I’m a fan of the gorgeous animated film The Secret of Kells, released in 2009 by Cartoon Saloon and directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey. So I was very pleased to hear that Cartoon Saloon’s next feature, Song of the Sea, premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, back in September, and will go into wider release later this month.
Song of the Sea is the tale of Ben and Saoirse, who live in a lighthouse with their father, and the strange shell flute Saoirse discovers that unlocks a magical secret from their mother’s past. The voice cast includes Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter‘s Mad Eye Moody), David Rawle as Ben, and Lisa Hannigan.
Song of the Sea was directed Tomm Moore. Check out the strikingly beautiful animation in the trailer below. It will have a limited release here in the US starting on December 19, and I’ll be certainly keeping an eye out for it.
Every reader has a guilty pleasure. I know people who secretly read Warhammer 40K novels on their lunch hours. Not me — those books are great, and I read them proudly. (Except for Graham McNeill’s A Thousand Sons, which made me cry. I read that stupid thing three times, and I hate it every time. Magnus the Red, you’re a big doofus.)
No, my guilty pleasure is supernatural romances. It used to be easier to get away with the occasional peek, until my daughter caught me stealing her books and gave me that Dad, you’re being weird look. But honey, I just read them for the articles.
I knew Suspicion was going to be hard to resist the moment Taylor brought it home. I love books with creepy mazes. Plus Jessica Brody described the book as “If Alfred Hitchcock had directed Downton Abbey,” which, let’s face it, doesn’t make matters any easier. The killing blow was Amy Plum’s blurb on the back cover: “Take The Princess Diaries and add magic, murder, and mystery and you’ve got Suspicion.” Aaargh. I love all those things. Now I’m secretly reading it late at night, and I hope no one sees me.
“There’s something hidden in the maze.”
Seventeen-year-old Imogen Rockford has never forgotten the last words her father said to her, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family’s English country manor.
For seven years, images of her parents’ death have haunted Imogen’s dreams. In an effort to escape the past, she leaves Rockford Manor and moves to New York City with her new guardians. But some attachments prove impossible to shake — including her love for her handsome neighbor Sebastian Stanhope. Then a life-altering letter arrives that forces Imogen to return to the manor in England, where she quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind Rockford’s aristocratic exterior. At their center is Imogen herself — and Sebastian, the boy she never stopped loving.
Combining spine-tingling mystery, romance, and unforgettable characters, Suspicion is an action-packed thrill ride.
Suspicion was published on December 9 by Delacorte Press. It is 295 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital version. The cover was designed by Alison Impey.
Future Treasures: Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula by Andi Watson
Sometimes it seems that all my fifteen year-old daughter reads is manga (well, that and fan fiction.)
That’s probably not true — I spot her with paperbacks from time to time. But it is true that manga is still extremely popular, especially among teens. I’m seeing a lot more US comics mirroring the format, too — compact comic volumes that fit nicely in the palm of your hand. The latest is Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula, a light-hearted gothic fantasy of an overworked princess of an underworld kingdom populated by ghosts, vampires, and werewolves. Andi Watson’s deceptively simple artwork is well-suited to the tale. The only negative is that it won’t be available until February — a pity, as it would make a fine Christmas gift.
Princess Decomposia is overworked and underappreciated.
This princess of the underworld has plenty of her own work to do but always seems to find herself doing her layabout father’s job, as well. The king doesn’t feel quite well, you see. Ever. So the princess is left scurrying through the halls, dodging her mummy, werewolf, and ghost subjects, always running behind and always buried under a ton of paperwork. Oh, and her father just fired the chef, so now she has to hire a new cook as well.
Luckily for Princess Decomposia, she makes a good hire in Count Spatula, the vampire chef with a sweet tooth. He’s a charming go-getter of a blood-sucker, and pretty soon the two young ghouls become friends. And then…more than friends? Maybe eventually, but first Princess Decomposia has to sort out her life. And with Count Spatula at her side, you can be sure she’ll succeed.
Andi Watson (Glister, Gum Girl) brings his signature gothy-cute sensibility to this very sweet and mildly spooky tale of friendship, family, and management training for the undead.
Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula will be published by First Second on February 24, 2015. It is 176 pages, priced at $19.99.
I’ve written a few times now about the terrific finds I made in the Dealers Room at the World Fantasy Convention. I know I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record, but when you have the opportunity to sample the very best new books from the most dynamic and exciting independent publishers in the industry, the need to share is pretty strong. So you’ll have to bear with me a bit until I get this out of my system.
