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Month: August 2015

New Treasures: Written in the Blood by Stephen Lloyd Jones

New Treasures: Written in the Blood by Stephen Lloyd Jones

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Written in the Blood-smallI reported on Stephen Lloyd Jones’ debut horror novel The String Diaries, the tale of a family is hunted by a centuries-old monster, last month. I haven’t even finished reading it yet, and I’m already hearing great things about the sequel, Written in the Blood, released in hardcover by Mulholland Books in late May.

The Guardian called the first novel “Chilling… A neo-gothic treat; original, richly imagined, and powerfully told.” And Booklist assures me the sequel is “just as good as the one that came before — and, in this case, that means essential reading for devotees of high-end sf.” Sounds like I’m going to have to set aside some quality time for this one, too.

See the girl. Leah Wilde is twenty-four, a runaway on a black motorbike, hunting for answers while changing her identity with each new Central European town.

See the man, having come of age in extraordinary suffering and tragedy in nineteenth-century Budapest; witness to horror, to love, to death, and the wrath of a true monster. Izsák still lives in the present day, impossibly middle-aged. He’s driven not only to hunt this immortal evil but to find his daughter, stolen from an Arctic cabin and grown into the thing Izsák has sworn to kill.

See the monster, a beautiful, seemingly young woman who stalks the American West, seeking the young and the strong to feed upon, desperate to return to Europe where her coven calls.

Written in the Blood is the epic thriller of the year, a blazing and dexterous saga spanning generations, and threading the lives of five individuals driven by love, by sacrifice, by hunger and by fear. They seek to save a race — or to extinguish it forever.

Written in the Blood was published by Mulholland Books on May 26, 2015. It is 485 pages, priced at $26 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital version. The cover was designed by Alex Merto.

The Retold Story of Etrian Odyssey Untold

The Retold Story of Etrian Odyssey Untold

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Etrian Odyssey Untold-smallIn my previous post on Etrian Odyssey, I spent the majority of my time examining what the series did to revive the dungeon crawler genre, and attract a new generation of fans through the use of mixing modern and classic game design. By the time this post is up, the second game in the Etrian Odyssey Untold series will be out, and I wanted to take a look at how Atlus is giving old and new fans a revised take on the series.

Second Chances

Previously, I talked about how the Etrian Odyssey series was reviewed very harshly by most critics for the first couple of installments; the reason was that a lot of people didn’t want to play a dungeon crawler, and were hung up on the series’ hardcore difficulty. And to be fair, their complaints had some merit, due to the quirks of the series.

While Etrian Odyssey did make a lot of allowances compared to older dungeon crawlers, this was still a series that forced you to find the enjoyment in it. Enemy stats were scaled very high, and all it took was one bad battle to wipe out your party and lose all progress from your last save. While party composition wasn’t as complicated as previous series, a novice could still mess up early by not understanding good party compositions, and the game’s use of harvesting field points for items/money.

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Flavorwire on the 10 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels of 2015 (So Far)

Flavorwire on the 10 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels of 2015 (So Far)

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The Whispering Storm-smallWe’re barely halfway through the year, but I suppose that’s far enough to start arguing over Ten Best lists. Yesterday Jonathon Sturgeon at Flavorwire kicked it off with a list of The 10 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels of 2015 So Far, a list that includes Michael Moorcock, Neal Stephenson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ian Tregillis, and Nicole Kornher-Stace. Here’s Jonathon on Michael Moorcock’s latest, The Whispering Swarm:

Moorcock is among the most influential of all genre writers, and he returns here with his first novel in nine years — and readers will be happy to learn that it launches a trilogy. Even though much of this first installment is given over to scene setting — it takes place in a hidden London enclave where historical figures mix with literary creations — it’s still a pleasure to read. Also, it may well inaugurate the autofictional fantasy subgenre.

He also has high praise for new writer Nicole Kornher-Stace, who thrilled me with a reading from Archivist Wasp at the World Fantasy Convention:

More than a little drunk on Greek mythology, Kornher-Stace’s Archivist Wasp tells the story of an “archivist” and ghost-hunter who learns to communicate with the specter of a supersoldier and (in the process) unlearns what she knows about her own horrorscape of a world. Smart, risk-taking, and weird as hell.

See the complete list here.

Visiting a Holy Well in Oxfordshire, England

Visiting a Holy Well in Oxfordshire, England

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St. Margaret's church.
St. Margaret’s church.

Oxford is one of the most popular day trips for visitors to London thanks to its beautiful university and world-class museums such as the Ashmolean and Pitt-Rivers. It’s also worth staying overnight so that you can take advantage to the surrounding area, which offers some pleasant country walks.

