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Category: Series Fantasy

A Pulp Hero in Mythological China: Alyc Helms’s Missy Masters Novels

A Pulp Hero in Mythological China: Alyc Helms’s Missy Masters Novels

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The Dragons Of Heaven Alyc Helms-small The Conclave Of Shadow-small

I sometimes wonder why, in this age where superheroes rule all media, pulp heroes haven’t made more of a comeback in popular fiction. 

I think the answer is that I’m just not looking hard enough. Case in point: Alyc Helms’s Missy Masters novels, in which Missy takes her grandfather’s place as the pulp hero Mr. Mystic, make a fine example.

My friend Alex Bledsoe, author of The Sword-Edged Blonde and The Hum and the Shiver, sums up the first book: “A tough, witty young woman who inherited her superhero grandfather’s powers barrels through a rollicking Big Trouble in Little China-esque tale filled with magic, monsters and wisecracks. I loved it.” And Cassie Alexander, author of the Edie Spence series, says “The Dragons of Heaven combines superheroes, romance, ancient mythological China, and does it right. The world-building is stunning.”

There are two novels in the series so far, both published by Angry Robot, and both priced at $7.99 in mass market paperback, and $6.99 for the digital edition. They are:

The Dragons of Heaven (416 pages, June 30, 2015) — cover by Amazing15
The Conclave of Shadow (336 pages, July 5, 2016) — cover by Amazing15

Here’s the descriptions.

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Demons, Fanatical Cultists, and Dark Magic: Jamie Schultz’s Arcane Underworld Trilogy

Demons, Fanatical Cultists, and Dark Magic: Jamie Schultz’s Arcane Underworld Trilogy

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Premonitions-Jamie-Schultz-smaller Jamie Schultz Splintered-small Jamie Schultz Sacrifices-small

Two years ago I wrote a brief article about Premonitions, the debut novel by Jamie Schultz, and the opening volume in an intriguing urban fantasy series from Roc. Curious, I did a quick Amazon search last week, and discovered that there are two more novels in the Arcane Underworld series — including the latest, Sacrifices, released exclusively in digital format earlier this week.

The fact that there isn’t a print edition of the third novel isn’t a good sign, and it tells me Arcane Underworld will almost certainly wrap up as a trilogy. That’s a pity, as it garnered a lot of attention in its short life. Seanan McGuire called it “One half heist and one half damn good urban fantasy,” and Publishers Weekly labelled it “An outstanding urban fantasy/horror series.” But my favorite one-sentence review came from The BiblioSanctum, which said “The Arcane Underworld series has it all: Demons. Fanatical cultists. Dark magic… Schultz definitely knows how to bring it.”

All three books in the series were published by Roc, priced at $7.99 in both mass market paperback and digital editions. They are:

Premonitions (384 pages, July 1, 2014)
Splintered (352 pages, July 7, 2015)
Sacrifices (351 pages, July 19, 2016) — digital only

Anyone looking to try urban fantasy that doesn’t run into an endless series of volumes? I know you’re out there. Check out Arcane Underworld and let me know what you think.

Series (Space) Fantasy: The Indranan War by K.B. Wagers

Series (Space) Fantasy: The Indranan War by K.B. Wagers

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Behind the Throne KB Wagers-small After the Crown KB Wagers-small

You know what long hot summers call out for? A long, satisfying space fantasy… with blasters, smugglers, deadly court intrigue — and, of course, a Space Princess. Orbit Books has just the thing. They’re launching a brand new space fantasy series next month: The Indranan War, by newcomer K.B. Wagers. Book One, Behind the Throne, arrives in trade paperback August 2.

Hailimi Bristol escaped from the suffocating court life of Indrana at the age of 19 and changed the course of her life. She became a universally feared gunrunner and, eventually, captain of her own ship. Twenty years later, though, her life is turned upside down by the death of her best friend and lover, the destruction of her ship, and her own effective kidnapping by Royal Trackers tasked with bringing her home. But why? After twenty years?

Because Princess Hailimi Bristol is the only remaining heir to the Indranan throne.

Her sisters have been killed and her mother is ill. Is it a plot by Indrana’s enemies to restart the war that killed her father? Or is it a cabal of men from within Indrana’s own matriarchal society seeking to change centuries of rule by women? For on Indrana, men are second to women and not all are as accepting of that as they seem.

Caught in a whirlwind of plots and assassination attempts, poor Hail longs for the “simple life” of running guns and smuggling. But she can’t run back to that old life. For if she runs away again, Indrana will enter an unnecessary war with the neighboring kingdoms, millions will die, and the Bristol name will disappear forever.

The next book in the series, After the Crown, will be released next year. Behind the Throne will be published by Orbit Books on Aug 2, 2016. It is 42 pages, priced at $14.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Lauren Panepinto.

