First J. K. Rowling; Who’s Next?

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It’s been a busy week, and I’ve not had time to post as much as I’d like. (I did manage to submit a story to a top pro market, so the week hasn’t been a total wash.)

One thing that did happen, which is still echoing, was the announcement by J. K. Rowling that she will be publishing the Harry Potter books herself through a new website. She’s able to do this because she retains the rights to the electronic editions. (If you want to know more about this, start with this series of posts by Passive Guy at The Passive Voice.)

There’s been a lot of talk (mostly from publishers and agents) about how Rowling is an outlier, that most writers won’t be able to do this. I’m not so sure. This could very well change publishing permanently. For the first time an author will control access and price, not a publisher, not a distributor, not a buyer for a major chain, not Amazon.

While the ramifications of this development are still being debated, I thought I would throw out a question:

What other authors, fantasy in particular but other genres are open to consideration, could be the next to pull something like this off? Which ones would you like to see next?

From what I understand, it takes some financial resources to put together a deal like this. Forget the interactive website for a minute and just think about books. Who do you think is a big enough name to self publish their works and sell directly from their website only without going through an intermediary? I’m not talking about a newbie who doesn’t have the audience, but someone who is a brand name. I’m also not talking about an author like J. A. Konrath, who sells through Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, etc. I’m talking about the author being the only source for the book.

Stephen King and Tom Clancy come to mind. George R. R. Martin is riding high right now with a successful adaption of A Game of Thrones on HBO and the upcoming release of A Dance with Dragons. He could probably pull it off.

I realize that many of the top names may not own the electronic rights to their works or have other contractual restrictions. Let’s assume for the sake of this discussion that those things don’t apply. Also, Rowling’s announcement says she wants her readers to be able to read he books on any platform. So let’s assume that the ereader isn’t an issue.

Who is next?

RIP, Martin H. Greenberg

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Dean Wesley Smith is reporting that Martin H. Greenberg passed away this morning after a long illness. If you’ve ever picked up an anthology is the last twenty or thirty years, there’s a good chance his name was on the cover, usually following the name of a well known author or editor. (Isaac Asimov comes to mind as the most prominent, but he was far from the only one.) If the anthology was published by DAW books, then his name was almost certainly on the cover. Greenberg was the publisher of Tekno Books, one of the leading book packagers in the world. (A packager puts the project together, then sells it to publisher.) While his work was often behind the scenes, he was a major player in fantasy and science fiction publishing, as well as a number of other genres. I never met Mr. Greenberg, but I’ve always heard only good things about him. His passing is a major loss to the science fiction and fantasy fields. Think of him the next time you read one of the anthologies he put together. Dean Wesley Smith worked with Greenberg and has written a moving eulogy.

1066: An Invasion, a Tapestry, and a Mystery

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1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry
Andrew Bridgeford
Walker & Co., 384 p., $15.95 softcover, various ebook editions available

From time to time, I like to post something having to do with history, and just history, no fiction. Or rather, no more fiction than serious history books promulgate. I came across this book while browsing in the local box store, read a chapter or two, came back a week later and read another chapter, and then bought the thing for my ereader.

I found it quite fascinating. I knew, of course, who William the Conqueror was. The coaches teaching my history classes in school were able to impart that much information to me. And I’d heard of the Bayeux Tapestry, the only surviving tapestry from the time period, and considered one of the primary sources of information (albeit limited) that we have about the events leading up to the invasion. But I’d never really known many of the details about either. Until now.

I have to say, I found this to be a engaging book. The conventional wisdom is that the tapestry shows the invasion of England from the Norman point of view. Bridgeford, through meticulous but entirely readable, historical detective work, builds an alternative interpretation. Throughout the book he builds his case that the Tapestry tells the story of the events leading up to the invasion (leaving out Harold’s defeat of the invading Harald Hardrada of Norway a few days prior to the Battle of Hastings) from the English point of view. Furthermore, he argues that William the Conqueror (also called William le Batard, although not often to his face) isn’t the central figure of the Tapestry. Rather Count Eustace II of Boulogne is.

Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry showing Harold’s death

While much of the argument is speculative, something the author readily admits more than once, he does his best to build his case on existing records and documents. He’s surprisingly thorough and makes his case, at least as far as this nonexpert is concerned, quite consistent, both with itself and with known facts.

There are a number of mysteries associated with the Tapestry. To name a few: How did the Tapestry come to Bayeux? How did it manage to survive when no other tapestry from that era has? Who are the four named figures who are not royalty in the tapestry and why are they significant?

Bridgeford addresses all of these at length, providing historical and sociological background. The history of the Tapestry, so far as it’s known, is quite interesting. He does what any good historian should do, or teacher in general for that matter. He makes you want to go and learn more. His prose is easily readable. While there are endnotes, there aren’t so many that they distract from the flow of the text.

I learned a lot from reading this book. There has been some discussion, to use that word somewhat loosely, at various websites over the last few months about the role of women in positions of power throughout history. In providing some of the backstory to the events of 1066, we meet several who were at least, if not more, ruthless than the men.

The only place where I found the argument to be somewhat far-fetched was in the chapter on Turold the dwarf. I’m not saying Bridgeford isn’t right, just that this chapter is the most speculative in nature of all of them.

If you like a good history book that’s easily accessible and well written, then this is a book for you. If you have any interest in this time period, check it out. There’s enough information that a good fantasy writer can probably come away with one or two ideas for a good story.

This book is available at Adventures Fantastic Books

Announcing Futures Past and Present

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I’d like to announce a new blog I’ve started, Futures Past and Present, which will focus on science fiction.

Relax, I’m not abandoning Adventures Fantastic. Far from it. I want to keep AF going and make it stronger. It’s looking like this month is going to be the best one yet, and thank you, everyone who has stopped by to browse, see what I said about your story, followed (formally and informally), or posted a comment. This is still going to be my primary blog.

