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New Treasures: Stefan Petrucha’s Dead Mann Running

New Treasures: Stefan Petrucha’s Dead Mann Running

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dead-mann-runningI’m keeping my promise to spend a few days focusing on paperback arrivals in my New Treasures column. It’s easy to do, as there’s been plenty to grab my attention recently.

Case in point: Dead Mann Running by Stefan Petrucha, sequel to Dead Mann Walking. David Wellington, author of Monster Island, called it “Fast-paced zombie noir with a melancholy bite, a sure antidote for the blandness of traditional zombie fare.”

It kills me that there’s such a thing as “traditional zombie fare” these days. As a kid growing up on monster movies, there was no such thing as “traditional zombie fare.” Zombie fare was all gourmet, let me tell you. Anyway, I’m intrigued by the “zombie noir” blurb, and the book description, narrated by dead detective Hessius Mann:

Just because a bullet has your name on it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t duck…

Either I’m stubborn or it’s rigor mortis, but being dead didn’t stop me from being a detective. But it’s tough out there for a zombie. These days the life-challenged have to register and take monthly tests to prove our emotional stability. See, if we get too low, we go feral. And I’ve been feeling down lately myself.

So when a severed arm – yeah, just the arm – leaves a mysterious briefcase in my office, my assistant Misty thinks figuring out where it came from will keep me on track. But this job goes deeper and darker than I imagined.

Turns out the people after the briefcase know more about my past life than I can remember, and even more about what I’ve become.

Believe it or not, this is not the only zombie detective novel I plan to cover this week (maybe David Wellington was on to something after all). But you’ll have to wait until later in the week to hear about the second one.

Dead Mann Running was published by Roc on September 4. It is 339 pages in paperback or digital format for $7.99. You can read a free excerpt here.

Read all of our recent New Treasures articles here.

It’s Halloween Already with Graphic Classic’s Halloween Classics

It’s Halloween Already with Graphic Classic’s Halloween Classics

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halloween-classics2Goth Chick gets all excited as we approach the Halloween season every year, decorating the Black Gate offices in black ribbons and plastic tombstones. If we left it up to her, Halloween decorations would be up between Labor Day and Christmas Eve.

But she’s not the only one. Plenty of publishers offer up exciting books around Halloween, and I never really get tired of them. Last week, I received word that Graphic Classics (whom we last wrote about back in July) have released a new comic anthology collecting five scary stories in the tradition of EC Comics, presented by your horrible host Nerwin the Docent:

Eureka Productions is pleased to announce the release of Halloween Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 23, the newest volume in the Graphic Classics series of comics adaptations of great literature.

Halloween Classics presents five scary tales for the holiday, each with an EC Comics-style introduction by famed horror author Mort Castle. Featured are Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Arthur Conan Doyle’s mummy tale “Lot No. 249,” Mark Twain’s “A Curious Dream,” and H.P. Lovecraft’s “Cool Air.” Plus, a comics adaptation of the great silent film, “The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari,” illustrated by Matt Howarth, with a terrifying cover by Simon Gane.

Halloween Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 23 is edited by Tom Pomplun, and published September 2012 by Eureka Productions. It is 144 pages in full color oversize paperback, priced at $15.00.

Get more details at the Eureka Productions website.

Abney Park’s Airship Pirates: A Music-inspired Steampunk Extravaganza

Abney Park’s Airship Pirates: A Music-inspired Steampunk Extravaganza

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airship-pirates-smallLast month, Peter Cakebread of Cakebread & Walton told you about our alternate English Civil War fantasy RPG, Clockwork & Chivalry. This month, it’s Ken Walton here, and I’ll be taking a look at our music-inspired steampunk extravaganza, Abney Park’s Airship Pirates RPG.

“Abney Park?” I hear some of you say. “Isn’t that a cemetery in London?” While the rest of you are saying, “No, Abney Park is a really cool steampunk band from Seattle who play music like this.”

Most of their songs, written by lead singer “Captain” Robert Brown, tell of the fictional exploits of the band in their time-travelling steampunk airship Cordelia. On discovering their music, we quickly realised there was a really cool background here that would make a kick-ass role-playing game.

We contacted the band, thinking, “This is mad, they’ll never go for it, no-one’s ever written a RPG based on a band’s songs!” But Captain Robert thought the idea was awesome.

When we emailed our publisher, Cubicle 7, Angus Abranson (who worked at Cubicle 7 at the time) was on the phone in five minutes. “Why didn’t I think of that?” Turned out he was an Abney Park fan too. Who knew? And so, a new game was born!

