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Month: September 2017

Modular: The New Mongoose Traveller #3 — Random Adventures, Or How I GM’d With No Prep

Modular: The New Mongoose Traveller #3 — Random Adventures, Or How I GM’d With No Prep

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Spacers in Ganelon Navy uniforms cram the bar. These guys have a reputation for trashing bars and brawling with strangers. However, this evening, they are beyond well behaved. They keep their hands off the waiting staff, even tip them generously. They are almost painfully polite — “I’m sorry I nearly jostled you! Please accept my apologies, and further apologies on behalf of my ship and indeed my culture…”

This is a problem!

Or at least a problem for the three hard-up traveling companions huddled around a small corner table… let’s call them Travellers... sipping beer from bulbs designed to cope with the 0.15G (these are real!). They have a contract to catch the Ganelon spacers behaving badly so as to compromise that star kingdom’s naval goodwill tour. So far, they are not seeing any bad behaviour.

Somewhat direct in mentality, Charadack, the retired marine sergeant in the group, starts loudly boasting about a battle in which the Imperium forces utterly thrashed those of Ganelon Star Kingdom. Perhaps he can provoke an assault?

After about fifteen minutes, a Ganelon officer carefully navigates the crowded bar and addresses Charadack: “I hear you are talking about your great victory. May I compliment you and the entire Imperium for your chivalry? You are brave and noble fighters, and indeed were exceptionally polite and gracious to the POWs captured as a result of  your glorious success…”

At this point, our Travellers are starting to freak out. What is going on?

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New Treasures: Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

New Treasures: Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

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Amatka Karin Tidbeck-smallKarin Tidbeck’s first collection Jagannath brought rave reviews from China Mieville, Karen Joy Fowler, Elizabeth Hand, and others. Ursula K. Le Guin said, “I have never read anything like Jagannath… These are wonderful stories.”

Karin’s debut novel Amatka is likewise garnering a lot of attention. Weird Fiction Review calls it “Remarkable… weird fiction at its most inventive and self-questioning.” And Jeff VanderMeer says “Karin Tidbeck’s Amatka is a stunning, truly original exploration of the mysteries of reality and what it means to be human… a brilliant short story writer has been revealed as an even more brilliant novelist. One of my favorite reads of the past few years, an instant classic.”

Print copies of Jagannath are now almost impossible to find. Don’t make the same mistake of overlooking Amatka! It arrived in trade paperback from Vintage in June.

Welcome to Amatka…

where everyone has a role, language has strange properties, and nothing — not even the very fabric of reality — can be taken for granted.

Vanja Essre Two is sent to the wintry colony of Amatka on an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Dissent is not tolerated in Amatka, nor is romantic love, but Vanja nonetheless falls for her housemate Nina, a true believer in the colony’s ways. But when Vanja is drawn into a resistance movement, she must choose between love and a revolution, which promises liberation at the cost of tearing the world as they know it apart.

Amatka was published by Vintage on June 27, 2017. It is 216 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $11.99 for the digital edition. Read more at the author’s website.

Goth Chick News: Holy Cosplayer Batman! Wizard World Comic Con Lands in Chicago

Goth Chick News: Holy Cosplayer Batman! Wizard World Comic Con Lands in Chicago

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Wizard World Comic Con Chicago 2017-small

There are enough pop culture fanatics and spandex in the city of Chicago to necessitate multiple comic book conventions along with all the celebrity guests, panels and mountains of merchandise that comes with them. While C2E2 dominates the spring season, the end of the summer is the domain of Wizard World Comic Con, where a dizzying array of cosplayers mingle with thousands of guests at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

Founded in 1972 as Nostalgia ’72 by local comic dealer / school teach Nancy Warner and housed in a local Chicago hotel banquet room, this year’s con boasted an estimated 110K attendees over the four-day event at the end of August. Wizard World Chicago is now the third largest such event in overall attendance in the US, behind only the New York Comic Con, and Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Originally showcasing comic books and related popular arts, the convention has expanded over the years to include a larger range of pop culture elements, such as professional wrestling, science fiction/fantasy, film/television, horror, animation, anime, manga, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels.

