Joe Bonadonna – Page 4

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

Monday, April 2, 2018 Joe Bonadonna Comments 4 comments

Errol 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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The Origin Stories of Tempus, Niko and the Sacred Band: Tempus With His Right-Side Companion Niko, by Janet Morris

Thursday, March 8, 2018 Joe Bonadonna Comments 4 comments

Tempus with his right-side companion Niko-small

Tempus with his right-side companion Niko-back-small

Relive the iconic adventures of Tempus the Black and his Sacred Band through the eyes of Nikodemos, his right-side companion, as Niko seeks his spirit’s balance on Bandara’s misty isles. Five early tales of the Stepsons in a world of thieves, novelized with additional stories available nowhere else. Ride with Tempus and his Sacred Band once again, or for the first time. PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Parts of this work have been published in substantially similar form in several volumes of the Shared Universe Series, Thieves World.

This book contains the original stories first written about the Sacred Band of Stepsons, as well as some new stories that expand on their adventures, and Niko’s quest to regain his spiritual and mystical balance. Meet the characters who made the Sacred Band famous: Abarsis, the Slaughter Priest Abarsis, who first formed the Sacred Band and from whom Tempus took over the Band; Niko, Critias, Straton, hazard-class and allergy prone mage Randal “Witchy Ears.” Meet Roxane the witch and her death squads, Ischade the Necromant and her cadre of undead servants, and Cime, Tempus’ wizard-slaying sister. Witness the might of the storm god Vashanka and his immortal god-ridden avatar, Tempus as they battle against sorcery, betrayal and corruption, alongside his Sacred Band of Stepsons. Meet legendary immortals Askelon, the Dream Lord of Meridian, and Jihan the Froth Daughter of Lord Storm.

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Gods, Mortals, Sons, and Daughters: Storm Seed by Janet and Chris Morris

Monday, February 19, 2018 Joe Bonadonna Comments 5 comments

Storm Seed Janet and Chris Morris-back-small

While Storm Seed is the final volume in the iconic Sacred Band series to appear in a brand-new, Author’s Cut edition, it isn’t the last book in the series. The story takes place after the Sacred Band has been disbanded, after the events in Beyond Wizardwall and The City at the Edge of Time. Storm Seed follows on the heels of Tempus Unbound, and precedes the epic story of The Sacred Band.

Once again Team Morris delivers another outstanding novel in their classic “Chronicles of the Sacred Band,” as I always refer to them. Crisp prose, engaging characters, and a well-crafted plot carry this one right to the very end. This is Heroic Fantasy on a grand and epic scale, inspired by ancient mythology merged with a “lost” history of the world. All the tropes of the genre are here: wizards, witches, magic, ghosts, gods, dragons, and so much more. But these ingredients are used with a weight of reality to them, and in a manner I can only describe as “uniquely Morris.” Storm Seed is a story about love and loyalty, family and comradeship. And for all the elements of the fantastic, this novel is grounded in the veracity of its characters, and in the human drama and dynamics of their relationships. Almost everyone has a quest of their own to undertake, and the story unfolds at a brisk pace as the various events take one twist and turn after another until all the characters and plot-lines come together.

It seems like a reunion as so many characters from previous novels return to share the stage. Team Morris does a splendid job of giving the members of their cast equal time; almost everyone has a storyline of their own. Tempus the Black and Niko, his right-side companion, are here. Also present and accounted for: the goddess Jihan, the powerful Froth Daughter; Randal the allergy-prone wizard; Roxane the witch you really don’t want to get involved with; Cime the wizard slayer who is a real force to be reckoned with; Kama, Tempus’ daughter and warrior. The Sacred Banders Strat, Crit, and Gayle are also here, as well as Enlil the Storm God, Abarsis the Slaughter Priest, and even Strat’s Ghost Horse.

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A City Eternal, Under Siege: City at the Edge of Time, by Janet & Chris Morris

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

City at the Edge of Time Morris-back-small

City at the Edge of Time
By Janet & Chris Morris
Author’s Cut Edition, published by Perseid Press
Book design: Christopher Morris; cover design, Roy Mauritsen.
Cover art: Corrado Giaquinto (1703-1765), The Birth of the Sun and the Triumph of Bacchus; oil on canvas, 1762; Museo del Prado.

