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Year: 2015

Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 6: The Arti: The Adventure Begins, Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein, (T)ERROR, and I Am Thor

Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 6: The Arti: The Adventure Begins, Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein, (T)ERROR, and I Am Thor

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The Arti Some days at the Fantasia Festival I find a common theme among the movies I see. And some days I don’t. Sometimes the day’s movies are simply a wonderfully strange mix of things each wonderfully strange in themselves. Bearing that in mind, let’s jump into what I saw on Sunday, July 19.

I started at the Hall Theatre with the Chinese puppet wuxia film The Arti. After that, I had lunch and went to the De Sève Theatre to watch Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein, which took a real movie from the 1970s and gave it a new audio track in the form of a fictional “director’s commentary” that slowly revealed the “truth” of what had happened behind the scenes of the film. After that I stuck around to watch (T)ERROR, a documentary about FBI informants in the United States. Then went back to the Hall to watch a completely different documentary, I Am Thor, about Canadian bodybuilder and veteran rock’n’roller Jon Mikl Thor. It made for a full but wildly varied day.

The Arti: The Adventure Begins is a fantasy adventure set in the time of the Han dynasty (I can’t find voice credits, or a version of the original title transliterated into Roman; this source gives it as 奇人密碼, or “eccentric person secret.” Here’s the film’s web site, if you’re interested). Years ago, an inventor created a wooden robot, Arti-C, powered by a mysterious force called The Origin. As the film opens, he’s dead and Arti-C’s energy’s running down — but the inventor’s son and daughter, Mo and Tong, are trying to fix him. They travel to a legendary city on the Silk Road, where they sign Arti-C up for a martial arts tournament, join forces with a thief and an idealistic prince, and find themselves involved with a war against the mysterious desert-dwelling Lop people and their strange magic.

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The Great Serialization Experiment: The Lay of the Land

The Great Serialization Experiment: The Lay of the Land

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Nigh Marie Bilodeau-smallSerializing stories is an old art form, from the penny dreadfuls to Charles Dickens. Even Robert E. Howard serialized a few stories in Weird Tales. I recently decided to serialize a novel and, over the next few posts, I’ll share lessons learned. As I tend to leap without looking and landing on thistles, I typically learn a lot of lessons (woo?)

My first serialization, composed of one storyline over five short releases (15-20,000 words each), did well. Released from January to June 2015, it hit bestselling status in Canada, U.S.A., and a few other spots like Italy. It grew my fan base dramatically, which I assume is good for future sales (either that, or they’re waiting to warn people off my next book. Well played, Internet. Well played.) Am I living off this book? Um, no. But I’ve bought many a fine meal with it. And I still have plans to continue growing the series.

But first, the beginning.

Basic Economics (or, Eating is Fun and Good)

A year ago, when I left my full time job to focus on my storytelling (think bard) and writing careers, I wanted to look at different ways of maximizing sales. Because, dear friends, money buys food and every time I try to organize a raid on the supermarket or on my neighbor’s vegetable garden, I’m rather quickly reminded that those activities are not only illegal, they are even frowned upon. Since that societal penchant spoiled my plans for eating, an activity I’ve grown quite fond of, I had to come up with alternative methods. I’m lucky because storytelling offers me a scalable means of making money (tell story, make money. Tell more stories, make more money. Tell no story, get arrested for raiding neighbor’s garden). But writing has a longer term potential of continuous revenue, which is extremely appealing to those of us who eat every day.

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Future Treasures: Dungeons & Dragons: Out of the Abyss

Future Treasures: Dungeons & Dragons: Out of the Abyss

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Out of the Abyss D&D-smallFor all the accolades and buzz for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, there have been shockingly few releases supporting the game. Beyond the core rulebooks (published 12 months ago now), Wizards of the Coast has published only two adventures, one accessory, and a DM’s screen:

Hoard of the Dragon Queen (Adventure, August 2014)
The Rise of Tiamat (Adventure, November)
Dungeon Master’s Screen (January)
Princes of the Apocalypse (Accessory, April)

So I was very pleased to see another major item on the publishing schedule: Out of the Abyss, a massive 256-page Underdark adventure for characters of levels 1–15.

The Underdark is a subterranean wonderland, a vast and twisted labyrinth where fear reigns. It is the home of horrific monsters that have never seen the light of day. It is here that the dark elf Gromph Baenre, Archmage of Menzoberranzan, casts a foul spell meant to ignite a magical energy that suffuses the Underdark and tears open portals to the demonic Abyss. What steps through surprises even him, and from that moment on, the insanity that pervades the Underdark escalates and threatens to shake the Forgotten Realms to its foundations. Stop the madness before it consumes you!

The next release on the schedule is Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, an accessory that ties into the highly anticipated Sword Coast Legends computer RPG coming out next month. It arrives in November.

