How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse, Viking Style

Viking Dead
Toby Venables
Abaddon Books, 351 p. $9.99

We’re rather fond of vikings here at Adventures Fantastic, so when I saw this in the store, I knew I had to at least consider giving it a try. After reading a sample in the middle, I took it home (after paying for it, of course) and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

While I’ve not gone in much for the current zombie craze, that might start changing, especially if I can find more stuff that’s this well written. For a first novel, Toby Venables sets himself a hard act to follow.

The story concerns a grew of down on their luck vikings, led by a man named Bjolf. The book opens with a raid on a small village. The only problem is a rival crew of vikings got there first. Bjolf and his crew end up fleeing for their lives, but not before acquiring a stowaway, a thirteen year old boy from the village named Atli, who just wants to escape his overbearing father.

Pursued into a fog, Bjolf and and his men lose their bearings and are only able to find land after a raven lands on their ship and they follow it to shore and into a fjord. They’re not sure where they are, but it’s no place they want to be. This is something they quickly discover when one of the crew is attacked by a draugr, an animated dead body. Seems the woods are crawling with them.

Still pursued by their rivals, they managed to escape both the draugr and the other vikings. Fleeing into a tributary of the fjord, they end up at a stockaded settlement, where they are welcomed as heroes come to rescue the people. That’s not quite what they had planned to do.

Bjolf and his first mate, Gunnar, have two continuing conversations throughout the book. The first is what would be the best country (i.e., one without a price on their heads) in which to settle down on a farm with a large farmhouse and a large woman in the door. (I’m not being sexist; Gunnar, a large man, actually says that at one point.) The other conversation concerns whether a man controls his own destiny or is at the mercy of fate.

The people are led by Halldis, daughter of the former chieftain, who was killed by his slave Skalla shortly after the draugr began to plague the people. Skalla now demands tribute each month from the remaining villagers. He’s working for some masters on an island further up the fjord. These masters are viewed as sorcerers and as the source of the draugr infestation. Of course, Bjolf and his men eventually do stay to help.

This is a book with many stories contained within the larger story arc. For Atli, it’s a coming of age story. For Bjolf and Halldis, it’s something of a love story, although given the situation, that never develops into a major plotline. But mostly it’s a story about friendship, loyalty, and sacrifice. And fate. And heroism. Oh, and did I mention sacrifice?

Venables does an outstanding job of balancing a large cast of characters. The crew is more than just window dressing and red shirts, to be killed off when convenient to the plot. About a dozen of the crew are given personalities and histories. And while many of the ones we get to know don’t make it to the end, at least not alive, their deaths aren’t just for cheap shock. The men feel each loss, and the reader does too.

On the other hand, juggling so many characters is a difficult trick. Venables doesn’t always pull it off. His viewpoint character shifts not only from chapter to chapter, but often several times within a chapter. The chapters are short, and this can be a little disorienting at times.

This being a zombie novel, and a viking one to boot, there’s a pretty high gore factor. If you’re squeamish you’ll want to keep some Pepto handy, because this book is worth reading. It’s not one long zombie fight, although there should be enough to keep most zombie fans happy. Instead the focus is on the characters and how they change throughout the course of the novel. Venables keeps things from sliding into silly most of the time, although I did find the flesh-eating ants to be a bit over the top.

One thing you should be aware of, though. Your understanding of the situation will change completely within the last fifteen pages. Some readers might feel cheated a little by the twist at the end, when the identity of the masters is revealed. Be prepared to have your chain yanked. I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone, so that’s all I’m going to say.

Viking Dead was a fun read. Toby Venables will have a bright future ahead of him if he continues to write like this, especially if he improves throughout the course of his career. If you like a bit of zombie mayhem with some depth; if you like vikings; or if you like both, then you’ll definitely want to give this one a try. It’s part of a series called Tomes of the Dead. They’ve got a novel by Paul Finch in the lineup, so I’m going to at least have to try that one. I have yet to read anything bad by him. There are several others in the lineup that should appeal to fans of heroic fantasy. Abaddon Books is a British publisher, and from what I can tell a subsidiary of Solaris Books. Seems like our friends on the other side of the pond are publishing some good stuff.

