R.A. Lafferty Literary Estate For Sale

R.A. Lafferty Literary Estate For Sale

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past-masterSteven Silver at SF Site is reporting that the estate of R.A. Lafferty, including rights to his 29 novels and 225 short stories, is currently being auctioned off.

The source for the news appears to be an online classified ad at Locus Online, which claims that the “Current bid is $70,000+.”

R.A. Lafferty is the author of the novels Past Master, The Reefs of Earth, Fourth Mansions, and Sindbad: The Thirteenth Voyage, as well as the classic short story collections Nine Hundred Grandmothers, Strange Doings, and Lafferty in Orbit.

He won a Hugo Award in 1973 for the short story “Eurema’s Dam,” and was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards for Past Master.

He died in 2002.

900-grandReports have been circulating for some time that the Lafferty estate had withdrawn reprint rights to all of his work, including recent short story collections. While Lafferty’s novels have not generally drawn much attention in recent years, his short stories continue to be highly regarded.

Until recently Wildside Press had been keeping much of Lafferty’s best work in print, including Nine Hundred Grandmothers, The Devil is Dead, The Reefs of Earth, Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add?, and many others. Those editions are now out of print.

While it’s not unusual  for literary rights to go to auction, I can’t recall seeing a bulk lot of an author’s entire output auctioned at once — especially one as large as Lafferty’s.

Interested bidders can contact the Lafferty estate.

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu, Part Seven – “Cragmire Tower”

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu, Part Seven – “Cragmire Tower”

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3306898731_67e5eb0109“Cragmire Tower” was the seventh installment of Sax Rohmer’s Fu-Manchu and Company. The story was first published in Collier’s on July 17, 1915 and was later expanded to comprise Chapters 21-23 of the second Fu-Manchu novel, The Devil Doctor first published in the UK in 1916 by Cassell and in the US by McBride & Nast under the variant title, The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu.

returnPicking up where the last installment left off, the story gets underway with Inspector Weymouth’s fruitless raid on J. Salaman’s antique shop which has now been abandoned by Fu-Manchu and his gang. Nayland Smith rapidly informs Petrie that the American adventurer and psychic investigator Kegan Van Roon is completing a book about his experiences in China where he ran afoul of a fanatical group in Ho-Nan. Van Roon has leased Cragmire Tower in Somersetshire to finish his book. Naturally, Smith believes Van Roon’s life is in jeopardy as Fu-Manchu will not wish him to finish the book for publication.

Of course, Rohmer is repeating himself for Van Roon reads like a variation on Sir Lionel Barton and Cragmire Tower recalls Reverend Eltham’s beloved Redmoat. The familiarity of the trappings does little to spoil the proceedings for this is Rohmer at his peak and sees him introducing an occult element to the series. Rohmer had a lifelong fascination with the occult and secret societies. “Cragmire Tower” remains unique in its successful blend of Yellow Peril thriller with supernatural mystery.

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Drinking in the Demonic Energy of Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun

Drinking in the Demonic Energy of Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun

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legend-of-sigurd-gudrunIf you like the sound and rhythm of words — and if you’re a hopeless J.R.R. Tolkien junkie — you’ll like The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Lacking either of these prerequisites, you probably won’t. And there’s not much more to say than that.

Casual Tolkien fans likely won’t buy The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, and even semi-serious fans who have tackled The Silmarillion may lack the appetite for it. It consists of two long poems, around which are sandwiched an exhaustive introduction and a pair of lengthy explications/footnotes, the latter written by Tolkien’s son Christopher. Added together, this additional material is longer than the poems themselves.

The real reward of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun is its wonderful language. The poems—“The Lay of the Volsungs” and “The Lay of Gudrun”—are composed in eight line alliterative stanzaic metre. Reading them makes me wish I knew the native Old Norse Tolkien of which Tolkien spoke so admiringly; the modern English is pretty darned powerful already.

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The DRAGONS are coming…

The DRAGONS are coming…

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Great news for fans of epic fantasy today: The great George R. R. Martin has announced on his web page that the long, long-awaited 5th book in his SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series is almost done. No kidding this time.

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will be hitting stories on July 12, 2011. Although previous dates have been set and then cancelled, Martin says this one is “for real.”

In the author’s own words: “Barring tsunamis, general strikes, world wars, or asteroid strikes, you will have the novel in your hands on July 12.  I hope you like it.”

He goes on to add:  “The dragons are coming.  Prepare to dance.”

