Author Archives: Keith West

Announcing Rocket’s Red Glare

I got permission a few minutes ago to announce I’m going to be in another anthology from Rough Edges Press. This one is a space opera anthology entitled Rocket’s Red Glare. James Reasoner is the editor. The release date hasn’t been set yet, but it will be out sometime later this year. I don’t have a cover image to post yet; as soon as I do, I’ll post it here. I’ve seen a couple of different preliminary covers, and they all looked awesome.

Rough Edges Press is the publisher of Weird Menace Volumes 1 and 2 and Tales From the Otherverse. If you’ve read them, you know James puts together some good anthologies.

I don’t know anything about the other stories. My story kept growing, and James said he thought I should write more in this universe. I’m going to be working out a future history. My story has two segments that take place over a century apart. There are a lot of events before, between, and after that I can fill in. This could be a lot of fun.

Enter The City of Pillars

The Latest From Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

Report on Howard Days 2016

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Yes, I know this year’s Howard Days was nearly 2 weeks ago, but we left for New Mexico on family vacation right after I got back. (Other than no AC in the car when the temperature was 105F, we had a great time.) I’m playing catch-up catch up on blogging.

Howard Days has grown, something that was emphasized since this year marked the 30th anniversary of the first Howard Days. While things officially don’t start until Friday, people are showing up on Wednesday evenings. Space is becoming a consideration, with events this year moved from the library to the high school auditorium or the Senior Center across the street from the library. There were a number of new attendees, which is always a healthy thing for an event, and I’m not referring the 10,000 or so mosquitoes that showed up. Continue reading →

Fall Under the Spell of The Conjurers

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The Conjurers
David Wade
Deadlock Publishing
Kindle $3.99

I’d like to thank David Wade for sending me the review copy of The Conjurers. I quite enjoyed it.

There are some writers who can tell a good story but whose prose is rather flat. Other writers can string pretty words together but aren’t really storytellers. David Wade doesn’t fall into either category. The man not only tells a gripping tale, he does so with an elegance of language that’s several cuts above what you find in your typical fantasy novel.

The Conjurers is a tale of sorcery in 14th century Europe. In Ireland, Eamon and his younger sister are pursued by brigands under the control of a local sorceress, Shairshee. In Genoa, Teresa suspects her older brother has been killed by the magician to whom he’s apprenticed and sets out to seek the truth.

All three of the young people are fated to experience hardship and the loss of family members before they discover their true heritage. Continue reading →

Summer Vacation

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So here in the US, this weekend is a long holiday weekend. Monday is Memorial Day. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, a holiday to ~~buy furniture on sale and get sunburned~~ remember fallen military personnel. It’s considered the unofficial start of summer, and usually involves ~~buying furniture and other items on sale~~ cookouts, memorial services at military cemeteries, and hanging out with family and friends, usually near a grill and a lake if there’s one in the area. Continue reading →

Interspecies is a Great Shared World Anthology

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Interspecies
Ally Bishop, ed.
Kosa Press
ebook $0.99 until June 7, $4.99 thereafter
Print edition forthcoming

Normally I would post this review on Futures Past and Present, my science fiction blog, since Interspecies is most definitely science fiction and not fantasy. However, I’m making an exception for a couple of reasons. First, my friend Woelf Dietrich is a contributor, and I want the book to do well. This blog is the one that gets the most traffic. I’d also like to thank Woelf for sending me the review copy. Interspecies doesn’t go on sale until the 27th, so keep your eyes peeled. I’ll post an update here with pricing information and links when it does.

Second, Kosa Press (long “o”; I’m not sure how to get the bar over the “o”) is an interesting publishing venture, and I want to give it some exposure just on general principles. I’m a big fan of innovative publishing strategies, especially those that cut out a lot of the middle men. The authors get more money per sale that way. Kosa Press is a group of writers who have gotten together to publish not only their works but other writers as well. Interspecies is their first anthology. What’s different about this group is that some of the writers are in San Francisco, and (at least) one is in New Zealand, making this an international collaboration.

I can hear you now saying, “That’s all well and good, but what about the book?”

I’m glad you asked that. Continue reading →

Manly Wade Wellman Turns 113

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Fantasy author Manly Wade Wellman was born on this date (May 21) in 1903. Wellman isn’t as well known today as he used to be, and should be, but he has a devoted group of fans. (I include myself in that number.) I’ve looked at some of it here, here, and here.

Wellman is best known for stories that incorporate the lore and legends of the Appalachian states. Of these, the John the Balladeer stories are the best known. They concern a wandering minstrel in the mountains.

Wellman was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his nonfiction work Rebel Boast. He also beat out William Faulkner in 1946 for the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Award. Faulkner didn’t take it well.

Night Shade Books publshed a five volume set of Wellman’s short fiction. The volumes are long out of print and highly sought after today. Haffner Press publsihed a complete collection of the John Thunstone occult detective stories in 2012. They quickly went out of print. Wellman’s works are somewhat available. Prices can vary widely.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to read some of his work.

Bloodsounder’s Arc Concludes

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Chains of the Heretic
Jeff Salyards
Nightshade Books
Hardcover $25.99
Trade Paper $15.99
ebook $14.99

And so it comes to an end. I finished this book over a week ago, and I’ve found myself reluctant to write the review. At first I thought it was just time constraints. I had final exams to write and to give and to grade. I had all the usual stuff that happens at the end of the semester that takes up time. Like averaging and posting grades. Meeting with students about why they had a C when they were sure they were going to get an A. (That didn’t happen this semester, but you get the idea. I did have some meetings with a few folks about grades.) Or why they have the grade they have when they didn’t attend most of the labs. (This always happens.)

But those things are over and done. I’ve got plenty to do to get ready for summer classes and fall, what with the new lab room coming online. But none of that is urgent, and much of it depends on other people doing certain things before I can do certain other things.

So what’s my point rambling on like this? I finally realized that by writing the review, I was done with the story and the characters. (Those that survived to the end, at least.) And I didn’t want to be done. Continue reading →

Preliminary David Gemmell Ballot is Live

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