I Found A Guile of Dragons Most Beguiling

A Guile of Dragons
James Enge
Pyr Books
trade paper, 279 p., $17.95

I apologize for the horrible pun in the title of this post, but some things, well, they just have to be done. 

I  eargerly anticipated this book for most of the summer and was thrilled when the review copy showed up.  (Thanks to the good folks at Pyr.)  The chaos of moving kept me from getting to it as soon as I'd have liked.  But it was worth the wait. 

This is the thinnest of the Morlock books so far, but that doesn't mean it's thin on story.  It takes us back to the earliest days of Morlock's life and then some.  The book opens with Morlock's mother Nimue betraying his father Merlin to his old enemy Earno.  She's pregnant with Morlock at the time.

The main part of the action takes place years later, when Morlock, raised by the Dwarves after his parents are exiled, has joined the Graith of Guardians.  He's a thain, the lowest possible rank. Morlock has a major problem, one he isn't aware of.  He's come to the notice of the gods, and they're messing with him.  In case it isn't obvious, let me say that this is never a good thing.  Ever.

A Tall Tale Involving the Ghost of Davy Crockett

Evan Lewis writes mysteries and historical fiction, as well as running the blog Davy Crockett's Almanac.  His most recent work is a little something that should appeal to fans of Robert E. Howard's Breckenridge Elkins. 

One of his series characters is Dave Crockett, grandson of a man with a similar name you might have heard of.  It seems Dave is haunted by the ghost of his grandfather, and they don't see eye to eye.  Evan's latest installment is up for free at Beat to a Pulp.  I found the tale to be fun and clever with just the right amount of humor and exaggeration.  It wasn't too serious and was a pleasant diversion from some of the things I've been reading lately.

Check it out.  It's not long, so can read it while waiting in the doctor's office or in line at the DMV.  If you like what you read, Evan will be putting out an ebook with five Dave and Davy stories plus an additional bonus story involving other characters.

I'm Helping to Harm Literature? Cool!

There is an article today The Guardian that is too good not to poke with a sharp stick.  It quotes the head judge of this year's Man Booker prize, one Peter Stothard, as saying "If the mass of unargued opinion chokes off literary critics...then literature will be the poorer for it."  He went on to say, "There is a great deal of opinion online, and it's probably reasonable opinion, but there is much less reasoned opinion."

Now, aside from the fact that the previous sentence doesn't make any sense when examined closely, Stothard's views smack of elitism.

As further evidence they do, here's another quote:

If we make the main criteria good page-turning stories – if we prioritise unargued opinion over criticism – then I think literature will be harmed.

He thinks literary criticism exists to tell us (that would presumably be the unwashed masses of genre readers, as opposed to readers of litfic) what is good and why it's good.  He says that.  I'm just too lazy to quote him again.

Excuse me, Mr. Stothard, but are you aware that "good" is a subjective term?  That what two educated, intelligent people regard as good can differ widely?  I don't need you, or anyone else for that matter, to tell me what is good.  There are critics and bloggers whose opinions I value and seek out because I understand their tastes and how those tastes compare with mine.  I have a pretty good idea if I'm going to like a book or story based on what they think of it.  And no, I don't have the same tastes and likes as they do.  Just the opposite in some cases.  But because I know their tastes, I can make an informed decision regarding whether I want to read (or watch or listen to) a particular work.

And I really don't understand why "good page-turning stories" aren't the main criteria.  Most people read for pleasure, at least as far as fiction is concerned.  (The reasons for reading nonfiction can be complex, so I'll restrict my comments to fiction.)  That means their primary goal is mostly likely to be enjoying  a good page-turning story.

The majority of adults, at least those who bother to read more than texts on their phones or the National Enquirer, do not have as their primary reason for reading to be improved, enlightened, made socially aware, or because it's good for them.  The people who read for those reasons are in school.  Come to think of it, people in school don't read for those reasons either.  They read because it's required.

