John ONeill – Page 491

Arabian Culture Myth as Fantasy: Tor.com interviews Howard Andrew Jones

Saturday, February 19, 2011 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

We ran out of bubbly grape juice by Friday morning, but that hasn’t stopped the non-stop celebration of Howard Andrew Jones month here at the Black Gate rooftop headquarters.

Today we’ve been clustered around computers reading the lengthy and far-ranging interview with Howard at Tor.com, which covers Howard’s literary inspirations, his research methods, and how long years toiling for Black Gate molded him into the literary titan he is today:

Are there other novels that inspired this series? Perhaps in unexpected ways?

Tthe books I’ve read the most times are probably Leiber’s collection of Lankhmar stories, Swords Against Death, and Zelazny’s Amber books… I can’t imagine that Leiber and Zelazny haven’t had a lasting influence upon me. I love the world building and pulp noir sensibilities of Leigh Brackett, queen of space opera, who was writing of Firefly-like characters twenty and thirty years before Han Solo every reached the silver screen.

How would you say your career as an editor at Black Gate has helped shape you as an author?

That’s an interesting question. I suppose it’s gotten me to think about the starts to stories even more than I was already. I see a lot more beginnings than I do endings, to be honest. That’s just the way it works when you’re reading submissions. The biggest impact, though, probably comes from the number of people I’ve had the privilege to meet thanks to Black Gate’s John O’Neill… I think my writing career would have had a much harder time getting launched without my work with the magazine and the Harold Lamb collections.

The complete interview (and an absolutely smashing photo of Howard in a paisley shirt) is here.

Larry Nolen’s Best Heroic Fantasy of 2010

Saturday, February 19, 2011 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Over at Locus Online Larry Nolen’s, editor of The OF Blog, has posted his rundown on the Best Heroic Fantasy of 2010:

Heroic or high fantasy, whether it appears under the guise of multi-volume “epics” or the shorter-length Sword and Sorcery fantasies, is often overlooked when it comes to judging a year’s best. Due to the outsized conflicts and emphasis in most such stories on plot over theme or minute characterization, such stories cannot be judged in the same fashion as a realist or surreal fiction. Heroic fantasies depend much more upon immersive experiences for the reader to enjoy the unfolding narratives. Resembling more cinematic serials in their wide scope, plot-driven action, and formulaic characters and situations, heroic fantasies have long appealed to readers…

In his follow-up to the acclaimed reimagining of Xenophon’s history of the Greek Ten Thousand, The Ten Thousand, Paul Kearney in Corvus revisits the world of the Macht over two decades after the heroic events of the first novel… Kearney masterfully reveals Rictus’ conflicts, his reluctant assumption of command in Corvus’ army, and the terrible events that sunder him from all which he has loved. Corvus is perhaps one of the best character-driven heroic fantasy novels published in recent years.

Some great titles on this list, including a few I might have overlooked.

The complete list, including titles from N.K. Jemisin, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, Ian Cameron Esslemont, and Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, is here.

George R. R. Martin weds Parris McBride

Friday, February 18, 2011 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

George R. R. Martin married his long-time sweetie Parris McBride on February 15th. The announcement on GRRM’s blog reads:

Back in 1981, Parris left Portland, Oregon for Santa Fe, and moved in with me in my old house on Declovina Street. We’ve been together ever since, for good times and bad, a move or two, more cons and road trips and adventures than either of us can remember now in our advanced old age. After thirty years, we finally decided that maybe this relationship was going to work out after all.

So on the evening of February 15, we finally made it official, and married in front of our hearth at our home here in Santa Fe…. Unlike most Westerosi weddings, no one was killed and only tears of joy were shed.

(I can hear some of you saying ‘What took you so long?’ What can I say? I’m slow. With writing and with… ah… other things.)

Martin is the author of the Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, which includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings.

More details (and pics) are available at George R.R. Martin’s LiveJournal blog, and Raya Rambles‘.

Congratulations to George and Parris! May a flock of blessings light upon thy back.

Howard Andrew Jones on John Scalzi’s Big Idea

Thursday, February 17, 2011 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Howard Andrew Jones month continues with no let up in pace. Tuesday Howard published a novel and a magazine review; yesterday he held his first book signing (in Terre Haute, Indiana) and conducted an interview with Black Gate‘s Bill Ward.

