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Month: April 2018

Rebels in a Society of Masks: The Masks Of Aygrima Trilogy by E.C. Blake

Rebels in a Society of Masks: The Masks Of Aygrima Trilogy by E.C. Blake

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EC Blake Masks-small EC Blake Shadows-small EC Blake Faces-smll

E.C. Blake is a pseudonym for Canadian writer Edward Willett, author of The Helix War novels, The Cityborn, and Magebane (written as Lee Arthur Chane), all from DAW Books. His debut novel as “E.C. Blake” was Masks, a 2013 hardcover; he followed it with two more in rapid succession to complete the trilogy. All three were published by DAW; the covers were by Paul Young.

Masks (396 pages, $8.99 in paperback and digital, November 5, 2013)
Shadows (331 pages, $7.99 in paperback and digital, August 5 2014)
Faces (358 pages, $7.99 in paperback and digital, July 7, 2015)

Masks won some immediate attention. Publishers Weekly called it “A delight,” and RT Book Reviews said it was “Simply impossible to put down.” Here’s occasional Black Gate blogger Julie E. Czerneda.

Brilliant worldbuilding combined with can’t-put-down storytelling, Masks reveals its dark truths through the eyes of a girl who must learn to wield unthinkable power or watch her people succumb to evil. Bring on the next in this highly original series!

All three novels are still in print. I picked up a paperback copy of Masks a few weeks ago at Barnes & Noble; it was the back-cover text that caught my attention. Here it is.

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Witch World by Andre Norton

Witch World by Andre Norton

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Witch World 1963-smallThis isn’t merely an excercise in cross-promotion (it is that, just not only that), but also a chance to redress a failing in my reviews of Andre Norton’s Witch World books. Neither here at Black Gate nor back at my own site, Stuff I Like, have I ever actually written about the first book in the series, Witch World. Now that I’m a “special guest” on the just released episode of the Appendix N Book Club podcast about the book, I believe I have a responsibility to write it up, too.

I’ve written a fair amount about Andre Norton’s classic Witch World series over the past six years. So far, I’ve read five of the Estcarp books, two of the High Hallack books, and two collections of short stories. While several of the books are less than stellar, overall the series is terrific.

Sadly, instead of being one of the salient series from sword & sorcery of the 1960s and 70s, it’s a half-forgotten afterthought. While I want to say that that’s a savage indictment of the nature of contemporary readers, really it’s the lamentable reality of the fate of the vast sum of popular fiction, no matter how objectively good it is or how much we love it. All a fan can do is put it out there that these are good books, still worth reading, and hope for the best.

Born in 1912, Alice Mary Norton worked as a teacher, a librarian, and finally a reader for Gnome Press before becoming a full-time writer in 1958. By then she’d already had a dozen books published, including such classics as Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Star Rangers. Based on their easy style and simpler characterizations, most of her early books would probably be classified as YA today. It was with 1963’s Witch World that Norton first wrote a full-fledged sword & sorcery book, steeped in pulp gloriousness.

The opening of Witch World is straight out of a Third Man-style film noir. Some years after the close of WWII, Simon Tregarth is a disgraced ex-US Army Lieutenant Colonel and desperate black marketeer on the run from his own associates. He’s just killed two of them, but the worst and most dangerous is still hunting for him.

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Birthday Reviews: Colin Kapp’s “Ambassador to Verdammt”

Birthday Reviews: Colin Kapp’s “Ambassador to Verdammt”

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Analog Science Fiction April 1967-small Analog Science Fiction April 1967-back-small

Cover by John Schoenherr

Colin Kapp was born on April 3, 1928 and died on August 3, 2007.

Kapp was the author of the Cageworld series as well as a series of short stories featuring the unorthodox engineers. Capp’s first short story “Life Plan” appeared in New Worlds in 1958 and his first novel, The Dark Mind, was published in 1964, although serialized the year before.

“Ambassador to Verdammt”  was first published by John W. Campbell, Jr. in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact in April 1967. It was picked up by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr for inclusion in World’s Best Science Fiction 1968. The story was also included in a 2013 collection edited by John Pelan, The Cloudbusters and Other Marvels. It was translated in 1972 for an Italian edition of the Wollheim and Carr. It was included in Science Fiction Stories 33 from German publisher Ullstein.

