Adrian Collins's Blog, page 200

An Interview With P. Djèlí Clark

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark, a supernatural take on the Ku Klux Klan is probably one of the most timely books to be released in 2020. We at Grimdark Magazine had the honour to speak with the Nebula and Locus award-winning (and Hugo-nominated) author about his novella, writing and how fantasy interacts with politics.

He is probably best known for his Ministry of Alchemy sequence, A Dead Djinn in Cairo (short story, Tor.com) and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (novella, Tor.com) set in an alternate steampunk Egypt. Ring Shout, also a novella is published by Tor.com on 13 October, and he is one of the co-founders of (award-winning, as he points out!) magazine of Black speculative fiction, FIYAH, which we highly recommend you check out after reading this interview! But without further ado, have a read what the man himself has to say!

[FS] Ring Shout was obviously inspired by a long frustration with history, but did you realise at the time you were writing the book just how timely it would be at its release?

[PDC] Not at all. I started thinking up the idea for this story sometime in 2015. It sat with me for a few years, and didn’t really take off until I pitched it as a possible novella in the spring of 2019. So its release at this time is coincidence, or kismet—take your pick. I do, however, welcome the discourse the novella will provoke in the current moment and am fascinated to see what meaning(s) readers might take from it.

[FS] What was your inspiration to separate the Ku Kluxes from the Klans in Ring Shout?

[PDC] While the story didn’t begin to bubble up as an idea until 2015, some of its elements have been with me for a minute. A long while back, I was doing research for a Master’s thesis using the ex-slave narratives of the WPA, taken in the 1930s. There, former slaves who lived through Reconstruction, spoke of the first KKK. They described them dressed at times with horns and other oddities, compared them to haints (restless spirits), and described them carrying out violent and monstrous acts. That was my invitation to imagine over the familiar white sheets and hoods as something more sinister, inhuman: what the characters refer to as Ku Kluxes, as opposed to still human Klans. But I also didn’t want to fall into the trap of ascribing those monstrous acts to just mindless monsters. That would be too easy, evading responsibility for crimes carried out by all-too-human hands. I wanted to convey that to go down that dark road, to become a monster, is in many ways a choice. You don’t just end up there. You always have chances to walk back, before it’s too late.

[FS] In your other life you are an academic historian, how difficult do you find it to switch between the two modes of writing?

[PDC] Not difficult I’d say. Kind of like flicking a switch. But I tend to keep the two separate, as far as writing style. I even have a different laptop for both. How I write creatively, is not how I write as an academic. I’ve tried to blend the two: to make my academic work more literary. Nah. Didn’t like it.

[FS] What books have you read recently that you have absolutely loved and that you think our readers should check out?

[PDC] Rivers Solomon’s The Deep, Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby, Victor LaValle’s The Changeling. Not a book, but reading Wendi Dunlap’s very creepy Carnivàle, a serial with Broken Eye Books.

[FS] Can you tell us anything about what you are currently working on?

[PDC] The brand new WIP is a secondary world fantasy about an undead assassin, given an impossible task, who risks the wrath of a death-goddess. Still sketching it out.

[FS] You have written award-winning short stories and novellas – what appeals to you about the short form over the full-length novel?

[PDC] Well, I started out many years ago writing novels (all unpublished). When I did try my hand at short stories, my habit for long form left me with novelettes or novellas. Back then though, no one much was publishing that length. I had to teach myself how to write actual short stories, so I could actually get published. Turns out, it was a great way to work on the writing craft. Also introduced me to the short story market for genre, and the works of many very amazing writers. I managed to get published, then managed to get lucky with some nominations. But I still have a habit of creating novelettes and even novellas, with ideas that just won’t fit the short story format. Fortunately, I’ve been afforded some spaces where that sort of stuff can find a home.

[FS] Why do you think fantasy is such an effective genre to write about very real issues affecting our world?

[PDC] I don’t really know. Why does Tolkien find he can better express the hell of WWI through dead marshes and Mordor, or ecological politics through talking trees? Maybe there’s something in the human need to tell and hear stories that are both fantastic and familiar, that makes it easier to wrap real life within myth and folklore.

[FS] You are one of the founding members of FIYAH, a magazine of Black speculative fiction, which I personally think is amazing. How would you pitch the project to our readers of Grimdark so they cannot resist subscribing themselves?

[PDC] Let me amend that just a bit: the award-winning magazine of Black Speculative Fiction. FIYAH not only boasts a World Fantasy award, it features talented Black writers from across the Diaspora—some your readers might recognize, others they can freshly discover. It’s just solidly good writing that cuts across genres, styles, and themes. Grab you a copy.

[FS] We have just hosted a short story competition for previously unpublished authors at Grimdark Magazine – what advice would you give these authors who are just starting out on their careers?

[PDC] Keep creating. Finished that one story? Start dreaming up the next one. Keep reading. Sampling what’s out there can be food for the muse in unexpected ways. Write what excites you. If you want others to love it, you gotta love it first. Finally, be patient—with the world, and with yourself.

