Roy G. Krenkel Was Born 98 Years Ago

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krenkel earthscoreI’m trying to get ready to start the second summer term, so this is going to be short.  But I wanted to point out that today was Roy G. Krenkel’s 98th birthday.  Krenkel is best remembered today for his work with early comics giants such as Al Williamson and paperback covers for Ace, DAW, and Lancer.

Krenkel was a friend of Frank Frazetta, of whom Frazetta said, “I met Roy Krenkel back in 1949 or 1950, and he has never ceased to be a constant source of inspiration to me—a truly conscientious artist who will not tolerate incompetence.”

krenkel kullMuch of Krenkel’s best remembered work was for fantasy adventure, particularly Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard.  Edgar Rice Burroughs grandson Danton Burroughs considered him to be one of the great ERB illustrators.  krenkle-thuvia

Two Stories From “Tales From the Otherverse” Nominated for the Sidewise Award

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Tales From The Otherverse webJames Reasoner announced earlier today that two of the stories from his anthology Tales From the Otherverse have been nominated for the Sidewise Award.  I had the privilege of having a story accepted for that anthology, and no, mine isn’t one of the nominees.

The stories are “The Hero of Deadwood” by James Reasoner, and “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” by Bill Crider.  If you haven’t read them, you should.  They’re both top notch.  The entire anthology is.  (I’m speaking of the other stories; modesty prevents me fromo commenting on my own work.)  And that’s not just my opinion.  Tales From the Otherverse was the only publication to have more than one story on the short list.  So congratulations to James and Bill on their fine work and congratulations to James on editing such a outstanding anthology.

Details about the Sidewise Awards can be found here.  The winners will be announced at this year’s Worldcon, MidAmeriCon II, this August.

Gemmell Awards Shortlist

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The shortlist for the Gemmell Awards was announced earlier today:

The Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel

The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer

The Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art

  • Kerem Beyit for the cover of The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron (Gollancz)
  • Jason Chan for the cover of The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence (Harper Voyager)
  • Larry Elmore & Carol Russo Design for the cover of Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia (Baen)
  • Raymond Swanland for the cover of Archaon: Lord of Chaos by Rob Sanders (Black Library)
  • Paul Young for the cover of Ruin by John Gwynne (Pan Macmillan)

The winners will be announced September 24, 2016 at Fantasycon, held at the Grand Hotel and the Royal in Scarborough UK.  Voting closes at midnight GMT on Friday, August 19.

As usual, most of the Legend nominees, the exception being Son of the Black Sword, are in series I’ve either not read or am not current on.  I’ve only heard of two of the Morningstar Nominees, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, which I know from reviews will not be my flagon of ale, and The Vagrant, which looks interesting.  I’ll try to read at least one or two of the nominees, but the way the summer is going, I may be sitting out this year’s awards simply because I won’t have time to read enough nominees to cast an informed ballot.

Announcing Rocket’s Red Glare

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

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

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

Enter The City of Pillars

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City of Pillars 1000x1600The City of Pillars
Joshua P. Simon
Paperback $11.99
ebook $2.99

I’d like to thank Joshua P. Simon for the review copy of The City of Pillars as well as his patience. I should have read the book and gotten the review up sooner.

The City of Pillars is the second volume of The Epic of Andrasta and Rondel.  You can read the review of the first volume, The Cult of Sutek, here.

The story takes place not long after the events of the previous book, approximately a year later if my memory isn’t failing me.  It opens with the pair trying to steal a flute from a museum.  Things don’t go well at all.  Instead of the flute, they’re set up and wanted for a number of killings they aren’t guilty of. Continue reading →

The Latest From Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

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timthumb.php (2)The latest issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (#28) has been out for a little while.  I’m playing catch up after traveling for a great deal of the past month, so apologies for this being a little late.

As I stated the last time I reviewed HFQ, there were two serials in the previous issue that I would deal with here.  There are also two poems (by Mary Soon Lee and David Sklar) and two more short stories in the current issue.  Let’s deal with the short stories first. Continue reading →

Report on Howard Days 2016

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Howard House 2016Yes, I know this year’s Howard Days was nearly 2 weeks ago, but we left for New Mexico on family vacation right after I got back.  (Other than no AC in the car when the temperature was 105F, we had a great time.)  I’m playing catch-up catch up on blogging.

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

Fall Under the Spell of The Conjurers

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the conjurersThe Conjurers
David Wade
Deadlock Publishing
Kindle $3.99

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

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

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

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

Summer Vacation

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

Interspecies is a Great Shared World Anthology

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Interspecies-final-v2-1-735x1024Interspecies
Ally Bishop, ed.
Kosa Press
ebook $0.99 until June 7, $4.99 thereafter
Print edition forthcoming

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

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

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

I’m glad you asked that. Continue reading →