Walking the Trail(er): Part Two

Walking the Trail(er): Part Two

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Marissa Merrill (“Annalise”)
Marissa Merrill (“Annalise”) and Harry Connolly

Let me summarize part one of this post briefly: Authors and/or publishers sometimes make book trailers, which are supposed to look like movie trailers but for, you know, books… and they’re usually awful, largely for lack of time and funds. Some of the best of the no-budgeters are funny which is fine if you’ve written a funny book.

Also, I’m not sure there’s any evidence at all that they actually sell the books they’re meant to promote. I’ve certainly never bought a book because of a trailer.

So why am I making one?

Let me backtrack: the trailer I mentioned in part one that almost sold me on a novel was something I watched over a year ago. (I’d link to it, but I can’t find it again.) It was a slow pan over a ship. It was obviously someplace cold, and the crew had just found something in the ice. There was a Lone Guy, his back to the camera, chipping away at a giant block of ice.

What was in it? The camera didn’t show us but I was intrigued. Was it Captain America? A Deep One? A Deep One dressed as Captain America? I had to know!

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A Brief History of Dr. Anton Phibes

A Brief History of Dr. Anton Phibes

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abominable_dr_phibesDr. Anton Phibes is the mad genius played by Vincent Price in two cult classic films for American International Pictures in the early seventies. Director Robert Fuest imbued both The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) with a surprising degree of style and wit that set them apart from virtually all other genre films of their era.

The creation of screenwriters James Whiton and William Goldstein, Phibes was portrayed in their original screenplay, The Curses of Dr. Pibe (not a typo on my part, the character’s surname was subsequently altered) in a much more serious vein. Their intended film was both dramatic and horrific and much more in keeping with the tone of horror films of the early 1970s. It is a far cry from the blackly-humored, deliberately anachronistic 1920s period piece resplendent in Art Deco designs that Fuest delivered to AIP.

Dr. Phibes is said to hold doctorates in both music and bio-physics. Phibes is an acclaimed organist and composer and, in private, an eccentric and reclusive inventor. He is hopelessly devoted to his beautiful young wife, Victoria (played in both films by the lovely Caroline Munro) who dies on an operating table following a car crash that leaves her husband horribly disfigured with a literal death’s head in place of a face.phibes-2

Victoria’s death drives Phibes insane. He allows the world to think him dead and sets out to exact revenge on the surgical team he holds accountable for her death. He employs the G’tach, the Biblical ten curses of Egypt as his means of assassinating each member of the surgical team. The murders are investigated by a hapless Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Trout (wonderfully underplayed by Peter Jeffrey).

Vincent Price turns in an amazing performance as Phibes. His character’s vocal chords were damaged in the accident. He speaks only with the aid of one of his inventions. For much of the film, Phibes wears a face mask (Price’s own face), but his lips never move while talking. Remarkably, the performance never suffers as Price compensates by conveying so much with his expressions.

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Walking the Trail(er): Part One

Walking the Trail(er): Part One

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hc2Did you know that there are awards for book trailers? They’re called “The Moby Awards” and you can check the most recent winners (and losers) here. (There doesn’t appear to be any listings for the years before 2010, probably because there aren’t any.)

In case you haven’t heard of them, a book trailer is like a movie trailer — a short video that’s supposed to promote a book. Many of them look like movie trailers, and most are done on a budget (maybe I should say “without a budget”).

But do they work? Do they entice readers to buy books?

It’s an important question for me, because I’m making one.

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New Treasures: Songs of the Dying Earth

New Treasures: Songs of the Dying Earth

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sotdyWe get a lot of review copies here at the rooftop headquarters of Black Gate magazine, and it’s always a treat when the mail truck arrives. Getting free books never gets old, and we usually drop everything to tear open packages and pass around the most intriguing titles.

