A Slew of Pyr Covers (New covers for Sykes, Hodder, and the Griffiths)

Information on Pyr's Fall/Winter 2012 is starting to trickle out and it looks to be a great season ahead with a couple series being wrapped up that I've been following since the beginning.

The Skybound Sea will finish off Sam Sykes' first trilogy The Aeons' Gate, which started so well with Tome of the Undergates [reviewed here]. Pyr has done a much better job with the cover than the UK version, which is all kinds of blah. I was still hoping to finally get my Dragonman cover though. I'll shut up about that now since that ship has clear sunk and how could I not like a cover that put me a quote from me on the front? That's a first for me though I've been on quite a few back covers and inside pages at this point. It still never gets old.

After two volumes of odd, bloody introspection and diversions Sykes has left himself a lot of story to wrap-up, but he's more than equipped to handle it. The Skybound Sea will be out in early September. I haven't found an official blurb that says much , but here is the brief UK description:

After the misadventures of the first two books Lenk and his companions must finally turn away from fighting each other and for their own survival and look to saving the entire human race. A terrible demon has risen from beneath the sea and where it came from thousands could follow. And all the while an alien race is planning the extinction of humanity. The third volume in the Aeon's Gate trilogy widens the action out dramatically. TOME OF THE UNDERGATES was based mainly on a ship, BLACK HALO moved the action to an island of bones, THE SKYBOUND SEA takes us out into a world threatened with a uniquely imagined and terrifying apocalypse.

A Red Sun Also Rises is Mark Hodder's first non-Burton & Swinburne novel, but it does involved Steampunk is some fashion. The alien on the cover is so creepy I'll have to check it out. Bottom line is it sounds like a Sword & Planet novel influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs and given Hodder's style he's apt to make it a fun take. Little has been released about this story yet except this interesting post from Hodder, but here's the blurb:

When Reverend Aiden Fleischer, vicar of the sleepy town of Theaston Vale, finds a hunchbacked, light-sensitive and crippled vagabond named Clarissa Stark begging at his door, little does he suspect it's the start of an adventure that's literally out of this world!

Bribed by an unscrupulous family, Fleischer and his companion flee to London's missionary college, but in wicked Whitechapel, the faithless priest stumbles upon one of Jack the Ripper's victims and becomes convinced that he himself is the notorious killer. With her friend's mind shattered, Miss Stark is relieved when they are both posted to the far away Melanesian island of Koluwai, but here they encounter an even darker evil, one that transports them to another planet.

Beneath the twin suns of the planet Ptallaya, Fleischer and Stark encounter an alien species, the Yatsill, master mimics who, after gaining access to Miss Stark's mind, create their own bizarre version of Victorian London.

But Fleischer and Stark's new home from home is not safe, for the Blood Gods will soon invade, and if he is to defeat them and rescue the woman he's come to love, Fleischer must first face his own inner demons!

A Red Sun Also Rises will be released in early December. Also, of note is the fact that Hodder recently signed with Pyr for 3 more Burton & Swinburne novels.

The Kingmakers by Clay and Susan Griffith is also the final book in the Vampire Empire trilogy, although I think there is plenty more to this world to explore. Even though I haven't done full reviews of the first two books they've quickly become one of my favorite Vampire series as they blend action pulp sensibilities with Steampunk, Colonialism, Romance and  Post-Apocalyptic fiction so well. The Kingmakers will be out in September as well. No blurb has been released.

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Cover Unveiled for new James Enge

I just had a chance to look over Pyr's Spring/Summer 2012 releases and quite a few caught my eye. I'm of course looking forward to Jon Sprunk's last book in the Shadow series, Shadow's Master to finish strongly, which will also get me to get to the second book, finally.  But it is James Enge's A Guile of Dragons that has captivated my attention.  Enge's character Morlock Ambrosius have already become fairly popular as a series of standalone books that are mostly strung together short stories, but with A Guile of Dragons we go back to Morlock's time as a young man when he was just learning about the kind of power he has. A Guile of Dragons is also the first in the A Tournament of Shadows series with a big overarching story. No official blurb as of yet, but here is what Enge said months ago when the deal was first announced:

This will actually be a trilogy, not three standalone books. Each book will have its own story (because I believe in plot resolution) but each book will depend on its predecessor(s) more than the three books of Morlock in exile did. It’s not a prequel trilogy, though. It’s an origin story.

In an interview Enge also added:

It’s very old school fantasy in some ways — dwarves, dragons, Merlin and Nimue. (No elves, though. Everyone has to draw the line somewhere.) And it also gives us a look at Morlock’s homeland, which is a sort of anarchy where community needs are addressed by voluntary associations. It’s a sort of utopia, really — with monsters. Most utopias don’t have monsters, of course, but that’s why they lack a certain plausibility.

I'm guess the art is by Steven Stone or possibly Gene Mollica. It definitely has a Malazan feel and I love all the detail in the outfit. Mark me down for reading this come August next year.

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REVIEW | Wolfsangel by M.D. Lachlan (Pyr)

A cabal of mad witches, Norse Gods, bloody battles, and an unrepentant attitude rule Wolfsangel with harsh realities.

Wolfsangel is a gripping world with a rich story that is rife with hidden meaning in so many places. Long have I been fascinated with Norse mythology including their gods, associated stories, and even the power of the runes. Long have I also searched for a book that used Norse mythology so well. The best prior had been American Gods, but I've never thought of that as a true Norse novel. Wolfsangel uses a more historical view on the Norse and its culture and you can feel all the research that has been done about the minutia of their way of life in every chapter.

The story surrounds two brothers separated at birth both being trust into different worlds. One grows up as a wild animal while the other leads a fairly soft existence, but the juxtaposition that goes on with them as the story progresses and the werewolf mythos that surrounds them is astounding. The connections to the Fenrir wolf mythos (the wolf destined to kill Odin and bring about Ragnarök) is particularly well done as does Lachlan's use of berserkers. The best part is the werewolves fit so naturally in this world. Unapologetic, visceral, and at times gorey this isn't a novel for those who don't enjoy the dark parts of history and mythology.

There isn't much happiness in the world of Wolfsangel. Characters are subjected to terrible personal tragedies and whole groups are decimated for no good reason other than because they were ripe for the killing. Even people taken in as slaves seem to accept it all too easily, but the alternative is even grimmer: death. This is a remorseless world that is only going to get bloodier before it is all over. Complex and haunting, Wolfsangel is a challenging read on many levels, but a very worthy one.

If Scorsese decided to do a historical piece involving the Norse and werewolves you'd get something very much like Wolfsangel. It is not a fun read, but Wolfsangel is without a doubt the best and most honest use of Norse mythology and history I've ever read in fiction. I give Wolfsangel 9 out of 10 hats. For a debut Fantasy Lachlan has certainly sets the bar high. Wolfsangel is the first in the Wolfsangel trilogy with the sequel Fenrir scheduled for an October release in the US and July in the UK.

