Ten Things I Think I Think: December 2024

Ten Things I Think I Think: December 2024

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Time for a Ten Things I Think I Think as we close in on Christmas. Those two things are unrelated, though…

So, I think that:

1) The Two Towers is Still My All Time Favorite Fantasy Movie

As you’ll be reading, I’m in a Lord of the Rings deep dive. I re-watched the trilogy (Extended Edition, of course) for the first time in quite a few years. I grew up with fantasy movies like Krull, Sword and the Sorcerer, Sheena, and the Beastmaster. Don’t even get me started on Ator!!!! Some were better than others. I liked Clash of the Titans, but Dragonslayer didn’t really do much for me. I have a friend who sees it the opposite. Ah-nuld’s two Conan films moved the bar on popularity and look for big screen fantasy.

But Peter Jackson did for fantasy what Star Wars did for sci-fi. Critics of the movies can move along. I have a serious Tolkien shelf, and I love what he created with Middle Earth. But I will take watching the movies over reading the trilogy, any day (and that’s from someone who is reading a 800 page book of nothing but LotR annotations right now). The pace alone is a significant improvement.

Anyways – that second film, with Helm’s Deep, and the other action scenes, is simply spellbinding. Seeing a Nazgul flying onscreen always takes my breath away. I like the first and third films, but this second one remains the best fantasy movie I have ever seen.

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Ladybug Private Detectives, Living Ponds, and Robot Owls: The Owlstone Crown by X. J. Kennedy

Ladybug Private Detectives, Living Ponds, and Robot Owls: The Owlstone Crown by X. J. Kennedy

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The Owlstone Crown (Margaret K. McElderry/Atheneum, October 1983). Illustrated by Michele Chessare

The latest in my series of reviews of mostly forgotten SF/F from the 1970s and 1980s is a fairly obscure YA fantasy. X. J. Kennedy was the name used for his writing by Joseph Charles Kennedy. He was known as Joe Kennedy but started using the X. J. pseudonym to avoid confusion with Joseph Kennedy, the father of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was born in 1929, and is still alive, aged 95. This makes him a candidate for oldest living SF/F writer.

He was a prominent SF fan from the mid ’40s to early ’50s, publishing the fanzine Vampire, and co-founding an APA, the Spectator Amateur Press Association, that is (according to Wikipedia) still active. He also sold two stories to prozines in 1951 — “No More Pencils, No More Books” (not to be confused with the John Morressy story) to Science Fiction Quarterly and “Music From Down Under” to Other Worlds; both as by “Joquel Kennedy.”

By then he had received his B.A. from Seton Hall, and his M.A. from Columbia, and he went into the Navy as a journalist for four years. After his service, he studied at the Sorbonne and at Michigan, then went into academia as a professor at UNC Greensboro and at Tufts. The bulk of his writing from the early ’50s on was poetry — much of it light verse, and much of it for children — and college textbooks. He was also an editor, and with his wife Dorothy he founded a magazine devoted to New Formalist poetry, Counter/Measures. He wrote the occasional short story, and two YA fantasy novels, of which The Owlstone Crown, from 1983, was the first.

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Jumping the Shark, Part II

Jumping the Shark, Part II

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House Shark (SRS Cinema, 2017)

So, here we go. A new watch-a-thon, this one based on a handful of the 500+ shark movies that I haven’t seen (or gave up on). I’m not holding out much hope for these – shark movies are, on the whole, awful, but I know for a fact that some of these are among the worst films ever made. This 20-film marathon is me just trying to understand why they get made, bought and streamed.

House Shark (2017) YouTube

What kind of shark? A huge, rubber puppet. With three eyes.

How deep is the plot? One span.

Anyone famous get eaten? Nope.

