Adrian Collins's Blog, page 172

REVIEW: Bayou Baby by Renee Miller

New Orleans and its surrounding swamps form the setting for Bayou baby, a highly original and disturbing novel by Canadian author Renee Miller, who mainly writes grim, dark stories that often stray into horror, with the odd bit of black humour sometimes thrown in. Dark, disturbing novels are something I often read from time to time, yet this particular yarn rocked me to my core, mainly due to it being a cocktail of unnerving scenes which include rape, group rape, incest, forced prostitution and eventually also murder and matricide, before turning into a vicious revenge romp. As for Miller’s hallmark black humour, I don’t recall there being much of that in this one.

The protagonist of this story is Rowan, a half-caste swamp rat who was raised in the quagmire by her half-caste mother Jolene, who makes a living as a prostitute. Rowan’s days of youthful bliss and innocence are cut short when her mother sells her to Rosaline, a New Orleans brothel-keeper, in order to safeguard her future. For in 17th C New Orleans (at least it seems like the period is the 17th C, because Miller does not bog down the narrative with dates and excessive details), half caste women have no chance of making respectable wives, so that being a kept woman is the very best that the prettier faces amongst them can hope for.

Yet Rowan is not one to take this fate lying down (forgive the pun), so that she flees her mother and prospective employer by rowing her little canoe deep into the swamp, until she reaches the refuge offered to her by ‘Mama Gator’, an elderly Louisiana creole who lives deep in the swamp, and who is not averse to practising the odd voodoo ritual against those she thinks deserve it.

Unfortunately for Rowan, two of the victims of Mama Gator’s magic were the wife and child of Lucien Dumas, a highly powerful man of means in New Orleans, whose father was also murdered by Rowan’s mother Jolene (so as to protect her daughter from the perverted old man). Unknown to Rowan, Lucien is intent on exacting his revenge for the loss of his father, wife and child, by taking it all out on her. For unknown to Rowan’s mother Jolene, Lucien has secretly purchased Rowan from the brothel-keeper Rosaline, so that he can exact whatever sick fancy he wants on the young girl. All of which is a disgusting, stomach-turning prospect, yet one rendered all the more twisted when one learns that Rowan is also the illegitimate daughter of Lucien.

Quite why Lucien has waited so long to avenge his family members is anyone’s guess, and it is hard to understand why he would take out all of his ire and hatred on a young, innocent party, even though he has no regard for the lives of half-castes. In turn this means that Rowan proceeds to endure abusive treatment which is abominable to say the least, and which forces her to resort to the most unladylike measures to take down those who sought to break her. If you can survive the outrages and horror in the early part of the novel, the revenge romp which follows might serve as ample payoff.

All in all it’s 4/5 for Bayou Baby, which loses a star due to a couple of loose ends which cannot be dismissed as intentional ambiguity, as well as the overly erratic behaviour of the crocs, who are waved away like bush turkeys in some scenes and lethal in others. Otherwise this no holds barred account also contains moments of genuine warmth and fellowship, as Rowan and her friends desperately seek to fulfil her seemingly impossible mission of revenge against Lucien, who must be the most odious nemesis that I’ve ever encountered in fiction. The horrors endured by an institutionalised half caste subclass are also fleshed out without leaving much to the imagination, and it takes an author of considerable talent to ultimately conjure up some kind of higher meaning to one of the most unsettling stories which I’ve ever read.

Read Bayou Baby by Renee Miller

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REVIEW: Godzilla vs Kong Movie

It felt a bit strange to pay a hefty £15.99 for a movie that I was going to watch at home, but in this time of pandemic lockdowns I wanted to see the kaiju movie, Godzilla vs Kong, sooner rather than later.

Thankfully, Godzilla vs Kong was pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be, just a little under two hours of great big monsters beating each other up. The downside is that a plot involving humans kept trying to centre itself, but that’s always been an issue with Hollywood godzilla movies. I guess the assumption is that humans watch movies for human stories and in this case I’m not so sure that’s the case.

Anyway, while the previous movies in the Monsterverse – Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters have established the basic rules of this universe – there are big beasties called titans, Godzilla is the biggest and baddest of them but is mostly benevolent, defending the natural order etc. while there is also Skull Island which is somewhat isolated from the rest of the world by a weird ever-present storm and that’s where Kong lives. Meanwhile there is the shady organisation Monarch which oversees the monitoring and when possible, containment of these Titans.

Godzilla vs Kong throws in a new shady organisation and seems awful interested in taking some big risks with Kong in order to get to ‘the source’ just as Godzilla seems to have started attacking human settlements for ‘no reason.’

As advertised, this movie pits Godzilla and Kong against each other and it’s pretty awesome both times it happens. Of course, events conspire so that they both end up as victorious good guys in the end but I’m not going to spoil everything for you.

The monster fights are very cool, but whenever the concentration is on the humans, my interest faded quickly.

That’s not to say it’s all bad performances – Millie Bobby Brown is great, Kaylee Hottle is the cutest kid, and Bryan Tyree Henry and Rebecca Hall bring solid comedy and empathy respectively. However, Alexander Skarsgård, Eliza Gonzales and Kyle Chandler add little, effectively taking up time that I could have been watching great big monsters fight.