M.D. Lachlan is a pen name for Mark Barrowcliffe who has also been writing literary fiction and non-fiction for many years. I can recommend his memoir The Elfish Gene to Dungeons and Dragons fans for a good view of growing up when DnD first hit the market.

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Cover Unveiled for The Rift Walker (Vampire Empire) by Clay & Susan Griffith

In a word: beautiful.

 Last year I was pleasantly surprised by Clay and Susan Griffith's novel debut The Greyfriar. It was the perfect mix of pulpy goodness, Steampunk ascetics, and bloody vampires. I thought so highly of it I named it as the runner-up best vampire read of 2010 after the epic that was The Passage. So the sequel The Rift Walker is high on my comfort to-read list this year. Here is the synopsis, but skip ahead if you haven't read The Greyfriar:

Princess Adele struggles with a life of marriage and obligation as her Equatorian Empire and their American Republic allies stand on the brink of war against the vampire clans of the north. However, the alliance's horrific strategy for total victory drives Adele to abandon her duty and embark on a desperate quest to keep her nation from staining its hands with genocide. Reunited with her great love, the mysterious adventurer known to the world as the Greyfriar, Adele is pursued by her own people as well as her vengeful husband, senator Clark. With the human alliance in disarrray, Prince Cesare, lord of the British vampire clan, seizes the initiative and strikes at the very heart of Equatoria.

As Adele labors to bring order to her world, she learns more about the strange powers she exhibited in the north. Her teacher, Mamoru, leads a secret cabal of geomancers who believe Adele is the one who can touch the vast power of the Earth that surges through ley lines and wells up at the rifts where the lines meet. These energies are the key to defeating the enemy of mankind, and if Princess Adele could ever bring this power under her command, she could be death to vampires. But such a victory will also cost the life of Adele's beloved Greyfriar.

The artist for the series so far is none other than Chris McGrath, who I felt was looking a bit same-y with his cover art recently, but this piece reminded me again why I was first attracted to his work. He has an ability to capture a scene and execute it perfectly.

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A Couple New Pyr Covers

Please not some of the covers below are probably not completely final. Info has slowly been leaking out about Pyr's Fall and Winter releases and so far it is looking pretty strong, but there is one debut and a sequel that definitely caught my eye.

Blackdog by K. V. Johansen, which I believe is her debut adult novel as she has published many YA titles over the last few years. The cover is certainly eye catching and might be by Raymond Swanland and has a very high action quality about it. Blackdog does have some relation to Johansen's other work as it is placed a few hundred years later in the world of her short "The Storyteller," with one character in common.  No official synopsis has been released, but the author had a bit about the book on her blog a few months back:

This is a novel set in the same world as “The Storyteller”, but a couple of centuries later. (I love having immortal characters who don’t tie one down to a single time.) Like “The Storyteller”, it’s someone else’s story, which Moth wanders into, in this case, a man possessed by an exiled lake-goddess’s guardian dog-spirit. There’s a wizard-warlord who has conquered her land and wants to possess her, and this poor caravan-guard, our hero, who against his will is forced to assume the role of her guardian — and father, as the goddess is incarnate as a child at the time of the conquest. If you’ve read “The Storyteller”, you know that in Moth’s world, gods and goddesses are bound to their place, their particular hill or water, so an exiled goddesses ought to be an impossibility. Lots of mystery, battles, a bit of romance, Moth and Mikki travelling the desert (poor Mikki — all that fur) and more camels, I can safely say, than the average fantasy novel.

There is even a rough map for this world available for you lovers of cartography.   Blackdog is one title I'll definitely be keeping an eye on as Lou at Pyr often has very similar tastes to my own. It also seems that there will be at least one other novel in this world, but the stories sound thus far to be standalone as they'll continue to be pushed forward in the future.  Blackdog should be out this September.

Boneyards is the third Diving book from Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  This one can't come out soon enough as I recently finished the second Diving book City of Ruins (out in a few weeks) and it left off on something of a cliffhanger. The art looks to be done by series regular Dave Seeley.  We should see Boneyards in January so the wait is not too long between books.

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REVIEW | Black Halo by Sam Sykes

REVIEW | Black Halo by Sam Sykes (Pyr)

Lenk and his friends associates are back right after the dirty action of Tome of the Undergates and they're still at each others throats.

Tome of the Undergates was a fine debut for Mr. Sykes last year. There was a lot I enjoyed in Tome such as the battle sequences and very different mythology of the world, but the characters constant bickering and in-fighting did grate on me after awhile. Black Halo proved all my misgivings were wrong and it is a superior read to Tome in most every way. Basically, if you liked Tome than you'll love Black Halo and if you loved the former than the latter will be a crotch-stomping good time.

The prose itself was quite beautiful and even poetic at times, which was one thing I didn't notice in Tome. That is not to say the quality wasn't there before, but is probably due more to my taking the first book to be more of a crude hack and slash type read then what was the actuality of a very finely constructed world with deeply conflicted characters. Tome set the tone and groundwork for these characters so much so that their evolution in Black Halo is at turns surprising, yet still very fitting.  We're finally getting to the root of what makes this rag-tag band of adventures so tick and explains their blood thirsty appetites. It is almost like hanging out with your favorite D & D crew Friday nights and egging each other on for the next big quip or bloody kill. At the end of the day you all mostly get along.

Black Halo also expands the world in new and weird ways.  I'm almost of a mind to call it cross-genre as Sykes is working in what I would consider some New Weird elements such as lizard-like humanoids in addition to the purple-faced warrior goons we met in Tome; not even to mention the creepy sea monsters that could have been found in a Lovecraft story. What makes this series great is it keeps you guessing about what will happen next and what kind of monsters are still around the corner. Also, a new view point is introduced of an adept magic user many years Dreadaeleon's senior who has some serious abilities that I wish were showcased a bit more (standalone story anyone?).

The first 100 pages or so the group is separated from each other for an extended time and some undergo what seem to be hallucinations, which at times made it hard to follow what was real and imagined for these characters as at least half talk to themselves quite a bit outside of these events anyway.  But they are also some of the most illuminating scenes including one that is getting to be known as the philosophical monkey. Hint: He's a bastard.

If this was a series you were on the fence about then let me alleviate your fears. Sykes has writing chops and knows how to use them with plenty of cruelty, humor, and even a touch of heart. I give Black Halo 8.5 out of 10 hats. The only thing holding me back from a higher rating is the overall story arc didn't have as much forward movement as I would have liked, but the table is set for that to happen in the next volume of the The Aeons' Gate.


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Revised Cover Unveiled for The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Art by Jon Sullivan

I was a bit underwhelmed by the cover initially making the rounds for Pyr's edition of The Scarab Path, especially after the stellar job they've done with Shadows of the Apt series up till now. Which is why I was happy to receive this gem. While not as action packed as Empire in Black and Gold or as neat as Blood of the Mantis it keeps with the previous style and certainly gives a sense of presence. I do question the black title with such a thin line of color just because it may be hard to read from afar, but it looks as though Che is finally getting some cover love after 4 books..  Avoid the below blurb if you're not caught up on the series.

The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again. Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...

