Blogging Conan: The Scarlet Citadel

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post on Conan.  All I can say, "Where did the time go?"

Anyway, there are times when you just need to get back to basics.  This weekend has been one of them.

The Frazetta art for "The Scarlet Citadel", shown at right and originally appearing on the cover of Conan the Usurper, has always been one of my favorites.  Perhaps it's because I don't like snakes.  If that were me chained up, I probably be a blubbering mass of jelly.  Anyway, even though it isn't exactly faithful to Howard's description, it's still a masterpiece. 

"The Scarlet Citadel" was the third Conan story published in Weird Tales, following "The Phoenix on the Sword" and "The Tower of the Elephant", although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" and "The God in the Bowl" were probably written before Howard wrote "The Scarlet Citadel".  (Links are to my posts about those stories.)

Amazing Stories Returns to Publishing Fiction

For Immediate Release

Hillsborough, NH

May 10, 2013

Amazing Stories Publishes Excerpt From Douglas Smith's New Novel THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Returns to Publishing Fiction for the first time since 2005.

Amazing Stories, the world's first science fiction magazine, is pleased to announce that it has returned to publishing new fiction with the release of a substantial excerpt from Aurora Award-Winning author Douglas Smith's new novel THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD. 

Douglas Smith describes his new novel as being -

"Set in modern day Northern Canada, THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD is an urban fantasy incorporating First Nations mythology. With an introduction by World Fantasy Award winner, Charles de Lint, the book will appeal to fans of de Lint and Neil Gaiman. In it, a shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a series of murders that could mean the end of the world."

Smith's new novel is  a sequel to Douglas’ award-winning novelette, “Spirit Dance".

THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD will be published this summer and is available for pre-order. A special discount is being offered to readers of Amazing Stories (sign up for a free membership on site).

To read the excerpt and for more information about Douglas Smith and his award-winning fiction, please visit www.amazingstoriesmag.com/blog, or visit Douglas Smith's website www.smithwriter.com.

Amazing Stories was re-launched in December of 2012 as a social network for fans of science fiction, fantasy and horror and features multiple daily blog posts written by the Amazing Blog Team, comprised of over 100 authors, artists, bloggers, editors and fans.  Blog posts cover the entire universe of subjects of interest to fans - literature, film, television, comics, anime, science, audio works, art, collecting, pulps, fandom and more.

With the release of Douglas Smith's novel excerpt, Amazing Stories returns to the publication of fiction with an excerpt program.  Two excerpts of new works will be published every month; featured works will initially be drawn from among the Amazing Blog Team members but the program will eventually open up to outside submissions.

Amazing Stories excerpt program joins it's already-in-progress Space Art feature, a bi-weekly showcase of space art contributed by the members of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.  

Membership in the Amazing Stories website is FREE.  Every new membership directly contributes to the return of Amazing Stories as a fully-fledged professional market for science fiction, fantasy and horror.

http://www.amazingstoriesmag.com

The Experimenter Publishing Company
Amazing Stories
http://www.amazingstoriesmag.com

A Look at Beneath Ceaseless Skies #120

It's been a little while since I last reviewed an issue of BCS.  The current issue contains the usual two stories, one with steampunk themes, which is a little different than what you usually find here. 

First up, "The Clockwork Trollop" by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.  A scientist in Victorian England try to reduce the number of women engaging in prostitution by creating an untiring and hygienic lady of the night.  (He envisions training the current prostitutes to maintain their replacements.)  Like much social engineering, this one has some serious unexpected consequences.

This was a relatively short story, and the general way things end up isn't exactly unexpected.  Still, Doyle and Macdonald do a good job of capturing the feel of the times.  This one had an aura of Arthur Conan Doyle  hanging over it.

The longer of the two stories was "The Drowned Man" by Laura E. Price.  This is a complex tale about two sisters who are returning from an island that isn't entirely in this world.  They've recovered an artifact for a museum and are hoping the museum will hire them in this capacity on a regular basis.  While in the middle of the ocean, they spot a man in the water.  At first they think he's drowned, but when the ship's crew pulls him onboard they discover he's still alive.

They should be asking themselves why he's still alive if he's in the middle of the ocean...