Read Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

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Robert E. Howard: Godfather of Grimdark?

Grimdark is a relatively new label for speculative fiction. Maybe the term first rolled around on your tongue while painting Warhammer miniatures back in the 90s, or perhaps it took Joe Abercrombie’s Twitter handle to embed this compound word into your personal lexicon. But the content that’s come to define this genre—the morally ambiguous characters, bleak circumstances, and thought-provoking dilemmas—is far from novel. Of course, dark stories have been around since long before the written word existed, but much of what we’ve come to associate with grimdark fantasy is rooted in the stories of pulp master Robert E. Howard.

Sure, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, and countless others helped provision the journey from dark fantasy to grimdark. But before their time,way back in the 1930s, the Texan known as ‘Two-gun’ was spinning fantasy yarns driven by morally deficient heroes with selfish and sometimes  disturbing motivations. Notably, these sword-and-sorcery tales, as they came to be known, were antithetical to the more hopeful and altruistic writings of Tolkien and those who trailed him. Howard was among the first writers to blend gritty, blood-pumping adventure yarns with dark fantasy elements, and in this regard, I don’t believe he is always given his due credit.

Though Howard’s settings aren’t aggressively bleak, they are as cold and cruel as one would expect from pseudo-historical settings. But it is not so much the plots or the places that resemble our modern concept of grimdark (though there are similarities)—it is his characters and their motivations. His most popular and enduring creation, Conan the Cimmerian, is not a typical hero. While many claim he is an anti-hero, and certain traits favour that description, that label is both vague and wide. Conan not should be so carelessly categorized, nor should Bran Mak Morn, another of Howard’s barbarian kings. After a careful examination of these two characters, I’m comfortable asserting that Howard was the godfather of the grimdark protagonist.

According to Novalyne Price, Howard once described Conan as “the damndest bastard I ever saw” (Price, One Who Walked Alone, 20). I think it’s fair to say that this is no way to describe a hero. And while Conan does play the hero when it suits him, if he doesn’t totally shatter the heroic archetype, he certainly cracks it. His motivations for slaying are manifold. Supported by his capable sword arm and near super-human constitution, he seeks money, wine, women, power, and sometimes vengeance. Time and again, he proves to be unrestrained by moral scruples. In ‘Rogues in the House’, he is jailed after slaying a priest to avenge his fellow thief and partner-in-crime. Then, in negotiations to win back his freedom, he agrees to kill a man he doesn’t know. In ‘Queen of the Black Coast’, after slaying a judge, he hops aboard a merchant ship and threatens to “drench (the) galley in the blood of its crew”. In what is perhaps Howard’s most controversial tale, ‘The Frost Giant’s Daughter’,  Conan reveals his dark lusts as he stalks a nymph-like woman across the barren northern wastes, threatening to “warm (her) with the fire in (his) own blood.” While there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he is literally bewitched by Atali’s magic, it’s disingenuous to claim rape—in this story—is not a motivator, whether he has been charmed or not. These are certainly not heroic traits, not by today’s standards, nor when compared to other fantasy fare of that era.

By his own admission, Howard injected a degree of realism and grit into Conan—aspects shared by modern grimdark protagonists and/or point of view characters. In a 1935 letter to his peer Clark Ashton Smith, Howard wrote:

“Sent a three-part serial to Wright yesterday: “Red Nails”, which I devoutly hope he’ll like. A Conan yarn, and the grimmest, bloodiest and most merciless story of the series so far. Too much raw meat, maybe, but I merely portrayed what I honestly believe would be the reactions of certain types of people in the situations on which the plot of the story hung. It may sound fantastic to link the term “realism” with Conan; but as a matter of fact — his supernatural adventures aside — he is the most realistic character I ever evolved. He is simply a combination of a number of men I have known, and I think that’s why he seemed to step full-grown into my consciousness when I wrote the first yarn of the series. (Robert E. Howard to Clark Ashton Smith, 32 July 1935, Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard 3. 366-367)

It is this warts-and-all realism that separates Conan from other fantasy characters and makes him more akin to grimdark protagonists like Abercrombie’s Logen Ninefingers. He is a man motivated by appetite—whether it’s for “rich juices of red meat”, “lithe and voluptuous” females or for “the feasting of swords”, Conan wears his heart’s desire on his vambrace. And in ‘Red Nails’, the final and arguably most grimdark Conan story, we see the Cimmerian as driven as ever to satisfy his needs. It is a tale of lust, tribal feuds, trophy killings, and the slow, horrifying decay of civilization. In the middle of all this is Conan—horny, hungry and vicious as a panther, giving little regard to the fate of the warring citizens. After a crescendo of blood and thunder, as bodies bleed out in the streets of Xuchotl, readers may find themselves aghast at the bleak themes and ultra-violence on display. But not Conan. Despite all he’s witnessed and all he’s wrought, when the final screams cease, his mind immediately sets back to his purpose, ‘“Well this cleans up the feud,” he grunted. “It’s been a hell of a night! Where did these people keep their food? I’m hungry.”’

