Good afterevenmorn, Readers!
I’ve been receiving a great many emails of late, of a kind that I’m sure many authors are getting, and I think I should probably talk about it, because it’s all such a scam. There are several flavours of scam emails that are circulating at present, of which I have personally experienced two, so let’s talk about them. …
I’ve read 24 books so far this year, and 17 were audiobooks (we’ve already established I’m not going to say ‘books consumed.’ Listening and physically reading are distinctive, but they’re interchangeable here).
Of the 17 audiobooks, 15 were new. I re-read more than I read new books, but I’ve been using audiobooks to tackle things for the first time. 7 books were Clive Cusslers.
CLIVE CUSSLER
I first talked about Clive Cussler back in 2019. He would die a half-year later, at age 88. He had created an empire, with other authors carrying on his five sometimes-intertwined series’. I revisited his works last Summer. I’ve listened to 7 of his books so far this year, as I am well behind on my Cussler.
Isaac Bell is a turn-of-the 20th Century private eye for the Van Dorn Detective Agency. Justin Scott co-wrote the first 10. Jack Du Brul (who had been co-writing The Oregon Files), took over for the next 5. Though I liked it, for some reason the series hadn’t resonated with me in paperback. They were slow reads through the first 5. But Scott Brick reading them aloud worked for me, and I’ve listened to books 6 through 9: The Striker, The Bootlegger, The Assassin, and The Gangster. I like listening to Bell. So, audiobooks have me invested in a series that I wasn’t into in print. I will continue on. This series has run from 2007 through 2025.
From beside the queen Gawain
to the king did then incline:
‘I implore with prayer plain
that this match should now be mine.’
Somehow, I’ve never read Prof. Tolkien’s, let alone anyone’s, translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th cent.), an English poem written by an unknown poet. Thinking on it, I know there’s a cheesy looking movie, Sword of the Valiant, from the eighties starring Miles O’Keeffe and Sean Connery, but it was only David Lowery’s 2021 The Green Knight and its critical acclaim that made me think it was maybe time to read the poem. Now I have. Additionally, and most valuable to me wrestling with my understanding of the poem, I’ve also read the professor’s 1953 WP Ker lecture on work.
The poem recounts the temptations of Sir Gawain, youngest member of King Arthur’s Round Table, as he attempts to meet the suicidal obligation he accepted when he entered a contest with a mysterious green knight. More precisely, as told, it’s about the conflict between chivalrous virtues of honor and courtesy and, specifically religious, morality.
Gawain was written in Middle English, the evolution of the language used between the Conquest in 1066 and the late 15th century. Gawain, son of Morgause, one of King Arthur’s half-sisters, is a major figure in many of the assorted Arthur tales. His roots descend back into older Welsh tales, where he was known as Gwalchmei. Pre-Christian elements, including the Beheading Game and the Wild Hunt, are integral parts of the story, despite the tale’s overt Christianity. The Beheading Game is a recurrent motif that tracks back to at least the Irish tale Fled Bricrenn featuring the hero Cú Chulainn and the Wild Hunt occurs across various Northern European myth cycles.
The poem begins with a recounting of Britain’s founding by Brutus of Troy. Noble as he was, young King Arthur of Camelot was nobler still. One Christmas season, as Arthur’s knights were celebrating with a games and contests, a strange figure entered the hall.
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Remains, issues 4 and 4. Cover art by Richard Wagner
There are readers who, like me, prefer dark fiction in short form, because their suspension of disbelief is too brief to sustain — with a few exceptions — a full novel.
For people like us here’s a real treat: the new magazine/anthology Remains, edited by Andy Cox and illustrated by Richard Wagner, both well known for their previous work with the mythical Black Static magazine.
The first two issues are already sold out, but volume 3 ( published in late 2025) and the brand new volume 4 are available to entertain and disquiet.
Theodora McCormick was born on September 14, 1890 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father died when she was a year old and she was raised by her mother and stepfather. She attended the Barnard School for Girls in Manhattan and the Halsted School in Yonkers. Although she wanted to attend Vassar College and was accepted in 1909, her parents did not support her attending the school. Her plans to go anyway were dashed when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and she found herself in a TB sanitarium instead. Eventually, in 1916, she enrolled in the Dartmouth Summer School for Drama.
