Wars to End All Wars: Alternate Tales from the Trenches Published!

As a member of the SFFWorld team (lead US book reviewer, forum moderator) for the past decade and more, I've come across quite a few folks: fans, published authors,  and people behind the scenes. One of those people is writer and  editor N.E. White.  Nila has been editing anthologies comprised mainly of stories from members of the SFFWorld writing community, which is a very vibrant and strong community. I'd even say over the past few years, the writer's forum/community has been the most consistent and active of the many subforums. Each year Nila has compiled anthology, she has featured a big name, published writer. The first anthology featured Michael J. Sullivan and Hugh Howey, last year's featured Mark Lawrence and this year's anthology features another favorite author: Elizabeth Moon. (Yes, that New York Times best selling and award winning Elizabeth Moon who wrote a trilogy of books that resides in my Omnibus Hall of Fame).

My part in this was small, I read most of the submitted stories, provided feedback (whether the story should our shouldn't be included) and gave each story a full edit. So, without further ado, here's Wars to End All Wars: Alternate Tales from the Trenches.

Alternate tales set during the first World War, this short story collection takes history and tweaks it.

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1. Seven authors, including the award-winning Science Fiction and Fantasy author, Elizabeth Moon, commemorate that event by writing stories set during the great war, adding their own, sometimes speculative, interpretations and answering the question, "What if...?"

Here's the full table of contents:

1. “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” by Igor Ljubuncic
2. “Wormhole” by Lee Swift
3. “Jawohl” by Wilson Geiger
4. “Tradition” by Elizabeth Moon
5. “On the Cheap” by Dan Beiger
6. “One Man’s War” by G.L. Lathian
7. “The Foundation” by Andrew Leon Hudson

The book is currently only $.99 and can be found at your favorite here:

Amazon

Smashwords

goodreads

Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, etc. generally take a little longer.

Orphan Black, Coldfire and Old Mars Reviews and Recaps

Busy week on teh intarwebs for me and it is only Wednesday!  Three things I wrote over the past week or so have been posted in two of my newer digital locales.  

Monday, my latest recap of Orphan Black went up on Tor.com.  This was my recap of episode 4 Effects of External Conditioning.

Yesterday, my second installment of The Completist went up to SF Signal, featuring The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman.

Art by Michael Whelan

Also yesterday, my review of the Old Mars anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois was posted on Tor.com.  The anthology features 15 stories on the theme of Mars as we once thought it could be. That is, when it was a planet we thought could be inhabited by ancient races.  Good stuff.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-08-10)

Just one book this week, this time from the fine folks at Orbit.

A Dance of Cloaks (Volume 1 of Shadowdance) by David Dalglish (Orbit, Trade Paperback 08/06/2013) – Following in the footsteps of Michael J. Sullivan, David Dalglish makes the leap from success in the self-published arena to traditionally published thanks to the fine folks at Orbit Books.

The Underworld rules the city of Veldaren. Thieves, smugglers, assassins... they fear only one man.

Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. All the thieves' guilds of the city are under his unflinching control. If he has his way, death will soon spill out from the shadows and into the streets.

Aaron is Thren's son, trained to be heir to his father's criminal empire. He's cold, ruthless - everything an assassin should be. But when Aaron risks his life to protect a priest's daughter from his own guild, he glimpses a world beyond piston, daggers, and the iron rule of his father.

Assassin or protector; every choice has its consequences.
Fantasy author David Dalglish spins a tale of retribution and darkness, and an underworld reaching for ultimate power.



Billy Moon by Douglas Lain (Hardcover 08/27/2013 Tor) – The first novel from Lain after many acclaimed short stories.

In Douglas Lain's debut novel set during the turbulent year of 1968, Christopher Robin Milne, the inspiration for his father’s fictional creation, struggles to emerge from a manufactured life, in a story of hope and transcendence.

Billy Moon was Christopher Robin Milne, the son of A. A. Milne, the world-famous author of Winnie the Pooh and other beloved children's classics. Billy's life was no fairy-tale, though. Being the son of a famous author meant being ignored and even mistreated by famous parents; he had to make his own way in the world, define himself, and reconcile his self-image with the image of him known to millions of children. A veteran of World War II, a husband and father, he is jolted out of midlife ennui when a French college student revolutionary asks him to come to the chaos of Paris in revolt. Against a backdrop of the apocalyptic student protests and general strike that forced France to a standstill that spring, Milne's new French friend is a wild card, able to experience alternate realities of the past and present. Through him, Milne's life is illuminated and transformed, as are the world-altering events of that year. 

In a time when the Occupy movement eerily mirrors the political turbulence of 1968, this magic realist novel is an especially relevant and important book.





Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe edited by J.E. Mooney and Bill Fawcett (Hardcover 08/27/2013 Tor) – Many have called Wolfe not just the greatest living writer of SFF, but the greatest living writer, full stop. Thes stories are in honor of his best known work.

Perhaps no living author of imaginative fiction has earned the awards, accolades, respect, and literary reputation of Gene Wolfe. His prose has been called subtle and brilliant, inspiring not just lovers of fantasy and science fiction, but readers of every stripe, transcending genre and defying preconceptions.

In this volume, a select group of Wolfe’s fellow authors pay tribute to the award-winning creator of The Book of the New Sun, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Soldier of the Mist, The Wizard Knight and many others, with entirely new stories written specifically to honor the writer hailed by The Washington Post as “one of America's finest.”

Shadows of the New Sun features contributions by David Brin, David Drake, Nancy Kress, and many others, plus two new short stories by Gene Wolfe himself.

Turtledove and Galaxy's Edge reviewed at the SFFWorld Blog

Mark and I put up two new reviews over at the SFFWorld Blog this week.

Mark has been reviewing a lot more short fiction than I have, specifically, the first issue of the new zine Galaxy's Edge, take a look at his review

So it’s a brave move to try and publish a new magazine in such a climate and yet here we have one from Phoenix Pick. Whilst it is free to read online, and available in electronic format for computers, tablets and the like, my copy was a good-old-fashioned ‘tree-copy’. There are, however, links to the various sections online throughout this review.

And I enjoyed it a lot. Its size is a little unusual, being bigger than digest size, but 4-5 cm less tall than A4. The print is black and white throughout, apart from the matt finish cover. Pages are printed in two columns per page.

...

I also enjoyed the magazine’s serialisation of the first part of a rather forgotten classic, Daniel F. Galouye’s first novel, Dark Universe, from 1961. It was a Hugo nominee in 1962 (losing out to Robert A Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land), and is a post-apocalyptic tale of human survival below ground with no light. It has some interesting ideas which it examines through the story. ‘Darkness’ and ‘light’ have become mythic or even quasi-religious in stature, and the survivor’s senses have changed, with hearing more acute to accommodate for the absence of light. Taking up 24 pages of the magazine, the first five chapters are here, with the rest in Issue Two.