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In Alone Against the Flames You Face the Horror of Cthulhu the Way the Universe Intended: By Yourself

In Alone Against the Flames You Face the Horror of Cthulhu the Way the Universe Intended: By Yourself

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Alone Against the Flames-small Alone Against the Flames-back-small

I’m a huge fan of solitaire role playing adventures. They’re a great way to exercise your imagination and sample an immersive RPG experience when you can’t find any other players — or just can’t convince them to try out a new game with you.

Of course, the biggest drawback of solo RPGs (aside from the fact that they’re relatively thin on the ground these days) is that most expect you to be fully conversant with the system. That’s why I’m so delighted with Alone Against the Flames, the newest solo adventure for Call of Cthulhu. You don’t need to read the (rather daunting) rulebook before you start playing. Just settle in a comfy chair with some lucky dice, open the book, and follow the instructions. It dumps you right into the story and teaches you the game as you go.

Call of Cthulhu is a horror RPG based on the work of HP Lovecraft, and Alone Against the Flames is a complete tale set in the 1920s in which you are the main character, and your choices determine the outcome. Although it’s designed to walk you through the basics of the game as you go, a copy of the Call of Cthulhu Seventh Edition QuickStart Rules (which you can download for free here) is required to play.

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The Poison Apple: A Cosplayer’s Best Friend, Interview with Photographer Bruce Heinsius

The Poison Apple: A Cosplayer’s Best Friend, Interview with Photographer Bruce Heinsius

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Josephine Chang as Silk

Josephine Chang as Silk

I wanted to preface that when I first met Bruce, we were both working as Still Photographers in Hollywood, and he was on Power Rangers, which has made a comeback with a new feature film after twenty-five years or so.

BH: I worked on the television show the first season shooting everything from action on the set to special shoots for calendars, trading cards, video box covers and magazines.

You and I have been out of touch for a while, but we reconnected on Facebook, because you took photos of someone else I was already friends with, and that’s when I noticed you started taking photos of cosplayers at conventions. Why don’t you share with the readers how you got involved with that?

Back in 2006, I was supposed to be doing a movie shoot. When I showed up, the person who hired me apologized and said he forgot to tell me it was cancelled because everyone was going to a cosplay event instead. So, I tagged along and was surprised how many comic book and animé characters were there. I wasn’t really doing action photos on that first event, but I still tried to create good portraiture while photographing people in costume.

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Future Treasures: Magicians Impossible by Brad Abraham

Future Treasures: Magicians Impossible by Brad Abraham

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Magicians Impossible-smallBrad Abraham has written for film (Stonehenge Apocalypse), television (RoboCop: Prime Directive), comics (Mixtape), and genre magazines (Rue Morgue, Starburst). His first novel is Magicians Impossible, which Library Journal says reads like “Harry Potter meets James Bond,… this series launch by a screenwriter features ages-old spy rings of magic-wielding secret agents… a cinematic, fast-paced debut.” It arrives in hardcover next week from Thomas Dunne Books.

Twenty-something bartender Jason Bishop’s world is shattered when his estranged father commits suicide, but the greater shock comes when he learns his father was a secret agent in the employ of the Invisible Hand; an ancient society of spies wielding magic in a centuries-spanning war. Now the Golden Dawn―the shadowy cabal of witches and warlocks responsible for Daniel Bishop’s murder, and the death of Jason’s mother years before―have Jason in their sights. His survival will depend on mastering his own dormant magic abilities; provided he makes it through the training.

From New York, to Paris, to worlds between worlds, Jason’s journey through the realm of magic will be fraught with peril. But with enemies and allies on both sides of this war, whom can he trust? The Invisible Hand, who’ve been more of a family than his own family ever was? The Golden Dawn, who may know the secrets behind his mysterious lineage? For Jason Bishop, only one thing is for certain; the magic he has slowly been mastering is telling him not to trust anybody.

Magicians Impossible will be published by Thomas Dunne Books on September 12, 2017. It is 390 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital version. The cover was designed by Ervin Serrano. Read an excerpt here.