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Cover Unveiled for The Goblin Corps by Ari Marmell

Art by Lucas Graciano

This week we have the cover to The Goblin Corps from Pyr with a painting by Lucas Graciano that really sets the right tone.  The Goblin Corps is a Dark Fantasy with a supposedly funny bent by Ari Marmelll that has intrigued me since I first heard the title. I just love Fantasy novels that give you the perspective of the other side instead of always focusing on the humans and elves of the world we'll be getting .  What I'm hoping for is a much darker version of what Jim C. Hines did with his Jig the Goblin series.  The official blurb isn't out but here a bit from Ari:

Basically, The Goblin Corps a book about the bad guys. A look "behind the curtain" of your average epic fantasy. To quote what it says on my web site

Described by my previous agent as “The Lord of the Rings meets Inglorious Bastards,” The Goblin Corps postulates a traditional epic fantasy of good vs. evil–and then follows the villains, rather than the so-called heroes. Both darker in some ways, and more humorous in others, than my previously published works, The Goblin Corps is a heavily sarcastic, brutally bloody, and exceedingly foulmouthed romp in the footsteps of evil’s minions.

And here is a bit more from Pyr's blog from the original announcement:

The novel follows a squad of goblin soldiers--an orc, a troll, a kobold, etc.--during what might be the final days of an evil empire facing attack from the combined forces of humanity and the other “good” races.

So we should be getting an interesting mixing of races.  Lucas Graciano also has the art without the type up on his blog:

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The I'm on vaction so here are some cool new covers post

Artist Unknown

The Falling Machine by debut author Andrew P. Mayer is the first in the Society of Steam series. I've been excited about this one ever since Lou Anders from Pyr mention it was like a Steampunk Justice League. That's like honey to a bear for a fan of comics and Steampunk.  This may not be the final, final cover though as Pyr often tweaks things.  I quite like the type setting job and the look of the automaton.  Something looks a little off with the woman in the foreground to me, but in this case I can't put my finger on it.  The Falling Machine is set for a May 2011 release.  The official blurb isn't available, but I did find this:

In 1880 women aren’t allowed to vote, much less dress up in a costume and fight crime. But nineteen year-old socialite Sarah Stanton still dreams of becoming a hero. Her opportunity arrives in tragedy when Dennis Darby, the leader of the Society of Paragons—New York’s greatest team of gentlemen adventurers—is murdered right before her eyes. To uncover the truth behind the assassination, Sarah joins forces with Darby's greatest creation; the amazing mechanical man known as The Automaton. Together they begin to unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the Paragons that reveals the world of heroes and high-society is built on a crumbling foundation of greed and lies. But it is only when Sarah comes face to face with the megalomaniacal villain behind the murder that she will discover if she has the courage to sacrifice her life of privilege and truly become the hero she has always wanted to be.

THE SOCIETY OF STEAM takes place in a Victorian New York where Fortified Steam allows ordinary men to wield extraordinary abilities, but can also corrupt gentlemen of great moral strength. The formula behind this amazing substance is something that villains will gladly kill for, and a secret that Sarah must try and protect, no matter what the cost.

Mayer created some stickers which depict the Society members.  It is interesting to see how The Automaton  character is a bit more dapper in Mayer's version.

Next up we have another Pyr cover that has been making the rounds, but I can't help myself.

Art by Jon Sullivan

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man is the second in the Burton & Swinburne series of Steampunk adventures from Mark Hodder.  I love everything about this cover.  It makes me want to drop right into this adventure especially given how much I enjoyed The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack.  It will be interesting to see what device Hodder uses as the crux of this novel since he used Time Travel so well in the first. The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man is set for a March release from Pyr. No blurb is out on this one either but LEC Reviews got the scoop in their interview:

It’s called THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN, it’s based around the famous real-life case of the Tichborne Claimant, it involves spiritualism, and there are more real historical personages in it. Stuff happens that, according to the natural laws of science, should be impossible. But how? I mean, just ‘cos the timeline is different doesn’t mean physics is different. Does it? Hmmmm?

Also of note is that Hodder has been releasing a Burton & Swinburne short story via twitter and than collected on this blog called The Strange Affair of the Cross Channel Grasshopper.


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Cover Unveiled for BLACK HALO by Sam Sykes

Sam Sykes was kind enough to allow me and Amanda from Floor to Ceiling Books to premiere the cover  for Black Halo the second book in The Aeons' Gate series, which follows on the heels of Tome of the Undergates.

The cover follows the same format as the first and is by the same artist Paul Young. Here is what I wrote to Sam after he sent the cover to me: "Damn son. That is one fine cover.  Even better than the Tome art."  When Sam first told me the cover would portray Lenk again as on Tome of the Undergates I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for a Dragonman, but after seeing this my disappointment was summarily dismissed. As cool as the water was on Tome the fire trumps it here.  This should definitely draw in the post-Dungeons & Dragons audience.  Black Halo will be released in the US in March and the UK in April.

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As If This Month Wasn't Great Already, Now This!

As Steampunk Month draws to a close I don't think it could end on a higher note than this. Take a gander at the full cover spread for Tim Akers' The Horns of Ruin. If you can't read the back cover click in to embiggen and read the 4th quote.  That's is right a quote of mine made it to a back cover. This is pretty much the height any book blogger can attain outside of writing a book themselves that gets published. This is the second time I've had a quote on a book with Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes being the first. The quote was actually from my review of Akers' debut Heart of Veridon, but it applies just as much if not a tad more in this case.

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CHARACTER INTERVIEW | Eva Forge from The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers

Tim Akers has been doing some very interesting things with his style of Steampunk called Noird, a fusion of Noir and the New Weird. After I started The Horns of Ruin I knew I wanted to do something a little different and was immediately drawn to the star of the book Eva Forge. This interview acts as a nice vignette of what is to come and takes place before the events The Horns of Ruin.

***********

MH: Eva, thanks for joining us today. I know your duties with the Scions of Morgan keep you quite busy.

EVA: Of course. I'm always thrilled to play the part of Public Relations goon for the Cult. It's precisely the sort of thing my years of training in sword and pistol have prepared me for. Sitting. And talking. Just thrilled to be here.

MH: Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do for the Morganites?

EVA: What I do? (leans back in her chair, sighs, runs a finger across her temples and then to the revolver at her hip) What I do. The Cult is the earthly embodiment of Morgan, Brother Immortal, Champion of the Fraterdom and God of War. Our temples are battlefields, our liturgies are the clash of blade and bullet. For centuries we have stood between civilization and chaos, carrying the standard of battle against any who would oppose the Godking.

As Paladin of the Cult of Morgan, it is my holy and sworn duty to lead the charge against the darkness, to bear my sword and sight my iron against the enemies of the Fraterdom. In their blood I find redemption. In their bones I sanctify my soul.

(folds hands neatly across her knee)

This is what I do. What warriors do.