The plot seems a lot more complicated than it needed to be but tight writing isn’t why we bought the ticket is it?

All in all, if you like big CGI popcorn movies where monsters beat each other up, you’ll love this. If you’re here for dialogue and thought provoking plots, you won’t.

Godzilla vs Kong is available to rent via video-on-demand services worldwide.

3/5

Post-Script: But Is It Grimdark?

Before writing this review, I had a chat with our editor about whether Godzilla vs Kong was something that Grimdark Magazine should be covering. That made me think. Here we have a world where there are titans capable of levelling cities, who mostly view humans in the way we view ants. We also have shady corporations manipulating people and titans, with disastrous effects. Cities are indeed levelled. In the final battle, the kaiju pretty much destroy the whole of Hong Kong. In the previous movies, Honolulu, San Francisco, Mexico City, and Boston are directly shown to be destroyed (and given how many Titans were unleashed in King of the Monsters you can assume it was a lot more than that).

That’s millions dead and displaced, with humanity almost helpless in the face of these massive, long lived (and in some cases, alien) beings. What’s even worse is that human agency so often makes things worse. That’s pretty damned grimdark.

The thing is, the monsterverse in general and Godzilla vs Kong in particular never really addresses this. We see people fleeing the monsters, but we don’t usually see crushed bodies or overwhelmed ERs. It’s all spectacle with little after effect. Shady organisations and alien dragons can be foiled by some plucky kids who can move the heart of an ageless nuclear lizard or a grumpy orphan gorilla the size of a mountain. Furthermore, simply because these monsters beat worse monsters, all the damage caused by their ruckus is glossed over.

Of course, that’s a choice made because this is ultimately a Hollywood movie, intended for a family audience and it’s probably unfair to wish for a more grimdark interpretation of the premise.

After all, it’s not like we’re lacking for such things in recent years with the likes of Cloverfield and the Host (oh lord, they’re both more than ten years old…) and even the Pacific Rim movies taking a somewhat darker look at Great Big Monsters Smashing Up Your Town.

Plus, the predominance of movies influenced by comics that all of a sudden had to be a big grim following the success of the Dark Knight and a whole lot of zombie action over the last decade or so means that maybe I shouldn’t even be wishing, just a bit for a Godzilla movie that really embraced the grimdark elements of the franchise.

I kinda do though. If there must be humans in my kaiju movie… let them suffer.

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REVIEW: The Sin of America by Cathrynne M. Valente

What is the sin of America? 

“There’s a woman outside of Sheridan and she is eating the sin of America.”

That is the question of The Sin of America by Cathrynne M. Valente, and it was a question I asked myself repeatedly as I had to read it three times before I started to understand. That is not any knock to Cat Valente. Sometimes great things take time to digest, and they have to be chewed thoroughly. Do I know what the sin of America is? Maybe. Maybe I think I do because I am an American and see glimpses of it. Whatever is happening in the story is not straightforward. Because doing something like eating the sin of America is not an easy or simple thing.

All we know is that we are in a “Blue Bison Diner & Souvenir Shoppe under a busted wagon wheel and a pair of wall-mounted commemorative plates. One’s from the moon landing. The other’s from old Barnum Brown discovering the first T-Rex skeleton up at Hell Creek.” There is a woman whose life has been nothing but pain and half-truths and disappointments sitting in a vinyl booth. Her name is Ruby Rose and “she ran away from the Ultimate Butterfly Experience as soon as she could chain one dollar to the next.” She was terrified of the glittery swarms that flitted and alighted after stroking you with their sticky tongues. Some butterflies drink the nectar of flowers, but many will eat anything. Ruby Rose was called upon to eat the sins of America.

Ruby Rose is sitting in this cracked vinyl booth in this no-where diner staring at the menu. They told her that her meal could not be a small one. 

“Ruby-Rose looks over the menu. She isn’t in the least hungry. But it cannot be a small meal. They told her that when they came for her, and all the delicate endangered emerald swallowtails circled their heads like green rings around terrible planets. It cannot be small and it cannot be short. It takes as long as it takes. You can’t do this thing halfway. We’re counting on you.” 

The Waitress who is serving Ruby-Rose is named Emeline. She nervously cracks a pinky and asks Ruby what she wants to start with. Ruby asks for some wine, but they don’t serve soft things like that here. The owner of the diner, Mr. Herbert James Gage, when informed by certified mail that it was going down in his restaurant, picked up some hard alcohol in preparation for the event. 

The food starts to come out: a rib-eye steak, peppermint milkshake, and tomato soup. It is grotesque in its amount, and the food keeps coming. Ruby keeps swallowing. It is too much food, it is all too much, it won’t fit inside her, and she can’t hold it. All this was the lottery or the anti-lottery. Astronomical odds that it would be her. 

What happens when she is done? “We’ll be happy, they say. We’ll be better. We’ll all be happy forever and everything will be okay.” But will we? Probably until the next person has to come and eat our sins. 

