Art of the Genre: Darrell K. Sweet [1934-2011]

Art of the Genre: Darrell K. Sweet [1934-2011]

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darrellsweet1

I walked into the Black Gate L.A. building this morning and Kandi read me the following message as I passed the reception desk:

“Fantasy and Western Artist Darrell K. Sweet passed away on Monday morning.”

I looked at her, those silky blues eyes staring back at me as if to ask what she should do. I had no answer, simply taking the note and walking into my office before closing the door…

I’d spent the past year working to get in contact with Darrell, all my attempts falling short, and now it was too late. Too late to find some unknown tidbit of information from one of the most recognizable fantasy artists of the past thirty years.

When I did my infamous ‘Top 10 Fantasy Artists of the Past 100 Years’ article earlier this year, I didn’t include my personal Top 10 list, only the added and evaluated contributions of 50 industry experts. Darrell didn’t make their list [actually he didn’t get a single vote other than mine], which I thought was a huge travesty, but nonetheless he’d made mine prestigious list because I can’t readily remember fantasy literature without him.

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Godzilla & Rodan & Mothra & Alice: Destroy All Monsters on Blu-ray!

Godzilla & Rodan & Mothra & Alice: Destroy All Monsters on Blu-ray!

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destroy-all-monsters-japanese-posterLast month, the second Godzilla film to reach Blu-ray in North America made its thundering, skyline-flattening debut, courtesy of Media Blasters: the 1968 science-fiction monster mash Destroy All Monsters (Japanese title: Kaiju Soshingeki, “Charge of the Monsters” or “Monster Invasion”). The only Godzilla movie to beat it onto Blu-ray is the 1954 original, which will get a re-release as part of the Criterion Collection in January 2012. (The Criterion Collection! Godzilla has gained a well-deserved highbrow victory and sits on the same shelf with Kubrick and Bergman!) Later this month will see the third Godzilla Blu-ray release, 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon. This is arguably the worst movie of the long series, but I welcome it onto Hi-Def nonetheless: three cheers for glittering mediocrity!

But Destroy All Monsters is anything but mediocre: like Universal’s House of Frankenstein over twenty years before, it pulls together all the science-fiction candycorn goodness available to give audiences a mad monster party for the ages. The plot is simplistic, the characters even more so, but the movie pops with color and spectacle of a bygone age of entertainment without irony. It isn’t the best of the Godzilla series, but until 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, no monster movie could boast a larger monster cast. Eleven of Toho Studio’s stable of big beasts crowd into its hundred minutes, and the result is a giddy confection no ten-year-old or ten-year-old at heart can resist. If geekdom has a defining film, here it is.

Destroy All Monsters was one of the first of Japan’s giant monster films to reach DVD in North America. At the time it seemed like a miracle to have a Godzilla film available in a letterboxed edition. However, the 1999 disc from ADV Films is the textbook example of a barebones release: the only language option is the inferior of the two English dubs (I’ll explain the dubbing situation later), the picture isn’t enhanced for widescreen TVs, and the disc doesn’t even have a menu. As better quality Godzilla DVDs came out in the 2000s, Destroy All Monsters became a black hole on collectors’ movie shelves. ADV re-released the movie to DVD in 2004 packaged with a soundtrack album as part of Godzilla’s Fiftieth Anniversary, but the movie disc is exactly the same.

The Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock Blu-ray fixes all these problems: not only is the film in glorious Toho Scope 1080p, but the disc contains both English dubs, the original Japanese mono soundtrack, a 5.1 lossless re-mix, and commentary from two Japanese fantasy film scholars, Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, who have done informed and lively commentaries for previous Godzilla DVD releases.

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Fantasy Out Loud

Fantasy Out Loud

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the-hobbitNearly every night, I read aloud to my boys.   For Evan, my seven-year-old, I have lately been reading The Hobbit.  Two nights ago, no sooner had I begun than Evan interrupted, saying, “It’s funny how they spell ‘Smaug.’”