So why am I starting another one? That’s a good question that has several answers.
First, I’ve always loved science fiction. Even before I really started reading fantasy, I was into science fiction. Now I’ve posted reviews of science fiction here, but I don’t want to do too much of that. I want to keep my the focus of AF on three or four main areas: fantasy (especially heroic and sword and sorcery fantasy), historical adventure, occasional editorials on publishing and writing, and once in a while some historical fact pieces (look for one in the next couple of days). Of course there will be deviations from time to time, but for the most past, that’s the approach I’ve tried to take for the last few months. It seems to have worked. I’m getting more readers, and I don’t want to alienate them. I lost a few of the early followers back when I was just getting started. I can’t help but wonder if it was because I wasn’t as focused as I am now.

Also, I try to review mostly new fantasy, with certain notable exceptions such as Robert E. Howard. There will be some other giants from the fantasy field I’ll write about in future posts, but for the most part the fantasy focus will be on what’s happening in fantasy in general, and sword and sorcery in particular, now, at the present time.

For the science fiction, I want to take a broader approach. By that I mean not just look at new stuff (although I will), but at some of the classics as well things I have on my shelf that I simply haven’t had a chance to read yet that I might like to write about or recommend. I explain this a little more in the “Opening Salvo“. The thing is, if I take the time to read a lengthy science fiction novel, I will either be hard pressed to find a justification for writing about it here, or I will try to read other things at the same time. The latter is a strategy that is rarely successful for me. An additional blog will allow me to write about science fiction without stretching the limits of this blog too much.

The other thing I want to do is to have the freedom to experiment and play around with things like formatting and design. I tried to set up a Facebook page for AF a few weeks ago. Somewhere in the process, Facebook turned the page from a page for the blog into an individual page for me. I’m not sure what happened, because I intentionally didn’t set it up as a personal page. Now I’ve refused for years to get on Facebook, MySpace, or any of the other social networks. Lost friends from high school are lost for a reason and should remain that way, and if I wanted them to have the means to find me, they wouldn’t be lost in the first place. I couldn’t figure out how to turn the page back into a page for the blog, so I deleted it. I’ll try again with Futures Past and Present. I’ll also try Twitter and some other stuff.

I’ll only post there about once a week or ten days, not nearly as often as I post here. Like I said, this will still be my primary blog. There will be some items I’ll cross post, like the extensive look at Henry Kuttner’s short fiction I’m working on in my spare time. The cosmetic things at Futures Past and Present will change fairly frequently, though. Once I get something figured out, or decide I like a certain approach or look to something, or find something that works really well, I’ll import it over here.

The first post is up, a review of Jonathan Strahan’s anthology Engineering Infinity. Check it out. And check back here for more sword and sorcery and historical adventure.

Now if I can find a venue to write about detective fiction, I’d have all my bases covered…

Blogging Kull: Swords of the Purple Kingdom

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Kull: Exile of Atlantis
Robert E. Howard
Del Rey, 317 p. $17

There are three stories left in the Kull series, and they are “By This Axe I Rule!”, “Swords of the Purple Kingdom”, and “Kings of the Night”. I’m going to skip “By This Axe I Rule!” for reasons I’ll explain at the end of the post. Instead, let’s turn our attention to “Swords of the Purple Kingdom”, shall we?

In his afterward to this volume, “Hyborian Genesis”, Patrice Louinet says that this story was probably written sometime around June of 1929. That makes perfect sense, considering the opening paragraph. Here are a few lines describing conditions in the city of Valusia:

“The heat waves danced from roof to shining roof and shimmered against the smooth marble walls. The purple towers and golden spires were softened in the faint haze. No ringing hoofs on the wide paved streets broke the frowsy silence and the few pedestrians who appeared walking, did what they had to do hastily and vanished indoors again.”

I don’t know how many of you have ever dealt with a Texas summer, but that’s a pretty good description of what it’s like. A high pressure dome typically forms over the state, what winds happen to blow are hot, and the air is hazy. This passage strikes me as Howard incorporating what he knew (and may have been living at the time) into his fiction. The description is perfect.

The city is a powder keg waiting to explode. The people have prospered under Kull’s rule, and consequently they have forgotten how they suffered under the tyranny of his predecessor and how they welcomed him when he took the throne.

Add to this, our old friend Delcartes is still around pestering Kull to command her father the Count to allow her to marry the commoner of her choice. (It’s a different person than in the earlier story. Young love is so fickle.) Kull of course refuses, in part because he doesn’t want to interfere in a family matter on general principles, but also because Delcartes’ father is one of Kull’s closest friends and strongest supporters.

There’s a conspiracy against Kull, of course. Betrayals and intrigues. And an intense combat scene where Kull defends Delcartes against a small company of soldiers at the top a stair in an abandoned ruin.

One thing the story doesn’t have, that many of the other Kull tales do, is a lot of existential philosophy. Not that Howard didn’t include some philosophizing. He does, but it deals more with the weight of the crown Kull wears. In the opening scene, before Delcartes enters the audience chamber, Kull and Brule are talking. Kull laments the fickleness of the people he rules. Here we see Howard’s fascination with the cycles of empire, where the established empire becomes soft and weak, only to be overthrown by the barbarians, and the cycle starts over again.

Consider Kull’s words to Brule: “The empire was worse under Borna, a native Valusian and a direct heir of the old dynasty, than it has been under me. That is the price a nation must pay for decaying – the strong young people come in and take possession, one way or another.”

Later after Delcarrtes leaves (not before her father arrives), Kull shows extreme sensitivity to the man, who is expecting Kull to order him to allow the marriage. “Not for half my kingdom would I interfere with your family affairs, nor force you into a course unpleasant to you.”

Two things I want to comment on. First, we can see Howard’s philosophy of individual freedom at work here. Kull sympathizes with Delcartes, and if it were up to him, he would allow her to marry. He believes a person should be free to marry whomever he or she wishes. The point is made in more than one story. However, if Kull were to interfere and order the Count to allow his daughter to marry the man she loves, he would be in greater violation of this principle than her father in that he would deny the Count the freedom to manage his household as he wished without interference.

Second, Howard’s detractors often accuse him of writing hack-and-slash fantasy without any depth to his characters. They need to read Howard more closely. In “Swords of the Purple Kingdom”, Howard shows Kull having more depth and sensitivity to his subjects needs and positions than he does in any of the stories we’ve considered to date. (I’m exempting “By This Axe I Rule!” and “Kings of the Night” since we haven’t looked at them yet.) He does this again with Brule at the end of the tale, when Kull and Brule decide not to tell one of the recurring characters in the series that a relative of his has turned traitor because of what the news will do the man.

