John ONeill – Page 433

Earn Your Gold Honestly in Valdora — By Digging For It

Friday, March 22, 2013 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

On March 10, I attended the Spring Auction at Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL. I went chiefly in search of select fantasy games I’ve had my eye on for some time… but also in the hope of a surprise or two.

It didn’t take long to get what I wished for, at least in terms of surprises. I wasn’t in my seat ten minutes when an eye-catching box with three obvious adventurers on the cover came up for bid.

What the heck was this? The cover art — with snow-capped mountains, a medieval walled town, and three young lads decked out in standard issue dungeon-exploring garb — spoke of an adventure game, but I’d never heard of it. The box looked substantial (and expensive), and it appeared to be in great shape, but there’s only so much you can tell sitting in a metal chair at an auction.

Bidding was brisk, and I didn’t have much time to make up my mind. I took a chance, and seven seconds (and 15 bucks) later a nearly-new copy of Valdora was mine. Here’s what I found on the back when I was able to examine it:

Hidden far away from our time lies a valley of unimaginable riches. Drawn by the lure of gold, silver, and precious jewels, adventurers from all over the world soon find their way there. While some of them still carefully choose commissions and provisions, others quickly rush off to bring valuable gems back to their patrons. But those who wish for fame and fortune will have to be cleverer than their opponents!

Peeking through the box there seems to be a dearth of dungeons, but plenty of Settlers of Catan-like strategy, with players working to acquire tools, complete commissions, and control workshops. Looks like you have to earn your gold and gems the old-fashioned way: by earning them. The components — including a colorful and detailed game board, gemstones, cards, tiles, coins, pawns, a sturdy fabric bag, and four wooden books — are excellent. It looks like a solid family game that I can force all of my children to play with me.

Valdora was designed by Michael Schacht and published by ABACUSSPIELE/Rio Grande Games. It was released in 2009, and has a list price of $74.99 — which makes my auction purchase at $15 a real bargain. Score another point for the Paris Fashion Week of Games.

“Exceptional. A must read”: Tangent Online on “Seeker of Fortune”

Thursday, March 21, 2013 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Louis West at Tangent Online reviews David Evan Harris’s contemporary fantasy short story, published here on Sunday, March 17:

David Evan Harris, in “Seeker of Fortune,” creates a fascinating reality in which luck can be manipulated by Fortune Stackers. They can draw luck from one person and give it to another, or take it for themselves. But it’s a zero-sum game. Stackers often drift with the poker circuit, careful not to get caught. Since Sniffers protect casinos and lotteries, and Stackers that are caught suffer unlucky accidents, that only leaves two professions available — casino security and hit man…

John Sherman is one such talent. Not being the strongest or boldest of Stackers, he gets by. For a while he was engaged to Ronnie, the strongest Stacker known, until he watched her kill an entire family just to take out her target. John left her at the altar on their wedding day, and her fury promised a hard death if she ever caught up with him. Unfortunately (fitting for a Fortune Stacker), John finds his work leading him back to Las Vegas, the city he’d vowed never to return to, Ronnie’s stomping grounds.

How John survives his encounter with Ronnie makes for an incredible chase scene that I would stack up against (pun intended) some of the best from the Matrix movie trilogy… Exceptional. A must read.

David Evan Harris’s first fiction sale, “The Mudslinger,” was published in Black Gate 11. It was one of the most acclaimed stories in the issue, and Grasping For the Wind said, “Harris has the makings of an epic fantasy… I look forward to more.” You can read Louis’s complete review here.

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by Aaron Bradford Starr, Mark Rigney, C.S.E. Cooney, Vaughn Heppner, E.E. Knight, Jason E. Thummel, Judith Berman, Howard Andrew Jones, Dave Gross, Harry Connolly, and others, is here.

“Seeker of Fortune” is a 7,300-word short story of contemporary fantasy. It is offered at no cost. Read the complete story here.

Tomb of Horrors Gets a Fourth Edition Makeover

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 John ONeill Comments 16 comments

One of the more intriguing treasures I brought home from the Paris Fashion Week of Games last week was the compact new edition of Gary Gygax’s famous player-killer Tomb of Horrors.