Of course, then we had to sit down and design it. Cubicle 7 offered us use of the game mechanics from their Victoriana RPG, which we tweaked and simplified for a more swashbuckling feel.

Captain Robert, it turned out, was a graphic artist as well as a rock star, and he designed the look of the game, as well as recruiting a host of amazing artists to contribute the full-colour artwork for the rulebook. And we took the song lyrics and Robert’s (then unfinished) novel, The Wrath of Fate, and set about expanding them into a game world with a particular feel.

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New Treasures: Kari Sperring’s The Grass King’s Concubine

New Treasures: Kari Sperring’s The Grass King’s Concubine

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the-grass-kings-concubine2I haven’t paid much attention to paperbacks in my New Treasures column. Which is odd, considering paperbacks are actually my preferred format. I think it’s just force of habit — I try to talk about the arrivals that look the most interesting and important, and I think my eye just gravitates towards the hardcovers and trade paperbacks each week.

Several very intriguing paperback originals have arrived in the past few weeks and I’m going to try and rectify that mistake by highlighting them, starting with Kari Sperring’s The Grass King’s Concubine. Sperring made a splash with her first novel Living With Ghosts — a finalist for the Crawford Award, a Tiptree Award Honor Book, Locus Recommended First Novel, and the winner of the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer. With her second novel she returns to the same world with a brand new tale set several hundred years later:

It began with Marcallen, a man bringing human knoledge into WorldBelow — where no mortal had been… And though Marcellan never meant to cause harm, his theories undermined the immortal Grass King’s magic, the power that gave life and plenty to all the Domains of WorldBelow. That disaster was compounded by a spell of stone and blood cast in WorldAbove by exiled shapeshifter twins, once favorites of the Grass King…

Generations later, Aude, born to wealth yet driven always by her childhood vision of a strange Shining Place, seeks to understand her family’s past, where their wealth came from, and why they and all who live in the Silver City want for nothing, while the people who live in the industrial Brass City have nothing at all.

Jehan, a soldier serving in the Brass City, also questions the inequities between the wealthy and those who work for them. When the two find each other on the troubled streets, their destinies are linked. Together, they flee the cities in search of the origins of Aude’s family. All they find is a devastated land, and when Aude is snatched away to WorldBelow by the Grass King’s last remaining supporters, the Cadre, Jehan has no choice but to follow, aided and impeded by the twins. While Jehan travels through hostile lands and battles terrifying guardians, Aude must survive as a prisoner of the Cadre, who believe that she is the solution to restoring WorldBelow — even at the cost of her own life…

The Grass King’s Concubine was released by DAW Books on August 7. It is 481 pages, priced at $7.99 for both the print and digital editions.

Read all of our recent New Treasures articles here.

New Treasures: Black Bottle by Anthony Huso

New Treasures: Black Bottle by Anthony Huso

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black-bottle2I’ve been looking forward to Black Bottle ever since I read Matthew David Surridge’s review of the first volume in the two-book series, The Last Page (Tor, 2010) in Black Gate 12. Here’s what he said, in part:

The Last Page is a high fantasy steampunk novel, and a love story. We follow the sexually charged relationship between the improbably named Caliph Howl, heir to the throne of the northern country of Stonehold, and a witch named Sena. The two of them meet at university, go their own ways, and then come together again after Caliph has become king and Sena has acquired a vastly powerful magical tome. Unfortunately, Caliph is facing a civil war against a national hero, and Sena’s book has a lock which can only be opened at a fearsome emotional cost…

The first volume in a two-book series, it manages the trick of both providing a satisfactory conclusion and keeping the story going; in fact, the conclusion suggests the story has taken a turn, and perhaps is going to head in wild new directions. But what really makes the first book work is its language. The prose is strong, quick and dense in the best ways. The diction, the word choice, is inventive; the imagery is both original and concise. At its best, Huso’s language recalls Wolfe or Vance…

From the plot summary for Black Bottle, that twist Matthew mentions seems dark indeed:

Tabloids sold in the Duchy of Stonehold claim that the High King, Caliph Howl, has been raised from the dead. His consort, Sena Iilool, both blamed and celebrated for this act, finds that a macabre cult has sprung up around her. As this news spreads, Stonehold — long considered unimportant — comes to the attention of the emperors in the southern countries. They have learned that the seed of Sena’s immense power lies in an occult book, and they are eager to claim it for their own.

Desperate to protect his people from the southern threat, Caliph is drawn into a summit of the world’s leaders despite the knowledge that it is a trap. As Sena’s bizarre actions threaten to unravel the summit, Caliph watches her slip through his fingers into madness. But is it really madness? Sena is playing a dangerous game of strategy and deceit as she attempts to outwit a force that has spent millennia preparing for this day. Caliph is the only connection left to her former life, but it’s his blood that Sena needs to see her plans through to their explosive finish.

