Author Archives: Keith West

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard: “Old Garfield’s Heart”

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Del Rey
trade paper $18.00
ebook 12.99 Kindle Nook

Although he’s best known today as a sword and sorcery author, Howard excelled at a number of genres. One of those was horror. In fact, I would argue that part of what made his S&S so good was its infusion of horror.

Since Halloween is coming up, I thought I would look at some of his horror stories this year. (Last year I looked at some of the Halloween shorts from Cemetery Dance.) All of Howard’s horror tales, including those that feature some of his series characters such as Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn, are included in the Del Rey volume shown at the top of the post. I’m going to discuss them on an individual basis rather than try to review the whole book. Howard wrote quite a bit of horror, and I want to examine some of the details. While I doubt I’ll have a post every day until Halloween (I don’t have that kind of time), I intend to look at as many as possible. And just so you know, there will be spoilers.

The first horror story we’ll look at is “Old Garfield’s Heart”. In a way, it’s a weird western, even though most of the story actually takes place in what would have been considered contemporary times when it was written.

The story is told by an unnamed narrator, a young man who is waiting for Doc Blaine to take him out to Old Jim Garfield’s house. Garfield was thrown from a horse and isn’t expected to live. While waiting, the narrator’s grandfather tells how he knew Garfield back in the 1870s, when he and Garfield participated in an attack on some raiding Commanches. Garfield was seriously wounded, but an old Lipan Apache shaman appears, takes Garfield into a mesquite thicket and spends the night performing some ritual. The men could hear owls hooting all night. The next morning Garfield is alive and well. He hasn’t aged a day since.

Out at Garfield’s cabin, he confirms the story is true. He says he was given the heart of an Indian god and as long as the heart is in his chest, it will always beat. The only way he can die is by a head injury. Garfield makes Doc Blaine promise that if anything happens to him, he’ll remove the heart from his chest.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Garfield recovers. The action shifts to the narrator standing up to one of the town bullies, nearly killing him with a knife. The bully has the name of Jack KIrby. This is a typical Howardian name. The story was written before the real Jack Kirby began working in comics.

While awaiting trial, the narrator is picked up by Doc Blaine and taken out to Garfield’s place. Kirby is looking to kill the narrator, and Blaine wants to protect him. The narrator isn’t too happy. While they’re talking about the old shaman, who knew Coronado, the men hear a horse ride up. The narrator opens the door and is nearly killed by a rifle shot. The only thing that saves him is Doc Blaine pushing him out of the way. The narrator grabs Garfield’s shotgun from the wall and peppers the horse’s hindquarters as the rider tries to make his getaway. The spooked horse takes off through an orchard and a tree branch knocks the rider off. It’s Jack Kirby, his neck broken.

Garfield is also dead. The bullet meant for the narrator took off the top of his head. As Garfield’s body cools, the heart keeps beating. The narrator assists Doc Blaine in removing Garfield’s heart. They hear an owl while they work. The narrator is holding Garfield’s heart when the door opens and the Lipan shaman walks in, hand outstretched. He takes the heart and leaves without a word. When the men rush to the door, the yard is empty. The only living thing they see is an owl silhouetted against the Moon.

Dr. Isaac M. Howard

This story is one of the shorter horror tales Howard wrote, but in it he played to his strengths. He peppers the tale with references to Texas history and geography, two subjects with which he was quite familiar. The bully Jack Kirby is a type of character we see often in Howard’s fiction, and I’m sure he knew a number of people over the course of his life who could have served as models. Oilfield workers, ranch hands, and other men who followed the boom towns of the 10s and 20s of the previous century tended to be rough, swaggering fellows. Howard loved to talk to the older people in the community, listening to their tales of the pioneer days. The narrator’s grandfather fits their mold perfectly.

But the thing that catch my attention on this rereading was the character of Doc Blaine. I don’t know how much time Robert spent riding with his father when Doc Howard made his rounds. I’m sure he went along once or twice. He certainly had to be familiar with his father’s routine. The senior Howard’s habits of visiting his patients for social purposes as well as medical purposes are well documented. We’re not given a physical description of Doc Blaine, but I can’t help think Robert based the character on his father.

“Old Garfield’s Heart” isn’t a particularly scary horror story, at least not to me, but Howard’s use of detail bring the setting and period alive, giving it an atmosphere that adds to its creepiness. Check it out. I’ll have another look at one of Robert’s horror stories tomorrow or the next day.

