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Author: John R. Fultz

I've written stories for BLACK GATE, WEIRD TALES, SPACE AND TIME, LIGHTSPEED and others. My tales have appeared in the anthologies WAY OF THE WIZARD and CTHULHU'S REIGN, as well as various comic books including my own PRIMORDIA (with artist Roel Wielinga). A series of "Big Fantasy Novels" is forthcoming...
LOVECRAFT eZINE: Keeping It Weird

LOVECRAFT eZINE: Keeping It Weird

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LOVECRAFT EZINE #1 - 5 are available for reading NOW.

Horror fans and Lovecraft afficionados have been darkly singing the praises of LOVECRAFT eZINE. Editor/founder Mike Davis and Crew offer monthly chills and thrills that “share the tone and themes of Lovecraft.”  That is, cosmic fear, or simply “weird fiction” if you prefer. Within that spectrum there is a vast array of possibilities for horror, dark fantasy, and beyond. Some of the zine’s current best include tales by horrormeister W.H. Pugmire, an Old School Gent when it comes to all things Lovecraftian, as well as stories by Joe Pulver and David J. West.

LOVECRAFT eZINE will be featuring my story “The Lord of Endings” in its August issue. This is a tale inspired by Lovecraft’s Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, the Black Pharaoh, the Haunter of the Dark, the Faceless God and Messenger of the Old Ones. It’s also about hate, and the power it has to poison the dreams of the living. Fans of Lovecrafts’ Dreamlands stories will either love it or weep about it.

The inspired art at the site is done by Pat (mimulux). Above is the fantastic cover of the first issue. Issues #1-5 are available for reading at: lovecraftzine.com/

Check it out now and keep an eye open for “The Lord of Endings.”

Sweet dreams!
John

“Captivated and Disquieted”: ARCANE Arrives!

“Captivated and Disquieted”: ARCANE Arrives!

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arcanepic2ARCANE is a slick new magazine from Cold Fusion Media and publisher Sandy Petersen. The first issue just dropped and it’s quite a breath of fresh air for horror fans — or should that be a fetid, graveyard breath? Anyway, this new quarterly publication is both an e-mag AND a print mag—it  plays no favorites in the “print vs. digital” debate. According to its manifesto ARCANE will be publishing “weird horror, the supernatural, and the fantastic. ” It aims to leave readers highly entertained and slightly disturbed, like the best weird fiction always does.

Copies are now available on Amazon and the mag’s official site: www.arcanemagazine.com.

Here’s an interview with ARCANE Editor Nathan Shumate, who gives BG the inside track on all the weirdness. Find out where ARCANE came from and where it’s going, as well as what kinds of stories the editor is looking to find.

An Interview With Nathan Shumate

Conducted and Transcribed by John R. Fultz, May 2011

BG: We keep hearing that the “market’s down” — yeah, what else is new? But the market’s also up: E-books are outselling print books on Amazon, millions of dollars spent on books print AND digital. You obviously saw a way to capitalize on both online and print markets when you launched the beast that is ARCANE: PENNY DREADFULS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. But the question remains: Why start a magazine? What drove you to the mad proposition of launching a fantastic new fiction venue?

ARCANE (Shumate): I originally started the magazine ARKHAM TALES in late 2008; I had always wanted to edit a “weird fiction” magazine, and I realized there was no time like the present.  Actually, any time would have been better, as late 2008 was right when the U.S. economy started circling the bowl.  The business model I had was a free PDF magazine, paid for with ads, but the ad sales never panned out, and five issues in, I had exhausted the funds on hand to keep the magazine afloat.  The magazine was subsequently bought by Leucrota Press, which retained me as editor, but the format stayed the same — even as I realized that a Kindle format, which precluded the inclusion of ads, would have a much larger potential marketshare than a PDF format. Leucrota and I didn’t see eye to eye on that, and I left when the eighth issue was completed, which is right before Leucrota declared bankruptcy.  (I swear I had nothing to do with that.)

I had the opportunity to buy back the ARKHAM TALES intellectual property, but I decided to make a clean break rather than spend months deciding which contractual commitments I’d be taking on, and instead formed ARCANE (the name is intentionally reminiscent of that of the former magazine) with Lovecraftian game guru Sandy Petersen, with whom I’ve been acquainted for a few years.

BG: ARCANE crosses the line between fantasy,  horror, sci-fi, and more horror. Is genre ultimately meaningless when you find a Great Story to publish?

ARCANE (Shumate) : I  think that everything we publish in ARCANE, whether sci-fi, fantasy, or what have you, has cross-pollinated with horror; there is a certain darkness, a certain sense of brooding disquiet, that characterizes our magazine more than out-and-out horror.

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WAY OF THE WIZARD Giveaway

WAY OF THE WIZARD Giveaway

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Over at Goodreads, editor John Joseph Adams is giving away 10 free copies of the stupendous WAY OF THE WIZARD anthology. The book is packed full of terrific fantasy tales featuring wizards, warlocks, witches, sorcerers, magicians, and other workers of magic.

I’m proud to have a story in the book (“The Thirteen Texts of Arthyria”) but some of my personal favorites are George R. R. Martin’s “Into the Lost Lands,” Neil Gaiman’s “How to Sell the Ponti Bridge” (possibly my favorite Gaiman tale ever!), Jeffrey Ford’s mindbending “The Sorcerer Minus,” Susana Clarke’s mythic “John Uskglass and the Cambrian Charcoal Burner,” Robert Silverberg’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Adam-Troy Castro’s “Cerile and the Journeyer,” Mike Resnick’s haunting “Winter Solstice,” and Kelly Link’s superb “The Wizards of Perfil.” And there are tons more great tales here.

Click over to http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/10571-the-way-of-the-wizardand snag your free copy!

