Adrian Collins's Blog, page 207

An Interview with Dyrk Ashton

Hail grimlings! This issue I finally caught up with that wily rapscallion Dyrk Ashton.

If you don’t know Dyrk’s work, he is currently working on finishing his Paternus series—books 1 and 2 are already out and book 3 will be released June 23, 2020. These books are heavy on various global mythologies and very entertaining to read. Definitely one of my favorite series in recent years for the page turnability.

[TS] Dyrk, thanks for taking the time to chat with us.

[DA] Thank you for having me, Lord Smith!

[TS] I have to say right out of the gate that one of the most entertaining parts of this series so far is the way that you linked together various mythological characters from different regions based on their similarities and made them the same entity. What inspired you to take that route?

[DA] I’ve been a myth freak since I was a kid. As I grew older and started reading more myths, legends and fables from around the world, I began to see similarities in more than just archetypes and story structure. I began reading up on the idea of mythemes—core stories or real events and people from which many myths could have derived—and became fascinated by the idea of coming up with a story that could explain the mythemes themselves. It was a hell of a lot of fun to finally get to do that with Paternus.

[TS] You demonstrate a clear love of the world’s mythologies in your storytelling. Where did you get your start in reading mythology and was there a clear-cut favorite for you?

[DA] It started of course with Greek and Norse mythology and Arthurian legend. Simple readings for kids. I loved that as much as the fantasy I was reading. It then spread to Roman and Irish, then Hindu and Mesoamerican, and just pretty much spread everywhere from there. Early on I read all of Campbell’s works too. I’m as enthralled by storytelling and mythmaking now as I am by the myths themselves. I couldn’t say I have a clear favorite, I love them all, but I guess I still have a deep fondness of Arthurian and Norse from my youth, though the ancient Hindu stories are really thrilling and bizarre.

[TS] Your books so far are usually classed as Urban Fantasy, yet you are pretty active online in the grimdark community and in other fantasy subgenres, have you ever considered writing something in the vein of grimdark?

[DA] Interesting you bring that up. I got involved with the grimdark bunch because several of my early readers felt Paternus had serious grimdark elements. I had also recently read Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series and loved it, so I also became a fan of the genre. I don’t see myself trying specifically to write in any genre, which is kind of weird and probably not very smart as far as marketing goes. I mostly just write what I want to read, and it just kind of falls into certain categories. I wasn’t even sure if Paternus was Urban Fantasy early on and didn’t actually describe it that way until quite a few months after the release of book one. Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is often classified as Mythic Fiction and Paternus is similar in subject matter so I went with that for awhile, but then found there are so few books classified like that it really didn’t help. A number of readers have taken to calling it Epic Urban Fantasy, which I think fits great, even if it isn’t a real thing.

[TS] Many people who encounter you online are probably not aware of your insanely impressive and diverse resume. A college professor, a Hollywood actor just to name a couple.  If you had your way, what would you really prefer to be doing career wise right now?

[DA] It feels like I’ve lived several different lives. I often shake my head when looking back and think, “Did I really do all that?” To be honest, I love this writing thing. And not just writing, but the community, travel to cons, and the like. It’s really what I want to be doing right now and for the foreseeable future. Ideally, while a boy is dreaming, I’d like to be able to support myself full time by writing—and while I’m REALLY dreaming, get to hang out on the set while something I wrote is adapted for film or television.

[TS] Have you ever considered writing in an already established shared universe, or collaborating with another writer for a book or series? If so, which or who?

[DA] I don’t know enough about the established shared universes to really say, but I’ve definitely had flights of fancy about collaborating on something. Under the right circumstances, it would be amazing to work with Nicholas Eames, Joe Abercrombie, or Mike (M.R.) Carey.

[TS] What works (books, movies, comics, etc) originally sparked your interest in fantasy?

[DA] Oh boy. I’d have to say it goes all the way back to Dr. Seuss and E.B. White. Then Tolkien (of course), Robert E. Howard, and Zelazny. I read Conan comics for awhile, and absolutely loved those crazy old movies like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

[TS] What is your favorite book that you’ve read in recent years that you would recommend to others?

[DA] Oh man that’s a tough one. I’ll go with the ones that just pop into my head first. The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher, Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden, Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone, The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins… jeesh there are so many great ones. Oh, I thoroughly enjoyed Quenby Olsen’s The Half-Killed and got addicted to God of Gnomes by Demi Harper (Laura M. Hughes). And I just finished A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie and absolutely loved it.