One of the more enjoyable is a two-mile stroll along the Thames (locally called the Isis) that takes you to the hamlet of Binsey and the medieval church of St. Margaret’s. Set amid trees in the peaceful English countryside, the church makes for a relaxing stop and you can visit an Anglo-Saxon holy well that’s been an object of pilgrimage for centuries.

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The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1963: A Retro-Review

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1963: A Retro-Review

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fantasy_and_science_fiction August 1963-smallHere’s an issue of F&SF from Avram Davidson’s tenure, and Davidson’s stamp is, to my eye pretty evident. It’s a reasonably significant issue simply in that it includes part of a Heinlein serial.

The features include a book review column by Davidson, in which he covers a piece of non-fiction by Patrick Moore and Francis Jackson on the possibility of Life in the Universe, some Burroughs reissues (Davidson, in recommending the books, writes “Hark! Is that the squeal of an angry throat?,” which later (slightly changed) became a story title for him), Walter Tevis’ The Man Who Fell to Earth (Davidson was unimpressed), a book on whales, and (very briefly) Cordwainer Smith’s You Will Never Be the Same, taking time to deny that “Cordwainer Smith” was ever a pseudonym of Robert Silverberg – and here I was, hoping that he would at long last reveal this in one of his bibliographic posts right here!

The cover is quite impressive – it’s by Ed Emshwiller, for Ray Nelson’s “Turn Off the Sky” – there’s a bit of a Richard Powers vibe to it, though it’s still of course Emsh… and a rare case where beautiful woman on the cover doesn’t look like his wife Carol.

There is also of course a science column by Asimov (“T-Formation,” a relatively weak outing, about large numbers), a Feghoot (about time travel and a couple of women of loose virtue – I’m sure you can guess the pun), a quite nice poem on the loss of the mystery of Venus due to Mariner II, by R. H. and Kathleen P. Reis; and, surprisingly, a letter column! Notable letters include one from James Blish complaining about the term “Science Fantasy” (“… stands as a warning that the author reserves the right to get the facts all wrong”); and one from a reader complaining about Davidson’s editorial hand and declining to renew his subscription – who was the reader? One E. Gary Gygax!

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Future Treasures: Cthulhu Fhtagn!, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

Future Treasures: Cthulhu Fhtagn!, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

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Cthulhu Fhtagn-smallRoss E. Lockhart has edited some of my favorite Cthulhu anthologies, including the terrific The Book of Cthulhu and The Book of Cthulhu II. When he left Night Shade Books he founded Word Horde, which has produced some excellent books over the past year — including The Children of Old Leech, the genre-bending anthology Giallo Fantastique, and Molly Tanzer’s novel Vermilion.

His newest project is Cthulhu Fhtagn!, featuring 19 original weird tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, available in trade paperback and digital format next week.

In his house at R’lyeh, Cthulhu waits dreaming… What are the dreams that monsters dream? When will the stars grow right? Where are the sunken temples in which the dreamers dwell? How will it all change when they come home?

Within these pages lie the answers, and more, in all-new stories by many of the brightest lights in dark fiction. Gathered together by Ross E. Lockhart, the editor who brought you The Book of Cthulhu, The Children of Old Leech, and Giallo Fantastique, Cthulhu Fhtagn! features nineteen weird tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! will be published by Word Horde on August 15, 2015. It is 330 pages, priced at $19.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Adolfo Navarro.

See all of our coverage of the best upcoming fantasy releases here.

Discovering Robert E. Howard: Pigeons From Hell From Lovecraft by Don Herron

Discovering Robert E. Howard: Pigeons From Hell From Lovecraft by Don Herron

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Herron_DarkBarbarianBefore the Cumberbunnies took over and flooded the internet with “I heart Sherlock” memes, the term ‘Sherlockian’ referred to those who studied (and often wrote about) Arthur Conan Doyle’s sixty stories of Sherlock Holmes. Some  of it was dead serious, some was tongue in cheek and much was in between. Monsignor Ronald Knox’s 1921 “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes” is the cornerstone of Holmes studies.

With that, I tell you that that Don Herron is THE Ronald Knox of Robert E. Howard. “Conan vs. Conantics” and the ensuing “The Dark Barbarian” showed that Howard could be analyzed and treated as literature. As well as something to stir up debate! If you haven’t read the over-600 page essay collection, “The Dark Barbarian That Towers Over All,” you need to pony up $4.99 and get the kindle version now.

And with that, Herron, who is also a noted expert on Dashiell Hammett (this man knows good writing) is going to treat you to a little Howardiana regarding REH’s most chilling horror story, “Pigeons From Hell.”