Now, if you don’t play role playing games yet still find the name Tomb of Horrors oddly familiar, it’s probably because it’s a touchstone of considerable significance in geek culture and you’ve come across one of the many modern references to it. Most recently, for example, it featured in Ernest Cline’s best-selling novel Ready Player One, which is set in a virtual reality world created by a fan of Tomb of Horrors. Or maybe your older brother’s beloved 10th-level paladin was killed by an unspeakable thing 20 minutes after he set foot inside the Tomb, and he’s been suffering from PTSD ever since, muttering the name Acererak and shuddering uncontrollably.

The original Tomb of Horrors was released in 1978; it’s one of the best-selling Dungeons and Dragons adventure modules of all time. I’m not sure why, to be completely honest. You don’t have fun playing Tomb of Horrors, exactly. And it has certainly killed far, far more player characters than it has rewarded. You know the phrase “Bad things happen to good people?” It was first spoken by the few, shell-shocked survivors of Tomb of Horrors.

Despite — or perhaps because of — its killer rep, the module is still highly regarded today, and has been remade and expanded several times, most recently as a 4th Edition hardcover by Ari Marmell and Scott Fitzgerald Gray in July 2010. This isn’t that version. This is a bare-bones conversion of the original adventure for 4th Edition rules, written by Scott Fitzgerald Gray and mailed out to members of the RPGA as part of the DM Rewards program. Instead of the separate art booklet — one of the most famous features of the original release, which allowed players to gawk in wonder at detailed renderings of the horrific things that had just killed them — this edition incorporates most of the original art into the body of the module. The cover is also recycled from the 2002 Greyhawk novel of the same name by Keith Francis Strohm (which we last discussed in “The Seven Greyhawk Classics of the Ancient World,” here).

For all that, it’s still fun to sit down and re-read Gygax’s original sadistic masterpiece again. The layout is clean and attractive, and the map of Acererak’s tomb has been given new life as a detailed color fold-out. Since it was never offered to retailers it’s a little tricky to find, however, and prices vary widely. As it was originally offered for free, some folks re-sell it at a reasonable price; but the average asking price I found on eBay was just over $50. I paid $7 for a shrinkwraped copy at auction.

Tomb of Horrors, by Gary Gygax and Scott Fitzgerald Gray, was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2010. It is a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure for five 9th-level characters. It is 36 pages in softcover, with a loose cardstock cover and a fold-out color map. It has no price.

Released This Week: Upside Down

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

Upside Down, the French-Canadian science fiction romance starring Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess, finally gets a U.S. release this week.

The film is visually gorgeous — just have a look at the trailer below. It also has an intriguing and unique premise (although I had a tough time explaining it to my son Tim, whose high school physics required him to challenge just how separate planetary gravities might work. It’s Hollywood Tim, just go with it). The film does not have anything resembling a wide release, at least not here in Chicago, but it might be well worth tracking it down. Or at least waiting for the DVD.

Upside Down was produced by Millennium Entertainment and released on March 15. The website, with additional trailers, behind-the-scenes info, and photo galleries, is here.

Vintage Treasures: Was Morlock Night by K.W. Jeter the First True Steampunk novel?

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

I have vivid memories of watching George Pal’s science fiction thriller The Time Machine — based on the classic novel by H.G. Wells — in a theater, even though it came out in 1960, four years before I was born. Likely I saw it in an auditorium during a Cub Scouts movie night, or something. In any event, I remember the Morlocks. Scary, scary dudes.

In the last ten years there’s been an explosion of sequels to classic fiction. You don’t have to look far to find examples; not with Oz the Great and Powerful playing in theaters, and shelves and shelves of Sherlock Holmes and Jane Austin sequels crowding bookstores.

Typically, however, K.W. Jeter — the man who created the word “Steampunk” — was there first, with the novel Morlock Night in 1979. Morlock Night explores what might have happened if the Time Traveler’s wonderful machine fell into the hands of the Morlocks and they used it to return to Victorian England and turn London into their new hunting ground.

Morlock Night is full of surprises, as the premise becomes the launching point for a fast-paced fantasy involving King Arthur and Merlin, Excalibur, an ancient Atlantean submarine, and the fabric of the Cosmos being torn to the ripping point by the paradoxes of time travel… standard steampunk fare by today’s standards, but that was pretty wild stuff in 1979.