Borders Closing for Good

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Borders, unable to find a buyer, has announced that it will liquidate and close all remaining stores. Passive Guy at The Passive Voice has summarized announcements from a variety of sources, each with a slightly different take on the situation. You can read PG’s post here. The comment that most disturbs me, after the fact that nearly 11,000 people will lose their jobs, is that some publishers are now planning on smaller print runs since Borders will not longer be available to stock their books. While this makes sense from a short-term business perspective, long term that could have a detrimental effect on authors. With smaller print runs, sales will be lower. Currently, if sales are low, publishers drop authors. How with the new lower print runs affect the drop numbers? Will we see more authors being dropped by publishers, resulting in fewer selections on fewer bookstore shelves? Will those author be able to continue series that have existing audiences by indie publishing, or will the publishers control the rights to those series? I suspect the answers to those questions with vary among authors and publishers, but I have concerns about some of my favorite midlist authors.

An Important Public Service Announcement Concerning Slave Leia

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I posted this at Futures Past and Present but thought some of you might enjoy it. I’ve clearly been attending the wrong conventions.

Realms of Fantasy: A Review of the June 2011 Issue (Plus a Small Suggestion)

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Realms of Fantasy, June 2011
$6.99 print, $3.99 pdf

I’m not sure why, but I can’t seem to find copies of this magazine until the month after the one printed on the cover. With all other publications of a monthly or less frequent nature, the date on the cover is always in advance of the month it hits the stands. Which is all besides the point.

What is the point is the fiction. But before I get to that, I do want to thank the publisher for going to a different cover stock. Unlike the previous issue, the ink on this one didn’t rub off on my hands. (Now to start lobbying for an epub format…)

This is the one-hundredth issue, which makes it something special, especially since it’s been canceled twice in the last few years. To celebrate, this issue has one hundred pages. (One hundred two actually, but why quibble?)

There are the usual columns: Folkroots, Gaming Reviews, Movies, Artists Gallery (a gorgeous spread featuring Petar Meselkzija, with whom I was not familiar), Graphic Novels, and three book review columns, with one devoted to general fantasy, one to YA, and one to paranormal romance and urban fantasy. There’s also a letters column devoted to the anniversary, a list of facts about the magazine, and an editorial by Shawna McCarthy, which I’ll comment on later. A new feature, of which I heartily approve, is the poetry. The inaugural poems were by Ursula K. LeGuin, who will be hard act to follow for whoever has the poetry in the next issue.

Well over half the magazine (54 pages if my arithmetic is correct) is fiction. So how does it stack up?

There are seven stories of varying length. Leah Bobet leads off with “The Ground Whereon She Stands”, in which a park ranger in Idaho wakes up one morning to discover plants growing from wherever she puts her feet. I’m not spoiling anything when I say the hedge witch she goes to for help turns out to be the cause of the problem. Josh Rountree and Samantha Henderson gives us a protagonist who survives in a post-apocalyptic world by hunting dust angels in “Escaping Salvation”, which is a place, not a spiritual condition. This one could almost have been science fiction, but the authors do give enough information about the apocalypse to set it firmly in fantasy territory. Sharon Mock’s poignant fairy tale is the cover story, “The Economy of Powerful Emotion”, which in a way reminded me of the story of the King Midas and his golden touch. Thea Hutcheson describes “The Good Husband”. Patrick Samphire’s “The Equation” pits those who use science against those who feel the magic. Euan Harvey goes to ancient China to tell a tale within a tale within a tale, all wrapped up in a nasty little knot at the end that’s “Wreathed in Wisteria, Draped in Ivy”. Wrapping up the issue, David D. Levine tells of a woman plumber who must free an undine trapped in a condemned house before it’s destroyed.

That’s a quick synopsis of the contents. Here’s my take on them.

“The Ground” was the most literary of the contents, with lots of lush description, bordering at times on being overwritten. One thing I found annoying was the never-ending litany of different plants growing from the protagonist’s feet. It was almost as though the author were showing off her botanical knowledge. Not being familiar with many of them, I had no idea what they should look like or if there was any particular symbolism associated with them. I also found the way the characters responded to the situation to be a bit casual and relaxed.

“Escaping Salvation” was the longest and also the most violent story. Dust angels are hostile and form during sandstorms. If you can kill them (before they kill you) and cut them up before they fall apart, their limbs have commercial value since they can be grafted onto human flesh. The story moved at a good pace, balancing action and character development, with a nasty human villain. I found the ending to be a bit bleak for my taste, but it was one of the more enjoyable stories for me.