“Oh?” I asked.  “How would you spell it?”

“S-M-O-G.”

“Good,” I said.  “That is how you would normally spell it.”  But privately, I thought how wonderful it was that Tolkien chose this other, more evocative spelling.  It also occurred to me that without Evan’s commentary, I might not have even noticed.

What we choose to read to our children has ramifications almost beyond counting.  Certainly, a shared reading experience is pivotal to the in-home dynamics and shared knowledge of any family, but insofar as one tackles a diet of writing that qualifies as “fantastic,” reading aloud is also crucial to the development and enculturation of an entire new generation of fantasy readers.  Given a world that grows ever more hectic, and therefore has less and less time for “pleasure” reading, this is no small thing.

I am fortunate to have two children, both boys, and I can see the results of my reading choices –– the goblin fruit, as it were, of my labor –– as if I had scrawled on their souls with indelible ink.  Corey, my older boy, now reads nothing but fantasy fiction, at least not by choice.  (He has also, to my dismay, discovered comics, and for this, too, I blame myself.)

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Interzone November-December # 237

Interzone November-December # 237

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interzone-394The November – December issue of Interzone contains substantial new stories by Lavie Tidhar (“The Last Osama”), Jim Hawkins (“Digital Rites”), Douglas Lain (“Erasing the Concept of Sex from a Potobooth”), and Caspian Gray (Caspian Gray); artwork by Richard Wagner, David Gentry, Steve Hambidge; “Ansible Link” genre news and miscellanea by David Langford; “Mutant Popcorn” film reviews by Nick Lowe; “Laser Fodder” DVD/Blu-Ray reviews by Tony Lee; book reviews by Jim Steel and other contributors.

Interzone alternates monthly publication with sister dark horror focused Black Static, published by the fine folks at TTA Press.

You can subscribe to the print version here, or the electronic edition here; there’s also a special discounted rate for a joint subscription to both Interzone and Black Static. Lifetime subscriptions are also available. What you’re buying, in essence, is a 10-year subscription at the current rate.  If you think you’re going to live for at least another decade, and you think Interzone will also be around for as long, this could be a bargain for whatever time you and the magazine have after that. If that weren’t enough, you can also opt for joint lifetime sub that gets you sister publication Black Static for a slightly reduced rate.  Sign your life away here.


Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, Part Four – “The Queen of Hearts”

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, Part Four – “The Queen of Hearts”

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stoll-fu-3stoll-fu-4“The Queen of Hearts” was the fourth installment of Sax Rohmer’s The Si-Fan Mysteries. The story was first published in Collier’s on November 25, 1916 (after a surprising gap of five months after the last installment) and was later expanded to comprise Chapters 15 – 18 of the third Fu-Manchu novel, The Si-Fan Mysteries first published in 1917 by Cassell in the UK and by McBride & Nast in the US under the variant title, The Hand of Fu Manchu. The US book title marks the first time that the hyphen was dropped from the character’s name, although it was retained within the text.

“The Queen of Hearts” finally gives readers the return of the Devil Doctor they had been so eagerly awaiting since first learning Fu-Manchu still lived six months earlier. The story starts with Rohmer’s trademark abrupt beginnings (in this instance Dr. Petrie yells, “Come in!” rather than “Who’s there?” in the opening line) with the unexpected arrival of a telegram from Cairo announcing that Petrie’s fiancée, Karamaneh will reach London by boat the next day. Nayland Smith speculates that the Si-Fan is the cause of her sudden departure from Egypt. That night, Smith awakens Petrie to inform him that Sir Baldwin Fraser, the prominent surgeon has been abducted and the description of the cab driver suggests that Zarmi has resumed her earlier disguise. They are joined by Inspector Weymouth at Sir Baldwin’s home in Half-Moon Street where they interrogate the surgeon’s secretary and learn that a beautiful Eurasian (whose description matches Zarmi) had been an unexpected visitor the prior night claiming her mother needed immediate medical attention. It was only after Sir Baldwin failed to return that his secretary learned the address given was a false one.