MH: Ummm, I mean no disrespect. Your skills are well known, if not quite understood. The people of Ash need to be educated about Morgan what with The Betrayer's lot still lurking around. Speaking of the Cult of Amon. Given their pedigree do you think it is fair that they are all imprisoned? None of the current followers were even alive during Amon's time.

EVA: It's an interesting question. Many ways to ask that question. Let's try this: Three hundred years ago, Amon the Scholar murdered his brother in cold blood. His brother, who had dedicated his life to defending the citizens of humanity from the darkest threats this fractured world could conjure. Murdered him as he slept.

I'm not saying that they're murderers. They aren't the Betrayer. But they worship him, do you see? They are dedicated the what he was before the Betrayal, to the Scholar and the Engineer and the Scientist. But there's the seed of murder there, somewhere. They worship who he was, but that Brother, that God, he was becoming a murderer.

I don't understand it. I don't understand giving yourself over to a God who became something so awful. But that's their choice, and the Godking allows it. Encourages it. And if there are going to be Amonites, then yes. They must be kept locked away. They must be kept from us. It's unfortunate that it has to be that way. But it is their choice, not mine.

MH: Devotees of the Fraterdom are often given by their parents at a young age to the Cults. What was your childhood like growing up in the Strength of Morgan?

EVA: Hard. Barnabas was good to me, always, but he was always honest with me, too. He never made it easy. The ones who let up on the training because I was a girl, because I was a child and an orphan (or as good as an orphan) did me no favors. Barnabas expected a lot of me. And he got it.

MH: Barnaba is still a bit of enigma to me given he hardly leaves the Strength, but he has always been known as honorable. Eva, there are some that are saying the Cult of Morgan is dying with no chance of a resurgence. How would you answers these detractors? Are they right?

EVA: The way things are going? Yes. Absolutely. Precious Alexander coddles the Scholars, bleeds them for the latest gadget, drains his damned war machines out of their corrupt brains... and Morgan is forgotten. Morgan, who stood on the walls of Eliathas and fought back the hordes of Malcontent King, who led the charge at the battle of Veri-dunne. Morgan, the God of War. And war has been taken from him, and entrusted to the machines of a murderer. So, yes, I think the Cult is dying. Because the Fraterdom is dying. Alexander has stopped caring about honor, or respect, or an honest fight. All he cares about is what he can get out of the servant of Amon, and that the servants of Morgan pay the proper respect.

(she waves her hand, clearly frustrated)

This is a matter for the Elders. It is not my place, and if Barnabas were here I would be scrubbing pots for the rest of my life. I am only the Paladin. My place is the battlefield. Not the Council Chamber, or the marketplace, or the newspapers. Or, for that matter, the interview room.

Morgan keep you. (She stands and leaves, muttering about words, words, words...)

MH: But...but...but...Hrrrmmm... (drops face into hands) I knew this wouldn't go well. Damn Alexander and his insipid request. Oh! I hope nobody heard that.

***************

Read more Eva Forge in The Horns of Ruin, which will be available November 22nd from Pyr Books.  Learn more about Tim Akers at his blog or check out his other book Heart of Veridon, the first in the Jacob Burn cycle.

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REVIEW | The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers (Pyr)

Eva Forge is the last Paladin of the God of War Morgan. The problem is he is long dead from his brother's hands Amon. This leaves only the last brother immortal Alexander as the last living god in charge of the city of Ash and its surrounding areas. As Paladin Eva is entrusted with the security and protection of the Cult of Morgan and its followers. Not an easy thing for just one person, but with sword and magicked gun she soldiers on with loose lips and a hothead attitude. While on a mission to take the leader of her order somewhere and back some craziness with zombies of a sort goes down and she must track down one of her own.

The Horns of Ruin is very different tonally from Heart of Veridon so don't expect more of the same. It has an almost animalistic and visceral feel with loads of fights and colorful language that may be more at home in a Fantasy novel. Eva Forge is one tough lady who doesn't have much of a feminine side, but that is what you get when you train a person from childhood how to kill. I was immediately taken in by Eva's brusque disposition, which is best shown in her dialogue where she verbally combats people just as much as physically. Yet outside of Eva most characters aren't given much depth or detail that would connect you better with them.

The system of magic is based off of chanting and belief of past events, which was a nice way of mixing religion and magic given the nature of their gods. There is sometimes an over abundance of the chanting magic as Eva stretches herself to keep going. The Horns of Ruin often blends magic and science that comes off very blurred at times, which made my mind want to rebel not knowing which aspect was intended. Finally I just decided to go with it and not try to read too much into how something in particular was possible. The followers of Amon's abilities are particularly intriguing being that have a mastery over technology, but can also affect power through chanting including an impressive unmaking type spell. There are some Steampunk elements to be sure such as some jet packs and monorails, but this feels like a post Steampunk world with a healthy dash of magic and gods thrown in.

You'd be hard pressed to name a faster paced book. Akers barely gives you time to contemplate all the happenings as Eva bounces from one fight to the next. The relationships between the brother/gods are left very vague for quite a longtime, but as pieces are unfurled a new mystery takes shape. I particularly enjoyed the way Akers handles his gods and how their powers originate and the deep history that is alluded to.

If anything I'd call The Horns of Ruin Swords & Science. Fans of hack and slash Fantasy just may have found the steampunky read they've been looking for. The Horns of Ruin is an energetic rollercoaster ride in a well accentuated world that needs to be further explored. I give The Horns of Ruin 7.5 out 10 hats. The ending while satisfying does leave much left open. There has been no word yet on another Eva Forge book, but the second Jacob Burn book Dead of Veridon is schedule for June 2011 from Solaris.

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Steampunk as Alternate History by Clay and Susan Griffith

Steampunk as Alternate History

by Clay and Susan Griffith

authors of The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book 1

Alternate history is fascinating, whether in fiction or just a parlor game – “What if Napoleon won Waterloo? What if Julius Caesar hadn’t been assassinated? What if the Spanish Armada had won?” Alternate history can be compelling because we all have a tendency to think about history in terms of what historians call determinism, which means we like to think everything HAS to happen the way it does happen. But it isn’t so; history has no rational plan. And alternate history let’s us think about what ELSE could’ve happened.

We’re guesting on this blog to talk about how we approach steampunk as a form of alternate history. And we should say up front that our comments are limited to steampunk fiction, rather than fashion or fabrication, because we’re writers, not designers or engineers. In addition, we don’t claim to be experts on all things steampunk, but we do write alternate history with a steampunk flavor, so we can speak to that.

Just how much writers change history in steampunk fiction depends on the story. Sometimes the imaginary steam world is wildly different from reality, and the author provides a detailed scheme that explains why seemingly outlandish things make sense such as Queen Victoria’s army of steam-powered robots or smoke-belching airships dominating the skies. Other times, steampunk fiction is plain old historical fiction with a dollop of top hats and goggles. Then there’s also steampunk that’s not set in an alternate earth timeline, but in a pure fantasy world while still using the tropes of the genre, such as technology or fashion or language; that isn’t really alternate history.