To be fair—and at the risk of countering my own thesis—I must highlight Conan’s peculiar sense of honor. In these tales, Howard takes pains to explore the theme of civilization vs. barbarism, and one of his go-to tricks is to portray Conan as a man with a code, especially in regard to his friends. In ‘Queen of the Black Coast’, he kills the judge because he refuses, by order of his curious barbaric mores, to give up his friends. Again, in ‘Rogues in the House’ we learn the lengths he goes to avenge his thief friend, despite risking his own freedom. And regardless of the uncomfortable aspects of the ‘Frost Giant’s Daughter’, other tales give evidence that Conan would not take a woman against her will, nor would he accept sex as a payment for his services. This isn’t to say these examples preclude Conan from being a grimdark protagonist, as these could be considered character traits, but it is only fair to point out that he does have a moral compass.

Though several of Howard’s characters warrant a look under the grimdark lens, another in particular presents a truly compelling case: Bran Mak Morn, last King of the Picts. If Conan is Howard’s power fantasy—a man of sex, drugs, and dripping swords—then Bran Mak Morn represents a man bent beneath the weight of duty. I realize it doesn’t sound immediately grimdark to be married to one’s responsibilities, but the measures Bran takes to beat back the encroaching Romans and preserve his people are both extreme and unsettling, especially for a fantasy hero of the 1930s.

In what many consider Howard’s masterwork, ‘Worms of the Earth’, Bran’s back is to the wall. For years he’s raged against the inevitable; now he stands closer than ever to losing everything to the Romans. Unlike Conan, Bran lacks the luxury of pursuing base pleasures. He experiences all the melancholy with none of the mirth. In an earlier story, ‘Kings of the Night’, we see Bran is willing to condone human sacrifice to gain an edge on his enemies, but that pales in comparison to the depraved acts he commits in ‘Worms of the Earth’. In order to wreak vengeance on the military governor, Titus Sulla, Bran seeks the aid of a witch, whom he must bed in order to curry favour. Once the deed is done, he descends into the hellish depths of the earth to make a pact with the titular Worms—devolved reptilian creatures capable of killing by supernatural means.

While it’s fair to say Bran is doing this for altruistic purposes, it’s equally fair to claim he’s fully aware of what fates he tempts. Despite warnings from both his trusted seer and the devious witch who calls him mad, he remains undeterred, ‘“I seek a vengeance,’ he answered, ‘that can be accomplished only by Them I seek.’”

Further, ‘Worms of the Earth’ ends on purely grim and ominous note and, unlike Conan, Bran does not conqueror his enemies unfazed. Despite glutting his vengeance and surviving the fight, Bran’s actions make no significant difference in the ultimate fight against his enemies. In fact, he has probably made new and more elusive foes. What evils he unleashed we’ll never know, as this was the last Bran tale Howard would write. But if a grimdark story is one where the protagonists make questionable decisions and commit black deeds, only to find themselves deeper in the mud and blood, then ‘Worms of the Earth’ certainly fits the definition.

While it’s easy to suggest Howard’s contributions were nothing more than another branch on the evolutionary chain of speculative fiction, I believe he deserves more credit. If you consider his morally ambiguous characters, their motivations, and his stories’ bleak themes and ominous conclusions, it’s easy to spot the influences he has had on grimdark fantasy. Perhaps over the years, other authors have provided stronger inspirations, but when you follow the thread all the way back to Howard’s pulp tales of the 1930s, you will find the starting point for grim and dark fantasy as we know it.

Originally published in GdM#24

Check out the full issue here.

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REVIEW: Mountain of Daggers by Seth Skorkowsky

Mountain of Daggers by Seth Skokowsky is a collection of short stories about a thief named Ahren (pronounced Aaron). Ahren is arguably the greatest thief in the world and someone who has skills as a sailor, burglar, con man, swordsman, and brawler. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of world that benefits Renaissance Men and he is someone the local gangs don’t know what to do with.

The book is arranged in the context of an old Sword and Sorcery book rather than grimdark. It reminded me strongly of the pulpy adventures of Conan the Barbarian or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Ahren, himself, is not a larger than life character but stoic and reserved with rarely any hint to what he’s really thinking. He reminds me a bit of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name, transplanted to a Medieval Italian-esque universe.

Ahren’s motivations seem limited to either coin or cleavage, the later driving him to get involved with several dangerous women throughout the story. He’s not a lech like Conan but more like a gentleman bandit who is certain he can charm any of the young women he gets involved in given enough time spent in his company. How successful depends on the story as quite a few of the women he encounters outwit him rather than the opposite.

Each of the short stories inside the book is yet another one of Ahren’s adventures, loosely organized in chronological form. We follow him from when he’s little more than a sailor sick of doing menial labor for little pay to a man who is feared throughout the continent as the Black Raven. Each of them is self-contained and could have been printed in a magazine with readers never having to read one of the originals.