Waiting Until Helen Comes

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Wait Till Helen Comes
Mary Downing Hahn
Sandpiper
trad paper $5.99
ebook $5.99 (publisher’s price) Kindle ($3.99) Nook ($4.99)

I was in the children’s section of B&N the other day looking for a book my son had asked for and decided since I was spending money I really didn’t need to be spending, I’d pick this book up as well. I’d had my eye on it, and now is the time of year for a good creepy ghost story. The blurbs on the cover indicated that it was more scary than most books of this type.

After having read the book while visiting my in-laws over the weekend, I can say some people might find it scary, but I never really did. But then I’m probably not the intended audience. The book is geared for middle grade readers.

Wait Till Helen Comes is a ghost story, and it’s well done. I’m not saying this was a bad book or that I didn’t enjoy it, but that I’m no longer in the demographic it was intended for. I suspect when I was 12 it would have given me nightmares. I find that ghost stories don’t scare me nearly as easily as they did when I was a child, something I’ve written about before.

The story is told from the point of view of 12 year old Molly. Her mother has recently married Dave, who was widowed when his wife died in a fire. His daughter Heather survived, and she makes life miserable for Molly and her younger brother Micheal. Molly’s mother and Dave have moved the family from Balitmore to an old church in the country that has been converted into a house. Molly’s mother is a painter while Dave works in ceramics, so they’re basically starting their own artists’ colony.

Of course there’s a ghost in the cemetery attached to the church property. The ghost of a small girl named Helen, who was just about Heather’s age when she died in a fire in a nearby home nearly 100 years ago. Heather already manipulates the family dynamic, lying about how Molly and Michael treat her. In fact, until the end of the book, Heather has no redeeming qualities, being a totally vile little beast.

Dave, of course, always believes her. Molly’s mother knows something is up, but usually takes Dave’s side of things. The presence of Helen only makes things worse.

The family dynamics got old pretty quick. Dave was pretty one dimensional, usually accusing Molly and/or Michael of picking on Heather or else trying to be their friend with no middle ground. Of course this book was written for a middle grade audience, so the characterization is probably appropriate for that age range.

As are the scares. There are a couple of scenes I found creepy. They didn’t really scare me, but then I’ve read ghost stories for adults by some of the acknowledged masters of the genre. You know, guys like Burrage, the Bensons, Wakefield, and M. R. James. Not exactly writers for children. Wait Till Helen Comes is for children, albeit older, more mature children. Still there are limits on what is acceptable as far as scares and story endings are concerned in a children’s book. Like I said, I’m not the intended demographic. Ms. Hahn as written a number of ghost stories for the middle grades, and I might read more. I used to devour this type of thing back when I was in the targeted age range.

One other thing about this book, and it’s a plus in my mind. Originally published in 1986, there are some references that are now period rather than contemporary like the author intended, such as Molly’s use of her Walkman (look it up kiddies, or rather, Google it I should say) and her fondness for Watership Down (Is that book even still in print? I should Google it.) It was nice to be reminded of how the world once was.

Wait Till Helen Comes is a quick read, at least for an adult. It’s something you can finish in an evening. If you turn the lights down and get away from distractions, it’s a nice, seasonal volume. You may not be as scared as a twelve year old would be when you read the book, but it still has its moments.

For something in a similar vein (but definitely not for children) with a different outcome and much scarier, try “Little Boy Blue” by Charles Birkin. It’s available in two of Birkin’s collections, A Haunting Beauty (Midnight House, 2000) or The Smell of Evil (4 editions from 1964-1975, each from a different publsher). Prices will vary widely on ABE.

Rogue Blades Entertainment is Back

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It’s not often I get to announce really great news, or at least it doesn’t feel like it much lately. However, I’m thrilled to let you know that the Rogue Blades Entertainment has returned. Publisher Jason M. Waltz made the announcement over at Black Gate earlier today. The small S&S publisher went on hiatus a few years ago. Fortunately RBE is back with a whole new website (just click the above link). If you aren’t familiar with them, RBE published Writing Fantasy Heroes recently (reviewed here). Now all of their previously published books are available. My review of them is available here. Stop by and check them out.

Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate Jason and RBE on their comeback and wish them the best of success.

Stopping Spam

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I’ve had so much spam in the last few weeks that I’ve had to implement a spam blocker. Moderating them myself is taking too much time. (I had 75 spam comments today at Dispatches alone.) It’s called Akismet, and it’s supposed to work quite well. The only drawback is that it occasionally stops a legitimate comment. If you comment on something, and you don’t see your comment within 24 hours, please let me know. I’ll approve it. Hopefully, it won’t happen often, but it’s gotten old moderating the amount of spam I’ve had to put up with, especially lately. Of course, the way to avoid having comments classified as spam is to follow. The followers didn’t transfer over from Blogger when the posts did, and I don’t know of a way to transfer them. If anyone does, please drop me a line. There were some good conversations on the old blog, and I hope to have more here.

