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Author: John ONeill

Vintage Treasures: Over the Hills and Far Away by Lord Dunsany

Vintage Treasures: Over the Hills and Far Away by Lord Dunsany

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Over the Hills and Far Away-smallOver the Hills and Far Away is my favorite Dunsany collection, and the Ballantine Adult Fantasy edition, edited by Lin Carter and published in 1974, is my favorite edition.

Yes, some of that has to do with the gorgeous wraparound cover by Gervasio Gallardo (see the original painting here). But I think most of it has to do with Lin Carter’s attitude as an unabashed Dunsany fanbody, and the passion that comes across throughout the book. This is a man who was arguably the most respected voice in fantasy in the mid-Twentieth Century, and his admiration for Dunsay was second to none. Here’s a bit from his introduction:

Lord Dunsany is probably the greatest fantasy writer who ever lived. Quite a few of the most distinguished writers of fantasy have made a similar judgment of his work. James Branch Cabell, for example, praised Dunsany’s craftsmanship in glowing terms. H.P. Lovecraft adored Dunsany’s early Book of Wonder tales, and paid them the highest compliment of direct imitation (as I also have done in my little fables of Simrana the Dreamworld). In fact, Lovecraft wrote several pieces about Dunsany’s work, which he considered superlative. I think Clark Ashton Smith might also have concurred with my estimate of Dunsany, and perhaps Jack Vance and Fritz Leiber would agree as well…

In the pages of this book I have brought together twenty-five of his finest fantasy stories, as well as one major novella, or short novel. Also included are two of his most brilliant and fantastical plays, four of his short-short stories, and (just to give you a balanced and comprehensive view of his entire literary career) four of the later short stories concerning Mr. Joseph Jorkens, the world traveler and noted clubman.

Over the Hills and Far Away was edited by Lin Carter and published by Ballantine Books in 1974. It is 234 pages, priced at $1.25. The cover is by Gervasio Gallardo. It is part of the groundbreaking Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which Keith West is current examining for us in detail; his most recent article was Dragons, Elves, and Heroes.

Future Treasures: The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

Future Treasures: The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

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The Cinder Spires The Aeronaut's Windlass-smallJim Butcher is one of the top-selling fantasy writers on the market, and his Harry Dresden books are perhaps the most popular urban fantasy titles of all time. But many of Butcher’s legions of fans are unaware of his six-volume epic fantasy series Codex Alera, published between 2004 and 2009. In September Butcher will try his hand at epic fantasy again, with the first volume of a new steampunk series set in a world of noble families, steam-powered technology, and magic-wielding warriors, which the author describes as a little like “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Sherlock meets Hornblower.” The Aeronaut’s Windlass, the first volume of The Cinder Spires, goes on sale September 29 from Roc.

Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship, Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is severely damaged in combat, leaving captain and crew grounded, Grimm is offered a proposition from the Spirearch of Albion — to join a team of agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring Predator to its fighting glory.

And even as Grimm undertakes this dangerous task, he will learn that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake…

The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Volume One of The Cinder Spires, will be published by Roc on September 29, 2015. It is 640 pages, priced at $27.95 in hardcover and $13.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Chris McGrath.

New Treasures: Underlay by Barry N. Malzberg

New Treasures: Underlay by Barry N. Malzberg

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Underlay Barry Malzberg-smallBack in March I read The End of Summer: Science Fiction of the 1950s, edited by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini, and it reminded me what an astute observer of the field Barry Malzberg is. I mean, sure, most of us observe the genre. Malzberg has studied it, with a passion and understanding that only a handful will ever approach.

He’s also a very prolific writer, and his non-fiction books The Engines of the Night and Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium were both nominated for the Hugo Award. Sadly, much of his best work is currently out of print, so I was delighted to see his short comic masterpiece Underlay brought back in print by Stark House Press this month.

Harry the Flat is dead and buried in the backstretch of Aqueduct Raceway. This is causing the Mob no end of trouble on the betting side, so Harry’s oldest and dearest friend — now carrying on with Harry’s widow, Gertrude nee Hawkins, in Harry’s absence, and in debt to the Mob $1,500 — is persuaded to dig him up after the eighth race. Tony Winner, low level mob boss, is very specific on this point, and to that end has had a time bomb surgically implanted in our hero’s thigh to impress upon him the urgency of this matter.

So on this fateful day, off he goes to the Aqueduct in Queens, New York, with a cello case stuffed with a pick and a shovel, prepared to dig up the dubious remains of Harry the Flat so the Mob’s control of horserace betting is no longer compromised. His mind is filled with thoughts of Harry, of Gertrude, of his ex-wife, and all the schemes and plans and bets that led to this moment. It will be a long day for our hero. He has a lot to learn about horse racing.

Underlay was published by Stark House Press on July 1, 2015. It is 146 pages, priced at $15.95 in trade paperback. There is no digital edition.

