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Month: June 2012

New Treasures: R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen

New Treasures: R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen

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war-of-the-spider-queenAh, the lure of the fat fantasy novel. There’s really nothing quite like it.

Yes, I love short fiction and, by extension, I love short novels. But when you really fall in love with a book or series, nothing satisfies like a volume that weighs as much as a phone book.

Which is why I was delighted when two fat fantasy compendiums landed on my doorstep this week: R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen, Volume I and Volume II.

These aren’t written by R.A. Salvatore.  You can tell because his name is in the title. R.A. Salvatore created the popular character Drizzt Do’Urden and has written nearly two dozen novels featuring the drow ranger, several of them best-sellers. War of the Spider Queen returns to Drizzt Do’Urden’s homeland, the Underdark, to spin a tale of a ragged band of four dark elves on a desperate quest to find Lloth, drow goddess and the demon Queen of Spiders, and save their subterranean city of Menzoberranzan and the entire dark elf race.

The two-volume War of the Spider Queen collects all six novels: Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers, Insurrection by Thomas M. Reid, Condemnation by Richard Baker, Extinction by Lisa Smedman, Annihilation by Philip Athans, and Resurrection by Paul S. Kemp. All were published between 2002 and 2005, with R.A. Salvatore overseeing the development of the entire series.

These are handsome and satisfactorily hefty volumes. I took them out and photographed them on the bricks of my front patio, so you can get a sense of their size. (Click on the image above to get a bigger version).

Volume I contains the first three novels; it is 1,074 pages for $15.95 in trade paperback. Volume II gathers the last three; it is 1,076 pages for $15.95. Both have cover art by Brom. They are published by Wizards of the Coast and are now available.

Chris Braak Reviews The Last Four Things

Chris Braak Reviews The Last Four Things

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the-last-four-thingsThe Last Four Things
Paul Hoffman
Dutton Books (384 pp, $26.96, hardcover August 2011)
Reviewed by Chris Braak

The Last Four Things is the sequel to Paul Hoffman’s runaway hit The Left Hand of God – a droll, sword-and-more-swords epic set in a kind of topsy-turvy analog for Europe during the Hundred Years War. Like all second books in a trilogy, the proof of this one will lie in how the third book ties these loosened strings altogether.

The signature elements of Hoffman’s first novel are here in abundance: the dry wit, the simple but cleanly drawn characters, the tense and stirring depictions of large-scale military conflict; as well are some of the more troublesome elements, like Hoffman’s tendency to distractingly remix and incorporate recognizable bits of history and literature into the narrative.

After the events of The Left Hand of God, Thomas Cale (the eponymous Left Hand) and his friends — Kleist, Vague Henri, and IdrisPukke — find themselves separated by the machinations of the Lord Militant Redeemer Bosco. While Thomas Cale begins waging a series of campaigns on behalf of the imperialistic and puritanical Redeemers, Kleist the archer ends up making a home for himself in a tribe of cowardly, philosophical bandits called the Klephts. Cale’s hunger for escape and the Redeemers’ bloody-mindedness drive the two of them apart at first, and then slowly back together; the stage is set for a climax in the upcoming third book.

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Art of the Genre: The Art of a Future Fallen

Art of the Genre: The Art of a Future Fallen

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Looks like all those A-bombs sure cleaned up the air... but they also left some strange mutations...
Looks like all those A-bombs sure cleaned up the air... but they also left some strange mutations...

I grew up under the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Perhaps I’m not a child who was taught to jump under their desk when the nuke hit like those of the 50s, but I watched and wondered as President Reagan threatened the Soviet Union with Star Wars and certainly found some perverted joy in watching moves like The Day After and Threads.

At one point, I was thoroughly convinced I’d die in a nuclear attack well before I ever had sex. It’s true, and I even broke down and admitted as much to my mother who assured me that would not be the case. Still, how could she know? Did she control the secret briefcase with the red button that launched mutually assured destruction like the President? I think not! But alas, doomsday never came… and once again mothers everywhere were proved wise in the face of their twelve year-old children.

Still, my fascination with that A-bomb only grew once I started playing D&D in the early 80s. By the time I had a functional relationship with the rules of the game, probably 8th Grade, I began crafting my own post-apocalyptic RPG called ‘Future Warrior’.

I very much wish I could share some of the covers for that game with you, but they’ve found their way into storage (a tragedy, I know). Still, I had a core rulebook and four distinct supplements for the game all under my first LLC moniker RST Hobbies, which is of course the reverse of TSR. (Note: RST are my initials, Roger Scott Taylor, which isn’t the only odd connection I have to TSR because I also share a birthday, July 27th, with Gary Gygax)

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Black Gate Goes to the Summer Movies: Snow White and the Huntsman

Black Gate Goes to the Summer Movies: Snow White and the Huntsman

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snow_white_and_the_huntsman_posterSummer movies, like boxes of Crackerjacks (does anyone still eat those? I never see them for sale any more), come packed with surprises. And, like Crackerjacks toys, often they are lame surprises. Let-downs. Occasionally — and it usually happens only once per summer — the toy you dig out of the same-old same-old caramel and peanut glop is a Hot Wheels car with flame details and killer sci-fi spoilers that somebody in the Crackerjack plant accidentally dropped into the box while leaving hastily for a smoke break.