Our personal preference is for steampunk with its feet planted firmly in the 19th century, because that was the era when the dominant energy source was STEAM. It should come as no surprise then that we write neo-Victorian alternate history. In our book, real history shifts to our fictional timeline in 1870 with a devastating attack by vampires which destroys the industrial world of the northern hemisphere. Refugees from the north descend on the tropics, where vampires are rare, to create a chaos of conquest and consolidation.

We don’t pretend to produce hardcore alternate history that would necessarily please the most critical of the Military History Quarterly crowd (even though we think they’d like our book too), but as with any alternate history, our goal is to create a world that works within its own steampunk boundaries and has logical political and economical rules. Even our vampires have reasonable rules that don’t depend on occult inexplicability.

While the politics and economics in our world vary from the real world, we still believe they are (and should be) familiar to readers. That’s the point of alternate history, at least to us. If you create a world so twisted that it isn’t recognizable or comfortable to readers, then you might as well just move into a fantasy world.

We didn’t set out to write a “steampunk” novel. Our plan was to create an exciting adventure and love story, with vampires, set in a unique neo-Victorian world. We were certainly familiar with steampunk, but we weren’t part of the community, and really had no idea how large and complex it was until we began to realize our book fit nicely into the exploding subgenre. Even so, our steampunk isn’t necessarily your steampunk, but it doesn’t have to be.

Steampunk, like all genres, evolves and provides a constant source of debate over its definition and boundaries. Therefore, alternate history (which includes its little brother – steampunk) will continue to be both surprising and familiar, which is how it should be to maintain an audience.

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Clay & Susan Griffith are the authors of The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book 1 (Pyr Books, Nov. 2010) They are a married couple who have written and published together for more than a decade. Their credits not only include several books and numerous short stories published in many anthologies, some featuring noted genre characters like Kolchak the Night Stalker and The Phantom. They've also written scripts for television and published graphic novels featuring characters such as The Tick and Allan Quatermain. You can visit them on their blog.

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REVIEW | The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

REVIEW | The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder (Pyr)

At this point in Steampunk Month I thought I would get tired of reading within the same genre with such similar tropes as I generally try to mix my genres a bit so nothing becomes too stale. To a degree this has been happening what with four reads in a row now, but The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack enlivened me again and reminded me of all that I love about Steampunk.

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack takes the more traditional definition of Steampunk with a Victorian setting, an altering of history, and the use of historical characters as stars and supporting cast. In fact, Hodder makes use of historical characters more than any other Steampunk novel I've read using everyone from famous explorers of the Victorian era to its Scientific geniuses and even poets of only low note and a spate of references to people, places, and events of the time. There is also an index which covers the true historical happenings of many of the people mentioned, which was a nice touch.

At its core The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack is a time travel mind bender mashed up with a pulp. The beginning was a bit all over the place, but it quickly turned into a very entertaining romp with adventurer extraordinaire Sir Richard Francis Burton and de Sade follower and poet Algernon Swinburne. Like Westerfeld Hodder chooses to innovate with not only technological wonders, but also genetic using Darwin as a keystone. Everything from giant swans, coal-driven horses, odd chimney sweeps, and broomcats come into the fold in this well realized alternative England. And not since Dicken's have chimney sweeps been so well used. The Spring Heeled Jack mythos is used to great effect as Hodder unveils this mysterious hopping bogey monster. There are many groups all vying for power. Nearly too many with political, technological, and anti-tech groups all jumping into the fray as well as their offshoots.

Despite some quibbles with the first quarter of the story Hodder brings it all home and clearly shows how much fun he had writing this tale. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack pays homage to many of the forebears to Steampunk with a healthy nod to Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates. Hodder brings plenty of his own style to the table in terms of intricate plotting. There are some very complex happenings that he goes to great lengths to explain. In fact in the big reveal section it goes a little too far for me. After the first couple of examples we get the point, but that is probably a better way to go than leaving too much open. Burton comes off too distant, too perfect, and needed some sort of major flaw to make you feel he was in true danger. And the women of the story might as well not have been there given how marginalized they became. It is Algeron Swinburne that truly takes the show away when he eventually comes in to the fold. He turns out to be quite an odd and kinky fellow.

This was definitely one of those books where I connected more with the world than the characters who felt a bit distant although quite amusing and witty. Still Sir Richard Francis Burton comes out of the history books to become more than he ever was and historical figures become some very odd villains, but it was the Spring Heeled Jack storyline that will keep you vested. If you like time travel and alternative history this would definitely be worth your attention and if you are just a plain-old fan of Steampunk this is another must to add to the to-read pile. There are many good twists and some very weird ones that will give you pause. I give The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack 8 out of 10 hats. The cover is one of my favorites this year and if you haven't seen it in person go to a bookstore and check it out.  It just may seal the deal with all the finishing details. This is a planned series with the sequel The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man scheduled from a release in March 2011 from Pyr. I'll definitely be back for more and hope Hodder can improve some of the pacing issues.

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Steampunk: The Spirit of the Time by Mark Hodder

Steampunk: The Spirit of the Time

by Mark Hodder,
author of The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack

I have a favourite word: zeitgeist. It's German, and translates as “time spirit.” It refers to the general outlook of a period—to its obsessions and concerns, as reflected in art, literature, politics and pop culture. For example, the Beatles and Rolling Stones, the mini skirt and Mini Cooper, bright primary colours and London's Carnaby Street, all expressed something of the collective consciousness of 1960s Britain.

So what does the current popularity of steampunk tell us about today's zeitgeist?

I see steampunk as existing on the threshold of mystery; it is the off-balanced moment where the comprehensible teeters on the brink of the inexplicable.

As a vehicle for storytelling, the steampunk ethos can be applied to any time and any place—Wild West steampunk, American Civil War steampunk, future history steampunk—but wherever and whenever you place it, its roots are set firmly in the technology, social divisions, fashions, mannerisms and culture of post 1850 Victorian England.

The iconic machinery of that age was—and still is—a symbol of strength, hope and ambition. It was powering the Victorians into a bright future. For the educated classes, it promised the spread—and thus an affirmation—of their cultural values (of “civilisation”). For the working classes, it hinted at a possible future release from the backbreaking drudgery of labour—for surely machines would do all the ugly, horrible, uninteresting jobs?—freeing up time for something (anything!) else.

Steam technology was not exclusive. It represented a shared vision. Every class of citizen could engage with it, because it was so blatant. The boilers and furnaces, the pipes and valves, the pistons and crankshafts, the funnels and wheels—every part of every engine was visibly working to advance the Empire to which the people belonged.

The different “components” of Victorian society were similarly obvious and unambiguous. The classes were clearly divided, widely separated by income, mannerisms, leisure pursuits, dress code, and language. You could never mistake a person of one class for a person of another. Individuals knew their “place,” knew to which class they “belonged,” and knew how they fitted into, and contributed to, the vast and complex mosaic of Victorian culture.

That all changed with the arrival of the internal combustion engine.

As its name indicates, functional parts of the machine vanished from sight, and the engine itself became distinct from, and concealed within, the body of the contraption it powered.

