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Author: John ONeill

Ares Magazine 3 Now Available

Ares Magazine 3 Now Available

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ares-magazine-3-smallSPI’s Ares Magazine was one of the best things about the 70s and 80s. Seriously, a top-notch game magazine with an original SF or fantasy boardgame crammed into every issue? You know that was just too cool to last.

It didn’t, of course. The magazine folded after only  19 issues, but in that time it produced many games that are still fondly-remembered today, like Greg Costikyan’s Barbarian Kings, the Alien-inspired The Wreck of the B.S.M. Pandora, the post-apocalyptic strategy title The Omega War, the haunted house exploration game Nightmare House, and lots more.

In early 2014 Matthew Wuertz reported here on the successful rebirth of Ares Magazine. The first issue shipped that year, and issue #2 arrived late last year. I was especially intrigued by the fantasy-themed third issue, containing the extremely ambitious game Born of Titans, a game of quests and heroes in Mythological Greece.

Born of Titans is the issue game in Ares issue 3. It is a game of heroism in the world of ancient Greek mythology. One to four may play, with special rules at the end for one and two-player games. Each player portrays a hero from legend who undertakes quests to battle with fierce monsters and retrieve epic artifacts.

Each player controls the actions of one Hero selected at the start of the game. Hero counters are moved on the map… A Hero with no remaining Crew is essentially alone on a raft. Her crew is dead or has run off…

In the fashion of good mythology, BoT relies on a generous amount of Prophesy… This is important so a player can know what sort of challenge she faces on her next Quest or what a particular Sea Monster is… The first player to gain a third Completed Quest wins the game!

Sadly, Born of Titans experienced several significant delays, and eventually Ares #3 shipped without it. The company store still lists the standalone version of the game for pre-order, with estimated arrival in May 2016. However, sites like FRP Games are now listing the magazine available with game included, for shipment this month.

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John DeNardo Proves Lovecraftian Fiction is Alive and Well

John DeNardo Proves Lovecraftian Fiction is Alive and Well

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Over at Kirkus Reviews, the tireless John DeNardo gives us the rundown on the latest in Lovecraftian horror, including The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson.

In this haunting novella, Kij Johnson takes readers on a journey across a dream landscape reminiscent of Lovecraft’s weird and wonderful writing. The protagonist, Professor Vellitt Boe, who teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women’s College, learns that one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world. Because this student may be the only one who can save the community, Vellitt must retrieve her – a quest that introduces her to fantasy landscapes and creatures that should exist only in nightmares. Johnson’s enthralling tale is both a commentary of Lovecraftian fiction as well as an example of it.

He’s equally intrigued by Swords v. Cthulhu, edited by Jesse Bullington and Molly Tanzer.

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Future Treasures: The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman

Future Treasures: The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman

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the-evil-wizard-smallbone-smallDelia Sherman is the author of the Andre Norton Award-winning The Freedom Maze,  Through a Brazen Mirror, The Porcelain Dove, and The Fall of the Kings (2002, with Ellen Kushner). Her latest novel is an ambitious (and very funny) tale of Nick, a lost boy who finds himself an unlikely apprentice to the ancient, sorta evil, but mostly just grumpy wizard Smallbone. It contains magic spells, enchanted animals, dueling wizards, biker werewolf minions, and much more.

When twelve-year-old Nick runs away from his uncle’s in the middle of a blizzard, he stumbles onto a very opinionated bookstore. He also meets its guardian, the self-proclaimed Evil Wizard Smallbone, who calls Nick his apprentice and won’t let him leave, but won’t teach him magic, either. It’s a good thing the bookstore takes Nick’s magical education in hand, because Smallbone’s nemesis — the Evil Wizard Fidelou — and his pack of shape-shifting bikers are howling at the borders. Smallbone might call himself evil, but compared to Fidelou, he’s practically a puppy. And he can’t handle Fidelou alone.

Wildly funny and cozily heartfelt, Delia Sherman’s latest is an eccentric fantasy adventure featuring dueling wizards, enchanted animals, and one stray boy.

Our previous coverage of Delia Sherman includes:

Read “The Great Detective” by Delia Sherman at Tor.com
Time Travel and YA Lit: A Talk with Delia Sherman, by Patty Templeton
Delia Sherman’s “The Wizard’s Apprentice” at Podcastle, by C.S.E. Cooney

The Evil Wizard Smallbone will be published by Candlewick on September 13, 2016. It is 416 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover, and $9.99 for the digital edition.