Seth Skorkowsky is notably an award-winning reviewer of pulp-influenced tabletop games like Call of Cthulhu, Conan the Barbarian, and Traveler. As such, we can see what sort of fiction he’s making a homage to despite this being a book written in the 21st century rather than in the early 20th. This is a world of evil wizards, pirates, thieves’ guilds, decadent nobility, and more. It’s a bitter higher tech than Conan’s world and I’d put it roughly around the same level as the Gentleman Bastard series.

This classic homage to the swashbuckling short stories of the past is going to appeal to a lot of fans but sadly suffers from some of its weaknesses. Ahren’s mysteriousness and stoicism prevents much in the way of character development. He’s pretty much the same individual he was at the beginning, even when he’s only starting his career as the legendary Black Raven. We also don’t have much in the way of a supporting cast as there are only a handful of recurring characters throughout the short stories.

Still, I recommend this book and think it is far from the worst way a fantasy fan can spend their afternoon. The big appeal of this book is its action, daring do, and interesting heists. This is a book about a dashing rogue and Seth Skorkowsky writes them well.

Read Mountain of Daggers by Seth Skorkowsky

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REVIEW: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is a rollicking urban fantasy by the prolific Garth Nix, taking place in a slightly-alternate version of the titular city, in the year 1983.

Shortly after her 18th birthday, Susan Arkshaw leaves rural life for the big city to find her fortune and discover the identity of her long lost father. Before long, she is whisked away into the dangerous magical underbelly of old Lun-Dun guided by the charismatic bookseller, Merlin St. Jacques; an agent of a secret society of sorcerous operatives, trained to keep fantastic occurrences safely away from the oblivious public. Merlin believes that Susan – and her mysterious father – are somehow connected to his own private investigation, and the two must help each other if they are to resolve their respective goals.

What follows is a mad-cap journey filled with memorable characters and heart-pumping action, all steeped in a convincing mythology thick with the folklore of its locale. Overall, I was thoroughly satisfied with this novel, finding the plot interesting and action-packed, the characterization sharp, and the realization of the world and incorporation of its accompanying mythos, exceptional. The pacing of the plot points could perhaps have been improved by reducing the many bits of exposition detailing various magical elements during the first quarter-or-so of the book, though this did indeed pay dividends later, and the story undeniably builds up to an exciting and satisfying crescendo.

While the writing itself was generally a pleasure to apprehend, I will note that the author employs an uncommon perspective device, as the point of view shifts between characters, sometimes mid-scene, although it is not an omniscient narration. It’s an affectation of Nix’s that I have scrutinized in a previous work, and while not a style often used in current literature, he ably leverages it here to expedite the narrative by informing the reader directly as to the thoughts of a particular character (in this case, primarily Merlin) without having to later review the scene from their viewpoint or contrive an inference for the reader to understand what they were feeling in that moment. Mostly though, the story is told either through Susan or Merlin, in their own chapters and in more traditional fashion.

Modern readers will be pleased to find transgender representation in the form of the magically gender-fluid, dress-wearing and gun-toting Merlin; a prime candidate for a groundbreaking genre role as a dashing and unflappable warrior. However, those of the most stringent social conscience may be disappointed to see this aspect of the character fade to the background, as the male representation of Merlin quickly takes centre stage; the opportunity to truly showcase such a lead, arguably sidestepped. Regardless, I appreciate the way in which Nix nonchalantly incorporates this element into his character work, and furthermore, respect that he’s laid groundwork for future stories destigmatizing this facet of society.

Fans of Gaiman’s Neverwhere and Butcher’s Dresden Files will appreciate the familiar territory and enjoy the balance struck between irreverence, drama and action, while those new to the genre will surely find this to be an engaging and well-executed entry point into urban fantasy. There is certainly a lot left to mine here, and I could well see this setting be home to many future stories of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London.

Read The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

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REVIEW: Fortress of Fury by Matthew Harffy

Fortress of Fury is a well-researched, enjoyable historical fiction set in the familiar world of dark ages Britain. There are bloody battles, intriguing characters and plenty of oaths that need fulfilling.

“To lead men is not easy. Think carefully before you accept their oaths. For a man’s promise to his lord is both a treasure and a burden.”

This is Matthew Harffy’s 7th entry into his dark-ages series the Bernicia Chronicles. Set in 647 AD, you may not know much about this particular time period as it is rarely covered in historical fiction. We are more used to the age of the Norse-raiders from the turn of the 8th century to the battle of Hastings. If you are a reader of Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles this series will not feel much different. The land and politics are similar, the gritty characters and shield walls are ever present and the names are suitably Anglo-Saxon.

“You know me,” Beobrand said, a half-smile playing on his lips. “I am always careful.”

I have not read the previous entries into the Bernicia Chronicles, nor have I met Beobrand our protagonist before. I can say that you can definitely follow along and not feel lost if you jump into this series with Fortress of Fury, as this book indeed felt like a standalone. I did always feel like I was missing something, a connection with a certain character, a reference here and there, and this ultimately influenced my rating more than another book would.

“Towards lies and towards broken oaths. And towards death.”