We read to be entertained, Mr. Stothard.  We read because we want page-turning stories, as you so arrogantly put it.  Any improvement, enlightenment, or social awareness is secondary to that goal.

I blog because I want to share the page-turning stories I've found.  If blogging harms literature, or rather a narrow view of what literature is, as defined by an exclusive and elitist club, then fine.  I'm guilty as charged.

And completely unrepentant. 

Report on Fencon IX

Fencon IX was held in Dallas over the weekend (Sept. 21-23).  I thought it was a great success.  Of course my definition of success is pretty simple.  I had a good time.  In spite of some friends and/or regular attendees not being able to make it this year.

I arrived at the hotel on Friday afternoon after a long drive.  The first two panels I attended were slideshows by the artist guest of honor, Donato Giancola.   In the first slideshow, he discussed how he became interested in art in general and how he came to do paperback covers.  The second slideshow was more about how the Old Masters and some of the modern 20th century artists influenced him.  There was some overlap between the two programs, but both were worth attending.  Some of the paintings he showed were from a series he jokingly called Dead Things on the Beach.  Many of these haven't been published, and they were some of my favorites.  One that has been published is the cover of The Golden Rose, by Kathleen Bryan.  That's it on the right.  You can see what the original painting looks like here.

Toastmaster Peter David did a great job on the opening ceremonies, throwing toast into the audience.  At least until a piece landed inside one of the large bowl light fixtures.

I made a run to Half Price Books later that night with a box of items, mostly duplicates from small presses that I'd gotten in some grab bag sales, but a few things my wife wanted to get rid of.  They offered me $30.  It was to laugh.  I thanked them, kept the books, and got considerably more (much more) than that in trade credit in the dealer's room for about half of what I had in the box.  (Thanks Willie and Zane.)

When I got back to the hotel, I hung out in the hall outside the con suite and listened to astronaut Stanley G. Love tell what all he went through to get into the astronaut program.  There were some room parties that night which I visited, then went to bed. 

Finn and Simmons, Barbarians Brunching

I bounced around several panels Saturday morning, then at noon attended Brunch with Barbarians, a joint reading between Mark Finn and Heroic Fantasy Quarterly editor Adrian Simmons.  The pieces they read were good, and so was the spread. 

More panels and signing that afternoon, along with a nap and dinner with Finn and Simmons.  The panel on the future of space exploration was packed, with folks (including me) standing at the back.  Special guest Karl Schroeder moderated a great panel on what science will look like in the far future.  I missed a great deal of GoH C. J. Cherryh's address, but what I caught was fascinating.  She was speaking on how climate change has affected empires over the historical record.  I missed most of the events with the other guests.  I usually spend some time listening to the musical guests, but this year I was pretty much otherwise occupied.  (That's one of the things I love most about Fencon, the music track.)

The maintenance people were working in the room across the hall from me and set off the fire alarms.  The entire convention evacuated long enough to get outside and come back in.

At 5:00 that afternoon, there were a launch party for a benefit CD in the con suite.  The CD is Cath, and the proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.  It's Celtic music, probably my favorite genre, and some of my favorite artists perform on it.  You can hear samples by clicking the above link.  Melissa Tatum did a great job of putting this one together.

That evening I mostly hung at parties and visited with friends.  I'm getting way too old to be staying up past midnight, I'm discovering.

(Large) mammals of action: me and Todd Caldwell

Sunday had another full slate.  Donato was supposed to do a live portraiture demonstration, but he had to leave early.  The two highlights of the day were the Phineas and Ferb panel (yes, yes I did attend) and the panel celebrating 80 years of Conan.  If you aren't familiar with Phineas and Ferb, you're missing out on some of the most intelligent and creative science fiction cartoons around, one that not only gets geek culture, but treats it respectfully.  If you don't believe me, just watch the episode set in a science fiction convention.  Members of the panel and audience displayed great taste in fashion, as you can see in the picture.

