Tag Archives: David Gemmell

Ghosts, Heroic Fantasy, the Shaver Mystery, and Some Really Groovy Illustrations

If the birthdays and the day job both slow down at the same time, I’ve got a review of a Joseph Payne Brennan collection to run.  Until then, let’s look at four birthdays that fall on this date (August 1).

M. R. James

We’ll start with M. R. (Montague Rhodes) James (1862-1936).  He’s the master of the classic English ghost story.  His only potential rivals to that title might be H. R. Wakefield or E. F. Benson.  (What is it with these English ghost story writers and initials, anyway? Must have been something in the water.)  Many of James’s s stories dealt with antiquarians who stuck their noses in places they shouldn’t and disturbed things best left alone.  Full of atmosphere, the ghost stories of M. R. James are worth reading.  Most anthologies of classic ghost stories will have one of his tales, and there are a number of electronic and print editions available.

David Gemmell

David Gemmell (1948-2006) is no stranger to these parts.  The now defunct David Gemmell Awards were established in his honor.  Gemmell’s first novel, Legend, is now a classic in the field of heroic fantasy.  Gemmell is someone I’ve only read bits and pieces of, coming to his work only in the last couple of decades.  I had the pleasure of meeting him at the 2000 World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi.  I got to listen in on him and Jane Lindskold discuss Louis L’Amour and his influence on their own writing.

Richard Shaver (r.) with Ray Palmer

Our editor for today is somewhat problematic.  As the discerning blog reader will discern from the title of this post, I’m talking about Raymond A. Palmer (1910-1977).  (No, he was named after the DC Comics superhero, The Atom. It was the other way around.) Palmer was the editor of Amazing Stories, founded the short-lived Other Worlds Science Fiction (which published Eric Frank Russell’s classic “Dear Devil”), and later became the editor of Fate a publication which specialized in UFO’s and other pseudo-scientific phenomena.

Palmer receiver a piece of fiction from Richard Shaver in which Shaver claimed to have knowledge of an ancient and malevolent civilization hiding in caverns deep under the surface of the Earth.  Palmer published it, and many other stories soon followed.  Sales skyrocketed. The thing is, Shaver actually believed this tripe, and apparently so did many of the readers.  I’m not sure if Palmer ever completely bought into what came to be called The Shaver Mystery or if he was cynically doing whatever he needed to in order to boost sales.  Doesn’t really matter at this late date.  Palmer and Shaver did a lot of damage to the science fiction and fantasy fields with their insistence that all of this was real.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite artists, Edd Cartier (1914-2008).  Cartier’s work graced the pages of Astounding and Unknown during John Campbell’s tenure as editor.  He had a distinctive and whimsical style that was really unique and fun.  Here’s some of his work.

Gemmell vs. Gernsback, Round II

Once again, it’s that time of the year.  Award season.

And there’s one award that stands out above all the others.

It’s voted on by the fans.  And not just fans in the US, either.  Fans from all over the world can vote on it, making it an international award.

All fans are welcome.

The award comes with a gorgeous trophy.

It seeks to recognize the best writing and artistry in the field. Continue reading

Recent Acquisitions

There are a few used book stores here in town.  Two are pretty good, one is so-so, and I’m not sure the fourth isn’t a front for something else.

Anyway, the one I consider the best is closing.  The owner doesn’t have a lease but owns the storefront.  As a result, he’s not in any hurry to shut his doors.  This is good, because he’s got a pretty thorough inventory.  It’s one of the great second hand stores where there are stacks of books in all the aisles, and a few minutes to see if a particular title is to be had turns into the better part of an afternoon.

Acquisitions 1I passed through the other day and picked up a few things.  At the moment everything is half off.  That percentage will increase as times goes on and the day the store shuts its doors for good draws nigh.  You know I’ll be going back. Continue reading

Gemmell vs. Gernsback

_41941602_gemmellrex_203300 I was indulging one of my vices (reading other people’s blogs, Sarah Hoyt’s in this case) and noticed in the comments a quote from a different blog.  That particular quote had some disparaging thing to say about the Gemmell Awards.  I’m not going to bother linking to the quoted blog because I’m not directly responding to the argument there, which concerned the number of white male authors nominated for awards, specifically the Hugos.  I will quote the relevant passage, because it’s representative of a pretty common attitude.  It also kicked off a train of thought that should be addressed.  Namely, the how relevant the Hugos are compared to the Gemmells.

The Gemmell Awards are named after David Gemmell and focus on heroic fantasy.  The Hugo Awards are named in honor of Hugo Gernsback, who published the first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction, Amazing Stories.  The Gemmell Awards specialize in heroic fantasy, while the Hugos encompass the entire sff field.

Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967) magazine publisher

Huog Gernsback

Here’s the quote:

“Why not just let the works speak for themselves?”

The issue is that when we let the works speak for themselves, we wind up with the Gemmell Awards: 70,000 votes (several orders of magnitudes greater than the Hugos), and every single nominee for Best Novel is a White Dude.  Every best debut novel is a dude, most of them white.

Of course these comments are totally bogus.  I’ll explain why in a second.  But it got me to thinking, always a dangerous thing.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, in addition to the shortlist for the Gemmell Awards, the shortlist for  the Hugo Awards, was announced recently.  And the internet has been having a major hissy fit ever since.

Continue reading

Legends: Stories in Honour of David Gemmell is a Top-Notch Anthology

GEMMELL_COVER_FIN2c1Legends:  Stories in Honour of David Gemmell
Ian Whates, ed.
Newcon Press
trade paper $20.99 US L11.99 UK
ebook $3.99 Kindle

Last year at the David Gemmell Awards, held in conjunction with the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, a tribute anthology was premiered. Obviously, that anthology was Legends.

One of the wonderful things about ereader apps for phones is that you can read when you have a spare minute and do so without the hassle of carrying around one (or more) books. I’ve spent the last few weeks reading and thoroughly enjoying Legends.

One of the nice things about it was that so many of the contributors were unfamiliar to me. I recognized a number of the names but hadn’t read their work before. My TBR list just got a lot longer. The authors represented here are James Barclay, Gaie Sebold, Ian Whates, Storm Constantine, Tanith Lee, Johnathon Green, Joe Abercrombie, Juliet E. McKenna, Anne Nicholls, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jan Siegel, Sandra Unerman, and Stan Nicholls.

While most of the stories in the volume were heroic fantasy or sword and sorcery, there were a few that were more fairy tale in nature. This lent the volume a nice variation to the contents.Rather than give a summary of each tale, I’ll highlight some of my favorites. Continue reading