At the same time, machines gave rise to a new social division: the middle class. It muddled things considerably, for, as it rapidly expanded, this new economic force blurred the line between the lower and upper classes by taking on characteristics of both. An entirely new phenomenon occurred: social movement. A working class person could, conceivably go up in the world, becoming “lower middle class.” Conversely, a “toff” could fall from grace (as one side of my own family did), and plunge into the "upper middle class" category (we sank even farther).

Steampunk thus references the certainties of the Victorian age in the context of what came after, when distinctions started to get fuzzy. But why has it become popular now? What is it about now that resonates with then?

One of the things I really like about steampunk is that it's much more than a literary genre. There's steampunk fashion and steampunk art and steampunk music and, definitely, a hard to define steampunk personal ethos. Of these, steampunk fashion gives the biggest clue. It puts functional components back in the open. Buttons are numerous and shiny. Belts are thick and big-buckled. Cogs and pistons are in evidence. Mechanical enhancements are attached. There are goggles.

However—and this is the crux of the matter— these elements have no function. They don't do anything. They are merely on display.

Which brings me to my iPad. I love my iPad. I'm quite reliant on it. Yet it became obsolete practically the day I bought it. Why? Because it’s the ultimate, and perhaps the final, example of what you might term “localised tech.” It’s an object with a specific function.

I believe steampunk captures the current zeitgeist because it knows that we are on a new precipice, about to tip over into a time where technology—which has already vanished from sight, stopped moving and shrunk—will also soon disappear altogether. Localised tech is on its way out. It’s going to disappear into our walls, into our furniture, into the fabric of our clothes, and, dare I say it, maybe even into our bodies.

Distinct technological objects will become as quaint as steam locomotives.

That’s why Steampunk celebrates blatant technology. It knows the complete opposite is on our doorstep.

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Mark Hodder is the author of THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK (Pyr Books 2010) and it's sequel, THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN (Pyr Books, due Spring 2011). Hodder is the creator and caretaker of the BLAKIANA Web site, which he designed to celebrate, record, and revive Sexton Blake, the most written about fictional detective in English publishing history. A former BBC writer, editor, journalist, and Web producer, Mark has worked in all the new and traditional medias and was based in London for most of his working life until 2008, when he relocated to Valencia in Spain to de-stress and write novels. He can most often be found at the base of a palm tree, hammering at a laptop. Mark has a degree in cultural studies and loves British history (1850 to 1950, in particular), good food, cutting-edge gadgets, cult TV, Tom Waits, and a vast assortment of oddities.

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REVIEW | Dragonfly Falling & Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Pyr)

If you haven't read my review of Empire in Black and Gold start with that as somethings below might be a bit spoliery. Or flip to the last paragraph to get my summation on both books.

To say that Dragonfly Falling is better than the Empire is putting it too lightly. After Empire my expectations were pretty high for Dragonfly Falling and it didn't just meet them, but knocked them out of the park with its decidedly militaristic tone. Dragonfly Falling picks up soon after the action of Empire In Black and Gold, which was a prelude of so much. While the first volume acted well to introduce a part of this incredibly rich world, some of its cultures, and an endearing cast of characters Dragonfly Falling blows everything up into Epic proportions. The battles get bigger, bloodier, and more intricate.

The Wasps while thwarted in their original plans are nonplussed as they change tactics from subversive to more straight forward means as they pit the Ant-kinden city-state of Vek against Collegium while they attempt to conquer other Ant-kinden holdings. Master Maker Stenwold's cadre of apprentices and wards again are cast to the wind as they try to unite the lowlands and defy the Wasps. This is no easy feat, but there are rumblings of troubles within the Wasp upper echelon as generals grab for power, which leads to some unexpected Wasp allies.

The majority of Dragonfly Falling is one big beautiful battle after another. We finally get to see the Collegium's techno innovations turned against other groups that shake their creators to their core with the repercussions. We also meet a few new characters who become very important as the series goes on including a very mad Dragonfly-kinden woman who is after a certain Wasp Major. Tynisa and Tisamon finally get some alone time with one another as they journey to the training ground of the Mantis-kinden in hope of Tynisa earning her heritage. If it is one things Mantis-kinden know it is how to make someone pay.

What becomes of Totho while not totally unforeseen plays out very nicely as his allegiance is tested time and again, but he finally gets to prove his worth even if it is for the wrong reasons. On the other hand Salma's role in things is all too predictable. I saw this coming from the moment he was first captured in Empire. and Cheer is being built up for a lot, but it still doesn't seem to be apparent just exactly what. This volume also has the B story of  the Shadow Box being sought after by the Wasp Empire and Achaeos trying to stop them. The Shadow Box is ancient and has a one ring kind of vibe to it at the moment where everyone wants it, but don't know precisely what to do with it.  Even though this is a long series in the planning each volume has a definitive end and beginning with a few things left over for the next go around.

Blood of the Mantis dials things back a bit after the in-depth action of Dragonfly Falling, but strives to widen the world as the Spider-Kinden lands and other unexplored parts of the world are uncovered. Don't get me wrong it still has plenty of action, but it is more on the level of Empire in Black and Gold with skirmishes or one-on-one fights rather than the big scale of Dragonfly Falling. Mantis is also the shortest of the series to date at a mere 300ish pages compared to the bulky 450+ pages of Dragonfly.

Blood of the Mantis takes to the skies as Cheer makes her way into the Spiderlands to see what the Wasps are trying to pull there. She meets up with an aviatrix, which sounds just a bit dirty every time I read it who leads her around the area. Cheer is finally becoming her own person this time around as she is more decisive, but still wary. The second main part of the story is Achaeos in hot pursuit of the shadow box in Wasp controlled lands we haven't seen before. We get to meet some new and very unusual Kinden in these parts and I can only guess what will go on when this group leaves their nesting ground.

Overall this is a series that doesn't disappoint. It has got everything a lover of Epic Fantasy could want plus offers many new and fresh innovations with steam-tech, but it is the world and cultures you'll keep coming back for as you meet the whole pantheon of insect Kindens throughout the lands and delve deeper into the back story as it unfolds. It definitely pays to read these books close together so some of the details and nuances of the characters aren't lost. The only problem with the series is the constant jumping around of points of view, but the author knows this is a big world and he is anxious to give you all the details. I give Dragonfly Falling 9 out of 10 hats and Blood of the Mantis 8 out of 10 hats. All of this has me wondering what is next as I'll soon be devouring Salute the Dark, which is the 4th book in the series. At this point the author hopes to do at least 10 total volumes in the series with the first 4 comprising one major arc so we aren't hanging open for some closures.

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INTERVIEW | Lou Anders Editor of Pyr

Lou Anders should need no introduction to the regular readers of this blog as his work as impresario of Pyr Books since its inception has been quite lauded as they are now celebrating their fifth year.  Anders has been nominated for numerous awards including the Hugo and Philip K. Dick as well as winning the Chesley Award for art direction.  He has also edited some well known anthologies such as Sideways in Crime, Fast Forward 1, and the forthcoming  Swords & Dark Magic and recently retitled Masked.