Today Howard is the subject of The Big Idea at John Scalzi’s blog:

Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russel’s brilliant portrayal of 8th century Baghdad (in issue 50 of The Sandman) brought that particular locale into sharp focus for me. Arts, mathematics, poetry, and science blossomed during the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate, while Europe wallowed in the the poverty, illiteracy, and disease of a Dark Age. Yet there were still plenty of blank spaces on middle-eastern maps, filled in by glorious storytelling. Men and women lived ordinary civilized lives, but they knew that the supernatural might lurk in the neighboring kingdom, or around any street corner…

The Desert of Souls came into being as an origin story, not just about how the characters met, but how Dabir and Asim came to depend upon one another. Two men are caught up in events bigger than themselves and in their journey they learn to work together so they have the strength to face a terrible evil. It takes place against the technicolor backdrop of the Arabian Nights, complete with lost cities and sweeping deserts, scheming sorcerers, implacable djinn, and secrets men were not meant to know. There’s romance and heartbreak, swashbuckling action, and hard won victories… In brief, it’s an adventure with the kind of elements I’ve always loved.

There’s no stopping him. Today Scalzi’s blog — tomorrow, the world.

You can read the complete post here.

Borders Files for Bankruptcy

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 John ONeill Comments 12 comments

Borders Group, owner of 659 bookstores across the United States, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

My lawyer buddies tell me this doesn’t actually mean they’ve filed ten previous chapters of bankruptcy, so apparently bankruptcy doesn’t proceed the way books do. Figures.

Borders said it will close about 200 of its most under-performing stores in the next several weeks. The list of stores that will close is here.

Today Borders is the country’s second-largest book retailer, just behind Barnes & Noble, with over 5,800 full-time and nearly14,000 part-time employees.

This follows the news that Barnes & Noble put itself up for sale last August, following a 45% slump in share price and a nearly 5% decline in year-over-year sales from store operations. It’s a tough time to be a brick-and-mortar book retailer.

Borders released a statement today saying:

It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending, our ongoing discussions with publishers and other vendor related parties, and the company’s lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor.

Alice reminds me it’s probably time to get off my butt and redeem about a hundred bucks in assorted Borders gift cards we’ve accumulated over the years, before they’re rendered useless. The cards are scattered around the house, currently pulling duty as attractive bookmarks. She’s probably right, although I’ll doubtless lose my place in several books as a result. I need to think about it.

Are Joe Abercrombie’s Novels “Poison to Both the Reader’s Mind and Culture?”

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 John ONeill Comments 56 comments

So I’ve been enjoying the fascinating debate on modern epic fantasy between Leo Grin and author Joe Abercrombie. It opened with Leo’s absorbing essay on what he sees as the profound flaws in modern fantasy in general:

I used to think I was a fan of the genre known today as fantasy, and specifically the subgenres of High Fantasy and Sword-and-Sorcery… But it was only recently, after decades of ever-increasing reading disappointment, that I grudgingly began to admit the truth: I don’t particularly care for fantasy per se. What I actually cherish is something far more rare: the elevated prose poetry, mythopoeic subcreation, and thematic richness that only the best fantasy achieves, and that echoes in important particulars the myths and fables of old. This realization eliminates, at a stroke, virtually everything written under the banner of fantasy today.

And in writers like Joe Abercrombie in particular:

Think of a Lord of the Rings where, after stringing you along for thousands of pages, all of the hobbits end up dying of cancer contracted by their proximity to the Ring, Aragorn is revealed to be a buffoonish puppet-king of no honor and false might, and Gandalf no sooner celebrates the defeat of Sauron than he executes a long-held plot to become the new Dark Lord of Middle-earth, and you have some idea of what to expect should you descend into Abercrombie’s jaded literary sewer.

Joe has responded to this description with typical humor:

That sounds … kind of interesting to me, actually, but I dimly percieve that Leo doesn’t like it. Your mileage may vary, of course. But why all the fury, Leo? Relax. Pour yourself a drink. Admire your unrivalled collection of Frank Frazetta prints for a while. Wrestle the old blood pressure down. When an old building is demolished to make way for a new, I can see the cause of upset… But books don’t work that way. If I choose to write my own take on fantasy, what gets destroyed?

As he has done in the past, Leo lays the blame for many of the ills of the modern era on liberals.

…

The Desert of Souls Released Today

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Howard Andrew Jones’ novel arrives in bookstores today.

Copies arrived here in the Black Gate offices last week, and it is a beautiful, beautiful book. Here’s the jacket copy, just because I think it’s cool:

The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew Jones.

In 8th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled tablet he carries, but he is murdered before he can explain. Charged with solving the puzzle, the scholar Dabir soon realizes that the tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. When the tablet is stolen from his care, Dabir and Captain Asim are sent after it, and into a life and death chase through the ancient Middle East.

Stopping the thieves — a cunning Greek spy and a fire wizard of the Magi — requires a desperate journey into the desert, but first Dabir and Asim must find the lost ruins of Ubar and contend with a mythic, sorcerous being that has traded wisdom for the souls of men since the dawn of time. But against all these hazards there is one more that may be too great even for Dabir to overcome…

And here’s one of the blurbs, from author Dave Drake:

An Arabian Nights adventure as written by Robert E Howard. It is exciting, inventive, and most of all fun.

