Black Gate – Page 498 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

The Past Remembered

Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Fletcher Vredenburgh Comments 5 comments

Last week I attended the funeral for my friend Densel’s wife, Sheryl. As these things tend to, it spawned a reunion of friends who don’t see each other anymore. Densel was a major hub of roleplaying on Staten Island, and our love for our friend, and each other, grew from our meeting together to play Dungeons and Dragons. Only in recent years have I learned that while he was gaming with me and my group, he was moonlighting with other groups all across the Island. He is single-handedly responsible for more people playing D&D on Staten Island than any other person I know.

The first time I met Densel was when his friend, Desmond, brought him to Boy Scouts to play violin for us and join our troop. He was a six-foot-four, sixteen-year-old black kid and I was a five-foot-four, eleven-year-old white kid. Though five years older than I, we hit it off. What really connected us were the three wildly illustrated pamphlets he brought on a camping trip: Dungeons & Dragons, Greyhawk, and Blackmoor. One of his older brothers had gone to school in Wisconsin and brought the game back to Staten Island with him. When we saw Densel reading them, a couple of us younger guys asked him what they were. When he asked if we had read Moorcock or Tolkien and we said yes, he then asked if we would like to play a game where we could be knights and rangers. Without hesitation, we said yes.

We didn’t play the game properly. Mostly, it was just us talking about the characters we wanted to play and then Densel talking us through adventures. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t really learning the game; I was hooked by the idea of roleplaying. The illustrations from those original books are a major part of what I believe fantasy should look like. The thought of getting caught up in playing someone like Elric or Aragorn blew my eleven-year-old mind.

Densel aged out of scouts and I didn’t see him again for a couple of years. I was still finishing grade school and he was getting ready to enter college. It was then that I started playing D&D for real with my immediate circle of friends. Both my neighbor and I got the boxed Basic Set for Christmas. For two years we played relentlessly; and I mean relentlessly. For anyone who played the game in that first flush of its popularity in the late 1970s, you know what I mean. Every free weekend was spent playing, and the days between designing dungeons and drawing maps. Soon I was building up a shelf of hardcover Advanced D&D manuals. Almost any money I earned or got as a gift was plowed into the game.

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Future Treasures: Vallista by Steven Brust

Monday, October 9, 2017 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

I read Jhereg, the first book in Steven Brust’s long-running Vlad Taltos series, when my brother Mike thrust it on me in 1983. It was fun, fast-paced, and totally different from anything I’d ever read before.

Steven Brust was a fast-rising literary star in 1983, but Jhereg, and the series it spawned, established him as a major name. He’s produced numerous popular and acclaimed novels in the intervening years — including To Reign in Hell (1984), Brokedown Palace (1985), The Phoenix Guards (1991), and his ongoing Incrementalists series with Skyler White — but it’s the Vlad Taltos series that he remains most closely associated with. There have been thirteen additional novels in the series since Jhereg appeared 34 years ago, and this month marks the arrival of the fifteenth, Vallista, a deep dive into the mysteries of the world of Dragaera.

Vlad Taltos is an Easterner ― an underprivileged human in an Empire of tall, powerful, long-lived Dragaerans. He made a career for himself in House Jhereg, the Dragaeran clan in charge of the Empire’s organized crime. But the day came when the Jhereg wanted Vlad dead, and he’s been on the run ever since. He has plenty of friends among the Dragaeran highborn, including an undead wizard and a god or two. But as long as the Jhereg have a price on his head, Vlad’s life is…messy.

Meanwhile, for years, Vlad’s path has been repeatedly crossed by Devera, a small Dragaeran girl of indeterminate powers who turns up at the oddest moments in his life.

Now Devera has appeared again ― to lead Vlad into a mysterious, seemingly empty manor overlooking the Great Sea. Inside this structure are corridors that double back on themselves, rooms that look out over other worlds, and ― just maybe ― answers to some of Vlad’s long-asked questions about his world and his place in it. If only Devera can be persuaded to stop disappearing in the middle of his conversations with her…

The entire series has been kept in print by Ace in deluxe trade paperback omnibus editions — pretty extraordinary for a series that’s over three decades old.