The writing is solid, prose clear and direct and engaging. Beobrand is a likeable character and has some awesome moments that make him stand above the rest. There are similarities between him and other main characters of dark ages series, a strong and talented warrior with charisma for days, but that is no bad thing – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! The secondary cast are also fun and provide lots of interest, whether in the form of friends, love interests and rivals. The pacing was great and each character had their moment to come through and shine to the reader.

“The men did not speak, but it was clear they came with only one purpose: death in the darkness.”

4/5 – All in all I enjoyed my foray into the Bernicia Chronicles. Fortress of Fury is a solid and fun read that allows you to glimpse into the dark world of 7th century Britain. The fights are intense and engaging and the characters intriguing. I will go back and start from The Serpent Sword as I enjoyed this, but feel I could have loved it if I had joined the characters from book 1.

Read Fortress of Fury by Matthew Harffy

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Exclusive cover reveal for Blindspace by Jeremy Szal

After exploding onto the science fiction scene with his barnstorming adrenaline-fest, alien drug-fuelled debut, Stormblood, Jeremy Szal is back with Blindspace, book two in The Common. Blindspace isn’t scheduled for release by Gollancz until October 2021, but I do have one hell of a cover to show you!

Now, there isn’t a great deal of detail available about Blindspace as of this post (there’s a few tid-bits in interviews here, here, and here) but if you’ve read book one, and you know the toll stormtech has taken on Harmony’s discarded Reaper super soldiers, then you’ll know the tagline on the cover has a big impact.

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease …

This book is going to be painful, you’re going to cringe, and who knows if Vak, Artyom, Grimm, and Katherine will make it out the other end. And after saying the below about Stormblood, there is no question that I’ll be in line for this book.

Stormblood is a magnificent and explosive adrenaline-fest that ends with an absolute gut-punch that ties all the threads back into one tear-inducing moment. Szal’s debut is an absolute must read for fans of gritty, action-packed, detective / military SF. Whatever book two is, I’m in.

Now that I’ve managed to quote myself, let’s get in to the cover.

Check out the cover

Now, the cover for Blindspace is a thing of sci-fi beauty. The beasty armour, the ship, and the drop into the neon-drenched metropolis below has my imagination swimming with possibilities.

 

Pre-order Blindspace by Jeremy Szal

Get in line for what is going to be an absolutely epic read by using the pre-order links below:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Untitled-Szal-2-3-Jeremy/dp/147322747X
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Blindspace-Jeremy-Szal-ebook/dp/B0891TKN1H/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=Jeremy+Szal&qid=1601939507&s=audible&sr=1-9-catcorr
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Untitled-Szal-2-3-Jeremy/dp/147322747X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Blindspace-Jeremy-Szal/9781473227477?ref=grid-view&qid=1601939455517&sr=1-2

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REVIEW: The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski

I received an uncorrected proof copy of The Tower of Fools in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Andrzej Sapkowski and Gollancz.

In The Tower of Fools, we are introduced to the twenty-three-year-old nobleman Reinmar of Bielawa, also referred to as Reynevan, whilst he is having sex with another man’s wife. Unfortunately, the cuckolded husband’s brothers interrupt proceedings and pummel the young rapscallion. Our protagonist somehow manages to escape, losing his many pursuers until finally, Wolfer of Stercza declares that Reinmar is a dead man.

“I’ll catch you, kill you, destroy you. Exterminate you and your entire viperous family.”

There are lots of characters introduced in the opening chapter and the general consensus is that they are all after Reynevan. Reinmar of Bielawa spends much of the novel running and hiding from many who would see him beaten, castrated, or executed. For all who seem to oppose him though, there seem to be many others who will aid him or give assistance, sometimes due of his high birth, that they are friends of a mutual acquaintance, or because he went to university in Prague with them.

Reynevan is an extremely interesting lead character. He’s good-looking, charming, intelligent, a physician, is sort of an apprentice-level mage, is often foolish, makes rash decisions, and has a major weakness when it comes to the opposite sex. Reynevan has more in common with Dandelion than with Sapkowski’s most famous protagonist, Geralt of Rivia.

“Reynevan… Misbegotten, albeit, but of Piast blood. A bishop’s son. Kin of the Nostitz family. The nephew of the scholaster at Wroclaw Collegiate Church. A friend of rich men’s sons at university. On top of that, if that weren’t enough, a conscientious physician, almost a miracle worker, capable of winning the gratitude of the powerful.”

Before I approached The Tower of Fools, one of my favourite elements of Sapkowski’s writing was that he created great supporting characters, groups, brotherhoods and fellowships. An example would be the ensemble of Geralt, Dandelion, Regis, Milva, and Cahir in Baptism of Fire. This strength of the author’s is present throughout The Tower of Fools too, with characters like Scharley, Samson Honey-Eater and Urban Horn being just as complex, colourful and interesting to read about as the novel’s lead is.

