel defeats Franga and forces him to flee between dimensions, but as he leaves he promises Jirel that he’ll return to get revenge on her and get the Star Stone back – just as soon as he finds a champion capable of matching Jirel’s courage, cunning and force of will. “No matter what world or what time I find them in” he adds, letting the reader know what’s coming up. Continue reading
NJCAA DIVISION ONE – 1. INDIAN RIVER STATE PIONEERS ### 2. SALT LAKE CITY COLLEGE BRUINS ### 3. DODGE CITY COLLEGE CONQUISTADORS ### 4. JOHN A LOGAN COLLEGE VOLUNTEERS ### 5. KILGORE COLLEGE RANGERS ### 
6. SOUTHEASTERN (IA) COLLEGE BLACKHAWKS ### 7. INDIAN HILLS COLLEGE WARRIORS ### 8. HUTCHINSON COLLEGE BLUE DRAGONS ### 9. OTERO COLLEGE RATTLERS ### 10. ODESSA COLLEGE WRANGLERS ### 
America’s cesspool of corruption which passes for our government doesn’t care about what the people want or approve of. 
MEDA: A TALE OF THE FUTURE (1891) – This sci-fi tale of the year 5575 AD was first written in 1888 but read mostly among the social circle of the author. Its first official publication came in 1891. 
CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON Vol 1 #171 (March 1974) 
A gang of armed men have blasted their way into Captain America’s jail cell, claiming to be on his side and offering to help him escape. Cap is torn, apprehensive that people will conclude he’s guilty if he escapes but fearful that if he stays nobody will be able to prove his innocence. 
THE DARK LAND (1936) – In her tower bedroom at Castle Joiry, Jirel lies in bed, mortally wounded while leading her men at the Battlefield of Sorrow. A pike wound in her side has grown infected and the weak, delirious warrior woman is surrounded by her chambermaids, all of them weeping over their lady’s condition. 
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog presents another item from Mary Harris Jones, better known as “Mother” Jones. This pioneering lady stays in touch with Balladeer’s Blog despite having passed away long ago. Now THAT’S dedication. 
MOTHER JONES: Thank you, Balladeer. I want to jump in with some of the latest dispatches from the Biden Regime’s war on the rest of us, a war they wage alongside complicit Republican office-holders like Cocaine Mitch McConnell. 
CHROME AND HOT LEATHER (1971) THE Marvin Gaye made his big-screen debut in this relentlessly absurd example of the bad biker films of the 1960s and 1970s. 
THE AFTERMAN (1985) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Weirdness at the End of the World category of movies returns with this bizarre little honey. The Afterman also marks the return of my sub-category “Those Darn Belgians.” Yes, just like Rabid Grannies this flick was created in Belgium. 
The story opens up in the year 2011. For twenty years our lead character, called simply the Man, has been living in a high-tech bomb shelter. The shelter was stocked with plenty of aerosol spray-food from “futuristic” 1991, when the nukes fell. Elaborate security cameras and leftover news reels have been almost the only diversions the Man has had for two decades, aside from drawing sketches. 