In his now-famous letter to Locus in April 1987, Jeter was the first to use the word “steampunk” to describe this book, and the strange and exciting new sub-genre of retro-adventure fantasy also being written by Tim Powers and James Blaylock:

Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term… like “steampunks,” perhaps…

Morlock Knight was out of print for over three decades, until Angry Robot reprinted it in a handsome new edition in April, 2011. It was originally published in paperback by DAW in June 1979, with a vivid (and very yellow) cover by Josh Kirby, who later became renowned for his Discworld covers (click the image for a bigger version). It is 156 pages, originally priced at $1.75; the new edition is $7.99 ($6.99 for the digital version).

New Treasures: Blood’s Pride by Evie Manieri

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

I’m still reading the books I picked up over the weekend — including Michael Shea’s Nifft the Lean, and Karen Heuler’s fascinating collection The Inner City. Heck, I haven’t even finished the digital version of The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination I bought weeks ago. I suck.

Fortunately, sucking as a reader isn’t a crime (yet). And besides, it’s hard to stay focused when so many delicious new titles cross my desk every day. Titles like Evie Manieri’s intriguing first novel Blood’s Pride, which promises a tale of vengeance, conquest & rebellion, and long-buried secrets.

Rising from their sea-torn ships like vengeful, pale phantoms, the Norlanders laid waste to the Shadar under cover of darkness. They forced the once-peaceful fisher folk into slavery and forged an alliance with their former trading partners, the desert-dwelling Nomas tribe, cutting off any hope of salvation.

Now, two decades after the invasion, a rebellion gathers strength in the dark corridors of the city. A small faction of Shadari have hired the Mongrel, an infamous mercenary, to aid their fledgling uprising — but with her own shadowy ties to the region, she is a frighteningly volatile ally. Has she really come to lead a revolution, or for a more sinister purpose all her own?

The eye-catching cover art is by Kekai Kotaki — click on the image for a bigger version. Evie Manieri is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a double major in medieval history and theater — a promising mix for a career as a fantasy novelist. She lives in New York. According to her website bio this is the first novel in the Shattered Kingdoms trilogy; the next installment, Fortune’s Blight, is due out in the Fall.

Blood’s Pride was published on February 19, 2013 by Tor Books. It is 516 pages in hardcover, priced at $24.99.

Releasing This Week: Warhammer 40K: Relic From Fantasy Flight Games

Monday, March 18, 2013 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Game Designers Workshop and Fantasy Flight — the folks behind the superb Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy role playing games — have teamed up once again to release Relic, an intriguing new board game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Based on the streamlined (and well-honed) mechanics of the Talisman fantasy games, Relic allows two to four players to assume the role of powerful Imperial heroes, and bravely venture forth to protect the Antian Sector. By completing card-based missions and defeating dangerous enemies of the Imperium — including Nurgling Swarms, Fallen Inquisitors, Ork Vulcha squads, and even a Tyranid Hive-ship — characters compete to gain rewards and experience, increasing their chances to advance and ultimately be the first to defeat the evil that lies beyond the Warp rift. See all the details in the compact video run-through below.

Relic was published today, Mar 18, 2013, by Fantasy Flight, under license from Games Workshop. The game contains a game board, 10 plastic character pieces and character sheets, mysterious attribute and life dials, more than 300 cards, tokens, 4 six-sided dice, and a handsome rulebook. It retails for $59.95.

Black Gate Online Fiction: “Seeker of Fortune” by David Evan Harris

Sunday, March 17, 2013 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

John Sherman has a gift… a gift that’s brought him to the attention of the wrong people. Getting out will take a lot of luck — and some very quick thinking.

John had never tamped anyone into the black before. He had seen Ronnie do it, twice. The first had been a young guy on a motorcycle, maybe nineteen or twenty. Veronica had tucked her long black hair behind her ears, then focused on the target. The kid had looked right at them, a puzzled look on his face, sweat suddenly pooling on his forehead, and then something had come out of the bed of a pickup heading the other way, something small and sharp that struck the kid squarely in his left eye.