New Treasures: Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Tales edited by Jonathan E. Lewis

New Treasures: Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Tales edited by Jonathan E. Lewis

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Here’s a fun little artifact, eminently suitable for late summer reading: Jonathan E. Lewis’s anthology of classic (and pulp) Egyptian dark fantasies, Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Tales, published in trade paperback in July as part of the Stark House Supernatural Classics line.

Lewis has done a fine job assembling a stellar line-up of dark fantasy and horror stories featuring mummies, curses, ancient Egyptian vampires, and lots more. In addition to classic tales from Edgar Allan Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, and Sax Rohmer, there’s a quartet of stories from Weird Tales (by Frank Belknap Long, E. Hoffmann Price, John Murray Reynolds — and Tennessee Williams!), Algernon Blackwood’s novella “A Descent Into Egypt,” and two excerpts: one from the first mummy novel ever written in English, Jane Webb Loudon’s The Mummy (1827), and one from Bram Stoker’s classic The Jewel of Seven Stars.

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Alan Moore’s Jerusalem Arrives Next Week

Alan Moore’s Jerusalem Arrives Next Week

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Alan Moore is one of the most celebrated writers of the last 30 years. His most famous work — including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, Batman: The Killing Joke, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — is arguably the canonical literature of modern comics. And let’s face it, whether you’re a comics reader or not, the most valuable media properties on the planet today (Batman, Iron Man, Superman, X-Men, Spider-Man, Captain America, and Deadpool, just to name a handful) all trace their first seminal steps into the world of adult literature directly to the early comics of Alan Moore.

Jerusalem is — by far — Moore’s most ambitious work. Among comics fans it has acquired an almost legendary status, as Moore has been working on it — and dropping cryptic hints about it — for roughly a decade. In his 2012 review of Moore’s first novel, Voice of the Fire, Matthew David Surridge summarized some of the anticipation surrounding Jerusalem.

How do you follow a book like this? Moore’s currently working on his second novel, Jerusalem. It’s scheduled for publication in autumn of 2013; reports suggest it’ll be 750,000 words long (about the length of two volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire put together), be set entirely in an area of a few city blocks in Moore’s home of Northampton, and, according to Moore, disprove the existence of death. It’ll be concerned with time, different chapters set in different eras; like Voice of the Fire, it seems. What transformations will we see in it? How different will it be? Voice of the Fire‘s a strong book that, in its ellipses, promises more. Now that we shall have. What spirits shall we see? What work shall it accomplish?

At 1280 pages, one thing’s for certain: Jerusalem certainly delivers more. What’s it about, then? Well, that’s sort of hard to describe.

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Is Robert Reed the New Century’s Most Compelling SF Voice?

Is Robert Reed the New Century’s Most Compelling SF Voice?

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The Memory of Sky wraparound cover

Last month I finally got around to picking up a copy of Robert Reed’s massive collection The Greatship (which I talked about here.) It collects 11 tales — plus a bunch of new connecting material — in his Greatship saga, set on a vast spaceship relic that is larger than worlds, and which contains thousands of alien species.

I’m glad I had the chance to familiarize myself with the Greatship tales, as that came in handy last month at Worldcon in Kansas City. I attended the Asimov’s SF group reading, hosted by editor Sheila Williams, and found it an insightful and entertaining hour, as writers James Patrick Kelly, Connie Willis, Steve Rasnic Tem, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Robert Reed all read from recent or upcoming tales published in the magazine. Robert Reed, whom Sheila calls the writer with the most stories in Asimov’s (“by quite a bit”), read from an unpublished Greatships novella coming in the magazine next year, and it was totally captivating. It certainly helped pique my interest in the series, and it was pretty high to begin with.

[As the panel got started James Patrick Kelly exhorted the audience to “check out the new website — it’s so much better than the old one!” Sheila, with an uncomfortable glance at me, said she didn’t feel right disparaging the old website, “since the person who designed it is sitting in the audience.” I helped Sheila launch the Asimov’s website at SF Site roughly two decades ago, and in fact it was Rodger Turner who did most of the heavy lifting, so it certainly was no insult to me that they’d finally upgraded to a much superior design. I don’t usually like to interrupt panels, but this time I was happy to shout out “Disparage away!”]

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Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3, edited by Terry Carr

Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3, edited by Terry Carr

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The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3 Terry Carr-small The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3 Terry Carr back-small

How did Terry Carr’s Best Science Fiction of the Year paperback anthology series last an incredible sixteen years, from 1972 until his death in 1987?

It’s not that hard to figure out. When early volumes were as amazing as #3, released in July 1974, it didn’t take long for these books to establish a stellar reputation — and a staunchly loyal readership.

How incredible was The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3?

