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Year: 2016

New Treasures: Those Below, Book II of The Empty Throne by Daniel Polansky

New Treasures: Those Below, Book II of The Empty Throne by Daniel Polansky

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Those Above Daniel Polansky-small Those Below Daniel Polansky-small

Daniel Polansky’s first novel, Low Town, was followed by two sequels, Tomorrow the Killing (2012) and She Who Waits (2013). His recent entry in Tor.com‘s line of novellas, The Builders, is a dark anthropomorphic fantasy featuring a company of warriors keeping a low profile after being on the losing end of a grueling war. In our recent contest, in which we invited readers to summarize their favorite novella in one sentence, it was hands-down the most popular choice, with entries like these:

The Builders by Daniel Polansky is Beatrix Potter as directed by Sam Peckinpah — Greg Hersom
The Builders by Daniel Polansky: Redwall meets The Wild Bunch, and it all goes to hell — Rich Miller
The Builders is the best critter tale ever: Winnie the Pooh this ain’t! — Lee Hunter

His 2015 novel Those Above, the opening entry in The Empty Throne, was called “Machiavellian clockwork glory” by Mark Lawrence. The second and final novel in the series, Those Below, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK last month.

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Brederode: A 14th Century Castle in the Netherlands

Brederode: A 14th Century Castle in the Netherlands

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In the North Holland province of the Netherlands stands the atmospheric ruin of Brederode Castle, a battered survivor of a violent past.

Unlike the more popular Dutch castle Muiderslot, which I’ve also written about here on Black Gate, Brederode is mostly ruins but still makes a rewarding day trip from Amsterdam.

Brederode started as a bailey and square keep built in 1282 by Willem van Brederode to guard an important coastal road. In 1300 the original fortification was rebuilt with a large keep with three square and one round tower at the corners. A moat surrounded the entire structure. In 1351, it was the scene of fighting in the so-called Hook and Cod Wars. This was a struggle over the rights to the title of the Count of Holland. The “Cod” faction was mainly made up of city merchants and was called this by their enemies in the landed nobility because a cod will continue to greedily eat and grow as long as there’s food to consume. The traditional nobility called themselves the “Hooks” because, of course, that’s what you use to catch a cod. The Brederode family was part of the Hook faction but this proved to be a bad decision because a Cod force besieged the castle in 1351 and destroyed it.

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Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1953: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1953: A Retro-Review

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Galaxy April 1953-small Galaxy April 1953 contents-small

Galaxy’s April, 1953 issue includes a story by fellow Hoosier, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. I hadn’t read any of his work previously. Gasp! So I was excited to find something of his within Galaxy.

“Made in U.S.A.” by J. T. M’Intosh — Roderick began a divorce trial with his newlywed wife, Alison. The couple had been in love, but when Roderick found out she was an android, he wanted to end the marriage. Though androids are identical to humans in many ways, they lack the ability to produce children. As to why Alison withheld the truth of who she was, it was within the statutes of the law — androids have equal status in society.

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Series Fantasy: The Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham

Series Fantasy: The Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham

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The Dragon's Path-small The King's Blood-small The Tyrant's Law-small

Daniel Abraham has had quite a career. Under his own name he wrote the four volumes in the Long Price Quartet for Tor, starting with A Shadow in Summer (2006). Under the name M. L. N. Hanover, he produced five novels in the popular Black Sun’s Daughter urban fantasy series for Pocket, starting with Unclean Spirits (2008). And writing with Ty Franck under the name James S. A. Corey, he’s released five books in the breakout space opera series The Expanse for Orbit, currently being adapted by SyFy.

On top of all of that, he also found time to complete The Dagger and the Coin, an epic fantasy series for Orbit that wrapped up last month with its fifth volume, The Spider’s War. That’s…. let me do the math… nineteen novels in the last decade. Throw in the additional books he dashed off in his spare time (the Star Wars novel Honor Among Thieves (2014), his 2010 collection Leviathan Wept and Other Stories, the collaborative novel Hunter’s Run with George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, four A Song of Ice and Fire graphic novels, plus assorted chapbooks and numerous short stories), and I quickly lose count. Suffice to say, I think you could make an effective case for Abraham as the busiest writer in fantasy.

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A Helluva Detour: The Mysterious Island

A Helluva Detour: The Mysterious Island

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The Mysterious Island (1961)
Based on a novel by Jules Verne
Directed by Cy Endfield

It wasn’t my intention to watch a bunch of adventure movies lately that all dated from the early Sixties. It just worked out that way. As coincidence would have it, the three I watched shared a similar theme — that of being stranded. The Lost World (1960) found a group of adventurers stranded on a high plateau in South America. In Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), well, you can figure that one out. In The Mysterious Island (1961), a group of Union soldiers and a Confederate find their balloon swept way off course, all the way from Virginia to a point located somewhere in the South Sea Islands of the Pacific Ocean. Which is a helluva detour, by my reckoning.

Like The Lost World, which was based on a story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Mysterious Island is an adaption of a work by a well-known author of yesteryear. Jules Verne’s first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was published in 1863 and in the next decade or so he turned out a number of books, including Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. He returned to balloon adventures in The Mysterious Island, which was published in 1874. But it was hardly the end of the line for the prolific Verne, who had written his best known novels by this time, but who turned out many more novels before his death in 1905.