“Economy” was brief and consisted of 38 chapters, most only a few paragraphs. RoF is known for being fairy-tale centric, and while that can become wearing, this was one of the better fairy tale treatments I’ve seen in a while. Not based on any fairy tale I’m aware of, the story starts off with the curse being laid on a princess, that her tears will always be diamonds. Much of the story concerns the prince who saves her.

“The Good Husband” contained some effective writing, which is probably why I finished it. The viewpoint character is a female land spirit with human form who needs a man to husband her, and in doing so, husband the land. She finds him in a drifter who is sent to the farm by the neighboring women. (They know the score; if the spirit’s farm prospers, so does everyone else’s.) Too much of the story was about the spirit pining for the dirfter to take and ravish her and was concerned mostly with her emotions. This sort of thing might appeal to some readers (I suspect mainly women), but it didn’t do much for me.

“The Equation” was a first person narrative which consisted of mostly dialogue or the protagonist’s thoughts. It used the old trope of science versus magic, but it didn’t really break any new ground. According to the brief bio included, the author’s work is available on his website. I might check it out because he isn’t bad as far as style and construction goes and has been published in some professional markets.

Euan Harvey’s “Wisteria” was the highlight of the issue for me, and not just for the great illustration. It was the closest thing to sword and sorcery in the magazine, and one of the few where the action wasn’t solely emotional or internal. The structure of the story, with nested narratives, will require attention, so I don’t recommend this one right before turning out the light at bedtime. Harvey had a story in the previous issue, and I have to wonder if he’s going to go for a hat trick and get one in the next issue. I hope so, because his stories seem to be more to my taste than most of the other stories in the two issues he’s been in.

“The Tides of the Heart” was entirely predictable and somewhat contrived, with the conclusion wrapping up all the problems so neatly. Two of the three columns on the first page really didn’t have anything to do with the main plot, just served to introduce the character, which probably could have been done more concisely. I’ve enjoyed some of Levine’s other work, so this one was a bit of a disappointment for me.

So of the seven stories in this issue, I liked three of them, which is less than 50%. Unfortunately the contents of this issue were very much what I think of when I think of a typical issue of RoF. A lot of stories which deal with emotion, usually from a feminine perspective, or stories where the style of the writing is emphasized as much as the story itself, or a combination of both. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but I look for other things when I read fantasy. I don’t really care if the viewpoint is male or female, but tales of action, adventure, and the threat of physical danger appeal to me more than stories that are mostly in-depth looks at the emotional lives of the characters.

I realize that an editor does two things when she or he selects the contents of an issue of a fiction magazine. First, editors choose stories they think will appeal to as many readers as possible. Second, to a greater or lesser degree, they choose stories they like and that resonate with their own personal tastes and biases. Both of these things are done with the goal of attracting new readers, thereby increasing circulation and the accompanying revenue. If an editor has been at a publication long enough, and there are enough readers whose tastes are compatible with the editor’s, then the second item (the editor choosing stories he/she likes) will often set a tone for the publication which would be different from the tone if the magazine hadn’t yet attracted a core audience. And that tone and the associated content won’t be to every potential reader’s taste. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.

Shawna McCarthy edited Asimov’s back when I was in high school. As a courtesy to Ms. McCarthy, I won’t say how many ~~decades~~ years ago that was. I realized back then that her tastes and mine would probably diverge more than they converged. Again, nothing wrong with that. I’m sure there are some reviewers who will absolutely love this issue and think it’s one of the best, and I’m sure a number of the people who read it (and this review) would agree with that assessment. I’m not of that opinion. There just wasn’t that much here for me. I prefer the previous issue to this one.

In her editorial, Shawna McCarthy asked what the readers wanted to see more of, but then followed the question with “Don’t say sword-and-sorcery – we would publish more of it [if] we received better submissions in this vein, believe us.” For now I will believe her, although I have to wonder if her idea of better submissions and mine would have much in common.

Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough. My purpose is not to bash RoF or Ms. McCarthy, but to provide enough of a description of what did and didn’t work for me and why that someone reading this review will have a good idea as to whether he/she would enjoy the issue. Let me make the Small Suggestion alluded to in the title. If Ms. McCarthy wants to see better sword-and-sorcery, let’s give it to her. From the way she worded her statement, I suspect she gets a lot of requests for more S&S or has been catching flak for not including enough. I’d like to see RoF succeed with the new publisher, but if I’m going to continue buying it, I want to see more issues like the previous and fewer like the current at the very least. Even that won’t guarantee I’ll keep reading. More heroic adventure fantasy, sword and sorcery, call it what you will, that will guarantee my paying my money to read it. So let’s see if we can send her some so good she’ll have to buy it.

