John ONeill – Page 418

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2013 Edition

Wednesday, July 10, 2013 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Well, look at that. My favorite Year’s Best anthology has arrived — and earlier than I expected.

This is the fifth volume of Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy. Rich did a handful of volumes of Year’s Best Fantasy and Year’s Best SF before combining them into one fat mega-volume starting in 2009. I much prefer these generously-sized tomes. They rest nicely in my lap, and pin me to my reading chair.

This year, Rich selects thirty-three short stories and novelettes from a wide range of magazines — Analog, Asimov’s SF, Interzone,, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Tor.com, Lightspeed, Weird Tales, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Interzone, Eclipse Online, Electric Velocipede, Tin House, and others — as well as anthologies, including The Future is Japanese, The Mammoth Book of Steampunk, and Robots: The New A.I.

His contributors include Ursula K. Le Guin, Linda Nagata, Jay Lake, Kelly Link, Robert Charles Wilson , Genevieve Valentine, Elizabeth Bear, Aliette de Bodard, Robert Reed, Christopher Rowe, Naomi Kritzer, Michael Blumlein, Catherynne M. Valente, Lavie Tidhar, and many others.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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July/August Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction now on Sale

Tuesday, July 9, 2013 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Pretty sedate cover on the latest F&SF. Especially when you consider recent covers have featured deadly sea creatures, dragons, and floating eyeballs. But hey – magical cats are a time-honored tradition in American fantasy, so who am I to judge?

Colleen Chen at Tangent Online finds lots to like about this issue’s cover story, “The Color of Sand” by KJ Kabza, magical cats and all:

I always have high expectations when reading F&SF, but I found this issue particularly delightful. Much of it read like a selection of folk and fairy tales, complete with talking animals and legendary folk, interspersed with a couple of science fiction stories and a dash of horror for variety.

“The Color of Sand” by KJ Kabza is a whimsical tale of a five-year-old boy named Catch who lives on the edge of the dunes with his mother and his only neighbor, a talking sandcat named Bone. Catch and his mother, who pick up mysterious colorful pebble-like objects on the beach to trade and sell, discover one day that the objects, called refulgium, are magic. Catch swallows a red one and becomes a giant. Guided by Bone, he and his mother embark on a journey along the coast to the perilous Final Atoll to seek a black refulgium that will return him to normal size.

This story was such a pleasure to read. It’s smart and funny enough to appeal to adults but would also enrapture children of any age.

The issue also contains fiction by Eleanor Arnason, Tim Sullivan, Adam Rakunas, Chen Qiufan, Harry R. Campion, and many others. In a startling development, there is no contribution from Albert E. Cowdrey this issue – for the first time in two years.

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Check Out the Humble ebook Bundle: Pay What You Want for 6 Great Books

Monday, July 8, 2013 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

I had a look at the Humble ebook Bundle today, and was very impressed.

I’ve heard rumblings about this Humble thing for a while, but to be honest I never looked into it. They sold video game and music bundles, or something, on a “pay-what-you-want” basis, raising over $13.5 million for charity. That’s cool. You go, humble peeps.

But now they’re offering four great SF and fantasy titles, at a price you set yourself, for the next nine days. Suddenly I’m at lot more interested. The titles are:

Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest
Spin, Robert Charles Wilson
Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold

Yes, you get to decide what price you’re willing to pay for this awesome book bundle. Even if it’s only 1 cent, you cheap bastard. The titles are DRM-free, and available in multiple formats for most e-readers, including Kindle and iPad. You even get to choose where your money goes, allocating a portion (or all) of your payment the Electric Frontier Foundation, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or Child’s Play Charity.

This is the second book promotion these Humble geniuses have strung together. As of press time, over 35,000 bundles have been sold, which is pretty darned amazing. The site tracks the average donation amount ($9.55 last time I checked), which lets you know just how cheap you really are — and also makes it possible to offer a special premium of two additional titles for those willing to pay more that. Those titles are:

The Last Unicorn: Deluxe Edition by Peter Beagle
Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton

Yeah, that’s six great titles for less than ten bucks. That’s a steal. Check it out here.

New Treasures: Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy

Monday, July 8, 2013 John ONeill Comments 18 comments

I have to admit I’ve been a bit frustrated with Ian Whates’s recent anthologies from Solaris: Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (2011), and the brand new Solaris Rising 2 (March 2013).

Oh, they’re fine anthologies. Whates is establishing himself as an editor with a keen eye for talent, and he’s attracted some terrific names.

But that’s a lot of science fiction. Nothing wrong with science fiction but… what about fantasy? Come on Solaris — where’s the love?