Quite possibly THE “big adult fantasy series” of our time, Martin’s SONG series has been a slow build with plenty of thrilling lesser climaxes along the way. We’ve seen the rebirth of three infant dragons into a world where they were thought extinct. We’ve seen the displaced queen whose power is rising and whose sympathetic magic hatched the eggs. We’ve seen them on her shoulder, belching tiny fires. Now it seems we will at last see the great war that has been building so steadily across the four books.

Martin’s characters are so pleasurable to read—even the villains—that returning to his world of Westeros is always an extreme pleasure. This summer just got a whole lot more interesting…

For more info visit Martin’s official site: www.georgerrmartin.com

Goth Chick News: Rubber (Need I Say More?)

Goth Chick News: Rubber (Need I Say More?)

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image004Okay, let’s be honest. I knew full well when I started writing a blog called “Goth Chick News” that I’d be putting out the welcome mat for all manner of weirdness. I’m used to the emails containing cadaver pictures, links to vampire porn sites and invitations to underground parties to which everyone apparently is expected to wear leather riding tack.

At this point I’m fairly unflappable and difficult to impress.

It’s to be expected when, until 2009, Googling “goth chick” lead you straight to several pages of sites that at best required you to swear you were over 18, and at worse required a credit card.

However, once in awhile I get an email that makes even me wonder WTF?

And those, my friends, are rare and wonderful moments indeed; like the one earlier this week I received an email containing an ad for a soon-to-be-released indy film called Rubber.

Granted, at first this correspondence nearly got flushed, being understandably mistaken for yet another solicitation of an “adult” nature. But luckily, fueled by the third triple-shot latte of the morning, and bored to sobs being in between batches of interns to abuse, I decided to roll the email-virus-dice and open it.

Major pay dirt.

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Steven Erikson Calls it a Series with The Crippled God

Steven Erikson Calls it a Series with The Crippled God

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gardens_of_the_moonSteven Erikson has completed his epic fantasy 10-book fantasy series The Malazan Book of the Fallen. The final volume — the 928-page The Crippled God, in hardcover from Tor books — went on sale yesterday.

I remember when my buddy Neil Walsh reviewed the first volume, Gardens of the Moon, for my new website SF Site a dozen years ago. Copies weren’t available in North America yet, but that didn’t stop Neil from remarking on what he told me was the most exciting new author he’d discovered in a long time:

This is an astounding debut fantasy novel. The world is fully realized and the characters are people you want to spend time with. The world history is tremendously complex, spanning hundreds of thousands of years. The character histories and interactions are equally complex and interesting…

Unsurprisingly, it’s only the first of The Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. There are 10 books planned — wait, don’t go yet. Hear me out. There are 10 books planned in the “sequence,” but each is intended to be a stand-alone story, unified by their chronicling of the lives of 3 members of the noble house of Paran, each of whom plays a key role in the history of the Malazan Empire. (In this one, Captain Ganoes Paran plays a key role by being knifed in an alley the same day he is assigned to his new command. Well, there’s actually a lot more to his involvement than that, but… read it and see.)

So, I imagine you’re wondering, “Is it true? Is this a stand-alone novel?”

Well, let’s call a spade a spade. This isn’t the first in a 10-book “sequence;” it’s the first of a lengthy, complex and intriguing series. But a series which — based on this first installment — has the potential to become known as a defining work in a market already overwhelmed with fantasy series.

the-crippled-godSome time later The New York Times reported on the unusual internet buzz that had sprung up around the book, and the effect it had on the reported 6-figure sum Erikson negotiated to complete the series. Erikson called Neil in Ottawa shortly afterwards to thank him, and I saw quotes from his review printed in bold at the top of later installments. And just as Neil predicted over a decade ago, The Malazan Book of the Fallen has become one of the defining fantasy works of the early 21st Century.

As for me, I decided to wait until the series was completed before tackling it (a lesson I learned from Game of Thrones).  I dutifully bought them as they were released, forming an impressive span on my bookshelf, looking forward to that final volume.  A span that, if my math is correct, measures exactly 10,020 pages in paperback. And so now I’ve learned another valuable lesson: waiting until the end isn’t always a brilliant plan, genius. When am I going to find six months to read it?

I may have painted myself into a corner, but hopefully you haven’t. Have a look at The Crippled God, and let us know if you think it makes a fitting conclusion to a famous fantasy series.

Hadestown: An Interview with Artist Peter Nevins

Hadestown: An Interview with Artist Peter Nevins

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bgalbumcoverOnce upon a time last November, I quoted a Greg Brown song in my LiveJournal. Greg Brown is a folk musician, and the song was “Rexroth’s Daughter,” from the album Covenant.

Now, if you know me, none of this is surprising. I often write in my LiveJournal, and I often quote Greg Brown, and yes, the song I most often quote is “Rexroth’s Daughter” — because every stanza is amazing!!!