World Weaver Press Open for Submissions, Both Novels and Short Stories for a New Anthology

World Weaver Press Open for Submissions, Both Novels and Short Stories for a New Anthology

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solarpunk-banner-submissions_2_origCongratulations are in order for World Weaver Press. Their Kickstarter Campaign is funded! (But don’t neglect those stretch goals, they still have cool stuff they want to do.) This means the Brazilian anthology, Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastic Stories in a Sustainable World will be coming out in English. It also means that World Weaver will be releasing another solarpunk anthology of original stories written in English called Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers. They’ve posted their call for submissions, and in it they say:

Solarpunk is a type of eco-conscious science fiction that imagines an optimistic future founded on renewable energies. It might take place in a wind-powered skyscraper or on a solar-powered robotic farm, in a bustling green-roofed metropolis or in a small but tech-saavy desert village. Often coupled with an art nouveau aesthetic, and always inclusive and diverse, solarpunk stories show the ways we have adapted to climate change, or the ways we have overcome it.

For this anthology, I want to see solarpunk summers. Show me futuristic stories that take place in summer, whether that involves a summer night in a rooftop garden, or characters adapting to extreme heat and weather, or an annual migration to cooler lands. Keep it planet-based (Earth or other), and optimistic. Solarpunk worlds aren’t necessarily utopias, but they definitely aren’t dystopias.

We’re a northern hemisphere publisher, but southern hemisphere summers are also welcome!

Their site even provides suggested reading for inspiration.

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Fantasia 2017, Days 7 to 9: The Laplace’s Demon

Fantasia 2017, Days 7 to 9: The Laplace’s Demon

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The Laplace's DemonAfter two days off, I returned to Fantasia on June 21 fit, trim, and rested. Randomness defines my festival schedule — it happened that the previous two days had nothing I wanted to see. But that Friday afternoon I was looking forward to one of the most intriguing movies listed in Fantasia’s catalogue: The Laplace’s Demon, directed by Giordano Giulivi.

A team of scientists has worked out how to calculate the complexities of glass shattering. Their mathematics imply a deterministic universe, if the code can be more fully cracked. The movie begins with them on their way to a mysterious island, summoned to the mansion of a reclusive genius. There, in his empty mansion, they find the terrible truth — their host, speaking to them by videotape, is playing a terrible game. He’s gone further than them, pushed the math beyond human sanity. Now the researchers are elements in a vaster experiment: the horrific mechanisms in the isolated house will eliminate them, one by one, if the equations are correct. Can they find a flaw in the math and save themselves? Is there room in the universe for free will?

Watching the film play out I saw science-fiction and mystery and horror blend in a classic plot framework. The movie feels like an artifact from Hollywood’s Golden Age, some previously-unknown Val Lewton piece, a forgotten film by James Whale. It’s shot in a heavily-shadowed black and white, much of it in one elaborately-furnished room filled with dark corners and rich art-nouveau details. Close-ups and odd foreshortening adds to an air of unreality, fostered by an unusually tasteful use of CGI. The characters here are caught in a metafictional plot, which can be predicted but not evaded. Clever, well-crafted, it evokes Halloween frissons of delicate horror, surprising while generating a sense of inevitability, moving to a creaky but effective plot climax that resolves its themes with the bleakness of a death’s-head inevitable grin at a deterministic universe.

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September/October 2017 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale

September/October 2017 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale

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Asimov's Science Fiction September October 2017-smallSaturday I visited my local Barnes & Noble here in St. Charles, which has an excellent magazine rack, and spent too much money on a big stack of magazines: Retro Gamer, Rue Morgue Library #11: The Weird World of HP Lovecraft, Analog, F&SF, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. The first one I sat down with Asimov’s, and that’s chiefly because of Sam Tomaino enthusiastic review of the issue at SF Revu.