The Conan panel was the last one I attended, with good and thought provoking discussion.  Mark Finn maintained that Conan was something of an anomaly in Howard's work in that Conan was created for a specific market, namely Weird Tales.  He says that the way women were portrayed in most of the Conan stories (Belit and Valeria being exceptions) was intended to appeal to editor Farnsworth Wright and get on the cover (and thus get paid more).  As a counter-example of Howard portraying strong women, he and some of the other panelists pointed out "Sword Woman".  That was a good way to end the convention.  Not wanting to leave, I reluctantly drove home.

It was a great convention.  I'm looking forward to next year, although I'm not sure how big the convention will be.  Worldcon will be held less than a month prior, and it will be in San Antonio. 

A Review of We Can Be Heroes by Scott Fitzgerald Gray

We Can Be Heroes
Scott Fitzgerald Gray
trade paper 306 p., $13.95
ebook $6.99 Kindle  Smashwords

I got an email a few months ago from a gentleman of whom I was not familiar, one Scott Fitzgerald Gray, who asked if I would mind reviewing his new YA novel.  He also requested a guest blog post.  His credentials were good (more on those in a moment), and I agreed.  Unfortunately Scott had some things come up and had to postpone the blog tour.  Hopefully that will happen soon.  He'd be welcome to write a guest post here anytime he likes.

Scott is a member of the Monumental Works Group, a collective of sf/fantasy writers that includes Ty Johnston.  (reviewed here, guest post here).  I'm familiar with Ty and his work, so I agreed to his request. After reading We Can Be Heroes, all I can say is, if Johnston and Gray are representative of the Monumental Works Group, I'm going to have to check the work of other members.  These guys can write.

I had a bazillion things going on while I read this book and wasn't able to read it every day.  In fact, it took me two weeks to finish it, which is a looong time for me to finish a book of this length.  The fact that I didn't get bored and move on to something else speaks to how compelling I found the writing. This review would probably fit better at Futures Past and Present, but this blog gets more traffic, so I'm going to post it here.

I was expecting a good book, but this one exceeded my expectations.  Here's why:

Giveaway - James Enge's This Crooked Way

Things appear as though they will settle down in the next day or so, and I can get a report on Fencon and a review posted.  In the meantime, I've started reading James Enge's A Guile of Dragons.  This novel is being promoted as the origin story of Morlock Ambrosius and will be the next novel I review (after the one I need to write).  To tie in with my review, I'll be giving away a copy of This Crooked Way, one of the earlier volumes in the Morlock series and a good introduction to the character. 

Here's how things will work.  I thought about doing a simple random drawing from among the entrants, but where's the fun in that?  Instead, I'm going to select the winner based on creativity.  Paul Cornell has called Enge's work "Conan as written by Raymond Chandler".  The giveaway takes off from that.

What fantasy author/famous nonfantasy or literary author mashup would you like to see?  (For this contest, William Shakespeare counts as a fantasy author.)  Specifically, what famous fantasy character would you like to see written by another author?

Got that?  Name a fantasy character you would like to see written by a nonfantasy or famous author and why.  The "why" is essential if you want to win.  I'm judging the entries on originality and creativity.  Your reasoning is where your creativity can really shine.

Place your answer in the comments.  You can enter up to three times, but each character must be entered separately.  Comments containing more than one entry will be disqualified.  Entries will be judged on creativity.  Contest closes at 11:59 p.m., CDT, Sunday, October 30.  Winner will be announced later that week in a blog post and asked to send me a private email with a shipping address.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.  Good luck and have fun!

Update:  More than one person who already has a copy of This Crooked Way has submitted an entry just for fun.  That's great!  The more, the merrier.  Thanks, guys.

Beneath Ceasesless Skies is Having a Subscription Drive

One of the best online magazines of any genre, period, and a great source for adventure fantasy is Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  Right now they're having a subscription drive.  A one-year subscription (26 issues, one every other week) is only $13.99.  The formats available are mobi, epub, pdf, and prc.  To sweeten the pot, when you subscribe during the drive, you will get a free copy of The Best of BCS, Year One or The Best of BCS, Year Two.  Your choice. That's hard to beat.  I renewed my subscription tonight.

