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New Treasures: The Big Book of Adventure Stories, edited by Otto Penzler

New Treasures: The Big Book of Adventure Stories, edited by Otto Penzler

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The Big Book of Adventure Stories-smallIt shouldn’t be a surprise that I love these big omnibus collections, and The Big Book of Adventure Stories is much bigger and omnibus-er than most. Weighing in at a generous 896 pages, it’s Penzler’s generous gift to those of us who love fast-paced pulp adventure… or just need a door stop (for a bank vault).

The massive volume is divided in 11 intriguing sections, including Sword & Sorcery, Man Vs. Nature, Island Paradise, Go West, Young Man (pulp westerns), Future Shock (science fiction), Yellow Peril (sinister Asian villains), and by far the largest, In Darkest Africa.

You can pack a lot of great authors into nearly 900 pages, and Penzer doesn’t disappoint, including Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Philip Jose Farmer, Harold Lamb, Rudyard Kipling, Ray Cummings, Rafael Sabatini, Sax Rohmer, Cornell Wollrich, Louis L’Amour, and many others. Among other fascinating tales are the one that introduced The Cisco Kid, O. Henry’s 1907 “The Caballero’s Way,” and Edgar Rice Burrough’s complete novel Tarzan the Terrible.

Everyone loves adventure, and Otto Penzler has collected the best adventure stories of all time into one mammoth volume. With stories by Jack London, O. Henry, H. Rider Haggard, Alastair MacLean, Talbot Mundy, Cornell Woolrich, and many others, this wide-reaching and fascinating volume contains some of the best characters from the most thrilling adventure tales, including The Cisco Kid; Sheena, Queen of the Jungle; Bulldog Drummond; Tarzan; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Conan the Barbarian; Hopalong Cassidy; King Kong; Zorro; and The Spider. Divided into sections that embody the greatest themes of the genre — Sword & Sorcery, Megalomania Rules, Man vs. Nature, Island Paradise, Sand and Sun, Something Feels Funny, Go West Young Man, Future Shock, I Spy, Yellow Peril, In Darkest Africa — it is destined to be the greatest collection of adventure stories ever compiled.

Featuring: Lawless open seas, ferocious army ants, deadeyed gunmen, exotic desert islands, feverish jungle adventures.

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Griots: Sisters of the Spear edited by Milton J. Davis and Charles R. Saunders

Griots: Sisters of the Spear edited by Milton J. Davis and Charles R. Saunders

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oie_1432818nsZyAwhJAs I’ve written before, we are living in a S&S renaissance. A genre that was stuck in a loop of rote characters — fighting the same wizards, stealing the same temple treasures and damsels’ virtues — and virtually extinct from bookstore shelves, has come roaring back to life in the past decade. It may not command the same attention it did forty years ago, but it is rousing and alive.

Something that’s proving to be incredibly reinvigorating to the genre is sword & soul.  Charles Saunders, coiner of the term and creator of Imaro and Dossouye, two of the best heroic fantasy characters, describes it this way:

Fantasy fiction with an African connection in either the characters or the setting…or both.  The setting can be the historical Africa of the world we know, or the Africa of an alternate world, dimension or universe. But that’s not a restriction, because a sword-and-soul story can feature a black character in a non-black setting, or a non-black character in a black setting.  Caveat: Tarzan of the Apes need not apply.

About six years ago Milton Davis started writing and publishing his own sword & soul fiction (though this predates the actual term). When a friend sent one of Davis’ manuscripts to Charles Saunders (which he reviewed in Black Gate), one thing led to another and soon they were collaborators in fostering the creation of more sword & soul stories. Their efforts resulted in the terrific Griots anthology in 2011. As I wrote when I reviewed it at my site last year, it is exciting to see a genre I love evolving in real time.