Recently I did a reread on H. P. Lovecraft’s Fungi from Yuggoth sonnet cycle and had a Hey, Wait a Minute moment. . .

Deep into his follow-up book to A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos, John D. Haefele had asked me to look the poems over. Haefele is surveying Lovecraft’s Great Tales — not just the top achievements, but how the fiction developed as it went along, leading to the break-out stories — not just Lovecraft’s own writing, but how his discoveries of authors such as Robert W. Chambers and Arthur Machen and the ongoing cross-influences of his fellow pulpsters such as Frank Belknap Long, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard display in the ongoing saga that would become known as the Cthulhu Mythos.

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July Issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine Now Available

July Issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine Now Available

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Swords and Sorcery Magazine July 2015-smallIssue 42 of Curtis Ellett’s Swords and Sorcery Magazine, cover-dated July 2015, was published at the end of July. Each issue of Swords and Sorcery contains two short stories, and is available free online. This issue includes new fiction from Jeremy Harper and Gerry Huntman.

In “Without Sin”, by Jeremy Harper, Dorian Valentine, the ghost queller, assists an aspiring priestess with a final task of mercy for her dying uncle, who has never shown any. Harper has written two previous Dorian Valentine stories, both published in Lore. He has previously had non-fiction published in Swords & Sorcery.

In “Harsh Is the Light”, by Gerry Huntman, an aging warlord confronts his enemies, and the pain in his own past. Huntman has published many stories, including “Husks” in Swords & Sorcery in February 2014.

Read the current issue here. We last covered Swords and Sorcery Magazine with Issue #41.

Swords and Sorcery Magazine is edited by Curtis Ellett, and is available free online. Fletcher Vredenburgh reviewed issue #41 in his June Short Story Roundup.

See our August Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent magazine coverage here.

Announcing the 2015 Gemmell Award Winners

Announcing the 2015 Gemmell Award Winners

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Words-Of-Radiance-smallThe winners of the 2015 Gemmell Awards have been announced by the David Gemmell Legend Award administrators (the DGLA). May we have the envelope please!

The DGLA gives out three awards each year: the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Morningstar Award for Best Debut Novel, and the Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art.

The winners are:

Legend Award (Best Novel)

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Gollancz)

Morningstar Award (Best Debut Novel)

The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Stavely (Pan Macmillan/Tor UK)

Ravenheart Award (Best Cover Art)

Sam Green for the UK cover of Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson (Gollancz)

The David Gemmell Legend Award is a fan-voted award administered by the DGLA. The Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel was first granted in 2009, and has now been awarded seven times.

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New Treasures: His Father’s Eyes by David B. Coe

New Treasures: His Father’s Eyes by David B. Coe

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His Father's Eyes-smallDavid B. Coe’s adventure fantasy tale “Night of Two Moons” appeared in Black Gate 4. His three-book LonTobyn Chronicle (1997-2000) and five-volume Winds of the Forelands series (2002-07) were both published by Tor. He currently has two series on the go — under the name D.B. Jackson he writes the Thieftaker Chronicles, a historical urban fantasy, and under his own name he writes The Case Files of Justis Fearsson, a contemporary urban fantasy featuring a hardboiled, magic-using private detective.

His Father’s Eyes, the second book in The Case Files of Justis Fearsson, in which Fearsson faces off against dark sorcerers in Phoenix, Arizona, was released earlier this month by Baen Books.

Justis Fearsson is a weremyste. He wields potent magic, but every month, on the full moon, he loses his mind. He’s also a private detective, who can’t afford to take time off from his latest investigation while his sanity goes AWOL.

A legion of dark sorcerers has descended on Phoenix, wreaking havoc in the blistering desert heat. With the next moon phasing approaching, Jay has to figure out what connects a billionaire financier and a vicious drug kingpin to an attempted terrorist attack, a spate of ritual killings, and the murder of a powerful runemyste. And he has to do it fast. Because these same dark sorcerers have nearly killed the woman he loves and have used their spells to torment Jay’s father. Now they have Jay in their crosshairs, and with his death they intend to extend their power over the entire magicking world. But Jay has other plans, and no intention of turning his city, or those he loves, over to the enemy.

David’s most recent blog post for Black Gate, in which he discusses the ongoing Hugo Award controversy, was Enough, Part II.

The Case Files of Justis Fearsson began with Spell Blind (2014). His Father’s Eyes was published by Baen on August 4, 2015. It is 320 pages, priced at $25 in hardcover and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Alan Pollack. Read more — including a lengthy excerpt — at the Baen website.