Kapp focuses on the struggle between the military and the bureaucracy in “Ambassador to Verdammt.” A bureaucrat is preparing a planet for the arrival of its first human ambassador. Lieutenant Sinclair is opposed to building a landing pad for a faster than light ship on the planet Verdammt, especially when he learns it is so an ambassador can be brought to the planet, which is noted as having no sentient species. Orders are orders, however, and he does the work, even while clashing with Administrator Prellen and psychologist Anton Wald.

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Action Star of Hollywood’s Golden Age: Errol Flynn: The Life and Career, by Thomas McNulty

Action Star of Hollywood’s Golden Age: Errol Flynn: The Life and Career, by Thomas McNulty

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The Life and Career of Errol Flynn-smallErrol Flynn: The Life and Career
By Thomas McNulty
McFarland Publishing (381 pages, $29.95 in trade paperback/$15.99 digital, April 8, 2004)

Errol Flynn never made a fantasy film during his long career, although he portrayed a number of legendary and historical characters, such as William Tell, and the great pugilist, “Gentleman” Jim Corbett.  But undoubtedly his most famous role was the lead in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, one of the classic and most famous heroes in legend, myth, and perhaps in history, too.

Flynn  first sailed to stardom in 1935 with the success of Captain Blood, which was followed by the 1936 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade. He began 1940 with The Sea Hawk, and in 1941 he portrayed George Armstrong Custer in They Died with Their Boots on. While these films cemented the cinematic persona of Flynn as the dashing, humorous, cheeky action hero, he made three war films in which he played straight, and against type, and showed off his acting skills: The Dawn Patrol in 1938, Edge of Darkness in 1943, and Operation Burma, in 1945, these last two based on real-life events. Flynn had great respect for the military and the war effort, and he played the leads in these three films with a grim sincerity that proved he could do more than wield a sword and shoot a longbow.

While Douglas Fairbanks, Senior was the first action star of the silent film era, Flynn was, in my opinion, the first action hero of the “talking motion picture.” You might think that Douglas Fairbanks, Junior would have inherited the crown from his father, but it was Flynn who won the throne.

Flynn also published two novels in his lifetime: Beam Ends, in 1937 — a travel and adventure novel; and Showdown, a 1946 romantic adventure. His also wrote his autobiography in 1959, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, which has never been out of print. Flynn not only inspired a genre and many other actors, he also inspired me. He appears (with both Fairbanks Senior and Junior) in my novella, The Pirates of Penance, which appeared in the 2017  Heroes in Hell anthology Pirates in Hell. (There’s also a lot of Flynn to be found in my and Dave Smith’s pirate fantasy, Waters of Darkness.)

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On the Run with the Unluckiest Writer Alive: True Fiction by Lee Goldberg

On the Run with the Unluckiest Writer Alive: True Fiction by Lee Goldberg

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True Fiction Lee Goldberg-smallLee Goldberg broke into writing the old fashioned way — as a journalist. His first articles were for Starlog, Newsweek, and American Film, and he soon graduated to writing scripts for SeaQuest, Diagnosis Murder, She-Wolf of London, and the hit Monk. His writing credits also include 15 books based on Monk, and the bestselling Fox & O’Hare novels co-written with Janet Evanovich.

His latest, True Fiction, strikes out into thriller territory, with the tale of the unluckiest writer alive, bestselling thriller writer Ian Ludlow. (Goldberg’s first novel, .357 Vigilante, was written under the name “Ian Ludlow,” which he admits he chose so he’d “be on the shelf next to Robert Ludlum.”)

When a passenger jet crashes onto the beaches of Waikiki, bestselling thriller writer Ian Ludlow knows the horrific tragedy wasn’t an accident.

Years before, the CIA enlisted Ian to dream up terrorism scenarios to prepare the government for nightmares they couldn’t imagine. Now one of those schemes has come true, and Ian is the only person alive who knows how it was done… and who is behind the plot. That makes him too dangerous to live.

Ian goes on the run, sweeping up an innocent bystander in his plight — Margo French, a dog walker and aspiring singer. They are pursued by assassins and an all-seeing global-intelligence network that won’t stop until Ian and Margo are dead. Ian has written thrillers like this before, but this time he doesn’t know how it’s going to end — or if he will be alive to find out.