“The city had yearned to live forever and, over the millennia, had learned how. It had not always been even so much as a city; it had not always known the magic of peace. Peace had come from wisdom; wisdom had come from the hearts of its rulers, and then from the hearts of its citizens. Greed had been banished first, then foul Fury had been driven from its gates. Vengeance had followed, with Spite slithering behind, hissing like a beaten cat. Envy and Prevarication went last, hunted from door to door and expelled like a contagion into the outer worlds. It was said that the city had spawned all the ills of humanity and loosed them upon the world as it cleansed itself. It was said that what had been driven out would someday return.”

And so it did, with a dark vengeance. This is a city of immortals, an eternal city now stuck in the muck and mire near the sea at the edge of time, where all things end. This is a city where death is so unfamiliar, so unknown, that animals slaughtered for a feast must be taken outside the city’s walls in order to be slain. Now the city stands poised to meet its own ending, and its immortal inhabitants face a doom they never imagined.

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Tempus Takes Manhattan: Janet and Chris Morris’ Tempus Unbound

Sunday, October 8, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

“Was this the Lemuria of antiquity, or that of times to come? Once you’d ridden the storm clouds of heaven from the edge of time, anything was possible.”

Few are the writers who can successfully take their characters out of their “ancient setting” and transplant them in a story set in modern and even futuristic times, fighting numinous enemies, inimical foes and a capricious and dangerous theomachy. In my opinion, Janet and Chris Morris have brilliantly achieved just that with Tempus Unbound. This novel takes place after the events in City on the Edge of Time, and before those of Storm Seed, and it’s quite a departure from the other novels in starring Tempus the Black, Niko, Strat and the other warriors of The Sacred Band. It’s also quite a wild ride — an adventure that never lets you pause for breath.

The story begins after Tempus leaves the City at the Edge of Time and heads for Lemuria. But is this the Lemuria before or after the Fall of Man? Is it the Past or is it the Future? As events later play out in the novel, we find that out. Tempus is on a quest to find Cime, the Mage Killer who may or may not be his sister, who was forced into a marriage to Askelon, the Lord of Dreams. Cime has gone missing from Meridian, Askelon’s dream realm, and Tempus rides to Lemuria looking to find her. He suspects she’s gone after some mage who needs killing, and hopes she has her magical diamond rods with her, for without them she’s powerless.

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The Eighth Samurai: An Interview with Author T.C. Rypel

Saturday, June 24, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, many authors were churning out their own versions of big, iron-muscled barbarian heroes like Conan of Cimmeria. There were exceptions, of course, like Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Jack Vance, to name three authors I’ve always favored. But then along came T.C. Rypel, who hit the ground running with something different, something uniquely his own . . . his character of Sabatake Gonji-no-Sadowara, the half Scandinavian and half Japanese samurai. Gonji was truly a breath of fresh air in the genre of Sword and Sorcery, although I think Rypel’s novel are much more epic and actually closer to Heroic Fantasy in scope and theme. His setting wasn’t some imaginary world filled with ancient gods, powerful warlocks and fanciful kingdoms, but was instead deeply rooted in and around Romania and the Carpathian Mountains of 16th century. Perhaps a parallel world, but close enough to the Europe of that era to lend it a flavor of historical reality. Besides the non-barbaric character of Gonji, who was introspective, poetic, and humble, as well as a total bad ass with a sly sense of humor, what also set Rypel’s novels apart from so many others was the fact that he worked gunpowder and firearms into his stories, right along with the sorcery and creatures and other elements of the fantastic. And like Robert E Howard’s Solomon Kane before him, Rypel made it all work, too.

— from my Amazon review of T.C. Rypel’s Dark Ventures.