What is unusual is for a single book to bring all toil to a complete standstill for half an hour  (except for the tireless Howard Andrew Jones, who’s been missing in the restricted section of our pulp library for the last 48 hours). That’s exactly what happened when Songs of the Dying Earth (SotDE), edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, arrived today.

SotDE is a tribute collection; its subtitle is Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, and it contains nearly 700 pages of original fiction set in Vance’s Dying Earth — one of the great settings in all of fantasy, and home to Turjan the wizard, Rhialto the Marvellous, Cugel the Clever, and other fabulous characters. The Dying Earth is a far-future Terra, where the sun is on the verge of extinction, magic is potent and terrible, monsters roam the land, and the ruins of countless civilizations rest uneasily beneath layers of thin dust and vegetation.

dying-earth2The table of contents is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen — it read like a Who’s Who of the most influential fantasy authors of the decade, including Robert Silverberg, George R.R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams, Jeff VanderMeer, Tad Williams, Glen Cook, Tanith Lee, Howard Waldrop, Elizabeth Hand, Lucius Shepard, Neil Gaiman, Phyllis Eisenstein, Liz Williams, Matthew Hughes, Terry Dowling, Mike Resnick, Paula Volsky, Kage Baker, John C. Wright, and others. It also includes a big new novella from Dan Simmons, an appreciation by Dean Koontz, and a preface by Jack Vance himself.

SotDE was first published in a limited edition by Subterranean Press last July; since then the book — and many of the stories — have received considerable attention. Jeff VanderMeer’s H.P. Lovecraft-inspired tale “The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod” has been turned into a novel, and SotDE was nominated for Best Anthology in the 2010 Locus Awards. Neil Gaiman’s story “An Invocation of Incuriosity” took home the Best Short Story prize at the same Awards.

Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance goes on sale Dec. 7th. It is published by Tor books, in hardcover for $27.99, and gets our highest recommendation.

Return to : Reviving a Masterpiece

Return to : Reviving a Masterpiece

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The new Norilana edition of a must-read fantasy classic, NIGHT’S MASTER by Tanith Lee.

Fantasy readers…rejoice!

The fact that Tanith Lee’s TALES FROM THE FLAT EARTH has been out of print for years has been a blatant injustice done to all lovers of epic fantasy. Now, thanks to Vera Nazarian’s Norilana Books, one of the field’s great masterpieces is once again available to the public.

The individual books of the FLAT EARTH series (each of which is a stand-alone novel) are being released in hardcover and trade paperback on a roughly annual basis, and feature gorgeous new cover treatments and artwork. If you haven’t yet discovered the FLAT EARTH books, I envy you. You are in for a spectacular reading experience.

The first book in this landmark series is NIGHT’S MASTER (1978), which was nominated for a Best Novel World Fantasy Award. It introduces the time-lost world of ancient sorcery where Azhrarn the Prince of Demons and his fellow Lords of Darkness roam the flat world creating mischief, drama, and tragedy across the primeval human kingdoms.

The book is rich with lyrical prose, jewel-bright imagery, dark beauty, and ironic myths. Human protagonists come and go, while the real main character is Azhrarn, who is despicable yet inhumanly handsome, evil yet oddly compassionate, godlike yet flawed, and an unlikely champion of a doomed humankind. Let all would-be fantasy writers savor the flavor of Lee’s sumptuous prose. This is how it’s done, people.

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Goth Chick News: Death Always Comes at the End

Goth Chick News: Death Always Comes at the End

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image0061Okay, not a cheery thought, but you aren’t reading Martha Stewart’s Living as you well know.

Back when I was a fledgling Goth Chick, learning the joys of sitting cross-legged for hours on end in the aisle of my local bookstore, but not yet in love with a particular genre (just no romance novels, ever), a somewhat twisted piano teach handed me an Agatha Christie novel.

I say “twisted” because one could argue that such tales were in no way appropriate fare for a nine-year-old. Then again, when taken in the context of the other media available to this age group today, Agatha’s plot lines are probably fit for the Disney channel.

But I digress.