Sounds intriguing, right? But it was when I saw yesterday’s Facebook post from the distinguished Dave Truesdale, Black Gate‘s Managing Editor for our very first issue, that my interest in the book was truly piqued.

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It Came From GenCon 2012: Young Kid Edition

It Came From GenCon 2012: Young Kid Edition

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Magician's Kitchen
In Magician's Kitchen, players try to get the potions in the correct cauldron, then to light the fireplace. Beware the tripping stones!

GenCon is fun for gamers of all ages, but now that I have young children, I always have a special place in my heart for games that I can play with one or both of them. Given that my oldest is currently 7, though, this puts some pretty massive restrictions on what I can actually play. It has to be age-appropriate in both content level and rule complexity.

This year saw a number of games that caught my fancy in this regard. The charming Magician’s Kitchen, the enchanting Dixit, and, last but certainly not least, the upcoming game Mice and Mystics, which is available now for online pre-order with a significant discount.

Magician’s Kitchen

This is a fun little game where you’re playing a magician’s apprentice who is running around, trying to get potions in the cauldrons and then starting a fire. The trick to this game is that there are hidden magnets that cause your piece to drop the potions. For a more detailed description of Magician’s Kitchen, I recommend my review over at the About.com Physics site, where I even proposed some ideas about how you could use this fantasy game to teach some cool scientific ideas to the young ones.

Magician’s Kitchen is designed for up to 4 players, aged 5 to 15. My youngest son (age 2) really gets enjoyment out of making the apprentices drop their potions. The game is available from Amazon.com and other retailers nationwide, with a retail cost of $29.99.

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New Treasures: Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill

New Treasures: Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill

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dead-reckoning2July is a special month in the O’Neill household, and not just because it’s summer. All three of my children were born in July, which means it’s a month of birthday cake, party planning, and a lot of exchanging gifts.

My kids are readers, and one of the gifts they traditionally receive from aunts and uncles is book store gift certificates. So every year, at the end of July, we trek to the local Barnes & Noble where my children each bring home a stack of books. For Tim, the oldest, it’s usually manga — this year as many Fullmetal Alchemist volumes as he could find. Taylor is harder to predict, although she’s developed a fondness for manga herself, especially Inuyahsa and Hollow Fields. The middle one, Drew, is a little more adventurous, and this year he parked himself in front of the teen section and spent long minutes agonizing over the selection.

One of the titles he picked out caught my eye as well: Dead Reckoning, a zombie western from two much-loved fantasy writers with a history of successful collaboration. This one looks like a lot of fun, and I might read it as soon as he’s done.

It’s 1867. And something truly monstrous is breaking loose in West Texas.

Jett Gallatin expects trouble in Alsop, Texas, but not zombies. She’s looking for her lost twin brother when she enters a dusty saloon that suddenly is attacked by an army of the undead.

Together with her new friends — one a brilliant inventor, one a clever and good-looking young scout — it’s everything she can do to keep the zombies from killing or taking every living soul in their path. But who could possibly desire to control such an army? And what is it they want from the wild Texas frontier?

Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill have written more than a dozen books together, including the Shadow Grail novels and six volumes of the Bedlam’s Bard series.

Dead Reckoning was published in June by Bloomsbury. It is 324 pages in hardcover for $16.99 ($13.99 for the digital edition).

New Treasures: Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue

New Treasures: Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue

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menzoberranzan-city-of-intrigue2One of my favorite RPG settings of all time is Menzoberranzan, the 1992 boxed set from TSR that drew liberally from R.A. Salvatore’s best-selling Drizzt Do’Urden novels. Written by Ed Greenwood, Salvatore, and Douglas Niles, the box detailed the famous City of Spiders, the subterranean birthplace of the drow ranger, in three thick books and a set of gorgeous maps. Packed with 20,000 drow inhabitants, hundreds of thousands of humanoid slaves, and countless secrets and simmering rivalries, the home of the drow was an ideal adventure site for intrepid (and suitably high level) players.

Released nearly 20 years ago for second edition AD&D, Menzoberranzan has not seen an update since and has been out of print for over 15 years. It was featured in the popular Menzoberranzan PC game from SSI/DreamForge, part of their Forgotten Realms product line, in 1994, and very prominently in the six volume War of the Spider Queen novels, but it’s been far too long since my favorite underdark city-state appeared in a new edition.