Amazon Overcharging for Ebooks

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David Gaughran has posted a disturbing essay on why ebooks cost more through Amazon than in the US and a select few other countries. You should read David’s post, especially if you live outside the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Ireland, and a few other countries. In most of the world, including France, Spain, Israel, South Africa, India, and Brazil just to name a few off the top of my head, there’s a $2 surcharge added in addition to any sales tax or VAT. This surcharge goes directly to Amazon, not to a government, and certainly not to the author. While most of my readers are American, I know there are a few in countries in which Amazon slaps this surcharge. David is encouraging his readers to buy through Smashwords or iTunes, because there surcharge isn’t added there and the author gets more money.

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve recently become an Amazon Associate. You may be wondering: Will Amazon be displeased with this post, will they revoke my Associate status, and will I lose a revenue stream in they do? The answers to those questions are: Almost certainly, maybe, and not at all. If Amazon were to even notice this small blog, they would almost certainly be displeased and could very well revoke my Associate status. But at the present time, I wouldn’t lose a dime. Because so far I haven’t made any money by being an Associate. (Considering a recent post which stated that Locus Online, which probably gets more hits in a month than both my blogs combined have ever gotten total, only generated a few hundred dollars a month from links to Amazon, I’m not exactly planning my retire on my earnings.)

I’m less concerned about ad revenue than I am fair trade practices. What Amazon is doing is hurting authors in the long run, as David so eloquently explained. Since I hope to begin doing some indie publishing myself within the next year, I’m taking the long term approach rather than the short term by not offending Amazon. Plus it’s just the right thing to do.

Another Salvo in the Battle of the Sexes…

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…as it pertains to fantasy and science fiction, of course. Over at the Black Gate site, regular contributor Theo posted an essay today explaining why it’s okay for readers to like different types of writing and for writers to write different things. I tried to say something similar a few months ago in a post entitled “In Defense of Traditional Gender Roles in Fantasy“. The post, while not completely sinking like a stone, didn’t get much response. Theo, on the other hand, has summarized much of my argument in a more concise and eloquent manner. This particular flare up of controversy (everything I’ve seen so far is too civil to be called hostilities) was started when the Guardian over in the UK did a completely unscientific survey of it readers, asking them to name the best works in the SF genre. When the results came back skewed heavily towards male authors, the label of Sexist began to be leveled at science fiction, and by extension fantasy. I’d like to respond at length, but to some extent I already did. I’ve got some deadlines breathing down my neck (which is why I’ve not been posting as much lately), so I’ll just encourage you to go read what Theo has written. If I can find the time, I’ll throw my two cents in.

Blogging Kull and Bran Mak Morn: Kings of the Night

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Kull: Exile of Atlantis
or Bran Mak Morn: The Last King
Robert E. Howard
Del Rey

This is the next to last post about Kull and the first about Bran Mak Morn. They’re together because they appear in the same story. This is essentially a Bran Mak Morn story in which Kull has a supporting role, although many elements of the Kull series can be seen. Let’s take a quick look at it.

Howard uses the trick of telling his tale from the point of view of a supporting character, albeit a crucial one. This is a device he’s used before, especially in some of the Conan stories. The advantage to this approach is that we get to see how other characters view the hero. This allows the reader to gain a fresh perspective of the hero and is particularly useful with a series character whose identity has been well established. The viewpoint character here is Cormac na Connacht, “a prince of the isle of Erin.”

The story is divided into three parts. In the first, the Picts and their allies are awaiting a battle with an invading Roman legion the following morning. With the Celts and Picts are a group of Northmen. The northmen were defeated by Bran when they tried to invade. Their king swore and oath that he would aid Bran against the Romans in one battle, and in return Bran would build him ships for the survivors to get home. The problem is that the king was killed in a skirmish with Roman scouts, and his remaining men say his death released them from the oath. Unless Bran finds them a king to fight under, “a king neither Pict, Gael, or Briton”, they will desert to the Romans.

The ancient Druid priest Gonar promises help. Preceded by a lengthy speech about time being an illusion, he brings Kull forward in time to help with the battle, with Kull appearing to walk out of the rising sun. At first Kull thinks Bran is his friend Brule. Bran is descended from Brule and resembles him strongly. He also wears a gem in his crown that was given to Brule by Kull in a ring, and from Kull’s perspective, that happened the previous night. Kull thinks the whole things is a detailed dream. Always eager for a good fight, he agrees to lead the Northmen.