True Fiction is the first novel in the Ian Ludlow series. The second, Killer Thriller, arrives in February 2019.

True Fiction was published by Thomas & Mercer on April 1, 2018. It is 237 pages, priced at $24.95 in hardcover and $4.99 for the digital edition.

Tolkien’s Magic Sword: Anglachel

Tolkien’s Magic Sword: Anglachel

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Turin_HurinI wrote a post here at Black Gate about Nauglamir, the necklace of the dwarves. Personally, I would love to see that tale as a separate novella (note to self: I’ve written Doyle and Stout – do not take on Tolkien…).

Today’s essay is about another item: a magic sword named Anglachel. It is really a minor element of the book, but the story of it weaves in and out of many other parts. That’s one of the true wonders of The Silmarillion. It’s a vibrant, interconnected history of Tolkien’s world. There are just SO many characters and stories throughout it.

I’m in that weird, small group which cites The Silmarillion as their favorite Middle Earth book. It is essentially a mythology and history of Tolkien’s world. While I love Robert E. Howard’s Hyboria, Tolkien set the fantasy standard for world building. The Silmarillion is really several long stories combined into one book.

John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, creator of Middle Earth, was a master storyteller. The Hobbit, with its tale of plucky hobbits and dwarves, a wizard, a magic ring and a dragon made what has been termed high fantasy appealing to a large audience. And The Lord of the Rings is an epic saga of good versus evil and of never giving up on what is right, no matter how daunting the odds.

Both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings included bits of Middle Earth history. Gimli sang ‘The Song of Durin’ as the fellowship travelled through Moria and Aragorn sang a song of Beren and Luthien early in his travels with the hobbits. It was the history of Middle Earth and events of the First Age that were always dear to Tolkien’s heart. He tried for decades to get The Silmarillion published and he constantly revised and added to his creation.

Of course, magic swords are one of the most popular tropes in fantasy (and role playing games). The appeal can probably trace its roots back to King Arthur’s legendary blade, Excalibur. Bilbo was given the elven dagger named Sting in The Hobbit. Aragorn’s Anduril (the reforged Narsil) is an important symbol in The Lord of the Rings, while Gandalf bore Glamdring (Hey Gary Gygax, who says wizards can’t use swords?), a sword that traced its lineage back to Turgon of Gondolin. As does its ‘mate,’ Orcrist, which found its way to Thorin as he sought to reclaim Erebor for Durin’s folk.

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Birthday Reviews: Joan D. Vinge’s “Eyes of Amber”

Birthday Reviews: Joan D. Vinge’s “Eyes of Amber”

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Cover by John Schoenherr
Cover by John Schoenherr

Joan D. Vinge was born on April 2, 1948.

Vinge was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1976. She won a Hugo Award in 1978 for her novelette “Eyes of Amber” and a second Hugo in 1981 for the novel The Snow Queen, which was also nominated for a Nebula Award, Ditmar Award, and the coveted Balrog Award. The sequel to The Snow Queen, The Summer Queen, was also nominated for the Hugo Award.

“Eyes of Amber” originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact’s June 1977 issue, edited by Stanley Schmidt. The next year,  not only did Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha include the story in The 1978 Annual World’s Best SF, but Pamela Sargent selected it for her The New Women of Wonder anthology.  Vinge named her 1979 collection Eyes of Amber and Other Stories. In 1982, Schmidt reprinted the story in Analog Anthology #2: Readers’ Choice. It appeared in The Hugo Winners: Volume 4, edited by Isaac Asimov who also included it in the anthology The Dark Void. Over the years, the story has been translated into Dutch (twice), French, German (twice), Italian (twice), Hungarian, and Polish.

The opening of “Eyes of Amber” has a distinct fantasy feel, describing an apparently feudal society in which T’uupieh has been dispossessed of her estate. Turned assassin, he is offered a chance of some level of vengeance if she will kill the current estate owner and his family, which includes her sister. As soon as Vinge sets this situation up, however, she subverts the reader’s expectations by revealing that T’uupieh’s society is on Saturn’s moon Titan and she is being watched remotely by humans on Earth who are studying her society and language.

