Random Reviews: “The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword” by Garth Nix

Random Reviews: “The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword” by Garth Nix

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Cover by Micah Epstein
Cover by Micah Epstein

“The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword” is Garth Nix’s second story about Magnus Holmes, the less capable brother of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, a fact that Nix addresses almost immediately when Magnus notes that “Everyone wants Sherlock.” in response to a bar owner’s comment that he was hoping Sherlock had taken the case. However, Magnus and his partner, “Almost-Doctor” Susan Shrike have their own strengths which can be brought to bear in this particular case.

While the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle tend to rely on logic and deduction, Nix’s story about Magnus Holmes focuses more on the supernatural. Magnus, himself, is the subject of an amorphous curse that equates his being in darkness with the death and destruction of those around him. When the nature of this curse is revealed, it has a bigger impact on the reader who has not read Nix’s earlier Magnus Holmes story, “The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffofils Murder as Experienced by Sir Magnus Holmes and Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike,” which appeared nine years before the current story.

Investigating the tavern’s cellar at the request of the publican, Magnus and Susan discover a medieval knight who has been enjoying the pub’s wine and paying with faery gold. The publican called for their assistance (or actually Sherlock’s) when a river appeared in his cellar around the knight. Discussion with the phantom reveals a link to the Arthurian legends and Magnus determines that he must help the knight achieve his goal in order to resolve his appearance in the cellar

When Mrs. Davies, a magical adept shows up and attacks Magnus, he determines that in order to defeat her, he must voluntarily unleash his curse and the rest of the story involves the battle between Magnus and his opponent and the destruction caused by both as Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike attempts to mitigate further disaster. …

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Magic, Dinosaurs, and Mad Scientists: The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang

Magic, Dinosaurs, and Mad Scientists: The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang

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The Tensorate Series (Tor.com, September 21, 2021). Cover by Yuko Shimizu

I love omnibus volumes. They’re the safety blanket of the fat fantasy market. Let’s face it, if your plane’s going down over a desert island and you can only grab one book, you’re gonna secure yourself a thick omnibus, right? Of course you are. Heaven knows how long it will take until that stately cruise liner arrives to rescue you. I plan all my book purchases with this in mind, and it’s worked out well so far.

It’s great to see Tor.com start to produce omnibus editions of their popular novellas. They did it with Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti. The did it with Andy Remic’s An Impossible War novellas, and Sarah Gailey’s American Hippo stories. They did it with Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour. They did it with…. well, actually, I think that’s it. But what the hell, it’s a start.

Late last year Tor.com published a tidy omnibus volume of all four of Neon Yang’s Tensorate novellas, a series that has been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, Nebula, and Locus awards, and it was such a great value I snatched it up immediately. I’m ready for the plane to go down, Captain.

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Alan Brown on Cordwainer Smith’s Classic Norstrilia

Alan Brown on Cordwainer Smith’s Classic Norstrilia

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First paperback release of Norstrilia (Ballantine, 1975), with the infamous “dog-derived undergirls”
back cover text (they “smelled of romance all the time.”) Cover by Gray Morrow

For the past six years Alan Brown has had an entertaining biweekly series at Tor.com on our favorite topic — vintage SF & fantasy. He’s covered Keith Laumer’s Bolo, Poul Anderson’s Flandry of Terra, Andre Norton’s The Beast Master, Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, David Brin’s Startide Rising, and about a jillion others.

Last week he took a look at Cordwainer Smith’s classic 1975 novel Norstrilia, originally published as two shorter works, The Planet Buyer (1964) and The Underpeople (1968). According to fannish legend, Smith’s publishers at Pyramid Books in the 60s felt it was too long, so he obliged them by breaking it up into two smaller novels. It was eventually published in the original format, under the title Norstrilia, by Lester del Rey at Ballantine Books in 1975.

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A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Heard of Chris London? Didn’t Think So

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Heard of Chris London? Didn’t Think So

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

(Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)

In the early fifties, a lot of movie stars took on radio shows, in an effort to boost their incomes. Humphrey Bogart, Alan Ladd, Joel McRea – some big names tried their luck at it. Many were short-lived efforts. You can read my scintillating essay about Bold Venture – a good show which starred Bogie and his wife, Lauren Bacall – here at Black Gate.

NBC had Erle Stanley Gardner create a character specifically for a radio show to go up against CBS’ hugely successful Jack Benny Show. CBS had ‘acquired’ much of NBC’s Sunday night programming. ABC had also hit big with the first music quiz show, Stop the Music (think Name That Tune for radio).

Music ran against the long-time successful The Fred Allen Show. Allen’s show took a big ratings hit, and his health was failing at the same time. So, his show ended. NBC then aired the glitzy, big-budget, Hollywood Calling. Movie stars called common folk, who got a watch and ‘something else’ (like Jennifer Jones’s scarf) if they were at home and answered – no cell phones, ya know! The lucky peasant got to talk to a star, and won money, and got entered for a bigger prize, if they could answer a question.

It didn’t beat Jack Benny in the ratings, it cost a lot of money, and NBC canceled it after only half a season. Enter a replacement detective show – The Adventures of Christopher London.