A Visit to Duma Key

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Duma Key
Stephen King
Scribner
various formats

I started this novel back around the end of July or the beginning of August, I don’t remember which. I was wanting something I could sink my teeth in just for pleasure. I had (and still have, although the titles have changed) a fairly large stack of books for review. It was all starting to feel like work, and I was beginning to ask myself where the fun was in all of it. (This was during the same time period when I decided to make the move over from Blogger after Google decided I was a spam site.)

Stephen King has always been one of those writers that I connect with about 60=75% of the time. This one looked the most interesting of his titles I was considering. It concerned a single individual rather than a group of people. I ended up dipping into it off and on for a couple of months, hardly touching it after Worldcon until last week. The storyline was fairly straightforward, so it was one of those books you can pick up and put down, then come back to some time later without having to reread large portions to pick up the thread of the story.

The plot concerns a building contractor, Edgar Freemantle, who is injured in an accident at a construction site. He loses his right arm, along with suffering injuries to his head and right leg. In the process of trying to recover his health, he loses his marriage.

Searching for a place to heal, he rents a house on Duma Key off the Florida coast. There he discovers a latent ability to paint and draw. He also befriends an old woman, Elizabeth Eastlake, and her caregiver, Jerome Wireman.

It doesn’t take long for him to discover that his ability to paint can cause changes in the outside world. Elizabeth Eastlake also suffered a head injury as a child, and for a time she exhibited this same ability until she walked away from her art. The results for her weren’t exactly something a child would find comforting.

Now Freemantle thinks something has called him to Duma Key, something that wants him to finish what Elizabeth Eastlake started.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Duma Key isn’t a book you rush through in one or two sittings. Rather, it’s the kind of novel that you soak up and savor. Perhaps that was partly a function of my taking my time with it. Still, King brings Edgar Freemantle and Jerome Wireman to life. Elizabeth Eastlake is sinking deeper into senility, so we don’t get to know her as directly as we do the men. But she’s just as much a central character as Freemantle or Wireman.

There are secrets on Duma Key. Freemantle unpeels them just like an onion, much to his regret at times. King keeps them coming up to the very end. Once or twice, he answered questions about the past that I only realized I’d been asking in hindsight. There’s a heavy sense of tragedy hanging over the story, along with some creepy chills. This one has become one of my favorite King novels. If you’re in the mood for a multilayered story, this is one you’ll want to consider.

A Review of Winter Be My Shield

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Winter Be my Shield
Jo Spurrier
Harper Voyager

This is going to be a review of one of the best books you probably won’t be able to read (at least if you live in the US) by an author you’ve probably not heard of. The reason is that the book is by an Australian writer and published by an Australian publisher. At the moment it hasn’t been published in the US. Hopefully that will change, but the vagaries of publishing aren’t rational.

Winter Be my Shield is the debut novel by Jo Spurrier. (I love that title.) Aside from a tendency in the first 50 pages to give infodumps, you can’t tell it’s a first novel. I found this novel to be a fresh, original, and dark read. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

The story is set in the land of Ricalan, which has been settled by the kingdom of Mesentreia. Ricalan was inhabited before the settlers arrived, and there’s quite a bit of tension. At the moment, Ricalani and Mesentreians have a common enemy. They’re being invaded from the west by the Akharian Empire. The Empire has an economy built on slavery, and to keep it running they need a fresh supply of slaves.

The story revolves around Sierra, a Ricalani who is a mage. A century before, a Ricalani queen destroyed all the mages as revenge for her daughter’s death in a mage war. Since then, mages have been feared and hated, none more so than those of Sierra’s ability. She draws her power from the suffering of others. There’s a death sentence hanging over her head just because she exists. Continue reading →

State of the Blogs

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Okay, so it’s been what, about six weeks since I launched four blogs, two new and two that had been hosted at another site? Something like that.

Time to take a look at how things are going. Traffic is down somewhat but holding fairly steady, all things considered. Of course, that’s for Adventures Fantastic and Futures Past and Present at the old site. The traffic for the new posts is pretty slim, as is the traffic on the two new blogs.

None of which surprises me. I knew the old sites would continue to attract hits. Unless I’d posted something new that either someone at a high traffic site linked to or was pretty controversial, most of the pageviews on any given day were older posts, usually ones someone had linked to at a high traffic forum. I’m surprised and pleased that I’m still getting that many hits there.