Faerie Magazine 31 Now Available

Faerie Magazine 31 Now Available

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Faerie Magazine 31-smallAfter covering this industry for several decades, I don’t get surprised all that often. But I was surprised when I read this Facebook announcement from author Shveta Thakrar:

I’ve been sitting on this a little while, but today is a good day for an announcement! I have sold my nagini story, “She Sleeps Beneath the Sea,” to Faerie Magazine, and it will appear in the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” issue, out next month!

I am BEYOND excited. I have adored this magazine for so many years, and now I get to be in it with a story starring mythical beings from my heritage! [Editor] Carolyn Turgeon worked with me to get the text just right for the magazine, and I can’t wait for you all to be able to read it!

I had no idea Faerie Magazine published fiction. It describes itself as a quarterly print magazine “that celebrates everything magical and extraordinary.” I found this description of the latest issue on their website:

Issue #31 is our “Midsummer Night’s Dream” issue, with all kinds of nocturnal delights … moon goddesses and bioluminescent bays and fireflies, enchanted slumber and night-blooming flowers and nourishing night creams… and much more!

Shveta was kind enough to send me tear sheets of her story, and I was astounded at the beautiful artwork. Not only is the magazine wonderfully designed, but it has full color artwork and photos throughout. Here’s a sample of two of the four pieces accompanying Shveta’s story.

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Future Treasures: Nightwise by R. S. Belcher

Future Treasures: Nightwise by R. S. Belcher

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Nightwise-smallR. S. Belcher’s previous novels, The Six-Gun Tarot and The Shotgun Arcana, were weird westerns set in the town of Golgotha. The San Francisco Book Review called the first “A fun, rollicking, dark, and disturbing romp… a whirlwind of shootouts, assassins, cults, zombies, magic, attractive ladies, dubious morals, and demonic possession.”

With his newest novel, Nightwise, Belcher tries something a little differenr: a brand new new urban fantasy series that explores a gritty occult underworld, with a resourceful and cynical hero. It will be released in hardcover from Tor next month.

In the more shadowy corners of the world, frequented by angels and demons and everything in-between, Laytham Ballard is a legend. It’s said he raised the dead at the age of ten, stole the Philosopher’s Stone in Vegas back in 1999, and survived the bloodsucking kiss of the Mosquito Queen. Wise in the hidden ways of the night, he’s also a cynical bastard who stopped thinking of himself as the good guy a long time ago.

Now a promise to a dying friend has Ballard on the trail of an escaped Serbian war criminal with friends in both high and low places — and a sinister history of blood sacrifices. Ballard is hell-bent on making Dusan Slorzack pay for his numerous atrocities, but Slorzack seems to have literally dropped off the face of the Earth, beyond the reach of his enemies, the Illuminati, and maybe even the Devil himself. To find Slorzack, Ballard must follow a winding, treacherous path that stretches from Wall Street and Washington, D.C. to backwoods hollows and truckstops, while risking what’s left of his very soul…

Nightwise will be published by Tor Books on August 18, 2015. It is 320 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition.

See all of our recent reports on the best in upcoming fantasy here.

The Omnibus Volumes of James H. Schmitz

The Omnibus Volumes of James H. Schmitz

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Agent of Vega & Other Stories-small Telzey Amberdon-small TNT Telzey Amberdon & Trigger Argee Together-small

We continue to survey the best omnibus volumes for collectors out there. And at long last, we come to one of my favorite short story writers, and one of my favorite omnibus sets: the seven volumes collecting the science fiction and science fantasy of James H. Schmitz, published by Baen Books.

Baen Books, and especially its long-time editor Eric Flint, have done some really extraordinary work collecting classic SF and fantasy in handsome and highly affordable mass market editions, and they’ve been doing it for decades. Baen has published omnibus collections featuring Andre Norton, P.C. Hogdell, Murray Leinster, A. Bertam Chandler, Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordwainer Smith, Christopher Anvil, Randall Garrett, Keith Laumer, Howard L. Myers, Michael Shea, A. E. Van Vogt, and countless others.

The Baen reprint program largely began with these volumes in 2000, and I still believe they may be their crowning achievement.

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New Treasures: Bone Swans by C. S. E. Cooney

New Treasures: Bone Swans by C. S. E. Cooney

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Bone Swans CSE Cooney-smallBone Swans, the long awaited first collection from C.S.E. Cooney, has just been released, and in the last few days has accumulated some marvelous notices. She received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and over at Tor.com Brit Mandelo had many positive things to say, especially about “Life on the Sun,” originally published here at Black Gate:

Cooney’s approach also brings in a sort of cavalier, witty, and approachable contemporary story-telling, perhaps more closely related to adventure yarns than anything… The result tends to be a fascinating mashup between the tropes and resonances of the mythic tale with the sensibilities of contemporary action-oriented fantasy… “Life on the Sun” is perhaps the best illustration of what I mean…

And the July 1 issue of Library Journal had this to say:

In five beautifully crafted stories, Cooney (Jack O’ the Hills) builds imaginary worlds full of flying carpets, fairy-tale characters, and children confronted with a postapocalyptic Earth. In addition, each tale packs in enough plot for a novel, with adventurous characters who brim with wit. In “Life on the Sun” a young woman’s fate catches up to her. In the title story, Maurice the rat hires the Pied Piper to help out a swan princess. The marvelous “Martyr’s Gem” begins with a marriage and ends with true love. “How the Milkmaid Struck a Bargain” is another fairy tale, this time a play on the Rumpelstiltskin story. Cooney’s final piece, “The Big Bah-Ha,” shows her virtuosity with language, as she tells of doomed children striking a bargain with the monster who would eat their bones. VERDICT Short stories… [are] usually not where you find vivid worldbuilding or immersive storytelling, but this gorgeous new collection reveals that both are possible in the short form.