Lest you think this story is a touchy-feel-good piece of fluff, there’s plenty of action later in the tale. Howard was stretching himself as a writer with this particular piece by developing the characters and their backgrounds. By 1929 he was hitting his stride as a writer. While the Kull series may contain a number of fragments and false starts, they represent an important phase in his development.

Now, as to why I skipped “By This Axe I Rule!” There are two stories left in the Del Rey edition. Both of them are significant, albeit in different ways. “By This Axe I Rule!” was unpublished in Howard’s lifetime. He would rewrite it a few years later as “The Phoenix on the Sword”, the story that introduced the world to his most famous character, Conan of Cimmeria.

The other story, “Kings of the Night” is really a Bran Mak Morn story in which Kull has a guest appearance. That story will be the launching point for a series of posts about Bran, and it will be the next post in this series.

I’m also going to do the same thing with Conan. The final Kull post will be a comparison of “By This Axe I Rule!” and “Kings of the Night”. That will launch a series of posts looking at selected Conan stories. The reason I’m doing this is because of the Conan movie that will be released in August. The movie will generate some, hopefully a great deal of, interest in Conan. My desire is that people doing a search for Conan will find these posts, read them, and then go read the original stories rather than the pastiches. (If they want to read the pastiches later, that’s fine with me, so long as they understand that Conan has Howard wrote him isn’t the same Conan as others wrote him.)

I’m not gong to do the Conan stories in order, or even look at all of them. I’ve already discussed “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” at length and see no need to repeat myself on that one. What I’m going to do is pick and choose among my favorites (which will be most of them), although I don’t know if I’ll look at Hour of the Dragon simply because of its length. I’ll start the posts sometime in July, when interest in the movie should be picking up and do a post every two weeks or so, shifting to at least a post once a week near the movie’s release, and continuing until I burn out, interest in the movie drops off, or I cover all of the Conan stories.

The Bran Mak Morn posts should start up by the first of July. They’ll run concurrently with the Conan series, although not as frequently.

And that’s why I skipped “By This Axe I Rule!”

Trading on the Oldest Profession

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The Ladies of Trade Town
Lee Martindale, ed.
Harp Haven Publishing, 297 p., $16.99

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. The anthology under review is about the world’s oldest profession. But before we get into that, a few words regarding what this book is not are in order. This book is not porn. Nor is it erotica. Lee Martindale has been working on getting this book published for a while, and part of that process involved, if you’ll pardon the phrase, pimping it at various conventions to prospective contributors. Her words when explaining the restriction about explicit sexual content were, and I quote, “How good a writer are you?” In other words, she was more interested in well written stories about the characters themselves than the details of said characters’ plumbing. Some of the stories have essentially no sexual content. Sexual themes, yes; sexual content, no.

Also in order is a small disclaimer. Lee is a longtime friend, as you know if you’ve read the interview with her. That does not mean I am automatically going to cut her slack if I think this is a poor book. (She didn’t cut me any slack when she rejected my submission, and she was right in rejecting it.) We’ve known each other for too long and have too much mutual respect to let the other get away with substandard work. I’m going to be honest about what I think.

Lee Martindale Photo courtesy of George Martindale

There’s a variety of genres represented here: fantasy, science fiction, space opera, steampunk, alternate history, and several genre mash-ups. First, before we address matters of quality, let’s survey the contents.

Elizabeth Moon provides the introduction, which should tell you something right off the bat about the quality of what you’ll find since she doesn’t put her name on just anything. Lee Martindale, in her introduction, explains why she edited the anthology.

Jim Reader leads off the fiction with a steampunk retelling of two classic American folktales, putting a whole new, er, thrust to them with “The Ballad of Eskimo Nell Revisited”. Merlyn Finn takes us to a space traveling future to look at ways the profession can be twisted by evil men with power and money in the touching “First Fruits”. Mary Turzillo shows us a society in which vampires are real and what type of flesh trade they might be interested in with “Dreams of Blood and Milk”. Cecilia Tan considers “What a Man Wants” in a near future science fiction tale. The multitalented Melanie Fletcher (she did the cover art, more about which later) tells the tale of a police detective who learns that some working girls aren’t restricted by time in “A Touch of Ginger”.

Tracy S. Morris gives us a sword and sorcery look at a disgraced courtesan who finds herself having to save the life of the prince who dismissed her from court in “The Queen of Knaves”. Rob Chilson gives us an installment of his “Prime Mondeign” series set 60 million years in the future, in which high stakes and politics come together to unite a leader with the courtesan residing “In the House of Allures”, a courtesan he desired from afar as a penniless young man. Brandie Tarvin uses “Silk and Steam” to tell a tragic steampunk fantasy about betrayal in wartime. The young woman in Gloria Oliver’s “Art” learns that some men want more than just physical pleasure.

Rebecca McFarland Kyle’s “Do Unto Others” gives us a contemporary story of a werewolf who finds herself becoming a madam after intervening on behalf of a young prostitute and learns that the most vicious predators are often those on two legs. Mark W. Tiedemann returns to his Secant universe in “Duty Free”, in which a courtesan discovers that not only terms but sometimes intentions should be negotiated. Catherine Lundoff investigates murder most foul “At Mother Laurie’s House of Bliss.” The editor herself has the title story, in the only military sf tale in the anthology. Jana Oliver lets us know that a working girl’s work is never done, even in the afterlife in “The Last Virgin.” And finally Melinda LaFevers answers the question, what is “The Oldest Profession?”

So how do the stories stack up? Quite well, overall. There was one I simply didn’t like and aspects of a couple of others that didn’t sit well with me, but for a book containing fifteen stories of such variety, it’s not unusual for most readers not to care for one or two. A good editor puts together as broad a selection as possible in order to appeal to the greatest number of readers, knowing that not every story will work for every reader. The key is to have more that work than don’t. For this reader at least, the editor more than succeeded. All of the authors herein submitted professional level work. The fact that I liked some less than others wasn’t due to the quality of the writing but rather personal taste and preference.