Unlike the (mostly) straight-up epic fantasy nature of The Witcher saga, The Tower of Fools would be best described as historical fantasy. It is set in the 15th-century around the time of the Hussite Wars. This is an alternative universe version of historical events that features magic, religious sects, inquisitions, demons, and many monsters of the sort that Geralt would have crossed paths with. There are witches and mages, Wallcreepers, a werewolf who rapes unsuspecting male victims, amongst other creatures lurking in this reimagined Europe. I will admit that the period when this is set is a time of history that I know very little about but I am certain that some of the characters are based upon real-life counterparts. It would be interesting to research the era and see how the characters and the events fit in with those depicted in these novels.

The Tower of Fools was originally released as Narrenturm in Polish almost 20 years ago. This release is the first time that it has been translated into English. The translator is David French who worked with Sapkowski on six of The Witcher novels, and if you enjoyed his work on those novels then, like me, I imagine you will like this translation too. The Tower of Fools has a similar flow, feel, and lexical choices to those books and a couple of the issues that I found with them too. The Tower of Fools must mention the names of hundreds of Knights, members of the nobility and religious figures. It’s extremely detailed and thorough, and all the information, although useful, can be overbearing for a typical reader who just wants to read a good fantasy tale. I honestly didn’t care what twenty various Knights from different places had marked on their shields when it doesn’t seem to have any impact on the story.

For me, The Tower of Fools came across as a slightly darker read than most of The Witcher Saga. The often naive yet good-intentioned (unless he’s got his eyes on pretty women) Reynevan has some horrendous things happen to him in this novel, including events in the titular tower. Some parts read as particularly grim and it is heightened because these moments are due to religious motives and beliefs. The novel features many fights and skirmishes, lots of bloodshed, moments of torture, violence, and gruesome deaths. The Tower of Fools isn’t without humour though. I smiled and chuckled frequently which was a nice juxtaposition to the darkness and gloom. The side characters have some extremely humourous exchanges with Reinmar, and our narrator also gives a cheeky, informal summary at what is to happen in the upcoming chapter.

The Tower of Fools is a great opening chapter of the Hussite Trilogy. It is a well-crafted mix of historical fiction and fantasy with engaging characters, a tight plot, and a unique setting. It is set in a reimagined Europe and features religion, heresy, war, magic, demons, and monsters. The ending is well-worked and fulfilling and sets up the sequel, Warriors of God, in fine fashion. I have had positive experiences with all of Sapkowki’s books so far, except for Lady of the Lake, and for me, The Tower of Fools sits alongside Baptism of Fire and The Tower of the Swallow as some of the author’s finest work. I’m intrigued to see what happens next with the Hussite Wars in this series and to find out the part that Reinmar of Bielawa and his companions may play. Recommended for fans of Sapkowski’s The Witcher Saga, and those who enjoy a dark fantasy take on historical events.

*Quotations are taken from an uncorrected proof copy of The Tower of Fools and could change in the final release.

Read The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski

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REVIEW: Fable by Adrienne Young

Adrienne Young’s new novel Fable is, in essence, a story about a daughter’s longing for family. The bestselling author mentions in the afterword that the idea for the book came to her just a few days after her father’s death.

Written in first person, the novel tightly follows the resilient and tough 17-year-old Fable in a vivid seafaring setting. Fable kicks off just four years after the titular character was abandoned by her father on a dangerous island. This abandonment followed immediately after Fable survived the shipwreck that killed her mother and most of the rest of her father’s trading ship crew. Her father left her with a mysterious parting gift of an intricately gruesome knife wound to the forearm and a promise: “Get yourself off this island. And the next time I see you, I’ll give you what’s yours.”

Fable contains a richly textured look at the dangerous domain of sea trade. The fictional setting described in the novel is small: limited to a few island and port cities and the sea connecting them. Well-researched sailing lingo helps immerse the reader into an unfamiliar world.

The story follows Fable as she does what she can to survive and get “what’s hers” following her father’s five essential rules:

Keep your knife where you can reach it.

Never, ever owe anyone anything.

Nothing is free.

Always construct a lie from truth.

Never, under any circumstances, reveal what or who matters to you.

She eventually uses her special diving and gem-finding skills as a dredger to join the young, tightly knit crew of the trading ship Marigold. As the book unfolds, the reader learns that Fable has inherited remarkable and magical abilities related to dredging, abilities that might just get her and the rest of the crew killed. By the end of the book, all five rules are broken at least once, causing Fable and the crew of the Marigold no end of trouble.

Embedded within the overarching plot of an escalating blood feud between the Marigold and another trading ship, all the characters make bad choice after bad choice until things escalate to a cliffhanger finale. Frustratingly, all the main characters have strong plot armor and are often injured to within an inch of their lives. The author tends to put characters in unsurvivable situations and then contrive farfetched solutions out of thin air.

That is not to say the book is lacking darkness and violence. One particularly memorable scene of vengeance involves a man from an opposing crew being kidnapped, hammered into a crate, and tossed into the middle of the sea to die slowly. Though Fable knows the man had earlier painfully disfigured one of the crew of the Marigold and deserved to be made to pay for what he did, she has a challenging time accepting the cruel nature of the punishment.

