Monthly Archives: October 2011

A Journal of the Plague Week

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Things have been a little chaotic here, which has upset my blogging schedule.  I came down some sort of nasty stomach virus late last week.  A day after I got over it, my wife came caught it.  She’s recovered, so as long as my son can avoid it, everything should be getting back to normal in the next day or so.  I managed to get two posts up Saturday evening that I’d been working on, then had to play catch up with other commitments.

What I’ve been working on:  Doing some reading so that I can review Weird Heroes as the next book, which will be about a week later than I anticipated.  I’ve got a review of a small collection and another Conan post that should go up in the couple of days.  Then another anthology.  By that point, I’ll have posted reviews from everything I committed myself to review.  Which means I’m going to read and blog about whatever the heck I feel like for a while.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Celebrates Three Years

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 Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been publishing some of the best fantasy to be found on the web or anywhere else for three years now.  Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate BCS for three great years and wish them many more.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies marked its three year anniversary with its current issue, a double issue.  If you’re wondering what a double issue for an electronic magazine is, you get twice the amount of fiction.  And it’s good fiction, which is what you expect from this publication.  That’s one of the reasons I decided to start the Seven Days of Online Fiction with Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 

It’s been a while since we looked at BCS, so here’s a quick overview of the contents. 

Leading off is “The Tiger’s Turn” by Richard Parks.  This is the latest installment in his series about Lord Yamada in feudal Japan.  I looked at an earlier installment in this series, “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest”, back in February.  I’ve always liked Parks work since was introduced to it after meeting him at a Conestoga around the turn of the millennium.  He’s primarily a short story writer, but he’s worth the trouble of seeking out.  The latest installment in this series didn’t disappoint me.

Second was Kat Howard‘s “The Calendar of Saints“,  an alternate history fantasy, where among other things different, the Church embraced Galileo’s teachings.  This one concerns a swordswoman who is not a believer who finds herself defending the Church.  The ending was original and unexpected.

Nicole M. Taylor tells the story about a woman whose sailor husband doesn’t come home from the sea but something resembling him does and the “A Spoonful of Salt” that results from their union.  This one was quiet and disturbing.

The final story is one of judgment and mercy.  J. S. Bangs‘ “The Judge’s Right Hand” was dark and compelling, and again, the ending was original and unexpected.

Finally, Garth Upshaw’s “Butterfly” from the September 22, 2011 issue is available in MP3 format.

There’s not a bad story in the bunch.  Check ’em out.  

Age of Giants – Awakening: Another Well Done Indie Ebook

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Age of Giants – Awakening
Rob Reaser
$2.99 various ebook formats
Reaser Brand Communications

The Nephilim were on the earh in those days – and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them.  They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
                                                           Genesis 6: 4

Back in August I received an email from a Rob Reaser asking if I would be willing review the novel that’s the subject of this post.  I had never heard of Mr. Reaser, but the synopsis sounded interesting, not something I’d seen much of before.  I replied that I would, but I had about half a dozen other books I had committed to review that were in the queue ahead of his novel.  He replied that was fine, he would appreciate the review when I could get to it.

Well, it took a little longer than I had anticipated (my apologies, Rob), but I finished the book yesterday while sick in bed.  (No, the book didn’t make me sick; being sick allowed me to finish the novel sooner than I thought I would.)  I wondered when I agreed to review the book if I was making a mistake, reviewing a first and self-published novel.  I’m glad to say I made no mistake.

While very different in style and content from Tisarian’s Treasure, this is another example of a well-done ebook independently published by the author.

The situation is this:  the Nephilim are back.  And they’re not nice.  Through a genetically engineered plague, they’ve wiped out most of the human race.  The few survivors left are either kept as slaves and breeding stock, or they try their best to survive in small tribes.  Some occasionally mount a weak resistance; these are known as raiders.

I found this to be an interesting premise and not one that’s been used much.  Reaser does a good job of making the scenario believable and realistic, at places later in the story delving into possible scientific explanations for the existence of the Nephilim and mechanisms to defeat them.  It was hard to decide whether this was fantasy or science fiction.  I was tempted to review this over on Futures Past and Present, but I decided to  review it here because this site gets more traffic, and thus the book would get greater exposure.

The central character is a young woman named Nora, who is leading two of her companions on a raid when the story opens a couple of generations after the Nephilim have taken over.  Things don’t go well, her two companions are killed, and Nora and a freed slave, Stu, manage to escape.  When they return to Nora’s home, they discover that most of her tribe have been taken captive in a Nephilim raid.