I have to say this was a quite enjoyable anthology; several of these authors are people to watch. While I’m not going to name the story I didn’t like, I will point out a few of my favorites. Melanie Fletcher’s time travel piece read like it was the sequel to another story because the two main characters had met previously. If this was a sequel, I would like to see more of these characters and hope the author will let me know where to look to find any previous installments. I really enjoyed the glimpse of the criminal underworld in “The Queen of Knaves” and hope Ms. Morris returns to this setting and these characters. Perhaps in a novel? I have to say my favorite was Lee Martindale’s “The Lady of Trade Town.” This one made me laugh, made me smile (not at all the same reactions), and in the end darn near made me cry. I experienced a range of emotions, and none of them were forced or the result of cheap manipulation. I’m going to go back and study this one carefully to see if I can learn how she pulled it off. I realize I sound like I’m reneging on my earlier statement about not cutting Lee Martindale any slack, but I’m not. Read the story and see what I mean. I suspect her training as a bard came into play when she wrote this one.

Now, before I conclude, we need to discuss production values. Harp Haven Publishing is a small press, and a fairly new one at that. The Ladies of Trade Town is their first anthology. With the economy the way it is, it’s not enough these days for the stories to be good. I want to know that I’m getting a quality product in every respect, something that’s going to last.

We’ll start with the cover. You saw it at the top of this post, but I’ve put here as well for easy reference. Melanie Fletcher did the art and design. That’s a beautiful picture. You can see something (longing, perhaps?) in the woman’s eyes. The soft colors only accentuate that impression. I don’t know how many small press books I’ve seen over the years with cover art that looks like it was done in crayon by the publisher’s five year old. This is a professionally done cover that looks better than a lot of stuff coming out of New York. Thank you, Melanie, for not giving the woman a tramp stamp, at least not one that’s visible. (BTW, various items with this picture on them are available at Melanie’s Zazzle store.)

Some books have binding that falls apart on the first reading. Not this book. I read it over a couple of weeks while donating blood plasma. That means the book got banged around more than if I were sitting at home on the sofa reading it. Not that I tried to see how far I could push the binding before it gave way, but that it underwent more than the usual wear and tear I place on a book. It held up. The spine never creased. The pages never came loose. I’ve had books from the big publishers that didn’t hold together as well as this one did.

All in all this was a professionally done book. But that’s to be expected. Lee Martindale is a consummate professional in every aspect. Over the years I’ve learned a lot about professionalism from her and the people she chooses to associate with. It’s only natural that when she publishes a book, she does the job right. I doubt she is capable of doing otherwise. This is a quality anthology, both in terms of content and production.

By its very theme, this anthology isn’t going to be for everyone. But if you aren’t put off by the theme, then buy and read this book. There’s enough variety here, both in genre and approach, that you’ll enjoy it. While you do, I’m going to be waiting for Harp Haven’s next anthology. (That’s a hint, Lee.)And since I wrote this review, the book was launched over the weekend of June 10-12. Lee tells me that half the print run sold out, and furthermore within 20 minutes of the page to order going live, the book was selling. Not that you should rush to get your copy or anything. I’m just saying….

The Adventures Fantastic Interview: Lee Martindale

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Lee Martindale is a renaissance woman in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, wearing multiple hats, including writer, editor, publisher, mentor to new writers, convention guest, and filker, just to name a few. She makes multiple convention appearances every year, often accompanied by her husband George, so if she’s at a convention near you, stop and say hello to her. Recently at ConDFW, Lee sat down with Adventures Fantastic to discuss writing, publishing, her new book (reviewed here), and other interesting topics such as her preferred weapons. Interviewing her was a blast. I’ve known Lee for more years than either of us is willing to admit, so there’s more back and forth between interviewer and interviewee than in previous interviews I’ve run. Here’s what she had to say.

AF: What got you into writing and why science fiction and fantasy?

LM: That’s a good place to start. What got me into writing was being raised by a grandfather who was probably one of the best oral storytellers I’ve ever heard. He was Irish – it’s genetic – and I grew up pretty much learning the craft at his knee. I started crafting my own stories before I learned how to write. And there was, until a tornado took out my house in 1974, a pencil-on-lined-yellow-notebook-paper romance novel hidden away. Thank God, it ended up in Oz or I’d still be living it down. I started writing nonfiction and selling it when I was 30.

Late bloomer as far as reading science fiction and fantasy…I grew in a time and place when girls didn’t read that sort of thing, so I didn’t discover science fiction and fantasy until I got away from home and into college. Eventually, I started reading Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, with her wonderful articles on writing. I started writing stories and submitting to her and getting back rejection slip after rejection slip until I made my first pro sale, in 1992, to Mrs. Bradley for the last Darkover anthology. As to why science fiction and fantasy? It’s where the good stories are.

AF: Okay, you’ve partly answered the next question with Marion Zimmer Bradley, but who else had an influence on you? The original question was who had the greatest influence on you.

LM: The first science fiction I read was Robert Heinlein. The first fantasy I read was Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels. Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series got me hook, line, and sinker. Elizabeth Moon’s Paksenarrion. I admitted to myself early on that I didn’t particularly like hard SF. Not that I don’t have a scientific mind – that’s what I majored in – but for kick-back-and-enjoy-myself reading, I wanted something a little more people-oriented. Which is why I liked societal science fiction, like a lot of Heinlein’s. I like stories that focus on people – character-driven, not hardware-driven. Zenna Henderson’s People stories: the first time I realized the genre could make you cry, and it was a good clean I-Need-a-Good-Sob cry. I guess those were the early influences. I can’t say they were the only ones.

AF: How did it come about that you founded Harphaven Publishing?

LM: Rank necessity. And filk – that’s science fiction and fantasy based folk music. I’ve been a folkie since college, play twelve string guitar. In 1994, I was doing my first convention and couldn’t sleep because I had my first panel ever the next day. So I’m wandering down the hall…

AF: Couldn’t sleep because you were excited or because you were scared?

LM: I was terrified.

AF: I can’t picture this, but go ahead.