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A to Z Review: “Death Goddess of the Lower East Side,” Link Yaco

A to Z Review: “Death Goddess of the Lower East Side,” Link Yaco

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A to Z Reviews

Published in 2000, Link Yaco’s “Death Goddess of the Lower East Side “ was written for Steven-Elliot Altman’s shared world anthology The Touch: Epidemic of the Millennium,  which invited authors to write stories in a world in which Deprivers are stricken with a disease which causes them to lose their slowly senses. Highly contagious and passed on by physical contact, Deprivers are forced to declare their medical status and cover themselves in clothing to avoid accidentally brushing up against someone and causing them to  become infected.

Maria Terez Lopez is one of the afflicted, living in New York, seeing posers who have adopted the styles used by the Deprivers as a fashion statement, and working as a waitress in a small restaurant that only employs Deprivers and focuses their service on those who are Deprivers or feel a kinship with the Deprivers. Even though she is surrounded by people, her customers, her co-workers, and especially her boss, Jake Nada, who keeps making passes at her, despite the danger to both of them, should she ever accept, there is no sign that she has any deep connections to anyone, keeping everyone at a distance due to her malady.

 

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Goth Chick News Classics: Ray Bradbury’s “The Wish,” a Timeless Christmas Tale

Goth Chick News Classics: Ray Bradbury’s “The Wish,” a Timeless Christmas Tale

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The Book

For the last few Decembers I have reposted an article I wrote about Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Wish.” It is a Christmas tale of loss and love and magic which Bradbury penned following the death of his father. When it first appeared in Women’s Day magazine in 1973, my Dad was deep in his own grief having lost his own father, my beloved Grandpa, earlier that year. The story I told in Black Gate was how “The Wish” helped ease my Dad’s grief and led to my lifelong love of all things Bradbury.

That article led to my meeting and becoming friends with Bradbury’s editor Peter Schneider from Hill House Books, who published the only standalone hardcover of “The Wish.” He presented me with one of the numbered copies, signed by Bradbury, which is one of my most prized possessions.

In December 2022, as I prepared for the holiday festivities, I was suddenly faced with the loss of my own father. He was 94 and his health hadn’t been the greatest for a few months, so maybe his leaving us peacefully in his sleep should not have come as the shock that it did, but the sense of loss was crushing.

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Two Classic Fantasy Anthologies: Barbarians and Barbarians II, edited by Robert Adams

Two Classic Fantasy Anthologies: Barbarians and Barbarians II, edited by Robert Adams

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Barbarians, edited by Robert Adams and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh, and
Barbarians II, edited by Pamela Crippen Adams, Robert Adams, and Martin H. Greenberg
(Signet New American Library, January 1986 and February 1988). Covers by Ken Kelly

Besides editing the Friends of the Horseclans books (discussed here last week), Robert Adams also edited — along with others — two thick anthologies from Signet entitled Barbarians (1985) and Barbarians II (1988). Covers by Ken Kelly. I bought these when they came out because they each have a Robert E. Howard story, and I was an REH completist at the time. I liked both of these collections, although the concept of “Barbarian” is stretched very broadly.

For example, in the initial volume you have a mostly SF story by Fred Saberhagen and a Witch World fantasy tale by Andre Norton. Both are good stories but have little to do with any concept I might have of barbarians. There’s a Fritz Leiber Fafhrd and Mouser story that fits the concept, and the truly excellent “Swordsman of Lost Terra” by Poul Anderson, which also has a lot of Sword & Planet elements.

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Two New Black Company Novels (Lies Weeping, and They Cry) on the Way!

Two New Black Company Novels (Lies Weeping, and They Cry) on the Way!

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Back in April, as part of an exclusive Q&A with sword and sorcery legend Glen Cook, Black Gate revealed that the author had already completed the next three novels in his seminal The Black Company series. He was working on a fourth, all part of an arc titled A Pitiless Rain – or, The Orphan’s Tale.

For several years now I have been working on A Pitiless Rain – or, The Orphan’s Tale. It’s a family Saga thing mainly revolving around the next generation kids from Glittering Stone, especially Soldiers Live. I have completed the first three volumes: Lies Weeping, They Cry, & Summer Grass. (I am) Halfway through Darkness Knows.