First he has to defeat the new leader of the Northmen, Wulfhere, who is resistant to Kull taking charge. An extended scene of single combat takes up the rest of the second part. It’s pure Howard. The prose is lean, exciting, and pulls you in. Of course Kull is victorious, but he’s not unscathed. This helps convince the Northmen he’s not a ghost.

The third part of the story is the battle. Bran puts Kull, who still thinks he’s dreaming, at the head of the Norsemen at the end of a gorge. They are the bait in a trap. None of the rest of Bran’s army is disciplined enough to stand and wait for the Romans to enter the gorge. Once they do, the Gaelic cavalry and the chariots of the Britons, accompanied by the Picts, will sweep in from the sides trapping them.

It’s an effective and bloody plan. Most of the Northmen die, as do most of the Romans, their camp followers, and many Picts, Gaels, and Britons. Cormac sees Kull standing on the ridge, outnumbered, the sole survivor of the bait. Just as one of the Romans is about to deliver a killing blow, the sun begins to set, and Kull is transported back to Valusia.

Appalled at the carnage, Cormac threatens to kill Bran in retribution for not springing the trap sooner. Bran replies ” ‘Strike if you will. I am sick of slaughter. It is a cold mead, this kinging it…A king belongs to his people, and can not let either his own feelings or the lives of men influence him. Now my peole are saved; but my heart is cold in my breast.”

Heavy stuff. Even in victory there is bleakness. This is one of Howard’s best. A lesser writer would have taken the easy way out at the end of the story and had the victors celebrate. Instead they mourn the loss of their friends and allies, including the Northmen, and prepare for the next battle with the Romans who will follow after those who have fallen.

This could have been a simple adventure story. Instead, Howard infused it with some of his favorite themes. There’s much discussion about the nature of time and reality. Is Kull dreaming being with Bran, or was his former life a dream from which he had just awakened. Then there’s the weight of the crown and responsibility, often fulfilled in blood, of those who wear it. Finally, throughout the story, Howard makes references to the rise and fall of the Picts in particular and how much science has been lost since Kull’s time. Kull’s armor and weapons are superior to any other in the battle, on either side.

The strands of melancholy and philosophy make this one of Howard’s better tales. It’s one I’ll return to again in the future, for it’s well worth multiple readings.

The Kull series of posts is about at an end. The only one remaining is for “By This Axe I Rule!” which was rewritten into “The Phoenix on the Sword”, the first of the Conan tales. I’ll be comparing the two in the final Kull post. That post will launch a series of posts looking at selected Conan stories. This post launches a series of posts about Bran Mak Morn. Bran, Kull, and Conan are Howard’s three warrior kings, and Kull is the common link between them. I’ll have more to say about that as we look at Bran and Conan over the next few months.

Of Blood and Crown and Conquest

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The Crown of the Blood
Gav Thorpe
Angry Robot Books
464 p., $7.99 paper, $5.99 ebook

You know any book that is dedicated to Phillip, Alexander, and Julius is going to be battle-centric. Or perhaps I should say campaign-centric, because battles are only a small part of a campaign. The Crown of the Blood doesn’t disappoint, although towards the end I felt the campaign was a little rushed.

Is this book worth reading? If you like military oriented fantasy without a lot of sorcery in the middle of the battle, then you should enjoy this one. There is some sorcery, but the battles are fought between legions and bandits, legions and those-soon-to-be-conquered, and legions and legions. Unlike Glen Cook’s Black Company novels (which I love), sorcery has little to do with the combat. It’s done the old fashioned way: looking your opponent in the eye when you try to kill him, just like he’s doing to you.

The plot concerns one Ulsaard, a general in the Askhan army who has managed to work his way up the ranks and is as close to nobility as he can ever be in this society. He’s more comfortable with his legions than he is with the intrigues of court, and this causes him to be manipulated into taking sides in a disagreement over the succession.

The Empire was founded by Askhos, and he set some pretty strict rules about how things were to be done after he was gone. By this time Askhos is considered something of a deity. For one thing, only those of the Blood, Askhos’ descendants, can rule. All bastards are killed by the Brotherhood, an organization responsible for things like rule of law and collecting taxes, but which also seems to serve a religious function by stamping out any beliefs in conflict with Askhos’ teachings. The Empire must expand by conquest until it controls the entire continent; Ulsaard thinks this one has been neglected of late. And the succession must pass to the oldest living son, no exceptions.