New Treasures: The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán

New Treasures: The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán

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The Dinosaur Lords-smaller The Dinosaur Knights-small

Knights riding dinosaurs! It’s so far over the top, it’s almost irresistible. The first installment in Victor Milán’s dino-chivalry mash-up was The Dinosaur Lords, which appeared in hardcover last August, to a surprising amount of critical praise (and more than a few astonished stares.) The second volume, The Dinosaur Knights, was published by Tor earlier this month.

Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often cruel world. There are humans on Paradise but dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden, and of war. Armored knights ride dinosaurs to battle legions of war-trained Triceratops and their upstart peasant crews.

Karyl Bogomirsky is one such knight who has chosen to rally those who seek a way from the path of war and madness. The fact that the Empire has announced a religious crusade against this peaceful kingdom, the people who just wish to live in peace anathema, and they all are to be converted or destroyed doesn’t help him one bit.

Things really turn to mud when the dreaded Grey Angels, fabled ancient weapons of the Gods who created Paradise in the first place come on the scene after almost a millennia. Everyone thought that they were fables used to scare children. They are very much real.

And they have come to rid the world of sin… including all the humans who manifest those vices.

Emily Mah interviewed author Victor Milán for us last year, just before the release of The Dinosaur Lords — check it out here.

The Dinosaur Knights was published by Tor Books on July 5, 2016. It is 444 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Richard Anderson.

Dorsai and Secret Psi Powers: Rich Horton on The Genetic General/Time to Teleport by Gordon R. Dickson

Dorsai and Secret Psi Powers: Rich Horton on The Genetic General/Time to Teleport by Gordon R. Dickson

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The Genetic General-small Time to Teleport-small

Over at Strange at Ecbatan, Rich Horton turns his attention to an author who’s rapidly being forgotten in the 21st Century: Gordon R. Dickson.

So this time an Ace Double featuring a pretty significant novel in SF history, by a pretty significant writer. The Genetic General is much better known as Dorsai!, the title under which it was serialized in Astounding in 1959… Dorsai! was the first major story in Dickson’s central series, called The Childe Cycle… The Genetic General is about a young man of the Dorsai people, from the planet called Dorsai, orbiting Fomalhaut. The Dorsai are mercenaries, and Donal Graeme, as the book opens, is a very young man just ready to go out into the wider human civilization and take on his first assignment. Immediately he encounters a beautiful but scared woman, Anea, the Select of Kultis, one of the Exotic worlds. She has taken a contract to be an escort for the powerful merchant William of Ceta, and wants Donal to get rid of it. He of course realizes that would be a crime and a mistake, and so refuses, but he is set on a collision course with William…

It’s early Dickson, not as well done as some of his later work. But it is quite exciting, and Donal’s military feats make good stories. And Dickson’s ambition is quite apparent — he is interested in deeper themes than just good adventure. I quite enjoyed the book.

Dorsai! was a major installment in a highly popular multi-novel sequence from Dickson, and it remained in print for decades. As Rich noted, it originally appeared in Astounding, serialized across three issues (May, June, and July) in 1959.

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An Introduction to B.C. Bell’s The Bagman

An Introduction to B.C. Bell’s The Bagman

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Tales of the Bagman-small Tales of the Bagman-back-small

Author B. Chris Bell is one of the bright lights of the New Pulp world. For Airship 27 Productions he’s written stories appearing in Secret Agent X, The Green Ghost, Jim Anthony Super-Detective, Gene Fowler: G-Man and many others. His wonderful story, “How Pappy Got Five Acres Back and Calvin Stayed on the Farm” was a winner in SFReader.com’s 2007 Annual Short Story Contest. He made the Horror Writer’s Association Reading List for 2012. His Kindle novel, Bi-Polar Express, is a wild ride of genres, almost impossible to label with its mix of the true-to-life horrors of addiction, rehab wards, hospitals, and post-apocalyptic science fiction.

Chris Bell was born and raised in Texas, and now lives in Chicago. I was born and raised in Chicago, and still live here. But Bell writes about Chicago as if he were born and bred to the mean streets of the Windy City. Heck, he knows so much about 1930s Chicago that you swear he’d grown up during the Depression. And that’s the period in which he’s set his wonderful Tales of the Bagman (Vol. 1): 1933 Chicago, during the last days of Prohibition.

The Bagman is one Frank “Mac” McCullough, a one-time courier and thug for a crime family during the Great Depression. At an early age Mac’s life took a major turn when he became an orphan, spent time in a reformatory, and then later got involved in the rackets. But he’s always had a core of decency and honesty buried in his heart. So when he chooses to help and old family friend who got in hock to the Mob, Mac turns his back on crime and his Boss, Slots Lurie, and suddenly finds himself taking another turn on the road of life. In a last-minute decision to conceal his identity from the wise guys he’s hunting, Mac dons a paper bag over his head, and soon he’s known as the mysterious Bagman. (Later he acquires a mask more appropriate to being a man of mystery and a crime-fighting avenger.) And then, in the first part of this origin story, he becomes a fugitive wanted by both the Mob and the police.