MH: Thanks for taking the time out to update us about your latest happenings.

LA: My pleasure.

MH: With Pyr celebrating its 5th anniversary this year it seems you are growing the imprint in many new and different directions. One of those seems to be Steampunk. Are you at all worried about doing too many Steampunk related books? I'm still a huge fan of the subgenre, but with Akers' The Horns of Ruin, Resnick's The Buntline Special, Clay and Susan Griffith's Vampire Empire, and Mark Hodder's Burton & Swinburne in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack it does seem like a lot. Plus George Mann's Ghosts of Manhattan just came out and Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt has elements of Steampunk as well. Do you feel Steampunk is that in and will be for years to come? Or do all these books just rock too much not to publish?

LA: No, Yes, and Yes. Or, to elaborate. We'll hit our 100th title around this coming September, with only the Tchaikovsky and Ghosts of Manhattan available then, so while it may look like a lot of steampunk coming down the pike, there are still plenty of alternatives in our list. We're also up to publishing over 30 books a year, so the books remaining aren't even that big a percentage of the overall. I've taken an oblique angle on steampunk too - the Tchaikovsky are really epic fantasy with hints of steam, in the same way that steam works its way into China Mieville's Bas Lag books. The Akers is, interestingly, what China has been calling noird, a sort of fusion of New Weird and Noir, and has elements of both epic and urban fantasy in there as well. Mann's book is 1920s New York, not Victorian England, and Resnick's is Weird West. The Hodder is actually the only Victorian steampunk of the batch. Though I should admit to having just bought The Society of Steam from Andrew P. Mayer, a duology about a sort of steampunk Justice League-type association of superheroes. So, okay, yes, there's a lot of steam coming, ahem, down the pipe. But we're also moving into vampire fiction, with Jasper Kent's Twelve and Thirteen Years Later and Clay & Susan Griffith's Vampire Empire series, werewolves with MD Lachlan's Wolfsangel and James Enge's The Wolf Age, and have just purchased our first YA title, Ari Marmell's Household Gods. You'll see more sword & sorcery in the fall with Sam Sykes Tome of the Undergates (as well as the Enge), more epic with the fourth book in Tchaikovsky's series, and, of course, we have Ian McDonald's next science fiction masterpiece out in a few months.

Now as to whether steampunk is "that in" - that is certainly the impression I get when I talk to B&N and Borders. But I'd say that rather than being a subgenre, we'll see it as a spice you can choose to add to the mix, as the Tchaikovsky books do, which is why I am perhaps interested in so much that touches on the edges without the Victoriana, which I was hesitant to approach head on. That being said, the Mark Hodder book just rocked too much not to publish. As did they all.

MH: You mentioned quite a few Pyr books in the pipeline, but the only Sci-Fi read mentioned was McDonald's new book. What other Sci-Fi is upcoming?

LA: Actually, I would argue that, although in fairness it may not be clear from our description, Mark Hodder's Burton & Swinburne in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack is very much SF. The book is one of the best time-travel novels I've ever read, and the only steampunk novel I've read to explain the steampunk setting as the result of a very specific divergence between this world's history and our own. We also have Paul McAuley's utterly brilliant Cowboy Angels, about a secret branch of the CIA that are conducting Black Ops projects into parallel universes, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch is currently hard at work on the sequel to Diving into the Wreck.

MH: You mentioned Ari Marmell's Household Gods as your first entry into YA, but I read Finlay's The Prodigal Troll, which Pyr published a few years back and that definitely had a YA feel to it as well so this doesn't feel that far afield. I know some publishers end up putting YA books in the normal adult SFF section like Tor did with Zoe's Tale rather than YA. Do you know what kind of strategy you'll be taking with it? Was there anything in particular that drew you to this Household Gods?

LA: Well, first, it's early days here, and this is our first and only YA acquisition as of this moment, but we took it on with the expectation of publishing it in the YA section of the bookstore, not the adult section. It's too soon for me to discuss strategies though as to what drew me to it, Household Gods was actually submitted to me first, as an adult fantasy offering, and I fell in love with it, and Ari's writing style and imagination, but felt it was too short for the adult SF&F category. I asked him if he could expand it, and to his credit, he told me honestly that he could not. But I loved - loved! - his style, and let him know how much I'd like to work with him, so we put our heads together, he showed me five different proposals, and The Goblin Corps, a tale of an elite military force of orcs, goblins, trolls, kobolds, etc... in a Dark Lord's army, was the one I chose. He's just delivered that manuscript as of a few weeks ago - and it rocks! Meanwhile, I never forgot Household Gods, and then one day it hit me like a ton of bricks that with its teenage protagonist it really was a YA, and its word count wasn't problematic for that category either.

MH: What gets you excited about a new submission?

LA: Depends on how you mean. If it's excited *about* a submission, since I demand a few paragraphs synopsis before I agree to read, then there has to be a hook in the description that interests me. But if you mean, while I'm reading, which is how I think you mean it -- then its excitement itself. There's a great scene in the movie Ronin where DeNiro is going to an arms deal and says to his partner, "Remember, if there is any doubt, there's no doubt." That's how I read. If I am in a manuscript and I look up at my wife and say, "I am not sure what I think about this," she replies, "You don't like it. Put it down and move on." But if I am jumping up out of my chair to run tell her about it, and she says, "Hey, shouldn't you be reading it?" and I say, "But..but... you wouldn't believe what just happened?" then we know I am going to go after it. Whenever they survey kids about why they like Harry Potter the answer is always something like "because something happens on every page." Which I take to mean that people want their entertainment to, you know, entertain them.

MH: I've had similar things happen with my wife, especially when reviewing books. She'll say things like "I don't think you liked it much. You barely told me anything about it." Which is a bit of a check for me to get at what didn't click. Once you know you like a project enough to want to publish it what is the process? And without mentioning any specific titles do any of the projects you ever want to do get turned down?

LA: Once I want to go for a project, I call an acquisition's meeting, which is a phone conference where I will present 1 to 4 titles to my boss and a few other board members, discuss what the book is and why I want to go after it. I've only been turned down at this stage maybe four times in 100 books, which is a testament both to their trust in me but also that we've been a team for six years now and have a pretty good understanding of what it is we're going for with the line. Once approval has been given, I email or phone the agent with an offer and negotiations start. This is a boring, tedious process and not worth going into here. Then the book goes into production and we put an illustrator on the cover and the fun starts. Having been at this for six years now, I've obviously seen plenty of books that I either passed on or was outbid on come out from other houses (as has everyone). I'm very proud that when I've tracked their performance, I've been pretty accurate in my judgment as to how the books I've passed on would do, and also right about how good the ones that got away were.

MH: Do you have any particular pet peeves about submissions and manuscripts? Or any habits when reading them?

LA: I'm not quite sure if this is what you mean, but basically I require synopsis first before agreeing to read the manuscript, and I say "no" to a lot right at this stage. I take all my submissions as Word docs, and read on Stanza for iPhone and now iBooks for iPad. I tend to read either while walking or while in Starbucks.