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Read K. M. Ferebee’s “Tom, Thom” at Tor.com

Read K. M. Ferebee’s “Tom, Thom” at Tor.com

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Tom, Thom by K. M. Ferebee-smallI’m not familiar with K. M. Ferebee, but a quick visit to her website, The Conference of the Birds, tells me she’s published short stories in Shimmer, Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

It was her recent appearance at Tor.com that really attracted my attention, however. “Tom, Thom” is a dark fantasy tale available free online.

Young Tom has always dreamed of wolves, which everyone knows don’t exist. One day he goes out for a log from the woodpile, and when he returns, there is another Tom, like him, but other. This dark and compelling tale from short fiction writer K. M. Ferebee will make you reconsider what may be lurking in the forest.

“Tom, Thom” was posted at Tor.com on February 3. It was edited by Liz Gorinsky, and illustrated by Rovina Cai. It’s available here.

We last covered Tor.com with A.M. Dellamonica’s epic fantasy “The Glass Galago.” For more free fiction, see all of our online magazine coverage here.”

Future Treasures: Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis

Future Treasures: Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis

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Masks and Shadows-smallStephanie Burgis is the author of the Kat, Incorrigible trilogy of Regency fantasy adventures for kids. Masks and Shadows, a tale of music, masquerades, and magic, is her first historical fantasy novel for adults, and it looks very promising indeed.

It’s getting some marvelous notices from writers I admire, including Aliette de Bodard (“Romance, music, and dark alchemy rise to a pitch-perfect ending”), Ellen Kushner (“Elegant and exciting… [it] delighted and enlightened me as much as it entertained”) and Kate Elliot (“Deftly told and hugely engaging… weaves together… a thrilling taste of love and politics, and the bitter threat of a deadly magic.”)

The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most renowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. With Carlo in Prince Nikolaus Esterházy’s carriage, ride a Prussian spy and one of the most notorious alchemists in the Habsburg Empire. Already at Eszterháza is Charlotte von Steinbeck, the very proper sister of Prince Nikolaus’s mistress. Charlotte has retreated to the countryside to mourn her husband’s death. Now, she must overcome the ingrained rules of her society in order to uncover the dangerous secrets lurking within the palace’s golden walls. Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress — a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet.

Masks and Shadows will be published by Pyr on April 12, 2016. It is 300 pages, priced at $17 in trade paperback, and $9.99 for the digital edition.

The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth

The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth

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oie_41116gM9IFpIH                                                                                                             who is thu

                                                                                                             who is thu i can not cnaw

                                                                                                             what is angland to thu what is left of angland

                                                                                                             i specs i specs

                                                                                                             but no man lystens

                                                                                                                                                  from The Wake

For nearly four hundred pages Buccmaster of Holland, protagonist of Paul Kingsnorth’s The Wake, speaks — first warning against impending doom, then trying to rally his fellow Englishmen against their Norman conquerors, and always trying to explain and justify himself. Though most people he meets — his tenants, his family, even his fellow guerillas — don’t listen, I did.

Even though he speaks in an amalgam of Old and contemporary English, he speaks forcefully, and I listened to every word, every mad thought, every angry conversation with gods, and every poetic meditation on England. Numerous times I found myself speaking his words aloud, falling into a cadence at once alien and familiar. Alien because it’s an English stripped of nearly every non-Germanic accretion. Familiar because the author’s invented Saxon vernacular feels like it’s exposing some ancient rhythm that’s encoded into the very syntax and syllables of English. This is one of the most immersive and enthralling books I have ever read.

NOTE: Since readers here don’t have the benefit of the book’s glossary and pronunciation guide, I heartily recommend reading out loud the passages I’ve included in this review. Words that look odd will be immediately familiar when spoken aloud.

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In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Fourteen

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Fourteen

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In The Wake of Sister Blue Mark Rigney-medium

Linked below, you’ll find the fourteenth installment of a brand-new serialized novel, In the Wake Of Sister Blue. The battle for the armory is the main order of business, followed by a benedictory aftermath. But wait, we’re not done yet! The final installment will follow in two weeks’ time, so stay tuned –– and for those who fear I’m writing a doorstop, be reassured. This will be Book One of a pair (but no, not an ongoing, endless cycle), and the Great Divide between the two is all but in reach.

A number of you will already be familiar with my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“), and if you enjoyed those titles (or perhaps my unexpectedly popular D&D-related post, “Youth In a Box,”) I think you’ll also find much to like in this latest venture. Oh, and if you’re only now discovering this portal, may I suggest you begin at the beginning? The Spur awaits…

Read the first installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read the fourteenth and latest installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

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New Treasures: Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

New Treasures: Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

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Unhooked-smallLisa Maxwell is the author of Sweet Unrest and Gathering Deep. Her latest is an unusual retelling of Peter Pan…. or, if you prefer, an atmospheric fantasy novel about a kidnapped girl brought to an island inhabited by fairies, a roguish ship captain, and bloodthirsty beasts.

For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home. Her mother believes they are being hunted by brutal monsters, and those delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. Gwen’s only saving grace is that her best friend, Olivia, is with her for the summer.

But shortly after their arrival, the girls are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and dragged to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey. And Gwen begins to realize that maybe her mother isn’t so crazy after all…

Gwen discovers that this new world she inhabits is called Neverland, but it’s nothing like the Neverland you’ve heard about in stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through your fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and tries to find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the captivating pirate who promises to keep her safe.

Caught in the ultimate battle between good and evil, with time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to finally face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But can she save Neverland without losing herself?

Unhooked was published by Simon Pulse on February 2, 2016. It is 352 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover and $11.99 in digital format.