Young’s prose is easily readable and smooth. She makes effective use of vivid descriptions of scents and sound, creating a solid sense of place. Fable is 368 pages long, so the narrative moves along at a fast and sometimes hurried clip. A more considered unfolding of some of the dramatic reveals may have improved the pacing. No passages stand out as truly remarkable in syntax, imagery, and turn of phrase. Some of the weakest moments are when the author occasionally slips into purple prose, which feels out of place in the greater context of the work.

This fun and readable story of dark fantasy misadventure with a sprinkle of romance will most appeal to the young adult demographic, but there are enough moments of descriptive brutality for the lovers of grimdark. People who enjoy the dark fantasy worlds and strong female protagonists of Leigh Bardugo, Laurie Forest and Holly Black will love Fable.

The Fable series is planned as a duology with the second book, Namesake, slated to come out in early 2021.

Three Stars

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REVIEW: Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

Persephone Station is the upcoming science fiction novel by multi-award-nominated sci-fi and fantasy author Stina Leicht (The Fay and the Fallen, The Malorum Gates). The novel tells the story of a band of mercenaries hired by a friend to a protect an indigenous village from the greedy interplanetary Serrao-Orlov Corporation. Serrao-Orlov has just purchased the planet Persephone on the outskirts of the United Republic of Worlds and seeks to profit from a secret scientific development that could change human life forever with dire consequences for everyone except the richest humans. But the secret is known only to the indigenes, the Emissaries in Ogenth, Persephone’s perilous frontier. Serrao-Orlov will destroy everything to exploit this secret. Angel and her band of misfit mercenaries must stop them.

Angel’s friend Rosie is the owner of Monk’s Bar, a seedy hangout for mercenaries and other lowlifes in the corporate-run town of West Brynner on Persephone. Rosie has a special tie to the planet’s indigenous people—they saved her when she was a small child of Catholic missionaries who were trying to convert the indigenous population to their religion. When Rosie finds out that Serrao-Orlov is determined to exploit the Emissaries at any cost, she hires Angel and her band to protect Ogenth. Angel has fallen on hard times since her career as a space marine ended. And because she has just been framed for the assassination of a powerful corporate leader and needs to get out of town quick, she gathers her team of assassins and oddballs and heads out to Ogenth in her spaceship, Kurosawa.

Like many excellent novels, and like Stephen King recommends in his book On Writing, the fight to save Ogenth from Serrao-Orlov is smashed together with another main plot—the emergence of artificial intelligence in human bodies. Artificial intelligence of at least two kinds is already widely employed in the United Republic of World, including in the spaceship Kurosawa and in Angel’s combat assistant, a function of her battle suit that enhances her ability to produce adrenaline and whatnot. But transferring artificial intelligence to humans could present extraordinary challenges to human life. After she is framed for the assassination, Angel runs into mysterious off-world stranger, Kennedy Liu, who just might hold the key to stopping the proliferation of this dangerous technology. Ultimately, the two plots converge on Persephone Station, a floating space station above the planet.

Persephone Station has everything a grimdark fan could want in a science fiction novel. The characters are outcasts, heavily armed and highly flawed. They face a powerful force on a suicide mission against all odds. Though the main characters are undoubtedly on the side of good in this novel, they are assassins and mercenaries who take the job for the money and for their friend. They fight with spaceships and mech suits and rail guns and pulse rifles and bombs and all kinds of good stuff. People get injured and killed. The settings are grim and perilous. The action is tense and fast, extremely interesting, logical, and vivid.

The one thing Persephone Station doesn’t have, though, is men. Similar to Kameron Hurley’s fantastic Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, all the main characters in Persephone Station are women, and the novel is billed as feminist science fiction. Hold on, dudes, don’t go anywhere. For me, an old man (and a feminist—women should be treated as equals), this did not lessen my enjoyment of the novel at all. These women kick ass. And unlike Hurley’s excellent novels in which there is a clear reason why there are no men around—they are conscripted to battle for life essentially—there is no such clear explanation here. These are just some tough assassins and mercs. Angel is an ex-marine who has purchased Kurosawa with money she made as a merc. Her would-be lover best friend, Sukyi, is from Earth, Nigeria specifically, which has fallen victim to a plague that Sukyi carries around with her, knowing she does not have long to live. She likes to blow things up. Lou is the adrenalin-addicted pilot of the Kurosawa. She cannot get enough of the fight, and surprisingly, she has a boyfriend. Enid is a dry, taciturn, top-notch assassin. All these characters have secrets that will out, and Leicht handles them and their relationships beautifully, creating an emotionally gripping backdrop to the furiously fast-paced adventure.