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September/October Analog Now on Sale

Monday, October 9, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The September/October Analog has a diverse mix of tales, of time travel, uplifted animals, ghostmail, siege engines on Mars, cryo-prisons, space elevators, crash landings on hostile worlds, mysterious alien invaders, and Norman Spinrad’s tale of the Order of the Galactic Eye. Here’s Nicky Magas at Tangent Online to give us the highlights.

An exciting new world that is hostile to technology awaits Mbasi in “Orphans” by Craig DeLancey. No probes sent to the planet teeming with vegetation have survived through to their full life expectancy. It’s up to Mbasi and the rest of the research crew to figure out why. But when an unexplainable accident forces them into an emergency crash landing from their planned orbit, Mbasi finds herself a little closer to the conundrum than she first anticipated. To make matters worse, whatever has been destroying their probes is making short work of their ship as well.

The mystery in “Orphans” is what truly makes this story shine. The sense of urgency DeLancey puts into every word is palpable to the reader, making every decision seem like life or death. DeLancey cultivates a deep curiosity in readers, and though he peppers the narrative with speculation between his characters, the open ended nature of the conclusion leaves readers on the edge of the cliff of what is knowable, both satisfied and deeply wanting more.

In “The Old Man” by Rich Larsen, Ezekiel wants nothing more than to kill his father and have him know who did it. Lucky for him the Old Man escaped his cryo-prison. Luckier still, the government thawed Zeke for the task of taking him out. The Old Man has much to atone for and Zeke means to see the debt settled down to the last drop of blood.

Larson tells a fascinating story of revenge and humanity in “The Old Man.” As the narrative unravels itself in a non-linear way set to the backdrop of the swampy bayou, readers find their sympathies torn between politics, family, and human rights in a technologically advanced future. There are layers to this story that make it exquisitely complex and an ethically thoughtful read. Readers expecting a story whirling with technology might be surprised by how intricately and tragically organic it is, however this does not detract from the brilliant piece of futuristic science fiction that it is.

Read Nicky’s complete review here.

The September/October issue contains fiction by Edward M. Lerner, Lettie Prell, Jerry Oltion, Rich Larsen, Michael F. Flynn, James Van Pelt, Stanley Schmidt, Norman Spinrad, Bud Sparhawk, and many others. The cover is by Eldar Zakirov, for “My Fifth and Most Exotic Voyage,” by Edward M. Lerner.

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Self-published Book Review: A History of Magic by Scott Robinson

Monday, October 9, 2017 Donald Crankshaw Comments 3 comments

I’m back from my failed Kickstarter, and I’ll be looking for more books to review soon. If you have any, send them my way.

A History of Magic is the second book in Scott Robinson’s series about Rawk, the last great hero. I reviewed the first novel, The Age of Heroes, two years ago here at Black Gate.

Rawk is retired, but that doesn’t stop the exots–exotic monsters from other worlds–from randomly appearing in his city of Katamood. Technically, this should be his friend Weaver’s problem, as he’s the prince of the city, but the city guard that Weaver employs can’t be everywhere at once. And if a monster appears right in front of Rawk, he has to fight it. It’s expected, to judge from the crowds that materialize whenever that happens. But Rawk is getting slower, and he can’t save everyone, not even his audience, which doesn’t always have the good sense to keep its distance.

New heroes have been showing up from all over the world to fight the monsters. But heroes are lazy sorts, and they tend to hang out in taverns waiting for word of the monsters to come to them, and only then head out to kill the beast and collect the bounty. And very few of them have any interest in finding out where the monsters are coming from and stopping it–that would cause the bounties to dry up quick.