Meanwhile, the fine folks at Del Rey have reissued the first four books of Harry Turtledove's classic "crossover" fantasy series The Videssos Cycle in two omnibus volumes. I put up my review of the first novel* The Misplaced Legion:

This is a politically flavored novel for all of its focus on war and soldiers. Marcus must navigate the politics of the newly found world which are fraught with religious overtones as well racial/national biases the many characters have for and against each other.

Turtledove is inarguably, the most recognizable writer of Alternate History. He wouldn’t have been known as such if he weren’t a student of history and it shows very much in this crossover fantasy world. There is an authentic feel to the world and the Roman soldiers despite the novel taking place in an invented world with magic. I also thought Turtledove’s characterization of and the story-arc for Marcus in the novel were strong elements in the novel; Marcus was believable with his men, as well with the new people of Videssos who grew to respect him. I also though some of the religio-political discussion in which Marcus engaged with his newfound allies to be interesting and thought provoking.

*hint, I only reviewed the first of the four novels in these two books because it will be the only one of the four novels I will be reading.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-04-06)

A few physical books, an electronic arc comprise this week’s batch of arrivals.


Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Evolution, and Revolution edited by Victoria Blake Trade Paperback 02/26/2013) – Underland Press is a relatively new small press, but they’ve got an impressive stable of authors, including Elizabeth Hand, Matthew Hughes, and Jeff VanderMeer. Blake is also the publisher at Underland..

Before email, before “the web,” before hackers and GPS and sexting, before titanium implants, before Google Goggles, before Siri, and before each and every one of us carried a computer in our pockets, there was cyberpunk, and science fiction was never the same.

Cyberpunk writers—serious, smart, and courageous in the face of change—exposed the naiveté of a society rushing headlong into technological unknowns. Technology could not save us, they argued, and it might in fact ruin us. Now, thirty years after The Movement party-crashed the science fiction scene, the cyberpunk reality has largely come to be. The future they imagined is here.

In this book, you’ll find stories by legendary cyberpunk authors like Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, as well as stories by new cyberpunk voices like Cory Doctorow and Jonathan Lethem. You’ll find stories about society gone wrong and society saved, about soulless humans and soulful machines, about futures worth fighting for and futures that do nothing but kill.

Welcome to your cyberpunk world.


Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor;Hardcover 04/02/2013) – Third in Kowal’s series of novels that seem to fit squarely in the Fantasy of Manners subset of books.

Up-and-coming fantasist Mary Robinette Kowal enchanted fans with award-winning short stories and beloved novels featuring Regency pair Jane and Vincent Ellsworth. In Without a Summer the master glamourists return home, but in a world where magic is real, nothing—even the domestic sphere—is quite what it seems.

Jane and Vincent go to Long Parkmeade to spend time with Jane’s family, but quickly turn restless. The year is unseasonably cold. No one wants to be outside and Mr. Ellsworth is concerned by the harvest, since a bad one may imperil Melody’s dowry. And Melody has concerns of her own, given the inadequate selection of eligible bachelors. When Jane and Vincent receive a commission from a prominent family in London, they decide to take it, and take Melody with them. They hope the change of scenery will do her good and her marriage prospects—and mood—will be brighter in London.
Once there, talk is of nothing but the crop failures caused by the cold and increased unemployment of the coldmongers, which have provoked riots in several cities to the north. With each passing day, it’s more difficult to avoid getting embroiled in the intrigue, none of which really helps Melody’s chances for romance. It’s not long before Jane and Vincent realize that in addition to getting Melody to the church on time, they must take on one small task: solving a crisis of international proportions.


Stepping Stone / Love Machine: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion by Walter Mosley (Tor;Hardcover 04/02/2013) This is the third ‘double’ book this year from Mosley/Tor, it seems to work well.

Stepping Stone: Truman Pope has spent his whole life watching the world go by. A gentle, unassuming soul, he has worked in the mailroom of a large corporation for decades without making waves, until the day he spots a mysterious woman in yellow. A woman nobody else can see. Soon Truman's quiet life begins to turn upside-down.

Love Machine: The brainchild of an eccentric, possibly deranged scientist, the "Love Machine" can merge individual psyches and memories into a collective Co-Mind. Tricked into joining the Co-Mind, as part of a master plan to take over the world, Lois Kim struggles to adapt to her new reality and abilities. Is there any way back to the life that was stolen from her, or is she destined to lead humanity into a strange new era??



The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot Books Mass Market Paperback 05/28/2013) – Chuck is an author whose fiction I really need to read. I’ve been following him on twitter since I joined and his blog where he dispenses some smart, smart writing advice. The guy works it to the nth degree. What better place to start than a novel with a protagonist named Mookie.

Meet Mookie Pearl.
Criminal underworld? He runs in it.

Supernatural underworld? He hunts in it.

Nothing stops Mookie when he's on the job.

But when his daughter takes up arms and opposes him, something's gotta give...

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Family Matters | When Underworlds Collide | Thrill of the Hunt | Chips and Old Blocks ]


The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey (Putnam Juvenile Hardcover 05/07/2013) – Alien apocalypse for the younger set, looks mildly intriguing from a very popular author. The publisher is marketing this in a big way, the book arrived in a a fancy custom envelope.

Overview
The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up..

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-03-16)

A smattering of books this week, all except one of them is from the fine folks at Tor. One of this is a must read for me, which I'm sure will be easy enough to determine.


Range of Ghosts (The Eternal Sky #2) by Elizabeth Bear (Tor, Hardcover 03/17/2013) – I read the opening novel in this sequence last year and was blown away


The Shattered Pillars is the second book of Bear’s The Eternal Sky trilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts. Set in a world drawn from our own great Asian Steppes, this saga of magic, politics and war sets Re-Temur, the exiled heir to the great Khagan and his friend Sarmarkar, a Wizard of Tsarepheth, against dark forces determined to conquer all the great Empires along the Celedon Road.

Elizabeth Bear is an astonishing writer, whose prose draws you into strange and wonderful worlds, and makes you care deeply about the people and the stories she tells. The world of The Eternal Sky is broadly and deeply created—her award-nominated novella, "Bone and Jewel Creatures" is also set there.

The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card (Tor Hardcover 03/19/2013) – Second installment in Card’s Urban Fantasy which began with The Lost Gate



In this sequel to The Lost Gate, bestselling author Orson Scott Card continues his fantastic tale of the Mages of Westil who live in exile on Earth.

Here on Earth, Danny North is still in high school, yet he holds in his heart and mind all the stolen outselves of thirteen centuries of gatemages. The Families still want to kill him if they can't control him…and they can't control him. He is far too powerful.