Out of the Abyss will be published by Wizards of the Coast on September 15, 2015. It is 256 pages, priced at $49.95 in hardcover. There is no digital edition.

Cover Reveal: Howard Andrew Jones’ Pathfinder Tales: Beyond the Pool of Stars

Cover Reveal: Howard Andrew Jones’ Pathfinder Tales: Beyond the Pool of Stars

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Pathfinder Tales Beyond the Pool of Stars-small

We’ve received a lot of inquiries about Howard Andrew Jones’ third Pathfinder Tales novel, Beyond the Pool of Stars. It will be released by Tor Books on October 6, and we’ll be telling you more about it over the next two months. But in the meantime, here’s a glimpse at the gorgeous cover art by Tyler Jacobson (click for bigger version). Beyond the Pool of Stars is a fantastical adventure of deep-water danger and unlikely alliances set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. It follows Plague of Shadows and Stalking the Beast, but is a completely standalone adventure. Read more at Howard’s website, and stay tuned as we reveal more over the next few weeks.

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Ramblings on REH

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Ramblings on REH

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Ramblings_KullAxeIn a way, Robert E. Howard’s career is similar to that of Dashiell Hammett. Both men had huge impacts on their genres (Howard wrote many styles, but he’s best known for his sword and sorcery tales). Both were early practitioners in said genres. Both men wrote excellent stories for about a decade. And both men ended their careers on their own.

Hammett, who seemed more interested in a dissolute lifestyle than in writing, effectively walked away from his typewriter. He wrote his last novel in 1934 (The Thin Man) but produced literally nothing for the remaining twenty-five years of his life. He could have gone back to writing the hard-boiled stories that made his career, but he voluntarily ended his writing life.

In 1936, Howard’s mother was failing in a coma. He walked outside to his car, pulled out a gun and killed himself. His writing career was more effectively finished than Hammett’s would be.

Both were supremely skilled writers who chose to deprive the world of their talent and left decades of stories unwritten. But there was a key difference between the two. From the beginning, Hammett was acclaimed and recognized as the leader in his field. Though Carroll John Daly came first (barely), there is no comparison between the two in critical view.

Howard was not critically lauded. His first Conan tale, “The Phoenix on the Sword” (a rewriting of the Kull story, “By This Axe I Rule!”), appeared in Weird Tales in December of 1932. The next two Conan tales were outright rejected!

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Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Pro-Tips From Paul Dale Anderson

Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Pro-Tips From Paul Dale Anderson

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Paul Dale Anderson (photo by Tim Hatch)
Paul Dale Anderson (photo by Tim Hatch)

For our Pro Tip this week, we’ve got the first of what will be several installments from the prolific and generous Paul Dale Anderson. He’s answered all of the questions on our list. I’ve grouped related questions together and will share them over the coming weeks.

Paul has written across a variety of media and genres for more than twenty years, including nonfiction for television, radio, newspapers, and academic journals; poetry and book reviews; and all across the spectrum of commercial fiction, including romance, westerns, science fiction, erotica, and horror.

His latest novels are Abandoned (Eldritch Press, 2015), Darkness (2AM Publications, 2015), and Axes to Grind (Crossroad Press, 2015). He has new short stories coming out this fall at The Horror Zine Magazine, Weirdbook 31, and Pulp Adventures 18.

Paul Says:

Just remember, what works for me may not work right for you. But I often find it helpful to know how other writers work.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

From reading widely, especially newspapers.

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All of Time and Space and the Wonders and Horrors Therein: Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos”

All of Time and Space and the Wonders and Horrors Therein: Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos”

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The Hounds of Tindalos-small The Hounds of Tindalos back-small

I’ve been enjoying Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth’s Lovecraft Reread over at Tor.com, and I was pleasantly surprised to see them deviate from the core Lovecraft canon to discuss one of the classics of the Cthulhu Mythos not written by Lovecraft himself: Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos.”

“The Hounds of Tindalos” was originally published in the March 1929 issue of Weird Tales. It can be found in several anthologies and collections, including the 1978 Jove paperback collection The Hounds of Tindalos, with a fine cover by Rowena (above; click for bigger version). You can find the complete text online here. As Anne says:

Frank Belknap Long was one of Lovecraft’s inner circle, and his “Hounds” is the first Mythos tale which Lovecraft neither wrote himself nor collaborated on. Perfect start for our consideration of the extra-Lovecraftian Mythos, that slow but unkillable creep of cosmic terror into other susceptible minds! Long would go on to create Great Old One Chaugnar Faugn and to kill a fictionalized Lovecraft in “The Space-Eaters.” But the Hounds are probably his most famous creation. Lovecraft mentions them in “Whisperer in Darkness.” Writers as diverse as Brian Lumley, Roger Zelazny, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, William S. Burroughs, and John Ajvide Lindqvist have evoked them. They also haunt video and roleplaying games, metal songs, anime, illustration. Well, why shouldn’t the Hounds be pervasive? Have angles, they’ll travel, lean and athirst.