The Desert of Souls is available in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books.

Black Gate at Suvudu

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Black Gate is featured this week as part of Suvudu’s Magazine Mania series.

Suvudu is a division of Random House, and promotes a rich variety of science fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels, and gaming titles from Del Rey, Spectra, Pantheon Books, and Random House Children’s Books, all part of Random House.

They also do a fine job covering film news, independent bloggers, and books and comics of interest from many other publishers. Suvudu has previously highlighted Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fangoria, Electric Velocipede, and the extremely cool Kobold Quarterly in their Magazine Mania column, helping bring print magazines to the attention of new SF & fantasy readers. The articles are written by Matt Staggs.

We’re proud to be featured this week. Here’s part of Matt’s commentary:

While the web offers a lot of wonderful stuff for sci-fi, fantasy and horror fans, it’s important to remember that there are plenty of print magazines on your local bookstore shelves that deserve your attention. Some of them have been steadily supplying news and features to fandom for decades, while others are new publications bravely stepping into the breach. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring a few of these magazines for your consideration. Today’s magazine is Black Gate. Launched in 2000, Black Gate specializes in tales of swords, sorcery and high adventure.

The complete post is here, including a brief interview with me in which I yak on for a bit on why you should try Black Gate. I’d quote a bit of it here, but quoting an article that quotes yourself is a bit weird. Even for me.

C.S.E. Cooney’s Jack of the Hills is Available Today

Monday, February 14, 2011 John ONeill Comments 9 comments

Just to prove that Howard Andrew Jones isn’t the only Black Gate staff member with talent the size of a planet, we’re proud to announce that our website editor C.S.E. Cooney has published her book Jack of the Hills today through Papaveria Press.

Papaveria Press was founded by Erzebet YellowBoy. Along with The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Stace (also appearing today), Jack of the Hills is the first book in Erzebet’s new Wonder Tales line of elegant paperbacks.

Jack of the Hills is a collection of two celebrated tales, “Stone Shoes” and “Oubliette’s Egg.” It is 69 pages and available in print, epub and mobi editions.

Jack Yap once had his mouth sewn shut for talking too much. His brother Pudding has to wear stone shoes or he’ll just wander off. Will little obstacles like these keep the boys out of trouble? Not for the twinkling of an eye. There is magic in the hills, shapechangers and monsters, and Jack Yap has a hankering to meet them all and maybe kill a few. What he and Pudding find in the hills, however, changes both their lives, taking them out of the country and into the cruel and wonderful world, where witches and princesses await. Sometimes they are even the same person.

Here’s what Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Thomas the Rhymer, said about Jack of the Hills:

Stunningly delicious! Cruel, beautiful and irresistible are C.S.E. Cooney’s characters and prose. Just when you thought fantasy had devolved into endless repetition, ’Jack o’ the Hills’ blows us all over the next hill and into the kingdom beyond. C.S.E. Cooney is a rare and exciting new talent. Whatever she offers us next, I’ll waiting in line to read.

You can order your copy here.

BookPage Reviews The Desert of Souls

Sunday, February 13, 2011 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Howard Andrew Jones’ novel The Desert of Souls will be released Tuesday, Feb 15.

But the early reviews have begun to appear, and it’s obvious the excitement surrounding the book is already starting to build. Here’s an excerpt from the review at BookPage:

In the space of the first two sentences… Howard Andrew Jones has captured the reader. By the end of the first page — and in my case, the first paragraph — the crisp, evocative imagery has gripped one’s attention… that grip only tightens in the pages that follow.

The Desert of Souls has been described as Sherlock Holmes meets the Arabian Nights meets Robert E. Howard. The comparisons are apt, and in the case of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous duo, overt. The martially adept Captain Asim partners with the erudite Dabir, a scholar whose principle weapons are his piercing intelligence and keen observations… Fantastic adventure ensues. Though this is only the first book, the tandem of Asim and Dabir shows great promise to be worthy of the “great fictional duos” mantle worn by the likes of Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Bilbo and Gandalf, and even Kirk and Spock.

The rich tapestry of 8th-century Baghdad recalls some of Scheherazade’s most engaging tales, and the supernatural horrors faced by Asim and Dabir during the course of their adventures could just as easily have menaced the likes of Conan, Solomon Kane or Bran Mak Morn…. At its heart, Jones’ work is a great read — a page-turner in its purest form. As such, The Desert of Souls is a powerful place — it can wreck sleeping schedules, cause chores to be neglected and, best of all, make one yearn for the next installment.

The complete review by Michael Burgin is available here. You can pre-order The Desert of Souls at Amazon.com and other fine bookshops.

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