And on Westil, Wad is now nearly powerless—he lost everything to Danny in their struggle. Even if he can survive the revenge of his enemies, he still must somehow make peace with the Gatemage Daniel North.

For when Danny took that power from Loki, he also took the responsibility for the Great Gates. And when he comes face-to-face with the mages who call themselves Bel and Ishtoreth, he will come to understand just why Loki closed the gates all those centuries ago.


The Shape Stealer by Lee Carroll (Tor Trade Paperback 03/05/2013) – Third book in to the Carroll’s sequence (who is a pseudonym for the husband and wife author team of Carol Goodman and Lee Slonimisky) which began with, Black Swan Rising, which Mark enjoyed when it published in the UK last year.

Jewelry designer Garet James is the Watchtower—the last in a long line of powerful women sworn to protect the world from evil. Although she had once defeated evil in New York City, her pursuit of her true love, the 400-year-old vampire Will Hughes, has now unleashed an age-old evil onto the modern world, and the entire planet is at risk.

Marduk, the ageless descendant of a demonic Babylonian deity, is now loose in Paris. He has joined forces with the villainous John Dee in a plan to destroy the world’s economy and plunge the entire world into chaos.

To fight this threat, Garet enlists the help of a modern-day band of knights who are dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the timeline. As she and her allies face this threat, new challenges arise in the form of a rival faction of knights who will stop at nothing to bring about the destruction of everything Garet holds dear.

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay (Roc, Trade Paperback 04/02/2013) – Kay is a magnificent writer, I’ve enjoyed all of what I’ve read by him. This is set in the same world as Under Heaven though it seems as if it could stand on its own. This is the finished copy of the ARC I received back in January.

In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international bestselling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later with an epic of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, bandits and soldiers, nomadic invasions, and a woman battling in her own way, to find a new place for women in the world – a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty.



Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life—in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles towards the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north.
Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.

In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.



Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling (Tor, Trade Paperback 03/17/2013) – Datlow and Windling are the pre-eminent short-fiction editorial duo, for years they edited the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthology as well as many, many themed anthologies.


“Gaslamp Fantasy,” or historical fantasy set in a magical version of the nineteenth century, has long been popular with readers and writers alike. A number of wonderful fantasy novels, including  Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and The Prestige by Christopher Priest, owe their inspiration to works by nineteenth-century writers ranging from Jane Austen, the Brontës, and George Meredith to Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and William Morris. And, of course, the entire steampunk genre and subculture owes more than a little to literature inspired by this period.

Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells is an anthology for everyone who loves these works of neo-Victorian fiction, and wishes to explore the wide variety of ways that modern fantasists are using nineteenth-century settings, characters, and themes. These approaches stretch from steampunk fiction to the Austen-and-Trollope inspired works that some critics call Fantasy of Manners, all of which fit under the larger umbrella of Gaslamp Fantasy. The result is eighteen stories by experts from the fantasy, horror, mainstream, and young adult fields, including both bestselling writers and exciting new talents such as Elizabeth Bear, James Blaylock, Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner, Tanith Lee, Gregory Maguire, Delia Sherman, and Catherynne M. Valente, who present a bewitching vision of a nineteenth century invested (or cursed!) with magic.

• “The Fairy Enterprise” by Jeffrey Ford
• “From the Catalogue of the Pavilion of the Uncanny and Marvelous, Scheduled for Premiere at the Great Exhibition (Before the Fire)” by Genevieve Valentine
• “The Memory Book” by Maureen McHugh
• “Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells” by Delia Sherman
• “La Reine D’Enfer” by Kathe Koja
• “Briar Rose” by Elizabeth Wein
• “The Governess” by Elizabeth Bear
• “Smithfield” by James P. Blaylock
• “The Unwanted Women of Surrey” by Kaaron Warren
• “Charged” by Leanna Renee Hieber
• “Mr. Splitfoot” by Dale Bailey
• “Phosperous” by Veronica Schanoes
• “We Without Us Were Shadows” by Catherynne M. Valente
• “The Vital Importance of the Superficial” by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer
• “The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown” by Jane Yolen
• “A Few Twigs He Left Behind” by Gregory Maguire
• “Their Monstrous Minds” by Tanith Lee
• “Estella Saves the Village” by Theodora Goss

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-03-02)

Just two more books this week, one electronic and one physical.



Flames of Shadam Khoreh (The Lays of Anuskaya Book Three) by Bradley P. Beaulieu (e-book/Trade Paperback 06/25/2013) – Beaulieu wraps up his trilogy and in doing so, breaks away from Night Shade to publish the books himself. Now is a good time for me to finally read these books. (Also, Brad is one of the two guys who runs the excellent Speculate SF! Podcast.)

Nearly two years after the harrowing events of The Straits of Galahesh, Atiana and Nikandr continue their long search for Nasim. The clues they find lead them to the desert wastes of the Gaji, where the fabled valley of Shadam Khoreh lies. But all is not well. War has moved from the islands to the mainland, and the Grand Duchy knows its time may be limited if Yrstanla rallies its forces.

Worse, the wasting disease and the rifts grow ever wider, threatening places that once thought themselves safe. The Dukes believe that their only hope may be to treat with the Haelish warriors to the west of Yrstanla, but Nikandr knows that the key is to find Nasim and a lost artifact known as the Atalayina.

Will Nikandr succeed and close the rifts once and for all? The answer lies deep within the Flames of Shadam Khoreh.

From Bradley P. Beaulieu, author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, The Winds of Khalakovo, comes the concluding volume in the Lays of Anuskaya trilogy, The Flames of Shadam Khoreh.

The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories

by Connie Willis (Del Rey Hardcover 07/09/2013) – Willis has won every major genre award and she’s a grandmaster, this is a massive collection of her short stories.

Few authors have had careers as successful as that of Connie Willis. Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and recently awarded the title of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Willis is still going strong. Her smart, heartfelt fiction runs the gamut from screwball comedy to profound tragedy, combining dazzling plot twists, cutting-edge science, and unforgettable characters.

From a near future mourning the extinction of dogs to an alternate history in which invading aliens were defeated by none other than Emily Dickinson; from a madcap convention of bumbling quantum physicists in Hollywood to a London whose Underground has become a storehouse of intangible memories both foul and fair—here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today.

All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners—some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story—plus a special look at three of Willis’s unique public speeches—this is unquestionably the collection of the season, a book that every Connie Willis fan will treasure, and, to those unfamiliar with her work, the perfect introduction to one of the most accomplished and best-loved writers of our time.

Nightmare Magazine Launching October 1, 2012

Nightmare Magazine

edited by John Joseph Adams

www.nightmare-magazine.com

About Nightmare

Nightmare is an online horror and dark fantasy magazine. In Nightmare’s pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror.

Edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams, every month Nightmare will bring you a mix of originals and reprints, and featuring a variety of authors—from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven’t heard of yet. When you read Nightmare, it is our hope that you’ll see where horror comes from, where it is now, and where it’s going.

Nightmare will also include nonfiction, fiction podcasts, and Q&As with our authors that go behind-the-scenes of their stories. The publication schedule each month will include two pieces of original fiction and two fiction reprints, along with a feature interview, an artist gallery showcasing our cover artist, and our monthly column about horror, “The H Word.” We will publish ebook issues on the first of every month, which will be available for sale in ePub format via our website and also available in other formats such as Kindle and Nook. We will also offer subscriptions to our ebook edition in a variety of formats. Each issue’s contents will be serialized on our website throughout the month, with new features publishing on the first four Wednesdays of every month.

Issue #1

As described above Nightmare will typically feature two original stories and two reprints in every issue. For our debut issue, however, we will be bringing you four all-new, never before published horror stories. Issue #1 will feature new fiction by the following authors:

“Property Condemned” by Jonathan Maberry

Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and Marvel Comics writer. He’s the author of many novels including Assassin’s Code, Flesh & Bone Dead of Night, Patient Zero, and Rot & Ruin; and the editor of V-Wars: A Chronicle of the Vampire Wars. His nonfiction books on topics ranging from martial arts to zombie pop-culture. Since 1978 he has sold more than 1200 magazine feature articles, 3000 columns, two plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, poetry, and textbooks. Jonathan continues to teach the celebrated Experimental Writing for Teens class, which he created. He founded the Writers Coffeehouse and co-founded The Liars Club; and is a frequent speaker at schools and libraries, as well as a keynote speaker and guest of honor at major writers and genre conferences.

“Frontier Death Song” by Laird Barron

Laird Barron is the author of several books, including the short story collections The Imago Sequence and Occultation, and the novel The Croning. His work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Inferno, Lovecraft Unbound, Sci Fiction, Supernatural Noir, The Book of Cthluhu, Creatures, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, and Best Horror of the Year. He is a three-time winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, and a three-time finalist for the Stoker Award. His work has also been nominated for the Crawford, World Fantasy, International Horror Guild, and Locus awards.

“Good Fences” by Genevieve Valentine

Genevieve Valentine is the author of the novel, Mechanique: a Tale of the Circus Tresaulti. Her short fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming from magazines such as Lightspeed, Fantasy Magazine, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, and Escape Pod, and in many anthologies, including Armored, Under the Moons of Mars, Running with the Pack, The Living Dead 2, The Way of the Wizard, Federations, Teeth, and The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, among others. Her writing has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the Nebula Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award.

“Afterlife” by Sarah Langan

Sarah Langan is the author of the novels The Keeper and The Missing, and her most recent novel, Audrey’s Door, won the 2009 Stoker for best novel. Her short fiction has appeared in the magazines Lightspeed, Cemetery Dance, Phantom, and Chiaroscuro, and in the anthologies Brave New Worlds, Darkness on the Edge, and Unspeakable Horror. She is currently working on a post-apocalyptic young adult series called Kids and two adult novels: Empty Houses, which was inspired by The Twilight Zone, and My Father’s Ghost, which was inspired by Hamlet. Her work has been translated into ten languages and optioned by the Weinstein Company for film. It has also garnered three Bram Stoker Awards, an American Library Association Award, two Dark Scribe Awards, a New York Times Book Review editor’s pick, and a Publishers Weekly favorite book of the year selection.

Future Issues

Issue #2 (November 2012) will contain an all new tale from horror legend Ramsey Campbell, along with a new story by young writer Desirina Boskovich, as well as classic reprints by award-winning authors Joe Haldeman and Poppy Z. Brite.

Future issues will contain work Daniel H. Wilson, Sarah Langan (a second story!), Jeff VanderMeer, Marc Laidlaw, Ted Kosmatka, J. B. Park, Tamsyn Muir, Matt Williamson, and more!

About the Publishers

Nightmare will be a joint venture between John Joseph Adams (who is also editing the magazine) and Creeping Hemlock Press.

John Joseph Adams, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

John Joseph Adams, in addition to serving as co-publisher and editor-in-chief of Nightmare, is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Other Worlds Than These, Armored, Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Way of the Wizard. Upcoming anthologies include: Epic, Robot Uprisings, and The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination. He has been nominated for four Hugo Awards and four World Fantasy Awards, and he has been called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble. John is also the editor and publisher of Lightspeed Magazine, and is the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams.

R.J. and Julia Sevin, Publishers

Husband-and-wife creative duo R.J. and Julia Sevin (seh-VAN) are the founders of Creeping Hemlock Press. As sometime writers, often-time readers, they found themselves frustrated with the scarcity of generous-paying, atmospheric and bizarre short story anthologies. They took matters into their own hands in late 2004 when they began to accept submissions for their own anthology. Many months, one baby, two hurricanes, and one soggy home later, Corpse Blossoms was born to critical success and a nomination for the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker award. As their post-Katrina wanderings carried them to Texas and back, the Sevins published many fine editions from such authors at Tom Piccirilli, Adam-Troy Castro, Tim Lebbon, and Lawrence Block. In 2011, they unveiled Print Is Dead, an imprint devoted to zombie fiction and endorsed by none other than George A. Romero. After nearly a decade in the business, they’re just getting started. Learn more at www.creepinghemlock.com.

Contacts

John Joseph Adams, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: john@nightmare-magazine.com

R.J. Sevin, Publisher: rj@nightmare-magazine.com

Julia Sevin, Publisher: julia@nightmare-magazine.com

Throne of the Crescent Moon & Dangerous Visions at SFFWorld

Yes, today is Wednesday, so a slight slippage in the weekly SFFWorld review shout-out’s here at the o’ Stuff. Unchanged are the authors of the book reviews, Mark and me. I’ve got a hot new writer who has received award nominations for his shorts and bursts onto the scene with his spectacular debut while Mark looks at one of the most important and praised anthologies in SF history.

Two months of 2012 in the books, and we already have two supremely impressive debut novels in the books. The one I write of today is Saladin Ahmed’s, Throne of the Crescent Moon which is his take on sword and sorcery, with slight dashes of epic fantasy. Whatever the ingredients, the resultant stew is wondrous. Below is the typical cover shot review excerpt:

A fat old wizard/demon hunter as the hero and central figure of the story, the swordsman as the more mature, but younger sidekick, and the setting a desert empire that resembles a Middle East and Egypt of myth. Not exactly the most typical ingredients for sword & sorcery novel, but the elements are somewhat familiar and the framework of the story – an impeding doom with an oppressive government – is recognizable. One can’t just add new ingredients to a new formula and expect it to magically work. Technique is required, and in this case, Saladin Ahmed breathes vitality and life into the sword and sorcery sub genre with Throne of the Crescent Moon, his debut novel and the first of the Crescent Moon Kingdoms saga.
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The threat of the ghuls is more than just random occurrence. The monsters encountered by Adoulla and his partner are larger and more powerful than any he’s encountered in the past. This leads the good doctor to surmise that a larger threat is present and creating these larger, more monstrous ghuls. When Adoulla and Raseed first encounter the Falcon Prince, Adoulla hesitantly allows for the thief’s safe passage and misleads his pursuers, strking up a somewhat early, if tenuous alliance with the vigilante. Adoulla is admonished by his pious, and young apprentice about breaking the lay and being an accomplice. Makhslood shakes him off a bit since the Doctor shares many with the Falcon Prince, specifically the increasingly strong and oppressive hold the Khalif has on the city.