I’ve already covered the treasures piled high on the Valancourt and Hippocampus Press tables, as well as Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine and Lois H. Gresh’s anthology Dark Fusions – Where Monsters Lurk! But I haven’t even mentioned the Chizine table yet, and that’s a serious oversight. A catalog of the agonizing choices would take more time than I have tonight, so I’ll have to content myself with the first book I bought: Kenneth Mark Hoover’s weird western Haxan, the first in a new series.
Thermopylae. Masada. Agincourt. And now, Haxan, New Mexico Territory, circa 1874. Through a sea of time and dust, in places that might never be, or can’t become until something is set right, there are people destined to travel. Forever. Marshal John T. Marwood is one of these men. Taken from a place he called home, he is sent to fight an eternal war. It never ends, because the storm itself, this unending conflict, makes the world we know a reality. Along with all the other worlds waiting to be born. Or were born, but died like a guttering candle in eternal night… Haxan is the first in a series of novels. It’s Lonesome Dove meets The Punisher… real, gritty, violent, and blatantly uncompromising.
The sequel, Quaternity, will arrive March 31, 2015.
Haxan was published by Chizine Publications on July 1, 2014. It is 250 pages, priced at $16.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition.
Explore an Old School Mega-Dungeon with Pacesetter’s The Blood Cult
Gary Con is probably my favorite gaming convention. It’s not nearly as large as, say, Gen Con, but it’s friendly, focused on old-school role playing — and a lot closer to Chicago.
I really enjoyed Gary Con VI last March, and brought home a box crammed with treasures. And then I must have forgotten about it, because I just stumbled on it as I was straightening out the library to make room for the Christmas tree. I was supposed to be clearing away junk and vacuuming, and instead I ended up crossed-legged on the floor, with the box empty and the contents spread everywhere, like a kid at Christmas.
I found all kinds of goodies in that box, like back issues of the old-school gaming journal Fight On, omnibus compilations of the hilarious Knight of the Dinner Table comic, and a handful of boxed adventure supplements.
It was the latter that really grabbed my attention. There was a Whisper & Venom, a thoroughly professional production from Lesser Gnome, with a beautiful fold-out map, custom miniatures and color cards, and even a box of dice. And there was The Blood Cult, a heavy box that came crammed full of adventure books and over a dozen two-color maps — just like the classic TSR adventure sets like Dragon Mountain and The Ruins of Undermountain.
I never did get the Christmas tree up (which means I have some making up to do with my wife). But I did spend some quality time with The Blood Cult, and trust me — it was worth it.
Long time readers will remember Martha Wells’s Cineth stories, “Holy Places,” “Houses of the Dead,” and “Reflections,” which first appeared in Black Gate10, 11, and 12. They were some of the most popular stories we every published, and they helped put Black Gateon the map.
All three stories feature her characters Giliead and Ilias. “Holy Places” was reprinted in Lightspeed magazine, but the others have never been reprinted — although I’m often asked when they might be available in a more permanent edition. So I was very pleased to hear the following news from Martha this week:
I’m involved in a kickstarter this month… It’s short story collections by six different authors (me, Tina Connolly, Brenda Cooper, Stephen Gaskell, Bradley P. Beaulieu, and Will McIntosh) with reprints and some stories original to the collection. The new short story I’ll have in it is a Nicholas and Reynard story set before The Death of the Necromancer, called “Night at the Opera,” so I thought some Black Gate readers might be interested.
We serialized Martha’s complete novel The Death of the Necromancerhere.
We frequently hear about publishing Kickstarter projects, but this one looks very special indeed. Six by Six brings together six terrific fantasy and SF authors, each of whom contributes six stories, for 36 stories in all — including all three Giliead and Ilias tales from Black Gatemagazine.
A month ago, I was wandering the Dealer’s Rooms at the World Fantasy Convention like a kid in a candy store, finding treasure after treasure. I’ve already written about the great finds I made at the Valancourt and Hippocampus Press tables, and Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine.
But if I’d had to leave the convention with only one book, I think it would have been a pretty simple choice. Lois H. Gresh, author of Blood and Ice and The Twilight Companion, and PS Publishing have teamed up to produce a glorious anthology of “weird tales, dark science fiction, dark fantasy, and pure horror” tales, Dark Fusions, subtitled Where Monsters Lurk!
It was released in a limited edition hardcover last year, but I didn’t set eyes on it until this year. Packed with original short stories by Cody Goodfellow, Darrell Schweitzer, Nancy Kilpatrick, James Alan Gardner, Yvonne Navarro, Mark McLaughlin, Robert M. Price, and many others, I knew I wanted this one the moment I set eyes on it.
Sometimes, darkness is internal, generated by our minds or bodies. Sometimes, it’s due to external devices, such as monsters, shadows, or lurking dangers. A dark fantasy story requires an otherworld, an imaginary realm, a supernatural story requires a creature or event that exists beyond our natural universe, and a dark science fiction story revolves around science gone bad.
