Algernon Blackwood was born on this date, March 14, in the long ago year of 1869. He died December 10, 1951.
Blackwood is best remembered today for his horror and ghost stories. I’ve not read much of his work. The only story I’m certain I’ve read is “The Willows”. His complete work is available in an inexpensive electronic edition. I’ve got a copy, and I’ll try to read something of his tonight.
One of the top publications for adventure fantasy is Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. I’d gotten behind in my reading of it, so I spent last weekend getting caught up. If you’ve not read the last two issues, here’s what you’ve missed. Continue reading
We lost Kate Wilhelm last week. She passed on March 8th, exactly three months before her 90th birthday.
She started writing and publishing in the 1950s. She hit her stride in the 1960s 70s, and 80s. Ya know, back in the days when there were no women science fiction writers. Wilhelm was married to Damon Knight and was active in the Clarion writer’s workshop for many years. I realize that might not endear her to some readers of this blog. Wilhelm’s nonfiction work on writing, Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More From 27 Years of the Clarion Writer’s Workshop (2005) had a major impact on me, in principle if not so much in practice. In the book, she talked about the need to make writing a habit, something you do every day until it becomes an ingrained part of your routine that you do without having to force it into your schedule.
I’ve only read her short work, but I’ve found it enjoyable. She’s not an action and adventure type of writer. Rather her works are character driven and thoughtful. They’re more like a crock pot in that if you stick with them you’ll be rewarded. It’s been a while since I read any of her work, and when learned of her passing I bought a collection of her recent short fiction for my ereader and read “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” last night. It’s the title story of the collection.
Although she continued to write short fiction in the science fiction field, in the late 1980s she began to write mysteries and thrillers. They must have been successful, because she continued to write them for the rest of her career. The most recent Barbara Holloway mystery appeared last year.
Wilhelm was well known for her generosity in the field and for encouraging young writers. In many ways, this might be her greatest contribution to the field. Dean Wesley Smith has written a tribute here.
Check out Kate’s writing. She has a highly readable style. In rereading “Yesterday’s Tomorrows” lat night, I realized how much I had missed reading her work.
Christopher Anvil (real name Harry Christopher Crosby) was born on this date (March 11) in 1925. He passed away on November 30, 2009.
Although he had a couple of stories published in the early 1950s, Anvil’s most productive years were from 1957 through the 1970s. While a handful of stories appeared in the quarter century, he was most productive in the 1960s and 70s.
Anvil tended to approach his fiction with a sense of humor. He’s one of the few writers I’ve found who can make me laugh out loud. Most writers can’t. He’s not as well known as he should be. Fortunately Baen has reprinted pretty much all of his short fiction.
In honor of his birthday, I’m going to look at the story “We From Arcturus”. It’s available in The Trouble with Humans. Spoilers ahead. Continue reading
I’ll probably post a writing update within the next week, but for now, here’s a shot of the contributor’s copies of my latest short story publication. The title is “The Chronicle of the God Beneath the Sea”. It’s a Rodrik and Balthar story. Rodrik is the squire of the exiled Prince Balthar (and usually the narrator of the Chronicles, although not in this case). Balthar is cursed to murder his father the king, so he and Rodrik wander the world looking for a way to break the curse.
This is the second issue of the revised Eldritch Tales. It contains six stories and two poems. The cover price is $7.50 and is available from Mike Chomko Books.
Making Peace
Adam Lane Smith
paperback $12.99
ebook $2.99
The next time some dimwit tries to tell you that indie published books are not as good as those you get from the Big Five, tell him/her/it that you agree. They aren’t as good; they’re better. Then give that person a copy of Making Peace by Adam Lane Smith to prove your case.
In the interest of full disclosure, I want to state that I purchased this book with my own money; I was not provided a review copy.