That landmark anthology Mark reviewed is Dangerous Visions by the living legend Harlan Ellison:

In SF circles, Dangerous Visions is one of those that many know of by reputation but have rarely actually read. It was the Gone with the Wind of SF anthologies when it was first published in 1967. Like the film Gone with the Wind before its release, there was great speculation in the genre about Dangerous Visions before the book was published. Heralded as the best of cutting edge New Wave SF at the time, the rumours of what Harlan was doing and which authors were included, and perhaps more importantly which ones were not, were rife. Its content was allegedly salacious, sexy, outrageous, exciting, and thought-provoking, at a time when SF was maturing into something beyond the space opera pulp of the 1940’s and 50’s.
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The eventual list of 33 stories from 32 authors reads like a Who’s Who of SF writers: Philip K Dick, Samuel ‘Chip’ Delany, Robert Bloch, Philip José Farmer, Robert Silverberg, Brian Aldiss, Theodore Sturgeon, JG Ballard, John Brunner, Norman Spinrad, Fritz Lieber, Frederik Pohl, Lester del Rey, Roger Zelazny, and even Isaac Asimov, who amusingly explains in one of his Introductions why he’s not in the collection, other than for the Introduction. Ellison cherry-picked who he saw as the best in the US at the time and the emerging British New Wave at the time.

Jo Walton claims that it is ‘an astonishing anthology’. Harlan himself, with no lack of modesty, declares at the beginning of the collection, “What you hold in your hands is more than a book. If we are lucky it is a revolution.” (page xxxii)

Books in the Mail (W/E 2011-11-05)

Regular readers know the drill. It's Sunday, so I tell all of my millions...and millions of readers the books I received for review the previous week since I can't possible read all of them, I can at least mention them here.


The Ruined City by Paula Brandon (Spectra Trade Paperback 02/28/2012) –Sequel / Second in the series to / of Brandon’s debut The Traitor’s Daughter, which has been getting quite a nice buzz.

Paula Brandon’s epic and captivating trilogy continues as magic and mystery wreak havoc with the very fabric of existence.

Reality is wavering. Soon its delicate balance will shift and an ancient force will return to overwhelm the Veiled Isles. Now those with the arcane talent forge an uneasy alliance in hopes that their combined abilities are enough to avert an eerie catastrophe. Yet it may be too late. The otherworldly change has begun. The streets of the city are rife with chaos, plague, and revolt. And it is here that Jianna Belandor, once a pampered daughter of privilege, returns to face new challenges.

The dead walk the streets. The docile amphibian slaves of humanity have taken up arms. Jianna’s home lies in ruins. Her only happiness resides in her growing attraction to Falaste Rione, a brilliant nomadic physician whose compassion and courage have led him to take dangerous risks. Jianna, stronger and more powerful than she knows, has a role to play in the unfolding destiny of her world. But a wave of madness is sweeping across the land, and time is running out—even for magic.

Stands a Shadow (Heart of the World Book 2) by Col Buchanan (Tor Hardcover 01/08/2011) – Tor published this, the second book in the series, less than a year (and in the same calendar year) as the first one, which Mark reviewed last year.

In Farlander, the first book of the Heart of the World series, readers met Ash, an aging master assassin of the famed order of Roshun, and his apprentice Nico, a boy who always managed to be in the wrong place at the right time. Ash and Nico, one with failing health and the other with little training, were sent on a suicidal mission to fulfill a contract against the favored son of the Holy Matriarch, the ruler of Mann. The assassination of the Matriarch's son maintained the honor and reputation of the Roshun, but further destabilized a nation already beset by strife. For Ash, fulfilling the contract came at an enormous personal cost.

Now in Stands a Shadow, driven by grief and anger, Ash embarks on a journey that takes him through the Free Ports and towards the embattled city of Bar-Khos. He arrives at the city as the Holy Matriarch of Mann orders her forces to breach the walls of Bar-Khos and bring it under her control. Renouncing the ways of the Roshun, Ash disguises himself among the Mannian soldiers, determined to go to any lengths to have his revenge against the Matriarch. . . .

The Heart of the World series is an epic adventure that, through the lens of its vibrant and unique world and engaging characters, asks intriguing questions and illuminates the humanity at the core of both hero and villain. Stands a Shadow is the second book in the series.

Human for a Day by Martin H. Greenberg and Jennifer Brozek and (DAW Mass Market Paperback 12/06/2011) – The December monthly themed anthology from DAW contains 16 stories that ask the question: What is it to be Human? Some interesting names here: Ian Tregillis, Jim C. Hines, Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant) and Jay Lake, among others.

Here's an anthology that examines what it means to be human in all its positive and negative aspects. If you were an intelligent robot, would the opportunity to become human for a day be worth the risks? If a magic spell switched the bodies of a vampire and a teenage girl, would both savor the experience or search for a way to undo the enchantment? What tests would an angel face if transformed into a mortal for a day? These are just a few of the inventive stories-some humorous, some sad, many thought-provoking, and all unique-to be found in Human for a Day..

The Third Section (The Danilov Quintet #3) by Jasper Kent (Pyr , Trade Paperback 10/25/2011) – The venerable Hobbit has reviewed the second in the series, Thirteen Years Later, in 2010 and the first, Twelve, before that for SFFWorld. As of this blog post, Mr. Kent is participating in SFFWorld’s current Author Roundtable discussion. Here’s the back cover copy of the book:


Russia 1855. After forty years of peace in Europe, war rages. In the Crimea, the city of Sevastopol is besieged. In the north, Saint Petersburg is blockaded. But in Moscow there is one who needs only to sit and wait – wait for the death of an aging tsar, and for the curse upon his blood to be passed to a new generation.

As their country grows weaker, a man and a woman—unaware of the hidden ties that bind them—must come to terms with their shared legacy. In Moscow, Tamara Valentinovna Komarova uncovers a brutal murder and discovers that it not the first in a sequence of similar crimes, merely the latest, carried out by a killer who has stalked the city since 1812.