If you're not familiar with Beneath Ceaseless Skies, you can find reviews here, here, here, here, here, and here. 

What's Next

I've got almost all of the stuff out of the old house we didn't have time to pack before we moved.  One more night (~1.5 hrs) should get the rest of it.  Then maybe I can get back to reading, writing, and blogging.  I've been reading a novel by Scott Fitzgerald Gray for about a week and a half, which is a long time for this novel.  It's good, and I'm really enjoying it.  It's just that I haven't had much time to read lately, and when I do, my aging body betrays me by going to sleep in spite of my best efforts to finish one more chapter. 

I'm hoping to make it to Fencon this weekend.  It was looking like a done deal, but some things have come up.  I think I'll still make it.  I really need the break.

Afterwards, I've got a novel to read that's been sitting in the queue for way too long , followed by A Guile of Dragons by James Enge.  This one will have a giveaway associated with it.  After that, although not necessarily this order will be Hard Times in Dragon City by Matt Forbeck, Steel and Sorrow by Joshua P. Simon, and The Black God's War by Moses Siregar III.  I'll also be weaving some anthologies and periodicals in the mix as well as a small backlog of titles from Angry Robot that I wasn't able to read when I intended because of the move. 

All of this is tentative of course, but that's the general plan.

Lawsuit Over Carnival of Souls

This is nuts.  There's this guy named Jazan Wild who's a comic creator.  Among his creations is a comic by the title Carnival of Souls.  A title which he has trademarked.  There's also a fantasy novel title Carnival of Souls by a lady named Melissa Marr.  Mr. Wild is suing her publisher, Harper Collins for trademark infringement.  That's trademark, not copyright. 

The really nutty thing is that he's sending cease and desist letters to book bloggers who review the book.  Seems someone might be a bit too full of himself.  You can read the details here. 

Meanwhile, I may have to bump Carnival of Souls Ms. Marr's book to the head of the review queue.  Not that I'm trying to stir up trouble or anything.  I would never do that.  Honest.

A Review of Brad Sinor's Where the Shadows Began

Where the Shadows Began
Bradley H. Sinor
Merry Blacksmith Press
tp, 182 p., $13.95

I'd intended to run this review in conjunction with an interview I conducted with Brad and his wife Sue.  Unfortunately, Brad suffered a stroke about the time I finished transcribing the interview, so he hasn't had a chance to check it for accuracy (there were a couple of places where the recording isn't clear).  I have no intention of rushing him.  I'd much rather he focus on getting back on his feet.

In the meantime, I will run this review, partly as a show of support for Brad and partly because I try to find things I think the readers of this blog will enjoy.  And there's plenty here to enjoy.

Bradley H. Sinor is mainly a writer of short stories.  This volume contains 15 selections, plus an afterward telling a little about how each story came to be written.  There's a wide variety here, from Lovecraftian horror, to alternate history, to Arthurian vampires.

Rather than give a synopsis, even a one line synopsis, of each story, I'll highlight some of my favorites.

An Exciting Return to Feyland

Feyland: The Bright Court
Anthea Sharp
paperback $12.99
ebook $4.99  Kindle  Nook Smashwords

Earlier this year I received an very polite email from a lady whose name was new to me.  The sender of the email, Anthea Sharp, asked me if I would be interested in reviewing her new YA fantasy novel, Feyland: The Dark Realm.  She was kind enough to say that if the book turned out to not be my thing, I didn't have to review it nor should I feel obligated to finish it. 

I thought this was very gracious of her.  I took her up on her offer, and the book turned out to very much be my kind of thing.  It was well written, exciting, with characters who were real and reminded me at times of my younger days.  You can read the whole review here.

Well, now the next installment in the series is out (and has been out for a few months; my apologies to Ms. Sharp for taking so long to review it.)  I'd like to thank Ms. Sharp for sending me a review copy.  The question most of you are probably wondering about is, does this volume match the first in quality?