Two years later Davis and Saunders are back with a sequel anthology, Griots: Sisters of the Spear. One of the driving forces of sword & soul is to present characters not often seen in standard-issue S&S. As Saunders writes in the forward, with this volume he and Davis found authors with characters that:

can hold their own and then some against the barbarians and power-mad monarchs and magic-users of both genders who swings swords and cast spells in the mostly European-derived settings of modern fantasy and sword-and-sorcery.

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Vintage Treasures: They Fly at Çiron by Samuel R. Delaney

Vintage Treasures: They Fly at Çiron by Samuel R. Delaney

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They Fly at Ciron-smallSamuel R Delaney is justly famous as a science fiction writer. As I noted during my days as a bookseller at places like the Chicago Printer’s Row book fair (in my article “Selling Philip K. Dick“), Delaney is one of a handful of classic SF authors for whom there is still a constant demand. During that hot weekend in July in 2012 — just like at numerous SF conventions over the years — I did a brisk business selling old Samuel R. Delaney paperbacks to readers asking for him by name.

He’s less well known as a fantasy writer, even though his Nevèrÿon books — Tales of Nevèrÿon (1979) and Neveryóna (1983), and the two collections Flight from Nevèrÿon (1985), and The Bridge of Lost Desire (1987) — have their fans. Personally I found Tales of Nevèrÿon beautifully written, but very slow, and had no real interest in trying the next three.

But the Nevèrÿon volumes aren’t Delaney’s only fantasy. In 1993 he revised and expanded a novelette he’d written with James Sallis and published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1971, releasing it as They Fly at Çiron, and I’ve always been curious about it.

Çiron is a quiet village, troubled only by the strange black Winged Ones who inhabit the skies overhead. Until the army of Myetra arrives, led by the brutal prince Nactor, and the villagers find themselves enslaved and treated as beasts. Rahm, a village youth, escapes and form a desperate alliance with the fearsome Winged Ones, finally finding a way to resist the Myetran’s advanced weaponry.

They Fly at Çiron turned out to be Delaney’s last genre novel. Since 1993 he has focused exclusively on literary novels such as The Mad Man (1994), Dark Reflections (2007) and Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders (2012). They Fly at Çiron was published in a limited edition by Incunabula in 1993, and in hardcover by Tor in 1995. The Tor edition is 224 pages, with a handsome cover by Thomas Canty, and is readily available online.

See all of our recent Vintage Treasures here.

New Year’s Resolutions of Oz

New Year’s Resolutions of Oz

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one million yearsAfter about ten months of uninterrupted weekly posts, I’m taking a bit of a breather this week. Today, instead of new content, I’ll take inventory and look ahead to what I hope to deliver Black Gate readers in 2014. Perhaps I can couch it in a “New Year’s Resolutions” list — most of us allow for a bit of leeway on those overly optimistic proclamations, anyway…

1. Lose about twenty pounds, preferably at a blackjack table in Derbyshire.

2. Cut back on tobacco consumption, especially my wife’s.

3. Drink more alcohol. (It fell way off in 2013. Obviously I need to get to more conventions.)

And blah blah blah. Okay, let’s get to the stuff that someone else reading this might actually be curious about…

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The Science Fiction and Fantasy of Mick Farren

The Science Fiction and Fantasy of Mick Farren

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The Novels of Mick Farren-small

First time I heard of Mick Farren was when I opened a box of review copies from Tor in 1996 to find his novel The Time of Feasting, a dark fantasy concerning a hidden colony of vampires living underground in New York City. I flipped to the bio, where I read that Mick was the writer and singer for the punk band The Deviants, and that he also had several solo hits.

This was pretty cool. Here was a successful rock musician making a mid-career transition to dark fantasy writer. This just re-affirmed what I already knew: there were plenty of glamorous professions out there, but nothing as awesome as being a fantasy novelist.