[TS] I’ve seen online that you like to travel, what other activities to you like to pursue when not writing?

[DA] Egad. Unfortunately, since I started writing, I don’t do much else other than work and write. I don’t get to nearly as many movies as I’d like. I do play poker with some old pals every couple of months. I love the new TV series that are coming out lately, but I have to be careful because I get addicted and need to put them all in my eyes right now, so I have to stay away as much as possible.

[TS] Globally, we seem to be going through some darker times (what with natural disasters, military aggressions and an evershifting political landscape).  Do you see that translating over into our various art mediums—TV, Film, Books, etc?  And if so, how?

[DA] It would naïve of me to say it doesn’t affect what I do, but I don’t attempt to be purposefully political in my writing. I have feelings and beliefs about things, of course, and they do seep into my stories, but I don’t set out to write “message” stories.

[TS] What will we see from you in the near future?

[DA] Good question, which I might actually have an answer to. Once book three of The Paternus Trilogy comes out, I’m planning a four to six book series that takes place in the world of Paternus, but approximately twenty years earlier. They can be read entirely separately from the trilogy, and vice versa, though there is a lot of cross-over with characters from the trilogy and lead-up to the trilogy. These will be much shorter than the trilogy books and more traditional Urban Fantasy, following the adventures of an anonymous demon-hunter-type known only as Rival. I want to make them very fast-paced and kind of crazy. Tentatively the series will be called Chronicles of a Wretched Knight.

After that, I’d love to do another trilogy in the same world, but 16 or 17 years after the original trilogy ends. That’s about all I can say about it without spoiling some things in book three, though.

[TS] Dyrk, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us today.

[DA] Thank you for the great questions! It’s been a pleasure.

Check out more from Dyrk Ashton

You can find our review of Ashton’s Paternus and a sample chapter of War of Gods on the GdM blog!

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REVIEW: Song Of The Centurion by Steven A. McKay

Song Of The Centurion is the sequel to Steven A. McKay’s The Druid. McKay is a rising star on the indie historical fiction circuit and I was keen to read Song since I loved The Druid, an unputdownable novel which absolutely rocked. Set in Britain after the withdrawal of the Roman legions, The Druid has a killer plot and suspense that will melt your face. It contains all three of the essential ingredients which are all too often missing from historical fiction: a powerful early hook (when a young princess is abducted), mystery (surrounding the identity of her captors as well as the reason why she’s been abducted) and horror (caused by the eventual revelation of the grim purpose for which the little girl was abducted).

The Druid also contains gritty, confident writing, an original setting and protagonist (the titular druid Bellicus who is ordered to rescue and return the princess), as well as characters who feel three dimensional and whose motivations are always satisfactorily set out. Why aren’t there more historical novels like this nowadays? It also boasts an unforeseen and jaw-dropping twist at the end when the abducted princess’ true parentage is revealed and includes a dash of familiar legend with King Arthur and Merlin making an unexpected appearance. It all sounds deceptively simple, yet I can tell that a lot of craft and thought went into plotting it. This isn’t to mention that the historical background is also solid.

So although sequels to a brilliant first instalment are always fiendishly hard to pull off, I felt confident that there was a lot of great stuff still left in the tank to give the sequel a real shot at matching if not exceeding the high standard set by The Druid. After all, the characters and setting were still as intriguing as ever and the prospective reunion of the Princess Catia with her parents was a big draw for me.

Song Of The Centurion begins where The Druid left off, with Bellicus (Bel) the charismatic and resourceful druid and his unlikely sidekick the former centurion Duro escorting the rescued princess Catia back towards Alt Clota, seat of power of her tribe the Damnonii. On the way back Duro stops by his village to discover that his wife was killed by Saxons, so he decides to return to Alt Clota with Bel and Catia. This is neatly described by McKay, who does a good job of giving Duro a legitimate reason to remain in the story while also satisfactorily addressing the former centurion’s grief for his dead wife.

In the meantime Alt Clota is besieged by enemy tribes. The leader of one of these tribes is a douchebag called Loarn who insults King Coroticus of the Damnonii by openly declaring that he’d sexually abuse the Damnonii King’s abducted daughter Catia. Coroticus, who has been deteriorating psychologically ever since his daughter was abducted, is driven over the edge by the insult. No sooner is the siege of Alt Clota broken than he swiftly assembles a raiding party and strikes deep into enemy lands, in an attempt to kill the insulting Loarn. Yet the raid is an abject failure and Coroticus only survives it through the intervention of his exasperated guard captain Gavo.