For a second it seemed he would keep the bike from toppling, even as his hand flew to his face. Then he lost it, not even laying the bike down, a skid morphing into a tumble, and John thought or imagined he could hear his neck snap when he hit the pavement. Veronica, utterly calm, had looked at John, who was open mouthed and shaking.

“So now you’ve seen,” she’d said, and they had never spoken of it again.

“Seeker of Fortune” is a complete 7,300-word short story of contemporary fantasy. It is offered at no cost.

Read the complete story here.

New Treasures: The Inner City by Karen Heuler

Sunday, March 17, 2013 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

I’ve started ordering more from Barnes & Noble’s online store. Not that I’ve been unhappy with Amazon, but I wanted to try out the competition, and so far I’ve been pleased with the service.

The first book I ordered was the seventh volume of the collected Atomic Robo, Flying She-Devils of the Pacific. At some point while browsing their online store, they recommended an odd little volume to me: Karen Heuler’s The Inner City, a collection of fantasy short stories. I’ve never heard of Karen Heuler. But I’m very familiar with ChiZine, the eclectic Canadian publisher, and raved at length about their marvelous back catalog a while back. So I took a chance and ordered The Inner City — what the heck, it was the perfect price to get my order up to $25, and get free shipping.

What are you hiding down deep in your inner city?

Anything is possible: people breed dogs with humans to create a servant class; beneath one great city lies another city, running it surreptitiously; an employee finds that her hair has been stolen by someone intent on getting her job; strange fish fall from trees and birds talk too much; a boy tries to figure out what he can get when the Rapture leaves good stuff behind. Everything is familiar; everything is different. Behind it all, is there some strange kind of design or merely just the chance to adapt? In Heuler’s stories, characters cope with the strange without thinking it’s strange, sometimes invested in what’s going on, sometimes trapped by it, but always finding their own way in.

Surprisingly, so far I’ve been more taken with The Inner City than Atomic Robo — and believe me, that doesn’t happen very often. Typical of ChiZine, the book design and packing are gorgeous. There’s even a 10-page catalog in the back that reminds me of the checklists in the endpapers of Ace paperbacks that fascinated me as a young teen. The stories in this collection were originally published in places like Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, Albedo One, Moon Milk Review, and other excellent publications — a good sign.

The Inner City was published February 13, 2013. It is 212 pages, priced at $16.95 ($9.99 for the digital edition). ChiZine has a generous sneak-peek here — including the complete 10-page catalog. Check it out!

Vintage Treasures: Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea

Saturday, March 16, 2013 John ONeill Comments 22 comments

Michael Shea is one of the most fascinating characters in the genre. Consider this biographical tidbit from his Wikipedia entry:

At a hotel in Juneau, Alaska, Shea chanced on a battered book from the lobby shelves, The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance (1966). Four years later, after a brief first marriage and one year hitch-hiking through France and Spain, he wrote a novel in homage to Vance, who graciously declined to share the advance… It was Shea’s first publication, A Quest for Simbilis (1974), and an authorized sequel to Vance’s two Dying Earth books then extant.

Nowadays we’d call that “fan-fiction,” and read it online. In 1974, A Quest for Simbilis was published in paperback by DAW books, and it launched Michael’s career — a career that has produced some of the most acclaimed fantasy of the past four decades.

Eight years after he burst on the scene with A Quest for Simbilis, Michael published one of the most important works of modern sword and sorcery: Nifft the Lean, a collection of four linked novellas published in paperback by DAW in 1982. It won the World Fantasy Award for year’s best novel, and accolades from every corner of the genre.

Nifft has reappeared several times since, first in The Mines of Behemoth (Baen, 1997) — collected with Nifft the Lean as The Incompleat Nifft (Baen, 2000) — and most recently in the novel The A’rak (Baen, 2000).

However, I’ve never read the original Nifft the Lean, and when I stumbled on a copy in a collection of DAW paperbacks I purchased last month, I decided it was time to rectify that. The marvelous Michael Whelan artwork is reminiscent of many other DAW S&S titles of the time, especially Michael Moorcock’s Elric books, and there’s a familiarity to it that I find very welcoming. I’m looking forward to reading the stories that inspired it.

Nifft the Lean was published in December 1982 by DAW Books. It is 304 pages in paperback, originally priced at $2.95. It is currently out of print.

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