Bone Swans was published by Mythic Delirium Books on July 1, 2015. It is 224 pages, priced at $15.95 in trade paperback and $5.99 for the digital version. Cover art by Kay Nielsen. See the Mythic Delirium website for more details, and the complete Table of Contents here.

Grimdark Magazine 4 Now Available

Grimdark Magazine 4 Now Available

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Grimdark Magazine 4-smallGrimdark is a new quarterly magazine of dark fantasy. It hasn’t been around around all that long, but I’ve been impressed with what it’s done in a short period of time. Editor Adrian Collins summarized the ‘zine’s aesthetic in the first issue:

Grimdark Magazine started out as the identification of a gap in the niche ezine market coupled with an obsession with grim stories told in a dark world by morally ambiguous protagonists.

In his review of the first three issues, Fletcher Vredenburgh seems to like what he sees:

From a swords & sorcery perspective, the biggest — and potentially most interesting — new publication out there is Grimdark Magazine… grimdark fantasy is nihlistic/realistic storytelling that moves the genre forward/destroys the genre, and features characters with realistic motives/who are utterly vile. Whether you like or hate the fiction coming out under the rubric, Grimdark Magazine, by its very nature, is going to feature S&S…

Each issue is packed with original stories, interviews with some of grimdark’s leading lights, and reviews… There are scads of other short stories (not all of them fantasy), some of which I enjoyed quite a bit. The author interviews provided nice insights into the hows and whys of what they’re doing. The interviews also make obvious that grimdark isn’t any sort of cohesive artistic movement, just a bunch of dark stuff by a bunch of grim people.

At only $2.99 a pop, I’ll be keeping up with Grimdark Magazine…

The latest issue went on sale on June 28, and contains new fiction by Matthew Ward, Tara Calaby, Mike Brooks, and Richard Ford, as well as novel excerpts from Alex Marshall and Mark Lawrence, a book review, interviews with Peter V. Brett and Brandon Sanderson, and an article by BG author John R. Fultz. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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Vintage Treasures: Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer

Vintage Treasures: Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer

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Dinosaur Beach Keith Laumer-small Dinosaur Beach Keith Laumer 1975-small Dinosaur Beach Keith Laumer Baen-small

It’s a pretty popular time for dinosaur novels, what with Victor Milán’s upcoming The Dinosaur Lords, and the biggest movie of the summer being Jurassic World. What many people don’t realize is that dinosaur stories weren’t created by the makers of Jurassic World. They weren’t even created by Steven Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park, way back in the last century in 1993. Believe it or not, they weren’t even created by Michael Crichton, the author of the original 1990 novel. Dinosaur novels were totally created by the science fiction novelist Keith Laumer, in his 1971 novel Dinosaur Beach.

Okay. After doing some, y’know, actual fact checking, it turns out Keith Laumer didn’t completely create the dinosaur novel. But it’s true enough for our purposes. Which are, to give us an excuse to talk about Dinosaur Beach.

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Future Treasures: The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

Future Treasures: The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

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The Heart of Betrayal-smallThe first time I encountered Mary E. Pearson was with her short story “The Rotten Beast” at Tor.com. Her first fantasy novel, The Kiss of Deception, was published by Henry Holt last year, and called “a wonderfully full-bodied story: harrowing, romantic, and full of myth and memory… this has the sweep of an epic tale,” (Booklist), and Publishers Weekly said “the novel has a formidable heroine at its core, who is as quick with a knife as she is to laugh or cry… [a] masterfully crafted story.” The Heart of Betrayal, the second volume in The Remnant Chronicles, will be released next week, and it continues the tale of 17-year-old princess Lia.

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape… and even less of being together.

Desperate to save her life, Lia’s erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komisar that she has a magical gift, and the Komisar’s interest in Lia is greater than either Kaden or Lia foresaw.

Meanwhile, the foundations of Lia’s deeply-held beliefs are crumbling beneath her. Nothing is straightforward: there’s Rafe, who lied to her, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom she always believed to be barbarians but whom she now realizes are people who have been terribly brutalized by the kingdoms of Dalbreck and Morrighan. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her very sense of self, Lia will have to make powerful choices that affect her country, her people… and her own destiny.

The Heart of Betrayal will be published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 7, 2015. It is 480 pages, priced at $18.99 in hardcover and $9.99 for the digital edition.