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DMR Books: Swords, Sorcery, and Science Fantasy!

DMR Books: Swords, Sorcery, and Science Fantasy!

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RenegadeSwords-medium Renegade Swords-back-small

Cover by Brian LeBlanc

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most people aren’t very happy with how 2020 has turned out. However, there have been some bright spots. For one, fans of quality Sword and Sorcery have plenty of new reading material, as I’ve released six titles so far this year through DMR Books.

Things kicked off in grand fashion with the reprint anthology Renegade Swords, which collected stories that were rare or overlooked in some way. The lead story is “The House of Arabu” by Robert E. Howard, a historical fantasy set in ancient Mesopotamia. It’s not especially well-known, as it features no recurring characters, but I think it’s one of Howard’s best. (I included it in my article “The Ten Greatest Sword and Sorcery Stories by Robert E. Howard.”) Other highlights include the unabridged, rarely reprinted version of “Necromancy in Naat” by my favorite author, Clark Ashton Smith, and a previously unpublished version of A. Merritt’s classic “The Woman of the Wood.”

Let me tell you about that…

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New Treasures: Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter

New Treasures: Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter

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Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter (TCK Publishing, May 1, 2020). Cover uncredited

Jon Richter’s new novel Auxiliary: London 2039 has been described as “a cyberpunk thriller featuring a noir detective” (by the Caffeinated Reviewer). But it was the heading on the back cover (“A good detective is never obsolete”) that really piqued my interest. Here’s an excerpt from the feature review by Roger Hyttinen at Roger Reviews.

It’s a dark combination of the detective noir, cyberpunk, and sci-fi genres. Our main character, Carl Dremmler, is the kind of detective you’d find in a 1940s noir story: he drinks too much, has a painful past, is a bit crass, and picks up strangers for sex (though he often has sex with his personal humanoid robot). I thought the author did a fantastic job of meshing the different genres, and they all worked seamlessly…

The setting for this dystopian thriller is more than a bit disconcerting and grim, taking place in the near future where machines pretty much run the world… Detective Dremmler is called to the scene of a grisly crime. A young man has allegedly murdered his girlfriend by crushing her skull with his cybernetically-controlled prosthetic arm… However, the distraught man protests that the arm, whose chip is controlled by TIM, acted on its own accord and that the man couldn’t stop it… As Dremmler and his partner begin investigating deeper, he soon begins to suspect that there’s a lot more going on here than what he first thought and the case then morphs into something else entirely….

The story was fascinating though certainly dark, creepy, and profoundly unsettling. This book captivated me from beginning to end as the twists started to pile up. I thought this was a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel that’s both provocative and shocking. Compelling, dark, and intense, this story of technology gone wrong kept me guessing until the end and took me places I very much didn’t expect.

Jon Richter is the author of two horror collections and two crime novels, Deadly Burial and Never Rest. Auxiliary: London 2039 is his science fiction debut. It was published by TCK Publishing on May 1, 2020. It is 223 pages, priced at $14.99 in trade paperback and $2.99 in digital formats.

Read all our coverage of the best new SF and fantasy here.

Why I Read Old Science Fiction Stories? (Spoiler: For Entertainment)

Why I Read Old Science Fiction Stories? (Spoiler: For Entertainment)

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dumarest-6
“Written by authors who mostly died before we were born”

What is wrong with us?

A gazillion SF&F books get published every month, and here we are reading books written by people who mostly died before we were born. And this is Science Fiction we’re talking about! Surely that’s the genre that riffs off the present to paint a plausible future, or at least an illuminating one? Why are we still reading the old stuff?

Is it because we’re wedded to some idea of “canon”? Probably not.

Sure, it’s interesting to visit the roots of a genre, but most of us want to be also entertained in our scarce leisure time. It’s why people who like theatre come back to Shakespeare for pleasure, but mostly approach Jonson and Marlow out of intellectual interest, and why I still dip into Malory’s pulpy Le Morte De Arthur, but not the ploddy Vulgate Cycle by some Medieval French guy(s?) I forget.

Similarly, aspiring authors are well-advised to see how their predecessors managed the… choreography of certain kinds of story: there’s no point in reinventing the wheel when past generations have left so many tried and tested examples just lying around. However, that presupposes that those wheels were proven in action, that they carried along stories that were entertaining.