The imagery is grotesque, slovenly. The woman, Ruby Rose, has a life of tragic mediocrity. Then as the story progresses and climaxes, Ruby finishes her food and so much more. It ends and begins again. The cycle. Does it mean anything? Does Ruby Rose’s sacrifice mean anything in the grand scheme of things? I don’t know; there will be more sin. 

The Sin of America is one of those stories that is difficult to parse; you can read it a dozen times and get more out of the language. It has the ere of dark and too salty, or sticky sweet. It is the idea of fried twinkies and made for tv movies. It has a vague christ mythos, but that has been sanitized, homogenized, and run through a Jerry Springer talk show. It has lost all of its original meaning and become an ugly thing. Someone must suffer. And in this scenario, for all of us to continue to sin and enjoy our lives, Ruby Rose must eat that sin and suffer. 

The Sin of America is a harrowing story that is puzzling and will continue to puzzle me as a reader. But, one thing is for sure. Cat Valente is a hell of a writer. 

Read The Sin of America by Cathrynne M. Valente

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Top 5 Warhammer 40k Lore Youtube Channels

The first pieces of Warhammer 40,000 lore were taken from the existing Warhammer Fantasy Battle setting, but pushed into a far future science fiction setting with the Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader book which was released way back in 1987.

Evolving through the seminal Realm of Chaos books, nine editions of the tabletop game, various role play games, novels, and additional background material in White Dwarf magazine as well as army and campaign books over the past twenty four years a vast web of complicated lore has developed.

I’m a huge fan of this universe and have been since I was about nine years old, yet there are still stories I’ve not read, factoids I’ve not heard and retcons I’ve not picked up on. One of my favourite things to do while chilling out is to stick on one of my favourite youtube channels dedicated to this lore and immersing myself in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium.  So, here I will share five of my favourite 40k lore channels.

Oculus Imperia

https://www.youtube.com/c/OculusImperia/featured

Presented as the investigations of an Imperial histrator, Oculus Imperia dives into the lore of Warhammer 40k in an engaging in-universe way that wraps you in the atmosphere of the setting from beginning to end. At times, the Oculus struggles with troubling revelations or makes musings which edge close to heretical, but always manages to put away such thoughts and end with a prayer to the Emperor. Gloria, in excelsis terra!

I recommend pretty much everything on this channel, but the recent series digging into the Badab War shows up how things aren’t always so cut and dried between loyalists and traitors and that the Imperium is far from ‘good guys.’

40k Theories

https://www.youtube.com/user/remleiz

A long time favourite, 40k Theories likes to look at the sort of questions that fans of the deep lore like to argue about, the things which have been contradicted or seemingly forgotten as the setting has evolved. Alongside copies straight up lore videos and a whole fan fiction reworking of the Horus Heresy named the Theoreticus Heresy, it’s a channel with a massive canon of material and still throws up things I’ve never heard of.

For a teaser here’s a musing about the Fate of the Squat Empire.

Wolf Lord Rho

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqajGNTzlQLk5uRsD8R5m3Q/featured

This channel is a personal favourite for the sheer enthusiasm that Rho shows for the lore and his steadfast commitment to promoting the Black Library novels, Most of this channel involves weeks of content dedicated to a certain character, faction or event with choice readings from Black Library books and Rho discussing why he thinks it’s great.

This is a really good channel for folks who can’t keep up with everything Black Library releases or need a quick refresh on what’s going on in a certain part of the setting.

For a teaser, here’s Rho discussing the time when the High lords of Terra rebelled against the resurrected primarch, Roboute Guilliman.

Fluffenhammer

https://www.youtube.com/user/Grufflock

A smaller channel than most of the others, but one close to my heart. The Fluffenhammer combines dramatic readings of 40k background stories, reviews of releases and other sillier content, which is perfectly fitting as 40k is as inherently silly as it is grimdark.

They recently released readings of the fluff content from the Psychic Awakening series of books and thats well worth a listen.

Luetin 09

https://www.youtube.com/user/Luetin09

Luetin is a great channel for folks who want to learn the lore from a standing start as their videos are presented quite matter of factly more the most part. That helps a lot as someone fresh to the setting diving straight into any of the more narrative content on the above channels without some context might get very confused, very quickly.

As an example of this, here’s Luetin trying to explain something as simple as Chaos Gods, Time and the Warp.

That should be more than enough 40k youtube content for anyone to be getting along with, but as a bonus I’ll also recommend some channels which are also worth your time but not necessarily focussed on 40k lore.

Moar channels

2+ Tough – https://youtu.be/TC3nl4pLkqI is an excellent channel, with a bias more towards Age of Sigmar than 40k.

The Exploring Series – https://youtu.be/9-eSKxffWIQ covers 40k in addition to everything from Lord of the Rings to the SCP Foundation.

Tabletop Minions – https://www.youtube.com/user/tabletopminions is one of my favourite 40k hobby channels.

Header art

Jaime Martinez: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/e0gVoD

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REVIEW: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Andy Weir, the author of The Martian and Artemis, brings us another dose of science fiction fun with Project Hail Mary. And when I say fun, I mean fun. His stories aren’t light and fluffy, his protagonists are flawed, but his characters have an optimistic quality that helps balance out some of the dark in life. I get a lot of enjoyment from reading his stories, and Project Hail Mary is no exception. 

