Morgan “The Morgman” Holmes just noticed that I invoked his famous dictum on Art in my review of the George Sterling caveman book the other day:
Any work of art is made better by the inclusion of cavemen and dinosaurs.
He sent in this correction:
The Holmes Rule of Art is specifically: No work of art that cannot be enhanced with the addition of barbarians or dinosaurs — preferably both.
I was thinking, sure, different wording but the meaning is the same. . . .
Then I noticed.
Oops.
He wants dinosaurs and barbarians.
Not cavemen.
Me, I like the caveman angle better, but it is Morgan’s dictum, so let the record stand corrected.
Kind of too bad that George Sterling didn’t keep at the fiction, work his way into the burgeoning pulp marketplace, and incorporate some barbarians and dinosaurs into the action — like Robert E. Howard.