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New Treasures: Strange Worlds

New Treasures: Strange Worlds

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strange-worldsBack on October 7th I reported on a promising little artifact called Strange Worlds,  an anthology of sword and planet stories from Space Puppet Press, collected and edited by Jeff Doten.

Now I’m holding a copy in my hot little hands, and I can report that it’s just as cool as it looks.

Strange Worlds collects nine pieces of original fiction from Ken St. Andre, Charles A. Gramlich, Paul R. McNamee, Lisa V. Tomecek, Charles R. Rutledge, and others.

Each story is also illustrated by Doten with a full color plate, done in loving homage to the Ace Doubles of the 50s and 60s, where much of the most-loved sword & planet in the genre first appeared.

Doten also provides some fine black & white interior illustrations for each story.

Interior color plate by Jeff Doten
Interior plate by Jeff Doten
It’s a quality package, and no mistake. There’s even a 13-page full-color “Strange Worlds” comic, written and illustrated by Doten, rounding out the book.

It’s very clear to me that Doten knows his stuff, and his love and knowledge of the genre comes across on every page. There’s even a three-page Suggested Reading list, an invaluable reference for modern fans covering virtually every major practitioner of the genre — from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, Gardner Fox, Leigh Brackett, and Lin Carter, all the way up to more modern writers experimenting in the same playground, such as S.M. Stirling.

In his introduction Doten says Strange Worlds was “my effort to rectify the tragic lack of Sword and Planet stories in the modern world.” He has succeeded with flying colors.

Strange Worlds is 189 pages printed on quality stock in oversize format. It is available from Space Puppet Press for $27 plus $3.75 U.S. shipping, and richly deserves your support.

Order today from strangeworldsanthology.com.

Black Gate Interviews James L. Sutter, Part Three

Black Gate Interviews James L. Sutter, Part Three

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dragonsofautumntwilight_1984originalThis week concludes Black Gate‘s interview with author and editor James L. Sutter with a discussion of the pros and cons of media-tie in fiction, the Before They Were Giants anthology which collects the first sale short fiction of many big name writers, and a look at what James is working on now. Be sure to check out parts one and two of this interview, as well as our review of James’ new novel Death’s Heretic.

You recently wrote an informative guest post at Inkpunks about the pros and cons of media tie in fiction from a writer’s perspective. What are your thoughts on media tie in books in general, from a reader’s perspective? They seem to be more popular than ever in stores, but would you say some of the reluctance or distrust many readers seem to have for tie in work is still an obstacle in the marketplace?

I think that science fiction and fantasy readers (the only genre I really feel qualified to comment on) have a love/hate relationship with media tie-in books. Many of us start out there–I know I read plenty of Star Wars and Dragonlance and Indiana Jones books as a kid. Tie-ins are a natural entry point into the genre, because those books deal with something you already know you like–movies, games, etc. Yet as we read further into the genre, I think many of us begin to associate those books solely with our humble beginnings. We fancy ourselves more sophisticated, and begin to define ourselves by our less mainstream tastes. Books with logos on the cover start to seem too lowbrow, or like blatantly commercial cash grabs rather than true art.

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Goth Chick News: Just in Time for Holiday Gift-Giving: Frankenhooker

Goth Chick News: Just in Time for Holiday Gift-Giving: Frankenhooker

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frankenhookerOver the long weekend I received an anonymous email entitled “Goth Chick Fodder” which at once triggered several different responses in my tryptophan-addled mind.

First, I was wary.  I mean, there was a real chance this could be some sort of nasty virus reminiscent of what the character of Dennis Nedry did to Jurassic Park in the first movie, and undoubtedly visited upon me by some Fundamentalist Christian group (Goth Chicks are in constant peril of this sort of thing for some reason).