The wait is finally over. Wizards of the Coast has released an updated version in Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue, now available in hardcover:

The profane beauty of Menzoberranzan reflects the true nature of the drow and Lolth, their vile spider queen. Within sculpted palaces, factions vie for dominion, spin webs of conspiracy, wage war on the surface realms, and spread poisonous rumors. Meanwhile, predator stalk the twisted streets, plotting murder and mayhem. The city has no pity for fools and weaklings.

Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue breathes new life into the fabled home of Drizzt Do’Urden and leaves no stone unturned. This book explores the city, tells the stories behind important drow houses and factions, and peeks at the mysteries waiting to unfold in the deadliest city of the Forgotten Realms world. This product is compatible with all editions of the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game and features a poster map of the city.

Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue is 128 pages in hardcover, heavily illustrated in full color. The poster map is rather colorless, but large and extremely detailed. It was released on August 21 for $29.95.

You can see all of our recent New Treasures here.

Athans & Associates Releases Tales From The Fathomless Abyss

Athans & Associates Releases Tales From The Fathomless Abyss

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tales-of-the-fathomless-abyss2I’ve never been a huge fan of shared-world anthologies — which is strange considering I was a voracious fantasy reader at the height of the genre, the late 80s, the era of Terri Windling’s Borderlands, C. J. Cherryh’s Merovingen Nights, Will Shetterly & Emma Bull’s Liavek, George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards, and the great granddaddy of them all, Thieve’s World.

But some recent projects have begun changing my mind. It started with Welcome to Bordertown, the 2011 anthology that our own Patty Templeton called, in her own special manner, “Really GD awesome. I freakin’ loved it.” It continued with Scott Taylor’s Tales of the Emerald Serpent, the tremendously successful 2012 project that includes fiction from Lynn Flewelling, Harry Connolly, Juliet McKenna, Martha Wells, Julie Czerneda, and many more.

Now comes word of a shared world project that sounds just as intriguing: Tales From The Fathomless Abyss.

Descend into the world of the Fathomless Abyss, a bottomless pit that opens who-knows-when onto who-knows-where, just long enough for new people from a thousand different worlds and a million different times to fall in and join the fight for survival in a place where the slightest misstep means an everlasting fall into eternity.

Tales from the Fathomless Abyss features six new short stories, and it’s only the beginning. From here, each author will branch out to spin a series of new books sharing this impossible, explosive, infinite setting.

The anthology is edited by Philip Athans. It includes an intro by Ken Scholes and original contributions from Mike Resnick & Brad R. Torgersen, Jay Lake, Mel Odom, J.M. McDermott, Cat Rambo, and Philip Athans. Two of the promised follow-on titles have already been released: Devils of the Endless Deep by Phil Athans, which expands on his short story from the anthology and plays with the strange time travel aspects of the Fathomless Abyss setting, and J.M. McDermott’s Nirvana Gates, which takes the setting to the next, deeper level. It also features an excerpt from the next book by Cat Rambo, due in two months. That one will be followed by standalone novellas by Mel Odom, Mike Resnick and Brad Torgerson, and Jay Lake.

Best of all, the introductory anthology Tales From The Fathomless Abyss has been released at the can’t-turn-it-down price of $0.99 for the digital version. Check it out, and get in on the ground floor on an exciting new series. You can buy it today from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

New Treasures: Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron

New Treasures: Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron

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anno-dracula-bloody-red-baronOkay, technically, this is both a Vintage Treasure and a New Treasure. It’s a brand spanking new edition of a novel that came out nearly two decades ago, in 1995.

But what a novel. The sequel to Anno Dracula, one of the most acclaimed vampire novels of the 90s — an alternate history in which Count Dracula has killed Van Helsing, married Queen Victoria, imposed a police state and launched a terrifying new era of British vampire domination — The Bloody Red Baron picks up the story a few years later, at the dawn of World War I:

It is 1918 and Graf von Dracula is commander-in-chief of the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The war of the great powers in Europe is also a war between the living and the undead. Caught up in the conflict, Charles Beauregard, an old enemy of Dracula, his protégé Edwin Winthrop, and intrepid vampire reporter Kate Reed go head-to-head with the lethal vampire flying machine that is the Bloody Red Baron…

One of the most fascinating aspects of Anno Dracula was the adroit manner in which Newman drew from real and fictional historical characters for virtually his entire cast — including Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, Allan Quatermain, Billy the Kid, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Fu Manchu, The Invisible Man, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Carmilla, Doctor Moreau, Kurt Barlow (Salem’s Lot), Carnacki, Barnabas Collins (Dark Shadows), Daniel Dravot (The Man Who Would Be King), Count Orlok (Nosferatu) and even Carl Kolchak (The Night Stalker).

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