For the Resolute at New Year’s: Promises, Process, and Progress

For the Resolute at New Year’s: Promises, Process, and Progress

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bgnanoOaths, vows, geasa, bindings–you love reading about that kind of thing, or you wouldn’t be here at Black Gate. A vow is powerful magic. A vow written or witnessed is more powerful still.

You would think, then, that the New Year’s resolutions that saturate our culture this time of year would work better than they do. There’s lots of help out there for people who make resolutions about physical fitness, but not so much for people who make resolutions about their writing. How do you come up with a writing resolution that you’ll be glad to fulfill, not just when it’s all over, but while you’re actually doing the work? If you’ve already made a resolution, how do you follow through on it? Maybe last year you tried the crazy ordeal that is Nanowrimo, and you’re looking for a way to tap into its productivity that is actually sustainable. Maybe Nanowrimo’s cheery cultishness turned you off, and you’re sure there must be another way.

There’s an abundance of other ways, thank goodness. Although I have fond memories of frenzied November write-ins, and my novella that’s slated to appear in a forthcoming issue of Black Gate got its start as the first chapter of a Nanowrimo project, my Nanowrimo survival skills are some of the least sustainable writing behaviors in my repertoire. I have some very different ones that have helped me stay in the game for years and finish some long, daunting projects. I want to tell you about some books on process that have been of enduring use to me in broadening that repertoire.

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Art of the Genre: Dragon Mountain

Art of the Genre: Dragon Mountain

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Is it me, or do you think this dragon might be cold?

Do any of you have a gaming shelf? How about a gaming wall? Or even in the case of our fearless leader John O’Neill a ‘Cave of Wonders’ filled with literally thousands of RPGs and games?

Well if you do, then you’ll fully understand the feeling you get when you look at those shelves and feel a mix of nostalgia for times lost, and regret for games never played. With all those books, from so many companies and editions of each title, I couldn’t help wonder at what I missed, especially after the news that WotC is now in production of a 5th Edition of D&D.

Still, I always want to give folks an update on some older material, in this case 2E, even if I’m three and a half editions behind the curve. Today’s topic, the 2E AD&D ‘monster’ that is the Dragon Mountain Boxed Set. This thing is huge, and from what I can see epic, but I’ve always found it so daunting that I’ve yet to actually play it. I think I’ve used pieces in other campaigns over the years, but never as a whole.

I have to wonder if anyone else out there ever had this issue, or ever played the full box. It seems like a pretty well thought out campaign, and I have to admit that the concept of a full 2E dungeon crawl where the main obstacle to the characters are Kobolds always kept me pleasantly intrigued.

In all I counted out 12 Kobold clans in the three volumes inside the box, and you almost need a road map to understand the relationships between them. There are also sixteen player handouts, eight of the old monstrous compendium sheets, 12 full color reference cards, a full set of counters for miniature play, and six, count them SIX full-color fold out maps!

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io9 on Seven Princes

io9 on Seven Princes

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seven-princesNihilism got you down? Can’t stomach yet another scene of rape and torture? Need a break from learning your eleventeenth language and living abroad? If so, then io9 has the prescription for your burning fever:

These days, fantasy novels seem to be all about realism. Or at least, semi-realism. … So it’s a pleasure to read an unabashed over-the-top fantasy epic like John R. Fultz’s Seven Princes, in which totally batshit stuff happens every few pages and the wonders aren’t rationed at all. Fultz writes at a frenetic pace, as if worried he’ll run out of pages before he throws in all the cool stuff he’s thought up. It’s kind of amazing.

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What Seven Princes does have to offer, though, is breakneck pacing and nonstop insanity. Every few pages, foxes are turning into naked ladies or giants are going off to talk to the mermaid queen, or a long-lost race of blue giants is randomly discovered, or evil dark spirits are destroying entire kingdoms. It’s epic with a capital EPIC.

And judging by the majority of comments, vitamin Fultz is the tonic lots of folks are craving.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars, Part 2: The Gods of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars, Part 2: The Gods of Mars

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gods-of-mars-1st-editionI played a bit rough with A Princess of Mars last week in my first installment of this eleven part mega-series on the Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. That book knocked me out when I first read it as a junior high school kid, but it was also the first ERB book I ever picked up. Now that I’ve read most of Burroughs’s canon, the flaws of his first book seem more obvious. For all that is wonderful about A Princess of Mars, it looks like a runt compared to the book I knew was snapping at its heels: The Gods of Mars. Also known as: “Edgar Rice Burroughs gets the knack.”

Our Saga: The adventures of Earthman John Carter, his progeny, and sundry other visitors and natives, on the planet Mars. A dry and slowly dying world, the planet known to its inhabitants as “Barsoom” contains four different human civilizations, one non-human one, a scattering of science among swashbuckling, and a plethora of religions, mystery cities, and strange beasts. The series spans 1912 to 1964 with eleven books: nine novels, a book of linked novellas, and a volume collecting two unrelated novellas.