Persephone Station is a bit of mashup of grimdark fighting fiction, space opera, and cyberpunk. It has just enough science to bring it to life without distracting from the characters and their relationships and is loaded with many interesting subplots that come together to create a very entertaining story with depth and complexity even if it is not mind-blowingly original. Leicht’s prose is crystal clear and unpretentious. And although the pace of the novel is almost recklessly fast, the book is long enough at 512 pages to be truly immersive. Fans of gritty, grimdark space opera and science fiction should enjoy it. Fans of female-centred (feminist, if you insist) SFF should definitely give it a read. Though there are many, many more female protagonists and antagonists in SFF now (as you can see from Grimdark Magazine’s top fantasy novels of 2019 list) than there were when I started reading the genre, it is still male-dominated, especially on the sci-fi side. Give this one a go for a fun read.

Persephone Station is scheduled to be released by Saga Press on 5 January 2021.

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REVIEW: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung

The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids is the first novel of the Amra Thetys series by Michael McClung and the first winner of the Self Published Fantasy Blog-Off. If you are unfamiliar with the Self Published Fantasy Blog off or SPFBO, it is a competition held by fantasy author Mark Lawrence that pits 300 self-published fantasy books against each other in a grand battle with only one book surviving. The winner gets the title of SPFBO winner for that year. Not a small feat.

“Sometimes theft can be as simple and direct as a fist in an unsuspecting face, and sometimes it can be as complex as a military operation.”

The story in a The Thief Who Pulled on Troubles Braids starts in the apartment of the thief, Amra Thetys. Her friend and sometime business partner Corbin Harbin comes a-knocking with a stolen artifact in hand. Of course, Amra is no fool. She doesn’t want anything to do with this nonsense; if he has a stolen artifact, he needs to hide it himself. He persuades her, and she agrees to watch the artifact overnight if he returns in the morning to collect it.

The next morning Corbin does not show, and she finds Corbin’s body lying in the street dead.

This death puts Amra in the middle of a battle on the cosmic scale. In the beginning, this was just a quest to find out who killed her friend Corbin, but it turns into a story of deceit, magic, power, pain, and gods. Amra will be tested both physically and mentally. She will have to come to grips with her past choices and possible future while trusting help from unexpected places. Man, I just loved Amra.

“I’d always assumed hair was an integral part of any hairstyle.”

The remarkable thing about this The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids is that it is so short. You wouldn’t think with the emotion conveyed or the in-depth characters that this was a short book at all—quite the contrary. But The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids does everything very well. When a writer has a clear picture in their minds and can convey that to the reader, the book does not need to be long.

To start with, Amra seems like a pretty common type of protagonist. When I was reading her, it reminded me of Sancia from Foundryside. Both are thieves who are wily, remarkable, quick-witted, prone to disaster, and caught up in something much bigger than themselves. That is where the similarities end. There is tenderness and vulnerability in Amra that is not as apparent in Sancia. But, coupled with that vulnerability is a core of steel. Amra is a capable person. Her command of herself, the dignity that she lives her life with, demands respect from every person she meets. She lays herself bare; there isn’t a lot of guile with her. Which is odd considering she is a thief. She is what she is, and that attracted me to her as a character.

“Fate is a slaver, bloodwitch, and I refuse its chains.” As I walked out her door, she spoke in a quiet voice. “That is why fate has singled you out, Amra Thetys.”

As for the side characters in the story, the most entertaining is Holgren. McClung could have played it straight with Holgren being presented as a typical wizard/magician archetype. But he didn’t at all. Holgren is vastly powerful, but you don’t get that sense from him. He isn’t throwing his weight around, and he doesn’t need to. He holds his power in check until he is pushed to far, and when he lets it out, it is a thing to behold. I went back and read the chapters that talked about Holgren battling. He is a certified badass. Aside from the power, he also makes an excellent bantering foil to Amra. They both are exceedingly quick-witted, and that leads to some entertaining conversations between the two of them.

As this is a bit of a caper story, a whodunnit, you won’t know who the big baddies are until you get near to the denouement near the end of the story. I wasn’t prepared for the twists. The pacing is so good that it smacks you in the face. There is no slow burn here.

The city of Lucernis makes me think of cobblestone streets and Italian villas but beneath the beautiful exteriors lay a lot of rot. Along with the villas are apartments that are falling apart full of people barely making it. There was a societal division between the haves and have not in this story. The city’s poverty level is mentioned briefly here and there, but it was never one of the major players. But it created a background full of information that gave some context to people’s actions. There is also a great religious backstory that McClung created that paired with the city. The religious system consisted of various deities, gods and goddesses and their acolytes running various temples around town.

When I first heard about SPFBO last year and ended up on one of the teams, I wasn’t as familiar with the past year’s winners as I should have been. Since then, I have read 3 of the 5 winning novels, and they have been highlights of my year. This book, as the first winner, is no different. Damn, is this a well-done story. Although I feel like I am late to the game and the church of Amra, there are many books in the series to look forward to.

“I feel obligated to tell you that adventures are, on a whole, stunningly bad ideas, best avoided at all costs.”

The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung is a beautiful piece of dark fantasy. It has a rich story, a morally gray protagonist, and scenes that will make you jump up and down and cheer. If you like exciting books, this is for you.

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