The thing I liked most about this one were the hints regarding the two sisters.  Ms. Price seems to have worked out the backstory quite thoroughly.  I'm not sure if "The Drowned Man" is a stand alone with a detailed background, the inaugural installment of a new series, or only the most recent episode of a series already begun.  I rather hope there are either other stories about these characters out there, more to come, of both.  The sisters aren't exactly lady-like nor are the the kind of women warmly welcomed in polite society.  The author hints they may have been raised by a witch, so that probably has something to do with it.

Anyway, an enjoyable issue, although the subject matter of "The Clockwork Trollop" might not be to everyone's taste.  The next issue should be out within a few days, so look for another review soon.

 

RIP, Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013)

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

The world got a little darker today with the announcement of the passing of Ray Harryhausen.  A pioneer of stop-motion special effects, Harryhausen's influence on the film industry cannot be overstated.  Much of the special effects we enjoy today can be traced back to his work.  While the technology is completely different from when he started in the industry, the high standards he achieved set the bar for those who followed after  him.  Highlights of his work include The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), and Clash of the Titans (1981).  His movies can still bring out the kid in me (which is admittedly not hard to do).

Rest in peace, sir.

The Next Two Weeks

Just a quick update since things are going to be hectic for the next two weeks.  Today and tomorrow are the last two class day.  Wednesday is Dead Day (when students supposedly study), then finals start on Thursday.  I'm giving two, one Saturday evening and the other first thing Monday.  In between then, I've got to compile the lab grades for 4 courses (~1500 students).  The latter involves making sure all the TAs followed the grading rubric and nobody's averages are out of line.

What that means is I probably won't be blogging with any consistency until all of that is done.  I'll try to post every couple of days, but most things will either be opinion pieces or reviews of short fiction.

When the smoke clears, I'm going to try to read some titles from Pyr that have been piling up.  The good folks there have started sending me review copies of nearly everything they've published lately, for which I would like to thank them. 

Over the last year I've bought some titles by Nightshade authors which I've not gotten around to reading.  I'm going to move those books up in priority.  A number of good authors have gotten caught in a bad spot, and I'd like to help them if I can with some publicity.

So if it looks like I'm only reading a few publishers, that's why.  I'll read some other things for review as well just to keep the variety up.  For instance, there's that new Margaret Brundage bio that's supposed to ship later this week...

The summer should be slower than the spring has been, so I hope I'll be able to post fairly regularly over the summer.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by in April, both here and at Futures Past and Present.  Both blogs saw record traffic, and I appreciate the interest you've shown.

Nefarious Mad Scientist Scheme: Freezing the Atmosphere

As a demonstration in class this past week, I and one of my henchmen froze a small portion of the atmosphere. 

That's it in the bell jar.  If it looks like ice floating in liquid, it is.  Before we froze the atmosphere, it needed to be liquified.

The process was amazingly simple.  Once the atmosphere was liquified, all we had to do was boil it.

I call the device the atmosphere-freezinator.

So, unless you want me to freeze the entire atmosphere of the Earth, you'll deposit.$500 in US currency each month in one of the following offshore accounts-

Excuse me, there's someone at the door.  I'll finish delivering this ultimatum once I've dealt with them.

Who left this platypus on the doorstep? And why is he wearing a fedora?

Hey, where'd you get that- Urk!

To see more pictures and find out what's really going on, click the link below (if you're accessing this from the main page of the blog) to read more:

With Emilie, in the Hollow World

Emilie and the Hollow World
Martha Wells
Strange Chemistry, an imprint of Angry Robot Books
US/CAN Print
ISBN: 9781908844491
Format: Large Paperback
R.R.P.: $9.99
UK Print
ISBN: 9781908844484
Format: Medium Paperback
R.R.P.: £7.99
Ebook
ISBN: 9781908844507
Format: Epub & Mobi
R.R.P.: £5.49 / $6.99

Once upon a time there was a form of popular fiction in which a band of intrepid explorers ventured into new and uncharted lands.  Often their adventures were of a somewhat fantastic nature, involving lost worlds and forgotten civilizations, the Professor Challenger novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle being a prime example of this type of fiction.  Since much of it was written during Victorian times, the subgenre tends to have a Victorian and/or British Empire feel to it.  For whatever reasons, the arbiters of taste and sophistication considered these adventures to be essentially for boys.

This subgenre has fallen from the heights of popularity it once enjoyed.  The reasons for this are beyond the scope of this review.  What is within the scope of the review is that Martha Wells has come along, dusted off the subgenre, given it a heroine to broaden its appeal beyond just boys, and shown us all how it's done.