I knew it would take a while for traffic to pick up here, and I’m not too worried about it. I had my hands full with getting the semester off the ground after the new site went live, so there wasn’t much new content the first couple of weeks.

I’ve gotten dozens of comments here, but almost all of them have been spam, including something like half a dozen in Japanese. (I’m too lazy tonight to go back and count.) That has surprised me a little because I haven’t heard from one or two of the regulars who would comment frequently. I’m wondering what’s up with that, although I’m not taking it personally. Probably something about how things changed over.

I have gotten a couple of new comments on the other site. One was from Henry Kuttner’s great niece, which I posted about here.

The other comment was from William Jordan on One Fearful Yellow Eye:

Great review. My first McGee was the “Green Ripper”. I was hooked, would stay up most of the night reading McGee. Then I read them in order. I love them all, but my three favorites are: A Purple Place For Dying, Nightmare In Pink, Bright Orange For the Shroud, The Green Ripper. Also in the non McGee, The Drowners-1963, Where is Janice Gantry-1962, and April Evil-1956 are great, they all are. Boo Waxwell from Bright Orange For The Shroud, will get your attention.

So things aren’t going too badly at the moment, although I wouldn’t complain if traffic and comments picked up some. I’m going to try to post between the three fiction blogs more regularly, with at least one post on the science fiction and noir blogs every couple of weeks. I’ll still try to post here every few days. Dispatches should get a new post every second month or so, since those will involve some research and probably travel.

So what’s in the queue? I finished reading and sent a review of a first novel by an Australian author to the David Gemmell Awards. It’s a bit late, so I’m not sure if they will even run it. (This is what happens when you have stacks on top of stacks.) This particular book didn’t make the short list and final voting closes tomorrow. The plus side is I won’t have to wait a couple of months to run a slightly longer version of the review here. I’m going to post some things related to Halloween. These will be different than the 6 Weeks of Scares posts I’m running at Amazing Stories. I’ve got a science fiction novel I’m trying to read in the next week to ten days, Joshua P. Simon’s latest novel is in the queue for later this month, I’m going to tackle at least one Heinlein, maybe two, plus some detective fiction and short stories. Plus one or two special topic posts are in the works. I also still need to write up the post on the Menger Hotel for Dispatches From the Lone Star Front. That will probably happen this week.

Plenty of things to keep me busy, in addition to taking my WordPress skills to the next level. And somewhere in there I’ve got a crime story to finish and some fantasy to write.

I Hear From Henry Kuttner’s Great Niece

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Henry Kuttner

I’m going to do a “state of the blog” post sometime in the next couple of days, but I wanted to pass on something that I thought was really cool in its own separate post.

I’m still getting the occasional comment over on Blogger, and one of them was from Bridgette, Henry Kuttner’s great niece, commenting on the Kuttner birthday post. Here’s what she said.

Henry was my great uncle and sadly I have never read any of his work. Love reading things like this. Fall will be the time to do it.

And my reply:

Bridgett, thank you so much for your comment. Did you know him or did he pass before you were born? If you knew him, I would love to hear any memories you would care to share. You can reach me at keith@adventuresfantastic.com

I’ve moved the blog to a new site and carried all the content over. You can find it at www.adventuresfantastic.com. I’ll be writing more posts about Kuttner and Moore there over the fall and winter.

I replied on the original site in case she checked back. So far I haven’t heard anything from her. I’m hoping I will. I’ve not seen much biographical information about Kuttner, and I would love to know more about his life. While the thought of writing a biography is a daunting one, if I could get enough material for a book, I’d be willing to give it a try.

David Tallerman’s Easie Damasco is Back

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Prince Thief
David Tallerman
Angry Robot
UK Print
Date: 3rd October 2013
ISBN: 9780857662675
Format: Medium (B-Format) Paperback R.R.P.: £8.99

US/CAN Print
Date: 24th September 2013
ISBN: 9780857662682
Format: Small (Mass-Market) Paperback R.R.P.: US$7.99 CAN$9.99

Ebook
Date: 24th September 2013
ISBN: 9780857662699
Format: Epub & Mobi R.R.P.: £5.49 / US$6.99

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I like David Tallerlman’s Easie Domasco novels (reviewed here and here.) They’re fun, fast-paced stories with a delightfully flawed protagonist. There’s a great supporting cast that you care about. In short, the series is fantasy with heart.