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New Treasures: The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

New Treasures: The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

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The Woodcutter-small47North, Amazon’s new fantasy, SF and horror imprint, launched with considerable fanfare in October 2011, and I’ve been watching it with interest ever since. Several genre publishers have quietly cut back — or folded — over the last few years, so I’m always relieved to see the cycle of life continuing, and new imprints emerge. But just as importantly, new publishers bring new editorial ideas and a willingness to take chances, and that means a healthy crop of new authors.

Kate Danley is one of those new authors, and 47North published her debut novel a little over a year ago. The Woodcutter opens with strong fairy tale elements, and quickly takes a darker tone — with missing girls, hellhounds, and a pixie dust drug ring.

Deep within the Wood, a young woman lies dead. Not a mark on her body. No trace of her murderer. Only her chipped glass slippers hint at her identity.

The Woodcutter, keeper of the peace between the Twelve Kingdoms of Man and the Realm of the Faerie, must find the maiden’s killer before others share her fate. Guided by the wind and aided by three charmed axes won from the River God, the Woodcutter begins his hunt, searching for clues in the whispering dominions of the enchanted unknown.

But quickly he finds that one murdered maiden is not the only nefarious mystery afoot: one of Odin’s hellhounds has escaped, a sinister mansion appears where it shouldn’t, a pixie dust drug trade runs rampant, and more young girls go missing. Looming in the shadows is the malevolent, power-hungry queen, and she will stop at nothing to destroy the Twelve Kingdoms and annihilate the Royal Fae… unless the Woodcutter can outmaneuver her and save the gentle souls of the Wood.

Since The Woodcutter appeared Kate Danley has been very busy, releasing three volumes in the Maggie MacKay Magical Tracker series, two O’Hare House Mysteries, a collaboration with William Shakespeare (Queen Mab: A Tale Entwined with William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet), the Christmas tale The Spirit of Krampus, and more.

The Woodcutter was published by 47North on November 6, 2012. It is 273 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $3.99 for the digital edition.

See all of our recent New Treasures here.

Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris

Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris

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The Sacred Band-smallThe Sacred Band
Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Perseid Press (547 pages, June 2011, $24.95)

All three hundred of the Sacred Band of Thebes fought at Chaeronea in August of 338 BCE, and two-hundred fifty-four skeletons lie buried there today under a granite lion. Some still argue about the fate of the forty-six whose skeletons were not recovered. Plutarch says that they died together, and Philip of Macedon wept to see it. Another, later, view is that the remainder surrendered, were taken prisoner, or deserted. We tell a different story.

— Janet and Chris Morris, in their Authors’ Notes and Acknowledgments from The Sacred Band

And this is the premise behind this wonderfully rich, complex, dramatic and highly emotional epic of gods, demi-gods and Men. This is the story of how Tempus the Black, Favorite of Enlil, Storm God of the Armies, and the one they call Riddler, challenged the gods to rescue twenty-three pairs of Thebans, forty-six warriors who had been fated to die. And rescue them he did… Charon, Lysis and the other forty-four men of the original Sacred Band of Thebes… by opening a dimensional portal from Chaeronea to Lemuria, where they were taken, trained and made part of the greater Sacred Band.

This is the also the story of Nicodemus, who is called Niko and Stealth, a true weapon of the gods, of his own struggle with becoming the favorite, the avatar of a god, and his intimate relation with the goddess Harmony.

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Is Fantasy Inherently Not Political?

Is Fantasy Inherently Not Political?

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51JxxayJXkL__SY344_BO1,204,203,200_51j4q19higL__SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Recently, a columnist in The New Yorker discussed how literary work has ceased discussing politics and has accepted the prevailing economic assumptions and political models. He noted that the political discourse that is happening in literature is happening in science fiction and went on to illustrate forward-looking political principles featured in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series.

It’s easy to think of other examples of science fiction as a vehicle for political argument, all the way back to H.G. Wells and into today with the Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin, or Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross, or too many to list. The Libertarian Futurist Society even offers the Prometheus Award annually for libertarian science fiction.