John O’Neill at Capricon 2014 (photo by Patty Templeton)
Some years before I started Black Gate magazine, I was editing a science fiction fan site called SF Site. It’s still going strong today, managed by my old partners Rodger Turner and Neil Walsh in Ottawa. It was nominated for a Hugo award in 2002, and a World Fantasy Award in 2006; in 2002, it won the Locus Award for best webzine.
Anyway, before all that fame and glory, I was still struggling to get the damn site off the ground. That meant a lot of hard work, writing and posting articles that nobody read, late into the night. Around 1997 or so, I hit on an idea to give my site a higher profile: offering free hosting to the major SF and fantasy magazines, none of which had websites at the time. This worked splendidly, and over the next few years, Rodger and I launched sites for Analog, F&SF, SF Chronicle, and many others (meaning that I made a lot of phone calls, and Rodger did all the actual work.)
In 1998, shortly after we launched the Asimov’s SF site, I wrote A Brief History of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, to celebrate the magazine coming on board. I wrote about finding the second issue in 1977, the summer I discovered SF magazines. In my first draft, I said something about Asimov looking elderly and distinguished on the cover.
I ran the draft past Sheila Williams, then Executive Editor of Asimov’s, and received a very cranky note in return. She strongly objected to my wording, saying “Isaac was barely fifty when that photo was taken — hardly elderly!” I puzzled over that for a long, long time. What did she mean, exactly? It didn’t make any sense. Finally, I had an epiphany. Sheila was probably really old, too. She might even be approaching 50 herself! And as everyone knew, old people shouted at everybody, and didn’t make much sense. I tweaked my wording enough to pacify her and we published the article.
I’ve thought about that exchange a few times since I turned 50, just a few months ago.
A few weeks ago, Marvel Studios leaked that it was in discussions with Benedict Cumberbatch to take the lead role role in its upcoming superhero film Doctor Strange. Several outlets picked it up as a news story, but I thought it was strange. Who announces they’re “in talks?” Don’t you keep that quiet until terms are concluded? Cumberbatch is about as hot as a young actor can get, what with the title role in Sherlock, and his roles in Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Hobbit, and The Imitation Game. Making a big noise in the press about your top choice before you even start negotiating seems like a sure way to drive up the price for the talent — or to end up disappointing fans.
Well, either Marvel knew the outcome in advance, or they just really know what they’re doing, as this week they announced they’d reached terms with Cumberbatch. He will appear in the film version of Doctor Strange, to be released in 2016 as part of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Producer Kevin Feige said:
Stephen Strange’s story requires an actor capable of great depth and sincerity. In 2016, Benedict will show audiences what makes Doctor Strange such a unique and compelling character.
Doctor Strange was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1963 (not long after they co-created Spider-man). As I said when we first discussed it here, I hope the film draws inspiration from Ditko’s fantastic art, and especially the way he portrayed the dimension-hopping adventures of his sorcerer-hero. Marvel announced the director would be Scott Derrickson (who directed the fabulously creepy Sinister, and Deliver Us from Evil), back in June.
Doctor Strange is scheduled to be released in November 4, 2016. It will be directed by Scott Derrickson, from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus).
Vintage Treasures: The Compleat Werewolf, by Anthony Boucher
I like classic werewolf tales, in much the same way I like old-fashioned vampire stories. Tales of spooky nights, full moons, and ancient family curses are both frightening and warmly familiar.
Along with J. Francis McComas, Anthony Boucher was the the founding editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; he edited the magazine from 1949 to 1958, winning the Hugo Award twice for his efforts. He was equally acclaimed for his mystery novels, including Nine Times Nine (1940) and Rocket to the Morgue (1942), which featured thinly-disguised versions of Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, Julius Schwartz, Henry Kuttner, Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton and John W. Campbell. He died in 1968. His 1969 collection The Compleat Werewolf is a delightful gathering of SF and fantasy tales originally published in the pulp magazines Unknown Worlds, Adventure, Astounding Science-Fiction,Weird Tales, and Thrilling Wonder Stories. Here’s the book description.
Anthony Boucher was long known as an important book critic and editor, master of languages and successful novelist. He was also a superb short story writer of science fiction and fantasy: inventive, prolific- and always entertaining.
The stories and novelettes in this titanic collection were chosen for the sheer virtuosity of their themes, moods, backgrounds; for their insights; for their laughter. They are wonderfully peopled by moth-eaten little demons, grim interplanetary predators, rebellious androids and dopplegangers; by humans with otherworld talents; and finally, not least, by one very special werewolf.