“Hounds” has always inflicted shivers on me. This reread, I was momentarily distracted by a few infelicities. The story strikes me as way too short for its expansive subject: all of time and space and the wonders and horrors therein.

Read the complete article here.

The Digest Enthusiast #2 Now on Sale

The Digest Enthusiast #2 Now on Sale

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The Digest Enthusiast 2-smallI love a lot of aspects of the fantasy and science fiction genres — books, movies, TV shows, comics, conventions, board games, video games. But it was digest magazines like Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF that first brought me into the field, and which formed the heart of the genre for me. It was in the pages of those magazines that I first discovered my favorite authors, and was exposed to the news, reviews, interviews, art and gossip that gradually taught me just how rich the field was — and taught me to love it.

I share this experience with a lot of older fans, and that’s why you see so many reviews of old digest magazines like Galaxy, Venture, Amazing and Fantastic here at Black Gate. It’s not just that they contain great old fiction, but because the magazines are so vital to the history of the field. (And, let’s face it, because of the great cover art.) SF, fantasy and mystery digests are inexpensive and easy to collect, and at every decent-sized convention or trade show, there’s sure to be a few fans selling, buying, and swapping digest magazines.

So I was delighted to see the first issue of The Digest Enthusiast in January of this year. The debut issue was 116 pages and packed with articles on Galaxy, protective sleeves, Walter Gibson’s The Big Story, and much more, including interviews with F&SF editor Gordon Van Gelder, Phyllis Galde, editor and publisher of Fate magazine, and more.

But before I could get around to ordering it, the second issue arrived — and this one’s even bigger. Weighing it at a whopping 151 pages, it contains articles on Borderline, the Astounding Trading Cards, The Mysterious Traveler Magazine, H.L Gold’s Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Archie Comics Digests, and much more. There’s also reviews of current magazines, including Monster! #15, Asimov’s July 2015, and the July issue of Analog. There’s even four pieces of original short fiction!

Needless to say, I ordered a copy of the second issue as soon as it was available. It arrived yesterday, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I especially appreciated the reviews of current digests, which I found well written and enthusiastic. Here’s Rudolph Schmidt on Black Gate blogger Derek Kunsken’s novella “Pollen From a Future Harvest,” in the July issue of Asimov’s.

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Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “The Phoenix on the Sword”

Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “The Phoenix on the Sword”

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The Phoenix on the Sword Weird Tales-smallOver at Howard Andrew Jones’ blog, Bill Ward and Howard Andrew Jones continue their re-read of the first Del Rey Conan volume, The Coming of Conan, with the very first Conan story, “The Phoenix on the Sword,” originally published in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales magazine. Here’s Howard:

Look at the story’s opening quote. That’s practically the gold standard of quotes from imaginary historical sources. That fabulous “Know, O Prince” and all that follows has been imitated but rarely, if ever, equalled. This, fellow fantasy fans, is the way it’s done. Admittedly, there are a few phrases in the middle of the paragraph that are less inspired. I’m looking at “Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem.” Most of the rest of the quote paints lovely word pictures, but those phrases don’t remotely approach the poetic majesty of the rest — what does Zingara look like? What does Koth look like? But the rest is lovely, and the quality picks right back up with “dreaming west” and powers on to that fantastic finish, “Hither came Conan…”

Look at the opening line of the story: “Over shadowy spires and gleaming towers lay the ghostly darkness and silence that runs before dawn.” Damn. Why doesn’t anyone write like that any more? Howard sets the scene with sharp, sensory laden description. He’s a film director guiding the camera with a fantastic establishing shot.

Their first post on this topic discussed Howard’s “The Hyborian Age.” Read the complete exchange here.

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New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 edited by Paula Guran

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 edited by Paula Guran

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Dream Houses Genevieve Valentine-small Yesterday's Kin Nancy Kress-small The Churn James S A Corey-small

What do Dream Houses by Genevieve Valentine, Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress, and The Churn by James S.A. Corey all have in common?

They were all published individually, at prices ranging from $14.95 to $25 for the print editions (excepting The Churn, which isn’t even available in a print edition.) And they’re all included in Paula Guran’s delightful new anthology, The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 Edition, available now from Prime for just $19.95 in trade paperback.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas includes nine of the best short novels of the year, from Patrick Rothfuss, K. J. Parker, Mary Rickert, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, and others. Collected from anthologies, magazines, online sources, limited edition trade releases, and more obscure sources, the book is a terrific way to get introduced to some of the most exciting writing of the year in a single economical volume.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the single most anticipated book of the year for me, and I ordered a copy as soon as it was available.

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