The King’s popularity amongst his own people hardly grows after the needless loss of so many of his men, yet Coroticus proceeds to make one bad decision after another. The eventual return of his daughter is heart-warming and well worth the wait, yet does nothing to arrest the King’s erratic slide into further alcoholism and insanity. So that I think that a good alternative title for this novel could be: ‘The Mental Deterioration Of Drunken King Coroticus’.

Eventually Coroticus also clashes with his old friend the returned druid Bel, despite the latter being princess Catia’s rescuer. For the increasing suspicions about Catia’s true parentage soon become widespread rumour, so that the King reacts aggressively to the druid being in the proximity of the Damononii tribe’s queen Narina. After Bel subsequently knocks out his King, a revived but publicly humiliated Coroticus orders Bel to undertake an impossible and fatal mission: to kill Loarn. Bel is left with no choice but to seek to achieve the impossible, joined on his new venture deep behind enemy lines by his sidekick the titular centurion Duro and his surviving loyal hound.

There are many good aspects in Song of the Centurion, particularly the quality of the writing which was taken up a notch and even more confident than that used in The Druid. McKay manages to keep the plotline twisting and turning so that it is hardly ever predictable, with each of the characters’ emotional and physical journeys satisfactorily explored. A high level of intrigue is also deftly maintained between Coroticus, Bel and Narina which is reminiscent of the classic Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot, Arwen-Aragorn-Eowyn or Jezal-Ardee-Glokta-love triangles, used for the most part to good effect.

However Bellicus’ mission in this instalment is not as intriguing as the one which underpins the main narrative in The Druid. For while the first instalment held me in a vice-like grip due to the uncertain fate of an innocent young princess, it is hard to care as much about a quest that is essentially just the whim of a detestable King in mental free fall. The fate of the Damnonii or of any beloved character does not really hinge on Bel slaying Loarn, so that my care factor while reading this novel could never match my delightful levels of tension while reading The Druid.

So I think Song of the Centurion’s plot lies somewhere between a three and a four on five, with the increased quality of writing just tilting it past four on five stars. The idea of Bel luring Loarn to his death by using a white stag’s head just couldn’t match the gritty realism and high stakes in the first book. In fact I think that a chunk of the second half of the book is best summed up when McKay writes of Bel and Duro – who are deep in enemy territory and attempting to kill a dangerous chieftain – that ‘they grinned at each other like naughty children’. This only lends to the whole mission having more of a light caper quality about it. And that is what costs this otherwise well-written story a star. All that said, the book is a respectable stepping stone which sets up a grand finale in the eventual third instalment.

Buy Song of the Centurion by Steven A. McKay

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REVIEW: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix, the author of Horrorstör, is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. The books I have read thus far, We Sold Our Souls, and now Horrorstör are a combination of the ridiculous, the scary, a hell of a lot of fun.

As someone who worked retail in and outside of IKEA, I felt this book on a deeply visceral level. I feel like Hendrix wrote this for my poor bedraggled retail battered soul. And, even though IKEA as a company is better than others, it can get a bit Stepford Wives in upper management. IKEA has inane terms and culture; there is constant upselling and forced smiles and a vast rat-maze-like store trying to funnel you as much as possible. If you have been told that your presentation is not IKEA, you don’t have that coworker attitude; your feet hurt constantly, you have been called names by customers, yelled at for policies, and must do it all again with a smile, this story is for you. I think I am channeling some inner past trauma here.

“The more Amy struggled, the faster she sank. Every month she shuffled around less and less money to cover the same number of bills. The hamster wheel kept spinning and spinning and spinning. Sometimes she wanted to let go and find out exactly how far she’d fall if she just stopped fighting. She didn’t expect life to be fair, but did it have to be so relentless?”

Horrorstör is set up as an IKEA catalog, same size, and same general heft. Every few chapters, there is an advertisement for a piece of furniture that is bound to make your life better and more ORSK. ORSK being the fictional lifestyle and furniture company that is a direct knock off of IKEA and the setting for the much of the story. Amy, the main protagonist, is a struggling 20+ associate that is on the fetid hamster wheel of life. The harder she struggles, the further she gets behind. Amy is about to lose her home due to late rent and is feeling the desperation of not having anywhere to go. Plus, she feels her boss Basil (I have never read a more perfect name for a character) is about to fire her for not being ORSK enough. Amy has put in her transfer, all she has to do is stay away from Basil for the next three days, and she is free of this ORSK store. One problem though, Basil would like to do some special one on one coaching. This is usually shorthand for firing. But, instead of firing Basil as an offer: stay overnight and patrol the store. See what is going on, stop whoever is shitting on the couches at night, and vandalizing the bathrooms. In exchange, Basil will grant her transfer request and give her 200 dollars cash. She thinks that this might save her, but things get a whole lot more complicated overnight and chockful of horrors instead.