It must be caused by sorcerers, to judge from the magical portals producing the monsters. Weaver’s solution would be to send his guards from door-to-door hunting down sorcerers–real or imagined–but Rawk would rather avoid that. So he recruits Sylvia, half-elven sorceress and former enemy, current healer, to help him out. Together, they track down various sorcerers who have little real magic between them, trying to discover who’s behind the exots. Clearly, none of these sorcerers could light a candle with magic on their own, but if enough of them worked together . . .

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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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Undead Emperors and Cybernetic Rebels: The Succession Novels by Scott Westerfeld

Sunday, October 8, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Last month I bought a remaindered copy of The Risen Empire, the opening novel in Scott Westerfeld’s acclaimed Succession series. Of course that meant I had to track down the second and final volume, The Killing of Worlds. In the process I had a quick look through our archives to see ifBG reviewers had had anything to say about them over the years.

As usual, our staff didn’t let me down. Martin Page held up the first volume as an exemplary achievement in his post “How and Why You Should Withhold Information from the Reader,” saying:

For example, Scott Westerfeld’s marvelous The Risen Empire quickly turns out to be about a secret. We see one team try to expose the secret and another — who know what it is — ruthlessly try to preserve it.

Here’s the back covers of both volumes.

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The Subtle Art of Game Speculation

Saturday, October 7, 2017 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

I collect a lot of games. They’re not all winners. For example, I stupidly purchased not one but two copies of the massive StarCraft: The Board Game from the clearance section of a toy store in 2007. I thought my kids — who were gonzo for the Blizzard computer game at the time — would show a least a little interest, but they never did. Just because a game is heavily discounted doesn’t mean it’s a good buy. I kicked myself for making a dumb impulse purchase, and stashed the games in my basement.

Flash forward a decade to today, as I’m sitting in the front row of the Games Plus Fall auction in Mount Prospect, Illinois. It runs over four days, but the Saturday auction is reserved for science fiction games and RPGs. There are thousands sold to collectors and enthusiasts from all over the Midwest. And what to my astonished eyes was one of the most hotly sought-after items? StarCraft: The Board Game, which is apparently both rare and highly desirable, at least in good shape. The first copy to be offered up, a perfect copy still in the shrinkwrap, caused a frenzy of bidding, and sold for $112. Not bad for a game I paid $30 for in a discount bin ten years ago.

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October Is Hammer Country: The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

Saturday, October 7, 2017 Ryan Harvey Comments 1 comment

October is here and that means I need no excuse simply to line up a quartet of horror movies from Britain’s Hammer Film Productions for the next four Saturdays in a row and throw words at them. For me, Hammer films are the perfect horrors for the Halloween season: atmospheric, Gothic, supernatural featuring famous monsters, violent without making you feel abysmal afterward, and packed with plenty of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Hammer movies feel like great Halloween party guests who wear the most elegant costumes and whom you want to hang out with after the other guests have gone home.

My criteria for picking the four movies for a Hammer October was to choose films from outside of the studio’s two major franchises — Dracula and Frankenstein — and which are currently available on Blu-ray in North America. Which means Plague of the Zombies and The Devil Rides Out are disqualified, unfortunately. (Kino Lorber, please get on this.) But it was easy to find movies that fit my ghoulish bill, and I’m starting off with the first vampire film Hammer produced that didn’t involve Dracula.

The Kiss of the Vampire was originally intended as a follow-up to The Brides of Dracula (1960), the first sequel to Hammer’s smash 1958 hit Dracula/Horror of Dracula. Hammer was trying to create a Dracula series without the count and Christopher Lee, focusing instead on Dracula’s legacy of aristocratic blood-sucking descendants and Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing pursuing them. The Kiss of the Vampire was going to continue this, introducing a full coven of vampires holding black magic ceremonies in a Gothic castle. This expanded on hints from The Brides of Dracula: the opening narration speaking of how Dracula’s “disciples live on to spread the cult and corrupt the world,” and the story of the wealthy visitors to Castle Meinster who seduced the young baron into their undead circle.

