Black Gate – Page 589 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

The Complete Carpenter: Dark Star (1974)

Saturday, December 3, 2016 Ryan Harvey Comments 10 comments

John Carpenter, after a few years of relative silence, is back in current movie news thanks to a recent concert tour and the report that he’s once again associated with the Halloween franchise for the first time since producing Halloween III: Season of the Witch in 1983. Although we don’t know if Carpenter plans to get back in the director’s chair at some point, all this is still a reason to celebrate the career of a Titan of Genre, a global treasure and gift to science-fiction, horror, suspense, and action-movie lovers everywhere.

Today I’m inaugurating a feature-by-feature look at Carpenter’s eighteen theatrical feature films. We begin at the beginning: Carpenter’s USC student film that billowed into an accidental theatrical release — Dark Star, the Spaced-Out Spaceship.

The Story

The spacecraft Dark Star drifts through the twentieth year of its apparently infinite mission. The four crew members — accompanied by the cryogenically frozen body of the captain — use intelligent bombs to blow up unstable planets to clear the way for eventual colonization. And, hoo boy, has the crew gotten bored.

Talby (Dre Phaich, voiced by Carpenter) retreats to contemplating the stars through the ship’s dome; Pinback (Dan O’Bannon) tries to rally the crew by pestering them; Boiler (Karl Kuniholm) is into trimming his mustache and punching Pinback in the arm when nobody’s looking; and acting commander Doolittle (Brian Narelle) jams on homemade musical instruments and ponders the waves he left behind at Malibu. Pinback lets an alien captive loose on the ship and screws around with it. A bomb in the cargo bay refuses to disarm itself, Doolittle tries to stop it with a philosophical argument based on Edmund Husserl, Talby flies out the airlock, Boiler almost shoots Pinback in the head, and everyone dies when the bomb develops a god complex and detonates in the cargo bay anyway. John Carpenter went on to make eighteen more films, so apparently all this worked like a charm.

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Dark and Gritty, with Plenty of Mystery and Treachery: Kelly Gay’s Charlie Madigan Novels

Saturday, December 3, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

I don’t have anything against urban fantasy and paranormal romance… but for a very long time, it seemed like the fantasy shelves of my local bookstore were buried in the stuff. So it was easiest to ignore it all, good and bad, and just come back when the dust had settled.

Well, at long last, it seems like the tide of urban fantasy has receded a bit, which means it may be safe to go back in the waters. I’m interested in cherry-picking the most popular and acclaimed series out there — and also, naturally, the ones with the best covers.

Kelly Gay’s Charlie Madigan series certainly fits all of my criteria. Publishers Weekly called it a “Standout Series,” and Romantic Times called the opening novel, The Darkest Edge of Dawn, “dark and gritty, with plenty of mystery and treachery . . . . An excellent start to an electrifying new series!” The series ran for four volumes between 2009-2012, all published in paperback by Pocket Books.

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Modular: Yggdrasill, the Roleplaying Game of “Viking Age” Adventure

Friday, December 2, 2016 Gabe Dybing Comments 13 comments

Routine visitors to this site might remember my survey of Poul Anderson’s works, a regular column that has been on indefinite hiatus for about two years now. Causes for this suspension have been 1. Anderson’s two-book Operation Chaos was an absolute drudge of a read, requiring a recovery period that only now might be over, 2. New responsibilities at home decreased available time for my recreational pursuits, 3. The time share for these recreational pursuits was almost wholly dominated by my weekly Pathfinder campaign, a campaign that now finally might be coming to an end.

It’s unlikely that, with increased time, though, I’ll be returning to the Anderson survey. This is because I’ll move onto running other games, one of which already is underway: Yggdrasill.

At first glance Yggdrasill caters to a niche crowd, and I’m certainly a member of that company. I am a Norse-phile. Within my close community, I am nearly alone in my passionate interest — but for one dear friend, who identifies as Norse neopagan. When I first learned about the game just over a month ago, I knew that this “blood brother” would play the game with me. I also guessed that some others in my community would try it out, as well, and they have.

But as I consider just how many other areas of the globe might have the dynamic of interest that I enjoy, I question how viable a business project Yggdrasill might be. Perhaps I shouldn’t: Vikings appears to be a popular TV show; perhaps that series inspired some gamers to go “full Viking.” The “northern thing” clearly is a mainstay of traditional fantasy gaming, an aspect derived from popular fantasy fiction. But in most games where efforts are made to make the northern atmosphere “authentic” — well, they’re not actually “games,” per se, so much as they are campaign settings and supplements, productions such as Lands of the Linnorm Kings in Pathfinder’s Inner Sea setting for Golarion, and The Northlands Saga in Frog God’s Lost Lands setting, and both of these properties actually are about single regions within much larger campaign settings. But with Yggdrasill the northern thing is the whole thing, and that’s catering to a specific taste indeed!