LM: Hey, I was green. Anyway, I heard music. I heard guitars. I followed the sound. The tunes were familiar – see above re: old folkie – but the words were totally new to me. I wandered in and discovered filk, it discovered me, and it turned out that a lot of what I was already writing song-wise was considered filk. Over the years, I did concerts and sat in filk circles and kept getting asked, “Do you have a tape?” I didn’t, until my best buddy Bob West, Jr. said, “But she’s going to.” Bob’s a songwriter, audio engineer, and an all-around fantastic musician. Over the course of a summer, he and I recorded original songs, mostly mine but he wrote a couple that were included in the album. HarpHaven Publishing was originally founded for the purpose of putting out the CD we called The Ladies of Trade Town, after the first cut..

Since then, I’ve put out an audiobook CD of three of my Arthurian stories called To Stand As Witness, and a trade paperback called Prejudice By The Pound, a compilation of editorials and essays from Rump Parliament Magazine, a size-rights activism magazine I edited and published for twelve years.

AF: What’s the latest from Harphaven?

LM: Another case of This Has to Be Done. I had several anthology projects under discussion with Meisha Merlin Publishing, with which I’d done Such A Pretty Face, when that house went belly-up. One of those orphans was a an anthology of genre stories themed on “the world’s oldest profession”, named for the title cut of my filk CD. A couple of years ago, I sold that idea to Norilana Books. I had just gotten the stories I’d selected from the open read submissions under contract when Norilana postponed it for a year.

It meant that the writers would have stories tied up, without being paid their advances, for more than a year. From a writer’s point of view, Not A Good Thing. There were other indication Norilana was having problems. So I did some number-crunching and bought the project back. Then I contacted the writers under contract, explained the situation, and gave them the option of pulling their stories. Every single one of them came along for the ride, a tremendous vote of confidence on their part. Which is how the first original anthology out of Harphaven Publishing, The Ladies of Trade Town, will celebrate a Gala Book Launch in June, hosted by A-Kon 22 in Dallas. Fifteen original stories and an introduction written by Elizabeth Moon.

AF: Anything in the pipeline after that? Or is it too early to ask? Are you too buried in the current book to look that far ahead?

LM: Right now I’m too buried in Trade Town to even think beyond “Am I still going to be breathing at the end of this thing?” I’m in the middle of what I call the grunt work, the nuts and bolts, the editing and laying out and making sure what I send and what prints is what I thought it was going to be. I’d like to do a Trade Town 2, and another anthology of size-positive genre stories similar to Such A Pretty Face. Other projects that ended up shelved in the demise of Meisha Merlin and Norilana. Are any of those going to happen any time soon? I couldn’t tell ya. First we’ve got to survive this one.

AF: What trends do you see in fantasy over the next few years?

LM: That’s a tough question for which there is no answer. Other than…I think that people who enjoy it will keep reading. There will also be listening. There will also be reading in electronic format. I don’t think the genre itself will change all that much because, as somebody pointed out on a panel I just did, fantasy is actually not just one genre. It’s urban fantasy, it’s steampunk, it’s gothic, it’s vampires. It’s an umbrella term in the same way you’ve got science fiction, and then you’ve got space opera, and there’s still some cyberpunk running around. I don’t see us having to go write How-To books anytime soon. I think the forms will change. Publishing will continue to implode and expand cyclically. You’ve got distributors taking publishers down right, left, and sideways. You’ve got, well, just recently the Borders Chapter 11 situation.

AF: Have you been reading my questions?

LM: No.

AF: Because the next one is what you thought publishing would do in the next year.

LM: Well, genre and publishing, you can’t separate them. Without publishers, there is no genre. Without something to publish, why bother? And it’s all interconnected. Writers will keep writing. Readers will keep reading. Hopefully those of us who do this for a living will continue to eat on a regular basis and sleep indoors. But that’s hope, that’s not prediction.

AF: You’ve kind of addressed this to a large degree. The next question was with Borders filing for bankruptcy and with a lot of talk about independent publishers now able to deliver electronic books fairly cheaply, what changes do you see? You’ve been involved in so many facets of publishing, you have a perspective most of us don’t have.

LM: [pauses]

AF: Other than nobody can really predict what’s going to happen.

LM: Hey, I can be as wrong as anybody else. Other than the sheer terror of making the mortgage, the bottom line for any writer who is doing this for a living is that this is a business, this is a profession. And, yes, I’m a mercenary. I love it, but I can’t afford to write for the love of it. If I didn’t like what I was doing, I’d go find a street corner somewhere. But, like any professional, I expect to be paid. And that, [sighs] there is a trend partially promulgated by the whole ebook thing and the lack of the gatekeeper aspects of major publishing. A lot of small presses are just as professional as the majors, and in some cases more so. But there are enough of them that take shortcuts. Yeah, I’m gonna have a typo slip through every so often. That line is just going to be a little bit lower than it should be on the layout. But the fact is, there are a lot of new publishers that just don’t care. They don’t consider form to be as important as function. When you’re talking about product, it’s both. I see small press, well, it’s like I said, it’s cyclical. You’ve got all of these mergers going on with the majors. As far as I know, Baen is the only one that is owned by a US company. You’ve got the magazines dying, right, left, and sideways. The professional markets are decreasing in number. Delivery systems are changing. You’ve got, as you say, more ebooks. They’re easier to do, but harder to do right. You’ve got small presses springing up at the rate of what seems like three a day and lasting about as long as a day lilly. They come up, they go down, they disappear.

You’ve got a lot of good writers getting hurt by stuff like that. If I hadn’t pulled Trade Town when I did, I doubt it would have seen the light of day. And that’s not casting aspersions on anybody, that’s just a fact. So, in a way, I’m kind of adding to that small press functionality.

If you have discerning readers, people who value the product and demand that it be done right, the publishers who do that will continue to grow and continue to make good solid livings for those concerned. The publishers who don’t care are going to lose customers, lose readers. Despite the changes, it’s going to even out, hopefully to the benefit of all concerned.

AF: What kills a story for you, both as an editor and as a reader?

LM: That’s two different questions.

AF: I realize that may be two different questions or it may not be. Everybody is different, so take it however you like.