“When I’m stressed out, I revert to imperial units. It’s hard to be an American, okay?”

I am relatively new to the church of Weir. Weir’s church? I started a deep dive on his projects last month, obviously starting with The Martian. It is the most known of his stories and was made into a big-screen movie starring Matt Damon that won a slew of awards. What is so incredibly cool about Weir’s personal story is how The Martian came about. The Martian started as a serialized novel. Chapters were appearing daily on Weir’s website, where his 3000 followers vetted the science. It became so beloved that Weir took it and put it up on Amazon as a .99c story. It became a bestseller, which then was made into a movie, then awards, so on and so forth. 

Before any of the hoopla around The Martian, Weir wrote a short story called The Egg. It got a following, so much that some have started following it as a philosophy of life or religion a la L. Ron Hubbard. Much to Weir’s chagrin. It, too, was made into a short film and had 20 million hits on youtube. What I am saying here is that folks love his work. It resonates. 

This brings us to Weir’s newest novel, Project Hail Mary that is releasing in May of 2021. The premise is thus, “Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish… it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.” Ryland is a brilliant and very ordinary person. There isn’t a glorious charisma about him. But he is an immensely likable character who faces the arduous task of saving the human species. Not only does he have to puzzle out how to save humanity, but he also has to do it with no memory. Alone. It seems like a very similar premise to The Martian, but it isn’t. The vastness of scale changes the dynamics of the story. Ryland has the fate of existence resting on his very confused shoulders. 

Ryland is in many ways similar to Mark Watney. This is either because there has to be a little bit of open-mouthed awe and a general sense of optimism to be a scientist or astronaut. Both require an ability to believe that there is more out there and reach for it with both hands. Or, this type of character is one that Weir enjoys and understands. Some authors write snarky protagonists that quip their way through scenes. Weir writes intelligent, optimistic, and ridiculously resourceful scientists. I’d happily read either type. That overt sense of optimism permeates Weir’s writing, and sometimes a bit of happiness goes a long way. 

“Maybe it’s just the childish optimist in me, but humanity can be pretty impressive when we put our minds to it.”

Much like The Martian, Project Hail Mary has a whole lot of science. That is Weir’s style. And, much like The Martian, it can get info-dumpy. But, I think it depends on how much you enjoy science, physics, and math. I appreciate those subjects, and Weir’s descriptions got me excited and interested in the idea that the story was theoretically possible. Knowing how much Weir enjoys science, I am betting much of it is possible. Maybe, not probable. But when the fate of all human existence hangs in the balance, humanity would do some crazy things. 

Aside from the exciting plot, a significant part of this novel is the supporting characters. Without spoiling the story, one of my favorite characters was that of Eva Stratt. She is tasked with putting together the team, science, and space ship to save humanity. She is a bulldozer in high heels. But surprisingly, instead of going to type and making her a bitch, she is ruthlessly efficient. I would be intimidated to be around her but not because she was going to tell me off. More because she would be weighing and measuring my usefulness.  

There are other great characters in the story that, again, without spoiling it, show Weir’s appreciation for science fiction. And, as a science fiction lover myself, I appreciated how he constructed them. I know that you will like what he did too. Rocky is one of my favorite characters in science fiction now. 

Project Hail Mary is a great story. It is filled with all the things that made The Martian great but added in a thrilling tale and another empathetic protagonist. It was delightful, and I plowed through it, finishing it off in one day. Come for the fun story; stay for the great characters. 

Read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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REVIEW: The Demon by Douglas Nicholas

I heard from another reader that this story was quite short, although it also sounded quite compelling. After reading it I wrongly assumed (due to it being so short) that it must have been a short story found amongst the late author Douglas Nicholas’ notes, before being published posthumously. However, I was quite surprised to discover that it was published almost two years before Nicholas’ sudden passing.

The brevity of this book is both a blessing and a curse, so that I also wondered if Nicholas’ publisher wanted a short book that could be offered as a free giveaway to readers who had signed up to his website’s mailing list (which is a common practice amongst indie authors). Yet this was also not the case.

Nicholas’ publishers obviously thought that this was a story that stood on its two feet and which was worth putting out there, and I’m glad that it saw the light of day. That said, it will probably only appeal to fans of Nicholas’ ‘Molly & Co.’ tetralogy, which includes ‘Something Red’, ‘The Wicked’, ‘Throne of Darkness’ and ‘Three Queens In Erin’. That said, Molly and her troupe of adventurers do not feature in ‘The Demon’, whose hero is a secondary character from the tetralogy, a formidable warrior whose seemingly invincible martial prowess earns him a lot of prominence in the series.

Anyone who (like me) has read and enjoyed the ‘Molly & Co.’ series will have no doubt already guessed that I’m talking about Sir Balthasar. These fans of Douglas Nicholas will also not be surprised to learn that Sir Baz instantly decides to confront a horrific demon which is said to be terrorising travellers in the woods surrounding his Lord Sir Jehan’s castle.