The September/October 2017 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction has a lot of very good stories including one Hugo-worthy. The fiction begins with the novelette “Wind Will Rove” by Sarah Pinsker. -+- Rosie Clay is of the third generation on a generational ship, her grandmother was one of the originals who started on the voyage. Rosie Clay is in her 50s, teaches history, and regularly plays her grandmother’s old fiddle with other traditionalists. One important song is from 1974, called “Wind Will Rise.” One of her students does not want to learn history and wants the past ignored. How can she best deal with this rebellion? A beautiful, poignant tale.

“Universe Box” by Michael Swanwick -+- Another story this month, from one of the best. Howard Pendleton is going to ask his girlfriend, Mimi, to marry him on Valentine’s Day in the most boring, conventional way possible. Mimi anticipates this and is going to dump him. But someone calling himself “Uncle Paulie” arrives at Howard’s door and turns his life inside out. He is a traveler from the stars and has pulled off a tremendous heist. This all starts a wild romp of a story which was loads of fun to read. Swanwick is a devotee of that most original writer R.A. Lafferty and R.A.L. would have got a kick out of this story! This will be on my Hugo Shortlist for Best Novelette next year!

“Dead Men in Central City” by Carrie Vaughan -+- Ricardo must shoot his horse when it breaks two legs and he winds up in the nearby boom mining town of Central City, Colorado. In a bar there, he meets a man who coughs a lot and is dealing faro — one Doctor John Holliday. Ricardo gets a room that shields him from the sun because he is actually a 350-year-old vampire but he only takes as much blood as he needs. Holliday knows what he is but they wind up with some mutual respect for each other. Great little tale!…

September/October, traditionally the “slightly spooky issue” of Asimov’s, contains tales of ghosts, vampires, mysterious spirits, spooky carnivals, and more. It includes fiction by Harry Turtledove, Allen M. Steele, Kit Reed, R. Garcia y Robertson, Sandra McDonald, Suzanne Palmer, Tim McDaniel, William Preston, Dennis E. Staples, and — just like last issue — two tales by James Gunn set in the world of his Transcendental Trilogy.

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A Not So Trimphant Ending to The Atlan Saga: Some Summer Lands by Jane Gaskell

A Not So Trimphant Ending to The Atlan Saga: Some Summer Lands by Jane Gaskell

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Orbit Futura Edition
Orbit Futura Edition

“The Fourth Book in the Hitch-Hiker Trilogy” proclaimed the cover blurb on the Pan version of So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, by Douglas Adams. And many smiled and thought this was very clever and funny. The fourth book in a trilogy wasn’t actually a new idea, even back in the 1984. Now a fifth book in a trilogy is a little more unusual, and indeed when one appeared (Mostly Harmless, in 1992) the updated blurb proclaimed: “The Fifth Book in the Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhikers Trilogy”.

What has Douglas Adams got to do with Jane Gaskell?

Well, she did the same thing. She wrote a pretty good trilogy – albeit one which some publishers stretched into four books – and then, by all appearances, decided to tack on another volume some years later. This is of course my opinion, but if you’ll indulge me a bit you will see why I reached that conclusion.

Now there are plenty of authors who have tacked books on to a successful trilogy — and some who have even added a whole follow up series. To be fair to Mr Adams, his additional books were pretty good, though not up to the standard of the original series. To me, they still felt like they were more of an afterthought than a specifically planned and executed conclusion.

Some Summer Lands also does not quite fit. Sadly, that is not the only issue. I cannot in honesty give this book the same recommendation I gave to the other books in the Atlan Saga, which were pretty good, with occasional flashes of brilliance. Some Summer Lands was published in 1977, roughly ten years after The City. My Orbit Futura edition weighed in at 360 pages split into three parts of varying length.

Some Summer Lands is not pretty good. Dismally disjointed, maybe. Rambling, definitely. Misguided, certainly. One of the few positives I had from the experience was that it helped me realize why I had taken on re-reading the series with such trepidation. The first three (or four) books surprised me, as I did not have fond memories of the series when I read it in my youth.

Anyone who has read my earlier reviews may remember me marveling at certain aspects and wondering why I had disliked them as a teenager. Now I know why! It’s this last book which casts a dark shadow.

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