Nora, Stu, and a young woman named Gayle set off in pursuit to rescue the captured raiders.  Of course, it isn’t going to be that simple.

The plot is fairly straight forward, but there are a couple of surprises.  I’ll not spoil them for you.  I’ll only say that not everyone who has the same goal will agree on the best way to achieve that goal.  Some people forget who they’re fighting for in their efforts to accomplish great good.

Mr. Reaser has twenty years experience as a journalist and magazine editor, and it shows in his writing style, which is sparse and lean without a lot of flowery prose.  I found his style suited the story he was telling, adding to the tension. 

This was a fairly short novel by today’s standards, just over 200 pages.  I’m fairly certain Mr. Reaser intended it to be for an adult audience, but there’s nothing inappropriate for younger readers, especially teenagers.  The protagonist is barely into her twenties, and the book shares many of the themes of classic YA science fiction and fantasy.  (I don’t know about contemporary YA because it seems to be mostly marketed to girls.)  With the new Kindles hitting the market, the predictions for ebook sales this holiday season are high.  If you’re considering giving a younger (or older) reader an electronic reading device, this book would be a nice thing to include with it.  The book is well formatted, it has an interactive table of contents so you can go directly to the chapter you want if you didn’t set a bookmark, and it tells a good story.

I’m looking forward to the next volume.

Interview with Mark Finn, Revisited

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Back in late February, I interviewed several people at ConDFW and posted those interviews over the next few months.  Links to those interviews can be found in the sidebar.  The longest interview was with Mark Finn, and it was so long that I broke it into two parts, which I posted a week apart.  The second part was shorter than the first because I chose to make the break at a point where the topic of our conversation shifted rather than at the halfway point.

Both parts of the interview were well received and quickly found a place in the top ten most popular posts, which was fine with me.  For some reason, the second half of the interview had about 10% more page views than the first, maybe because more people linked to the second half.  I wasn’t really concerned, since both parts of the interview got a lot of traffic, Mark was happy with the interview, and Adventures Fantastic was linked to on other blogs and websites.

Then about six or eight weeks ago, something unusual happened.

The first part of the interview began to pick up more traffic.  At first I didn’t think much of it, because both halves of the interview have gotten a small but steady flow of traffic since the initial interest died down, as have several other posts I’ve done since I started this blog.  Blogger shows the ten most popular posts, and there’s always some relative movement in the middle of that list.

But I noticed something.  While the first part of the interview saw an upswing in the number of page views, the second half didn’t.  There would be the occasional bump in traffic, but nothing like what the first half of the interview was getting. In fact, the first half of the interview has surged to be the number one spot by a noticeable margin.  As I write this, it was the second most viewed post in the last day, and the third most viewed post in both the last week and the last month.  In other words, it’s gotten more traffic than most of the posts I’ve done in the last month.

First, let me say “Thank you” to everyone who has looked at that interview.  It’s extremely gratifying to me to know that an interview I conducted months ago is still of interest to people and still speaks to them on some level.  It encourages me to do more interviews, and I will.

But I’m also curious.  Why has the first part of the interview seen such an increase in interest but not the second?  It’s the scientist in me.  I’m trained to notice trends in data and question what causes them.  Please understand, I’m not unhappy that this one post is still generating traffic and interest.  Just the opposite.  I’m thrilled.  I’m just puzzled that the other half isn’t seeing the same response. The only thing I can figure out is that “Tom Sharkey” is part of what the attraction is.  That’s one of the most common search terms, and Mark discussed Tom Sharkey in the first part of the interview.  The numbers aren’t a good match, meaning that the number of page views is much higher than the number of times “Tom Sharkey” shows up in the search terms, so I’m not convinced that’s all there is to it.

If anyone has any idea what’s caused this sudden interest in the first part of the Mark Finn interview, I’d be interested in hearing it.  My curiosity is driving me up the wall.

Tisarian’s Treasure: An Example of an Indie Published Ebook Done Right

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Tisarian’s Treasure
J. M. Martin
Cover by Peter Ortiz, interior illustrations by Julie Dillon
ebook 0.99, paperback $5.99

There’s been a lot of discussion online over the last year about the quality of what are called indie published books by their proponents and disparagingly called self-published books by the publishing, agenting, and critical establishment.  You can probably tell from the title of this post as well as how I worded the previous sentence which side of the issue I come down on.

So, rather than simply discuss the merits of the story and the writing itself  in this novella, which I will do, I’d like, begging the indulgence of the author and artists, to go beyond that and discuss the qualities of the publishing as well. 

Most opponents of indie publishing will try to scare you with Chicken Little-esque cries of “You won’t be able to find any quality; you’ll be buried in a sea of crap!” 

