Black Gate – Page 798 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Vintage Treasures: Hôtel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Sunday, May 31, 2015 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has written over 70 novels, and has received many of the highest honors the field can bestow. She was named a Grand Master at the World Horror Convention in 2003, and the International Horror Guild named her a “Living Legend” in 2005. In 2009 the Horror Writers’ Association presented her with the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2014 she was honored with the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.

But she is most widely known for her long-running historical horror series featuring the vampire Count of Saint-Germain. The gentleman vampire Saint-Germain has featured in 26 novels and two collections, detailing his adventures down through the centuries, from the reign of emperor Heliogabalus in 3rd century Rome (Roman Dusk) to his escape from Genghis Khan in Tibet and India (Path of the Eclipse), 6th Century China (Dark of the Sun), France during the Reign of Terror (Commedia della Morte), and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany (Tempting Fate).

The Count first appeared in Hôtel Transylvania in 1978, set in Paris in 1744. The novel was an immediate success, and he returned in The Palace the same year. The Palace was nominated for a World Fantasy Award (and was voted #11 for the Locus Award for Best Novel of the Year), and thus began one of the most successful horror series in the English language.

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Fantasy Clichés Done Right

Sunday, May 31, 2015 Garrett Calcaterra Comments 2 comments

Like all genres of fiction, fantasy has a growing list of clichés and played-out tropes: the orphaned farm boy who’s actually the chosen one, the quest for a magical artifact to save the world, the generic medieval European setting, the Tolkien-lite denizenry of humans and elves versus orcs, goblins, and trolls…. On one hand, it’s surprising to see these tropes crop up over and over again. Authors are supposed to be imaginative. Is it really that hard to come up with original ideas? On the other hand, it makes a good bit of sense to see certain recurring tropes. Fantasy is, after all, rooted in mythology, and one can make a strong case that fantasy taps into symbols and archetypes coded into the human psyche, whether we’re talking about Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey or the simple Jungian archetype of the shadow representing the basest of human instincts.

In practice, of course, the truth lays somewhere in the middle. Mediocre writers reuse certain tropes and make them cliché because they do nothing new with them. Expert writers create new tropes or take old ones and make them new in the context of unique characters and original words.

This holds true not only for the classics, but also for new fantasy fiction, as author James P. Blaylock discovered when he was a judge for the World Fantasy Awards in 2012. “I was certain that zombies and vampires had been so overworked that I’d have no interest in any of them,” he recalls, “but then I ended up putting one of each on my shortlist: ‘From the Teeth of Strange Children’ by Lisa Hannett and ‘Younger Women’ by Karen Joy Fowler.”

With this idea in mind, here are a dozen or so books that transcend the tired fantasy clichés they utilize, as recommended by an assortment of writers in the genre. (The list is hardly comprehensive, mind you, so make sure to add your recommendations in the comments.)

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May 2015 Nightmare Magazine Now on Sale

Saturday, May 30, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The May issue of the online magazine Nightmare is now available.

Fiction this month includes original short stories from Kealan Patrick Burke and Sandra McDonald, and reprints from Kaaron Warren and Stephen Graham Jones:

Original Stories

“The Red Light is Blinking” by Kealan Patrick Burke
“Rules for Ordinary Heroes” by Sandra McDonald

Reprints

“Mountain” by Kaaron Warren (from Through Splintered Walls, 2012)
“Raphael” by Stephen Graham Jones (from Cemetery Dance #55, 2006)

The non-fiction this issue includes the latest installment in their long-running horror column, “The H Word,” plus author spotlights, a showcase on cover artist Vitaly Alexius, and a feature interview with Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement winner William F. Nolan.

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Future Treasures: The Chart of Tomorrows by Chris Willrich

Saturday, May 30, 2015 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Chris Willrich is one of the shining stars of modern sword & sorcery. His story “The Lions of Karthagar,” set in the world of Gaunt and Bone, appeared in the last issue of Black Gate. Forrest Aguirre, author of Heraclix and Pomp, reviewed the story on his blog:

I was also impressed by “The Lions of Karthagar,” by Chris Willrich. The main characters in this tale, the Weatherworkers Blim the Damp and Miy Who Sing Storms, whose friendship develops against the background of an invasion of an incredibly rich country by their armies, each of which seeks to take possession of the golden land. Poetic and even touching, this story tugged at my emotions like most Sword and Sorcery does not.

Chris’s heroes Gaunt and Bone have appeared in five stories published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Beneath Ceaseless Skies (including the novelette “The Sword of Loving Kindness,” which you can read for free at BCS here).

But they have gained serious attention recently with the publication of two novels, The Scroll of Years (2013) and The Silk Map (2014), both from Pyr. Of the former, BiblioSanctum said, “I cannot remember the last time I came across a book like this. Highly recommended for readers of fantasy who love a good action-adventure tale.”

Now the third novel featuring Gaunt and Bone is set to be published in early July by Pyr. In The Chart of Tomorrows, the two find their plans to retire interrupted when their son becomes the chosen vessel of a powerful spirit…

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The Novels of Tanith Lee: Tales From the Flat Earth

Saturday, May 30, 2015 John ONeill Comments 11 comments

We’re continuing with our look at the monumental 40-year career of Tanith Lee, who died last week. We started with The Wars of Vis trilogy, and today we continue with her most acclaimed fantasy series, Tales From the Flat Earth.