Snow White and the Huntsmen is one of those positive summer surprises. I hope it isn’t the last “Hot Wheels” shock of the season, but in the month-long lull that followed the boffo fun of The Avengers, I’ll take it and cling to it.

A high-fantasy film like Snow White and the Huntsman (the ampersand only appears on publicity material) should not be a hard-sell to Black Gate readers. But the marketing and trailers pushed hard to get the Twilight fan-base to show up, so fantasy lovers pegged it early on as “not for us.” But it is! The Twilight viewers will love it, but they’ll like it for the same reasons other viewers will: it’s a broad-appealing, well-constructed, marvelous-looking, fun fantasy romp.

And, if it were not for a major casting blunder, I could easily see myself adding Snow White and the Huntsman to my Blu-ray shelf the week it comes out. I still will purchase it, but a few months after its street-date when I can get a bargain on it used.

The unpleasant truth is the piece of miscasting is monumental: the first of the two title characters, the figure who gives her name to the legend. My dear Snow White. Played in a perpetual coma by Kristen Stewart.

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Fall From Earth: A Review

Fall From Earth: A Review

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Fall From EarthFall From Earth
Matthew Johnson
Bundoran Press (236 pp, $19.95, 2010)

It’s been suggested that Canadian fiction often features a collective protagonist rather than a single dominant personality: a group of interlocking characters who drive the narrative forward. I don’t know how accurate that is; but it’s interesting to consider in the context of Ottawa writer Matthew Johnson’s 2010 novel, Fall From Earth. In addition to following a group of characters, it’s also a story of colonisation in the face of an unfriendly natural environment, and of the interaction of different cultures; both typically Canadian themes. Is this significant?

Fall From Earth tells the story of a group of convicts sentenced by a far-future imperial state, the Borderless Empire, to colonise a new planet. They’ve committed all manner of crimes: murder, heresy … and rebellion. We follow them as they land on the planet, and find that all is not as they had been led to expect. Complications arise and are dealt with, only for more complications to arrive; mysteries are piled upon mysteries; and the sense of scale grows as the novel goes along.

It’s a very strong book. The writing’s exceptionally tight, with no wasted words. The story’s told in short, well-chosen scenes; point-of-view shifts easily and naturally from character to character. The various conundra the colonists find on the planet develop, show strange ramifications, and then begin to resolve themselves. By the end of the book, it’s all been neatly explained, and the plot’s neatly worked through to a satisfactory ending.

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Announcing the Winner of Thunder in the Void from Haffner Press!

Announcing the Winner of Thunder in the Void from Haffner Press!

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thunder-in-the-voidThanks to all those who entered our contest to win a copy of Thunder in the Void, compliments of Haffner Press.

We asked our readers to submit the title of an imaginary Space Opera tale in honor of Henry Kuttner, whose imagination produced the stories in Thunder in the Void: “War-Gods of the Void,” “Raider of the Spaceways,” “We Guard the Black Planet,” “Crypt-City of the Deathless Ones,” the previously unpublished “The Interplanetary Limited,” and many more.

Here are the 13 finalists, as chosen by judges John O’Neill, C.S.E. Cooney, and Howard Andrew Jones:

“The Werehounds of Autumn Zero,” Daniel Eness
“Lamentations of a Dying Empire,” Mark Zuchowski
“Nightmare at Lightspeed,” Michael Rogers
“In the Clutches of the Gear-God,” Jason Thummel
“It Was Born In A Black Hole,” Dave Ritzlin
“Dark as a Nova, Slow as Light,” Martin PaweÅ
“Miss Manners and the Andromedan Royal Court,” Barbara Barrett
“Demon of the Farthest Star,” Ryan Rollins
“The Pirate Priestess of Pallas,” Mike Brown
“The Starfarers of Zaurak,” Shedrick Pittman-Hassett
“Vortex Raiders of Krygon-9,” Stephen Blount
“Purple Priestess of the Citadel of the Snake-Men,” Amy Farmer

After much discussion, pondering, and hand-to-hand combat, the judges managed to whittle the choices down to three finalists:

“It Was Born In A Black Hole,” Dave Ritzlin
“Demon of the Farthest Star,” Ryan Rollins
“The Pirate Priestess of Pallas,” Mike Brown

However, there can be only one winner — because we have only one copy of the book, and we forgot to come up with second prizes. So the judges were secluded until they managed to agree on a winner, and that winner is…

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Vintage Treasures: Swordquest, by Task Force Games

Vintage Treasures: Swordquest, by Task Force Games

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swordquest-task-force-games2It’s almost Summer, and my teenage boys will be out of high school in a matter of days. Which means I need to get serious about finding a board game to play with my son Drew.

