Random Reviews: “The Perfect Diamond” by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem

Random Reviews: “The Perfect Diamond” by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem

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Cover by Allan Koszowski
Cover by Allan Koszowski

The husband and wife team of Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem published the short story “The Perfect Diamond” in the first issue of Fantastic Worlds in 1996. This incarnation of Fantastic Worlds was a fanzine edited by Scott A. Becker, and was unrelated to an earlier fanzine of the same name published in the 1950s by Sam Sackett and Edward W. Ludwig. It isn’t clear how many issues Becker published, but the first issue included fiction not only by the Tems, but also Jeff VanderMeer, Stepan Chapman, Ken Rand, James S. Dorr, and other authors.

Christopher has just been released from jail with a small amount of money in his pocket and a nearly perfect diamond, which he had owned for as long as he can remember. In his memory, there was a time that the diamond was flawless, but at some point it somehow developed a gouge. Although he always carries the diamond with him, there are few people in his life who know of its existence.

During his first day of release, Christopher wanders through town, trying to figure out where to live and what to do with his life. He bumps into Gina, his ex-girlfriend, in a bar. Their connection goes poorly and Gina leaves him with a taunt that as long as he has his perfect diamond, he doesn’t need anything else, clearly unaware that the diamond is no longer perfect. He also bumps into the father who adopted him, another person who knows of the diamond, although his father doesn’t mention the diamond.

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Cinema of Swords: For the Horde!

Cinema of Swords: For the Horde!

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The Golden Horde (USA, 1951)

Huns and Mongols, the mounted hordes who swept out of Central Asia into eastern and central Europe in the Middle Ages, made a lasting impact on the psyche of the folk of the lands they invaded, all the way down the 20th century—as shown by the fact that Allied propaganda during World War I successfully branded their German opponents as “the Huns.” Invoking the Mongol Horde was a reliable source of terror in mid-century movies from Russia to Italy to Hollywood, as we see in the films covered in this week’s article. All three suffer from the casual racism of the time in which they were made, but it’s better to see that and note it than to pretend it never happened or doesn’t matter. History is always seen through the lens of the time it’s viewed from, and we learn interesting lessons from its distortions.

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Mike Ashley’s British Library Science Fiction Classics, Volumes 1-3: Moonrise, Lost Mars, and Menace of the Machine

Mike Ashley’s British Library Science Fiction Classics, Volumes 1-3: Moonrise, Lost Mars, and Menace of the Machine

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The first three anthologies in the British Library Science Fiction Classics: Moonrise,
Lost Mars, and Menace of the Machine. Covers by Chesley Bonestell and David A. Hardy

Two weeks ago I gazed in wonder at Mike Ashley’s 10-volume anthology series of science fiction from the pre-spaceflight era, the British Library Science Fiction Classics.

The first three in the series — Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures, Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet, and Menace of the Machine: The Rise of AI in Classic Science Fiction — make an impressive set, containing nearly three dozen stories originally published between 1887 – 1965 by H.G. Wells, Gordon R. Dickson, John Wyndham, Edmond Hamilton, Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Ray Bradbury, E. C. Tubb, Walter M. Miller, Jr., J. G. Ballard, Ambrose Bierce, Isaac Asimov, Henry Kuttner and Catherine Moore, Brian W Aldiss, Murray Leinster, and many others. Each volume also includes a fascinating and impeccably researched introduction by Ashley that’s sure to whet your appetite.

Let’s take a closer look. (Warning: entirely superfluous pulp magazine covers ahead).

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What I’m Watching: November 2022

What I’m Watching: November 2022

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Still reading and writing about Numenor, and Khazad-dum, for upcoming essays, so Talking The Rings of Power takes the week off. The Downfall of Numenor, the new book put together by Brian Sibley, is pretty good. The narrative flow works, and Alan Lee’s sketches are really nice. If you liked his Sketchbooks for The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit, you’ll definitely like the volume and quality of these sketches.