Like we aren’t now.  Sturgeon’s Law has never been repealed and never will be.  For those of you who don’t know, Sturgeon’s Law, after the science fiction and fantasy author Theodore Sturgeon, simply says that 90% of everything is crap.  I submit for your consideration what’s on most bookstore shelves.

Fortunately, Tisarian’s Treasure is in the 10%.  We’ll start with the story and the writing since those are what will ultimately make or break an ebook.  (I’m going to confine my comments to the ebook since that’s what I have.)  Problems of formatting can be fixed much more quickly and easily than problems of story and writing.

The writing is fluid and smooth, in the style of an old fashioned pirate novel, which is what this essentially is, with fantasy elements thrown in for fun.  Mr. Martin paints in both broad swathes and in detail, and his prose is lyrical and highly readable.

It’s the story of Dr. Alexandre Mallory, who finds himself marooned on an island with a handful of other survivors of an attack by the pirate Thadieus Drake.  Dr. Mallory has recently been in the service of said Captain Drake, although unwillingly.  Also with them is Oberon Teag, a pirate who has a tattoo on his back showing the location of the famed Tisarian’s Treasure.  It’s on the island they on which they’ve taken refuge.

Also in the group is the woman Katalin, who has mild prophetic powers.  She’s brave, beautiful, strong-willed, and one of the most interesting characters in the novella.

The plot, the characters, and the dialogue are all first rate.  The characters exhibit courage, treachery, ambition, and sacrifice.  They grow and change.  The ending is satisfying, and there’s room for more installments.  (That’s a hint, J. M.)

This story is set in the author’s world of Khaladune.  I’d like to sail these seas and visit this world again.  Fortunately, I will.  There’s a Khaladune story in the anthology Dark Heroes, which I hope to finish and review sometime next week.

Now, let’s look at the production values.  The cover art is gorgeous, of a professional level I’d expect from New York on a major fantasy novel.  The b&w interior illustrations are a nice added bonus, and while Ms. Dillon’s views of the characters don’t exactly match mine, they are well done and add a level of value to the book. 

The formatting on the epub (Nook) version is better than what I’ve read in ebooks by major publishers.  There were no missing line breaks between paragraphs because there were no line breaks between paragraphs.  Instead, the paragraphs were indented, just like in a print book.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that touch.  I hate line breaks between paragraphs when I’m reading fiction.  None of the lines extended off the page like those of a certain publisher I’ll not name sometimes do.  In fact, the only odd thing about the formatting was that occasionally a page number would skip.  That’s a page number, not a page.  And it wasn’t a big deal.

In short, Tisarian’s Treasure had everything I’m looking for in an ebook.  Captivating story, highly readable prose, professional art, and well-done formatting. 

Tisarian’s Treasure is available for both Kindle and Nook, with a paper edition available for those you haven’t gotten an ereader. This is one you will want to check out.

Amazon Launches New Imprint Focusing on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

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Amazon announced this morning that it is launching a new science fiction, fantasy, and horror imprint, 47North.  Several top names have signed on, including Dave Duncan,  Neal Stephenson, and Greg Bear.  The imprint will publish in Kindle, print, and audio formats.  The entire press release can be found here.

A Brief Look at Debris

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Debris
Jo Anderton
Angry Robot
464pp mass-market paperback
$7.99 US, $8.99 CAN
ebook £4.49 / $5.99

This review would have been up a few days ago if I had had access to a computer.  My son didn’t have school today, so we took advantage of the long weekend to go visit my parents.  Only their computer was in the shop, and I hadn’t brought mine along.  So instead of a post about every other day for a few days, this is (hopefully) the first of at least four days in a row with new material.

But you probably aren’t interested in that.  What you want to know is if the book is any good.  Am I right?  Of course I am.  Aren’t I always?  (Don’t answer that.)

Yes, this is a good book, but I have a quibble with the publisher about it.

This is the third book I’ve reviewed from Angry Robot in the last six weeks.  The first one, Roil, was listed by the publisher as fantasy, while I felt it was more science fiction, or at the outside, science fantasy.  The second novel, Darkness Falling, I considered to be fantasy, although the publisher listed it as science fiction.  Now we come to Debris, a novel I consider to be science fantasy if not outright fantasy, while the publisher calls it…you guessed it, science fiction.

I’ll explain my reasons in a minute.  To understand, you need some background.  Tanyana is an architect.  In this world, that’s a slightly different job than it is in ours.  Tanyana is capable of seeing and controlling pions, which are the building blocks of matter.  They almost act as if they are alive.  When pions are used to make things, build things, produce energy, or for any other purpose, they generate waste called debris.  The debris acts like it’s alive at times as well.

