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New Treasures: The Illusion of Steel by Lenora Rose

New Treasures: The Illusion of Steel by Lenora Rose

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The Illusion of Steel-smallI was at Windycon 40 here in Chicago over the weekend, one of my favorite local conventions. As usual, I spent half my time in the excellent Dealers Room, wandering between Bob Garcia’s booth, the well stocked Dreamhaven Books table, and the splendid Starfarer’s Despatch booth — always packed with vintage paperbacks in terrific condition, and where I did most of my shopping.

But the big surprise this year was Raechel Henderson’s Eggplant Literary Productions. I’ve known Raechel for years, since she started the marvelous Spellbound magazine in 2001, and always admired her tenacity in the face of the dire forces of modern publishing. Raechel completed a successful Kickstarter back in July to fund a special Spellbound and Spindles issue of the magazine, and I dropped by her table to congratulate her and see what was new.

I knew she’d have a fine range of new titles, but I wasn’t prepared for the flourishing back catalog of fantasy novellas, novels, and surprises Raechel had produced in just the past few months. Eggplant is rapidly emerging as one of the most promising and productive new publishing houses in the industry, with brand new titles from Laura J. Underwood, Lori Ann White, Patricia Russo, Martin Clark, Lenora Rose, and many others. I’ll showcase several here in the next few weeks — starting with a fast-paced tale of shape-shifters, werewolves, and magic blades from new author Lenora Rose.

Not even a shape-shifter can hide from her past forever.

Abandoned by her mother as a child, never knowing her father, Kanna Mendrays understands how to hide. She has used her shapeshifting ability to mask who she is, what she is, even her gender. Now that she has come to Melidan Tower to heal, she finds her defenses crumbling.

Peace is scarce here. Biadei — the friend who saved her life and brought her to the Tower — goes mad at each full moon. The aged Lord Daemon — infamous for having killed the man who abused him — seems to know too much about her. Every room of the Tower presents Kanna with a mystery when all she wants is to be left alone.

And now she has begun to hear a voice: the spirit of Lord Daemon’s victim, whispering to her through a sword named Desecrator. When Biadei is captured by werewolves, it promises, “Give me Daemon, and I will save your friend. Give me Daemon, and you will know the truth about your family…”

The Illusion of Steel was published December 14, 2012 by Eggplant Literary Productions. It is 70 pages, priced at $4 in digital format. It is currently available from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and OmniLit. The gorgeous cover is by Alex Martínez. Read an excerpt at the Eggplant website.

Fredric Brown, Stanley G. Weinbaum, and Appendix N: Advanced Readings in D&D

Fredric Brown, Stanley G. Weinbaum, and Appendix N: Advanced Readings in D&D

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What Mad Universe-smallTime to get caught up with the tireless Mordicai Knode and Tim Callahan, as they trek towards the finish line of their epic Appendix N re-read over at Tor.com.

This time, they take a look at two names very familiar to Black Gate readers: Fredric Brown and Stanley G. Weinbaum, both of whom we’ve discussed recently, and at considerable length.

In fact, just last week I examined The Best of Fredric Brown, calling it “one of the best short story collections I’ve read in years.” Any collection which included “Arena,” “Puppet Show,” and “The Geezenstacks” has to be considered a classic, and I was looking forward to seeing what our intrepid literary explorers thought of it.

Not much, going by Tim’s analysis:

A spaceman single-handedly battles for the fate of the human race. A god plays war games with knights and bishops. Test tube babies become the new anointed ones. A mountaineer comes face-to-face with a yeti. Earth’s first contact with Mars goes horribly awry.

These are things that happen in the stories, often very short stories, of Fredric Brown. I can see why Gary Gygax liked them.

Unfortunately, their connection to Dungeons & Dragons is vague at best. They seem to fall into a category that, after reading most of these Appendix N recommendations, I can now confidently call Somewhat Clever Things Gary Gygax Enjoyed but are Pretty Tedious to Read Today.

Like the works of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, the stories by Fredric Brown seem to be the kinds of tales that would delight Gygax with their intellectual playfulness and that might be reason enough for their inclusion on his list of recommended reading, but the cleverness only goes so far, and the stories feel pretty thin otherwise.

Bah. I don’t mean to critique the critic, but I think Tim was asleep at the switch here. Maybe he should have read these magical tales on a long plane-ride to Las Vegas, like I did, instead of hunched over his laptop, thirty minutes before deadline.