And, yes, given how wide the field is, we’re more likely to find common ground talking about CL Moore than China Mieville: the best place to catch your mates is outside the pub, not in its murky depths. Even so, we want to be able to rant about books we loved and why… books that we found entertaining.

And there’s that word again: entertaining.

What does the old stuff have that the new doesn’t? After all, modern SF comes in meaty tomes of 100K words, generally has plausible extrapolation, and often takes us out of our comfort zone. How can 30K of often lightly characterized and emotionally distant narrative with not much contemporary significance compete with that?

Except, that’s the point,  I think.

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A Delicious Mixed Bag of Dark Fiction: Apostles of the Weird, edited by ST Joshi

A Delicious Mixed Bag of Dark Fiction: Apostles of the Weird, edited by ST Joshi

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Apostles of the Weird-smallApostles of the Weird
PS Publishing (337 pages, £25/$33 in hardcover, March 1, 2020)
Cover by John Coulthart

Weird fiction is an umbrella term that applies to a number of literary genres such as horror, fantasy, science fiction and so on. Editor ST Joshi has assembled a new anthology of weird fiction keeping in mind the various shades which constitute the “weird,” and leaving the contributors free to develop plots and outcomes as they please.

The result is a collection of tales of uneven quality and eclectic content, apt to satisfy the different tastes of dark fiction lovers. I expect that different readers (and reviewers) requested to pick favorite stories would express extremely different opinions.

Although one could argue that good fiction is good fiction, regardless of subgenres and personal inclinations, the truth is that personal taste always matters. Having said that, allow me to single out the stories that I found more interesting and accomplished.

“Sebillia” by John Shirley is a dark drama of sin and misery with a strong paranormal undercurrent, while “Axolotl House” by Cody Goodfellow is a quite horrific tale set in a Mexican “retirement home” where ancient, malevolent gods still survive.

WH Pugmire contributes “The Zanies of Sorrow,” an excellent atmospheric piece with a distinct supernatural texture and a surprising twist in the tale, and Stephen Woodworth pens “ Cave Canem,” an effective tale of sheer horror.

“This Hollow Thing” by Lynda E Rucker is an outstanding, spellbinding, atypical ghost story with a superb characterization of a group of former classmates reunited for a peculiar Christmas party.

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Future Treasures: After Sundown, edited by Mark Morris

Future Treasures: After Sundown, edited by Mark Morris

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After Sundown Mark Morris-smallMark Morris is known primarily as a British horror writer with over 20 novels under his belt, including Toady, The Immaculate, The Deluge, and the Obsidian Heart trilogy. More recently he’s earned a rep as a fine editor with two volumes of the New Fears anthology series from Titan.

His latest effort is After Sundown from Flame Tree Press, containing 20 original horror stories from some of the biggest names in the biz, including Ramsey Campbell, Tim Lebbon, John Langan, Robert Shearman, Alison Littlewood, Michael Marshall Smith, Paul Finch, Angela Slatter, Stephen Volk, and many others. Just as interesting to me are the four tales from brand new writers selected from an open submission window. Reviewer Stephen Bacon feels the same way I do:

This appears to be a great way of ensuring a decent standard whilst at the same time giving voice to emerging talent. It’s testament to the quality of the stories in that there’s no discernible difference between the pros and the lesser-known authors. Mark Morris has done a great job in putting together a fine selection.

There’s a refreshing lack of pretentiousness about these stories. The authors span several continents so there’s a decent array of themes and styles. Each tale had a very distinct voice, with a superb variety that perfectly illustrates what a broad church the genre covers. I had a blast reading this book. It really has reinvigorated my interest in the horror genre. Hopefully this will be the first in an ongoing annual publication from Flame Tree Press. And in that regard After Sundown is a great way to launch the series

After Sundown is in fact the first of what will hopefully be an annual, non-themed horror anthology of original horror. The first installment is already getting good notice from major review sites, including Publishers Weekly:

