The Coward (Angry Robot, June 2021). Cover by Kieryn Tyler
I found Stephen Aryan’s new novel The Coward on one of my recent expeditions to Barnes & Noble, and it followed me home.
Loath as I am to admit it, I think a big part of the reason was that when I picked up the book it fell open to the map, which reminded me instantly of the exciting solo RPG gamebooks of my youth. Have a look and see if you agree.
Once, long ago, there was a poor writer who lived in the depths of a forest with his wife. He would spend his evenings putting words to page while his wife rested by the fire. As she did so she would read those stories which were complete, and yet not yet ready for market. Using a special red pencil, she would note occasional errors and put to him questions the writing had left unresolved, in order that his next version of the story might be improved.
During the day she would walk out into the forest and spend her time hewing mighty trees, for she was a woodcutter by trade. He, meanwhile, would tend to the small garden, and every few days journey into the nearby town, riding down the river on a mighty raft formed of entire tree trunks she had stripped, all lashed together, and he would walk back home before sundown. Thus they had a modest supply of silver, and the wife was content they be together every evening.
But the writer was not content.
…
This article contains minor spoilers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
Our mighty Eternian hero and his celebrated motley crew of bouncing and shooting heroes did not originate as the beloved moral wielding Filmation show (aka marketing campaign) of the 80s. His origins are much more concrete than animation cells, mired in plastic and slime. Before he uttered the words “By the Power of Grayskull” on TV to throngs of enthused children, he first held up a plastic Power Sword in his molded toy hand.
Well, half a Power Sword.
El Cid (USA/Italy, 1961)
“Inspired by historical events”: the dreaded phrase that history wonks have come to learn usually means “bears little resemblance to historical events.” But hey, historical epics have to start somewhere, and it might as well be with a little history. To be fair, historical adventure film concepts often start from the best available accounts, but then scripts get rewritten and rewritten again, producers and directors have their own ideas about how the screenplay should get visualized, and before you know it you’ve got… well, El Cid (1961) for one, with a couple of other examples as well, including an admirable entry in The 300 Spartans (1962), which tries harder than most to get it right. I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
Never Say You Can’t Survive
By Charlie Jane Anders
Tor (240 pages, $22.99 hardcover/13.99 eBook, August 17, 2021)
Let’s talk writing for a minute.
Ask a published writer at any level and they’ll tell you writing is, in some respect, a colossal pain in the ass. (Can’t remember if I’m allowed to say “ass” here but let’s leave it and see what happens.) Superstar authors with massive advances and multi-book deals rightfully claim that it’s tough to maintain the passion when writing becomes the day job. Folks at the opposite end of that career spectrum point out how demoralizing it is trying to break in. We’re all at the mercy of luck, circumstance, editor whims, etc, and it can be tough. But we’re passionate about telling stories, so we keep doing it anyway.
Readers typically differentiate stereotypical High Fantasy (elves, dwarves, wizards-with-pointy-hats with a slant toward happy adventuring) vs. Low Fantasy (more “realism” & “earthier” milieu, with a focus on humans defending trenches at a battlefront or crawling through crypts to save a maiden or rob a god). The latter encompasses sub-genres like Sword & Sorcery and the contemporary-named Grimdark.
Why stop at regular Grimdark when you can go further? This post highlights two New Treasures that are arguably Grimdark, but still push the boundaries of what is expected. At the very least, they should appeal to dark fantasy readers who desire something fresh (whatever label the books deserve). To learn if these are right for you, read on:
You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep
(Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)
I’m not familiar with too many hardboiled or pulp series’ which feature bail bondsmen or bounty hunters. On reflection, this is a bit surprising, as the roles certainly put the protagonist in the middle of a plot-worthy situation. Below is an updated version of a Black Gate essay I wrote on what I consider to be one of the most under-rated hardboiled series’ in the entire genre. Michael Stone’s Streeter is a bounty hunter in Denver, Colorado. These four books are favorites of mine. I’ll also mention Bail Bond Dodd, who I wrote about before at Black Gate. And finally, a George Raft film set in a bail bondsman’s office.
For my money, the two of the best hardboiled PI series’ of the Post-Pulp Era are Joe Gores’ DKA books (also unconventional, in that they’re about a car repo group), and Stone’s Streeter. Just after I moved out to Colorado Springs in the mid-nineties, a Denver private investigator named Michael Stone released his first book about Streeter, a bounty hunter in the Mile High City. The Low End of Nowhere had a very cool cover by Owen Smith, who would provide three more for A Long Reach, Token of Remorse, and Totally Dead. These covers are fantastic.
Then, nothing: After four very good novels, Stone simply quit writing. It was as if he’d suddenly passed away (happily, he didn’t). Over the years, I tried to find some news of him on the web but came up empty. He just seemed to lose interest in being a writer in 1999.
Ten Low by Stark Holborn (Titan Books, June 2021). Cover design by Julia Llyod
I spend a lot of time browsing new releases online. But you know what? Nothing beats a trip to the bookstore. As I wandered through the well-stocked science fiction section of Barnes & Noble last Saturday I found no less than four new releases that insisted on coming home with me.
Perhaps the most interesting was Stark Holborn’s latest Ten Low, which The Book Beard calls “stunning… gritty, intriguing sci-fi/ Western brilliance.” Here’s a snippet from Publisher’s Weekly‘s warm review.
July/August 2021 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, and The Magazine
of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Cover art by Shutterstock.com, Tomislav Tikulin, and Alan M. Clark
Short story reviews have been part of the genre since the first SF pulps started publishing letters from young fans in the back pages in the 1920s. What’s different these days is that you can read reviews online, get excited about the current issues, and leisurely make your way to your local bookstore in plenty of time to grab the magazines you want.
That’s a consequence of multiple factors — including the move to bi-monthly publication for most major print zines, and the endurance of review sites like Tangent Online, Locus Online, and Quick Sip Reviews, among others — but it’s largely due to a small group of short fiction reviewers, almost all volunteers, who move quickly to read the latest zines and get thoughtful and well-written coverage posted with all dispatch. Here’s what a few of those folks thought of the July/August genre print magazines.
Firearms from the Old West era have always fascinated me. It’s not simply the physical attractiveness of such weapons, though some are quite pleasing to look upon, but it’s the mechanics and the operation of these firearms which has always drawn me. Single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles, cap and ball weapons, even scatter guns of the period, they all take a certain amount of basic knowledge and skill to operate, to even load, let alone fire. There has always been something about the physical manipulation of such weapons which has interested me, far more than most modern firearms which are more deadly but don’t usually require the same operations.