There’s just one problem with this scenario.  I don’t buy it.  As a practicing physicist, I can assure you the universe doesn’t act that way, at least not the one we inhabit.  Well, maybe the one that weird guy in the office at the end of the hall lives in, but not the rest of us.  The pions described in this book aren’t the ones I’m familiar with.  I was expecting a science fiction novel, but that’s not what I got, at least by my definition.  Because the physical world described here clearly isn’t ours, I would have to classify this as fantasy.  I think what threw me was Ms. Anderton’s use of the word “pion”, which has a particular meaning for me.

Anyway, once I got over all that, I quite enjoyed the book.  This is a story of a woman who doesn’t so much fall from great heights as she is pushed.  Literally.  The opening chapter finds Tanyana leading her circle of binders (people who can control pions) in building a giant statue.  Something goes wrong, they lose control, and Tanyana is thrown off the statue.  Her injuries are such that she can no longer see pions.

She can, however, see debris.  Debris is like entropy personified, although not everyone can see it, just like not everyone can see pions.  That doesn’t make it any less destructive.  Debris has to be collected and contained or all sorts of bad things will happen.  Assigned to a collecting team that doesn’t want her, Tanyana must figure out who is behind not only her disgrace, but the systematic campaign to ruin everyone who ever did her a favor. 

Collectors are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, while binders are near the top.  Things go from bad to worse, as Tanyana’s life unravels and she is forced to piece a new one together, while eruptions of debris are increasing and becoming more deadly.  All the while she is stalked by the mysterious and frightening puppet men.

Not everyone is who or what they appear to be.  There are mysteries here, and not all of them are solved.  The ones that are, well, they still have plenty of open questions. Important pieces of history appear to have been lost.  Some of the characters have surprising depths.  Once I got into the story and past my physics hangups, I was hooked.  The characters are real, growing and changing.  They are individuals you care about.  The mysteries are intriguing, the plot captivating, the villains frightening.  And characters from children’s stories in this world, well, they may just turn out to be real. 

Ms. Anderton is an Australian writer, and this is her first novel, so her name may not be familiar to most of you.  Remember it.  This book promises to be the launch of what should be a successful and major career in the field.  It’s the first of a series, it’s fresh and original, and I’ll be reading the next installment.

More Vikings, More Werewolves, and More Loki

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Fenrir
M.D. Lachlan
Pyr, tp, $16.00, 442 p.

When I reviewed Wolfsangel a few months ago, I gave it a favorable review.  And while I enjoyed that book, I enjoyed the sequel more.  Fenrir takes place some time after Wolfsangel.  I don’t know history well enough to give specific dates, but I’d say a couple of hundred years have passed.

The story opens with vikings laying siege to Paris and accelerates from there.

The vikings are trying to capture Aelis, the sister of Count Eudes.  If he turns her over, they’ll leave the city in peace.  The vikings are trying to capture her for their commander Sigfrid.  He thinks he’s Odin incarnate and needs Aelis in order to fulfill a prophecy.  Aiding him are a sorcerer, Hrafn, and a witch, his sister Munin.

Aelis is not without her supporters.  First there’s the blind and crippled monk, Jehan the Confessor, who is regarded by many to be a living saint.  There’s a wolfman (which is not the same thing as a werewolf in this book) and his companion, Leshii, an aging merchant.  They want to take Aelis back to the city of Aldeigjuborg to their lord, Helgi.

If you are expecting some of these people to be Adisla, Vali, and Feilig from Wolfsangel reincarnated, you’d be right.  If you think you know which character is which, you’ll probably be wrong.  Lachlan kept me off balance and surprised as he slowly revealed who was who.  It won’t be who you think.  This is not a book you can easily predict.  Case in point, how the prophecy that Helgi would be killed by his horse was fulfilled.  Clever and entirely consistent with what had been established.  Also unexpected.

The pacing in Fenrir is relentless yet never rushed.  The book moves quickly.  My biggest frustration with it was dayjobbery and life kept interfering with my reading time.  I had hoped to have finished the book around the first of the month.  Unlike Wolfsangel, which took place over a period of years, Fenrir opens in the spring and closes the following March.

The characters have more depth than most fantasy characters, and Lachlan does a marvelous job juggling a number of major and minor characters, some of whom have multiple names, and making them individuals with their own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses.  These aren’t just static characters, either.  They grow and change, to the point that one or two switch allegiance.  And Loki puts in a few appearances.  He doesn’t switch allegiance, though.

