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Author: John ONeill

When the End of the World is a Mercy Killing: Cthulhu Apocalypse

When the End of the World is a Mercy Killing: Cthulhu Apocalypse

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The Dead White World-small The Apocalypse Machine-small Slaves of the Mother-small

Pelgrane Press has produced some of my favorite RPGs and game adventures over the last few years, including The Dying Earth, 13th Age, and the brilliant Ashen Stars. Their latest release, Cthulhu Apocalypse, is a trio of linked adventures for Trail of Cthulhu, which suppose that that the world ended on November 2nd, 1936 and, now that the stars are right, horrific aliens — and darker things — have claimed the remains of the planet.

Cthulhu Apocalypse consists of three standalone products. The first, The Dead White World, contains five linked adventures in the aftermath of disaster that take Investigators through Britain, across the sea to America, and beyond the veils of reality as they struggle to survive. The Apocalypse Machine is a sandbox setting for the award-winning Gumshoe system, which gives Game Masters the tools to create their own global catastrophe, from the first strange rumblings to the final, cataclysmic event. And the third, Slaves of the Mother, contains three long adventures set years later, as the few survivors find their humanity cracking and moulting in the process of becoming something new.

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Finding One Girl in the Whole Solar System: Catherynne M. Valente’s Radiance

Finding One Girl in the Whole Solar System: Catherynne M. Valente’s Radiance

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Radiance Catherynne Valente-smallCat Valente changed the way I collect books.

Actually, there’s a bit of a story there. I first met Cat at the World Fantasy Convention in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2005. We had tiny side-by-side booths in the back corner of the vast Dealer’s Room. I was hawking the first few issues of my fledgling adventure fantasy magazine, and she was selling her first books, including her novel The Labyrinth, and her poetry collection Apocrypha. We hit it off immediately. At the end of the con I bought a copy of The Labyrinth, and she autographed it for me. “I’ve only signed a few of these,” she admitted. “And I never know what to write.”

Fast forward to 2006, at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas. Cat’s fourth novel, In the Night Garden, had just been released, and everyone was talking about it. It would eventually receive a World Fantasy Award nomination, and win the Tiptree Award. I bought a copy, and asked her to sign it. “I still don’t know what to write when I autograph books,” she confessed. “What should I say?”

“Well, if you’re leaving it up to me,” I said, “I think you should write, ‘To My One True Love, John.'” Cat laughed, scribbled something in the book, and I left happy.

Now, I bring a lot of books home when I go to conventions. I mean, a lot. Boxes filled with books. I sit in my big green chair and unpack them happily, humming to myself. Sometimes my wife Alice will come and watch disapprovingly, and comment how some of the money I used could also have come in handy feeding and clothing our children. Rarely, as she is going on in this manner, a book will catch her eye. Even more rarely, as happened in this instance, she will open a book. And it just so happened that this time she opened my brand new copy of In the Night Garden.

“Who is Catherynne M. Valente?” my darling wife asked, in a casual voice that ten years of marriage had taught me was absolutely not-at-all-casual.

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October Issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine Now Available

October Issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine Now Available

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Swords and Sorcery Magazine October 2015-smallIssue 45 of Swords and Sorcery Magazine, cover-dated October 2015, is now available.

In his editorial Frost & Fire, editor Curtis Ellett repeats his call for volunteers to help him select the contents of a Best of Swords and Sorcery Magazine anthology:

I have long been considering putting together an anthology of the best stories that have appeared in Swords & Sorcery. At this point it is likely to consist of stories from the first four years, which will end with issue 48 in January. One sticking point is that I don’t want to do the choosing. I’ve had the sole responsibility of choosing the stories that have appeared in Swords & Sorcery, I want someone else to judge them now. Three to five someones, in fact. One brave soul has contacted me to volunteer. If you would like to join him on this editorial board, please contact me at the above email address. The job will pay nothing but the satisfaction of a job well done and your name in the book.

If you’re interested, contact Curtis at editor@swordsandsorcerymagazine.com.

Each issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine contains two short stories, and is available free online. This issue contains stories by Rob Francis and Daniel Hand.

Here’s the complete table of contents, with story links.

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New Treasures: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

New Treasures: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

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The Traitor Baru Cormorant-smallIn her review for NPR, Black Gate blogger Amal El-Mohtar raves about Seth Dickinson’s debut fantasy novel from Tor, the tale of a young woman from a conquered people who tries to transform a vast empire from within:

To read The Traitor Baru Cormorant is to sink inexorably into a book that should not be anywhere near as absorbing as it is — to realize that the white-knuckled grip with which you hold it was provoked by several consecutive pages of loans, taxes and commodity trading. It seems impossible that the economics of a fantasy world should be so viscerally riveting, but they are, and it’s incredible: You think you’re on solid ground right up until you feel that ground closing around your throat.

