Samurai 7: Swords and Sorcery with Killer Robots

Samurai 7: Swords and Sorcery with Killer Robots

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samurai-7It was my daughter’s 13th birthday yesterday. One of the things she wanted was the 2004 anime series Samurai 7, which her brother Tim gave her in a handsome Blu-Ray package.

As the parents of most young girls will tell you, it’s not enough to get them a few presents and a hug for their birthday. What they really want is attention. And what Taylor really wanted was for Dad to watch Samurai 7 with her.

Which I did. All 3.6 hours of Disk One, a full nine episodes. Let’s face it — the days when my teenage daughter will want to hang out with me are coming to an end; better seize them while I can.

I’m glad I made the effort to spend time with her. For lots of good reasons, not least of which was that Samurai 7 turned out to be a terrific piece of animated cinema. A lot more enjoyable than those two hours I spent playing dolls when she turned six, let me tell you.

I knew the basic premise before parking my butt on the couch. Like Yul Brynner’s classic Western The Magnificent Seven, Samurai 7 is directly inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai, one of the most influential films ever made.

A small group of peasants whose town is ruthlessly pillaged by bandits every year journey to the city to hire seven masterless samurai to defend their village. Desperate and poor, all they can offer these samurai is rice — and not very much of it.

Seven Samurai is set in sixteenth-century feudal Japan; Samurai 7 translates the classic story to a post-apocalyptic world of towering, decrepit cities and a blasted landscape dotted with the twisted debris of a recent war.

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Apex Magazine #38

Apex Magazine #38

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apex-38July’s Apex Magazine features  ”Coyote Gets His Own Back” by Sarah Monette, “The Silk Merchant” by Ken Liu, “Ironheart” by Alec Austin and “Wolf Trapping” by Kij Johnson  (who is interviewed by Maggie Slater). Bruce Holwerda provides the cover art. Nonfiction by Christopher J. Garcia and editor Lynne M. Thomas round out the issue.

Apex is published on the first Tuesday of every month.  While each issue is available free on-line from the magazine’s website, it can also be downloaded to your e-reader from there for $2.99.  Individual issues are also available at  Amazon, Nook and Weightless.

Twelve issue (one year) subscriptions can be ordered at Apex and Weightless for $19.95; Kindle subscriptions are available for $1.99 a month.

House of Black Wings

House of Black Wings

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house-of-black-wings1Make a list of the ten best horror movies of all time (or the hundred best horror movies of all time) (or the thousand best horror movies of all time) and at least half those titles will be low-budget, independent films.  There’s a reason for that.

Despite garnering critical and commercial success over and over, the horror genre is still dismissed by many as lowbrow and simplistic.  Big studios just don’t like investing a lot of money in horror.

Except when some low-budget film becomes a huge success.  Then the studios rush in to produce big budget sequels and big budget re-makes, none of which are as good as the original low-budget feature.  There’s a reason for that too.

Low-budget films can be risk-takers.  They don’t have a hundred-million dollars riding on their success, so they can explore areas that will bring them a smaller (but often dedicated) viewership.  There’s nothing new in Hollywood, but a quick look through independent cinema venues reveals that this is a boom time for horror movies.  House of Black Wings is one of those movies that you have to seek out; but one which is well-worth the effort.

The story begins with Kate Stone, formerly up-and-coming rock star Nicki Tarot, as she abandons the career that has left her ruined emotionally, financially and physically.  She finds that her only remaining friend is Robin Huck, a struggling shadowbox designer who has inherited a deteriorating apartment building following the death of her father.  The two women act as caretakers to a home filled with struggling artists.  But in the midst of all the emotional turmoil, there is a supernatural threat that tempts them with promises of escape.

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How I Met Your Cimmerian (and other Barbarian Swordsmen)

How I Met Your Cimmerian (and other Barbarian Swordsmen)

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the-tritonian-ring2It was the summer of 1969. Very much like the one described in the song by Bryan Adams.