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Tell Us Your Favorite Sword & Sorcery Tale, and Win One of Five Copies of Stalking the Beast!

Tell Us Your Favorite Sword & Sorcery Tale, and Win One of Five Copies of Stalking the Beast!

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Pathfinder Tales Stalking the Beast-smallWe enjoy discussing sword & sorcery here at Black Gate. And we love to give away free stuff. So this week, we decided to combine our two favorite hobbies.

Specifically, we want to hear about your favorite sword & sorcery tale — novel or short story — and we want to give you one of five copies of Howard Andrew Jones’s exciting new Pathfinder Tales novel, Stalking the Beast, the follow-up to his hit Pathfinder release Plague of Shadows,

All five copies were provided by the fine folks at Paizo Publishing. Paizo will mail copies directly to five randomly-selected qualifying entrants.

How does this work, exactly?

It’s simple. Just send us a one-paragraph review of your favorite sword & sorcery novel or short story. Tell us what makes it so special and be sure to include the author and (if it’s a short story) where you read it.

Old or new, acknowledged classic or overlooked masterpeice, makes no difference. If it’s your favorite, we want to hear about it. And we’ll publish the best entries right here at Black Gate.

To enter our contest, just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the title “Stalking the Beast,” and your one-paragraph entry, before December 1, 2013.

All entries become the property of New Epoch Press. No purchase necessary. Must be 12 or older. Decisions of the judges (capricious as they may be) are final. Terms and conditions subject to change. Sorry, US entrants only. Not valid where prohibited by law. Eat your vegetables.

And good luck!

New Treasures: Hooded Man by Paul Kane

New Treasures: Hooded Man by Paul Kane

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Hooded Man Paul Kane-smallThere are lots of retellings of Dracula out there (just in the last two weeks William Patrick Maynard covered of Marvel’s Dracula, Lord of the Undead, James Maliszewski examined Bela Lugosi’s turn as Count Dracula in the 1931 Universal film, and John R. Fultz looked at NBC’s new series Dracula.) Same with Sherlock Holmes (see the trailer for Season Three of BBC One’s adaptation here), and the Tales of King Arthur and his noble knights (examples from the past two weeks here and here).

Hell, they recently retold Carrie and John Carpenter’s Halloween, and those stories are barely 30 years old.

For my money, the legend that doesn’t get re-told enough is the tale of Robin Hood. I can think of only a handful of really fine versions in the last 30 years, including Parke Godwin’s novel Sherwood, Richard Carpenter TV series Robin of Sherwood, and Robin McKinley’s novel The Outlaws of Sherwood. So I was pleased to see a new omnibus collecting all three novels of Paul Kane’s post apocalyptic retelling, Hooded Man.

When nine-tenths of the world died horrifically, Robert Stokes lost everything, including his wife and his son. The world about him gradually descended into a second Dark Age, and the former policeman retreated into the woods near Nottingham, becoming a hunter, living off the land and avoiding any form of human contact… until now.

A new foreign despot, De Falaise, has looked on England and found it ripe for conquest. He leads an army of mercenaries through the Channel Tunnel and works his way up the country, pillaging as he goes. When De Falaise arrives at Nottingham and sets up his new dominion, Robert finds himself drawn reluctantly into the resistance, and assumes the mantle of the famous legend of Robin Hood, in a guerrilla war that will take him and his followers to the limits of endurance and beyond.

This volumes collects the novels Arrowhead, Broken Arrow, and Arrowland. Paul Kane’s other novels include Of Darkness and Light and The Gemini Factor. His short story collection, The Butterfly Man, was released in 2011 by PS Publishing. Although it’s standalone, Hooded Man is part of The Afterblight Chronicles series, which also includes School’s Out Forever by Scott K. Andrews and The Afterblight Chronciles: America by Simon Spurrier, Rebecca Levene and Al Ewing.

Hooded Man was published June 11, 2013 by Abaddon. It is 704 pages, priced at $12.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital version.

A Contagious Love of Fantasy: Lin Carter’s Imaginary Worlds

A Contagious Love of Fantasy: Lin Carter’s Imaginary Worlds

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Lin Carter Imaginary Worlds-smallI recently did a review here at Black Gate of L. Sprague de Camp’s 1976 Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy. De Camp’s book is one of the few histories of the genre of fantasy around, and it is a great and enjoyable book. But it’s not the only one, nor probably the most favored. I get the sense from others’ comments that the Best History of Fantasy title probably goes to Lin Carter’s 1973 Imaginary Worlds.