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Future Treasures: Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone

Future Treasures: Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone

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Four Roads Cross-smallFour Roads Cross is the fifth novel in Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence, which Ken Liu calls “Brilliant, elegant, epic, astonishing, smart, gritty,” and Django Wexler says is “garnished with skeleton kings, serpent gods, and lawyer-magicians. It’s glorious.” Here’s the description.

The great city of Alt Coulumb is in crisis. The moon goddess Seril, long thought dead, is back – and the people of Alt Coulumb aren’t happy. Protests rock the city, and Kos Everburning’s creditors attempt a hostile takeover of the fire god’s church. Tara Abernathy, the god’s in-house Craftswoman, must defend the church against the world’s fiercest necromantic firm–and against her old classmate, a rising star in the Craftwork world.

As if that weren’t enough, Cat and Raz, supporting characters from Three Parts Dead, are back too, fighting monster pirates; skeleton kings drink frozen cocktails, defying several principles of anatomy; jails, hospitals, and temples are broken into and out of; choirs of flame sing over Alt Coulumb; demons pose significant problems; a farmers’ market proves more important to world affairs than seems likely; doctors of theology strike back; Monk-Technician Abelard performs several miracles; The Rats! play Walsh’s Place; and dragons give almost-helpful counsel.

We covered all four previous novels — which, as Max explains on his blog, are ordered not by publication date, but by title:

Last First Snow
Two Serpents Rise
Three Parts Dead
Four Roads Cross
Full Fathom Five

Here they are in correct sequence.

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John DeNardo: In Defense of Media Tie-Ins (Part 1)

John DeNardo: In Defense of Media Tie-Ins (Part 1)

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Dan Abnett Eisenhorn-smallJohn DeNardo has closed up shop at his Hugo Award-winning blog SF Signal, but he continues to write about SF and fantasy in his regular column at Kirkus Reviews. One of his best recent articles — indeed, one of the most enjoyable blog posts I’ve read in a long time — was his passionate and articulate defense of Media Tie-ins, published on June 15.

As much as I bemoan the poor public of image of science fiction by mainstream readers, there’s an even worse injustice going on. Some people in those very same slighted genre circles are often quick to dismiss a certain type of book: media tie-ins. These are the books that are based on a story most often found in another media (like film, television, and games) but could be sourced from other literary properties as well. These are the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dungeons and Dragons prose novels that the bookstores like to relegate to the end of the science fiction and fantasy bookshelf section. They are positioned like an appendix in a non-fiction book “in case you’re interested in more reading.” You know, if you’ve run out of other things to read…

So, yes, media tie-ins are worth your time. I’ll even back that up: one of the best set of books I’ve ever read — in any genre — was the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett. The books are set in the richly-imagined Warhammer 40K universe, which is based on the popular role playing game. (Even WH40K itself is an offshoot of the fantasy RPG Warhammer, for which there are even more prose novels.)  Abnett is a one of the most skilled master storytellers you’ve never heard of.  This is the series that I point to when anyone is quick to dismiss tie-in fiction. The fact that it is set in the Warhammer 40K universe is incidental, though if you are familiar with the games, that would be an added bonus when you read them. I don’t play the game, but that didn’t stop me from losing sleep because I couldn’t stop turning page after action-packed page, or cheering when a bad guy finally got his comeuppance.

Read John’s complete article here.

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Goth Chick News Reviews: End of Watch — Stephen King Wraps Up a Trilogy

Goth Chick News Reviews: End of Watch — Stephen King Wraps Up a Trilogy

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Stephen King Mr Mercedes-small Stephen King Finders Keepers-small Stephen King End of Watch 2-small

As you may know from past articles, my literary relationship with Stephen King has seen more horror-themed infidelities and follow-on love fests than Ozzy Osbourne’s marriage. Frankly, I had pretty much thrown King over permanently for his more intellectually acrobatic son Joseph King (aka Joe Hill) until nearly three years when in a fit of nostalgia over The Shining, I picked up Doctor Sleep.

And just like that, Stephen King moved back into my library.

So when the first book in King’s new Detective Bill Hodges trilogy called Mr. Mercedes was released the following year, the warm glow from meeting the adult Danny Torrance was still evident and I decided to give the new series a try, even though mystery / serial killer stories are not really my thing.

And what do you know? Like the younger, more energetic version of himself in those heady days of Salem’s Lot and Carrie, King delivered a second white-knuckled nail-biter of a tale, equal to his previous work.

Retired police detective Bill Hodges, the unlikely hero of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers (book two of the trilogy), now runs an investigation agency with his partner, Holly Gibney. Holly is the sister of Hodges’ great love who died at the hands of serial killer Brady Hartsfield and also happens to be the woman who delivered the blow to Brady’s head that put him in a vegetative state.

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