So I was going along, being me, business as usual, when all of a sudden, an LJ friend said unto me:

“I know Greg Brown from Hadestown… which, Oh em jee, Claire, is just the most wonderful folk rock opera ever. It’s a retelling of the Orpheus story. He lures Eurydice to the underworld in “Hey Little Songbird.” I heard this song and fell in love with him. And bought the album and listen to it constantly.”

bghades1After hearing “Hey, Little Songbird,” I sort of gallumphed over to Amazon and laid all my pretty pennies down in a row.

“MINE!” I said, like the seagulls in Little Nemo.

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New Treasures: Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London

New Treasures: Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London

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rivers-of-londonOne of the great things about Amazon.com is that there are so many ways to browse. Which is rather ironic, considering that 10 years ago that’s the precise reason I confidently gave for why online booksellers would never replace local bookshops: you couldn’t browse.

Yeah, well. I was wrong.  You can browse.  And how. Last week I stumbled across a few hard-to-find British hardcovers in the Science Fiction & Fantasy section of their Bargain Department, and on a hunch I did a search for all titles from Gollancz, the prolific UK SF & fantasy publisher. I sorted by price and bam, I had a handy list of great bargain Gollancz books.

One that grabbed my attention immediately was Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London, in hardcover for just $14.56:

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit – we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to – and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

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Black Gate Interviews Howard Andrew Jones, Part Three

Black Gate Interviews Howard Andrew Jones, Part Three

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Pathfinder Tales: Plague of Shadows, by Howard Andrew Jones. Coming February 2011In part one of our interview Howard talked about one of his new novels, The Desert of Souls, and about historical fantasy; in part two we discussed the works of Harold Lamb and Howard’s efforts to collect and republish Lamb’s fiction; for our third and final installment Howard tells us about yet another newly released novel, and his experience with gaming:

We’ve talked about historical fiction and historical fantasy, but you also have a history with gaming. Tell us a bit about your new Pathfinder novel, Plague of Shadows.

James Sutter, the editor of the Pathfinder line, is pretty selective about what he buys, so when I was invited to submit ideas I had to throw several his way before one finally took. I think the line in the pitch that hooked him was “Jirel of Joiry crossed with Unforgiven.” I made it clear that I wasn’t going to lift the plot or character, but that I was going to strive for a similar feel. As for the subject matter, I think that James described it pretty well in a blurb he posted recently: “It revolves around the exploits of not one but two bands of adventurers journeying in eastern Avistan, two decades apart. The parties are connected by Elyana, an elf seeking to cure her former adventuring partner (and former lover) Stelan from a curse that’s connected to events — and people — from their shadowy past. Elyana’s journey will take her and her companions from Taldor to Galt, into Kyonin and to the Vale of Shadows, where the consequences of events decades before will affect Stelan’s future.”

I wanted a story that started out with a linear feel so that it could move forward with momentum, then added complications as the adventure got under way. I think there are some nice character moments and well-motivated, though unexpected, plot turns. Personality wise Elyana didn’t end up being a Jirel of Joiry knock-off, although she’s definitely a kick butt protagonist, so she has that in common with the famous character. She’s also seasoned and clever, and she’s relentless — she simply never gives up. I had a lot of fun writing her.

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Art of the Genre: Is Digital Art Real Art?

Art of the Genre: Is Digital Art Real Art?

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I’ve often been asked ‘how cool is it to have all that original art from the Art Evolution Project?’ or ‘What will you do with all that original art?’ I tend to smile when I hear it because it somehow means that I know more than most where the world of art is concerned. The primary thing would be that the bulk of artists don’t give up originals these days unless you are willing to pay a king’s ransom for them, and the secondary is that much of the work done for me in the project was at least ‘touched’ by a computer or fully rendered in a digital format. The reality is that the original is not the piece you see, assuming there is even ‘hard’ original to begin with.

Colbert says Americans don't believe digital art is real even if Todd Lockwood paints him in full digital!
Colbert says Americans don't believe digital art is real even if Todd Lockwood paints him in full digital!

That in itself is a testament to the changing landscape of art and the power of the computer when used in the process of creation. Still, it leaves many people feeling a bit hollow, the new inability to own an original because only an artist’s hard drive has the capability for that. The computer also rocked the art field as the backlash from the lack of original hard art begging the question ‘is digital art, ‘real’ art?’

Everyone who is anyone has an opinion on this, and certainly one of my favorite views on the subject comes from Lazarus Chernick in his WordPress blog that can be found here, but instead of trusting the husband of an artist, I went out and got three well known artists to address the subject.

The following are responses to the question of digital art being real art.

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