Literally breathtaking… Baru Cormorant as a character is magnificent. I found it impossible not to root for her even amid horrors of her making, to grieve with her and for her at various points, to clench my fists in her defense and in desperate need for her to stay whole. There is so much to admire and so much to mourn throughout the building tragedy of this novel… A crucial, necessary book ― a book that looks unflinchingly into the self-replicating virus of empire, asks the hardest questions, and dares to answer them.

Read the complete review here. We first covered the book here.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant was published by Tor Books on September 15, 2015. It is 400 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover, and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Sam Weber. Read an excerpt at Tor.com.

Vintage Treasures: The Janus Syndrome by Steven E. McDonald

Vintage Treasures: The Janus Syndrome by Steven E. McDonald

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The Janus Syndrome-small The Janus Syndrome-back-small

Steven E. McDonald is a Jamaican author who published a couple of stories in Analog and Asimov’s in the late 70s and early 80s. His first novel, The Janus Syndrome, was published in 1981.

I’m sure there were other SF or fantasy novels featuring a black male protagonist on the cover by 1981, but I can’t remember any. (F. M. Busby published Zelde M’Tana, featuring a black heroine on the cover, in 1980, and John Brunner wrote the first of his Max Curfew spy novels, A Plague on Both Your Causes, way back in 1969, but they weren’t science fiction.) As far as I know The Janus Syndrome broke the color barrier, at least among mainstream paperback SF publishers. It’s the first time I remember seeing a black hero so prominently on a cover, anyway.

Unfortunately, it didn’t sell. The Janus Syndrome did not usher in a new era of color diversity on SF paperbacks, and that’s a pity. There were no more novels featuring “the outrageous hero” Kevven Tomari from Bantam Books, or anyone else.

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Future Treasures: Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Future Treasures: Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

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Meeting Infinity-smallI’ve been very impressed with Jonathan Strahan’s Infinity anthology series. There have been four so far: Engineering Infinity (2010), Edge of Infinity (2012), Reach For Infinity, and now Meeting Infinity, due December 1st. Publisher Solaris has abandoned the mass market format, which makes me sad, but the new trade paperback is still reasonably priced, especially for the digital version.

The world we are living in is changing every day. We surf future shock every morning when we get out of bed. And with every passing day we are increasingly asked: how do we have to change to live in the future we are faced with?

Whether it’s climate change, inundated coastlines and drowned cities; the cramped confines of a tin can hurtling through space to the outer reaches of our Solar System; or the rush of being uploaded into some cyberspace, our minds and bodies are going to have to change and change a lot. Meeting Infinity will be one hundred thousand words of SF filled with action and adventure that attempts to answer the question: how much do we need to change to meet tomorrow and live in the future? The incredible authors contributing tho this collection are: Gregory Benford, James S.A. Corey, Aliette de Bodard, Kameron Hurley, Simon Ings, Madeline Ashby, John Barnes, Gwyneth Jones, Nancy Kress, Yoon Ha Lee, Ian McDonald, Ramez Naam, An Owomoyela, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Bruce Sterling and Sean Williams

The books of the “Infinity Project” trace an arc: from the present day into the far future, and now from the broad canvas of interstellar space to the most intimate space of all — ourselves.

Meeting Infinity will be published by Solaris on December 1, 2015. It is 272 pages, priced at $14.99 in trade paperback, and $8.99 for the digital edition.

Gygax Magazine #6 Now Available

Gygax Magazine #6 Now Available

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Gygax Magazine 6-smallI saw a report that the latest issue of Gygax magazine had hit the stands, and checked out the TSR website this morning. Sure enough, it’s now available, and there’s even a very sharp video showcasing the contents and the great layout.

This issue has content for Dungeons & Dragons and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, plus a superhero roleplaying from Steve Kenson, Pulp Era. Here’s the issue contents:

Last-Minute Locations: Fantasy Villages, by Jason Sinclair
Leomund’s Secure Shelter: Telepathy in First Edition AD&D, by Lenard Lakofka
The Great Outdoors: Outdoor Survival and the Early Years of D&D, by Jon Peterson
The Correllian Starduster: A New Starship for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, by Dave Mansker
Through the Arcane Lens: Six Magic Spyglasses for D&D, by Paul Hughes
Rituals: More Than Just Magic, by Eytan Bernstein
Policing the Stars, by Steve Kenson
Pulp Era by James Carpio (complete RPG)
Dracovalis by Jeremy Olson (complete game)

Every issue of Gygax includes a fold-out adventure or game, and this time it’s a complete board game of dragons attacking, capturing, and destroying cities: Dracovalis, by Jeremy Olson and illustrated by Aaron Williams.