LM: As a reader, what kills it for me is throwing me out of the story. I’m happily reading along, and they use a phrase that just doesn’t fit the voice of the story. Let’s say it’s historical fantasy, they’ve done pretty well placing it in place/time with the dialogue, and then one of the characters has a line that’s completely modern. It jars me right out of the piece. So do factual errors. One writer, whose work I enjoy a great deal almost lost me early on once had a pistol I knew had never been built as a six shot model suddenly shooting six shots. If the writer had just said “pistol”, no problem. He got too specific. He gave the model number. That’s when it went Oops. Not checking the details will do it for me. That’s as a reader.

As an editor, what will get a story rejected faster than anything is plagiarism. I read a lot, I have a good memory, and certain turns of phrase are like fingerprints. A dull opening that doesn’t get me hooked quickly gets rejected almost as fast. You want me to read the second paragraph, you better have a kick-ass opening. You catch my attention with the first line. You keep my attention with the first paragraph. I keep reading as long as it’s interesting. Not knowing the tools of the trade: punctuation, grammar, spellings. Not caring enough to proofread the manuscript you’re sending me. That’ll do it real fast. Lack of originality. Pretty much all of those things. And having just gone through an open read, I’ve just seen every mistake it’s possible to make. [laughs]

AF: I’m sure you have. Okay, let’s lighten things up a little bit. Adventures Fantastic tends to focus on heroic fantasy and historical adventure, and the characters in these stories are frequently barbarians. What qualities do you look for in a barbarian?

LM: Male of female?

AF: Your choice.

LM: Okay…

AF: There aren’t that many female barbarians roaming some of this fiction.

LM: Dammit. Yes. Gotta do something about that.

AF: [laughing] Well then, write the story.

LM: Well, I have been a collector and appreciator of swords since my twenties, and I’m a fencer.

AF: I think you’ve been reading my notes because your preferred weapon is the next question.

LM: We’ll get to that, too. I’ve been fencing for the last ten years, as one of the SFWA Musketeers. Yes, I fence from the wheelchair. I’ve been in the SCA, so I’ve been around heavy weapons as well, broadsword and that sort of thing. What I prefer in my barbarian, either gender, is competency with their weapons. A writer knowing that a broadsword weighs about twelve pounds. Try holding one of those out straight- armed for as long as you can, most people, including those in top physical shape, lose it after about a minute. Thirty minutes of hack and slash ain’t gonna happen.

The Romans considered the Celts barbarians. The Celts had a much more evolved society. So I like barbarians with a twist. Warriors who understand the concept of honor and ruthlessness pretty well mixed. I like my barbarians in stories that are actually entertaining. Most of these so-called barbarian societies had highly evolved senses of humor. I kind of like that sort of thing. Physically appealing is not that bad, either.

AF: Okay, preferred weapon of choice?

LM: If we’re talking steel, I like epee and sabre or, when I can get my hands on it, Del Tin rapier. I got to fence with one of those once, and damn, that’s a fine blade. If we’re talking firearms, Beretta 380. It doesn’t have to punch hard if you are very good at hitting what you aim at. My first love was a Browning High Power 9 mm. I like handguns as opposed to rifles because, well, I’m short. I don’t want to have to use it as a quarterstaff.

AF: You just had a story published in Fangs for the Mammaries.

LM: Fangs for the Mammaries, and ritual disclaimer, the title and cover are not Esther Freisner’s fault. [Esther Friesner is the editor of FftM] The story is called “Sarah Bailey and the Texas Beauty Queen”. It’s a triple-Tuckerization: two individuals and a 1974 Chevy Vega.

AF: Is there anything else coming out from you in the near future that we need to look for?

LM: I’ve been buried in the anthology, however…I did write the title story. So, there will be a story of mine in The Ladies of Trade Town, called “The Lady of Trade Town”, based on the song.

AF: If someone reads this interview and wants to track down your stuff, where do they go?

LM: To my website, http://www.HarpHaven.net. There’s a link called “Teller of Tales”, with a complete bibliography of my short fiction, collections, and such.

AF: Last question. If you were conducting this interview, which question would you ask that I haven’t?

LM: Oh, Damn……Probably why I do this. And the answer to that one is I’m a Named Bard. There are certain duties that I promised to do in my lifetime, and one of the best ways to do them in modern society is to be either a singer/songwriter or a storyteller. Or both.

AF: Thank you very much.

LM: My pleasure.

Lee’s website is here and her blog is here.

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Report on Howard Days 2011, Day Two

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The second day of Howard Days was pretty laid back for me. I arrived at the Pavilion about 9:00 or so. One of the anniversaries being celebrated this year is the 50th year since Glenn Lord’s zine The Howard Collector first appeared. At the banquet the previous night, one of the announcements was of a new issue. The issue went on sale at the Pavilion Saturday morning. I, of course, bought one. It contains the the original version of “Black Canaan” as Howard wrote it, an untitled poem that wasn’t included in the collected poetry, an untitled Breckenridge Elkins fragment, and a drawing by Howard. If I heard correctly, there are only 200 copies. I don’t have information about purchasing, so if someone reading does have that information, I would appreciate it if you could put it in a comment.

The Barbarian Festival was moved from downtown to Treadway Park just down the road from the house. I intended to swing by but never made it. I got to talking to several folks, including Paul Herman of the Foundation, Willie Siros and Scott Cupp of Adventures in Crime and Space Books, and author James Reasoner. Dave Hardy joined in the conversation shortly before we adjourned to The Staghorn Cafe for lunch and more conversation. If you’ve been to Cross Plains and not stopped in for their chicken fired steak, you’ve missed out. The Staghorn was named an honorable mention in Texas Monthly‘s list of the 40 Best Small Town Cafes in Texas. If you think about how many small towns there are in Texas, you’ll realize that’s no small accomplishment.

I don’t have many pictures for two reasons. One is that people sitting around talking generally don’t make for exciting photos. The other is that my camera had gotten turned on and by the time I discovered it, the battery was dead. I do have a couple of pictures from my phone of the signing and the ascent of Caddo Peak.

After lunch Scott and I decided to take in the new art museum. One of the ladies in town has taken the old Methodist church building and converted it into a museum. It exceeded my expectations, containing some very nice pieces. I bought my wife a bracelet, just to say “Thank You” for allowing me to abandon her at my parents’ house while I went off and had fun.

