Tales From the Magician’s Skull #8. Cover by Ken Kelly
What have Howard Andrew Jones and his cabal of mad writers and artists been toiling to create, deep in the abandoned publishing mines below Evanston, Illinois?
Many bothans died to bring us early word, and now at last we can share it with you: it’s issue #8 of the world’s greatest Sword & Sorcery magazine, Tales From the Magician’s Skull!
According to hand-written notes scrawled by dying bothans, the long-awaited new issue is packed with fiction of keen interest to Black Gate readers, including a new Morlock tale by James Enge, a new Tale of Gaunt and Bone by Chris Wilrich, and fiction by C. L. Werner, Robert Rhodes, Jeremy Pak Nelson, and many others — all packaged under a cover by legendary artist Ken Kelly. The issue is available to buy today; check out all the details below.
The Justice of Kings (Orbit, August 23, 2022). Cover by Martina Fackova
These days it’s all about blending genres. Dark fantasy police procedurals (Dan Stout’s The Carter Archives). High fantasy romance (Foz Meadow’s A Strange and Stubborn Endurance). Cthulhu mythos and epic fantasy (Jonathan Mayberry’s Kagen the Damned). If you can imagine it, then trust me, it’s out there.
Some genres go together better than others, though. For my money, the ideal pairing is the tightly plotted murder mystery, blended with the sprawling cast of an ambitious political fantasy. Turns out that perfectly describes Richard Swan’s brand new novel The Justice of Kings, released at the end of August by Orbit. Booklist labels it “Rich and interesting,” and Grimdark Magazine flat out calls it “Brilliant.” Here’s an excerpt from the enthusiastic starred review at Kirkus.
So, I’ve got over 1,500 words about season one of The Rings of Power, but it wasn’t gonna be wrestled into shape for this morning. So, I’ll work on tidying that up by next Monday. And I’m working on a basic Reader’s Guide to The Silmarillion: which, while my favorite Tolkien book, is, admittedly, not an easy read. But that’s not ready. So, I decided to write about a few Tolkien-related topics today. And awaaaay we go:
Lord of the Rings Online
I mentioned in last week’s article that Elder Scrolls Online replaced Age of Conan as my favorite MMO. Over the last year, I made my first dive into Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO). I’m not a fan of the Turbine engine, which LotRO uses. As does the original Dungeons and Dragons Online game, and Asheron’s Call. I find the Neverwinter Nights MMO engine much better for my D&D fix.
I played a dwarf up to halfway through the Mines of Moria expansion. ESO and Age of Conan – and even Neverwinter Nights – are better MMOs. That Turbine engine is dated, and clunky. The graphics are okay, but definitely inferior to Age of Conan and Elder Scrolls Online. It’s not even remotely close.
But for a Tolkien fan, the lore in LotRO is simply fantastic! From The Shire, to Moria, to the North Downs: it is literally a chance to live in Middle Earth. The game is worth playing alone for the depth of setting, and the capturing of the lore. If I weren’t enjoying ESO so much, I would be continuing on in LotRO. It’s very easy to solo, which is how I play MMOs. If you’re a gamer, and you want to experience Tolkien, this is the game for you. How much you actually like the Turbine engine will probably determine if you stick with it or not.
Science Fiction Book Club mailer from 1964, featuring From theTwilight Zone. Art by Virgil Finlay
As I related in the first three installments of this series (parts One, Two, and Three), like tens of thousands of science fiction fans before and after me, I was at one time a member of the Science Fiction Book Club (or SFBC for short). I joined just as I entered my teen years, in the fall of 1976, shortly after I’d discovered their ads in the SF digests.
The bulletin of the SFBC, Things to Come – which announced the featured selections available and alternates – sometimes just reproduced the dust jacket art for the books in question. During the first couple of decades of Things to Come, however, those occasions were rare. In most cases during that period, the art was created solely for the bulletin, and was not used in the book or anywhere else. Since nearly all of the art for the first 20 years of Things to Come is exclusive to that bulletin, it hasn’t been seen by many SF fans.
In this series, I’ll reproduce some of that art, chosen by virtue of the art, the story that it illustrates or the author of the story. The first installment featured art from 1957 and earlier, while the second installment covered 1958-1960 and the third installment dealt with 1961-1963. In this fourth installment I’ll look at the years 1964-1966, presented chronologically.
October is, unsurprisingly, my favorite month of the year for all the reasons you would suspect. And though tucking into a new scary book or movie is a pleasure I indulge in throughout the year, October is the month I make very deliberate entertainment choices. My goal for each day of the month is to revisit my favorites while seeking out new works as well.
For instance, in homage to the great Peter Straub who we sadly lost in September, I have reread the only novel which still manages to scare the crap out of me regardless of how many times I’ve read it; Ghost Story. I have rewatched Sleepy Hallow, Halloween, American Werewolf in London and Fright Night (both the original and remake).
On the “new” side, I have watched The Invitation, House of Darkness and the new AMC series Interview with the Vampire, which I told you about last week. I am also nearly done with the Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) novel Ink Black Heart, which, though not a horror novel strictly speaking, is still suspensefully written and the latest installment in one of my favorite series. But its another relatively new movie title that I want to share today.
Fred M. Barclay had a story to tell, “The Troglodytes,” and he told it. Apparently, he said everything he had to say, because there is no indication that he ever published anything else. In Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years, Everett E. Bleiler’s biographical note on Barclay states, “No information.”
