Erol Otus and Star Control II

Erol Otus and Star Control II

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star_control_iiLet’s talk about Star Control II.

Last week Black Gate blogger Scott Taylor did a special Art Evolution post on the august Erol Otus, perhaps the most distinctive of the first edition D&D artists. Otus’ work has graced numerous RPG books and adventure modules, including some of the most famous in the industry, including the seminal Deities and Demigods and the D&D Basic boxed set.

Go ahead, click on the link to Scott’s article and check them out. I’m sure you’ll find at least a few familiar pieces.

One of the more intriguing tidbits Scott shared in the comments section of his excellent article was this one:

Erol has worked for years in the computer games industry, most notably with Star Control II, but it’s cool to see him back at tabletop gaming.

Star Control II is one of the most famous computer role playing games ever created. Published in 1992 by Accolade and later ported to the Sega Genesis and the short-lived 3DO platform, it was named one of the best games of all time by both IGN and GameSpot.

It put you in charge of a sturdy starship and gave you over 500 star systems to explore, and a series of fascinating mysteries involving 16 cleverly-designed alien races to unravel, set in a galaxy filled with surprises and plots within plots.

But I was pretty sure Scott was dead wrong about Erol being involved. I would have remembered that.

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Game Review: Pathfinder Beginner Box

Game Review: Pathfinder Beginner Box

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bb-cover

Back in March I got this hankering for something nostalgic in the RPG universe so I went to my twin bookshelves of games and thought ‘where do you go from here?’

Well, where I went was to the tattered pages of Basic D&D, and as I flipped through the booklets I was transported back to a simpler time, a better time, when the game I loved wasn’t a rules monster with so many supplements I didn’t know which way was up.

As I re-familiarized myself with this venerable system I emailed James Jacobs over at Paizo to tell him of the small joys I was discovering along the way. Low and behold, James fired an email back that indicated Paizo felt the same way and was prepping for a boxed release of their own.

I mean really, when was the last time a gaming box hit the market? I’d say sometime around 1995 as the death-throes of TSR were beginning in Lake Geneva.

In turn, this came as heady and exciting news, but alas I had to wait a full seven months before I got to lay hands on a new piece of legend entering my collection.

So it goes that I finally received my copy of the Pathfinder Beginner Box. Holding it, I noted how thick it was, how heavy, and when I shook it much like a gift at Christmas it sounded of cardboard, bound books, and dice… ah the sound!

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Clarkesworld Issue #62

Clarkesworld Issue #62

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cw_62_300The November issue of Clarkesworld is currently online. Featured fiction: “A Militant Peace” by David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell, “The Smell of Orange Groves” by Lavie Tidhar and part two of Catherynne M. Valente’s “Silently and Very Fast.” Non fiction by Nathaniel Tapley, Jeremy L. C. Jones and Neil Clarke.  The cover art is by Julie Dillon.

All of this is available online for free; there’s even an audio podcast version of “A Militant Peace” read by Mike Allen. However, nothing is really free. The magazine is supported by “Clarkesworld Citizens” who donate $10 or more.

We last covered Clarkesworld with issue #55.

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, Part One – “The Flower of Silence”

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, Part One – “The Flower of Silence”

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si-fan-mysterieshand-of-fu-manchu“The Flower of Silence” was the first installment of Sax Rohmer’s The Si-Fan Mysteries. The story was first published in Collier’s on April 8, 1916 and was later expanded to comprise the first four chapters 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. This third serial began only four months after the second concluded. 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 Flower of Silence” finds Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie rooming at the New Louvre Hotel in London. Smith has been recalled from Cairo by his superiors. When the story opens on a chilly November night, Smith has returned to their apartment to inform Petrie that he has just leaned the name of the mysterious secret society that the late Dr. Fu-Manchu served; it is the Si-Fan and is based in Tibet. The reason for Smith’s recall to London is that Great Britain’s former Ambassador to Peking, Sir Gregory Hale has recently returned to London following the completion of his expedition to Mongolia. Sir Gregory was to have delivered a report on Tibetan Lamaism to the India Office but has failed to do so. Sir Gregory has not left his suite at the New Louvre Hotel since his return for Sir Gregory has uncovered the existence of the Si-Fan and will only share that secret with Nayland Smith.