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New Treasures: The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

Friday, December 2, 2016 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Shaun Tan has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist three times, the Hugo Award once, and even an Academy Award, for his 2011 animated film The Lost Thing, based on his picture book of the same name. His other books include The Arrival (2007), Tales From Outer Suburbia (2009), The Red Tree (2010), Eric (2010), and the omnibus collection Lost & Found (2011).

His latest is a little different. It’s a fairy tale collection and virtual art exhibit packaged up in a single book — a 192-page collection of tales inspired by the Brothers Grimm, accompanied by original sculptures by Tan. That’s right — sculptures. Booklist calls it “A stunning, eerie addition to fairy tale and folklore collections,” and they’re not wrong.

There are a few samples floating around on the internet, and I’ve collected some below. Enjoy.

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Goth Chick News: The Last Show of “The Season” – And It’s a Doozy

Thursday, December 1, 2016 Sue Granquist Comments 0 Comment

Normally “the season” comes to a close each year with Black Gate photog Chris Z and I sharing a mid-morning Fireball shot before wading into the Days of the Dead show in early November. And so it appeared would end the 2016 season… until Chris Z came across an ad for a local event called the Chicago Pop Culture Con.

Intrigued and not quite ready to trade skeletons and zombies for chubby dudes in red suits, I contacted show organizer Tim Zurko of Zurko Promotions to see if we could come round to have a look. I mean, who knows? Regional shows such as this one in the (very – no, I mean very) far western suburbs of Chicago could yield one or two tasty tidbits to share with you, our beloved readers.

And what did we find out there at the Pheasant Run Mega Center in St. Charles, IL?

One of the best shows we’ve covered in 2016 – and that’s saying quite a lot.

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Shaka When the Walls Fell: The Brunnen-G When They Sang “Yo-Way-Yo”

Thursday, December 1, 2016 M Harold Page Comments 12 comments

ackbar-when-the-shields-fell — There’s something about the way those lines resonate. (click for source)

I’m not a Trekkie so I had to google it. You know? That meme: “Shaka When the Walls Fell.”

Turns out it comes from a really clever Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where the universal translator for once doesn’t work because the aliens talk ~~crap all the time~~ in allusions (link).

So, if you are a Tamarian, you don’t say, “I am feeling depressed because my girlfriend dumped me.” Instead, you say, “Rastar when she wandered alone and rejected.”

Cute idea that makes a good point: Literal — word for word — translations aren’t always very useful. For example, in medieval King Arthur stories you might find people’s kidneys yearning for each other. A better translation might be “heart.”

(It rather breaks down when you imagine the day-to-day. How does one say, “Mummy, can I have a drink of water?” Or, “Please adjust the size by 5mm.” And what did the people of Shaka say when the walls came down? But then, I am not a Trekkie.)

This is just one episode in a really big fat franchise, but it’s the one people make memes of, and I don’t think it’s because of the interesting angle on xeno-linguistics. Nor do I think it’s about the humor. There’s something about the way those lines resonate.

One line from one episode out of nearly 200. It doesn’t describe onscreen drama; it all happened offscreen long ago. Nor does it relate to the serial characters or their culture, the Federation.

So, though it’s a script-writing win, it also arguably points to a series-building fail. The aliens of the week are more resonant than the entire crew and their story.

Now, who remembers Lexx?

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Future Treasures: Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson

Thursday, December 1, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Robert Charles Wilson won the Hugo Award for Spin; he’s also the recipient of the Philip K. Dick Award, the Aurora Award, and the John W. Campbell Award. His novels Darwinia (1998) and Blind Lake (2003) were also Hugo nominees. His recent novels include The Chronoliths (2001), Julian Comstoc (2009), and Burning Paradise (2013).

His newest, Last Year, is “an alternative history novel, a time travel novel, and a whodunit all in one” (Booklist). It’s available in hardcover from Tor next week.

Two events made September 1st a memorable day for Jesse Cullum. First, he lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Second, he saved the life of President Ulysses S. Grant.

In the near future of Robert Charles Wilson’s Last Year, the technology exists to open doorways into the past — but not our past, not exactly. Each “past” is effectively an alternate world, identical to ours but only up to the date on which we access it. And a given “past” can only be reached once. After a passageway is open, it’s the only road to that particular past; once closed, it can’t be reopened.

A passageway has been opened to a version of late 19th-century Ohio. It’s been in operation for most of a decade, but it’s no secret, on either side of time. A small city has grown up around it to entertain visitors from our time, and many locals earn a good living catering to them. But like all such operations, it has a shelf life; as the “natives” become more sophisticated, their version of the “past” grows less attractive as a destination.