I knew of Ted and Gonji back in the 1980s, when I first read his Deathwind Trilogy, when it was originally published by Zebra Books. Then I broke away from reading fantasy for a while and never knew that he followed that up with two more volumes. Sometime in the 1990s a mutual friend “introduced” us, and we shared a few letters, discussing writing and music and movies. Then I revisited the Deathwind Trilogy, and finally read volumes four and five. When we connected via the internet, emails, and later Facebook, Ted and I got to know each other very well. He enjoyed my tales of Dorgo the Dowser and played a key role in helping me shape the six novellas in the first Mad Shadows volume, and helped again with Mad Shadows II — which is why I dedicated the book to him. No one writes like Ted; he is a walking dictionary and Thesaurus, for one, and he knows how to tell a story. He is also a great editor, having a gift for character insight, plotting, and drama that have been of great help to me. And whenever anyone praises my battle scenes, I tell them, “I owe it all to Ted.” He taught me how to write those scenes from the “inside of a character’s head.” That’s the only way I can put it. If you’ve read any of his books, you know how well he handles character, drama, humor, and dialogue, as well as writing some of the most exciting battle scenes set down on paper. Although we have never met in person, he is a good friend, mentor, and sensei. And now, with the Wildside Press reissues of his original five novels of Gonji, and with the recent release of a sixth volume, I thought it was time to sit down and have a little “talk with him.” It’s high time that Ted is recognized and read by a whole new and younger audience of Heroic Fantasy aficionados.

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Black Gate Online Fiction: In Creepy Hollow, It’s Halloween All Year Long! An Excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna

Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin-back-small

Without Erika M Szabo, this short little novel would have remained no more than the seed of an idea I had about ten years ago. Together, we wrote a heroic fantasy adventure for middle-grade children.

The story begins when Nikki Sweet and her cousin, Jack Brady, find a mysterious black pumpkin in the forest one Halloween morning, near their Grandmother’s house. A wise talking, silver wind chime in the shape of a skeleton named Wishbone Jones tells them that the ghosts of the Trinity of Wishmothers, the Guardians of the realm of Celestria in Creepy Hollow, are trapped inside the pumpkin and can’t be freed without their magic Wands. The children offer their help, so Wishbone takes them through an Ectomagic Gate to the world of Creepy Hollow, where they set out to retrieve the three wands he disguised by magic and hid in Red Crow Forest, the Tower of Shadows, and the Cave of Spooks. The witch Ghoulina, a beautiful vegetarian ghoul, and Catman, who was once a man, join them on their quest. They must face danger and conquer evil every step of the way as they search for the Wands before the wicked Hobgoblin and his henchman, a Tasmanian Devil named Ebenezer Rex, can get their hands on them.

In this excerpt from the novel, Nikki, Jack and their three companions have reached the destination of their third and final quest. The Wand they are looking for was transformed by Wishbone into a Halloween mask, in order to keep it safe. As they enter the Cave of Spooks to retrieve the mask, they are unaware that Hobgoblin and Ebenezer Rex, who murdered the three Wishmothers, are close on their heels…

Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin (Creepy Hollow Adventures #1) is a spooky Halloween story for children, ages 6 to 14. It is written by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna, and illustrated by Erika M Szabo. Published by Golden Box Books Publishing, New York on April 6, 2017. Available in paperback ($8.95), and Kindle and Nook editions ($2.99). It is the Winner of the 2017 Golden Book Judges’ Choice Award for Children’s Fantasy.

Read the complete excerpt here.

Discussing All Things Fantasy, Past, Present, and Future: An Interview with Adrian Simmons and David Farney of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

Sunday, June 4, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 7 comments

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is an ezine dedicated to publishing short works of heroic fantasy. More than that, through both prose and poetry we hope to hearken an older age of storytelling – an age when a story well told enthralled audiences. Traits of great oral storytelling survive the ages to influence treasures of literature, the pulps, radio plays, late-night game sessions, and now Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

So reads the “Mission Statement “of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. Like Black Gate e-magazine, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is one of the bright lights and a sure leader in the Fantasy genre, and always goes above and beyond to keep the genre alive, fresh, and rolling along. When John O’Neill of Black Gate asked me if I would “interview” Adrian Simmons and David Farney of HFQ, I jumped at the chance, thrilled to “meet” these two outstanding editors of such a well-respected e-zine. The result is one great interview with both gentlemen sounding in, and I hope it’s as much of a treat for fans of BG and HFQ as it was for me.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Gentlemen, what are some of your earliest influences? Who inspired you to become an editor? And perhaps even more importantly, why did you decide to become an editor?

