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Month: March 2016

A Tale of Two Covers: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

A Tale of Two Covers: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

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Stand on Zanzibar-small Stand on Zanzibar 1976-small

For this installment of A Tale of Two Covers, we look at my favorite book by one of my favorite writers: John Brunner’s Hugo Award-winning Stand on Zanzibar.

Stand on Zanzibar was published in 1969. I read it about a decade later, when I was in my mid-teens, and it pretty much blew my mind. It’s set in the far-distant future of 2010, when the Earth groans under the weight of a staggering seven billion souls, terrorists are the major threat facing America, China is a new economic superpower, erectile dysfunction and depression are treated with pills, and the head of state is President Obomi.

Pretty clear-eyed predictions (over the years, in fact, Brunner has been lauded for his amazing forecasting). But it wasn’t his predictive skills that drew me to the book — it was the brilliant structure. Brunner painted an astonishingly vivid picture of the future of our planet by interspersing his chapters with numerous brief vignettes, news items, book quotes, and snapshots of life all over the world. It was the most believable and compelling rendition of the future I’d ever encountered, and it has stayed with me for decades.

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March GigaNotoSaurus Features “Polyglossia” by Tamara Vardomskaya

March GigaNotoSaurus Features “Polyglossia” by Tamara Vardomskaya

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giganotosaurus logo-smallThis month GigaNotoSaurus features Tamara Vardomskaya’s long story “Polyglossia,” which Charles Payseur at Quick Sip Reviews described as follows:

This month’s story at GigaNotoSaurus is the longest of the year to date (though it being March that’s not saying too much) and tackles the complex nature of language. It is nice to read more longer stories, especially ones that really delve into the world building as this one does, providing a vivid picture of a breathing world. It’s one of the reasons that GigaNotoSaurus is such a treat to check out…

This is a story about language… It looks at people from very different situations, all brought together by language. A man who has lost the language of his mother. A woman who studies languages but cares little for the heritage of them… A boy who absorbs languages like a sponge, who sees each new language like a new city, full of adventures and secrets. There’s so much going on with this story and so much to see and enjoy, a world with layers of history and conflict that all come to a head here, in this story about a song…

And in the end I think that the story just works because it does such an elegant and nuanced job building its world… the cast is meticulously balanced and great… It’s an affirming, kinetic experience, about reaching out across the barriers that language can create to find common meaning. An excellent story!

Read the story free here, and read Charles’ complete review here.

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Art of the Genre: 24 Hours Remain on The Hidden Valoria Campaign

Art of the Genre: 24 Hours Remain on The Hidden Valoria Campaign

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bannerArt of the Genre continues to roll out Kickstarter after Kickstarter in their Folio series, this time teaming up with terrain production juggernaut Dwarven Forge to create The Hidden Valoria Campaign.  Dwarven Forge architect Stefan Pokorny opens the doors to his personal gaming world of Mythras so that AotG‘s own wordsmith Scott Taylor can have a run at the world capital of Valoria.  Stefan has always been a big fan of old fantasy pulp fiction, and along with Scott, the two have worked hard to produce a feel within Valoria of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar, Howard’s Conan, and even some of the mosaic aspects of Asprin’s Sanctuary in Thieves’ World.

Utilizing Dwarven Forge terrain sets, Taylor takes the Folio from a pure tabletop RPG to a miniatures compatible 3D play system.  Dungeons come alive with rubbish-strewn cellars, undead-inhabited crypts, monster-infested wizard towers, and even a gang-run ‘Brawl Club’ (First rule of Brawl Club, don’t talk about Brawl Club).

Boasting old school TSR-like removable module covers, two interior booklets (Gazetteer & Adventure), as well as 2D & 3D mapping, Folio #8 continues in the AotG tradition of gaming in both 1st Edition AD&D as well as the new 5th Edition D&D mechanic.  Currently the project has achieved 6 Stretch Goals that help flesh out the Valorian neighborhood of The Patina Court, with a 7th & 8th Stretch Goal of a mini-adventure and full print production of Folio #9 still within reach.  You can find the campaign and all the details of it here.

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How and Why You Should Withhold Information from the Reader

How and Why You Should Withhold Information from the Reader

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Risen Empire
…quickly turns out to be about a secret.

You’re not supposed to withhold information known to a point-of-view character. Or to put it another way around:

If the viewpoint character knows something relevant, then by default share it with the reader.

Except that successful authors do this all the time!

It’s most common in thrillers where we follow the Bad Guys, but don’t find out who they are working for until the end. However, you also find it in SF&F. For example, Scott Westerfeld’s marvelous The Risen Empire quickly turns out to be about a secret. We see one team try to expose the secret and another — who know what it is — ruthlessly try to preserve it.

At this point, people will nod their heads and trot out the wisdom they’re supposed to trot out: Once you know the rules, then you can break them; go serve your apprenticeship.

However, that’s not very helpful if — for example — the story you are trying to write hinges on a big secret.