What starts things off is that the heir, Kalmud, has fallen ill with some sort of lung disease that is keeping him bedridden but so far hasn’t been fatal. His younger brother, Aalun, and also Ulsaard’s patron, finds this all very inconvenient. Ulsaard is chomping at the bit to invade the neighboring kingdom of Salphoria. Aalun uses this to put Ulsaard in the position of appearing to be in rebellion when he presses to be named successor. Of course, what starts out as appearance soon turns to fact, especially after Aalun dies unexpectedly. Ulsaard decides to continue the campaign.

Civil war follows. One interesting thing is that Thorpe doesn’t hesitate to introduce semi-major characters and then kill them off. This adds to the suspense as some key players don’t last as long as you expect, making you wonder who is next.

Another thing I found interesting was that apparently when a man marries a woman, he also marries her sisters. Depending on the sisters, this could be a sweet deal. Or not. In Ulsaard’s case it’s something of a mixed bag. He loves the older sister, uses the younger sister mainly as a sex object, and barely tolerates the middle sister, who is a scheming social climber and quite adulterous.

There are different cultures shown in the book, with viewpoint characters from some of those cultures, but the main one is the (not surprisingly) Askhan culture, especially the culture of the legions. Much of the world remains unexplored, in terms of the reader’s knowledge, although to an extent that’s true of the characters as well. I suspect from some loose ends that we’ll be getting a closer look at some of them in later books.

This was a good book that moved well, had depth of character, and still had some surprises as it went along. I only had two complaints with the structure of the story. First, as I mentioned earlier, the end of the campaign seemed somewhat rushed, with several key battles skipped over. I suspect for reasons of length. The other was the one situation in which sorcery was used. It was during winter, when Ulsaard’s legions are encamped, that they began to experience a series of increasingly damaging attacks, things like people getting literally deathly ill with no notice, while hearing chanting voices. That seemed to be dropped after the most vicious attack fails. Thorpe skips ahead to spring in the next chapter.

Those weren’t enough to spoil the book for me, though. I’ve downloaded the sequel, The Crown of the Conqueror, and should be posting a review of it in a few weeks. One word of warning to some of you. The violence, sex, and language in this novel are quite graphic at times, more so than in many novels published these days, at least in the States. Or perhaps I should say at least among the authors I’ve read over the last few years. If you are squeamish or offended by that sort of thing, you might want to give this one a pass. Otherwise, enjoy it. It’s an exciting story that drags you in.

A Review of Dreams in the Fire

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Dreams in the Fire: Stories and Poetry Inspired by Robert E. Howard
Mark Finn and Chris Gruber, ed.
cover art by Jim and Ruth Keegan
Monkeyhaus Publishing
available from Lulu (use above link), $20, 278 p.

Ever since I interviewed Mark Finn back in February (posted here and here) and he told me about this book, I’ve had high expectations for it. It did not meet my expectations.

This book exceeded my expectations, and in spades.

All the contributors are either current or former member of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association. The anthology is a fund raiser, and I’ll talk more about that at the end of the review.

The book contains stories and fiction, along with an introduction by Rusty Burke. Several professional writers are included, but not all of the names will be familiar. My understanding is that some of the contents are the first published fiction of some of the contributors. I can only ask: What took you people so long? There’s not a dog in the book, and the quality of many of the stories surpasses a lot of what’s in professional short fiction markets these days. Howard wrote in a variety of genres, so not all of the entries are fantasy, although most are.

I’ll not discuss the poetry, since some of the pieces are only a few lines. I don’t want my commentary to be longer than what I’m commenting on. I restrict myself to saying the following people have one or more poems in the book: Barbara Barrett (3), Frank Coffman (2), Danny Street, Amy Kerr, and Don Herron.

The backbone of the anthology is the fiction, and that’s what I want to discuss here.

Charles Gromlich opens the book with a deadly tale of family and gender politics in “A Gathering of Ravens”; this one annoyed me because I wanted to know more about the relationship between Trajan Vittus and Jedess than Gromlich chose to show. That’s a sign of good writing. Veteran professional James Reasoner examines the relationship between the pen and the sword in “The Rhymester of Ulm”, while “The Word”, by Rob Roehm, is the only western tale. Robert Weinberg lightens the mood with “CSI: Kimmeria”. Christopher Fulbright gives us a pirate yarn set on the “Bloody Isle of the Kiyah-rahi”, and Jimmy Cheung’s “Avatar” is a twisty tale of betrayal.

