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Year: 2016

Three Ways to Write a Cast of Supporting Characters Without Confusing the Reader

Three Ways to Write a Cast of Supporting Characters Without Confusing the Reader

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But what were their names?

Remember the 1950s The Vikings? Tony Curtis versus Kirk Douglas. But what were their characters called?

How about Gladiator? Russel Crowe as Maximus. Can you remember the names of the other characters?

Pirates of the Caribbean? Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. I bet you can name the other actors. What about their character names?

The nice thing about movies is that they have actors. Even if we don’t know their names, we do remember and then recognise them. So when Maximus’ right-hand man betrays him, we know who he is even if we can’t recall his name and didn’t realise how significant he was when we first saw him.

It’s harder with prose. Much, much, harder. As soon as you have more than a handful of characters, you’re faced with two problems: seeding and identifying.

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The July Fantasy Magazine Rack

The July Fantasy Magazine Rack

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We had several significant firsts in the front half of July. We celebrated the launch of a brand new magazine, Blind Spot, edited by Julien Wacquez and René-Marc Dolhen and dedicated to bringing the best of French SF to English audiences. And just as monumental for me personally, Sean McLachlan covered issue #280 of Strategy and Tactics, perhaps the greatest wargaming magazine of all time. And Matthew David Surridge took a fond look back at Xignals, Waldenbooks’ in-house SF magazine in the late 80s and 90s.

We had plenty for vintage magazine fans this month, too — including a look at The Strange and Happy Life of The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology, and Rich Horton’s Retro Review of the April 1951 Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Check out all the details on the magazines above by clicking on the each of the images. Our Late June Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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New Treasures: The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán

New Treasures: The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán

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Knights riding dinosaurs! It’s so far over the top, it’s almost irresistible. The first installment in Victor Milán’s dino-chivalry mash-up was The Dinosaur Lords, which appeared in hardcover last August, to a surprising amount of critical praise (and more than a few astonished stares.) The second volume, The Dinosaur Knights, was published by Tor earlier this month.

Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often cruel world. There are humans on Paradise but dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden, and of war. Armored knights ride dinosaurs to battle legions of war-trained Triceratops and their upstart peasant crews.

Karyl Bogomirsky is one such knight who has chosen to rally those who seek a way from the path of war and madness. The fact that the Empire has announced a religious crusade against this peaceful kingdom, the people who just wish to live in peace anathema, and they all are to be converted or destroyed doesn’t help him one bit.

Things really turn to mud when the dreaded Grey Angels, fabled ancient weapons of the Gods who created Paradise in the first place come on the scene after almost a millennia. Everyone thought that they were fables used to scare children. They are very much real.

And they have come to rid the world of sin… including all the humans who manifest those vices.

Emily Mah interviewed author Victor Milán for us last year, just before the release of The Dinosaur Lords — check it out here.

The Dinosaur Knights was published by Tor Books on July 5, 2016. It is 444 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Richard Anderson.

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Mycroft’s Job

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Mycroft’s Job

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Mycroft_SP1One of the things I enjoy about being a Sherlockian (no, I don’t mean a fan of the BBC television show) is the way ‘one thing leads into another’ and you can explore all kinds of avenues and lanes, wandering here and there, encountering interesting stuff. That was a long sentence!

I was fortunate enough to be included in the upcoming MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Part V. In the early part of my story, The Case of the Ruby Necklace (yes, I know, captivating title), I had cause to include a passage from A Study in Scarlet:

“Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault, they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you can have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can’t unravel the thousand and first.”

“And these other people?” I asked, regarding the many strangers that visited our rooms for private sessions with Holmes. I had wondered if he were not some kind of fortuneteller and too embarrassed to tell me so.

“They are mostly sent on by private enquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.”

“But do you mean to say,” I said, “that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?”

“Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You see I have a lot of special knowledge, which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. Observation with me is second nature.”

 

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Lara Destiny and the Question of Identity

Lara Destiny and the Question of Identity

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61kUt9hg1UL._UX250_Dick Enos has proven himself one of the most prolific New Pulp writers since he emerged five years ago.

What sets Dick apart from many of his contemporaries is his unwavering vision to create original pulp characters. Until recently, I was only familiar with Rick Steele, the adventurous 1950s test pilot who has appeared in seven novels thus far. Rick is cut very much from the mold of the classic newspaper strip, Steve Canyon and OTR and Golden Age of Television favorite, Sky King.