The strongest tales include “Swanskin” by Alison Littlewood, a breathtaking fairy tale about swans who transform into women, told from the viewpoint of a young boy; “Bokeh” by Thana Niveau, about a single mother who frets over her daughter’s violent and fantastical flights of fancy during playtime; and “A Hotel in Germany” by Catriona Ward, about the parasitic relationship between a movie star and her assistant.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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Support the Kickstarter for Ryan Harvey’s Debut Novel Turn Over the Moon

Support the Kickstarter for Ryan Harvey’s Debut Novel Turn Over the Moon

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Turn Over the Moon Ryan Harvey

Cover by Robert Zoltan

Hot damn, it’s October already. This is an exciting month for the senior Black Gate staff, and one we’ve long awaited. The Kickstarter for the debut novel by one of our own, the illustrious Ryan Harvey, was launched yesterday.

The book is Turn Over the Moon, and it takes place in Ahn-Tarqa, the setting for “The Sorrowless Thief” and “Stand at Dubun-Geb.” Both stories first appeared here, where they quickly became two of the most popular features in our Black Gate Online Fiction line. Ryan was also one of the original bloggers at Black Gate, where he’s published over 300 articles on everything from John Carpenter to Godzilla and Hammer Horror Films. Turn Over the Moon is hotly anticipated in our offices; here’s Ryan with a bit of background on the book.

At the heart of Turn Over the Moon and the other stories set on the otherworldly continent of Ahn-Tarqa is “The Sorrow,” a mental burden almost all people suffer from. When I first hatched the idea of Ahn-Tarqa, it was as a playground where I could mix dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, and weird science. A place where I could write scenes of a Tyrannosaurus fighting a metal automaton made from archaic technology.

But the world was missing something that would make it more than a fun sandbox. I started to think of authors who have influenced me; the tone of melancholy lurking under the works Raymond Chandler, Leigh Brackett, Clark Ashton Smith, and Cornell Woolrich made me wonder what would a world where melancholy was the basis of existence might be like. A world where what we today call “depression” is as regular as breathing. I came up with “The Sorrow,” and then my fictional world was no longer a backdrop but something alive and rich.

In order to reach publication, Turn Over the Moon needs your help. The Kickstarter goal is $1000, and after 24 hours it’s already more than a third of the way there, but it still needs support to put it over the top. If you’re a fan of quality modern fantasy, the kind we cover every day right here, I hope you’ll check it out and make a pledge. Tell ’em Black Gate sent you!

Arthur C. Clarke on the Moon: A Fall of Moondust and Earthlight

Arthur C. Clarke on the Moon: A Fall of Moondust and Earthlight

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A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke; First Edition: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962.
Cover art Arthur Hawkins. (Click to enlarge)

A Fall of Moondust
by Arthur C. Clarke
Harcourt, Brace & World (248 pages, $3.95 hardcover, 1962)
Cover art by Arthur Hawkins

Earthlight
by Arthur C. Clarke
Ballantine (186 pages, $2.75 hardcover, 1955)
Cover art by Richard Powers

Arthur C. Clarke is best known for his visionary, philosophical tales of human destiny, with their explorations of the depths of time and space, their brushing contact with godlike aliens: Childhood’s End, The City and the Stars, “The Star,” “The Nine Billion Names of God,” and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey. But another type of story turns up regularly throughout his career: the near-term technological puzzle story. Prelude to Space (covered here) has its philosophical overtones, but is basically about the technical and political issues of launching a rocket to the moon. And of course the center section of 2001 is all about diagnosing a malfunctioning part, and dealing with a malfunctioning supercomputer. Famous early stories like “Technical Error” and “Superiority” dealt with issues of problematic future technology.

Clarke’s 1962 novel A Fall of Moondust is very much a story of technical problems and how they are solved (and the resolution is a happier one than those in the other titles just mentioned). Specifically, it’s about a search and rescue mission, anticipating the spate of “disaster” movies (and associated novels) about groups of civilians trapped in some situation (burning skyscraper, disabled passenger jet, and so on) and the parallel efforts of rescuers to save them, that were popular especially in the ‘70s. (In fact, Wikipedia notes this novel’s similarity to a 1978 film about a stranded submarine, Gray Lady Down.)

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What Would You Exchange at the Rack at the Track?

What Would You Exchange at the Rack at the Track?