Jesse Cullum is a native. And he knows the passageway will be closing soon. He’s fallen in love with a woman from our time, and he means to follow her back — no matter whose secrets he has to expose in order to do it.

Last Year will be published by Tor Books on December 6, 2016. It is 351 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover, and $14.99 for the digital version. The cover was designed by Michael Graziolo.

A Bittersweet Twist on Conventional Fantasy: Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire

Thursday, December 1, 2016 Elizabeth Cady Comments 2 comments

The closing months of the year always bring a host of “Best of…” lists. This year I was delighted to see one of my personal top five making those lists: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. A departure from McGuire’s usual fare, Every Heart a Doorway is a bittersweet twist on conventional fantasy that neither shies from more dwells on the darker side of our encounters with the fantastic.

The premise of Every Heart a Doorway isn’t exactly new. Out in the countryside exists a boarding school for unusual children.These children are all children living in the “after” part, the “after” that comes after The End. Each student at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children has accidentally stumbled into an otherworld and then returned home to find themselves so changed that they can no longer fit in at home. Some of them are heartbroken at being kicked out of paradise. Some of them are traumatized by what they experienced there. Most of them hope to return to their individual worlds, somehow, by finding their Door again.

We find our own Door into this school through Nancy, a young woman who has just returned from one of several Lands of the Dead. Shortly after her arrival, another student is found dead and Nancy, along with her newly made friends, must find the killer before the school is closed or they become the next victims.

As a murder mystery, the plot itself isn’t innovative. It is well plotted and paced, but there are no real surprises here. It doesn’t need to be, though. The real strength comes from McGuire’s characterizations and the subtle, quiet tone to the work.

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November 2016 Lightspeed Magazine Now Available

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Trying to keep up with uber-editor John Joseph Adams is exhausting. In his capacity as editor of two magazines (Lightspeed and Nightmare), a prolific anthology editor, and editor of John Joseph Adams Books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, he produces more books than I can read every month. Here’s a snippet from his editorial in the current Lightspeed on his various doings this month.

As you may recall, in addition to editing Lightspeed and Nightmare, I am also the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, which launched last year. The first volume was guest edited by Joe Hill, and the 2016 volume (which came out October 4) is guest edited by Karen Joy Fowler…

My new anthology [What the #@&% is That?] — co-edited with Douglas Cohen — releases this month…. I just released new editions of my anthologies Federations and The Way of the Wizard. The new covers are both by the wonderful and talented Matt Bright at Inkspiral Design… Next month, the final volume in the POC Destroy series will publish as a special issue of Fantasy Magazine (which was merged into Lightspeed back in 2012).

In my role as editor of John Joseph Adams Books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I just acquired a novel by debut author Bryan Camp: The City of Lost Fortunes, a novel about a magician with a talent for finding lost things who is forced into playing a high stakes game with the gods of New Orleans for the heart and soul of the city. Publication date is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2018. Meanwhile, I also bought a story by Bryan for Lightspeed, so you’ll be seeing his short story debut sometime in the near future as well!

Whatever brand of coffee John is drinking, I need some. On top of everything else, John also reports that this month’s Lightspeed includes a special section on comics and graphic novels by four guest-columnists: Christie Yant, Jenn Reese, Kate Galey, and Rachel Swirsky. They’re also adding a new regular book review columnist, joining Andrew Liptak and Amal El-Mohtar.

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Jonathan Strahan on the Best Short Novels of 2016

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Jonathan Strahan used to edit a marvelous anthology series for the Science Fiction Book Club called Best Short Novels. He published four volumes, from 2004-2007. On his Coode Street website yesterday, Jonathan published “An Imaginary List” of his picks for a 2016 volume.

I was pondering what I’d put into my old Best Short Novels series, if I was still editing it for someone today. After a bit of reflection I came up with the following list. I wasn’t restricted to Hugo length requirements, so one story is actually a long novelette, but this list would still come close to 200,000 words which is about right for the old series.

Here’s his selections for the ten best short novels of 2016, including five entries from the new Tor.com novella line, two from collections, and one each from Asimov’s SF and F&SF.

The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe, Kij Johnson (Tor)
The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle (Tor)
Every Heart A Doorway, Seanan McGuire (Tor)
This Census-taker, China Mieville (Del Rey)
“The Charge and the Storm,” An Owomoyela (Asimov’s)
The Devil You Know, K.J. Parker (Tor)
The Iron Tactician, Alastair Reynolds (Newcon)
The Best Story I Can Manage, Robert Shearman (Five Storeys High)
“The Vanishing Kind,” Lavie Tidhar (F&SF)
A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor)

We discussed Jonathan’s Best Short Novels series in a feature earlier this year, and we covered the latest from Tor.com here.

See Jonthan’s complete post here.