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New Treasures: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

New Treasures: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

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Shadows of Self-smallTwo years ago, after the release of his novel The Rithmatist, I noted that Brandon Sanderson was one of the hardest-working writers in this industry. By my count, I put his production for 2013 at 2,046 pages of fiction — still less than his output for 2010, but who’s counting.

It’s 2015, and what the heck — let’s count. Using Al von Ruff’s Internet Science Fiction Database, I did a very rough tabulation of Sanderson’s output over the last six years, considering fiction books only (no short stories or non-fiction).

2015 (4 books, so far) 980 pages
2014 (4 books) 1,802 pages
2013 (6 books) 2,046 pages
2012 (2 books) 264 pages
2011 (3 books) 364 pages
2010 (4 books) 2,162 pages

It’s up and down, as you might expect. But for those counting along at home, that’s 7,618 pages over six years, or 1,270 pages per year. That’s pretty damned impressive.

Of course, we don’t count success as a writer by raw output, but by quality. And there, too, Sanderson excels. In 2006 and 2007 he was nominated for the John W. Campbell award for best New Writer, and he has won the David Gemmell Legend Award twice, for The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, the first two novels in his ambitious ten-volume series The Stormlight Archive. His 2013 novella The Emperor’s Soul was nominated for the World Fantasy Award, and won the Hugo Award.

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Future Treasures: The Geomancer by Clay and Susan Griffith

Future Treasures: The Geomancer by Clay and Susan Griffith

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The Geomancer-smallClay and Susan Griffith are the authors of The Vampire Empire trilogy from Pyr, set in an alternate future in which a horrible plague of vampires swept first over the northern regions of the world in 1870, and the popular Crown & Key trilogy from Del Rey. Now they’ve launched a brand new urban fantasy series set in the Vampire Empire universe, featuring the vampiric couple Gareth and Adele.

The uneasy stalemate between vampires and humans is over. Adele and Gareth are bringing order to a free Britain, but bloody murders in London raise the specter that Adele’s geomancy is failing and the vampires might return. A new power could tilt the balance back to the vampire clans. A deranged human called the Witchfinder has surfaced on the Continent, serving new vampire lords. This geomancer has found a way to make vampires immune to geomancy and intends to give his masters the ability to kill humans on a massive scale.

The apocalyptic event in Edinburgh weakened Adele’s geomantic abilities. If the Witchfinder can use geomancy against humanity, she may not have the power to stop him. If she can’t, there is nowhere beyond his reach and no one he cannot kill.

From a Britain struggling to rebuild to the vampire capital of Paris, from the heart of the Equatorian Empire to a vampire monastery in far-away Tibet, old friends and past enemies return. Unexpected allies and terrible new villains arise. Adele and Gareth fight side-by-side as always, but they can never be the same if they hope to survive.

The Geomancer: Vampire Empire will be published by Pyr on November 3, 2015. It is 319 pages, priced at $17 in trade paperback and $11.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Chris McGrath.

Clarkesworld 109 Now on Sale

Clarkesworld 109 Now on Sale

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Clarkesworld 109-smallNeil Clarke’s editorial in the latest issue of Clarkesworld (a sequel of sorts to last issue’s editorial, “The Sad Truth About Short Fiction Reviews“) is titled “The Sad Truth About Short Fiction Magazines.”

Did you know that there are only three genre fiction magazines that completely support themselves from the revenue they generate? These are Analog, Asimov’s, and the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, collectively known as the Big Three. Others, like Tor.com and Subterranean (now closed), are supported by the revenue of their parent companies. Below them are four more groups: the non-profits (like Strange Horizons and Beneath Ceaseless Skies); the hobbyists or beginners (typically characterized by low or no pay for authors); the aspirants (they pay authors SFWA-qualifying rates or better, but haven’t found reliable way to cover that cost); and the conceivable (the aspirants that have learned to generate enough revenue to cover costs, but not adequately compensate their staff)…

Lately, I’ve started seeing projects to resurrect dead magazines or save those that couldn’t get enough subscribers to sustain their ambitious goals. It’s uplifting to see our community rallying around these causes, but are we setting ourselves up for a fall in the process? Are we simply delaying the inevitable, like what happened with Realms of Fantasy? (For those who don’t know, Realms of Fantasy was a print magazine that kept coming back from the dead because there were people passionate enough about it to want to see it continue, but not enough to make it a viable business.)

When people debate the future of short fiction magazines in our industry, it tends to turn grim pretty quickly, and Neil’s article is no exception. Still, it’s impossible to argue with his final reasoning: if you care about the future of short fiction — and you definitely should — the most important thing you can do is try new magazines, find a few you enjoy, and support them.

Issue #109 of Clarkesworld has seven stories — five new, and two reprints — from A.C. Wise, Rich Larson, Kola Heyward-Rotimi, Karen Heuler, Hao Jingfang, G. David Nordley, and Chris Becket.

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