Author Archives: Keith West

Here, Kid, Your First Sample is Free: A Review of Shattered Shields

Shattered Shields
Jennifer Brozak and Bryan Thomas Schmidt, ed.
Baen Books
Trade paper, $15.00
ebook $8.99 Kindle Nook Baen

In case you’re wondering why I titled this post the way I did, it’s because this book is a perfect gateway drug into heroic fantasy. All of the stories are well written and fast-moving, and with the exception of a couple that simply weren’t to my taste, I enjoyed every single one of them. I’d like to thank Baen Books for the review copy.

There are seventeen stories here, so I’m not going to give a summary of each one. I’m gong to focus on the ones that stood out to me. Those of you who’ve read my reviews for a while know how my tastes stack up against yours, so even if we don’t always like the same things, you’ll get a good idea of what to expect from Shattered Shields. Continue reading →

When October Goes

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Now that Halloween is over, I’m going to shift gears a bit. Time to return to more sword and sorcery here at Adventures Fantastic. Or at least solid adventure fantasy. I’ve already started reading Shattered Shields, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt, which hits shelves on Tuesday. I don’t know if I’ll have the review up by the release date, but I’ll do my best.

Pyr and Solaris have both sent me copies of some cool titles since the first of the summer that I never got a chance to work into the schedule. I really want to go back and pick read some of them. They’re mostly fantasy, but there’s some science fiction mixed in. Also, Night Shade has sent me some titles, and one of the first I’ll read is Stories of the Raksura, vol.1, by Martha Wells. I’ll probably start that one by the end of the week.

Speaking of science fiction, there are some titles sitting around I want to read. Some of them will be popping up at Futures Past and Present as I work them in. I’ll also be reading some mystery/noir titles and reviewing them at Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams.

Plus there are some titles from various other publishers I want to read. I’ll be mixing them in at random. I’m going to try to strike a balance between titles that someone has sent me and stuff I just want to read for fun. So you never know what’s going to pop up next.

Happy Halloween

The Shapes of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan

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The Shapes of Midnight
Joseph Payne Brennan
Berkley, 1980
mass market paperback, $2.25, 176 p.
Introduction by Stephen King

Joseph Payne Brennan has sadly become one of the more neglected writers of fantasy and horror from the second half of the 20th Century. Fortunately there ~~are~~ were copies of his work available at reasonable prices. Which is why a couple of weeks ago, after I’d read about half the stories in this book, I bought them. By reasonable prices, I mean in the $10-25 dollar range for used hardcovers. (Brennan created an occult detective named Lucius Leffing; I managed to snag a signed collection of some of those stories.)

When I did a search on Advanced Book Exchange for The Shapes of Midnight, the cheapest copy I found (there were only 4 of them at the time) was nearly $60. Ouch. Continue reading →

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “The Children of the Night”

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The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Del Rey
trade paper $18.00
ebook Kindle $11.59 Nook $13.99

I read this story for the first time recently in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy collection The Spawn of Cthulhu. (The subject of my next BAF post for Black Gate.) Just from the title, I could have sworn I’d read it before, but I think I would have remembered this one.

“The Children of the Night” was first published in Weird Tales in the April-May issue of 1931. It’s an interesting little story in that it ties two of Howard’s series characters in with H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Continue reading →

A Journey Through The October Country

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The October Country
Ray Bradbury
Illustrations by Joe Mugnaini
mass market paperback 307 p., $7.99
ebook Kindle $7.21 Nook $10.99

I first read this collection in the early ’80s, around 1980 or 1981, I think. Some of the stories have stayed with me (“The Small Assassin”, “The Scythe”), while some I’d completely forgotten (“Touched with Fire”, “The Cistern”).

Most of the stories were recycled from Dark Carnival, with a few being left out and a few being added. I’d hoped to have time to read the ones left out and discuss the differences in the two collections, but that will have to wait for a later post. For those unaware, Dark Carnival, from Arkham House, was Bradbury’s first collection. Original copies are hard to come by and will cost you a pretty penny. The author’s definitive edition from a decade or so ago isn’t cheap either.

Fortunately there isn’t that much difference in the contents, and the casual reader can enjoy the stories as they appear in this volume. There will be spoilers on some of them. Continue reading →

A Look at Weird Tales 362

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Before I start the review, I’d like to thank Doug Draa for the review copy and apologize for taking so long to get the review posted. The review copy is a PDF file, and I’d intended to read it while traveling over the summer. For some reason, my ereader (a first generation device) wouldn’t open the file. Anyway, since I hate reading for fun on a backlit screen (which I do enough of for work), it was a while before I managed to read it. So thanks and apologies, Doug. I promise to do better in the future.

There are a total of seventeen pieces of fiction, five poems, a tribute to Parke Godwin by Marvin Kaye,an interview with Joyce Carol Oates, and a look at how one of the illustrations was developed by Jeff Wong.

Overall, I found this issue to be a strong one, though not without a few stories which weren’t to my taste. The theme for this issue is The Undead. And no, not all of the themed stories are about zombies. Just some of them, which is good because I’m not a big zombie fan. But overall I found this issue to be a great read for Halloween. Continue reading →

My Halloween Posts Creep into Other Blogs

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Not all of the things I’ve been reading for Halloween are getting reviewed here. There have been two other posts that might be of interest to some of you.

The first post that went live was at Amazing Stories yesterday. I had intended to have it ready to go a week earlier but an out of town wedding derailed my plans.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of pulp fantasy and horror, this is one you need to put on your radar. There are a number of nice treats (and no tricks) in this novel. It’s about a pair of former police partners. One is now the sheriff and the other is a private investigator. The book opens with the discovery of the body a former classmate of theirs. He’s been ritually murdered. Blind Shadows is a great combination of pulp, horror, and hard boiled adventure.

I’ve been doing a series of posts at Black Gate for about a year now on the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. My goal was to have one completed about once a month, but that isn’t quite what has happened. Things have been a little more irregular than that.

This afternoon, my latest went live. It’s over H. P. Lovecraft’s The Doom that Came to Sarnath. This is a collection of stories written as Lovecraft was transitioning from fantasy in the vein of Lord Dunsany to his better known work in the Mythos. Many of these stories are quite short, but overall they’re an interesting read as they show a writer moving from imitation to his own unique voice.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to at other venues for Halloween.

A Visit to Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show

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Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
Avon, 304 pgs.
mass market paperback $7.99
ebook $3.99 Kindle Nook

I first read this book something like 35 years ago, give or take, probably in 5th grade. I reasonably certain it had to have been before spring break of my 6th grade year, because that was the year of the tornado. After we rebuilt the house, I got to have a room of my own. This is relevant because I envisioned the room I shared with my brother as Will’s room as I read the book. (Assuming my memory isn’t playing tricks on me.)

There’s a risk when you return to a beloved novel from your youth. Will it live up to the memory? Often it doesn’t.

The advantage here is that after so many years, I didn’t remember more than a few scenes from the book, primarily the Dust Witch coming after the boys in the balloon in the middle of the night. Other than a few general things, I didn’t recall much.

I’m pleased to say that the novel held up quite well. It was better than I remembered. Continue reading →

Invoking Dark Gods

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Dark Gods
T. E. D. Klein
mmpb, Bantam, $3.95, 1986, 263 p.

One of the top practitioners of horror fiction in the latter half of the previous century is also one of the most frustrating. T. E. D. Klein has published very little after making a name for himself in the 1970s and 80s.

His first collection, Dark Gods, is a perfect example of what an author can accomplish in an understated manner. The four novellas in this volume are strong examples of that type of horror. Perfect reading for Halloween. Continue reading →