While in the sanitarium, McCormick began writing poetry, although most of her poetry was written during this time and after she was healthy she focused on various forms of prose writing. In 1918, she married Delafield Du Bois and took the name Theodora Du Bois. Theodora gave birth to a daughter, also named Theodora, in 1919 and in 1922 had a son, Eliot.
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Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers (Avon Books, 1964)
“I know who you are now,” said Nurse Philliter, slowly. “You — you gave evidence against Sir Julian Freke. In fact, you traced the murder to him, didn’t you?”
In Unnatural Death, the third Wimsey novel, Sayers again makes medical issues vital to the plot and the mystery. In this case, Wimsey learns of his case entirely by accident: He and his close friend Charles Parker are talking about crime over dinner, and Wimsey tells Parker that, unlike police officers, who have a public duty to voice their suspicions, doctors have no such duty and can get in trouble by doing so.
This is overheard by a doctor seated at a nearby table, who tells them a story of his own experience with doing so: A rich old woman in his care died unexpectedly — she was suffering from a terminal cancer, but that was not the cause — and he found the death puzzling and asked to do a post-mortem, which found no cause of death, followed by a chemical analysis, which revealed nothing either.
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Conan the Barbarian #4 & 5, by Roy Thomas and Barry Barry Windsor-Smith
(Marvel Comics, April and May 1971). Covers by Barry Windsor-Smith
I don’t systematically collect comic book materials but I pick up Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard related stuff when I see it. Found all three of the Marvel paperbacks above at various book sales.
Conan the Barbarian: The Official Marvel Comics Adaptation of the Movie stayed true to the movie plot. Being a Howard purist, I wasn’t a big fan of the movie when it came out, but it’s grown on me over time. I just don’t really think of it as a Howard Conan movie. Earl Norem did the cover for this one, based on movie images.
The Stan Lee Presents Conan volumes are in color. I don’t have Volume 1 and likely won’t be getting it since it lists at 250 bucks on Amazon, but here are 2 and 3, which I bought for a buck or so. Both were written by Roy Thomas (1940 – ) and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith (1949 – ).
Written by William Wisher and Warren Lewis. Directed by John McTiernan
Based on the novel, Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton, who also served as a producer and uncredited director.
A version of the Beowulf story, as witnessed by an aristocratic Arab who accompanies a dozen Viking warriors into battle against a mysterious army of cannibalistic cavemen.
Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk have become geek icons. A Knight’s Tale, Castle, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Resident Alien, The Rookie: they’ve built successful careers over the years. Their real-life friendship, and their nerdy idol status, tracks back to Firefly.
Some day I’ll go in depth on this ill-fated cult classic. Fox aired the episodes out of order, switched nights, then canceled it with some episodes unaired. A ‘tie up some loose ends’ movie (Serenity) followed. Firefly developed a dedicated following and Fillion and the actors became popular at fan conventions around the country. Fillion’s profile skyrocketed when Castle ran for eight hit seasons on ABC. And as his mainstream popularity soared, he became one of the most recognizable figures in the geek world.
Tudyk and Fillion had worked together several years ago on Alan’s hilarious web series, Con Man (mentioned below). Three months ago, they started a podcast together, and it’s fantastic. Episodes of Once We Were Spacemen are 45 minutes to 1 hour long, and it’s two long-time buddies hanging out. They share stories from their friendship, acting careers, and geek experiences. And they are as likable and funny as you hoped. Even more so.
If there is one group of people that deserve more praise in the literary community, it’s translators. Recent years have shown us just how vital they are to our bookshelves and TBR lists. Its them we have to thank for every Roadside Picnic and Eternaut that dares to tantalize English speakers the world over.
Make no mistake, theirs is a challenging, sometimes even thankless job. The difficulty of translating an entire novel into another language should not be underestimated. Finding the right expression, the correct syntax, ensuring the lyricism of a work is properly communicated are just a few of the challenges translators face. Calling it an art of its own would be no exaggeration. And as a result of that art, we as readers, have been gifted a Smaug’s hoard of titles. Think entire subgenres, fresh visions of tomorrow, and treasure troves of inspiration. Our beloved speculative genre is so much richer thanks to the riotous rogues and deadly dames translated works have introduced us to.
Here are seven translators who have had a massive impact on the SFF community over the past two decades.