I was vaguely aware that Dick had launched a second series featuring an original character, a female private eye called Lara Destiny. I immediately thought of Max Allan Collins’ Ms. Tree and Sara Paretsky’s V. I. Warshawski. Female private eyes were a rarity in hardboiled circles thirty years ago, but what could Enos offer in the way of a new twist? The fact that Lara Destiny was born Lawrence Destiny is a good starting point.

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in June

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in June

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Osprey Catalaunian FieldsAh, June. Not a bad month at all, now that I look back on it.

For one thing, M Harold Page pointed out how Osprey Publishing made a compelling argument for the true location of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, otherwise known as the Battle of Chalons, in “OMG They Found It! Osprey’s The Catalaunian Fields AD451.” That casual revelation was enough to catapult Martin’s article to the top of a crowded field, giving him our most popular blog post last month.

I finally had time to compile my lengthy notes on my favorite Chicago con, in “Total Pulp Victory: A Report on Windy City Pulp & Paper 2016, Part I,” our number 2 post for the month. It was followed by a guest blog post by Babylon 5 actress Claudia Christian and author Morgan Grant Buchanan on their first joint project, the ambitious Wolf’s Empire series.

Coming in at number 4 last month was our Vintage Treasures feature on H. Rider Haggard’s The People of the Mist, followed by Derek Kunsken’s look at “Rebirth: DC’s Corrective Reboot.”

Rounding out the Top Ten were Fletcher Vredenburgh’s review of L. Sprague de Camp’s classic S&S tale The Tritonian Ring, our report on a detailed feature on Perry Rhodan in the summer issue of SFX, my look at Asmodee’s Fantasy Empire game Hyperborea, and no less than two articles from William Patrick Maynard: the first installment of his exploration of Marvel’s classic Master of Kung Fu comic, and “The Fu Manchu That Almost Was.”

The complete list of Top Articles for June follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular overall articles, online fiction, and blog categories for the month.

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Future Treasures: Red Right Hand by Levi Black

Future Treasures: Red Right Hand by Levi Black

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Red Right Hand Levi Black-smallRed Right Hand is the debut novel from Atlanta writer Levi Black. Jonathan Maberry calls it “A perfect blend of old-school horror and modern storytelling sorcery… absolutely riveting!”

Charlie Tristan Moore isn’t a hero. She’s a survivor. Already wrestling with the demons of her past, she finds herself tested as never before when she arrives home one night to find herself under attack by three monstrous skinhounds straight out of a nightmare. Just as hope seems lost, she is saved by a sinister Man in Black, dressed in a long, dark coat that seems to possess a life of its own and wielding a black-bladed sword in his grisly red right hand.

But her rescue comes at a cost. The Man in Black, a diabolical Elder God, demands she become his Acolyte and embrace a dark magick she never knew she possessed. To ensure her obedience, he takes her friend and possible love, Daniel, in thrall as a hostage. Now she must join The Man in Black in his crusade to track down and destroy his fellow Elder Gods, supposedly to save humanity from being devoured for all eternity.

But is The Man in Black truly the lesser of two evils – or a menace far more treacherous than the eldritch horrors she’s battling in his name?

I first heard of it at the B&N blog, in Jeff Somers’s post “The Long Arm of Lovecraft: 8 Books That Probe the Mythos,” which also examines Ruthanna Emrys’ The Litany of Earth, Jacqueline Baker’s The Broken Hours, and Nick Mamatas’ I Am Providence. On Red Right Hand, Jeff says:

Charlie… survives an attack by a trio of monstrous skinhounds thanks to the intervention of the Man in Black, whose long coats swirls with a mind of its own and whose grisly red right hand clutches a black blade. The Man in Black is in fact an Elder God, and he enlists Charlie’s help in destroying his peers, claiming to be trying to save mankind. Charlie dives into the fray, unsure if there’s such a thing as the “lesser of two evils” when it comes to Lovecraftian creatures. Readers will be sucked in by the bravado writing.

Red Right Hand will be published by Tor Books on July 26, 2016. It is 304 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition. Read an excerpt here.

Thinking about the Evolution of Marvel Comics’ Star-Lord

Thinking about the Evolution of Marvel Comics’ Star-Lord

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Marvel’s conception of Star-Lord for the 1970s and 80s.

I’ve been doing a bit of thinking lately about puzzling characters in comics and how they change over time. In the last couple of weeks, I decided to reread they comics I’ve got around with the Marvel Universe’ Peter Quill, also known as the Star-Lord.

Now, for those who’ve been living in a hole for the last decade, or for those who only know Peter Quill from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Peter Quill made his first appearance in 1976 in Marvel Preview #4 (a black and white magazine), under the creators Steve Englehart and Steve Gan, who envisioned him as an unpleasant, introverted jerk who would go on to grow into a cosmic hero.