And in Sevastopol, Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov faces not only the guns of the combined armies of Britain and France, but must also make a stand against creatures that his father had thought buried beneath the earth, thirty years before.

Alien Proliferation (Kitty Kat: Alien Super-Being Exterminator Book 4) by Gini Koch (DAW Mass Market Paperback 12/06/2011) – Planetary Romance with an alien exterminator as the protagonist, this is the fourth in the series. Koch is churning these things out on a very impressive schedule.

Alien Super-Being Exterminator Kitty Katt is expecting her first baby. But the alien attacks are getting more dangerous, and now Kitty and her Alpha Centaurion husband, Jeff, have to find out who's behind the conspiracy to kill Kitty's secret agent mom and what caused Kitty's transformation into a superhuman-and they've got to do it all before the baby shower...


Endurance by Jay Lake (Tor Hardcover 11/08/2011) – Sequel to Lake’s popular Green… This is the finished copy of the ARC I received back in July.

Green is back in Copper Downs. Purchased from her father in sunny Selistan when she was four years old, she was harshly raised to be a courtesan, companion, and bedmate of the Immortal Duke of Copper Downs. But Green rebelled. Green killed the Duke, and many others, and won her freedom. Yet she is still claimed by the gods and goddesses of her world, and they still require her service. Their demands are greater than any duke’s could have been.

Godslayers have come to the Stone Coast, magicians whose cult is dedicated to destroying the many gods of Green’s world. In the turmoil following the Immortal Duke’s murder, Green made a God out of her power and her memories. Now the gods turn to her to protect them from the Slayers.

Jay Lake brings us an epic fantasy not "in the tradition of Tolkien," but, instead, sensual, ominous, shot through with the sweat of fear and the intoxication of power.


Scholar (Imager Portfolio) by (L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor Hardcover 11/08/2011) – I’ve seen lots of good things about this series, though I have yet to read Modesitt, Jr. I was hoping to receive this book since it is set well before the events of the main series.

Hundreds of years before the time of Imager, the continent of Lydar is fragmented. Years of war have consolidated five nations into three—Bovaria, Telaryn, and Antiago. Quaeryt is a scholar and a friend of Bhayar, the young ruler of Telaryn. Worried about his future and the escalating intrigues in Solis, the capital city, Quaeryt persuades Bhayar to send him to Tilbor, conquered ten years earlier by Bhayar’s father, in order to see if the number and extent of occupying troops can be reduced so that they can be re-deployed to the border with warlike Bovaria.

Quaeryt has managed to conceal the fact that he is an imager, since the life expectancies of imagers in Lydar is short. Just before Quaeryt departs, Bhayar’s youngest sister passes a letter to the scholar-imager, a letter that could well embroil Quaeryt in the welter of court politics he had hoped to leave behind. On top of that, on his voyage and journey to Tilbor he must face pirates, storms, poisonings, attempted murder, as well as discovering the fact that he is not quite who he thought he was. To make it all worse, the order of scholars to which he belongs is jeopardized in more ways than one.

Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey (DAW, Mass Market Paperback 12/06/2011) – These Valdemar anthologies seems to becoming almost an annual thing, this is the second or third I’ve received since I’ve been doing these weekly round-up of books received.


In March 1987, a young author from Oklahoma published her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. This modest book about a magical land called Valdemar was the beginning of a fantasy masterwork series that would span decades and include more than two dozen titles. Now readers can travel to the world of Valdemar with Tanya Huff, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Fiona Patton, Rosemary Edghill, Judith Tarr, and others in these original stories, including an all-new novella from Mercedes Lackey..

Echoes of Betrayal (Book Three of Paladin’s Legacy ) by Elizabeth Moon (Del Rey Hardcover 02/21/2012) – I liked the first two in this series (Oath of Fealty and Kings of the North) and earlier this year I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the first trilogy set in this world, The Deed of Paksenarrion) which is now in my Omnibus Hall of Fame [© PeterWilliam]. So yeah, I’m looking forward to this one.

The action continues fast and furious in this third installment of Elizabeth Moon’s celebrated return to the fantasy world of the paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter. This award-winning author has firsthand military experience and an imagination that knows no bounds. Combine those qualities with an ability to craft flesh-and-blood characters, and the result is the kind of speculative fiction that engages both heart and mind.

All is not well in the Eight Kingdoms. In Lyonya, King Kieri is about to celebrate marriage to his beloved, the half-elf Arian. But uncanny whispers from the spirits of his ancestors continue to warn of treachery and murder. A finger of suspicion has been pointed toward his grandmother, the queen of the Ladysforest elves, and that suspicion has only intensified with time and the Lady’s inexplicable behavior. Clearly, she is hiding something. But what? And why?

Meanwhile, in Tsaia, the young king Mikeli must grapple with unrest among his own nobility over his controversial decision to grant the title and estates of a traitorous magelord to a Verrakaien who not only possesses the forbidden magic but is a woman besides: Dorrin, once one of Kieri’s most trusted captains. When renegade Verrakaien attack two of Dorrin’s squires, suspicion and prejudice combine to place Dorrin’s life at risk—and the king’s claim to the throne in peril.

But even greater danger is looming. The wild offspring of a dragon are on the loose, sowing death and destruction and upsetting the ancient balance of power between dragonkind, humans, elves, and gnomes. A collision seems inevitable. Yet when it comes, it will be utterly unexpected—and all the more devastating for it.

Firedrake, Realms of Fantasy, and The Departure at SFFWorld

We’ve been averaging two to three new reviews per week at SFFWorld lately, and this week is no exception, one from me, one from Erfael/Joey, and one from Mark/Hobbit. I’ll do the link/cover/review blurb in that order.

I returned to the worlds of Warhammer 40,000 with the second book in Nick Kyme’s Tome of Fire Trilogy, Firedrake

Nick Kyme continues the story of a group of Salamanders, a unit of Space Marines in the military force of the Emperor’s Imperium of Man, in Firedrake, the middle book of the Tome of Fire Trilogy. Picking up not quite immediately from the events of Salamander, Kyme follows two storylines throughout the novel, one of which continues Da’Kir’s story, whose dreams and past continue to haunt him as he becomes initiated as a Lexicanum in the Librarium, in other words, the lowest rank of a military Librarian responsible for overseeing communications, memoirs, history of the chapter, as well as providing support in psychic battles against enemies of the Imperium of Man. As a Da’Kir undergoes the initiation rituals under Pyriel, Da’Kir’s dreams may have a large meaning, and Da’Kir himself may be the one prophesized in the legendary Tome of Fire, the bible for the Salamanders.
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As he follows two storylines, Kyme plots them in different fashions. For Da’Kir’s story, it is a very mythic and singular journey. Da’Kir searches within himself, takes part in a symbolic, mental, and metaphysical struggle to become a member of the Librarium. I thought these scenes provided a sense of power, not just for Da’Kir, but for the overall mythology of the Salamanders themselves. This ‘hero’s journey’ also served to show how, even though the Salamanders are part of the overall Imperium of Man, they have a unique almost nationalistic identity that is their own.