Upon their arrival at his suite, Smith and Petrie learn from Sir Gregory’s valet, Beeton that the former Ambassador has been struck dumb and can only mutter incoherently. He dies in his bed shortly after Smith and Petrie’s arrival but leaves behind a cryptic message scrawled in a notebook containing the mysterious phrases:

 “Guard brass box…Tibetan frontier…Key of India…Beware man with the limp…Yellow rising…Watch Tibet…the Si-Fan”

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Latest The Hobbit Production Video: A Deep Delve Into 3D

Latest The Hobbit Production Video: A Deep Delve Into 3D

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lee-and-howe-3d-glassesI still haven’t quite come to grips with The Hobbit in 3D. I’ve got a few 3D films under my belt—Avatar, Captain America, Green Lantern, and Jaws 3—and to be honest, the added dimension hasn’t done much for me. Avatar made the most of it with its rich images of Pandora; the other films felt like they were trying to capitalize on a fad (hey, look, there’s a shield coming at me!) in order to take in a few extra bucks at the gate.

In short, I still prefer good old fashioned 2D, even after watching the latest The Hobbit production video on Peter Jackson’s Facebook page .  Judging by the mixed feelings in the comments, others prefer 2D, too. “Love your work Peter, the technology is fascinating, and I can’t wait for 2012. But this 3d stuff is an absolutely horrid and wretched fad which adds zero value to any movie which incorporates it,” writes one commenter. But there were many more positives than negatives amongst the comments, and having viewed the video I’m a bit more optimistic with the thought of donning a pair of uncomfortable plastic glasses and settling in to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D next December.

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SIR JULIAN THE APOSTATE: Doomed Knight, Tragic Hero

SIR JULIAN THE APOSTATE: Doomed Knight, Tragic Hero

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legends-cvr2Swords Against Darkness.
Heroic Fantasy.
The Year’s Best Horror Stories.
Distant Worlds.
Alien Worlds.
Void.

What sword-slinging hero appeared in all of these anthologies and magazines (and more) before his adventures were collected into a single impressive volume? The answer is Sir Julian the Apostate, a knight fallen from grace, and as doomed a hero as you’ll find in the history of sword-and-sorcery fiction. For swashbuckling fantasy as dark and seductive as a vampiric lamia, look no further than the saga of Sir Julian, as chronicled in Darrell Schweitzer’s WE ARE ALL LEGENDS.

The twelve stories comprising the book were first published between 1976 to 1981, definitely a “golden age” for sword-and-sorcery novels, magazines, and comics. Yet unlike much of what was published during the S&S “boom” of the era, Schweitzer’s tales of Sir Julian and his weird fate are all timeless gems.

“It was in an old land that the battle had taken place; a country of empty halls and deserted castles where ruined walls stood protecting nothing from nothing, and roadways faded into the earth and led nowhere. For three days in this place the swords of the two armies sang their terrible song on shields and armor, and when the fighting was done and all was still, a deep fog covered the sodden ground.”
–WE ARE ALL LEGENDS

This cycle of related stories includes witches, demons, vampires, zombies, ghosts, and far stranger things. It blurs and then erases the line between fantasy and horror. The book’s main character enables Schweitzer to twist the whole “knight on a quest” idea into a deep strangeness all its own. …

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Goth Chick News: Ridley Scott Fans Rejoice

Goth Chick News: Ridley Scott Fans Rejoice

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image014Raise your hand if you’re a Ridley Scott fan.

Hands up now.

Okay, well that’s pretty much everyone so I’m probably about to make you all very happy.

For those of you who are less familiar with the offerings Scott is famous for, let me begin with a short history lesson.

In the recent past Ridley Scott was the director behind Robin Hood (the Russell Crowe version not that abomination with Kevin Costner), and Gladiator.  In the 90’s it was Thelma and Louise, and Black Rain.

But way back in the late 70’s and early 80’s Scott hit consecutive home runs with only his second and third directorial outings; Alien in 1979 and Blade Runner in 1982.

The sci-fi and horror genres would never be the same.

Both movies took place in the future. Yet very contrary to most depictions of snowy white flight decks and Jetson-like gadgetry, Scott’s future was grimy, inconvenient and crawling with things that wanted you dead.  Whether it was an erotic dancer who could crush your skull with her inner thighs or an eight-foot drooling crustacean that could eat off your face with not one but two protruding jaws, the movie-going-public was clearly scarred and addicted simultaneously.

The cult-of-Scott may not have been instantaneous but it was darn near close.