Today’s Installment: The Gods of Mars (1913)

Previous Installment: A Princess of Mars (1912)

The Backstory

In his original proposal to editor Thomas Newell Metcalf at Munsey’s Magazines regarding a novel of Martian adventure, Edgar Rice Burroughs suggested he could write three books from the concept. But he apparently wasn’t certain about the content of the second and third volumes to follow A Princess of Mars, since it was Metcalf who gave him the idea of where to start the next book. After Metcalf rejected Burroughs’s second novel, The Outlaw of Torn, he urged the author to return to Mars and send John Carter into the Valley of Dor, the mysterious paradise mentioned a number of times in the first book. Burroughs ran with the concept, and finished the novel in the beginning of October 1912.

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January/February Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine now on Sale

January/February Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine now on Sale

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fsf2I was very pleased to see Mark Evans, who’s published artwork in every issue of Black Gate since 2005, get another cover assignment for Fantasy & Science Fiction. That’s his contribution at right, gracing the cover of the Jan/Feb issue. Mark’s one of the most talented artists in the field, and it’s great to see him get the exposure he deserves. The rest of the issue is pretty impressive as well. Contents include:

NOVELETS
Small Towns – Felicity Shoulders
The Secret of the City of Gold – Ron Goulart
Umbrella Men – John G. McDaid
Alien Land – K.D. Wentworth
Mindbender – Albert E. Cowdrey
The Color Least Used by Nature – Ted Kosmatka

SHORT STORIES
The Comfort of Strangers – Alexander Jablokov
Maxwell’s Demon – Ken Liu
Scrap Dragon – Naomi Kritzer
In the Trenches – Michael Alexander
Canto MCML – Lewis Shiner

Lois Tilton at Locus Online reviews the entire issue, including “In the Trenches” by Michael Alexander:

WWI. Hans is a soldier on the German side, near the starving end of the action, when Gamlin the kobold emerges from the trench. He thinks the humans are crazy and Hans doesn’t disagree. The kobold takes him far underground where he finds a French soldier, and they immediately make a truce…

An unusual viewpoint on the horrors of war and on being human. The tone is light, but the horrors are genuinely dark. The combination works.

Cover price is $7.50. You can find more details on the issue at the F&SF website. We last covered F&SF here with the November/December issue.

WotC Announces Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons

WotC Announces Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons

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ddMike Mearls, senior manager of D&D research and development at Wizards of the Coast, today announced the project that will become the fifth edition of the world’s most popular role playing game.

Confused by the plethora of editions? Wondering if this is really a big deal? You’re not alone.

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published the first Dungeons and Dragons rules in a hand-assembled boxed set in 1974; in 1977 Gygax completely revamped the game into Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the version that catapulted it into a household name. In 1989 David “Zeb” Cook and a new team at TSR rewrote the game, releasing a Second Edition of AD&D aimed primarily at younger players. D&D 3rd Edition arrived in 2000 from new owners Wizards of the Coast; it is widely credited with saving the game — and revitalizing the entire RPG industry with the streamlined d20 System, released at the same time. Version 3.5 came along in 2003, tweaking numerous rules, and the most recent incarnation is the Fourth Edition, published in 2008.

And yes, it’s a big deal.

Wizards is putting out the call to players around the world to assist in development, with an ambitious open playtesting program starting this spring. You can help shape the future of the game by signing up for the playtest here. According to Mearls,

The ultimate goal of this next iteration of D&D a game that rises above differences of play styles, campaign settings, and editions, one that takes the fundamental essence of D&D and brings it to the forefront of the game.

You can read the complete announcement here, and read more about the genesis of the new edition in today’s New York Times.

Book Review: Jim C. Hines’ The Mermaid’s Madness

Book Review: Jim C. Hines’ The Mermaid’s Madness

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themermaidsmadnessThe Mermaid’s Madness

Jim C. Hines
DAW (339 pp, $7.99, 2009)
Reviewed by Andrew Zimmerman Jones

Jim Hines has developed a name for himself by taking traditional fantasy and warping it into a twisted, entertaining, and amusing adult fantasy storyline. His first series, the Jig the Goblin Trilogy (Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero, and Goblin War), took traditional roleplaying game fantasy clichés – complete with a dwarf who is obsessed with mapping out the dungeon the protagonists are crawling – and turns it on its ear by making a goblin the hero of the series.

In his Princess Novels, he has taken the three classic princesses of fairy tales – Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty – and turned them into a trio of bad-ass fantasy heroines. (You may insert your own Charlie’s Angels comparison here.)

Snow and Talia (i.e. Sleeping Beauty) are living in exile, serving Queen Beatrice – the mother of Cinderella’s prince charming, Armand – as a sort of secret agent squad. Snow is a sorceress, with an emphasis on mirror-based magic. Talia is basically a weapon expert and all-around combat machine.