Sir Baz sets about assembling a mounted armed force and laying a plan to attack the beast, before leading his men beyond the safety of Sir Jehan’s castle walls to find the monster. If we’re honest the plan is a bit of a hare-brained scheme, since it involves sending two men in a wagon ahead of the armed riders to lure out the lurking monster, before summoning Sir Baz’s mounted men through blasts of the horn. Yet lovers of Nicholas will probably be quick to forgive this, while accepting that Sir Baz is a formidable warrior but not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed. After all, the main draw in this book is the author’s prose, with its unique ability to evoke a sense of wonder as well as horror.

So this book is a four on five stars for me, although I am a confessed fan of Nicholas’ fiction. ‘The Demon’ does contain some fundamental plot weakness, yet they’re worth overlooking in order to savour the rare privilege of stepping back into Nicholas’ medieval and fantastical world.

Read The Demon by Douglas Nicholas

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5 Things to Look Forward to in Mike Shel’s Idols Fall

Mike Shel’s dark fantasy Iconoclasts series has been filling readers with dread since Aching God crept onto the scene in 2018 and earned a top-ten finalist spot in the prestigious Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. Combining the author’s background in psychotherapy and experience in the tabletop RPG industry, the novels mix the classic archetype of the adventuring party with themes of trauma, a hefty dose of horror, and a brilliantly realistic look at how the dungeon-delving lifestyle would really affect people. With the final installment of the series nearing its April 2021 release date, I was lucky enough to get an early look at Idols Fall as an alpha reader. Unavoidable spoilers for books one and two are ahead, but efforts have been made to avoid any spoilers for Idols Fall itself. From the official Goodreads blurb:

“AT LONG LAST, EVEN GODS WILL KNOW REGRET…”

Agnes Manteo now bears her father’s sentient Djao sword, along with a terrible revelation—the gods are charlatans, ancient sorcerers who draw their strength from the suffering of humanity. She and her Syraeic companions have but one duty: to track down those pretenders and end their reign of cruelty and lies, no matter the cost. To that end, the magical blade—mighty, single-minded Szaa’da’shaela—won’t allow any wavering of their commitment.

But the empire is in turmoil with the sudden passing of its undying queen. Noble houses clash and threaten civil war, murderous barbarians mass on the frontier in preparation for a bloody invasion, and all feel the aching void left by the clergy, whose temples were devastated by a great fire. Can the kingdom survive should Agnes succeed in tearing away its very foundations?

And if she fails? What might sorcerers with nearly godlike powers do to exact their revenge?

Idols Fall is the thrilling conclusion to the compelling Iconoclasts trilogy.

For those who are as excited to get their hands on book three as I was, here are 5 things to look forward to in Idols Fall.

5. Magic, Divine and Profane

“Brine conjured seven devils from a black fire he kindled with goat’s blood and the bones of a recently stillborn baby. And he sent each of those infernal creatures inside Surin, to bite and claw at his soul, to prowl about his body, doing to him hideous things words could never describe.”

Throughout the series, Iconoclasts features one of my favorite soft magic systems in fantasy. Shel’s mages pay homage to their RPG roots, but the spells they cast aren’t anything you’ll find in the back of your D&D Player’s Handbook (Sin Eater readers, for example, might recall a certain protagonist flaying a mob with a single particularly nasty enchantment). Magic plays a central role in Idols Fall, and readers can look forward to cool alchemy, wonderfully horrific necromancy, and a fascinating exploration of the divine magic that comes from the pretender gods.

4. Djao Lore

“In whose domain is Vah’shaan?”

“Why, the Great Lady of Blood and Night.”

“Does the great lady have a name?” asked Lumari, her tone hinting at scorn.

“Her Most Gracious and Terrible Majesty, Leh’ae’ah’lu,” he answered, hand on his heart. “May her thirst be quenched.”

The ancient race of twisted and bloodthirsty sorcerers has always featured prominently in Iconoclasts worldbuilding as Syraec adventurers delve into the terrifying ruins of their civilization, but Idols Fall gives us some long awaited answers about the Djao. With book two’s revelation that the deities of Hanifax are just particularly powerful Djao mages masquerading as the divine and feeding on their followers’ suffering, book three reveals all the interesting details about false goodhood. Some major highlights include the fallout from Timilis the trickster god’s death, more information about ensorceled Djao blades like the one Agnes carries, and a gory look at what life was like when Djao wizard-kings ruled humanity.

3. A New Adventuring Party

“He mostly wondered on the occupation of Syraeics. Damned odd, crawling about in tombs and temples, searching for loot and magic, scrapping with demons and undead horrors. The notion gave him the shivers. No, a naval career provided sufficient challenge and adventure for him. Better a passel of pirates than snaggle-toothed devils, aching for a bite at your soul. In truth, there really was no need for a man to poke at the hateful past. Better to leave that malignancy buried and forgotten beneath the dirt.”