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New Treasures: The Core by Peter Brett

Friday, October 6, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The second book in Peter Brett’s Demon Cycle series, The Desert Spear, became an international bestseller, and the next two volumes catapulted him to the top tier in the industry. That’s a meteoric rise for someone with a single series to their name.

Anticipation for the final book, The Core, has been running high for two years, and it finally arrived in hardcover from Del Rey this week. Here’s the description.

For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them. Then two heroes arose — men as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Warded Man, tattooed head to toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat — and emerge victorious. Jardir, armed with magically warded weapons, called himself the Deliverer, a figure prophesied to unite humanity and lead them to triumph in Sharak Ka — the final war against demonkind.

But in their efforts to bring the war to the demons, Arlen and Jardir have set something in motion that may prove the end of everything they hold dear — a swarm. Now the war is at hand, and humanity cannot hope to win it unless Arlen and Jardir, with the help of Arlen’s wife, Renna, can bend a captured demon prince to their will and force the devious creature to lead them to the Core, where the Mother of Demons breeds an inexhaustible army.

Trusting their closest confidantes, Leesha, Inevera, Ragen, and Elissa, to rally the fractious people of the Free Cities and lead them against the swarm, Arlen, Renna, and Jardir set out on a desperate quest into the darkest depths of evil — from which none of them expects to return alive.

At 800 pages, The Core brings the page count for the entire 5-volume series to an impressive 3,250 pages. This is an epic you can sink your teeth into, and no mistake. It began with The Warded Man, still available in paperback. Those of you looking for a new fantasy series, and who hate to start reading before it’s complete — your ship has finally come in.

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In 500 Words or Less … Utter Fabrications: Historical Accounts Of Unusual Buildings And Structures, ed. by Dawn Vogel and Jeremy Zimmerman

Friday, October 6, 2017 Brandon Crilly Comments 0 Comment

Utter Fabrications: Historical Accounts of Unusual Buildings and Structures
Edited by Dawn Vogel and Jeremy Zimmerman
Mad Scientist Journal Presents, DefCon One Publishing (354 pages, $14.99 paperback, $4.99 eBook, Sept 2017)

“No one understands strange places like the people who have been there,” opens the description for Utter Fabrications: Historical Accounts of Unusual Buildings and Structures, calling out the fact that everyone knows a place that gives them a funny feeling. For me, it was a stretch of residential street partway between the grocery store where I worked as a teenager and the home where my mom and stepdad lived. Walking that way wouldn’t always make my skin crawl… but enough that I started to avoid it.

The idea behind this anthology, I think, is to evoke that familiar feeling of the uncanny. And some of the stories in Utter Fabrications manage to do that. “Every House, A Home” by Evan Dicken focuses on a freelancer who tries to suss out the negative energy around buildings – not because of bad feng shui or poltergeists, but because the building is actually unhappy. In “Kingsport Asylum” by Diana Hauer, a woman returns to the asylum where she spent her youth and faces the very tangible memories of the crimes committed there.

Each story takes the idea of a place being inhabited by energies beyond our understanding and plays with it, and one of the strengths of this anthology is the different ways this idea is shaped, whether it’s through a roving bike rack, a house that dreams of exotic locales or a city district that sometimes takes people but also sometimes protects them. There are also a number of diverse characters on display; my favorite was the non-binary groundskeeper in “Asylum,” with a close second being Nat in “Every House,” who struggles with reading human emotions but can become totally in tune with a building.

If I’m being entirely honest, though, none of the stories really drew me in or gave me that “aha” moment I look for in short fiction. In some cases the stories are predictable, and in many cases things work out well in almost prosaic or Lifetime movie sort of way, which has never been my cup of tea. The roving bike rack that becomes attached to Alanna McFall’s protagonist in “Can’t Be Locked Down” is the one story that struck me with its quirky originality, but none of the others really did the same.

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