And, I switched gears a little bit and I pulled Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun off my shelf. I’d not read any of his ‘epic poem’ books before. The lecture in the front, from one of his Oxford classes, was quite interesting.

So, it’s another What I’ve Been Watching. And along with some stuff with my son, I’ve been jumping around – good and bad.

TULSA KING

Gonna start with a brand new show. Episode two aired just last night, and I haven’t even seen it yet. Sylvester Stallone is a NY gangster who just finishes a 25-year prison term in the show’s opening scene. He ‘took one for the team,’ as it were. And he’s rewarded by being sent off to set up a mob operation in Tulsa. Which is basically like being banished to Siberia. I really didn’t spoil anything for you. This is the opening setup of the show.

Stallone is TERRIFIC in the part. I had not expectations either way, and he hits a grand slam. He’s a NYC lifetime mob guy, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yeah… There is a ton of funny in this show. Not stupid, Adam Sandler ‘funny.’ But humor within the context of Stallone taking over the town.

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Snuggle Under a Blanket With Close to Midnight, the Latest Horror Anthology from Mark Morris

Snuggle Under a Blanket With Close to Midnight, the Latest Horror Anthology from Mark Morris

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After Sundown, Beyond the Veil, and Close to Midnight
(Flame Tree Press, 2020, 2021, and 2022). Covers: Nik Keevil and Flame Tree Studio

I’ve been enjoying Mark Morris’ recent run of unthemed annual horror anthologies. He kicked it off with the highly regarded After Sundown in 2020; the success of that volume convinced the publisher, Flame Tree Press, to make it an annual event. Beyond the Veil followed last year, and Close to Midnight arrived just last month.

The newest installment looks like it could be the best one yet. It contains 20 original stories, 16 commissioned from established names and four selected from new writers who sent in stories during an open submissions window. The result is a terrific cross section of horror from the most acclaimed writers in the business — including Steve Rasnic Tem, Ramsey Campbell, Muriel Gray, Alison Littlewood, Seanan McGuire, Brian Keene, and Adam L.G. Nevill — alongside some talented and exciting newcomers.

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Vintage Treasures: Hiero’s Journey by Sterling E. Lanier

Vintage Treasures: Hiero’s Journey by Sterling E. Lanier

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Hiero’s Journey and sequel The Unforsaken Hiero (Del Rey, 1983 and 1984). Covers by Darrell K. Sweet

Sterling Lanier occupies a unique and honored place in science fiction history. While he’s fondly remembered for his fiction, his greatest contribution came as a result of his keen eye, and his editorial daring.

In 1961 Lanier was hired as an editor at Chilton, a Boston publisher specializing in business magazines and automobile repair books. In 1965 he convinced Chilton to publish their first novel, an oversized science fiction epic that had been rejected by nearly twenty publishers due to its prodigious length. That novel, Frank Herbert’s Dune, eventually became a bestseller, launching one of the most respected literary franchises of the 20th Century, and completely remaking SF publishing.

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Goth Chick News: Winnie-the-Pooh Has Had It with You Kids…

Goth Chick News: Winnie-the-Pooh Has Had It with You Kids…

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It was 1926 when author A. A. Milne (1882-1956), wrote the children’s classic Winnie-the-Pooh followed two years later by The House at Pooh Corner. Now, as we approach the 100-year anniversary of the creation of the cuddly, inspiring bear of our youth and his little pink sidekick, two things have happened. First, according to US copyright law, Milne’s creations became public domain when they turned 95 years old and two, Milne is spinning in his grave like a rotisserie ham.

Though Pooh and friends were officially licensed by the Walt Disney Company in 1961, resulting in films and merchandising, all that went straight out the window earlier this year. A British, indie-film production company called Jagged Edge pounced on the newly instated public domain decree to reimaging all the characters in a wholly different and definitely “adult” way.

Welcome to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.

And no, this isn’t a joke.