Apparently, it was in the mail. Last month it arrived in the form of Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy, edited by uber-editor Jonathan Strahan.

Fearsome Journeys is the first volume in a new series of fantasy anthologies featuring all-original fiction. Authors in the first volume include Ellen Klages, Trudi Canavan, Elizabeth Bear, Daniel Abraham, Kate Elliott, Saladin Ahmed, Glen Cook, Scott Lynch, Ellen Kushner & Ysabeau Wilce, Jeffrey Ford, Robert Redick and KJ Parker.

That’s a damned impressive line-up. All is forgiven, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy was edited by Jonathan Strahan and published by Solaris on May 28, 2013. It is 416 pages, priced at $7.99 in paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. Find out more at the Solaris website.

See all of our recent New Treasures articles here.

Black Gate Online Fiction: “Falling Castles” by Jamie McEwan

Sunday, July 7, 2013 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

The intrepid Prince Tanek, hero of “An Uprising of One” from Black Gate 15, returns in a tale of a daring castle raid — with chilling consequences.

Tanek could hear voices coming from the watchtower above as one by one his companions pulled themselves through the chilly water and lined up against the wall beside him. Romy was distracting the single watchman on the northwest tower. King Luzak had left only a skeleton guard behind, wishing to include all available force in his invasion.

When they had all hurriedly dressed, Tanek, dagger in hand, slipped through the unlocked postern gate and led the others through the cramped stone passage beyond. He was relieved to find the gate on the far side of the thick wall unlocked as well.

“Rojek,” whispered Tanek, his hand on the gate.

“My lord,” Rojek answered from close behind.

“Just the two of us,” said Tanek. “Follow me out, to our left, and up the tower stairs. Remember; we must stay below the parapet as much as possible.” Glancing down at the sword that Rojek had insisted on wearing Tanek added, “And remember, quiet!”

Jamie’s “An Uprising of One” made the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List 2011. In his feature review of BG 15 Kevin R. Tipple wrote:

King Erskine of Malpass, a tyrant known as “Erskin the Extractor” for reasons that become clear in the story, must be stopped and stopped now. He has a weakness and Tanek has figured it out. A key part of Tanek’s plan requires him to scale the tallest tower at Erskine’s castle at Courbe. Despite how dangerous it is, breaking into the castle by climbing the tower might be the easiest party of the plan…

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by Martha Wells, Mary Catelli, Michael Penkas, Vera Nazarian, Robert Rhodes, Ryan Harvey, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, E.E. Knight, C.S.E. Cooney, Howard Andrew Jones, Harry Connolly, and many others, is here.

“Falling Castles” is a complete 11,000-word tale of adventure fantasy offered at no cost. Art from “An Uprising of One” by Jim and Ruth Keegan.

Read the complete story here.

Jo Walton’s Eight Books From the Last Decade that Made Me Excited About Fantasy

Sunday, July 7, 2013 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Over at Tor.com, Hugo Award-winning author Jo Walton celebrates the eight fantasy novels that most excited her about the genre in the last decade.

Her list includes Yves Meynard’s Chrysanthe, which we last discussed here. Here’s what she said:

Yves Meynard’s Chrysanthe is in the tradition of Gene Wolfe and Roger Zelazny, and beyond that of Dunsany and Mirrlees. It also has modern sensibilities, and because Meynard is from a different culture — he’s an award-winning novelist in French — it’s distinctly different from most of what we see on the shelves labelled as fantasy. This is a quest through shadows that leads to unexpected places. So much fantasy uses magic in a logical way — I’ve called it “realist magicism.” Of everything I’ve mentioned here, only this and A Stranger in Olondria are doing anything that isn’t that. I like it to make sense, but I also like the incredible flowering of the imagination you get in things like Chrysanthe.

Jo’s list also includes Sofia Samatar’s A Stranger in Olondria, Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet, Sarah Monette’s Doctrine of Labyrinths series, Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles, Steven Brust’s Dzur, and two others I’ll leave as a surprise.

Check out the complete list here.

New Treasures: Katya’s World by Jonathan L. Howard

Saturday, July 6, 2013 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Those of you with sharp eyes last week noticed that, buried among the many intriguing titles in the Strange Chemistry Book Cover Montage we published on June 29, were the latest novels from Black Gate author Jonathan L. Howard.

Jonathan is a terrifically talented fantasy author. We published two of his stories featuring Kyth the Taker, the brilliant thief whose commissions inevitably involve her in sorcerous intrigue: “The Shuttered Temple” in Black Gate 15 and “The Beautiful Corridor” (BG 13.)