 With the many of the companions that followed the Manteos in Sin Eater dead, maimed, or traumatized beyond recovery, Agnes assembles a fresh company of new and returning adventurers. Fans of the series can look forward to the comeback of some characters who haven’t been seen since Aching God or the related short stories (“The Barrowlands” and “The Final Word,” and I highly recommend both) as well as completely new characters joining Agnes on her deicidal mission. Readers might recognize some RPG class archetypes among the protagonists, but Shel did a great job of making them more than numbers on a character sheet, and their party dynamic makes them a joy to follow in social situations, mortal danger, and everything in between. GDM readers in particular will likely enjoy this group of interestingly flawed but basically decent characters who are thrust into a brutally dark world and are often forced to make morally questionable decisions.

2. Royal Intrigue

“Royal College? Of Sorcerers? They’ll support the crown! They’re bound to it by both solemn oath and necromancy!”

Ulwen tapped the green gem in his forehead. “Countess, this gem binds me and my brethren to the anointed monarch of Hanifax.”

It struck Ilanda like a slap. “Oh, Blessed Womb of Chaeres! There is no anointed monarch!

 While Agnes deals with the Djao, the kingdom of Hanifax is left with a similarly dangerous aftermath–who will hold the throne with the almost century-and-a-half reign of the insane Queen Geneveia at an end? With a court and country in turmoil, Countess Ilanda Padivale has to deal with a witch-queen and her barbarian hordes on one border,  treacherous, grasping nobles on the other, and a mysterious fiery prophet setting cities alight. This side of the plot intertwines nicely with the more traditional adventure Agnes and co. pursue, and both threads contain some superb plot twists and excellent scares.

1. The Dungeon Crawl

“It didn’t take long for them to conclude that the map expertly rendered by the famous Donner Crow was essentially useless. They had expected grand pillared chambers of ancient marble, halls decorated with elaborate carvings, painted ceilings, all manner of glorious décor hinted at in sacred scripture and described in detail by the previous expedition. Instead they found themselves navigating a twisted, confusing maze of narrow corridors and featureless chambers with strange dimensions that disturbed the senses.”

The final act of Idols Fall culminates in what’s potentially the most brutal dungeon crawl since Gygax penned the dreaded Tomb of Horrors. While the (exceedingly) gory details of this particular delve are best experienced by readers in the context of the narrative, I suspect Grimdark Magazine readers are going to love it. In addition to featuring enough terror, traps, and monsters to satisfy the most sadistic gamemaster, I thought this section of the novel was a perfectly worthy climax for the story and the trilogy as a whole.

0. (Bonus) Simon Vance’s Narration

Audible users will be glad to hear that Simon Vance (also known for the audio editions of Frank Herber’s Dune books, Brent Week’s Lightbringer series, and a host of others) is back to narrate the third and final book of the trilogy! I experienced Aching God for the first time as an audiobook, and I thought Vance was the perfect reader to bring the novels to life.

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The Future is Grimdark: The rise of streaming in TV and film and what it means for fans of grimdark

Ten years have passed since Game of Thrones hit our screens. Ten years since the world was introduced to a grimdark story on a big budget.

The weekly shows produced by HBO became must-watch television for people all over the world and not just fans of fantasy – events like The Red Wedding had viewers comparing their shared horror and disgust for some of the diabolical, scheming characters that the show brought to life so well. It provided fully formed characters who were not typical of Hollywood-style heroes and villains. The kings and queens in Westeros were not noble and righteous: they abused their power and treated their people like pawns to be moved on a whim. The show displayed a nihilistic view of fantasy that had not been presented with such a large budget before, and the world devoured it and asked for more.

Producers took note that there was a market for this grimdark sensibility, and it happened to coincide with a boom in the streaming market. The past decade has seen the rise of the streaming giants. Netflix began producing its own content in 2013, and in the past decade more than 203 million people have subscribed to their TV and film streaming service. Amazon Prime now works with a similar model and has over 140 million subscribers. Disney, Sky, HBO, Apple, and countless others have followed with similar models.

The success of the streaming giants and the current model in which they produce their own content has led to a boom in risk-taking shows and films. In line with this, a plethora of grimdark tales have hit our screens over the past decade, and that only appears to be on the rise. Long gone are the days when producers looked for happy endings for its audience and grinning protagonists to follow on journeys with minimal risk. Big-budget fantasy films and shows such as Twilight, Heroes, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hobbit, all offered viewers entertainment in comfort. Though filled with problems for heroes to overcome, viewers could always be sure that the heroes survive and save the day and all things will return as they were in the beginning with only minor changes to the status quo. Now we have a rise in popularity of media that is designed to keep us out of that comfort zone, to keep us on the edge of our seats. Game of Thrones, The Boys, The Walking Dead and Star Wars: Rogue One are all recent examples of well-received and popular films and shows that are loved because the audience cannot watch comfortably with the expectation that all the characters will make it through to the end unscathed. Years ago, such stories would have been rejected by producers or ‘softened’ for the audience. Proof of this lies in Seven, a dark thriller known best for its incredible ‘what’s in the box?’ ending that only survived re-writes and cuts in 1995 due to its writer sending the wrong script to the right producer after it was turned down by so many others for being too dark and gruesome.