Barclay uses a framing technique that was relatively common at the time. His narrator, Joe Everett, is found disheveled by a family on a country road and when they take him in to make sure he is okay, he tells them the story of his adventure, which began with Joe and two of his friends, John and Jim. The three men found a cave and decided to explore it, discovering an ancient civilization living underground and completely divorced from the surface world.
It is clear from the start that John and Jim did not return to the surface world with Joe and the main tension is the story is what happened to them. An initial expectation that they were killed by the troglodytic race known as the Ampu appears to be subverted once the trio meets them. The Ampu are welcoming to them and treat them well, giving them a tour of their subterranean world, almost as if they were honored guests.
MichaelHarrington is a writer and course designer living in the Fort Collins Colorado area of the United States. Here we post Michael Harrington’s interview of OliverBrackenbury who is an author, screenwriter, podcaster, and now a magazine editor. In fact, this interview highlights the release of Brackenbury’s new magazine New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine (released Sept. 30th, 2022. Hardcover $11.99usd, softcover $3.99usd, and the ePub free)!
Read on to learn more about Oliver Brackenbury, his blog, and New Edge!
Too Many Magicians, Murder and Magic and Lord Darcy Investigates
(Ace, 1979 – 1981). Cover art by Robert Adragna
In 1977 Jim Baen accepted an offer from publisher Tom Doherty to return to Ace Books to head their science fiction line. Doherty left Ace to found Tor Books in 1980 and Baen soon followed him, but his years at Ace were extraordinarily productive. He resurrected an enormous amount of classic SF and fantasy from the magazines and brought it to a brand new audience, including Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Poul Anderson’s Flandry, Keith Laumer’s Retief, Fred Saberhagen’s Berserker, H. Beam Piper’s Fuzzynovels, and collections by Robert Sheckley, James Tiptree, Jr, Robert E. Howard, James H. Schmitz, Barry N. Malzberg, and countless others.
One of the most distinctive works Baen championed was Randall Garrett’s tales of occult detective Lord Darcy, set in an alternate England in which the laws of Magic are rigorously codified, but the laws of physics remain unknown. He gathered them into three volumes: the novel Too Many Magicians and the collections Murder and Magic and Lord Darcy Investigates. They captured a brand new readership, and the books have been reprinted half a dozen times in subsequent decades.
Servants of War by Larry Correia and Steve Diamond (Baen Books, 2022. 424pages). Cover art by Alan Pollack
Veteran fantasy readers may yawn if they hear about an epic fantasy about a farm boy in a remote village rising to power, and the first few pages of Servants of War dangles that trope before readers. And then horror rushes in like a tidal wave, and before Chapter 1 can end, the worn trope is burning with hellfire billowing alchemical smoke, a Grimdark spirit rises out of the book to slap the reader in the face, crank the head back, and pour gasoline-action down a thirsty throat.
Welcome to Servants of War. The combination of military-fantasy veteran Larry Correria with horror-guru Steve Diamond promises “military fantasy with horror” and you’ll get trenches full of that. Baen released this masterpiece that opens The Age of Ravens series in hardcover and audiobook in March 2022; the paperback is due February 2023. Without spoiling, this post covers a summary, excerpts, and a small hint as to the forthcoming sequel. …
My Nord Guardian, who uses a bow and has a kick-butt bear to handle the melee.
I never jumped full-bore into the MMO world. I preferred CRPGs, like Dark Sun, Baldur’s Gate, and Neverwinter Nights. I gave Pathfinder: Kingmaker a long try (gets bogged down in the details – like food management). And the first two Mount and Blades ate up a lot of time.
I did Guild Wars 2, and Rift, short trials. Lord of the Rings Online and Neverwinter Nights have both gotten a fair amount of play, though the Turbine Engine is definitely dated. I love the lore in LotRO.
Age of Conan was my favorite MMO until last year. I like the graphics, and once I got used to the fighting system, it worked. The Conan lore is TERRIFIC. And since I’m a huge Robert E. Howard fan, the setting was my favorite (even more than Middle Earth). I’ve played several characters and classes, and they all were fun. Since I usually solo, the paucity of players wasn’t a problem. (Age of Conan doesn’t even come up on MMO’s ‘Active Player Count List, which goes down to number 63: 8,163. Not many folks around, if that matters to you.)
I played a ton of Morrowind when it came out, and was a big fan. But I didn’t go on to Skyrim, or Oblivion. Just wasn’t interested. I had picked up Elder Scrolls Online during a Steam sale, and made a half-hearted attempt at it a couple years ago. It looked nice, and it was fine. But I wasn’t invested in the world, and Age of Conan remained my go-to MMO.
Last year I did a deep play with a Kajiit Nightblade/Rogue and LOVED it. And I reinstalled it late this summer and I’m rolling through it with a Nord Guardian, using a bow and a bear. ESO is an amazing MMO. The visuals are still great. It’s a beautiful game. The combat system is easy to use, and the skill trees underlying it give lots of options on how you want to build your character.
The lore of Tamriel is simply staggering. The depth is immense. There are books all over the game that you can read (or not) and add to the reality and the history of the setting. There are collectible lore books (there’s a quest) that go in your Lore Library, and you can read them any time. And they don’t take up inventory slots! Not all books are collectible. There are over 1,000 readable books! That is cool.