A small Canadian publisher, Bundoran Press, is starting to carve itself out a niche with its concern with science fiction as a vehicle for political discourse with an Aurora-winning anthology called Blood & Water*, about the resource wars to be fought in the 21st century, and a new one, already available for pre-order, called Strange Bedfellows: An Anthology of Political Science Fiction. So, without a doubt, science fiction is actively and increasingly involved in political discussion.

So, does the same go for fantasy? On Wednesday, Black Gate columnist M. Harold Page tackled the question, with his article Why Medieval Fantasy is Not Inherently Conservative (or Inherently Anything Political).

What about more contemporary fantasy? I tried to think of some examples, but I’m not sure the zombie apocalypse can count as a legitimate part of a political argument. I asked David Hartwell, who has experience anthologizing the year’s best science fiction as well as the year’s best fantasy. He viewed fantasy as being more concerned with pastoral situations and identity politics.

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New Treasures: Bloodstone by Gillian Philip

New Treasures: Bloodstone by Gillian Philip

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Bloodstone Gillian Philip-smallBack in May I reported on Firebrand, a new novel by Gillian Philip, first volume in her Rebel Angels series. Here’s what I said, in part:

Firebrand seems like exactly the kind of fast-paced adventure Black Gate readers are interested in… The second and third volumes, Bloodstone and Wolfsbane, are already in print in the UK. Interestingly, while all three books are marketed as YA there, Tor has mainstreamed them here in the US. It’s an interesting switch, and I’m curious to see how the market reacts.

The reviews were strong, as it turns out. Publishers Weekly called it “A stirring tale of loyalty and love,” and over at SF Site Dave Truesdale drew parallels with none other than Lord Dunsany:

Packed with Machiavellian court intrigue of the most cold-blooded sort, horrible monster-beings from the realm of faery in league with Queen Kate, and the looming threat of the world of faery possibly destroyed forever, Firebrand is a fresh and welcome reimagining of oft-worked ground first laid out by Lord Dunsany and, as Dunsany wrote, far “beyond the fields we know.”

He had me a “horrible monster-beings from the realm of faery.” Bring on Book Two!

The second volume, Bloodstone, has now arrived. In this installment Sithe warriors Seth and Conal MacGregor continue their hunt for the Bloodstone demanded by their Queen, making secret expeditions across the Veil… with violent consequences that may devastate their family and their entire clan.

Bloodstone was published by Tor on November 19, 2013. It is 399 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover, and $11.99 for the digital edition.

See all of our recent New Treasures here.

Vintage Teasures: To Keep or Kill by Wilson Tucker

Vintage Teasures: To Keep or Kill by Wilson Tucker

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To Keep or Kill-smallWilson Tucker is a fascinating author. Although he wrote several acclaimed SF novels, including the Hugo and Nebula nominee The Year of the Quiet Sun (1970), and was even inducted into The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2003, he’s remembered today chiefly for his tireless contributions to fandom. Well, that and his habit of putting his friends into his novels — so much so that the literary term for this practice now bears his name: tuckerization. Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t even know who Wilson Tucker is today if it weren’t for the huge impact he had on modern fandom.

But I do know who he is, and as part of my journey through the rich history of our genre, I thought it was high time to try one of his novels. But which one? The post-apocalyptic adventure The Long Loud Silence (1952), which Damon Knight called “phenomenally good… as near perfection as makes no difference”? His famous time-travel novel The Lincoln Hunters (1958), which Stephen King referenced in 11/22/63? His underrated fiction collection, The Best of Wilson Tucker (1982)?

I’m kidding, of course. I knew which one I wanted to read the instant I laid eyes on it: To Keep or Kill, Tucker’s second Charles Horne mystery. Horne is a small town detective from Central Illinois who reliably runs afoul of the kind of femme fatales and crooked mobsters that I thought only showed up in L.A, not right here in my home state.

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