Then I became skeptical. It could just as easily be an advertisement from a purveyor of medieval restraint devices and clothing made from petroleum products; which happens so frequently it’s gone from being interesting to boring and is now swinging back to mildly interesting again.  After all, who doesn’t like a good, sturdy set of wooden stocks and a rubber corset?

Finally, curiosity got the best of me and being woozy from a carb-overdose, I threw caution to the wind and opened the email, crossing my fingers that the contents would be simply what they said they were: something interesting to tell you about.

I’m still not sure how to qualify what I found but here it is; you decide.

It was a major media announcement.

Frankenhooker Now Available on Blu-ray!

Wait.  What?

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Mur Lafferty on Reading the Classics

Mur Lafferty on Reading the Classics

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Mur Lafferty, author of The Afterlife Series and Playing For Keeps, has kicked off an interesting discussion on reading classic SF and Fantasy on her blog:

earth-abidesI’m not quite sure how to read classic SF. You know the stuff that was groundbreaking with its expanse of ideas that hadn’t even been considered yet? But it was also the stuff that was very likely sexist, had cardboard characters, was completely lacking women or POC, used what we consider now to be hack tools (eg “looking in a mirror to describe the protag”), and may have protags that are total jerks.

I couldn’t finish The Stars My Destination, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever or the Book of the New Sun. I can’t root for a rapist protagonist. And I really wanted to read Stars and New Sun.

Recently I couldn’t finish Earth Abides (despite the wonderful intro by one of my favorite authors of all time, Connie Willis.) I got bored and annoyed with the elitist, “It’s the end of the world, but I’m CERTAINLY not going to hang out with whores and drunks,” attitude of the protagonist. And WTF is up with mentioning that a woman is “young enough” in her description, and leaving it at that? …how can I appreciate the classics when I run into such painful roadblocks like this? It’s hard to read things I’m not enjoying, even for academic purposes.

Speaking as someone with an unnatural fondness for pulp fiction, this is a problem I’m intimately familiar with. My last attempt to re-read Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy ended in utter failure. And I dearly loved that book in my early teens. But I didn’t pay much attention to girls then, and I suppose a book that also pretended women didn’t exist just didn’t seem very unusual.

Comments are now closed on Lafferty’s blog (she notes they had “gone into unhelpful areas“), but you can read the original post and comments here.

Art of the Genre: Maztica Memories

Art of the Genre: Maztica Memories

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Fred Field's wife? Only he can tell us...
Fred Field's wife? Only he can tell us...

After taking a moment to pull down the Dragon Mountain Boxed Set, I thought it might be fun to do the same with other lesser known boxes that came out of TSR around 1990. That period was actually the beginning of the end for the role-playing giant, Gygax ousted, sales flagging, and the need for fresh ideas and worlds seemingly all that the company could see as its savior.

As we are well aware, the next wave in the gaming industry wouldn’t come from the RPG table, but instead from cards, ala Magic the Gathering, but still TSR struggled to not only survive but come up with something fresh enough to gather new players.

It was here that we find various new titles rolling hot off their press, but many of the games in that period simply turned into boxed campaign settings along the lines of Maztica, which in itself is set in The Forgotten Realms.

This campaign was written by TSR staff author Douglas Niles, and although not as famed in novel fiction as Weis and Hickman, by 1990 Niles was pleasantly entrenched in the Forgotten Realms with his Darkwalker on Moonshae Trilogy. He also penned the Maztica Trilogy, including Ironhelm, Viperhand, and Feathered Dragon, but I’ve never read these three books so I can’t speak as to their worth for the purpose of supporting this setting.

Niles was challenged in this project to create a Mesoamerican world that mingles with the fantasy setting of the Forgotten Realms. In my opinion, after several so-so attempts at reading this set, he fails to deliver on what would make such a setting uniquely cool, ala demi-humans! The work tends to bog down in a kind of repetition of real-world conquistadors waging a campaign against indigenous peoples of the far south continents where the only change in the story line is that the priests actually had working magic.

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