I don’t know if Tallerman has plans to extend the series beyond this book. (I would hope so, as there are directions he could take the series that would be interesting. Such as who built those tunnels?) If not, then Prince Thief is a good conclusion, with all the main loose ends tied up. I’m going to be vague about the plot to avoid spoilers from the earlier books, especially Crown Thief.

In this one, Easie kidnaps a prince, although the prince is a more than willing participant. Easie also engages in more introspection than he has so far. He’s grown as a character through the previous books, but in this one he really takes a long look at himself. He won’t be the same person when all is said and done, which is one reason I hope we see more of him.

There’s a good deal of humor. Tallerman gives Easie a delightfully dry and cynical (as well as self-justifying) voice. But the book is also probably the darkest of the series. In addition to new characters, all our old friends from previous volumes are present, but not all of them will make it to the end.

A pretty significant sword duel occurs near the end of the book, and Tallerman handles it well. He uses just enough description to allow the reader to picture what’s happening without bogging things down in too much detail.

This series is solid adventure fantasy, but with a twist. The stock thief in Tallerman’s hands is more than just a generic character. He’s unique, a fresh and original creation with enough familiarity to him that readers won’t be put off. If you’ve read the previous books, you’ll want to pick this one up. It’s the best of the three.

I’d like to thank Angry Robot Books for providing the e-ARC of Prince Thief.

Seven Forges Begins a Promising New Series

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Seven Forges
James A. Moore
Angry Robot Books
UK Print Date: 4th October 2013
ISBN: 9780857663825
Format: Medium (B-Format) Paperback R.R.P.: £8.99

US/CAN Print Date: 24th September 2013
ISBN: 9780857663832
Format: Large (Trade) Paperback R.R.P.: US$14.99 CAN$16.99

Ebook Date: 24th September 2013
ISBN: 9780857663849
Format: Epub & Mobi R.R.P.: £5.49 / US$6.99

While this novel is his first epic fantasy, James A. Moore has been working in the horror field for some years now. After reading this book, I’m glad he’s turned his hand to epic fantasy. Seven Forges was one of the best books I’ve read this year. I’d like to thank Angry Robot Books for providing me with an e-ARC.

There are a number of viewpoint characters, but the main character is a mercenary named Merros Dulver. He’s leading an expedition through the Blasted Lands to a chain of mountains known as the Seven Forges. It turns out there is an entire valley on the other side of the Forges. An inhabited valley, and the inhabitants have been waiting for Dulver. Not the expedition he’s leading, but Dulver himself. Before he goes to meet with him, one of the women traveling with the expedition prophesies about what will happen to him after he leaves.

The inhabitants of this region are some serious badasses. They believe each mountain is the home of one of their gods, and their gods are gods of war. While some of these gods believe in mercy, not all of them do. And their worshipers’ devotion to them is absolute. They follow the directions of their gods without hesitation.

Dulver brings a contingent of them back with him to the Empire of Fellein. He and the person who hired him, a sorcerer who has served as advisor to the Emperor for hundreds of years, hope to establish peaceful relations with the strangers. Of course, the words “war is coming” on the cover above the title should tell you that’s probably not going to happen.

I’m not spoiling anything by telling you that. It’s obvious where the story is heading to anyone who is paying attention. What Moore does is use that knowledge to build tension. Something is going to go wrong, but what? And when? Who will end up dead? (You know people will.)

Moore develops his cast well, fleshing out all the major players and many of the minor ones. He makes you care about them. There were a couple of places where I felt some of the foreshadowing was a bit on the heavy side, but that’s a minor quibble. The other quibble was that the e-ARC didn’t have a map. I was almost done with the book before I realized I had the geography turned around in my head. Hopefully, the print edition will have a map. If not, then maybe in the second book, which is scheduled for release sometime next year.

Moore handles the story and the different characters well. He hints at things that make you wonder and want to know more. His fight scenes are visceral and compelling. The political intrigues are multi-layered. We get enough glimpses of the magic system, or systems probably is more accurate, to want to know more about how magic works. Pay attention to what Moore tells you. Pay attention to what he doesn’t.

I finished Severn Forges in four nights, staying up later than I should to do so. It’s not often I’ll stop and reread a scene, but I did more than once. I’m looking forward to see where Moore takes the story next. The prophecy Dulver received early in the book hasn’t been completely fulfilled yet.

Angry Robot hasn’t posted an excerpt yet, or I would include it here. It hits shelves on this side of the Atlantic on Tuesday, in the UK ten days later. Preorder your copy now so you won’t have to wait longer than necessary.