Cheers,
John

The new CONAN movie: Okay, I’m in.

The new CONAN movie: Okay, I’m in.

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CONAN is coming. Okay, I’ve had serious doubts until now, based on the “teaser trailer” I’d seen. But this new trailer does it. I’m sold. I’m officially excited and enthused about this new CONAN movie. The Hyborian Age settings look terrific; Rose McGowan looks creepy as hell–nice touch having a female villain; the costuming and design looks superb; the creatures are well-done CGI beasties.

Is this the Arnold S. Conan from ’82? Is it the John Buscema-drawn Conan? Or the Frank Frazetta-painted Conan? No…it’s a new incarnation. Actor Jason Momoa reminds me of the Young Conan–the one Barry Windsor Smith drew in the 70s at Marvel Comics. If only he had that two-horned helmet and that three-disc necklace, he’d be a dead ringer. It’s a younger, rawer Conan, fresh from Cimmeria and the siege of Venarium. The Conan from Howard’s “Tower of the Elephant” story: a savage youth set loose in a civilization of decadent savagery.

I’m a HUGE fan of the original CONAN THE BARBARIAN film–the one directed by John Milius and co-writen by Oliver Stone. But I’m ready to jump in and experience this new take on Robert E. Howard’s most enduring character. For a guy who grew up reading Conan books, comics, and magazine–and someone who considers the original a classic–that’s saying a lot.

Of course, you can only tell so much from a trailer…but I’ve got a good feeling about this one. That said, I’m going to skip the 3D version and see the 2D instead…except for AVATAR, 3D tends to ruin most movies these days.

Judge for yourself at Yahoo:
http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/conan-the-barbarian/1809953260#first

And if the movie still sucks, despite all this going for it: Crom help us all!

I reserve my final verdict until I actually see the film.

The Monks Are Coming: MONK PUNK

The Monks Are Coming: MONK PUNK

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Static Movement Press’s new anthology of multi-genre monk tales, MONK PUNK, is finally available from Pill Hill Press Book Shoppe. It will be available from Amazon within the week.

The book features my story “Where the White Lotus Grows,” which was inspired partly by my love of the ’70s KUNG FU television show (starring David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine).

Caine remains one of the most iconic characters in television, and for good reason. KUNG FU, which was co-developed by the great Bruce Lee, contrasted Zen and Taoist philosophy with the savage violence of the Old West. As a child, I spent hours absorbing the lessons of Caine and his venerable mentors, Master Kahn and Master Po, watching this peaceful soul wander through world of brutal conflict in search of peace. There has never been a television show with this much soul-deep wisdom at the very core of its concept.

 “Where the White Lotus Grows” reimagines this idea of the “peaceful warrior” in a dark fantasy setting. It stars Kantoh, a Disciple of the Empty Hand. Imperial soldiers and demonic forces dog his steps as he walks a dangerous path whose destination even he does not know. But the greatest threat to his cryptic mission may be his own human compassion.

TOC and other cool stuff after the jump…

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Tanith Lee’s “The God Orkrem” & Interview at Fantasy

Tanith Lee’s “The God Orkrem” & Interview at Fantasy

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tanithlee1It’s a great week for lovers of fantasy fiction!

A brand-new Tanith Lee story, “The God Orkrem” has just been posted for free reading at FANTASY Magazine: http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/the-god-orkrem/

Also a special treat for Lee fans is the brand-new interview: www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-nonfiction/author-spotlight-tanith-lee-2/

WAITING FOR BILBO: THE HOBBIT Begins Filming This Week

WAITING FOR BILBO: THE HOBBIT Begins Filming This Week

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It’s been a long time coming and the rumors have been flying for years now. Negotiations have been made, directors have been won and lost and won again, and now it seems the Dwarves are about about to arrive in Hobbiton. The movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic THE HOBBIT finally begins filming this week, specifically on March 21, in Wellington, New Zealand.

Reports coming in from Middle Earth are extremely encouraging…

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Preview of THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR

Preview of THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR

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the-white-luck-warrior-3It won’t be long now…

R. Scott Bakker’s THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR hits stores on April 14, and I for one am extremely excited. 

Bakker fans have been waiting for this since Feb 2009, when THE JUDGING EYE was published as the first volume of THE ASPECT-EMPEROR series. This new series is itself a sequel to Bakker’s amazing PRINCE OF NOTHING trilogy. Same world, many of the same characters, and a whole lot of epic fantasy excellence. It is a thinking man’s adventure, a cerebral approach to high fantasy, and a journey into metaphysical realms of sorcery and spirituality.

A preview of THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR has been posted right here at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist: http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2011/03/exclusive-extract-from-r-scott-bakkers.html

Bakker is one of the most original fantastists to come along in quite awhile, and his stylistic prose is amazing in its clarity, attention to detail, and sheer philosophical scope. Here’s a description of the new book:

As Anasûrimbor Kellhus and his Great Ordeal march ever farther into the perilous wastes of the Ancient North, Esmenet finds herself at war with not only the Gods, but her own family as well. Achamian, meanwhile, leads his own ragtag expedition to the legendary ruins of Sauglish, and to a truth he can scarce survive, let alone comprehend. Into this tumult walks the White-Luck Warrior, assassin and messiah both, executing a mission as old as the World’s making ….

The White-Luck Warrior is a story filled with heart-stopping action, devious treachery, grand passion and meticulous detail. It is both a classic quest tale and a high fantasy war story.

As soon as I finish Howard Jones’ THE DESERT OF SOULS, I am all over this! A new Bakker book is always cause for celebration. With these two novels and the impending release of the long-awaited A DANCE WITH DRAGONS from George R. R. Martin, this is one great year for epic fantasy…

Peace!
John