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Art of the Genre: Inteview with Daniel R. Horne

Art of the Genre: Inteview with Daniel R. Horne

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horne-saving-300

It’s Autumn here in L.A. which means a bit of rain slips into the forecast and the temperature falls to a frigid 55 degrees. Ryan Harvey likes to roll into our Redondo offices with a large coat, collection of Blu-ray discs in this arms and a smile on his face. It’s a good work if you can get it, and as I sat relishing the sun warming me from my beach-side window I got an all too familiar buzz from my receptionist’s desk.

Somehow, someway, there is a different kind of sound when Kandy transfers a call from John O’Neill to my office. I’d like to say it comes off more urgent, but instead I’m going to confess it feels more like evil…

Nonetheless, I picked up that phone and was greeted by the all too familiar vocal styling of our displaced Canadian Editor-in-Chief. After a handful of sentences, all finished with ‘aye’, I was directed to LAX for a flight to Philadelphia.

Normally I’d protest such an abrupt departure from sunny southern California for the northeast in November, but John always has a carrot well worth the trip. This time, I was crossing the Delaware River in reverse to George Washington’s famous sneak-attack as I slipped into New Jersey for a meeting with fantasy artist extraordinaire Daniel R. Horne.

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National Novel Writing Month—Whether You Like It Or Not

National Novel Writing Month—Whether You Like It Or Not

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nanowrimoI’ve discussed National Novel Writing Month before, and if you want the lowdown on this annual global community creative writing project to kick people to a 50,000-word novel in thirty days, you can read about it here. Today I come to you as a scarred old warrior observing the changes that can happen after a few consecutive years of participation. Not changes to me, but changes to the world that NaNoWriMo has created.

I have now been on the battlefront of NaNoWriMo for four years, which makes me a “veteran.” I’ve also “won” three years running, and with a current total of 22,000 words as of Day 7, it looks like I’ll rack up another victory this year, walking away with a PNG badge. And a finished manuscript, the best reward possible.

After the third year of participation, I discovered something, and that in turn has brought me a realization this year: the actual “rules” of NaNoWriMo are irrelevant. You no longer need to try to “write a new novel, starting from zero words, and reach 50,000 before the end of the month.” Since National Novel Writing Month isn’t a contest offering a prize, you can’t “do it wrong.” You can “cheat” on your word count on the official site—many do, I’m sure, since I’ve seen some impossible word counts—but that achieves nothing. There are other, creative ways to break the rules. You can choose to start writing a screenplay instead, or tackle short stories one after the other (as I did last year), or use the time to finish a novel you’ve already started (as I am doing this year). NaNoWriMo’s official term for anyone who does this a “Rebel.” It isn’t a pejorative term, but the welcome umbrella for anyone who wants to use November to kick their writing machines’ engine back to sputtering life. Every year, I find more people joining the ranks of the Rebel Alliance; it’s usually folks who have succeeded writing new novels in the previous years.

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A review of Scarce Resources by Brendan Detzner

A review of Scarce Resources by Brendan Detzner

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scarce-resourcesScarce Resources, by Brendan Detzner
Self-published (153 pages, $9.99, July 2011)

Brendan Detzner has been reading his stories of unholy compromise, quiet madness and apocalypses both great and small at Chicago open mic events for several years now. His first collection, Scarce Resources, is now available. If you’re not familiar with his work, these eighteen stories are a great overview of what he’s been doing.

The collection opens with “The Black Plague,” a mixture of bio-terror and supernatural horror that shows how much more fearsome life-and-death decisions are when placed in human hands than when left to the whims of nature.

“Dinosaurs,” “Dress Rehearsal” and “Humility” are also set in post-apocalyptic worlds where the drive to continue and rebuild society is either an act of ultimate hope or ultimate denial. I especially liked the playful tone of “Dinosaurs” (opening on a tennis match with the Devil), while “Dress Rehearsal” is reminiscent of Philip K. Dick.

“Music for Scalpel and Prepared Piano,” the shortest piece in the collection, illustrates in less than a hundred words how the path of evil can so easily become a slippery slope. “Quiet” deals with a similar theme, except that the atrocities he describes are sadly real (and still being funded by your tax dollars).

Given the recent death of Amy Winehouse, “The House Rock and Roll Built” may seem a bit more timely than originally intended, while “Veronica” portrays a brutal woman living in a brutal world, finding humanity in a bit of nostalgia.

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