My piano teacher looked like she was fresh from an audition for the part of a matronly, widow piano teacher. She even had her lines memorized, scolding me exactly the same way every week while I banged on the keys through purgatorial scales and off-kilter renditions of Ode to Joy. But in keeping with my life-long theme which at that point was only a mere pattern, she was a bit left of center.

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Crossed Genres 25 Arrives

Crossed Genres 25 Arrives

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crossed-genresCrossed Genres, the online magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy with a twist, has just published its 25th issue.

Crossed Genres is edited by Jaym Gates and Natania Barron. This issue includes five complete works of fiction, including “We Shall Overcome,” by Nicole Givens Kurtz, and “The Gift” by Christie Yant, as well as stories by Jaymee Goh, Arthur Carey and Jacob Edwards.

The wonderful cover art (left), “Balloons,” is by Margaret Hardy.

Crossed Genres is published monthly; this is the first issue with the new editorial team. The magazine was previously edited by Bart R. Leig and K.T. Holt. The first issue appeared in September, 2008.

The genre (or theme) changes each issue. The genre for the current issue is “Celebration;” the genre for issue #27 (to be released January 1, 2010) is Tragedy. Submissions for Issue #27 will be accepted until midnight December 31. The next two genres are Superhero and Mystery.

Congratulations, Jaym and Natania! Here’s to many more.

Art Evolution 12: Larry Elmore

Art Evolution 12: Larry Elmore

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As we enter week twelve of the Art Evolution project, I’m going to have to take a moment and digress. If you’re looking for the project’s beginning, you can find it here. Or you can click to see my ‘Groovy Lyssa‘ from last week.

dragonsofautumntwilight_1984original-254In 1984 I was thirteen years old, in junior high school, and had managed to maintain the appearance of being a ‘C’ student when I truly couldn’t read above the very rudiments of the written word. I absolutely hated the idea of reading, and I’d done everything in my power to prevent the school-driven establishment from making me do so.

I’d managed to slip through the cracks, a lost student, presumably one who would end up failing out of high school — or just getting the minimum scores needed for a base diploma, with no hope of a higher education. I was fine with that, and although my clever ruse of literary competence was eventually discovered by my mother (who spent a summer tutoring me to some semblance of reading ability between sixth and seventh grade), I still hated the prospect of books.

This continued until the middle of my seventh grade. One day while on a field trip to Indianapolis with my class, my malcontent view of books changed forever. I was in the big city, and big cities had bookstores, and this particular one had a Waldenbooks [R.I.P. Waldens, I miss you each time I’m forced to go to a mall] with a large fantasy book section.

I stood dumbstruck by what I saw there that day, and a friend of mine pulled down a copy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight and said, “This book was awesome.” Because unlike me, my friend Jason could read…

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NASA Announces Mysterious News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery

NASA Announces Mysterious News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery

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imagesOkay, this is pretty cool. Freelance Black Gate operative John C. Hocking leaks word to us that NASA has announced a press conference this Thursday regarding an “astrobiology finding.” The prestigious journal Science has also “embargoed details” until the conference:

NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery;
Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2

WASHINGTON — NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

Anyone who follows these things regularly knows they usually lead to some announcement about fossilized remnants that might once have been bacteria, maybe, in some rock in the arctic that once maybe came from Mars. Lame.  They hardly ever announce that alien life is hours away from totally devouring downtown Pittsburgh, or knocking over skyscrapers in Tokyo or anything like that.

But you never know. What does “embargoed details” mean? Does it involve suited men in late model sedans, monitoring the activities of journalists who don’t respect the government’s requests to “keep a lid” on this? We can only hope. ‘Cause that would be cool.

In the meantime, the anticipation shall doubtless be far more delicious than the actual announcement, but that’s OK. We have until Thursday to dream that maybe, this time, they’ll announce that alien life has touched down in Oklahoma, and they’re willing to trade advanced tech for more Chuck Berry CDs.