I quit the rock and roll band I’d been playing with since high school, went to work with my Dad, and had just finished reading The Lord of the Rings; a year earlier, while still in high school, I’d read The Hobbit. Now, after completing my magical journey through Middle-earth, I was totally hooked. I had found a liking — no, a craving for Heroic and Epic Fantasy.

Not long after that I discovered the Ballantine Books Adult Fantasy Series, wonderfully edited and championed by Lin Carter. Novels by Mervyn Peake, Lord Dunsany, E.R. Eddison, David Lindsay, William Morris, James Branch Cabell, Poul Anderson, and others fanned the flames of my passion.

To say I was addicted would be a gross understatement. No, I had found novels that had changed my life and would continue to do so for the next 40-plus years!

Then one day, while browsing through a used book store on State Street and Congress in downtown Chicago, I came across three more novels that would further alter my life. The Tritonian Ring by L. Sprague de Camp, The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber, and an anthology of short-stories by Lin Carter, Beyond the Gates of Dream.

What was this new and exciting genre of fantasy fiction I had discovered? Sword and sorcery, of course! I was not only caught like an unwary Hyrkanian soldier, I was taken captive — axe, mace, and broadsword.

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Pulling Off (or Putting On?) the Blog Mask

Pulling Off (or Putting On?) the Blog Mask

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bloggingAs I watch the tumbleweeds blow through my official author web site, I sometimes wonder what I can do to increase traffic. Authors are told that regular blog entries generate interest and that we should keep up a regular stream of witty and attention-getting material to get people curious about our writing.

A lot of us can make all sorts of excuses about how we just can’t do that. Let’s face it: writers aren’t that social to begin with, or are busy enough with writing or the rest of our lives that it’s hard to find time to draft blog entries. And some of us aren’t that witty. On the other hand… longest journey, first step, to sell you must reach your market, tough get going, and so on.Which is why I’ve finally just made myself get to it with regularity. I’ve recently gotten comfortable with drafting material that matters to me in a timely manner. I can’t tell how much it matters to anyone else, but my thought is that if I build it, they will come.

Yet as the tumbleweeds roll stately forward, I naturally wonder if there’s something more I can do to draw in readers, which is why a recent post from editor, writer, and friend James Sutter’s recent post over at Ink Punks got me thinking.

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Better Fantasy Gaming Through Traveller

Better Fantasy Gaming Through Traveller

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netherell1Netherell Epic Fantasy
Hal Maclean & Phillip Larwood
Terra/Sol Games (148 pp, $24.99, Softback; $14.99, Download)
Reviewed by Howard Andrew Jones

It’s one of my distinct pleasures as a reviewer to highlight overlooked books. All sorts of RPG books crossed my desk last year, and my fellow game reviewers and I tackled a lot of deserving ones in the last issue of Black Gate, but inevitably some fine ones got overlooked.

I’ve been impressed with the line of products I’ve seen from Terra/Sol Games, starting with their Twilight Sector sourcebook and continuing into their sector companion, Tinker, Spacer, Psion, Spy. I can heartily recommend both for the Traveller fan. But their Netherell supplement, released toward the middle of last year, has even broader appeal. It is an epic fantasy setting implemented with the Traveller rule set. You’d think that it would read like something awkwardly shoehorned into place – like rules for a Star Trek game using the classic D&D experience point system – but it works, and it works well. Any fantasy fan looking for a new way to approach their game play should give it a look.

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Blogging Charlton Comics’ Adventures of the Man-God, Hercules – Part One

Blogging Charlton Comics’ Adventures of the Man-God, Hercules – Part One

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hercules-11Charlton Comics’ Adventures of the Man-God, Hercules is unique in actually making a credible stab at being faithful to Greek mythology. The Twelve Labors of Hercules form the backbone of the thirteen issues published between October 1967 and September 1969. Denny O’Neil scripted the first five issues under the unlikely pseudonym of Sergius O’Shaugnessy with Dick Giordano editing the first four issues. When Giordano left Charlton Comics for DC, he took O’Neil with him. Giordano’s successor Sal Gentile soon replaced O’Neil with Joe Gill, who scripted the final eight issues of the series. The entire run was illustrated by Sam Glanzman, a house regular at Charlton. I first discovered the series via Charlton’s short-lived reprint series of the early 1980s. Sadly, the entire run was never reprinted and all thirteen issues can be rather difficult to track down.