While there we ran into Mark Finn (interviewed here and here). Mark and I agreed that you should always have some money tucked away for emergencies and that a new issue of The Howard Collector you weren’t expecting constituted an emergency.

We went back to the Pavilion and sat around talking for a bit. I got the contributors who were there to sign my copy of Dreams in the Fire, the new anthology of original fiction by current and former REHupans. Look for a review here in the next week to ten days.

I was having such an enjoyable time visiting with friends that I never made it to the library and the panels held there. Those included Paul Sammon on Conan Movie History, Howard Fandom with Damon and Dennis, and REH Historical Poetry with Barbara Barrett, Alan Birkelbach, and Frank Coffman.

Book signing at the Pavilion

The last panel of the day was held at the Pavilion. Rusty Burke, Fred Malmberg, and Paul Herman discussed what’s happening with REH. Some of the upcoming projects include a new Kull movie, a new edition of the collected poetry that will include all of the poems discovered since the last volume (now out of print) was published, Mark Finn’s biography, Howard’s biographical writings which will include Post Oaks and Sand Roughs, a collection of Howard’s spicy stories in their original form (racier than the published versions), and a collection of all of Howard’s science fiction. Lots of good stuff to look forward to.

There was a brief signing of Dreams in the Fire, then everyone headed out to the barbeque. The picture above is of the signing. The people at the table in front are, from left to right, Amy Kerr, Mark Finn, Angeline Hawkes, Christopher Fulbright, Gary Romeo (in the purple shirt). The gentleman on the right side of the picture in the black T-shirt and tan shorts facing to the left is Rob Roehm. If you look carefully, you can see the bottom of the Howard house on the right side. The rest of the house is lost in the glare.

Before we ate, there was the traditional assault on Caddo Peak. This is the west peak. The east peak is owned by someone else who doesn’t want a bunch of folks traipsing around. Makes sense seeing as how he has cattle grazing there. The heat wasn’t too bad. I think it was around the upper 90s but the breeze and low humidity allowed the evaporative cooling to offset the discomfort.

Al Harron and Miguel Martins atop Caddo Peak

When we got to the top, one gentleman passed around a small bottle of scotch. We each took a sip and toasted our achievement (not keeling over from heatstroke). I’ve forgotten the gentleman’s name, but if he happens to read this, many thanks, sir. I found a nice multi-fossil specimen; Al Harron kindly identified some components.

View from Caddo Peak looking east towards Cross Plains

After that we headed down to an excellent dinner of brisket and sausage with all the fixings. Paul Sammon sat at the table I was at, and he, Willie Siros, and Scott Cupp talked about writers they’d known who are no longer with us. People like Phillip K. Dick, R. A. Lafferty, Karl Edward Wagner, and Theodore Sturgeon. I was insanely jealous that they had known these men. It was a wonderful meal and conversation, and I hope Paul will take the time to write some of his memories down. One thing that frustrates me is how much oral history has been lost in the science fiction and fantasy fields because no one has bothered to write things down.

Sunset

When the meal was over, we went and watched the Sun set. Then those who were so inclined headed back to the Pavilion. I went for a few minutes but didn’t stay long since I had an hour’s drive in the dark ahead of me and didn’t want to sleep at the wheel. I got Barbara Barrett to sign Dreams in the Fire since she hadn’t been at the signing earlier and chatted for a few minutes with Damon Sasser. Last year, Dave Hardy provided some homemade mead. It was good, but this year’s batch was better. I had a taste and really wished I didn’t have to drive. I would have loved to have some more. Thanks for bringing it, Dave. I need to get the recipe from you.

Then I hit the road, and Howard Days 2011 became a memory, at least for me. But a very good memory…

Report on Howard Days 2011, Day One

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The side of the Cross Plains library

Robert E. Howard Days 2011 was a great success, at least in my opinion. The weather was hot, but not humid, and the breeze helped keep things cool. Some people might say we had wind, but since the sky didn’t turn brown from dust like it has for the last few months where I live, I’ll say we only had a breeze in Cross Plains.

Festivities started on Thursday night, but I wasn’t able to arrive until Friday morning. I’ll report on what I participated in. Al Harron, at The Blog That Time Forgot, has posted daily summaries, starting with this one for Thursday. Al and I participated in some of the same activities but also a number of different ones, so check out his posts as well. Others will be posting their reports, and I’ll try to provide links throughout the week as I become aware of them.

I’ll put in more photos than I usually do, at least for the first day. My camera battery died on the second day, so all I have are a few photos I took with my phone. I’ll put the best of those in.

I got to the Pavilion shortly before 9:00 a.m. Several familiar faces were already there. I grabbed a donut and coffee and began saying hello after swinging by the bin with the issues of The Cimmerian for sale. I picked up a few and began mingling. One of the people I had the pleasure of meeting was Miguel Martins. Rusty Burke was leading a trailer tour again this year. Until last year, this was known as The Walking Tour, but a trailer with chairs on it has taken its place. And a good thing, too. Even though it was still relatively cool at this time in the morning (low 80s Fahrenheit), it would have been hotter than that before the tour was over.

House where Novalyne Price lived

Just before the tour started Al Harron, arrived. I met Al last year and made it a point of saying hello before we left. The tour was packed. All the chairs on the trailer were taken and four people were piled into the bed of the pickup towing us. We went by the cemetery (the Howards are all buried in Brownwood) and behind downtown, crossed the highway, and went by the house where Novalyne Price lived while she worked as a teacher at Cross Plains High School from 1934-1936. That’s her room on the right with the air conditioner sticking out of the window. If you haven’t read her memoir about her relationship with Bob, One Who Walked Alone: Robert E. Howard the Final Years, you should. It formed the basis of the movie The Whole Wide World, starring Vincent D’Onofrio and an at the time nearly unknown actress named Renee Zellweger.

Rusty Burke leading the Trailer Tour

We also saw the building where the dry-cleaning business Bob worked at was once located, the location of the drug store where he once worked, and the building where he had his stenography business. Trying to take phhotos from a moving trailer turned out to be harder than I thought, so I don’t have many.

