Over at Locus, Lois Tilton reviews Analog, Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, Jim Baen’s Universe, and Subterranean Online.
In his “Scores” column for Strange Horizons, John Clute reviews the first volume (Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps) of Peter Straub’s American Fantastic Tales. As usual, it’s always an experience to read Clute.
Midwinter
Matthew Sturges
Pyr (345 pages, Trade Paperback, March 2009, $15.98)
Reviewed by Bill Ward
Midwinter is the debut novel from comics writer Matthew Sturges, and it has elves in it. In fact, it’s all about elves, taking place as it does in the land of faerie. But these elves, dear reader, are not your Daddy’s elves — or, more to the point, they are not the sort of derivative elves that tend to find their way into the fiction of writers who have trouble thinking outside their last D&D campaign. Midwinter’s Fae, in all their variety, are much more reminiscent of the Sidhe of Celtic myth that is clearly Sturges’ jumping off point, perhaps with a bit of Tolkien and Moorcock thrown in for good measure. Those who can’t stand heavily derivative fantasy need not worry — in fact, it’s Sturges’ willingness to play with tropes and inject his tale with the unexpected that is the main attraction of his world.
For an example of one of those ‘sit up on the edge of your seat and take notice’ turns, we have an event that occurs early in the book. The premise of the quest is established quickly, and this ‘dirty dozen with elves,’ as Sturges has described the book, kicks off in much the expected direction. We are introduced to disgraced Guard Captain Mauritane, in prison, as well as his despised enemy — a Fae who conspired to bring him down in the first place. The quest is laid out (though not explained — the revelation of the true purpose of the quest isn’t provided until the end), and Mauritane’s team of fellow prisoners assembled. But just when you think the direction of things is all mapped out, Mauritane, seemingly as an aside, ends up traveling back in time (!) and participating in an episode the significance of which is only shown later. Throughout the novel Sturges shows a willingness to make a hard right without taking his foot of the gas — leaving some rubber on the road and, just maybe, making a few white-knuckled passengers uncomfortable — in a way that reminded me of the more daring and fluid fantasies of the past.
For the next two weeks Mr. Goth Chick and I are out of town, for what will sound to everyone else like a really normal vacation. But you lot know better.
I will, of course, tell you every gory detail when I get home, but for now I’m penning a couple of entries ahead of schedule which one of the Goth Chick Interns will gratefully post on my behalf, all the while averting his eyes and addressing me as “Mistress.”
Yes, these are the moments worth opening the coffin lid for.
But I digress.
A couple weeks back I told you about an amusing collection of tombstone writings called Comic Epitaphs From the Very Best Old Graveyards, brought to you by the clever folks at Peter Pauper Press. Shortly thereafter, a Ms. Suzanne Schwalb, an editor from Peter Pauper, got in touch to inform me that though they were grateful for the mention, the book in question was out of print.
I was about to be concerned I had gotten some of you interested in something you’d never get to experience for yourself when I found 42 of them on Amazon.com, starting at $0.99.
Crisis averted.
But then something really amazing happened.
Quite a large box was delivered to my door (and who doesn’t like getting surprise parcels in the mail?) with a return address of Peter Pauper Press in New York. Apparently, I was way behind the times with regards to the offerings available from the company.
The nominations for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2009 have been announced by the DGLA. May we have the envelope please!
The David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel was first granted in 2009, to Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves.
The DGLA also gives out The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer, and The Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art.
The complete list of nominations is at the DGLA website, as part of a cool video set to music. I had to watch it six times, scribbling down notes, to make sure I got the list of nominees right (of course, then I found the convenient summary card. Figures.) Now I can’t get that music out of my head.
In any event, congratulations to all the nominees! Man, I have a lot of great reading to catch up on.
Anticipating CTHULHU’S REIGN (Part 3 of 3) 
“You made me master of the world where you exist
The soul I took from you was not even missed.”
–Black Sabbath, “Lord of This World”
“The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination.”
–H. P. Lovecraft
At last, the stars are right.
The long-anticipated horror anthology CTHULHU’S REIGN finally hits stores this week, and the world of Lovecraft-inspired fiction will never be the same.
Last week I interviewed a few of the authors who contributed to the collection. In this third and final installment of “Anticipating CTHULHU’S REIGN“ several more Architects of the End have shared with me the dark secrets behind their stories.
Although these 15 tales share a common concept (Great Cthulhu rising up to reclaim the world for the Old Ones), there is a wide array of story types and styles at play here, from cosmic adventures to philosophical nightmares, to humanistic stories of survival in a world gone mad, and more. The sheer diversity of storytelling in this single volume is stunning–a testament to the anthology-building skills of editor Darrell Schweitzer. Yes, there are some experimental pieces in CTHULHU’S REIGN, but there is just as much old-school Weird Tales flavor, which makes for a delicious blend of horror and strangeness.