With so many viewers now streaming, it is easier for companies to keep tabs on viewing habits. Media with a grim tone and dark themes had once been classed as ‘cult’ essentials (Firefly, Dark City, Dredd, Blade Runner) suitable only for a small audience. These examples grew over time with word of mouth and good reviews, and now similar films and shows are being given the time and money to succeed from the start. Before streaming, shows had a short time to amass a following or they would be cancelled and classed as failed experiments. Now those shows are given time to build a viewer base, and on sites such as Netflix, the audience can even see what is becoming popular using their top 10 system. Viewers can follow what is popular in real-time and see what their fellow watchers are consuming.

As expected, the success of Game of Thrones led to cries for the next great, gritty fantasy series. HBO stuck with the world of Westeros and called for spin-offs from the hugely successful series. Netflix decided to plug the gap in the market with The Witcher, based on the hugely successful series of games and books written by Andrzej Sapkowski and fronted by Superman himself, Henry Cavill. Amazon Prime spent over a billion dollars buying the rights to Tolkien’s Middle Earth and reports so far anticipate a grittier version of The Lord of the Rings is on its way in some form this year. When Netflix took the reins of BBC’s The Last Kingdom, the series instantly upped the ante with larger scale battles, blood, betrayals and more despicable characters. Series like The Expanse and Vikings have been able to grow and maintain their audience, which past shows like Firefly were unable to do. Bigger companies are starting to portray darker themes in their storytelling and allow the audience to decide what is successful, and grimdark fans are reaping the rewards.

The popularity of streaming and the wealth now associated with companies such as Netflix and Amazon have changed the style of television. For many, TV was a little brother to film, a stepping stone on the way to Hollywood. Often, viewers would see their favourite stars of TV make the leap to the big screen but only rarely would this work the other way. The success of streaming and the financial growth in the sector meant that huge stars could be attracted to TV projects. Sean Bean in Game of Thrones and Henry Cavill in The Witcher are prime examples. Nicole Kidman, Ellen Page, Matthew McConaughey are further signs that huge stars are willing to take on roles in series that they perhaps would not have taken in the past. But it is not just about money. The longer form of storytelling allows characters to grow and breathe, which is good for grimdark as much as any other genre. It offers time for viewers to understand characters, who in film could sometimes appear cartoonish and two-dimensional. Just think of how Peter Baelish and The Hound would have been treated if they were squashed into ninety minutes. Actors are drawn to these roles now because they allow time to develop characters. And it seems to be working: Netflix alone received a record 160 Emmy nominations this year.

Reading a post by Mark Lawrence on his blog at the tail end of last year, I saw that, for him, grimdark is characterised by “defiance in the absence of hope”. They are stories that people of all backgrounds can relate to because everyone has had at least one point in their life where they feel helpless. Grimdark shows viewers characters who stand up and fight even when there is no light at the end of the tunnel and portrays imperfect characters perfectly brought to life.

So what does the future look like? Expect more from The Witcher, The Expanse, a prequel to Game of Thrones and Amazon to milk The Lord of the Rings for all its worth. HBO is pushing forward with The Last of Us and The Black Company is being developed by Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse) and written by David S. Goyer (Blade, Dark Knight, Man of Steel). Conan (Amazon), The Sandman (Netflix), Judge Dredd, Dune and a grittier-than-ever Batman film are due to be released over the course of the next 12 months. There are options on cracking tales from Mark Lawrence, Nicholas Eames and a host of other popular authors from the genre. Grimdark is unpredictable and often full of shocking twists and turns. One thing I can predict is – the future of film and TV is grimdark.

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REVIEW: Church by Renee Miller

The last book I read by Renee Miller was Eat The Rich, an amusing and thought-provoking account about aliens taking over Earth. It was a yarn as packed with intrigue as it was filled with thought-provoking glimpses of the emptiness of modern-day life for middle-income earners, while taking an uncommonly serious look at homelessness.

Eat The Rich also shone a spotlight on the political workings of a contemporary democratic society, thereby deconstructing a few of its myths while also showing that an authoritarian alternative is not worth contemplating. Yes, the political class were largely portrayed as self-serving charlatans constantly pandering to the whims of the majority, yet what would become of us if we did not have these specimens of humanity to carry out the sordid business of politicking? Miller uses an alien invasion to successfully tease out these questions.

So it was with great excitement that I picked up Miller’s short story Church, in which she pits believers of traditional faith against those running a latter-day cult. I might be glaringly ignorant to be suspicious of all cults, although experience has taught me to be wary of anyone trying too hard to sell me anything. However it was great to be able to visit and live amongst a cult via Miller’s book, which pits those blinded by greed against those blinded by faith, so that the reader is led to ask which of the two is worse.

The fictitious Zabian cult developed by Miller is one which (surprise, surprise) preys on the weak and infirm, in an effort to access and hoover up the cash in their victims’ bank accounts. While reading this book I had this suspicion that Miller might also try to show that traditional belief systems are not all that different from cults, but I was in for a surprise. As in ‘Eat The Rich’, ‘Church’ walks the line really well between black humour and tragedy, and contains the odd side-splitting moment like the cult’s choice of music at the end of their first ceremony.

