Rogue Blades Entertainment Reveals the Secrets of Writing Fantasy Heroes
The distinguished Mr. Jason M. Waltz, occasional Black Gate contributor and stalwart road-trip companion, is rumored to be fairly highly placed in the global publishing mega-consortium that is Rogue Blades Entertainment. So when he leaked word to us of an impending major release this week, we dropped everything to check it out.
RBE is no stranger to heroic fantasy. For the past few years they’ve been at the very forefront of the genre, with such groundbreaking anthologies as Return of the Sword, Rage of the Behemoth, Demons, and others. Writing Fantasy Heroes looks like their most ambitious release yet — a must-have book for readers and aspiring writers alike.
Fantasy heroes endure. They are embedded in our cultural fabric, dwarfing other literary figures and the mere men and women of history. Achilles and Odysseus, Gilgamesh and Beowulf. King Arthur and Robin Hood, Macbeth and Sherlock Holmes, Conan and Luke Skywalker. They dominate our legends, and tower over popular culture. The stories we tell each other begin and end with fantasy heroes, and the 21st Century is as thoroughly captivated with them as ever. From Batman to Gandalf, Harry Potter to Tyrion Lannister, the heroes of fantasy speak to — and for — whole generations. But what makes a fantasy hero? How do the best writers create them, and bring them to life on the page? In Writing Fantasy Heroes some of the most successful fantasy writers of our time-including Steven Erikson, Brandon Sanderson, Janet Morris, Cecelia Holland, Orson Scott Card, and Glen Cook-pull back the curtain to reveal the secrets of creating heroes that live and breathe, and steal readers’ hearts. Whether you’re an aspiring writer or simply a reader who loves great fantasy and strong characters, this book is for you.
Writing Fantasy Heroes is edited by Jason M. Waltz, with a forward by Steven Erikson. It was published by Rogue Blades Entertainment and is available from Amazon.com and other fine distributors for $14.99 in trade paperback. The terrific wrap-around cover is by Dleoblack (click on the image for a bigger version). As soon as we receive a copy in house, we’ll report back with full details.
Hardcopy ordered. I do love me my eBooks, but for some things (something I might read one chapter at a time before going to sleep and/or something that might warrant lots of flipping back & forth), it’s gotta be paper.
Joe,
I hear you. I love paper too, but I think it’s because I grew up that way, not due to any specific advantage paper has.
My 13-year-old daughter likes to read on her Kindle. She asked for a book a week ago, and when I passed her a physical copy her nose wrinkled. “But I want to read it on my KINDLE,” she complained.
To each her own. At least with digital books, no trees were killed.
I’m at the point where, for fiction, at least, I generally prefer eBooks, to the point where if I own the hardcopy but the eBook is available, it’s hard not to buy it again. Unless there’s something special about the book — like my Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, most of which I could probably find online for free, but I want to read those specific paperback editions with those specific covers and Lin Carter introductions.
And I’m rereading some of C.J. Cherryh’s earlier stuff right now, most of which isn’t available electronically. So battered DAW books from my high school days it is.
(And how is it even [I]possible[/I] that it’s been almost forty years since Gate of Ivrel came out?!?)
Cool, RBE hits the heights of exposure once again here on the omnipresent Black Gate site!
Sorry I missed this earlier John – thanks for spreading the word. Info appears a little messy around the web right now, but slowly over the next two weeks all the book selling sites should sort it all out. As for Amazon, WFH will be available on all of its sites worldwide in both print and Kindle versions.
Hey Joe H. — thank you for ordering; I look forward to hearing what you think of it.
Congratulations on the new book, Jason. RBE Lives!
This is the best news I’ve heard all week! I just ordered a copy.
Thanks gentlemen and warriors!
You’re most welcome, Jason. Looking forward to seeing the physical copies at Windy City!!
[…] names from all qualifying entries. Those three winners will each receive a copy of the new book Writing Fantasy Heroes, compliments of Rogue Blades Entertainment. Each of these experts on heroes will also be invited to […]
[…] and I was just a glimmer in the slushpile. The book has been mentioned on this site a time or three by others, and will certainly come up again, so I wanted to get a look at it for myself. It turns […]
[…] return, we offered to award a copy of the new book Writing Fantasy Heroes, edited by Jason Waltz and published by Rogue Blades Entertainment, to three lucky […]
[…] just so happened to have recently worked with RBE on Writing Fantasy Heroes, and so introductions were made, and the work began. It wasn’t long before the manuscript was […]