It contains some of the finest science fiction stories of all time, packed into one slender volume. Like “The Women Men Don’t See” by James Tiptree, Jr… perhaps her most famous story, and that’s saying something. And Vonda N. McIntyre’s Nebula Award-winning “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand,” which became the basis of her 1978 novel Dreamsnake (which swept the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards the following year.) And Harlan Ellison’s classic “The Deathbird,” the Hugo and Locus Award-winning title story of his celebrated 1975 collection Deathbird Stories. Plus Gene Wolfe’s famous “The Death of Dr. Island,” winner of the Locus and Nebula awards for Best Novella.

And an unassuming little story by a young writer named Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, and is considered by many (me included) to be one of the finest short stories ever written. And lots more — including a Jack Vance novella, plus stories by Philip José Farmer, Alfred Bester, R. A. Lafferty, Robert Silverberg, and F. M. Busby. All for $1.50!

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 207 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 207 Now Available

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 207-smallBlack Gate is up against Beneath Ceaseless Skies for a World Fantasy Award this year, and I don’t mind telling you, that’s some stiff competition. BCS has been publishing since October 2008 — nearly 8 years — hitting its bimonthly schedule without missing a beat. Speaking as someone who managed one issue a year, that’s pretty impressive. It’s become one of the top markets for Adventure Fantasy, and has published stories by Aliette de Bodard, Gemma Files, Catherynne M. Valente, Fran Wilde, Kameron Hurley, E. Catherine Tobler, Tina Connolly, Sarah Pinsker, Cat Rambo, Yoon Ha Lee, K.J. Parker, Rachel Swirsky, Bruce McAllister, Saladin Ahmed, Carrie Vaughn, and many others.

Of particular note to Black Gate readers, they’ve also published a fair number of BG authors, including Derek Künsken, Rosamund Hodge, Richard Parks, Brian Dolton, and Chris Willrich.

If you haven’t made the time to check it out, it’s not too late. Issue #207 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies is now available, completely free on their website. It is dated September 1 and features fiction by Marie Brennan and Thomas M. Waldroon, a podcast by Marie Brennan, a Audio Vault podcast by Marie Brennan, and a Novel Excerpt by James Morrow. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

“To Rise No More” by Marie Brennan
Ada shook her head, staring once more at the Thames. “I do not think what I had in mind will work. The size of the wing, if it is to be large enough to lift me—my body cannot possibly generate enough force to move it. Not with the speed required.” Especially not when she kept growing. Every inch meant more weight for the wings to lift, without a commensurate gain in strength.

“George & Frank Tarr, Boy Avencherers, in ‘Beeyon the Shours We Knowe!!!!’” by Thomas M. Waldroon
Where’s it all come from? George wondered. Where you think it comes from? Frank scoffed. It’s fields and roads and house lots. It’s America, running westwards to somewhere else, anywhere else, someplace maybe better, like Great-Grandpaps did, and like Papa did, and just like we’re doing.

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New Treasures: Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania Del Rio and Will Staehle

New Treasures: Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania Del Rio and Will Staehle

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Looking over Will Staehle’s art for the book Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye, I’ve never been closer to believing Lewis Carroll’s adage that all good books must be illustrated.

12 year-old Warren is the sole surviving heir to a grand (but rapidly decaying) old hotel. When a strange bandaged guest arrives, Warren’s deliciously self-absorbed Aunt Annaconda soon becomes convinced that he’s after the All-Seeing Eye, a magnificent treasure that family legend says is hidden someone on the property. The result is a madcap treasure hunt and Warren, determined to find his rightful inheritance first, soon joins the search. But first he’ll have to contend with strange monsters, sinister witches, bizarre mazes and secret codes, and a long-forgotten riddle.

This 224-page book is heavily illustrated, with art on virtually every page. The New York Times Book Review calls it “an engaging mystery… with a few nice twists and surprises along the way,” and Publishers Weekly says it’s “stylish, exciting, funny, and just slightly macabre.” That’s good to know, but I can make up my mind on Staehle’s artwork right now — and I think it’s fantastic.

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Future Treasures: Everfair by Nisi Shawl

Future Treasures: Everfair by Nisi Shawl

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Everfair-smallNisi Shawl has been writing short stories for over two decades, and her long awaited first novel, an historical fantasy steampunk tale set in the Belgian Congo, will be released this week. It explores one of the darkest periods in human history — King Leopold’s African holocaust — and imagines what might have been if the native peoples of the Congo had developed steam technology of their own. It’s a fascinating premise, and Everfair is one of the most intriguing literary offerings of the fall.

Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium’s disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo’s “owner,” King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated.

Nisi Shawl’s speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.

Everfair will be published by Tor Books on September 6, 2016. It is 384 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Victo Ngai.

Read a sample chapter at Tor.com.