Another review of short fiction from Joey/Erfael, this time the August 2011 Realms of Fantasy

This issue contains 5 short stories, an article on female fantasy artists, a Folkroots column on monsters, and a full complement of reviews of fiction (epic fantasy, urban fantasy, YA fantasy), games (PnP and electronic), graphic novels, and movies.…

The final short story of the issue, Alan Smale's "Leap of Faith" brings us an other-dimensional retelling of the fall of Sodom, or in this case Shadom. The main character, Levi, seems to be some sort of engineer or construction worker doing God's work in helping to shape the world. While his exact role is never made clear, the impacts of his work are: He leaves his family for months at a time, and when he comes back he has difficulty adjusting back to normal life. This story picks up just as he's returning from one of his times away from home when he's approached by a pair of "angels", bluish fellows who seem to know that the town is in trouble. In fact, they're there to save Levi and his family because they're the only good people in Shadom and God has further work for them. The family drama here and the way it fits into the Biblical story is interesting. There are some turns of phrase that feel very out of place in the setting until one realizes that this may not be a world quite like our own. This was an engaging, enjoyable story on which to close the issue's fiction section. RECOMMENDED

Mark returns to a favorite, Neal Asher, for a review of what turns out to be a new series titled The Owner, the first of which is The Departure:

Things in this dystopia are generally not good. A too-large population using too many of its finite resources without the luxury of expansion means that life for many is arduous. The idea that ‘Power Corrupts’ is important here, and there’s clearly something rotten in the socio-political structures of the 22nd century. The world government administrators live in luxury, whilst the ZA (Zero Asset) people, who contribute nothing to the economy, exist on a bare minimum with limited health care and facilities.
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It’s all pretty fast, dramatic stuff. We have city riots, shootings, space planes destroyed, the deliberate bombardment of the Earth from space, and combat in space aided by construction robots. As you might therefore expect, the body count is very high (though that is something that you rather expect with Neal’s books.) This is definitely not one for the faint hearted in that respect, with body parts flying around and blood splashing many a wall.

Similarly, like many of Neal’s other books there’s also lots of cool gadgets: the robot-like Shepherds ensuring control, spider guns (robotic tanks), readerguns (that can recognise their targets before shooting them), space planes with scram jets and lots and lots of lethal guns.

Swords, Griffins, and Short Stories - Oh My!

Two more reviews this week at SFFWorld, I’ll start with mine. I took a look at a novel that launches both a trilogy The Chaos Knight trilogy, and an author’s novel writing career: Sword of Fire and Sea by Erin Hoffman:

Hoffman throws the reader directly into the fray with little preamble or wasted time, somewhat refreshing for a novel set in such a richly developed world. As Vidarian progresses through the story and communicates through a mental bond with the Gryphons, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Dragons from Anne McCaffrey’s Pern saga. Where the similarities end; however, is in the assertiveness of Hoffman’s Gryphons who are much more in tune with Andovar, the world in which the novel takes place. There’s a sense these beings are comprised of a portion of magic, or at the very least, have a direct connection to the source of magic in the world. Hoffman’s use of the Gryphons as something both intimate, because of how Vidiarian and the other characters communicated with them, as well as foreign and magical, in the way they possess a shared knowledge and power of magic, is perhaps the strongest element of the novel. Through her characters, Hoffman imbues the Gryphons with a true sense of awe, and an initial feeling of them being the Other.
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The shortness of the novel may be both its strength and weakness. It seems clear that Hoffman is telling a longer story in a very well-developed world, both from a historical perspective (hinted and explained events prior to the novel, magic) and a global perspective (societies, cultures). Sword of Fire and Sea could have benefited from some more development of the characters to complement the hinted at developed world and backstory which serves as a pre-amble to the novel. I also felt as if some scenes weren’t entirely connected, things seemed to happen without a direct connection and I found this to be a major strike at the plausibility in Vidarian and Ariadel’s relationship.

Joey’s (Erfael) tear through short-fiction continues with the July/August 2011 issue of Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by Gordon van Gelder:

The July/August issue contains 9 short stories, 5 columns, and a number of cartoons. As sometimes happens with an issue, there seems to be a recurring theme this month: Many of the stories either deal directly or indirectly with the loss of family members or loved ones.
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In his first F&SF story in over a decade Peter David tells us of "Bronsky's Dates With Death". Bronsky suffers from a condition which forces him to speak honestly of anything that comes to mind. As he ages, he becomes more and more focused on his death, which he doesn't fear. In time, Death invites him to a meeting where he informs Bronsky that his frank candidness about his inevitable death is preventing it. Death can't work when he's his coming is both expected and welcomed. Bronsky and Death have a number of meetings over the course of the story. In his way, Bronsky speaks frankly about these meetings to his wife and daughter, who become understandably concerned for him. These various encounters with an exasperated death are quite funny. Between all that are the very real concerns Bronsky's wife and daughter have for his health. In the end David turns all the humor around and gives us a heartfelt finish where everyone gets what he or she wants or deserves.

Conan, Realms of Fantasy, & Gary Gibson Reviewed at SFFWorld

Lest anybody think I’m the only person providing content, in the form of reviews, to SFFWorld. It couldn’t be farther from the truth. Over the past week, we’ve got three new reviews. First up, Mark Yon’s review of Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard. This is the latest mass market release collecting stories about the mighty-thewed barbarian just in time for the new film:

This short time of intensive publication is such for a very sad reason. Howard killed himself, following the death of his mother, at the age of thirty in June 1936. Most of his Conan tales therefore were written between 1932 and 1936, and set in the Hyborean Age, which Howard described as a time after the disappearance of Atlantis but before present civilizations appeared.
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The tales included here are: The Tower of the Elephant; Rogues in the House; The Frost Giant’s Daughter; Queen of the Black Coast; A Witch Shall Be Born; The People of the Black Circle; Red Nails; Beyond the Black River; and the background article for the stories, The Hyborian Age.

The selection is generally a good one. The tales are not in written/publication order, but instead broadly chronologically throughout Conan’s life. The Conan in The Tower of the Elephant is described as ‘a youth’, the Conan of Beyond the Black River an older man.

Joey (Erfael) continues his short-fiction reviews with the June 2011 issue of Realms of Fantasy by Fiction Editor - Shawna McCarthy; Editor - Douglas Cohen , the 100th issue of the venerable fantasy magazine:

The June 2011 issue marks the 100th issue of RoF. RoF is a full-sized, full-color magazine with full-page art accompanying every short story. This is the second magazine added to our collection of periodical short fiction reviews.