Each of the chapters in de Camp’s book is dedicated to a separate writer. But most of the chapters in Carter’s book are centered around themes; in each chapter he examines fantasy writers that explore that theme well. In addition, Carter’s concluding chapters contain advice to authors on how to write fantasy. I found this latter part less interesting.

One of the plusses I pointed out for de Camp’s history was that you could tell he loved the genre. The same must be said in spades for Lin Carter. Carter wrote the introduction for Literary Swordsmen, and I was very excited to read de Camp’s book just on the strength of Carter’s intro. Imagine how enthusiastic I was to get Carter’s own book on the subject! (I’ve also heard that Carter’s intros to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy are fantastic as well.)

Carter’s love of fantasy is contagious. He writes with a real verve for his favorite fantasy authors, books, and tropes. Carter is unapologetic about his love for fantasy and seems completely unaffected by criticisms of childishness or escapism. Given his thoughtful interactions with the genre, he does not come off as a slavish fanboy. Instead, Carter strikes me as an intelligent and committed fantasist. Quite refreshing! I wish he were still alive.

Often when I read or hear other people talk about their favorite authors or books, I make notes for possible future purchases. If you’re setting out for yourself the task of trying to catch up on the great works of fantasy, the many references that Carter gives can leave you feeling exhausted.

But Carter is also good at pointing out what you probably shouldn’t bother with or if you’re only going to read one book by author X, make sure you read just Y. These suggestions are incredibly helpful and lessen your anxiety if you are indeed trying to catch up on the great works. (Speaking of which, I definitely want to get a copy of The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison. De Camp and Carter both raved about it.)

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The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks Wins the 2013 David Gemmell Legend Award

The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks Wins the 2013 David Gemmell Legend Award

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The Blinding Knife-smallBrent Weeks’s The Blinding Knife, the second volume of The Lightbringer Saga, has won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2012.

The David Gemmell Legend Award is a fan-voted award administered by the DGLA. This is the fifth year for the Legend Award; it was first granted in 2009 to Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves; in 2010 to Graham McNeill’s Empire: The Legend of Sigmar, in 2011 the winner was Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, and last year The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss received the honors.

The nominees for the 2013 award also included The Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, and The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe.

The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Debut was awarded to Malice by John Gwynne.

The Ravensheart Award for best Fantasy Book Jacket Artist went to Didier Graffet & Dave Senior for the cover of The Red Country by Joe Abercrombie.

Our man-on-the-scene, roving reporter Harold M. Page, will report in with complete details on the ceremonies right here on Thursday.

Complete details are available at the DGLA website.

Congratulations to all the winners!

New Treasures: Pathfinder Tales: Stalking the Beast by Howard Andrew Jones

New Treasures: Pathfinder Tales: Stalking the Beast by Howard Andrew Jones

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Pathfinder Tales Stalking the Beast-smallIt’s funny. I talked to Howard nearly every day while he was writing this book, and heard the blow-by-blow as he devised the plot and fleshed out the characters, recognized the growing excitement in his voice as the novel came together and he contributed his own unique talents and fine narrative gifts to the collaborative bit of gaming genius that is Pathfinder. It almost felt like reading the book would be superfluous.

And then I read the description below and realized hearing all the behind-the-scenes details meant absolutely nothing. It’s like saying you know how a gourmet dish will turn out because you’ve seen all the ingredients. I may have watched Howard lay all the pieces out on his writing table, but the true magic comes in how they all fit together. I’m excited to find out and I know I’ll be delighted.

When a mysterious monster carves a path of destruction across the southern River Kingdoms, desperate townsfolk look to the famed elven ranger Elyana and her half-orc companion Drelm for salvation. For Drelm, however, the mission is about more than simple justice — it’s about protecting the frontier town he’s adopted as his home, and the woman he plans to marry.

Together with the gunslinging bounty hunter Lisette and several equally deadly allies, the heroes must set off into the wilderness, hunting a terrifying beast that will test their abilities — and their friendships — to the breaking point and beyond. But could it be that there’s more to the murders than a simple rampaging beast?

From critically acclaimed author Howard Andrew Jones comes a new adventure of love, betrayal, and unnatural creatures, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Interested? Paizo has promised us enough free copies for a giveaway. Stay tuned for details and you could win your own copy.

Pathfinder Tales: Stalking the Beast was published this week by Paizo. It is 400 pages, priced at $8.99 in paperback. No word on the digital edition yet. Howard’s previous Pathfinder book was Plague of Shadows, released in 2011. His most recent novel was The Bones of the Old Ones.