I think there’s quite a different set of rules at work. As you might guess, as far as I’m concerned, it’s all about the conflict.

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Future Treasures: Spira Mirabilis, Book 3 of The Wave Trilogy, by Aidan Harte

Future Treasures: Spira Mirabilis, Book 3 of The Wave Trilogy, by Aidan Harte

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Irenicon Aidan Harte-small The Warring States-small Spira Mirabilis Aidan Harte-small

Spira Mirabilis Aidan Harte-back-smallIn her review of Irenicon, the opening novel in Aidan Harte’s Wave Trilogy, Sarah Avery wrote:

Welcome to Rasenna, a shining city-state turned failed state, where river spirits haunt the streets and mistake themselves for the citizens they’ve drowned. Rasenna’s people hide in their towers at night, and even by day fear the river their enemy wielded to cut their city in two…. Can a city recover from two decades of grief, madness, and self-destruction? Can these people change in time to save themselves? They’d better, because the rival city of sorcerous Engineers that smashed them before may well do so again…

Aidan Harte has been justly praised for his world-building in his debut novel. Irenicon is, almost, what we might get if Italo Calvino’s classic Invisible Cities had lingered for a few hundred pages in one of its gem-perfect vignettes… Irenicon would make a perfect action film. Aidan Harte gives us a pretty good view of the movie he must have seen in his mind while he was writing. The flashing banners of Rasenna’s homegrown martial art, the glorious decay of a city that breeds endless tension, the disturbing chill of Concord’s purity and the darkness at its foundation, and (oh my!) the uncanny otherness of the river spirits could be the making of a summer blockbuster.

Sounded pretty dang good to me, but I resisted the urge to dive in right away. Partly because I gave Sarah our only review copy. But mostly because these days I avoid trilogies until I can hold all three titles in my greedy little hands. That resolution became harder and harder to keep as the accolades continued to pile up (click on the back cover of the third volume, at right, for some examples). But my long wait is finally over. The Warring States, the second volume, was published on April 7, 2015, and the final book, Spira Mirabilis, will be released in two weeks… and our review copy arrived last week. Interns, hold all my calls. I’m on assignment.

Spira Mirabilis will be published by Jo Fletcher Books on April 5, 2016. It is 522 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover. The cover is by Ghost.

Screw ISIS! Here Are Five Great Reasons to Visit Brussels

Screw ISIS! Here Are Five Great Reasons to Visit Brussels

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These colors don’t run! Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Well, the pseudo-Muslims are at it again, killing innocent people and trying to turn one of the world’s great faiths into a whacked-out death cult. It’s been 24 hours since the Brussels attacks and now people are mourning, the politicians are posturing, and the police are hunting down suspects. A few extra bombing runs against Islamic State are probably being planned too.

It is, sadly, all too predictable. We’ve seen this before and we will see it again. So I’d like to buck the vibe and take a look at what Brussels has to offer visitors. It’s a beautiful European capital that’s all too often overlooked by people headed to more popular destinations such as London and Paris. That’s a shame, because I’ve visited Belgium several times and have always enjoyed my visits to the city. It’s a fun place with great food, awesome beer, and plenty to see. The fundamentalists haven’t changed that and never will. Here are five things you won’t want to miss.

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ChiZine Announces Don Bassingthwaite’s Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight

ChiZine Announces Don Bassingthwaite’s Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight

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Cocktails at Seven Apocalypse at Eight-smallDon Bassingthwaite is a man of many talents. We published his terrific sword & sorcery tale “Barbarian Instinct” in Black Gate 5, and an excerpt from his unpublished Kingdoms of Kalamar novel Point of the Knife in Black Gate 7. On top of that, he was the magazine’s Games Editor for our first four years, recruiting top-notch talent to write reviews for us, including Jennifer Brozek, Howard Andrew Jones, Dave Webb, Johanna Meade, and Michael Thibault.

Don’s writing career has taken him to the top of the industry, with a dozen novels in the last ten years, from publishers like Wizards of the Coast and White Wolf. Over the years he’s also produced a series of highly regarded holiday tales, collectively known as the “Derby Cavendish” stories.

Earlier this month Don revealed the cover of his first short story collection, Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight: The Derby Cavendish Stories, in a Facebook post.

What’s this? A collection? Oh, you shouldn’t have!

ChiZine Publications has just revealed the cover (by the incomparable Erik Mohr) for my forthcoming collection Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight: The Derby Cavendish Stories — more details to come but look for it this fall!

Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight: The Derby Cavendish Stories will be available in both ebook and print editions. Look for it from Canadian publisher ChiZine later this year. I don’t have many more details at the moment — but trust me, as soon as I know more, so will you!

See our survey of ChiZine’s gorgeous 2014 catalog here.

