Browsed by
Month: April 2017

A Duo Who Explore the Darker Side of Victorian London: The Gower Street Detective by M.R.C. Kasasian

A Duo Who Explore the Darker Side of Victorian London: The Gower Street Detective by M.R.C. Kasasian

Comments 2 comments
The Mangle Street Murders-small The Curse of the House of Foskett-small Death Descends on Saturn Villa-small The Secrets of Gaslight Lane-small Dark Dawn Over Steep House-small

A few weeks ago I picked up a remaindered copy of The Curse of the House of Foskett purely as an impulse buy, mostly because of the delightful cover (and because Bob Byrne’s love of all things Sherlock has been rubbing off on me). And thus I discovered The Gower Street Detective by M.R.C. Kasasian, a Victorian crime series starring a detective duo that’s been getting a lot of attention. The Daily Mail called the first book “One of the most delightful and original new novels of the year ― the first in a series that could well become a cult.” There are five volumes published or announced, including one that arrives in hardcover this week, and a fifth book due in December:

The Mangle Street Murders (320 pages, February 2014)
The Curse of the House of Foskett (408 pages, January 2015)
Death Descends on Saturn Villa (400 pages, March 2016)
The Secrets of Gaslight Lane (512 pages, April 4, 2017)
Dark Dawn Over Steep House (432 pages, December 5, 2017)

All five are published by Pegasus Books. They are priced at $25.95 in hardcover, $14.95 – $15.95 in trade paperback, and $9.99-$12.95 for the digital versions. The cover artist, sadly, is not credited.

…

Read More Read More

An Interview With Author and Artist Tom Barczak

An Interview With Author and Artist Tom Barczak

Comments 2 comments

Tom Barczak-small

I first met Tom some years ago, through mutual friends on Facebook, as so often happens. We soon became friends and then colleagues, writing for author and publisher Janet Morris’ anthology of Heroic Fantasy, Heroika: Dragon Eaters, as well as her wonderful and legendary series, Heroes in Hell, which this spring (2017) will launch its 18th or 19th volume, (I lose track, LOL), Pirates in Hell. Tom is not only a very fine artist and excellent writer, he is also a great father, a wonderful husband, and a true and kind gentleman I’m proud to know. Here are a few things about Tom you may or may not know… things you definitely should know about this talented man.

Thomas Barczak is an artist, turned architect, turned writer, who finally got around to actually writing the stories he started dreaming about as a kid. His work includes the dark epic fantasy, Mouth of the Dragon, the illustrated epic, Veil of the Dragon, the Kindle serials, Awakening Evarun (Parts I-VI) and Wolfbane (Parts 1-2 of 3), along with numerous short stories and flash fiction, including those published in Heroika 1 – Dragon Eaters, Nine Heroes, Terror by Gaslight, and What Scares the Boogeyman, as well as two volumes of the award winning Heroes in Hell series, Dreamers in Hell, and Poets in Hell. He writes simply because he can’t not write. He writes because he needs to tell the stories he already started on way before, in his paintings, in his poetry, and even before that, sitting around a table with friends, slaying dragons.

Here, then, is Tom Barzcak, in his own words, in a wonderful interview that will surely touch your heart.

…

Read More Read More

When People Say the British Invasion of Comics, What Do They Really Mean?

When People Say the British Invasion of Comics, What Do They Really Mean?

Comments 2 comments

Official-Vertigo-Wallpapers-vertigo-comics-6894229-500-375

I think it’s a truism that either you have no taste as a child (The Golden Age of Science Fiction Is Ages 8-12 Effect) or that you just haven’t read enough to be discerning.

I think I’ve certainly suffered from being 12 as well as not having read enough. There are books and comics I read when younger that don’t do anything for me in my forties.

And there are good books and comics whose tropes have been so over-used that they’ve moved into the cliché.

That all being said, I think some good work was being done in American comics in the 1980s. Chris Claremont, J.M. DeMattis, George Perez, Walt Simonson, John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, Peter David and many others were delivering solid, A-level work. And younger folk like Frank Miller were bringing decidedly different sensibilities and tones to American comics.

…

Read More Read More

New Treasures: The Moon and the Other by John Kessel

New Treasures: The Moon and the Other by John Kessel

Comments 0 Comment

The Moon and the Other-smallA new novel by John Kessel is a major event.

Kessel isn’t particularly prolific, but what he has written has gotten a heck of a lot of attention. His second novel, Good News From Outer Space (1989, Tor), was a Nebula nominee, and his first collection, Meeting in Infinity (1992, Arkham House), was nominated for the World Fantasy Award. He’s won two Nebula Awards for his short fiction, and his stories have been nominated for three Hugos, two World Fantasy Awards, and eight Nebulas. His newest novel, The Moon and the Other, is his first in two decades. It arrives in hardcover on Tuesday from Saga Press.

John Kessel, one of the most visionary writers in the field, has created a rich matriarchal utopia, set in the near future on the moon, a society that is flawed by love and sex, and on the brink of a destructive civil war.

In the middle of the twenty-second century, over three million people live in underground cities below the moon’s surface. One city-state, the Society of Cousins, is a matriarchy, where men are supported in any career choice, but no right to vote — and tensions are beginning to flare as outside political intrigues increase.

After participating in a rebellion that caused his mother’s death, Erno has been exiled from the Society of Cousins. Now, he is living in the Society’s rival colony, Persepolis, when he meets Amestris, the defiant daughter of the richest man on the moon. Mira, a rebellious loner in the Society, creates graffiti videos that challenge the Society’s political domination. She is hopelessly in love with Carey, the exemplar of male privilege. An Olympic champion in low-gravity martial arts and known as the most popular bedmate in the Society, Carey’s more suited to being a boyfriend than a parent, even as he tries to gain custody of his teenage son.

When the Organization of Lunar States sends a team to investigate the condition of men in the Society, Erno sees an opportunity to get rich, Amestris senses an opportunity to escape from her family, Mira has a chance for social change, and Carey can finally become independent of the matriarchy that considers him a perpetual adolescent. But when Society secrets are revealed, the first moon war erupts, and everyone must decide what is truly worth fighting for.

The Moon and the Other will be published by Saga Press on April 4, 2017. It is 597 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $7.99 for the digital edition.

Liam Neeson Attached to Play Philip Marlowe … But Not in a Raymond Chandler Adaptation for Some Reason

Liam Neeson Attached to Play Philip Marlowe … But Not in a Raymond Chandler Adaptation for Some Reason

Comments 13 comments
raymond-chandler-with-cat Liam-Neeson-Philip-Marlowe

Irish actor and dadbro buttkicker extraordinaire Liam Neeson (known around these parts as Liam Neesons) has upped his righteous tough guy game to play the most righteous — and possibly greatest — tough guy of all: Philip Marlowe. The hardboiled detective. This news comes from Variety, which reports Neeson is attached to the new Marlowe project to be produced by Gary Levinson for Nickel City Pictures from a script by William Monahan (The Departed).

This is inspired casting. Neeson is a brilliant actor who can portray the world-weary but upstanding Los Angeles detective, although Neeson will need a director to ensure he doesn’t slip into the more action-leaning characters he’s played recently. But any return of Philip Marlowe to the big screen is a monstrous, tarantula-on-a-slice-of-angel-food-cake deal. The last Philip Marlowe big-screen film was in 1978!

…

Read More Read More