The action and combat are well done, and there’s plenty of battles from one-on-one to small groups clashing.  While there are no large armies meeting on the field, there’s still plenty of opportunities for heroism, as well as betrayal and savagery.

As good as Wolfsangel was, and it was good, Fenrir is better.  If this series continues to improve, it will be a high water mark in contemporary fantasy.  It pretty much is already.

Series like this one, the Danilov Quintet by Jasper Kent, the First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, and the Shadow books by Jon Sprunk, just to name a few fantasy series (and that’s not even getting into the science fiction), have made Pyr books my favorite publisher.  With quality like this, it’s no wonder Pyr seems to have a permanent place on the shortlists of all the major awards.

Blogging Conan: Iron Shadows in the Moon/Shadows in the Moonlight

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This has always been one of my favorite Conan yarns, in spite of the fact that it’s mostly an adventure story, without the depth of “The Tower of the Elephant” or “Red Nails”.  Still, there are some significant aspects to the story which could be overlooked. And that’s a shame, because the two things I want to focus on directly relate to some of the criticisms of Howard in particular and sword and sorcery in general.

There will be spoilers in this post.  Just so you know.


 The story opens with a young girl, Olivia, in a marsh on the edge of the Vilayet Sea, where she has fled from Shah Amurath, to whom she had been sold.  The Shah has cornered her on the edge of the sea and is about to take her back to the city of Akif when Conan bursts out of the reeds.  He has something of a grudge to settle.

Conan had been with the Free Companions, raiding along the Turanian, Zamoran, and Kothian borders, when Amurath had trapped and killed most of his companions.  They weren’t killed swiftly or painlessly.  Conan is the only survivor.  He’s been hiding out in the swamp, waiting for nightfall to row across the Sea in a boat he found earlier in the day.  Of course Conan makes short work of Amurath, even though he’s only wearing a loincloth and Amurath is in full armor.

This brings us to the first point I want to make.  Some people, who either clearly haven’t read Howard or paid sufficient attention if they did, criticize the Conan stories because they find Conan to be to much of a superhero.  Apparently they think he comes out of every fight without a scratch, in spite of the fact Howard routinely describes Conan’s body as being covered with scars.  Conan has been slithering through the muck, eating raw muskrats and roots he dug up.  Hardly the life of a successful superhero.

Conan and Olivia row all day and night until they come to an island.  Well, Conan rows.  Olivia is just along for the ride.  There they find an abandoned temple filled with large iron statues.  They decide to hide on the island until a passing ship has gone by, for fear of being captured.  Instead, the ship lands, filled with pirates.  Conan kills their captain in single combat but is taken captive and held in the temple while the pirates decide what to do with him.  (Not much of a superhero if he lets himself get captured, is he?) Some say he’s now the rightful captain, others that he isn’t because he wasn’t one of them when he killed the captain.

Olivia has stayed hidden during these events.  And this brings me to the main point I want to make.  The story is told entirely from her viewpoint.  Our knowledge of Conan’s activities come from what he tells Olivia.  His captivity is never described from his viewpoint.  What we see is the character development of Olivia from a simpering wall-flower to someone who chooses to live by the sword.

One of Howard’s favorite themes is on full display here, that of barbarism vs. civilization.  After he rescues her, Olivia tells Conan that her father, the king of Ophir, sold her because she refused to marry a prince of Koth.  She was sold several more times before she became the property of Amurath.  When she mentions her people consider Cimmerians to be barbaric, Conan’s response is that they don’t sell their children.

At first Olivia is afraid of Conan, but before the end of the story, she not only overcomes her fear of him but much of her fear in general as well.  She slips into the temple after the  pirates are asleep and frees Conan.  And while she hasn’t completely overcome her scream queen tendencies by the end, she is braver and more hardened than she was when we first meet her.  She thinks through how she was treated by civilized men and compares that treatment to the treatment she receives from Conan and decides she much prefers the treatment of a barbarian to that of a “civilized” man.  Given a choice, she decides to sail with Conan and the pirates for a life of raiding.  She’s not simply another nearly naked damsel in distress (although I wish someone would explain to me why those type of characters are so bad, without taking a sanctimonious tone).

I think this story deserves wider recognition.  It’s not a perfect story by any means.  But through the character of Olivia, Howard demonstrates a clear contrast between civilized and barbaric standards of behavior.  It’s pretty clear he considers the barbarians to be morally superior to civilized men who sell their children.  We shouldn’t let the adventure aspects make us lose sight of that.

Robert E. Howard

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