Although this is a short story, there is ample enough background provided by the author to understand most of her main characters’ motivations. For the cult leaders it’s obviously about doing anything possible to swindle their physically abused and drugged up flock, while the Christian anti-hero Ray is rescued by faith but ultimately plagued by lust, a fatal attraction which spurs him into knowingly stepping into a nightmare which ultimately exceeds his worst fears. Miller’s writing should appeal to readers who enjoy grim and dark undertones, with much left to the imagination since Miller does not provide an explanation to absolutely everything, such as the passing of a central female character.

The author expertly balances the darkly humorous with the outrageous, therefore rendering the ruthless, deceiving cult leader Darius as revolting a character as he is enthralling (think Joe Exotic from the ‘Tiger King’, although probably more evil). Darius does his best to run the cult with a seasoned hand, his cruelty complemented by a good deal of resourcefulness since he often has to think quickly on his feet to undo many of the hitches which he encounters.

As expected, Miller’s writing is at all times confronting, containing violence, abuse, horror and gore aplenty. Yet overall, I somehow found it a breezy and delightful read, except for the rodents’ scene, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable (understatement of the century). At the very core of the grim and haunting story is Ray’s huge internal struggle, as he does his best to keep a hold on his Christian faith, despite the best (and worst) efforts of the Zabian cult leaders who are desperate for his money. The story’s ending is quite abrupt, yet it’s a phrase uttered by a man condemned to a grisly end, a few lines before the end, which serves to underline which faith is more genuine (depending on which way you look at it).

So anyway, Church is a 5/5 star read. Miller’s writing is truly cutting edge and it is once again apparent from this short story that she is true to her own voice and strikes her own path, regardless of any prevailing commercial trends. She writes whatever the hell she likes with unbridled freedom, which keeps her writing fresh and relevant.

Read Church by Renee Miller

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REVIEW: The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson

A bard’s job is to tell a story. Beyond that, whether the story is true or not is relative. While most good bards will want some element of truth in the tales to give them legitimacy and garner respect, a learned tale spinner also understands that a little bit of spice will sometimes make the difference between a story and a tale to be remembered. The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True is such a tale, and we can tell immediately from the title that our narrator will be using a bit of embellishment. “(Mostly) True” gives that away and is a subtle admission that there will be some flavoring to make the story more enjoyable. With that in mind, our narrator wants her story to be believed as well as enjoyed. Or at least, mostly believed.

“I’m all in favor of using the people’s vernacular, but sometimes the people should get a bigger vernacular and know what words mean.”

Heloise the Bard is the narrator of this fine tale, which is her firsthand account of a quest to rid the village of Skendrick of their dragon problem. She is, or wants to be, the most famous and well-loved bard in the land. She takes on this job knowing it will add to her legend. She’s hoping it will, at least.

In the constant struggle between truth and entertainment, Heloise gives us alternating chapters where she goes all out in both manners. By doing this, she is able to embellish to her heart’s content on one hand, while fulfilling her sense of honor at keeping an accurate account of what happened. She does this by giving first a chapter that’s full of the epic grandeur: “A Classic Beginning,” and following that up with a more truthful account: “…Is Not How it Actually Went Down”. She uses this technique throughout the novel, delivering what seems to be an appropriate compromise between what really happened, and how heroic the deeds that were done.

Regardless to the level of heroism needed to complete the task of dragon getting-rid-of, Heloise couldn’t do it all alone. She needed help, so went in search of a band of maybe heroes that would be willing to take on the great risk for their sense of honor. Or greed. Or maybe the promise of a little coin and some heroic reputation building, to help them get all that other stuff later on. If they survive, of course. Well, it wasn’t her money she was offering.

Rumscrabble Tooltinker (Rummy) is a rarity. He’s half-dwarf, half-halfling “(quarterling?)” and the purveyor of prestidigitation, which is a big word for sleight-of-hand.

Nadinta Ghettinwood (Nadi) is the leader of this little party, and is at least as stealthy as Rummy, though she’s more akin to the art of fighting.

Whiska Tailiesen is the wizard of the group, but she’s not your typical mage. She’s a Ratarian, which is a unique race of humanoids that resemble large rats. Not just in appearance either, as a race they “tend toward belligerence, rudeness, and coarseness.”

Borgunder Gunderbor (Borg) is a rock giant. His talents lie in brute strength, and his enormous size. To call Borg stupid is an unfair and inaccurate statement. He is slow, but this description is more an accounting of his speed rather than his wit.

“’…adventuring is hard. Really hard, and it’s kind of insane. I mean, who honestly thinks it’s a good idea to walk into a dragon’s lair for kicks?’

‘Not for kicks,’ said Whiska solemnly. ‘For treasure. A fecal ton of treasure.’”

Fans of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series might like The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True as it does seem that Pratchett’s series was an influence. There is a comfortable blend of humor and adventure throughout the narrative, and it has a nice pacing as a result. The humor is clever without being slapstick (mostly) and the characters feel real rather than ridiculous (though they will sometimes inspire a good eye roll). Gibson is an independent author, and if he continues to put out work of this quality and high level of entertainment, will be a success story along the lines of Michael R. Fletcher, M.L. Spencer, or Rob J. Hayes.

Read The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson

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