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Vintage Treasures: The Hugo Winners, Volumes 4 & 5, edited by Isaac Asimov

Vintage Treasures: The Hugo Winners, Volumes 4 & 5, edited by Isaac Asimov

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The Hugo Winners, Volume 4 and Volume 5 (Doubleday, April 1985 and April 1986). Covers by Kiyoshi Kanai and Tita Nasol

Last week I looked back at three of the finest science fiction anthologies ever published, The Hugo Winners, Volumes 1, 2, & 3. The first two volumes, included in my introductory order with the Science Fiction Book Club in 1976, were essentially my introduction to science fiction, and they bear much of the responsibility for turning me into a lifelong fan of SF — and especially short SF.

Asimov eventually edited nine volumes of The Hugo Winners before his death in 1992. Each was enriched with his signature breezy and light-hearted story introductions, which portrayed the entirety of the American science fiction community as a tight-knit clubhouse of friendly and brilliant eccentrics. There may have been an element of truth to that at the start (the number of Americans who made a living as full-time SF writers was surprisingly small in the 60s and 70s), but by the 80s Asimov no longer knew the majority of authors he was introducing personally, and it showed.

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The Timeless Strangeness of “Scanners Live in Vain”

The Timeless Strangeness of “Scanners Live in Vain”

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Fantasy Book No. 6, January 1950, first appearance of
“Scanners Live in Vain” by Cordwainer Smith. Cover by Jack Gaughan

I recently had occasion to reread Cordwainer Smith’s Science Fiction Hall of Fame story “Scanners Live in Vain.” This was probably my fifth rereading over the years (soon followed by a sixth!) — it’s a story I’ve always loved, but for some reason this time through it struck me even more strongly. It is a truly great SF story; and I want to take a close look at what makes it work.

In this series I often discuss the background details of a story’s publication history, and of its author, first — and these are especially interesting in the case of this story; but I don’t want to bury the lede either. So I’ll discuss the story first, and then go over the history of its publication, and its author’s career. As ever in these essays, the discussion will be rife with spoilers.

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Future Treasures: Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

Future Treasures: Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

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Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson (Tor.com, June 28, 202)

Eddie Robson is the author of Hearts of Oak, which we discussed enthusiastically here back in October 2020. His latest, Drunk on All Your Strange New Words, is a locked room mystery featuring a murdered alien, his occasional ghost, and an alien language that leaves humans drunk.

Linda Codega at Gizmodo calls the book “a darkly tongue-in-cheek comedy,” and Publishers Weekly proclaims it “a memorable exploration of the power of language and technology in a post first-contact world… thoughtful, fast-paced sci-fi.” This is clearly a book that refuses to settle peacefully into a single category, and it’s all the more interesting for it.

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Goth Chick News: What We Do in the Shadows, Season 4 Plus Baby Colin Robinson

Goth Chick News: What We Do in the Shadows, Season 4 Plus Baby Colin Robinson

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I feel that a sense of humor, however dark, is an essential coping mechanism. Not having one would require we avoid the Web as well as news of any kind, leaving us in social isolation, streaming nothing but MeTV.

Thankfully that is not the case for me, though the term “graveyard humor” seems to get floated a lot in my presence. It is true that I have been known to laugh at inappropriate times or find humor in things that utterly mortify my parents. And if this describes you as well, then I can only assume you have, like me, been counting down the days to the next season of What We Do in the Shadows.

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Random Reviews: “Wizard’s Bounty” by Charles de Lint

Random Reviews: “Wizard’s Bounty” by Charles de Lint

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Cover by Gene Day
Cover by Gene Day

“Wizard’s Bounty” is an early short story by Charles de Lint, first published in 1979 in Dark Fantasy magazine and only reprinted in de Lint’s collection A Handful of Coppers. As such an early appearance, it does not have the feel of much of de Lint’s work as he was clearly trying to find his voice when the story was written, which certainly does not mean that it isn’t a story worth reading.

de Lint has published a handful of stories surrounding the character Aynber, of which “Wizard’s Bounty” was the second. In this story, which would not have been out of place if it appeared in TSR’s The Dragon magazine of the same era, sets Aynber as a bounty hunter nicknamed “The Huntress” who is after the wizard Nemenor, who has a 5,000 gold piece bounty on his head. A chance encounter at a tavern with Boadar, who claims to know where she can find Nemenor, gives Aynber an unwelcome companion who can lead her to the wizard at the cost of part of the bounty.

Against her better judgement, Aynber accepts Boadar’s company and knowledge on her quest and he does lead her to the wizard’s tower. As a companion, Boadar proves useless when they are attacked. Furthermore, during their journey, Boadar takes liberties with her body when she sleeps, which seems gratuitous, but serves to reinforce Aynber’s own judgment of Boadar for the reader, even if she is unaware of Boadar’s action. …

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Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Forgotten Fantasies

Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Forgotten Fantasies

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Hercules in the Haunted World (Italy, 1961)

During the late Fifties and early Sixties, if you were a fan of films of imagination and the fantastic, though there were plenty of monster movies playing at the drive-in, except for the films of Ray Harryhausen there were very few classical fantasies coming out of Hollywood — and Harryhausen’s movies were mostly British productions. In fact, heroic fantasy films were thin on the ground, being regarded in America as fodder for children. Fortunately, that wasn’t always the case in Europe, where monsters still found themselves opposed by sword-swinging heroes as often as by modern soldiers with bazookas. And occasionally, those films would make it across the Atlantic, though they were usually relegated to double bills with fare such as Reptilicus and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

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