I love that arc, and wonder how much it was kicking around then. Around the same time, Jim Starlin wanted to do something similar with Captain Marvel, but Marvel didn’t give him the character, so he did it with Adam Warlock (see my thoughts on that in my series on Adam Warlock I, II, III).

Star-Lord didn’t reappear until Marvel Preview #11, this time under Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (the team that would later moved over to Uncanny X-Men from #108 to #143, famously creating the Hellfire Club, the Phoenix Saga, and the Days of Future Past).

Under Claremont, he wasn’t the introverted jerk, but a straight-faced loner, traveling the space-ways. I haven’t read the Heinlein juveniles, but it sounds like Claremont was aiming for that kind of bland square-jawed adventurer, and that persona stuck in Star-Lord’s appearances through the 70s and 80s.

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Dorsai and Secret Psi Powers: Rich Horton on The Genetic General/Time to Teleport by Gordon R. Dickson

Dorsai and Secret Psi Powers: Rich Horton on The Genetic General/Time to Teleport by Gordon R. Dickson

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Over at Strange at Ecbatan, Rich Horton turns his attention to an author who’s rapidly being forgotten in the 21st Century: Gordon R. Dickson.

So this time an Ace Double featuring a pretty significant novel in SF history, by a pretty significant writer. The Genetic General is much better known as Dorsai!, the title under which it was serialized in Astounding in 1959… Dorsai! was the first major story in Dickson’s central series, called The Childe Cycle… The Genetic General is about a young man of the Dorsai people, from the planet called Dorsai, orbiting Fomalhaut. The Dorsai are mercenaries, and Donal Graeme, as the book opens, is a very young man just ready to go out into the wider human civilization and take on his first assignment. Immediately he encounters a beautiful but scared woman, Anea, the Select of Kultis, one of the Exotic worlds. She has taken a contract to be an escort for the powerful merchant William of Ceta, and wants Donal to get rid of it. He of course realizes that would be a crime and a mistake, and so refuses, but he is set on a collision course with William…

It’s early Dickson, not as well done as some of his later work. But it is quite exciting, and Donal’s military feats make good stories. And Dickson’s ambition is quite apparent — he is interested in deeper themes than just good adventure. I quite enjoyed the book.

Dorsai! was a major installment in a highly popular multi-novel sequence from Dickson, and it remained in print for decades. As Rich noted, it originally appeared in Astounding, serialized across three issues (May, June, and July) in 1959.

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An Introduction to B.C. Bell’s The Bagman

An Introduction to B.C. Bell’s The Bagman

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Author B. Chris Bell is one of the bright lights of the New Pulp world. For Airship 27 Productions he’s written stories appearing in Secret Agent X, The Green Ghost, Jim Anthony Super-Detective, Gene Fowler: G-Man and many others. His wonderful story, “How Pappy Got Five Acres Back and Calvin Stayed on the Farm” was a winner in SFReader.com’s 2007 Annual Short Story Contest. He made the Horror Writer’s Association Reading List for 2012. His Kindle novel, Bi-Polar Express, is a wild ride of genres, almost impossible to label with its mix of the true-to-life horrors of addiction, rehab wards, hospitals, and post-apocalyptic science fiction.

Chris Bell was born and raised in Texas, and now lives in Chicago. I was born and raised in Chicago, and still live here. But Bell writes about Chicago as if he were born and bred to the mean streets of the Windy City. Heck, he knows so much about 1930s Chicago that you swear he’d grown up during the Depression. And that’s the period in which he’s set his wonderful Tales of the Bagman (Vol. 1): 1933 Chicago, during the last days of Prohibition.

The Bagman is one Frank “Mac” McCullough, a one-time courier and thug for a crime family during the Great Depression. At an early age Mac’s life took a major turn when he became an orphan, spent time in a reformatory, and then later got involved in the rackets. But he’s always had a core of decency and honesty buried in his heart. So when he chooses to help and old family friend who got in hock to the Mob, Mac turns his back on crime and his Boss, Slots Lurie, and suddenly finds himself taking another turn on the road of life. In a last-minute decision to conceal his identity from the wise guys he’s hunting, Mac dons a paper bag over his head, and soon he’s known as the mysterious Bagman. (Later he acquires a mask more appropriate to being a man of mystery and a crime-fighting avenger.) And then, in the first part of this origin story, he becomes a fugitive wanted by both the Mob and the police.

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