ADRIAN: Early influences are many and varied. In the early 80s I discovered Dungeons and Dragons, and all of its clones and hybrids. I was exposed to all those early 80s swords and sorcery movies (good and bad!), and was reading the The Lord of the Rings and such. By the late 80s, in high school, I was reading the The Lord of the Rings and actually understanding most of it, and had picked up Robert Howard’s Conan books (the Ace collections, with all the post-humus collaborations), and Fritz Leiber.

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The Return of a Classic Fantasy Hero: A Review of T.C. Rypel’s Dark Ventures

Monday, May 29, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 2 comments

Dark Ventures by T.C. Rypel
Wildside Press (212 pages, $14.99 in paperback/$4,99 digital, March 16, 2017)
Original cover painting by film director Larry Blamire (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra)

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, many authors were churning out their own versions of big, iron-muscled barbarian heroes like Conan of Cimmeria. There were exceptions, of course, like Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Jack Vance, to name three authors I’ve always favored. But then along came T.C. Rypel, who hit the ground running with something different, something uniquely his own… his character of Sabatake Gonji-no-Sadowara, the half Scandinavian and half Japanese samurai.

Gonji was truly a breath of fresh air in the genre of Sword and Sorcery, although I think Rypel’s novel are much more epic and actually closer to Heroic Fantasy in scope and theme. His setting wasn’t some imaginary world filled with ancient gods, powerful warlocks and fanciful kingdoms, but was instead deeply rooted in and around Romania and the Carpathian Mountains of the 16th century. Perhaps a parallel world, but close enough to the Europe of that era to lend it a flavor of historical reality. Besides the non-barbaric character of Gonji, who was introspective, poetic, and humble, as well as a total bad ass with a sly sense of humor, what also set Rypel’s novels apart from so many others was the fact that he worked gunpowder and firearms into his stories, right along with the sorcery and creatures and other elements of the fantastic. And like Robert E Howard’s Solomon Kane before him, Rypel made it all work, too.

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Sailing Against the Tides of Perdition: Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet and Chris Morris

Monday, May 22, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

Pirates in Hell (Heroes in Hell, Volume 20)
Edited by Janet and Chris Morris
Perseid Press. (456 pages, $22.40 in trade paperback, $8.99 in digital formats, April 10, 2017)
Cover Design and Cover Art: Roy Mauritsen
Book Design: Chris Morris

Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
― Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

Ahoy there! Well here we are — another year and another volume in the wonderful, shared-universe series, Heroes in Hell, which I am proud to be part of. This brand-new, sea-faring adventure set in hell is called Pirates in Hell, and it is the 20^th volume in this award-winning series since its inception back in 1986. Once again we’ve tried to do a little something different, as the title suggests: bring you an action-packed, swashbuckling, multi-author novel that still retains all the hallmarks of this very literary series: drama, pathos, philosophy, action, humor… and so much more. This, which I now present to you, is a preview, a bit of teaser promo to hopefully whet your appetite. Here is the book’s main story arc, according to series creator, editor, publisher and contributing author, Janet Morris.

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Black Gate

Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Browsed by
Author: Joe Bonadonna

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

Monday, April 2, 2018 Joe Bonadonna Comments 4 comments

The Origin Stories of Tempus, Niko and the Sacred Band: Tempus With His Right-Side Companion Niko, by Janet Morris

Thursday, March 8, 2018 Joe Bonadonna Comments 4 comments

Gods, Mortals, Sons, and Daughters: Storm Seed by Janet and Chris Morris

Monday, February 19, 2018 Joe Bonadonna Comments 5 comments

A City Eternal, Under Siege: City at the Edge of Time, by Janet & Chris Morris

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

Tempus Takes Manhattan: Janet and Chris Morris’ Tempus Unbound

Sunday, October 8, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

The Eighth Samurai: An Interview with Author T.C. Rypel

Saturday, June 24, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

Black Gate Online Fiction: In Creepy Hollow, It’s Halloween All Year Long! An Excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna

Tuesday, June 13, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments

Read the complete excerpt here.

Discussing All Things Fantasy, Past, Present, and Future: An Interview with Adrian Simmons and David Farney of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

Sunday, June 4, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 7 comments

The Return of a Classic Fantasy Hero: A Review of T.C. Rypel’s Dark Ventures

Monday, May 29, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 2 comments

Sailing Against the Tides of Perdition: Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet and Chris Morris

Monday, May 22, 2017 Joe Bonadonna Comments 3 comments