Weird of Oz: Hallowe’en Postmortem

Weird of Oz: Hallowe’en Postmortem

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more ghost storiesHallowe’en always passes, for me, with a waft of melancholy, like a chilly breeze blowing down the last few clinging maple leaves.

Leaf 1: R.I.P. Hallowe’en 2013

This October was a busy one for me. Five days out of seven, I was hosting a ghost tour, accompanied on many of those nights by a bona fide “paranormal investigator.” The thirty or so guests we conducted into the shadows each night had quite a time and I must admit — note that I characterize myself as an “open-minded skeptic” — I may have had a paranormal experience or two myself. After having been “Haunted Master of Ceremonies” for these tours the past three years, dozens of evenings, that was a first. Maybe I’ll write about it sometime, somewhere. I have to process it a bit more first, try to debunk it and exhaust alternate explanations.

You might say I have a little Scully and a little Mulder in my head. Not that I have split personality disorder or anything, but when something happens, these two sides of my mind — the rational, scientific side and the childlike-wonder side who “wants to believe” — begin laying out their competing narratives to explain the event. Which side wins out? Both. Neither. This world is a mysterious place and no one’s gotten to the bottom of it. I certainly won’t.

I’ll just keep celebrating the mystery and fastidiously trying to avoid ever getting bored by it. Boredom is the end; it’s death; it’s deciding you don’t really care what’s going on. Whenever that starts to happen (and it does, friends, as you creep along toward gray hair and creaky bones), I retreat to the proverbial “black gate,” to the wellsprings of fantasy, to the towers of science fiction, to the tombstones of horror. Visiting imagined worlds reminds the disenchanted traveler how endlessly bizarre and fascinating and surprising is this world in which we live.

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Vintage Treasures: The Best of Fredric Brown

Vintage Treasures: The Best of Fredric Brown

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The Best of Fredric Brown-smallWelcome to the 13th installment of my ongoing examination of one of the most influential book series of my youth, Lester Del Rey’s Classics of Science Fiction line. This time, we’re looking at the 1977 release, The Best of Fredric Brown, edited by Robert Bloch (who had his own entry in the series eleven months after this one, which I discussed back in July.)

The Classics of Science Fiction line was my introduction to many of the major SF and fantasy writers of the 20th Century (well, that and The Hugo Winners, which first introduced me to Poul Anderson, Walter C. Miller, Arthur C. Clarke, and others, and of course the various volumes of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame).

All that education didn’t teach me much about Fredric Brown, however. A week ago, I probably could have named only one Fredric Brown short story from memory, “Arena” — which, admittedly, I dearly loved. I first read it in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, where it was selected as one of the finest short stories ever written, but even before that, I knew it as the Star Trek episode of the same name.

You probably think of it as, “Isn’t that the one where Kirk throws styrofoam rocks at the Gorn?”

Yes. Yes it is. And even though it has been much-parodied (including a brilliant video game commercial starring an 80-year old William Shatner and an aged Gorn in a re-match), it’s still one of the finest episodes of the original series.

So before I sat down to assemble my notes for this article, I took my paperback copy of The Best of Fredric Brown with me on a business trip, to a banking show in Las Vegas, and used the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the author. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting all that much. Not every installment in the Classics of Science Fiction could be a winner.

My mistake.

The Best of Fredric Brown is one of the best short story collections I’ve read in years. Brown is frequently compared to O. Henry for his gift for twist endings and the comparison is apt. Even when you’re on the alert, Brown manages to constantly surprise and delight you in a way that very few authors — in the genre or out — can pull off.

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2013 World Fantasy Award Winners Announced

2013 World Fantasy Award Winners Announced

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alif-the-unseenYou’d think that, since I’m unable to attend World Fantasy this year, they’d keep the convention low key. I mean, no sense rubbing it in, right?

No such luck. I hear there was just as much excitement, just as many panels, and just as many fabulous parties as always. It’s like they don’t care.

They even gave out just as many awards as usual. Well, even if I couldn’t attend, at least I can read the same award-winning fantasy as everyone else. See, that’s what’s great about awards — they’re fair to everybody.

This year’s winners of the World Fantasy Awards are:

Novel:

Novella:

  • “Let Maps to Others,” K.J. Parker (Subterranean, Summer 2012)

Short Story:

  • “The Telling,” Gregory Norman Bossert (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Nov 29, 2012)

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