Tor has announced that Lies Weeping is finally coming. No release date yet, though Barnes and Noble is taking pre-orders, with a listed date of November 4, 2025. There is some info on the story (it’s like a cover spoiler – skip if you aren’t current on The Company):

The Black Company has retreated across the plain of glittering stone, toward a shadow gate that would let them trade the dangers of the plain for the questionable safety of the Company’s one-time haven on Hsien, a region in the world known as the Land of Unknown Shadows.

In Hsien, the company returns to their former base, An Abode of Ravens, where the Lady ages backwards in a return to force, shaking off the thrall, one breath at a time. Meanwhile, Croaker, ascended to godlike status as the Steadfast Guardian, has been left behind in the Nameless Fortress.

In their adopted father’s stead, Arkana and Shukrat have taken up the role of annalist for the Black Company. At first, life in Hsien appears quiet, even boring, but it is quickly apparent that strange goings on are more than what they seem, and it’s up to them to discover the truth hidden in the shadows of this strange land.

Glen also told me in an email today, that book two, They Cry, will be out in February of 2026!

No release date for book three, and he is still working on book four.

It’s a new era for The Black Company, and a joyful Christmas season for its fans!
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Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 11 to 17)

Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 11 to 17)

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So, if you are reading this post right now (and you’d have to be, to see these words), this is Part Two of a look at Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery. It would make sense to go read Part One, before reading this. Like, a LOT of sense. But if you’re here and you’re determined to plow ahead, below is the first part of the intro to last week’s post, so you understand the deal. Then you can move right on to Step Six.

Though you really should go back and read Part One and Part Two.

My Dungeons and Dragons roots don’t go back to the very beginning, but I didn’t miss it by much. I remember going to our Friendly Local Gaming Store with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement.

And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I read with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR.

Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master.

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Lyrical, Mysterious, and Ingenious: The Tales and Poems of Clark Ashton Smith

Lyrical, Mysterious, and Ingenious: The Tales and Poems of Clark Ashton Smith

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The Last Oblivion: Best Fantastic Poems of Clark Ashton Smith (Hippocampus Press, January 13, 2021)

January 13 will mark the 132nd natal anniversary of the great Clark Ashton Smith, accomplished writer of weird fiction, horror, and poetry; visionary illustrator, painter, and sculptor. Smith’s tales of Averoigne, Atlantis, Hyperborea, and Zothique have fascinated me for years. Smith was incredibly gifted, writing tales fantasy, terror, science fiction, and the supernatural.

He also is considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. The Last Oblivion contains a wonderful selection of his poetic works. Smith’s exotic language and fertile imagination are unparalleled in these weird, supernatural, and otherworldly poems. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something different yet evocative.

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Alien Cults, Interstellar Wars, and a Starship Murder Mystery: November-December Print Magazines

Alien Cults, Interstellar Wars, and a Starship Murder Mystery: November-December Print Magazines

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November-December 2024 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog
Science Fiction & Fact. Cover art by Shutterstock and John Sumrow

We’ve got issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction & Fact to see us through the dark months of winter, and they’re even more star-studded than usual, with contributions from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sean Monaghan, Dominica Phetteplace, Molly Gloss, Jack Skillingstead, Shane Tourtellotte, Sean McMullen, Alexander Jablokov, Jerry Oltion, Mary Soon Lee, and lots more.

The issues contain Rusch’s new novella “Death Benefits,” which Sam Tomaino calls “magnificent… [Rusch] at the height of her powers. It will be on my shortlist for Best Novella Hugo next year;” Peter Wood’s starship murder mystery “Murder on the Orion Express” (“ingenious… a great story”); Jack Skillingstead’s tale of a civil servant in a city beset by war tasked with recording the dead, “The Ledgers” (“Grim”); and David Cleden’s “The Touchstone of Ouroboros,” in which priests of a cult that worships an ancient alien object come face to face with the consequences of their faith, which Victoria Silverwolf praises with “Although some of the mysteries surrounding the object are explained by the end, it remains an enigma. In a sense, it is also a character, albeit one that is impossible to comprehend.”

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