MH: Are there any bad or over used tropes of genre fiction or are they just author tools to be twisted?

LA: There is nothing new under the sun. Nor are there any bad tropes. It is entirely in the execution, always.

MH: You've been quite busy on the anthology front lately with two really interesting line-ups. First you have Swords & Dark Magic, which looks to be quite an authoritative look at the Swords & Sorcery genre from the last 50 years albeit with all-original stories. And you also have With Great Power..., which is a awesome line-up of authors taking on superheroes in prose form. How did the process for selection and procuring the stories differ? Was it easier or harder to work with a co-editor as you are doing with Swords & Dark Magic?

LA: Thank you. When Jonathan Strahan and I set out to do Swords & Dark Magic, we wanted it to be a definitive look at today's S&S, and we feel we've really succeeded. With names like Abercrombie, Cherryh, Cook, Erikson, Keyes, Lee, Lynch, Moorcock, Silverberg, Wolfe, we feel like it really is a great mix of the masters and the new guard, and has every indication of being the book folks are expecting it to be. With Great Power... (which may be getting retitled for reasons you can probably guess at [retitled to Masked: see update here]), stands out for me in that apart from being a book of costumed heroes in prose adventures, the book actually boasts that 9 of its contributors currently write for DC or Marvel. We've got Mike Carey, Paul Cornell, Peter David, Gail Simone, Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, and others -- all names that are very well known to contemporary comics readers, which is something other super-prose anthologies haven't had. As to the process - anthologies can either be open read or invite only, meaning that you either have a reading period, during which you get a deluge of submissions and after which you pick the best, or you have a closed anthology in which the editorial discernment occurs at the level of who you invite. I do all my anthologies invite only. I couldn't possible read all the Pyr Books submissions and read short story submissions too, and I view anthologies as a change for me to both say something about the genre that I think needs to be said and to work with writers that I've always wanted to work with. So the process for both books was very similar, with the difference that I've never co-edited before, and I really enjoyed working with Jonathan. With the caveat that you should never say never, I'm not sure that I'll be doing too many more solo anthologies in future. I have some other projects I want to devote myself to for the immediate future - my own writing not least among them - but I really enjoyed working with Jonathan and we've left the door open for future collaborations between us.

MH: Does that mean we'll have some new Anders authored work to look forward to? So far all I've found is your story And How His Audit Stands in the The Clockwork Jungle Book, which was a hoot and a half. Any chance you're trying to do more with it?

LA: Thank you very much for that! No, that was a one-off. I have a swords & sorcery novelette that is out on submission right now though, which began bubbling unbidden out of me while I was (co)editing Swords & Dark Magic, which I hope to be the first of a planned series of at least five loosely-linked tales, maybe more. And I'm exactly at the half way point of a Young Adult urban fantasy novel that I plan to have finished and ready to shop by the end of the year. There is a short story related to the novel (and actually a sequel to it, though it was written first) that is also out on submission now.

MH: Sounds great. Did any of this have to do with your NaNoWriMo experience last year? How did it feel to push out 50,000 words in a month?

LA: Ah, well, basically early last year George Mann asked me for a fantasy short for the Solaris Book of New Fantasy series, and then did me an immense favor by not telling me that the project was off when Solaris went up for sale (else I never would have finished it). I used the opportunity to test the characters for the YA - they've been in my head for several years now - and wrote the story as occurring six months after the end of the novel. Though the anthology never came out, George and enough test readers were happy with the story that I was encouraged to tackle the novel for my NaNoWriMo. I have to say NaNoWriMo was one of the hardest experiences of my life, mostly for the strain it put on my family, who were very patient with me, and because I had not one but two convention appearances to make during the month of November (including a GoH spot at OryCon). I actually finished the 50k words at Friday night between 2am and 3am at the hotel room in Portland. I put it all aside, and have spent the time in between polishing the S&S short. I thought the NaNoWriMo results were all a jumbled, disjointed mess, but just read them through this past Sunday and was stunned to find that's only true of the last two to three thousand words. The first forty-eight thousand are actually pretty damn solid! My harshest critic (my wife) is currently reading through it now, and after I get her feedback I'm going to start in on the second half. So I have to say I found NaNoWriMo incredible beneficial, if an exhausting marathon. What was the most amazing to me was the way it forced you to write even when the tank was on empty, and related to that, how what came out at such times wasn't the garbage you would expect.

MH: Who is the dream author, living or dead that you've never had a chance to work with? And why them?

LA: As a kid, and after a huge Edgar Rice Burroughs kick, my two favorite authors were Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock. They defined fantasy for me far, far more than Tolkien ever did -- which is not to knock Tolkien, who was a genius. But I am much more of an S&S guy than an epic fantasy guy - I always responded to antiheroes, moral ambiguity, and reluctant protagonists no matter what the genre is. Childhood heroes were Batman (over Superman), James Bond, Spock (over Kirk), the Outlaw Josey Wales. As an adult, it's been my privilege to work with Mike Moorcock five times now, most recently with a new Elric story (!) for Swords & Dark Magic, and so it seems greedy to wish that I could have worked with Leiber too. But I wish that I had known about and involved myself in the convention world sooner than I did, so that I could have at least met him. Given that it was possible, it's actually a fairly big regret of mine.

MH: To go along with my other obsession what is your favorite type of hats? (or just your favorite hat)

LA: I wish that I looked good in hats, but sadly I look horrible in them. I even look bad in most baseball caps. This is doubly tragic given that I shave my head and frequently need sun-protection. I have found one baseball cap that I don't look utterly goofy in, and that's it. But I did have a huge hat collection at one time, which included cowboy hats, a Trilby of the style worn by Inspector Clouseau, and, of course, a Deerstalker (though Holmes never actually wore one). But I've a question for you - before the Batman: The Animated series cartoon reconciled them into one person, which of the two Mad Hatter villains was your favorite - Jervis Tetch or the red haired "imposter" from the 1980s?

MH: Honestly, the way DC handled the Mad Hatter character confused me at the times.  But I'd say I'm more of a fan of Tetch, since he was the real crazy one not being able to tell what is real and what isn't instead of just trying to control everyone's mind.  Although one of them had a monkey, which would sway me, but I can't for the life of me remember which one any more. I just recently read the first of Frank Beddor's Hatter M graphic novels and found the way he twisted Carroll's world really intriguing. The Hatter is a badass bodyguard to the Queen with knifes that sprout from nowhere.

Thanks for playing along. I'll let you play us out. Feel free to plug away.

LA: Plug you say? Well, everybody keep an eye out for Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Son, first in a fantasy trilogy about an assassin with the power to melt into the shadows who has an invisible girlfriend. Also forthcoming is Matthew Sturges's (of DC/Vertigo fame) next work, The Office of Shadow, which might best be described as Sandbaggers in the world of the Fae. For more, see: http://www.louanders.com/, http://www.pyrsf.com/, or Twitter @Pyr_Books.  On Facebook as "Lou Anders" and also at here.


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