Recently Drew and I have been playing Grail Quest, a 1980 solitaire RPG from Metagaming. But sooner or later, we’re going to find that grail, damnit, and there’s not much point to replaying those old Fantasy Trip programmed adventures once you’ve solved them.

We’ve also playing the occasional round of RoboRally and of course Barbarian Prince, but to round out his education I need to include an assortment of fantasy board games, and I prefer something we can play in 90 minutes or so. This week, I’m considering Swordquest because I found a dusty copy in the basement that hadn’t been filed away yet.

Swordquest was designed by R. Vance Buck and originally published in 1979 as Task Force Game #7, part of Task Force Games Pocket Games line. Humble in origin and slim in production values (the original price was $3.95), these little zip-locked games proved extremely popular, and many are still fondly remembered three decades later.

Altogether, they published a total of 21 Pocket Games, including some of the most popular titles of the 70s and 80s, such Star Fleet Battles, which launched an entire line of game merchandise, and Starfire, which went through five editions and was the inspiration for the line of SF novels primarily written by Steve White and David Weber. The most popular Pocket Games were re-published in a second edition in more sturdy boxes in the early 80s, including Swordquest.

The inspiration for Swordquest — as with most fantasy boardgames of the era — was clearly J.R.R. Tolkien. The races of the kingdom of Tirrane consist of elves, dwarves, and giants, and there’s also a powerful dragon and winged creatures named wrogs rather obviously inspired by Balrogs.

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New Treasures: The Sword & Sorcery Anthology

New Treasures: The Sword & Sorcery Anthology

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the-sword-sorcery-anthology2We announced The Sword & Sorcery Anthology was shipping last week, but I’m glad to report that I now have it in my hot little hands.

And it looks gorgeous. It’s 480 pages in thick, oversize paperback, and sits nicely in my lap as I recline in my big green chair. Where it will remain for much of the rest of the weekend, I think.

In fact, I have two copies, courtesy of co-editor and publisher Jacob Weisman. I was going to add it to the list of titles that go out regularly to our dedicated team of freelance reviewers, but maybe I’ll just give it to the first one that asks for it. Or maybe I’ll encase it in plastic and carefully bury it in a time capsule in my back yard. Future generations with thank me (assuming they can figure out what a book is).

David Drake’s introduction notes that while two stories in this book originated in Weird Tales — the magazine that gave birth to Sword & Sorcery — three come from the legendary small press magazine Whispers, edited by Stuart David Schiff from 1973 to 1987. Drake was the assistant editor for Whispers starting with the second issue; his musings on the authors and fiction included in this volume are fascinating.

Other sources include Swords Against Darkness, Science Fantasy, Fantastic and Asimov’s SF magazines, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword & Sorceress anthologies, Orbit 2, and such recent books as Eclipse Three (2009), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and Strahan and Lou Anders 2010 anthology Swords & Dark Magic.

Two pieces — Michael Shea’s new Nift the Lean story “Epistle from Lebanoi,” and Michael Swanwick’s “The Year of the the Three Monarchs” — are original to this volume.

The Sword & Sorcery Anthology was edited by David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman. The cover is is by Jean Sebastien Rossbach. It is published by Tachyon Publications, and priced at $15.95 for the print version and $10.95 in digital format. More complete details are here, and the complete Tables of Contents is here.

Sean Stiennon Reviews Dark Jenny

Sean Stiennon Reviews Dark Jenny

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darkjennyDark Jenny
Alex Bledsoe
Tor ($14.99, trade paperback, 352 pages, April 2011)
Reviewed by Sean T. M. Stiennon

Readers new to Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse series should brace themselves for culture shock, because while the book is set in a medieval world, all the characters have distinctly un-medieval names and mannerisms.  Be prepared for Gary, Eddie, Liz, and Angie to appear in the first few pages.  In keeping with their anachronistic names, all the characters speak in a modern conversational style.  Swords are referred to by make and model, like cars.

It’s a dramatic choice on Bledsoe’s part that will leave many readers feeling alienated, but I think it works.  The novels are hard-boiled crime fiction just as much as they are fantasy, and the casual style means that Bledsoe can give his hero Eddie a dry wit that requires no translation to be funny.  It also gives the story a freshness that the setting, which is your stand low-fantasy budget medieval, tends to lack.

For my part, I found that once I got past the anachronisms (first in The Sword-Edged Blonde, now in Dark Jenny), I was thoroughly captivated by the raw strength of Bledsoe’s writing and story-telling, and found myself with a book that seemed to stick to my fingers.

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