The self-titled first issue features an amusing error in which the gods of Mount Olympus set Hercules with nine, rather than twelve labors to prove his worth so that he may take his rightful place among them. This mistake was quickly corrected with the second issue. As the series begins, Hercules’ mortal mother Alcmene has died and her son is frustrated he cannot join his divine father on Mount Olympus. Eurystheus decrees the man-god must perform nine labors before he will be recognized by his fellow gods. The first labor he is assigned is to slay the Nemean Lion. There is a nice twist where his fellow Spartans do not believe Hercules’ claims of being the son of Zeus. King Philip of Sparta puts a price on the man-god’s head for deserting the Olympics to go off on his quest.

When Hercules arrives in Nemea, he rescues Princess Helen from Argive invaders who sought to hold her hostage to force Alexander the Great to abdicate. Princess Helen falls for Hercules. Despite their rivalry for Helen’s love, Hercules and her betrothed Alexander fight side-by-side during the dual invasion of the Argive and Corinthian armies and force the invaders to retreat. Helen is prepared to leave Alexander for Hercules until she learns the secret of his divine heritage when she witnesses a conversation between him and Zeus. Hercules sends her back to Alexander, choosing eternity over mortal love. He battles and defeats the Nemean Lion barehanded and claims its skin as his prize. Hercules forms a strong bond with Alexander the Great, but takes his leave to return home to Sparta.

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World War Z Film Appears Headed for Armageddon

World War Z Film Appears Headed for Armageddon

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world-war-zZombie fans everywhere should be outraged at the hot mess that is the film adaption of Max Brooks’ World War Z. Bringing in a new writer to salvage a script after principal filming surely isn’t a sign of a healthy film, nor is delaying the release date by six months. But that’s apparently what has happened to the project.

For those that aren’t familiar with it, World War Z (the book) is written in the style of Letters from Vietnam or the war documentaries of Ken Burns, as a series of flashbacks told by survivors of the great zombie war. The best part is the multiple perspectives from survivors around the globe, which lend it a high degree of realism while allowing Brooks the opportunity to insert pointed political and social commentary. The zombie plague of World War Z is deliberately left unexplained — it starts in the heart of China, half-hinted as the result of some undescribed industrial waste leak. But beginning with “Patient Zero,” an infected, gray-skinned, 12-year-old-turned zombie, Brooks manages to paint a very convincing picture of how the plague quickly spreads and threatens to overwhelm all of humanity. Brooks has done his research on politics, world economics, plague outbreaks, military tactics and technology, combat fatigue, and climate conditions.  The result feels like history, an event that really happened (or, chillingly, could actually happen).

But the one-sentence description of the film on its IMDB page is a head scratcher:

A U.N. employee is racing against time and fate, as he travels the world trying to stop the outbreak of a deadly Zombie pandemic.

Trying to shoehorn the events of the wide-ranging narrative through one character’s perspective (apparently Brad Pitt) because it conforms to the conservative Hollywood hero formula is the safe bet, but an awful idea. According to the film’s Wikipedia page, the screenplay was written by Babylon 5 and Rising Stars creator J. Michael Straczynski, who identified the challenge in adapting the work as “creating a main character out of a book that reads as a UN Report on the zombie wars”.

Huh? Why is a main character needed? You’ve got a book that’s universally loved; granted changes are always needed to convert page to screen, but why ditch the one element that made World War Z so unique? Why even bother acquiring the rights to the book only to completely rewrite it, top to bottom, save for the obvious reason of cashing in on the name value? The conceit of the “UN report” on the zombie war works in the novel, and works really well. Zombies are red-hot right now and World War Z is the hottest zombie property this side of The Walking Dead. People will pay to see worldwide zombie carnage without a hunky male lead. Or at least I would.