The second longest story and one of my favorites, “Now With Serpents He Wars” by Patrick R. Burger, ventures into territory not much explored by Howard, the Arthurian legends. I found this one to be fresh and original, with compelling writing and believable characters. I’m hoping this one will be on one or more award ballots next year. Oh, and if you don’t like snakes, this one will probably get under your skin.

Angeline Hawkes’ series character, the Barbarian Kabar of El-Hazzar, puts in an appearance in “Two Dragons Blazing”. Co-editor Mark Finn gives us a something of a boxing tale with “Sailor Tom Sharkey and the Phantom of the Gentleman Farmer’s Commune.” David A. Hardy descends into madness with his “I am a Martian Galley Slave”; or does he? Co-editor Chris Gruber, with the longest of the selections and another personal favorite, tells the story of an Indian massacre and its aftermath on the Illinois frontier during the War of 1812, with a dash of horror thrown in for good measure in “Dead River Revenge”. Gary Romeo tells of a swordsman who has “No Other Gods”, and Morgan Holmes rounds out the volume with “A Meeting in the Bush”, a vignette in which several familiar characters meet up for a brief encounter.

Some of the contributors are shown in the picture below at the signing for the book held at Howard Days last month. I’ve tried to identify everyone I can in the picture. If I’ve left anyone out, I apologize.

Signing at Howard Days 2011 – (l. to r.) Amy Kerr, Mark Finn, Angeline Hawkes, Chris Fulbright, Gary Romeo (purple shirt), and Rob Roehm (black shirt, far right)

I expected to the stories to be well written. Amateur press associations tend to attract intelligent, articulate people. What I didn’t expect was the level of professionalism and craftsmanship in the writing. Like I said earlier, some of these stories are better than most of what you find in professional anthologies and periodicals, and none of them fall below that standard. Not quite what I would have expected for a group of writers who, to a large extent, are not pros and/or write mostly nonfiction. This was the second original anthology without a bunch of A-list names I’ve read in the last month that has surprised me with the high quality of the stories. (Here’s my review of the other one.) If other small press anthologies of this type are this good, I’m going to need to read a lot more of them (and so should you).

If I have any complaint at all, and that’s stretching the definition of the world “complaint” almost to the breaking point, it would be that only one story is a nonfantasy. That being Rob Roehm’s, which is a grim western. (Chris Gruber’s comes close to being a straight historical, but does contain a fantastic climax. Mark Finn’s is a definite fantasy, even though it’s about a boxer.) Now I discovered Howard through his fantasy work, primarily Conan, so I’m not really trying to cast stones here. My point is Howard wrote a great deal more than just fantasy. There were the westerns, both humorous and serious, the boxing stories, and the historical adventures. I was expecting more entries in those veins, seeing how the focus was about Howard’s inspiration of these writers. Maybe in the next volume guys?

Finally, one last thing. This book costs $20. You might be thinking that’s high for a trade paperback, and under other circumstances I would be inclined to agree. But this is a fund raiser for Project Pride, the community organization that maintains the Howard House, puts on Howard Days, and has done work above and beyond the call of duty to maintain Robert E. Howard’s legacy. If you’ve been to Howard Days, you understand what that means first hand. If you haven’t, Project Pride maintains the House and grounds. Provides meals for Howard Days attendees for free (although registration and a donation are requested to defray the cost of the evening meals and to get an accurate count, I don’t think anyone has ever been turned away). Maintains copies of a number of original manuscripts. And makes Howard fans not only feel welcome but like part of the family. When you buy this book (and you should), your money will be going to a good cause.

Amazon Piracy: A Disturbing Case of a Writer Being Ripped-Off

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Passive Guy over at the Passive Voice posted this disturbing news story a little while ago. It seems author Ruth Ann Nordin is having a problem getting a pirated copy of one of her books removed from Amazon. They seem to be dragging their feet about removing the stolen book and giving her the runaround. In an act of solidarity with Ms. Nordin, I’m passing this information along in hopes that enough people will raise enough of a stink that Amazon will respond quickly and do the right thing. They did for her other two books that were stolen. Good luck, Ms. Nordin. As an aspiring author, you have my full support.