Richard Lupoff’s “Nothing Personal” takes a science-fiction approach to horror. “The first decision I had to make was, Will this be a science fiction story or a supernatural fantasy? I then referred back to an earlier story of my own, utilizing the theme of a distant planet that had gone undiscovered because its orbit is at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic, and moved on from there.” That planet is Yuggoth, which (like its grotesque inhabitants) is composed entirely of antimatter.
Clash of the Titans (2010)
Directed by Louis Leterrier. Starring Sam Worthington, Mad Mikkelson, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Pete Postelthwaite.
You may not believe this, based on other things I’ve written at this site, but I walked into my local movie theater showing the re-make of Clash of the Titans with an open mind. Or as open as possible for someone who can pinpoint the original 1981 film as the moment from his childhood when he awakened to fantasy adventure.
And I’m glad I kept my mind pried open. Because Clash of the Titans: 2010 is a perfectly adequate modern fantasy movie, and I was able to enjoy the good that it had to give.
This may not sound like a stirring recommendation, but when you consider the complete Olympian thrashing the film is getting from the majority of critics, for a Ray Harryhausen defender to say, “Hey, I kind of liked that,” is, ahem, a titanic deal. (I’m really, really sorry about that pun.)
Jeff Crook at The Sorcerers Guild interviews John C. Hocking and John O’Neill, following last week’s announcement that “The Face in the Sea” won The Harper’s Pen Award for best all-around Sword & Sorcery short story of 2009.
SG: What’s on your launch pad right now? What’s in your future?
John C. Hocking: The third Brand tale, by far the longest and most ambitious, is in Black Gate 14, which just came out. Five years back, when Howard Andrew Jones was editing the Flashing Swords e-zine, I wrote a trio of stories for him about a different set of characters. I’ve written two more tales of the Archivist and his friend Lucella, and Black Gate has accepted them. I’ve been stalled on both a novel about the Archivist and the final Brand story, “Home to Midgard,” but I hope to get both into action before too much longer.
You can read the complete interview here. And you can read an excerpt from the third Brand tale, “The Bonestealer’s Mirror,” now appearing in Black Gate 14
Look for John C. Hocking’s tales of the Archivist and his friend Lucella in future issues, starting with Black Gate 15.
Art by Storn Cook.
It looked like a routine hire… until Kellen found himself framed for theft, and embroiled in a plot to steal the secret of the Crown’s great airships.
The ship’s motion grew more violent, and the crewmen passing his hiding place cursed. Kellen smacked into the hull, then fell back against a sharp-cornered skip. How much more of this could the ship take and stay aloft?
Against all expectation, he’d escaped discovery. But he had to do something. They’d toss him overboard as soon as they found out, he had no doubt, along with his hopes of escape, but he wouldn’t be the cause of destroying this ship and its crew.
He wriggled out from his hiding place, hands held high to look nothing like a threat. “I need to speak to your captain.”
Silvery beams swung toward him, and he shielded his eyes. “Stowaway!” one shouted.
Renee Stern’s short fiction has appeared in Aeon Speculative Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Oceans of the Mind, and the anthology Sails and Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy. She lives outside Seattle.
“Red Hell” appears in Black Gate 14, now shipping.
You can read a more complete excerpt here. The complete Black Gate 14 Sneak Peek is available here.
Art by Jim & Ruth Keegan.
It appears that even though they didn’t quite get the pre-orders they would have liked, Wheatland Press will publish Polyphony 7 sometime in July. A suitable time of year to report a resurrection.
Another resurrection is that The Prisoner remake is now available on DVD. Initial reviews were less than enthusiastic, so I don’t know if I’ll be seeing this any time soon.
Last week Tor.com ran a terrific article by Michael Moorcock about the origins of his (recently reprinted) Hawkmoon stories. In ‘The Genesis of Hawkmoon‘ Moorcock talks about method, motive, and how the big cultural changes of the sixties heavily influenced his work. Firstly, the man’s writing MO is legendary, and he wrote fantasy fiction with a journalistic mindset: fast with no revisions. The political elements of Hawkmoon, in which a far-future Britain is the ‘Dark Empire’ opposed by a German hero, was a direct protest of the lingering prejudice and division left over from WWII in England. Moorcock sees the books, and himself, as a product of the times — and the times they were a’ changing.
Finally, Moorcock expresses his quiet astonishment over the longevity of Hawkmoon and all the Eternal Champion stories, and remarks “Not bad, I guess, for twelve days hard work!”
No, Mr. Moorcock, not bad at all.