Now, let prove my thesis, stated in the first paragraph. I though Making Peace was as good or better than what I’m seeing come out of the big imprints these days. It’s not just the world building, the background, or the characters. It’s what Mr. Smith does with them. Continue reading
Casefile Arkham: Her Blood Runs Cold
Josh Finney, writer
Patrick McEvoy, artist
Kat Rocha, editor
01Publishing
paperback $19.99
ebook $7.99
I really liked the first volume of Casefile Arkham. I like this second volume even better. But before I get into the reasons why, I need to remember my manners and thank Kat Rocha for sending me the review copy. I had intended to post this review early last week, but last week sucked rocks. And not just because of things you saw on the news.
But I digress. Let’s focus on the story at hand. Continue reading
Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate all the nominees. The official Press Release follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Longlist Voting Opens for the David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy 2018
The David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy enters its tenth year in 2018, reaching a notable anniversary and once again honouring and celebrating the very finest in epic fantasy. Named after one of the most popular and acclaimed writers in the field, awards will be presented in the categories of best fantasy novel, best fantasy debut and best fantasy cover art.
The awards are decided entirely by public vote, and the longlists are now open for the public to have their say on what were the leading fantasy titles of the last year. In making your voice heard, you’ll give titles the chance to reach the shortlist and have the opportunity to claim one of these prestigious prizes, with the ceremony taking place at the Edge-Lit 7 event at QUAD, Derby on the 14th July.
Voting for the longlist will be open until the 30th March, with the shortlisted titles announced on the 20th April in preparation for the final vote on who will win the Legend Award, the Morningstar Award and the Ravenheart Award.
This year’s longlist features a host of previous Gemmell Awards winners, as well an exciting array of new talent, with the Morningstar longlist for best fantasy debut being one of the longest in the history of the awards.
Awards Chair Stan Nicholls said: “How fitting that the awards’ tenth anniversary should be graced with three longlists containing such a wealth of literary and creative talent. We’re particularly pleased to have so many nominations in the Morningstar category which, given David Gemmell’s support for new voices, we’re sure he’d be delighted about.”
For more information, or to cast your vote for each of the three categories of the Gemmell Awards, visit http://www.gemmellawards.com/
ENDS
The David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy were launched in 2009, in tribute to bestselling fantasy author David Gemmell, who passed away in 2006, and to honour the best fiction and artwork in the heroic fantasy field. Recipients of the awards include authors Andrzei Sapkowski, Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, Brent Weeks, John Gwynne, Mark Lawrence, Brian McClellan and Peter Newman; and artists including Didier Graffet, Raymond Swanland, Jason Chan and Sam Green. The awards’ website page can be found at www.gemmellawards.com and its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/gemmellawards/
Edge-Lit is Derby’s annual fantasy, horror and science-fiction event taking place in July each year. In 2018 it runs for the seventh time and will once again draw together an array of writing talent for a day of panels, workshops, book launches and much more. For more information, visit https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/events/edge-lit-7.aspx
Bill Crider, World Fantasy Convention 2017
I woke up this morning to the news that Bill Crider passed away yesterday. He was a true gentlemen in the writing community. Although most of his work was in the mystery and crime genres with a few forays into westerns, he wrote some short fiction that contained fantastic elements, such as his Sidewise Award winning story “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”. James Reasoner told me after the story won the award that Bill had written it at the last minute as a replacement for someone who had to drop out of the project. I considered it an honor to be included in that anthology with him.
One story of Bill’s I read years ago in an anthology (the name of both the story and the anthology escape me) concerned a town in the old west that was having troubles with a werewolf. And the only person in the area with silver bullets was a masked man and his faithful Indian companion…
Bill had been fighting cancer since about July of 2016. Bill had lost his wife Judy to cancer a few years prior to that. They have been reunited.
It was his announcement of the diagnosis that made me decide to attend Armadillocon that year. I hadn’t seen many of my friends since moving to the Llano Flatto part of the state. It was the first time in over half a decade I had seen some of those folks, and it made me realize how much I missed them. Continue reading