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Steampunk Spotlight: Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan Trilogy

Steampunk Spotlight: Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan Trilogy

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leviathan

Leviathan (Amazon, B&N)
Scott Westerfeld
Simon Pulse (440 pp, $9.99, Oct. 2009)

Behemoth (Amazon, B&N)
Scott Westerfeld
Simon Pulse (5112 pp, $9.99, Oct. 2010)

Goliath (Amazon, B&N)
Scott Westerfeld
Simon Pulse (543 pp, $19.99, Sept. 2011)

Reviewed by Andrew Zimmerman Jones

Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy is an epic about an alternate-history version of World War I … and a great example of how steampunk can really work well when it’s firing on all cylinders (both literally and figuratively). In this, the military conflict isn’t just political, but also centers around an ideological difference about technology. The British and Russians have embraced Charles Darwin’s biological insights to breed massive war beasts, while the German alliance put their faith in mechanical (frequently multi-legged) battle machines.

In addition to the global conflict, the major tension in the story centers around two young characters – one from each side of the battle – who are living with their own secrets in the midst of the war. One is a girl disguised as a boy so that she can serve in the British military upon the living zeppelin Leviathan. The other is a prince (and secret heir to the Austrian Empire) on the run from his own people.

On top of all of that, there’s also a romance … even though one of the participants doesn’t realize it for quite some time.

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The Sword & Sorcery Panel Podcast

The Sword & Sorcery Panel Podcast

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Team Black Gate: Editor John O'Neill, Contributing Editor Editor Bill Ward, James Enge, Rouge Blades editor Jason Waltz, Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones, John R. Fultz, and Ryan Harvey
Team Black Gate at WFC 2010: Editor John O'Neill, Contributing Editor Bill Ward, blogger James Enge, Rogue Blades editor Jason Waltz, Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones, blogger John R. Fultz, and blogger Ryan Harvey.

At the 2010 World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio, author and publicist Jaym Gates assembled the world’s greatest literary minds together to discuss Sword & Sorcery. Meaning me, plus some other guys.

In a moment of foresight for which future generations will doubtless be profoundly gratefully, Jaym and SF Signal‘s Patrick Hester recorded all the brilliant insights (plus what those other guys said) on state of the art podcast equipment. SF Signal has now published the entire podcast in three parts.

Participants included moderator Jaym Gates, Howard Andrew Jones (author of The Desert of Souls), Black Gate blogger and Writers of the Future winner Ryan Harvey, BG Contributing Editor Bill Ward, World Fantasy Award nominee James Enge, Rogue Blades publisher and editor Jason M. Waltz, Tome of the Undergates author Sam Sykes, Seven Princes author and BG blogger John R. Fultz, The Sword-Edged Blonde author Alex Bledsoe, fan Matthew Wuertz, and literary genius and future leader of the free world John O’Neill.

The far-ranging panel covered the roots of sword & sorcery, the classic canon, what makes a story S&S, and much more. It runs for roughly 90 minutes, ’cause all those other guys wouldn’t shut up. SF Signal has thoughtfully broken it into three podcasts, so the concentrated literary brilliance won’t make your head explode.

They are here: Part I, Part II, and Part III.  Caution: professional authors on a closed course. Do not attempt conversation like this at home.

Temeraire, Harry Potter, and Some Thoughts on Ambiguity

Temeraire, Harry Potter, and Some Thoughts on Ambiguity

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His Majesty's DragonI’ve been in unwilling low-content mode for the past couple of weeks (question: what’s worse than getting the flu at Christmas? Answer: getting the flu along with a sinus infection). That’s meant I’ve had some time to read, which is good for a number of reasons. As it happens, though, one of the things I picked up to read left me wondering something I’ve wondered several times before: why do certain books pull me along, and compel me to read them, even when I think they’re not particularly good?

The best example of what I mean is the Harry Potter books. I don’t dislike them, but I’ve never understood the way they absorb me when I read them. They’re tightly-plotted, yes, and the world is carefully-built — but these things together only create an odd video-game feel, where every riddle has its designated solution, and the lead characters wander around finding clues to unlock new areas or gifts or side quests, until everything’s resolved in a climactic scene. The characters are flat, the dialogue’s occasionally funny but not especially memorable, and the prose is bland at best. Yet the fact remains that when I read a Potter book I find it easier to move my gaze along the text on the page rather than turn away. It’s like being on a railway train, being carried over a fixed track, with no way to disembark except by something like an act of force, jumping to the ground while the thing’s moving at speed.

Over Christmas — just before, actually — I found another example of this phenomenon, when I read His Majesty’s Dragon, the first of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. It’s a story about the Napoleonic Wars, in a world where intelligent dragons exist and bond with human riders. I’d had it in mind to look into the series for a while, so when I found a used copy of the first book I grabbed it. And then found it had grabbed me. It’s unusual for me these days to find that I literally can’t put a book down; but that’s what happened with His Majesty’s Dragon. And I’m not sure why.

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