Spring is in the Air

The weather is turning warmer; the trees are starting to bud; the wind is beginning to blow and bringing lots of dust with it.  I just want to go outside and enjoy with weather.  And a good book, of course.

Unfortunately, it being the time of spring that it is, or rather the point in the semester it is, I'm buried under a mountain of exams, approximately 150 of them, give or take a few.  So I'm not going to be able to read, write, or blog much.  At least not until the end of the week.  To tide you over, head over to Amazing Stories (TM) and check out my review of Under the Ember Star by Charles Gramlich.  If you like Leigh Brackett, this book should appeal to you.

Spring Break starts at the end of the week, and I intend to do some catching up then.  Until then, back to grading.

And the Winner Is...

This one was tough.  There were some good  excellent entries in my Giveaway Contest for a copy of James Enge's This Crooked Way.  I understand now why so many people do random selections to determine the winners in these types of things.  Everyone who entered is to be commended  for their imagination.

And the winner is...Charles Gramlich.  I wrestled with this for quite a while, but in the end, Charles won out on the basis of the detail of his entry. Charles please send me an email with a mailing address, and I'll get the book to you right away.

All of the entries were outstanding, and this was a tough decision for me to make.  Which is as it should be.

Thank you, everyone, who entered.  And again, my apologies for the typo and confusion over the end date, especially to Martin Holm, who missed the deadline because he was traveling.  He knowingly put in a great entry after the contest closed, and I appreciate his taking part.

Long Looks at Short Fiction: "Amarante" by Scott Oden

"Amarante"
Scott Oden
ebook $0.99 Kindle Nook

Scott Oden is an outstanding writer of historical adventure fiction and fantasy.  I'll be looking at his novels over the coming months. For now, though, I want to take a look at this short piece, a tale of orcs.  I've reviewed several stories about orcs in the last few months, one by Charles Gramlich and three different stories by Tom Doolan. 

This latest is probably the darkest of the lot, which is by no means a bad thing.  It concerns a punitive raid on a temple.  The leader of the orcs is Kraibag, Captain of the 10th Zhrokari Brigade.  They've finished destroying the temple for spreading sedition.  Kraibag is about to kill the surviving priestess when he's stopped by Muzgaash, a Witch Hound.  Witch Hounds can sense magic, and he warns Kraibag of sorcery. 

Long Looks at Short Fiction: Harvest of War by Charles Allen Gramlich

"Harvest of War"
Charles Allen Gramlich
Razored Zen Press, 0.99

In the afterward to this story, the author mentions that it was written for an anthology about orcs Scott Oden was putting together which unfortunately didn't work out.   That's a shame, because if the other stories were as good as this one, we've missed out on some fine reading.

The point of the anthology was to present orcs as more three dimensional than what we see in Tolkien.  Gramlich succeeds.  This is a moving and intelligent tale.  Because it's a short story, I'm not going to discuss the plot much, but I will tell you why I liked it. 

Adventures on Strange Worlds

Strange Worlds
Jeff Doten, ed. and illus.
189 p., $27

I grew up reading classic science fiction and science fantasy from the 1930s and 1940s, and the sword and planet story has a special place in my heart.  It's a genre we don't see very often any more, but hopefully that is changing.  If nothing else, the release of John Carter next year should cause a brief resurgence in the genre. 

But if you can't wait that long, there's a new anthology out to help whet your appetite. 

Charles Gramlich at Home of Heroics

I was hoping to post a review tonight of the novel I'm currently reading.  Ain't gonna happen.  Tomorrow don't look promisin' neither. 

Instead, please allow me to point you to Charles Gramlich's post over at Home of Heroics.  It's the first of two parts, discussing the various subgenres of fantasy.  Featured are sword and sorcery and sword and planet, two of my favorite categories.  If you haven't read the post (and I know some of you have because you've commented), check it out.  I found the names of a couple of new authors I need to track down.