This issue contains 7 short stories, poetry by Ursula K. LeGuin, a gallery and article on artist Petar Meseldzja, a Folkroots column on fairies, and a full complement of fiction, gaming, graphic novel, and movie reviews.
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"Wreathed in Wisteria, Draped in Ivy" is an Oriental-themed story by Euan Harvey. It's made up of tales within tales within a letter that implies an even larger tale above all. The letter tells of one man's discovery and pursuit of never-ending life. He follows the trail through many hardships and battles and eventually comes to know the secret of avoiding death. All of this is done in pursuit of vengeance he seeks to serve on someone he refers to only as Noble Lord. This is a fun quest fantasy outside of the more typical medieval setting, and all the more interesting for it. RECOMMENDED.

Back to Mark for a review of the latest from a fairly new, yet relatively popular and acclaimed, UK SF writer – Gary Gibson. The book under review is Final Days:

The story is set in 2235. The key premise of the tale is that wormholes, if one end is accelerated to relativistic speeds, can allow people to travel hundreds of light years quickly. People who travel outside the gate can eventually catch up with the people who have travelled through the gate but only by travelling at standard speeds. Thus we appear to travel in time, with those going through the wormholes able to travel into the future, so to speak.
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This is a big Niven-esque type disaster novel, or perhaps a Greg Bear (Forge of God springs to mind), so much so that it really needs one of those dramatis personae lists at the front. Though there are the main characters, a number of others are there to help develop the plot, which are a little more less developed and can take careful following.

It’s also a book that you have to just accept at the beginning, even when things don’t always make immediate sense travelling forward and backward in time. It’s a tale that needs a while to set the scene and develop. Of course, as we have ‘seen’ video from 2245, we know what is going to happen: if the title of the book doesn’t give it away, it does seem that the future is set and unchangeable, though this is never as clear-cut as it sounds..

Warriors edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of one of the most highly anticipated anthologies of the yearWarriors edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. One of the reasons for such a high level of anticipation is the inclusion of The Mystery Knight a brand new short novel/story set in GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire milieu:

These days, George R.R. Martin is primarily (and deservedly) known as the author of the massively popular and acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire saga. Long before creating the world of Westeros, he had a long career in the genre as an editor of anthologies and the long running Wild Cards series. One of Martin’s long-time colleagues and friends has probably the best reputation for anthology editing – Gardner Dozois. The two have gathered an eclectic mix of writers from all genres to tell stories about, you guessed it Warriors. Settings that evoke Ancient Rome, World War II, Planetary Romances, and a certain land within Seven Kingdoms.
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Out of the Dark by David Weber takes place in what is analogous to modern times, with one exception. The Earth has been invaded and an attempt by the aliens has been made to subjugate and assimilate Earth into its Galactic Empire. The story begins in a somewhat off-putting manner as the galactic empire has an almost futuristic human feel to it. By story’s end, Weber delivered a terrific ending to a compelling story. This gets my vote as favorite story in the anthology.

The Dragon Book by Dann/Dozois

First, let me wish a Happy Birthday to Sesame Street!

Second, the real reason I know all you millions and millions of my readers visit this blog on a Tuesday – review time! Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois have been assembling themed anthologies for nearly twenty years together, which is just a portion of their individual bibliographies. Their latest collaboration The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy is the subject of my review this week:

Arguably, Dozois is one of the most renowned anthologists (Datlow, Greenberg, and Hartwell/Kramer being the other luminaries) in the genre so an invitation to contribute to an anthology in which he is (one of) the editor(s) is a sign of acceptance in the genre. In this volume he and Dann have pulled together an eclectic array of stories featuring perhaps the most iconic figure of fantasy literature from a solid group of contributors.
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Tad Williams plays with language and communication in A Stark and Wormy Night. The clever trick of the story posits humans as the legendary creatures and dragons as the dominant and ‘real’ species of the world. This story was quite a bit of fun.

METAtropolis edited by John Scalzi and Reviewed by Me

Not all short fiction is initially published in written form, especially with iPods audio-format fiction has been on the rise relatively speaking. Well, my latest review doesn’t specifically cover an audio anthology per se, but rather the print version of a popular Web/Audio anthology METAtropolis thanks to Subterranean Press. The five stories are in this anthology are penned by Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, Tobias Buckell, John Scalzi, and Karl Schroeder

Here’s the usual blurb from the review I posted last night:

Cities have long been characters in their own right in fiction, especially Science Fiction and Fantasy. One needs look no further than the seminal SF film Blade Runner to see the epitome of a sprawling future city. Cities in fiction often have their own quirks and personalities as much, and sometimes more, than the human characters who inhabit them. Modern writers like China Mieville and Jeff VanderMeer, and less recent writers like Fritz Leiber and M. John Harrison have made cities distinct and stand out settings of fantastic fiction. Here, editor John Scalzi gathers five well-regarded genre writers to peer into the telescope of the future and see what super-cities of the future might be like. Although this anthology began life as an audio book, Subterranean is publishing a limited and trade print edition of the anthology.

Friday Review - Other Earths edited by Gevers & Lake

With a backlog of unposted reviews, I figured I’d post one before the weekend starts. Other Earths edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake is impressive with good stories by Gene Wolfe (Donovan Sent Us), Robert Charles Wilson (This Peaceable Land, or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe), and Stephen Baxter (The Unblinking Eye) among others.

It's Electric, Botched and a God Killer

My review of Jeff Somers's The Electric Church is now up at SFFWorld. I thought it was a pretty good book, an interesting look at a dark future. While not an uncommon story (all-controlling government, corrupt church) Somers did enough interesting things in the novel to make it stand out. As I say in my review, I kept hearing Queensrÿche’s Operation:Mindcrime as I read the book.

About a month ago, SFFWorld posted Pat's interview with Jeff Somers, which is worth checking out as well. Jeff also happens to be a fellow Jersey-boy.

I was unable to go to another World Fantasy Convention, but congratulations to the winners. I'm in the middle of one of the award winners right now, Botch Town in Jeffrey Ford's incredible (so far) collection, The Empire of Ice Cream. Everything I read by Ford is on a different level than almost every other writer. Whether in short for or long form, his stories really make the fantastic seem real, the dream-like seem lucid. I think this is because his does such an incredible job of capturing the reality of human pathos and interaction. Again, another writer from New Jersey.

Last week i finished another marathon of a Malazan book, House of Chains. I liked it better than the previous book, Memories of Ice. Karsa Orlong is probably my favorite character in the series right now and I love how Erikson is building up the legend and myth of the character.

Karsa's challenging of his gods reminds me a bit of Kratos's storyline from God of War. Is that a strange analogy? I don't know, but it works for me. I also happend to beat God of War II last week. I liked the game a lot, but the gameplay wasn't as balanced as the first game.