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Random Reviews: “In the Company of Heroes” by Diane Duane

Random Reviews: “In the Company of Heroes” by Diane Duane

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Cover by Bob Warner
Cover by Bob Warner

Diane Duane’s short story “In the Company of Heroes” appeared in Past Perfect, one of the numerous anthologies Martin H. Greenberg co-edited for DAW Books, this time with Larry Segriff. Originally published in 2001, Duane’s story is one of a dozen time travel stories in the book, and she reprinted it a decade later as the lead story in her collection Uptown Local and Other Interventions.

Robert Willingden is an incredibly wealthy and powerful man who has a hole in his life. Much like Charles Foster Kane, he lost the one thing he cared about as a child.  Unlike Kane, he knew exactly what happened to it. His parents had always denigrated his love of comics and he hid them in the attic, carefully retrieving them one at a time to read and then smuggle back to their safe spot until the night there was a fire in the attic. Although the comics made it through the fire, they were lost to a thief who used the hole in the attic caused by the flames to steal his treasure.

He hatched his plan when a priceless clock he owned was damaged. Taking it to a renowned clockmaker in Lucerne, Switzerland, the clockmaker, Uli, indicated the he did more than simply repair clocks and might be able to help Willingden stop the thief from ever having the chance to steal the long missing comics.

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Monsters, Mech Warriors, and More: Startling Stories Magazine, 2022 Issue

Monsters, Mech Warriors, and More: Startling Stories Magazine, 2022 Issue

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The first two issues of Startling Stories in 65 years, courtesy of
Wildside Press and Douglas Draa. Covers: uncredited, and GrandeDuc.

One of the big news stories of last year was the return of Startling Stories, the legendary science fiction pulp mag of the 40s and 50s, which published classic SF by Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, Fletcher Pratt, Henry Kuttner, A.E. van Vogt, Manly Wade Wellman, Edmond Hamilton, Stanley G, Weinbaum, and numerous others. The new venture is the brainchild of John Betancourt at Wildside Press, and at the helm is Douglas Draa, who worked tirelessly to resurrect Weirdbook a few years back.

The first new issue of Startling Stories in 65 years appeared in February of last year, and contained stories by Robert Silverberg, Steve Dilks, Adrian Cole, Cynthia Ward, Ahmed A. Khan, and many others. A second issue arrived in September of this year, with an even more impressive list of contributors, including John Shirley, Darrell Schweitzer, Mike Chin, Adrian Cole, Cynthia Ward, and more.

Douglas Draa understands the true magic of pulp fiction, and I was delighted to see that along with the fiction he has worked hard to bring great art to the pages of Startling Stories — and he has absolutely succeeded, with original black & white art by Vincent Di Fate, Bob Eggleton, Allen Koszowski, and even the MidJourney AI, all packaged under a terrific color cover by GrandeDuc. Startling Stories is one of the most visually impressive print SF mags on the stands. Check out some of the eye-catching art below.

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New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2021 Edition edited by Rich Horton

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2021 Edition edited by Rich Horton

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The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2021 Edition
(Prime Books, August 22, 2022). Cover by Tithi Luadthong.

Earlier this year Rich Horton shared an update at Strange at Ecbatan on the long-awaited 2021 volume of his long-running The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy series:

My best of the year anthology for 2021 has been much delayed, for reasons mostly linked to the pandemic, including difficulty getting a slot at printers. (And other issues!) But at last I have a TOC nearly ready. We’re holding open one slot for one more potential story… hoping to hear from the author soon. But I figured it was time to post the list. It’s been fun going through these stories again, and realizing how good they are, and how worthy of whatever exposure they can get.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2021 Edition has now arrived from Prime Books, and it is a delight to see it at last. After a dozen years in print, the series has switched to digital only, at least for now. This volume collects 34 stories from 2020, and includes tales from Sofia Samatar, Annalee Newitz, Sarah Langan, Yoon Ha Lee, John Kessel, Naomi Kritzer, Ken Liu, Alec Nevala-Lee, Sarah Pinsker, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Michael Swanwick, Tade Thompson, Ian Tregillis, Jessica P. Wick, and many others. It does not include the mystery story Rich mentions above, so I guess they never secured the elusive rights for that last one!

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