Jonathan’s first novels were the popular Johannes Cabel books: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (2010), Johannes Cabal the Detective (2010), and the upcoming Fear Institute. But one series doesn’t appear to be enough for Jonathan. Here’s the 411 on the first book of The Russalka Chronicles:

The distant and unloved colony world of Russalka has no land, only the raging sea. No clear skies, only the endless storm clouds. Beneath the waves, the people live in pressurised environments and take what they need from the boundless ocean. It is a hard life, but it is theirs and they fought a war against Earth to protect it. But wars leave wounds that never quite heal, and secrets that never quite lie silent.

Katya Kuriakova doesn’t care much about ancient history like that, though. She is making her first submarine voyage as crew; the first nice, simple journey of what she expects to be a nice, simple career.

There is nothing nice and simple about the deep black waters of Russalka, however; soon she will encounter pirates and war criminals, see death and tragedy at first hand, and realise that her world’s future lies on the narrowest of knife edges. For in the crushing depths lies a sleeping monster, an abomination of unknown origin, and when it wakes, it will seek out and kill every single person on the planet.

The second title in the series, Katya’s War, is due in October.

Katya’s World was published by Strange Chemistry on November 13, 2012. It is 320 pages in paperback, priced at $9.99 ($6.99 for the digital edition). Learn more at the Strange Chemistry website, and read Jonathan’s thoughts on writing the Johannes Cabel books right here at Black Gate.

EN World Announces the 9 Most Anticipated RPGs of 2013

Friday, July 5, 2013 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

The folks at role-playing game news and reviews site EN World have published the results of their survey on the Top 9 Most Anticipated RPGs of 2013.

The survey was conducted on EN World, Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere. Only full tabletop roleplaying games — not adventures, settings, or other supplements — with a 2013 release date made it to the list. The results were published on June 27 and summarized in the nifty YouTube video below.

Some of the impending RPG releases for the year include Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition from Chaosium, Robin D. Laws’s Iron Age drama Hillfolk (Pelgrane Press), Shadowrun 5th Edition (Catalyst Game Lab), the highly anticipated Star Wars: Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight, Monte Cook’s Kickstarter phenomenon Numenera, the new Firefly RPG from Margaret Weis Productions, and the massive 13th Age by D&D designers Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo. That’s enough hints; now here’s the video with all nine winners.

New Treasures: Against the Slave Lords

Thursday, July 4, 2013 John ONeill Comments 10 comments

I think the release of Against the Slave Lords is cause for celebration.

Against the Slave Lords is a hardcover collection of four interconnected Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules, the A1 – A4 series Scourge of the Slave Lords, originally published in 1980 and 1981. It includes new forewords by the four surviving designers. Lawrence Schick, for example, relates how his inspiration came from fellow author and dungeon master Harold Johnson:

In his campaign one night, Harold had our characters get captured, whereupon he took away all our stuff and threw us in a dungeon. The challenge: escape without relying on all our carefully hoarded adventuring gear. Were our characters people with skills and brains, or were they really just lists of equipment?

It also includes the maps and all of the original black-and-white interior art. Most intriguing of all, there’s also a brand new fifth adventure that sets the stage for the entire series, published here for the first time. Danger at Darkshelf Quarry is designed for low-level players (levels 1-3).

Why celebrate? It signals that publishers Wizards of the Coast are serious about bringing the canonical works of first edition D&D back into print. I was plenty excited at their last premium hardcover reprint, Dungeons of Dread, as it collected some of the most famous adventures written by AD&D‘s creator, Gary Gygax — including Tomb of Horrors and The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (still one of my favorite adventure modules of all time) — all of which were long out of print and hard to find.

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Get Four E-books from Orbit for Just $2.99 Each

Tuesday, July 2, 2013 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Every month, Orbit Books offers one of their top-selling science fiction and fantasy titles in e-book format for just $2.99. This month, they break with tradition and offer you no less than four terrific titles:

Blood Rights — Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarrae — a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…

Germline — War is Oscar Wendell’s ticket to greatness. A reporter for The Stars and Stripes, he has the only one way pass to the front lines of a brutal war over natural resources buried underneath the icy, mineral rich mountains of Kazakhstan. Heavily armored soldiers battle genetically engineered troops hundreds of meters below the surface. The genetics — the germline soldiers — are the key to winning this war, but some technologies can’t be put back in the box.

Tempest Rising — Living in small town Rockabill, Maine, Jane True always knew she didn’t quite fit in with so-called normal society. During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human. Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures alternatively terrifying, beautiful, and deadly.

Feed — The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Support one of the best genre paperback publishers out there, and grab some terrific book bargains in the process. Get all the details at The Orbital Drop.

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