PublishAmerica Settles Lawsuit Against Writer Beware

PublishAmerica Settles Lawsuit Against Writer Beware

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Writer Beware Logo-smallVictoria Strauss had a review column, Fantastic Fiction: Books for Younger Readers, in the first three print issues of Black Gate. She was marvelous to work with, and her column was one of my favorite parts of the magazine, but her own growing success as a novelist (Garden of Stone, The Burning Land, The Awakened City) soon stole her away from us.

With author A.C. Crispin, Victoria founded the invaluable Writer Beware, a SFWA-backed volunteer organization that roots out and exposes scammers and con artists preying on aspiring writers. Today Victoria announced the settlement of an ongoing suit that arose from those efforts.

I’m finally getting to post about something I’ve been keeping under my hat for quite some time… On March 18, 2014, America Star Books, formerly PublishAmerica, filed suit against me, Michael Capobianco, Rich White, and Writer Beware in the Circuit Court for Charles County, MD.

The lawsuit alleged defamation per se on the basis of two posts from this blog: one from March 2013 covering the second class action lawsuit filed against PublishAmerica, and one from January 2014 covering PublishAmerica’s new name and services as America Star Books. A total of $800,000 in punitive and compensatory damages was demanded, plus interest and attorneys’ fees…

After a long delay by the Maryland court, the case reached the discovery stage. Shortly after my attorneys sent interrogatories and discovery requests to ASB, ASB’s attorney, Victor Cretella, contacted us to discuss the possibility of a settlement. A final settlement was signed by all parties in January of this year. In exchange for agreement by myself, Michael, and Rich not to seek recovery of legal fees, ASB agreed to release all claims asserted against me, Michael, Rich, and Writer Beware, and to stipulate to Dismissal With Prejudice. ASB does not admit any lack of merit, nor do I and the other defendants admit any liability.

I’m enormously pleased to see Victoria, and Writer Beware, prevail in this suit. Read Victoria’s complete announcement here.

New Treasures: The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox

New Treasures: The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox

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The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle-smallThe prolific Janet Fox, who wrote dozens of fantasy and SF stories between 1970-1995, as well as the Scorpio series (under the name Alex McDonough), was best known in later years as editor and publisher of the weird fiction journal Scavenger’s Newsletter. She died in 2009, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a brand new novel with her byline arrive last week.

Turns out this isn’t the same Janet Fox. This Janet Fox lives in the UK, and is the author of Sirens, Forgiven, and Faithful. The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle is her fourth novel, a spooky tale of ghosts, ruined castles, and nazis. That’s all I need to know. I’m in.

“Keep calm and carry on.”

That’s what Katherine Bateson’s father told her, and that’s what she’s trying to do: when her father goes off to the war, when her mother sends Kat and her brother and sister away from London to escape the incessant bombing, even when the children arrive at Rookskill Castle, an ancient, crumbling manor on the misty Scottish highlands.

But it’s hard to keep calm in the strange castle that seems haunted by ghosts or worse. What’s making those terrifying screeches and groans at night? Why do the castle’s walls seem to have a mind of their own? And why do people seem to mysteriously appear and disappear?

Kat believes she knows the answer: Lady Eleanor, who rules Rookskill Castle, is harboring a Nazi spy. But when her classmates begin to vanish, one by one, Kat must uncover the truth about what the castle actually harbors — and who Lady Eleanor really is — before it’s too late.

The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle was published by Viking Books for Young Readers on March 15, 2016. It is 400 pages, priced at $16.99 in hardcover and $10.99 for the digital edition.

Fantasy Scroll Magazine 11 Now Available

Fantasy Scroll Magazine 11 Now Available

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Fantasy Scroll Magazine Issue 11-small The eleventh issue of the online-only Fantasy Scroll Magazine, cover dated February 2016, is now available. In his editorial editor Frederick Doot gives us a sneak peek of the contents. Here’s a snippet:

We start 2016 with the heartfelt and enchanting “Sundark and Winterling” by Suzanne J. Willis featuring one of the most extraordinary homes you could imagine. The story hits all the right notes. We then move on to Paul Magnan’s “Red Cup,” a unique story that takes an inside look of trials and tribulations of a flower; no, it’s not all roses for our hero Red Cup. Next we are swept into a chaotic world with Stephen Walter Simpson’s “The Water Moon” following the fascinating life, and secret to some, of the lead character, Ivan.

We welcome another contribution by J.W. Alden, this time a flash fiction gem, “Battle Lines” which hits us early and hard, as the best science fiction flash stories can do. How can you settle the hostilities and egos and a decision between rival guildsman? “Talking with Honored Guests” by Alexander Monteagudo may provide one fiery way how.

Fantasy Scroll Magazine was long overdue for a pet alien love story, and we found a beaut with Ian Creasey’s “How I Lost Eleven Stone And Found Love,” a much more endearing story than the title suggests. We are happy that “The Great Excuse” by Jacob Michael King has found a home here at FSM; I won’t give much away, but I will say that Lovecraft would be proud. “The Velna Valsis” by Henry Szabranski is short, but sometimes a short jab to the gut is all you need to make your point, and this one hits the reader hard.

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