The primary linguist onEearth is musician turned scientist Shannon Wyler, whose attempts to make his own life away from the expectations of his scientist parents have only been partially successful. Wyler’s musical background helps him in his attempts to communicate with the race through a device which T’uupieh carries and believes to be a demon who has chosen her.

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The Quatermass Experiment: The Shakespeare of Sci-Fi Television

The Quatermass Experiment: The Shakespeare of Sci-Fi Television

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The Quatermas Experiment-small

One of the most influential series in early television has actually made its way into science fiction history as a book. You can see my copy below: The Quatermass Experiment by Nigel Kneale, a plain 1959 paperback with the classic Penguin orange, cream, and black cover.

Ridley Scott’s Alien, John Carpenter’s The Thing, the very existence of Doctor Who, not to mention 1980s-1990s films such as Life Force, Species, and The Astronaut’s Wife, and contemporary films such as Under the Skin, Life and The Cloverfield Paradox, where alien invasion takes the form of infection and transformation – all these are different faces of a genre that began with The Quatermass Experiment in the shaky, static-filled first days of black-and-white television – back with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the years after World War II.

In 1953, Nigel Kneale was a young writer and actor on the make. He had won an award for his 1949 short story collection Tomato Cain (a book which includes, among more naturalistic tales, portraits of vengeful nature and ancient supernatural evil that foreshadow his later works for TV and film). After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Kneale did some acting, but he had more success as a writer in the emerging field of television.

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Modular: Explore Starfinder’s Pact Worlds

Modular: Explore Starfinder’s Pact Worlds

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PactWorldsThe Starfinder RPG allows for literally a universe full of original settings, giving Gamemasters the opportunity to create their own worlds and societies as the basis for their games. For those who like working with a framework of existing source material, though, the Starfinder development team has done a great job of presenting exactly the sort of rich, diverse system of planets, races, and societies that one could hope to find: the Pact Worlds.

Starfinder is set in the distant future of their Pathfinder RPG fantasy setting, after the dominance of magic and superstition has given way to science and technology (and, of course, technomagic). The planet of Golarion, the center of the Pathfinder fantasy setting, has vanished. In its place rests the massive Absalom Station, surrounded by the remaining planets of its solar system. No one knows what happened to Golarion or who built Absalom Station, due to a break in history known as the Gap.

The planets of the system have joined together with Absalom Station to form the Pact Worlds, a loose defensive alliance formed against external threats. These fourteen locations (not all are planets, as they include the Sun and an asteroid belt) get a couple of half-pages apiece in the Starfinder Core Rulebook, but the newly-released Starfinder Pact Worlds sourcebook (Amazon, Paizo) fleshes them out and provides a variety of related starship and player options for Starfinder characters. Both players and Gamemasters will find much to love about this newest installment in unfolding universe of Starfinder.

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Vintage Treasures: Copernick’s Rebellion by Leo A. Frankowski

Vintage Treasures: Copernick’s Rebellion by Leo A. Frankowski

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Copernick's Rebellion-small Copernick's Rebellion-back-small

I don’t know much about Leo A. Frankowski. But when I saw his 1987 novel Copernick’s Rebellion on eBay, I knew I had to have it. It belongs to that peculiar sub-genre of science fiction my friends and I used to call, “Explore the universe and meet strange new aliens. And then ride them like a pony.”

Frankowski was an engineer who sold his first novel, The Cross-Time Engineer, to Del Rey in 1986. It became the opening book in a 7-volume series eventually known as the Adventures of Conrad Stargard, which also included The Flying Warlord (1989), Lord Conrad’s Lady (1990), and others. His other novels include A Boy and His Tank (1999) and The Fata Morgana (1999), both for Baen. He died in December 2008.

Virtually all of Frankowski’s work is out of print, and there aren’t a lot of publishers who would take a chance on him today. On his website he claimed “males with military and technical backgrounds often approach me as though I were something holy… [with an] excess of almost worship,” and famously identified those who disliked his work as “feminists, liberals, and homosexuals.” And anyone who objects to riding aliens like a pony, I’m willing to wager.

Copernick’s Rebellion was published by Del Rey in April 1987. It is 202 pages, priced at $2.95 in paperback. The cover art is by the great Ralph McQuarrie. It has been out of print since 1989, and there is no digital edition. See all our recent Vintage Treasures here.