After we returned to the Pavilion, I wandered through the Howard house. There were a number of new docents this year. The gift shop had the usual number of books and zines, as well as copies of The Whole Wide World and various T-shirts and caps.

Hester’s room, left side

Hester’s room, right side

I’ve included three photos from the house. The first is of the left side of Hester’s room, taken from the doorway. This is the front bedroom that looks out on the porch. When you enter the house through the front door, you face a long hall with the living room on the right and Hester and Isaac’s room on the left.

The second photo is the right hand side of the room. Off to the right, out of the field of view, is a dresser. There’s a small closet to the left of the bedroom door. As you can see, the room would be considered small by today’s standards. My memory says that the bed was in front of the window on previous visits rather than to the side, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to see if I can locate some photos from a previous visit.

The window on the right looks out on what was originally a porch. It became Bob’s room. You can see a trunk through the window if you look carefully.

The third photo is looking into Bob’s room. The brightly lit window looks out onto the side yard. The windows on the right have a picture of what the backyard would have looked like in the 30s. A later owner of the house added a room which is now the gift shop. The typewriter and writing table on the right are the originals. The original table was sold or given to someone who cut the legs off to make it into a coffee table. There is a typewriter whose owner claims is Howards, but last year Paul Sammons found a typewriter which may be the original one. That question has yet to be answered conclusively. The books on the dresser on the left are copies of ones Bob was known to have owned, although they are not original. Until you stand in front of it, it’s hard to imagine how small Bob’s bedroom is by contemporary standards. If I had to live in such a cramped space I think I would imagine being a wanderer. It’s no wonder he spent so much time in his car driving around the countryside.

Bob’s room

Then it was time for the morning’s panel, which was held at the library. Rusty Burke and Bill Cavalier related how the first Howard Days came about. It was a group of fans who wanted to see where Robert E. Howard had written his tales of Kull, Solomon Kane, and Conan.

After the panel, I gave a ride back to the Pavilion to some friends, stopping at the Post Office on the way. Each year the Cross Plains Post Office commemorates Howard Days with a unique postal cancellation. I had missed the cancellation on previous visits, but this year I managed to get two post cards and an envelope with the cancellation. They’re going to go into frames.

Lunch was chili dogs with all the fixings at the Pavilion. Then it was back to the library for panels on They Kept the Legacy Alive with Damon Sasser, Dennis McHaney, Lee Breakiron, and Bill Cavalier and Howard’s Historicals with Barbara Barret and Amy Kerr. I was late and missed most of the first panel, but caught all of the ladies’ panel. Each focused on one of Bob’s strong women characters. These ladies know their stuff.

Cross Plains has a top notch library. It was one of the three finalists last year for Best Small Town Library in the US. I took a minute to look at some of the pulps and books the library put on display. They have quite an extensive collection of Howard’s publications. These usually stay locked up in the bank vault, but the library puts them on display for Howard Days. Closely watched, of course. Here are some shots of what they have. I turn green with envy every time I see them.

Cross Plains Library collection

More of the collection

Original publication of some of Bob’s work

They don’t make covers like this anymore. Sigh.

The last item of the afternoon was the trailer for the new Conan movie in the high school auditorium. Specifically, the “Red Band” trailer, or the R-rated trailer in other words. Fred Malmberg of Paradox Entertainment led the discussion. Star Jason Mamoa had wanted to be there but was unable to due to a wedding he needed to attend. He did send a video clip clip greeting, which was pretty cool. I’ve got pictures of some of hte pro0ps they had on hand. I’ll post those later this week or early next week. We were told we could take pictures but were asked not to post them until late this week. They hadn’t been publicly shown before.

Miguel asked me after it was over what I thought. I said that it will be visually stunning and would probably be a good movie about a character named Conan. Whether that character had any resemblance to a character of the same name created by Robert E. Howard remained to be seen.
I went back to the pavilion and visited with friends for a little while, then proceeded on to the banquet. Like last year, the food was good, fajitas with rice and beans. Fred Malmberg sat across and and one seat down from me, so I got to talk with him some. He seems to be very knowledgeable about Howard’s works and wants to have them adapted faithfully to the screen. I gained some insight into how the whole process of bringing a property to film works from talking to him. Paul Herman presented the Robert E. Howard Foundation scholarship. This is a $1000 scholarship presented each year to the winner of an essay contest. This year’s winner read her essay, which was over one of Howard’s poems.

Dennis McHaney

Damon Sasser

Guests Dennis McHaney and Damon Sasser gave gave brief speeches on how they came to be involved in Howard fandom. The silent auction was didn’t seem to have as much stuff as last year, or maybe I had better self control. I didn’t get everything I bid on, but I did okay. The auction is a fundraiser for Project Pride, the community development organization that hosts Howard Days. I heard the next day they raised over $1500. If that’s not correct, someone please let me know.

Al Harron accepting his award

The Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards were announced. Rob Roehm won more than anyone, but there were a number of other winners as well. I don’t have a complete list, but I will post a link when the Foundation posts them. Two of the most surprised winners were David Hardy and Al Harron. That’s Al accepting his award in the photo.

Bill Cavalier

Bill Cavalier received the Black Circle Award, which is for lifetime achievement. It’s not easy to win. You have to be nominated one year and then receive a certain percentage of the vote the next. That’s him holding it up.

Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate all of the winners.

After the awards, those of us who didn’t have a long drive went to the Pavilion for the poetry throwdown. I was tired and decided not to push my luck and headed on home.

I’ll write about the second day in a followup post.

Back From Howard Days

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I returned from Howard Days a few hours ago and have been playing catch up on email and other online things. I stayed at my parents’ house in Breckenridge, like I usually do. (Their internet connection was shot, hence the playing catch-up now, and the repairman didn’t show up when scheduled.) It’s an hour’s drive away, but the rate I get on the room is good and I can make the trip into a family trip that I sneak off from to go to Cross Plains. Unfortunately I tend to miss the late conversations at the Pavilion. I’ve driven and slept at the same time before, and it’s not an experience I want to repeat. I’ll be posting a report over the next couple of days. I took plenty of pictures (until the battery on my camera died; it had gotten turned on without my realizing it). Afterwards, I had to use the camera on my phone. Those will be going up over the next few days.