Goth Chick News: Beware – The Tall Man Knows Your Name

Goth Chick News: Beware – The Tall Man Knows Your Name

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image008At a recent family function my 11-year-old nephew pulled me aside to say, “A friend of mine at school saw the Tall Man.”

Now it’s common knowledge among all the kids in the family, as well as their friends, that Aunt Goth Chick is conversant with all topics of the otherworldly variety. When they were all a bit younger I had a fabulous time not dispelling the notion that I was a substitute professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As they got a bit older my role was to correct misconceptions about whether or not vampires were really afraid of crosses, or whether wolfmen actually turned all the way into wolves at the full moon.

But now, in that misty gray, pre-teen area between believers and skeptics, the local chapter of the Goth Chick Fan Club – Junior League needs to be handled carefully; take them too seriously and I could easily be sidelined as covertly making fun of them, not taking them seriously enough could result in the same.

And frankly, I enjoy my minor celebrity status as much as I enjoy being reminded of a time in everyone’s life when magic and mystery were still very possible and very real.

So even though I had never heard of the Tall Man, the seriousness in the little guy’s face told me it was something important and a topic that I, of all people, should be versed in. Luckily the arrival of dessert saved me from needing to make an in depth response and bought me the time to do a little homework.

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Vintage Treasures: A Science Fiction Argosy, edited by Damon Knight

Vintage Treasures: A Science Fiction Argosy, edited by Damon Knight

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a-science-fiction-argosy2Damon Knight’s massive anthology A Science Fiction Argosy was published in 1972, when I was eight years old. It’s over 800 pages, packed with 24 novellas and short stories plus two complete novels, Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human and The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. It’s one of those big, heavy books I’d often glance at on my bookshelf, thinking “I should really read that. As soon as I finish this game of Solitaire.”

I know Damon Knight mostly as an editor — of the highly acclaimed Orbit series, and dozens of other SF anthologies — but he was also a novelist and short story writer. Late in his career he wrote some exceedingly weird SF novels. Check out the article I published at SF Site in 1997, Jim Seidman’s review of his last novel Humpty Dumpty: An Oval, which centers on a lingerie salesman whose skull is fractured by a stray bullet, and who abruptly finds himself dodging both deadly meteorite storms and the society of dentists that secretly rules the world. Glad Jim read it, as I’m sure he made more sense out of it than I would have.

Damon Knight was also a highly respected critic, famous for his dislike of popular pulp writer A. E. van Vogt (“A pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter”), for founding the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and co-founding both the Milford Writer’s Workshop and the Clarion Writers Workshop. He was a busy guy.

I finally started reading A Science Fiction Argosy this morning (after blowing nearly four decades of dust off it). And you know what? It’s pretty good. I was particularly charmed by Knight’s introduction, which can be nicely encapsulated with its first and last sentences:

Some few years ago, when I was only teen-aged science fiction addict in Hood River, Oregon, I prowled the stacks of the local library… like a pornographer looking for pornography, I ferreted out science fiction… but I never got enough…

This is the kind of big meaty selection I wish someone had given me when I was a teen-aged science fiction addict in Hood River, Oregon.

That may be the most honest intro I’ve ever read, and it explains a good deal about what Knight was trying to accomplish with A Science Fiction Argosy — and indeed, perhaps, his entire life as a critic and highly vocal advocate for science fiction. The first story, John Collier’s “Green Thoughts,” is from 1931, but the anthology quickly leaps forward (skipping nearly the entire pulp era) to 1949 for the second, Isaac Asimov’s talky SF puzzler, “The Red Queen’s Race.” Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore’s “The Cure” is even better, a dark and twisted fantasy of a New York lawyer trying to understand an oddly recurring hallucination of suffocation.

That puts me barely 50 pages in. I’m tempted to stop here and write a review, but Knight the critic would not be impressed. So I’ll reserve final judgment until I turn a lot more pages. In the meantime, consider this un-critical word of advice: find your own copy, and don’t wait as long as I did to crack it open.