I say “most acclaimed” because — in addition to the World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Mythopoeic, and Balrog award nominations these books have accumulated over the years — in the Comments section of her obituary, this series was called “the towering pinnacle” (by Joe Hoopman), “towering legend” (by John R. Fultz), “my faves” (by Arin Komins), and “engrossing” (by rrm). It’s a small sample of fandom, but a compelling one. In my experience, Black Gate readers know what they’re talking about.

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Short Speculative Fiction: A May Roundup

Friday, May 29, 2015 Learned Foote Comments 2 comments

Fantasy and Science Fiction May June 2015-small2

So much short fiction to recommend! As with my debut column, this one will focus on speculative stories, novellas and novelettes, with a sci-fi emphasis, and dabbling into fantasy and horror. This column covers the month of May, and a novella published in February. Sources for this month’s list of awesome stories include Lightspeed (Issue 60, May 2015), Clarkesworld (Issue 104, May 2015), and Fantasy and Science Fiction (May/June 2015), as well as a novella published by April Moon Books. The magazines can be purchased for between $1 – $7.95, and the novella’s available for $3 in electronic format.

I only managed to review a brief selection of the many wonderful stories that appeared in May 2015, and I’m eager to know what other readers enjoyed: what they liked from this list, and what’s missing.

Onward to the stories:

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New Treasures: Michael Moorcock’s The Chronicles of Corum from Titan Books

Friday, May 29, 2015 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

I was talking about The Chronicles of Corum, which Fletcher Vredenburgh calls “the most intense and beautiful books” in Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion series, in a Vintage Treasures post recently. I was unaware at the time that Titan Books was planning to reprint the entire series in high quality trade paperback editions. If I was, I wouldn’t have spent all that time and money tracking down the 1987 Grafton paperback.

The first, The Knight of the Swords, was published on May 5th. The other five will be released over the next five months, as follows.

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Eight Barbarian Body Building (3B) Tips

Friday, May 29, 2015 mariebilodeau Comments 4 comments

Luke would be more buff if he wasn't such a tauntaun riding wuss. — Luke would be more buff if he weren’t such a tauntaun riding wuss.

It’s beach season! In the frozen north where I live, we’re currently shedding our polar bear and Sasquatch skins to show off our tummies once again! Except, after six months of trudging through snowdrifts and blizzards, our thighs may be tree trunks of victory, but our abs have lost that chainmail bikini flattering glory.

Fear not, there is hope. Here are some tips for fighting off that winter bulge!

Chase Down a Pack of Wild Wolves

Nothing will get you sweating faster than chasing down wild canines, especially when they turn on you and you have to fight them off with nothing but your wit and might. Make sure to pack your wit or, failing that, lots of sharp steeled might.

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May 2015 Locus Magazine Now on Sale

Friday, May 29, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

I had a subscription to Locus magazine for over 20 years. It was the only magazine I decided I couldn’t live without the year I moved to Belgium, and I paid the exorbitant fees to have my copies mailed overseas every month (and then I paid a small fortune to American Airlines to ship all those issues back to the states when I flew home).

When I was unemployed for three months in 2012, I decided I’d have to cancel at least one of my magazine subscriptions. I noticed that the last nine months of Locus were stacked by my desk, still in their protective mailing wrappers, unopened and unread. Reluctantly, I decided to cancel Locus.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next. I bought an issue of Locus the next time I went to the newsstand. And I started reading it again. I pick up the latest issue, without fail, every month. It costs me more than a subscription…. but hey, I figure, at least this way I’m reading this issues.

Locus is called the Newsmagazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field, and that description is entirely accurate. Every issue is packed with news, reviews, photos, interviews, gossip, convention reports, list of upcoming releases, news on other magazines, and a ton more. It can take you a very long time to read an issue cover to cover (I know — that’s the way I read them.)

The May issue includes a detailed breakdown of the 2015 Hugo controversy (including a long quote from Yours Truly — the first time I can recall being quoted in Locus), reports on the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts and Norwescon 38, interviews with Ken Liu (The Grace of Kings) and Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), entertaining short fiction reviews from Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton, plenty of books reviews, and a lot more. See the complete Table of Contents here.

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Goth Chick News: World War Z Rages On…

Thursday, May 28, 2015 Sue Granquist Comments 0 Comment

It definitely would have been a very good scoop to have landed back at C2E2. Then again, I might have been too busy having a fan girl swoon to have caught on anyway.

Earlier this month I had the chance to chat with Max Brooks, author of one of my favorite novels, World War Z. At the time I pressed him as much as I dared on the topic of a sequel as it seemed to be a rather touchy subject. Brooks stated he’d do it when the spirit moved him to and not a moment before.

This week I learned two things – first, something has definitely moved Brooks, and second, a possible reason why the topic of a follow up story might have been a tad touchy at the time I asked about it.

Paramount Pictures has just set a release date for the sequel to World War Z, effectively ending speculation, and Max Brooks is on board as one of the writers.

Granted, we’ve been hearing rumors about this for some time. In spite of the original production being plagued by so many problems it came close to being scrapped, World War Z ultimately became a blockbuster hit ($540M worldwide) and is in fact considered the highest grossing film in Brad Pitt’s career.

As Pitt not only starred in but produced the original film via his Plan B production company, it seemed inevitable that Paramount would green light a follow up at some point.

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