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Rack at the Track 2019-small

In my Vintage Treasures posts, I like to talk about paperback fantasy that’s been out of print for decades. Books you’re not going to find without a search, but which are worth it all the same. Hopefully I intrigue a few of you lot to search out some of those books every week, and sample authors and titles you might not have discovered otherwise.  The idea is encourage readers to try something that’s given me enormous pleasure for most of my life: tracking down and shelling out a couple bucks for vintage paperbacks.

Of course, when you find them on a giveaway rack at your local train station, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. So today I want to talk about The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris, which I found in the Take One Leave One paperback rack at the Geneva train station last year.

What exactly do you leave in exchange for a nearly 50-year old (and highly collectible) paperback, volume #38 in Lin Carter’s famous (and highly collectible) Ballantine Adult Fantasy line? I have no idea. But I stood in front that rack for a good five minutes, struggling with that question as commuters milled around me. Finally I put the book in my pocket, and returned the next day with half a dozen brand new paperbacks. I quietly tucked them into the racks, knowing I got by far the better deal. But sometimes you just have to accept what the universe has gifted you and not question it.

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D.M. Ritzlin on the Ten Greatest Sword-and-Sorcery Stories by Robert E. Howard

D.M. Ritzlin on the Ten Greatest Sword-and-Sorcery Stories by Robert E. Howard

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Covers by Brian LeBlanc, Sanjulian, and Margaret Brundage

Dave Ritzlin is the mastermind behind DMR books, publishers of the Swords of Steel anthologies, The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories,  the 2020 anthology Renegade Swords, and many other volumes of adventure and weird fantasy. He’s also a fine blogger and Robert E. Howard enthusiast, and this month he produced one of the most interesting articles on REH I’ve read in many years — The Ten Greatest Sword-and-Sorcery Stories by Robert E. Howard.

This lengthy and entertaining piece features all of Howard’s most famous creations, including Kull, Solomon Kane, and of course Conan the Cimmerian. Here’s Dave on “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth.”

The heroes of “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” are two renegades: Irishman Turlogh O’Brien, outlawed from his clan, and the Saxon Athelstane, who has thrown in with a group of Norse Vikings. The two have a history together, but they meet again when the Vikings attack a ship on which Turlogh is a passenger. The Saxon recognizes Turlogh in the stormy sea battle and takes him alive. Shortly thereafter the Vikings’ ship in blown off course and destroyed by a tempest. Athelstane is knocked unconscious, but Turlogh manages to save him. The two are the only survivors, and they wash up on a mysterious island (a classic sword and sorcery set-up!)…

In addition to being a spectacular sword and sorcery tale, “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” also inspired the name of one of the most amazing metal bands of all time. Byron A. Roberts, vocalist of Bal-Sagoth, is a talented sword-and-sorcery author as well.

Read the entire thing at The DMR Blog — a fine place to learn about new and classic fantasy of interest to REH fans old and new.

Future Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Five edited by Neil Clarke

Future Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Five edited by Neil Clarke

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The Best Science Fiction of the Year- Volume Five-smallThe 2020 pandemic has thrown a wrench into publishing schedules this year, and no mistake. Seems like less than half the books I was looking forward to this summer appeared at all. So I’m relieved to see that this year’s class of Year’s Best anthologies — edited by Rich Horton, Jonathan Strahan, Paula Guran, John Joseph Adams, and others — are still in the pipeline. A little delayed maybe, but none the worse for wear.

Jonathan’s volume arrived on Sept 8; next on the docket is Neil Clarke’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Five, which will be published by Night Shade Press late next month. It contains fiction by N.K. Jemisin, Cixin Liu, Tobias S. Buckell, Gwyneth Jones, Dominica Phetteplace, Alastair Reynolds, Vandana Singh, Ann Leckie, Annalee Newitz, Alec Nevala-Lee, Aliette de Bodard, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Yoon Ha Lee, Indrapramit Das, A.T. Greenblatt, and many others. Here’s the description.

From Hugo Award-Winning Editor Neil Clarke, the Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year Collected in a Single Paperback Volume

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more — a task that can be accomplished by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to present the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy Award–winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year’s writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome “sensawunda” that the genre has to offer.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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