“Here was the other option: the tranquilizing chair. It was always waiting for her. It always wanted her back. It always wanted her to quit again, to sit down and never get back up. In the end, Amy thought, everything always comes down to those two choices: stay down or stand up.”

ORSK is described as a beautiful piece of fruit with worms inside. We occasionally see a colossal rat scurrying about. Or, there is a general feeling of unease when you walk the beautifully lit and European-esque halls lined with furniture. Could it be that this building this built on the ruins of an insane asylum with a mad doctor who tortured and killed his patients? It sounds like a crazy plot jump, but trust me, Hendrix makes it work.

“I know this is your religion, but for me, it’s just a job.”

I loved this book, as I said, Hendrix is becoming one of my favorites. It is a perfect mix of horror, current events, with just the right touch of the insane to keep me turning page after page. Check it out, and next time you are at IKEA, remember this book.

Buy Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

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REVIEW: Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence

“Sometimes being wrong is the right answer.” That’s a great lead on the blurb for this book, and only makes sense after the experience has completed. Dispel Illusion is the third and final installation of the Impossible Times trilogy, and it truly brings everything full circle.

I reviewed Book One, One Word Kill and Book Two, Limited Wish last year at Grimdark Magazine. I was blown away by how Lawrence pulled me into the story and kept surprising me throughout. Book Three is no different, and I simply had to read it and line it up on the site behind the others.

Dispel Illusion takes us and our characters some six years forward from where we left off in Limited Wish. No, we haven’t shifted in time; that’s just how long it’s passed since the conclusion of Book Two. Our heroes have all “grown up” and started careers, though they still get together periodically to play their Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Mia is the Dungeon Master. John and Simon are the stalwart companions to our main protagonist, Nick, who is also once again the narrator of our tale.

Nick’s cancer seems to be gone. The time hammer used in Book Two seems to have “fixed” the timeline and they’ve avoided paradox. Nick and Mia are together, with the teen angst which plagued them at the beginning of their relationship lost in the past. Nick is working in a science lab, continuing on his quest to invent time travel, as his future self came back to tell him he would.

All’s great, or so it seems at first. But we soon learn that Nick and his friends are closing in on the time where it all started, or will start. Mia’s future accident, which prompted Nick to go “back” to fix her, is coming. There are many things that have to happen before they get there, such as creating a way to actually travel back in time.

Then a major discovery happens, and Nick is called in. A breakthrough in suspending time and moving forward has them all excited. Then his sponsor reveals a hidden cavern where more than a hundred people are suspended in time, presumably on their way “back” in time. What does all this mean? Nick has to puzzle that out, and with the help of his close friends, make sure everything stays on course.

This book shifts a little more than the first two, in that while we start out in 1992, we soon get point of view chapters from years down the line, 2009 and 2011. It’s all coming together, and the events of these different years tie it up as we connect the dots. As with the first two books, our party’s D&D adventures run parallel, with yet another new theme being applied in the game and translating beautifully into the present/past/future narratives. Dispel Illusion is a powerful spell in D&D, much more complicated in its application than its name implies. But as things often are, the name of the spell is also the function. Nick just has to decide when to use it, when to break through the perceptions of what is real and work out the implications of knowing the truth.

I won’t give away how it all comes together, but I was pulled in even more as the story unfolded and these different storylines came to one. Things aren’t always as they seem, and Lawrence is a master at obfuscating and then dropping the reveal with perfect timing. Dispel Illusion was every bit as satisfying as the first two books in the series and brought the trilogy to the perfect spot to complete a grand story as they link together over time. Of course, time.

Buy Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence

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REVIEW: Child of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

Young adult novels and grimdark are not something I normally associate. However, teenagers love grimdark. It is where a large percentage of us fantasy fans start questioning our assumptions about good guys, bad guys, and the way the world works. Indeed, my own teenage years started my love with the genre through games like Vampire: The Masquerade and Warhammer 40K. I bring this up because Child of the Night Guild is both a YA novel as well as grimdark.

Viola (later Seven and Ilanna) is a young girl sold by her debt-ridden father to the local criminal syndicate in the port city of Praamis. The Night Guild takes these children and educates them in the professional arts of assassination, burglary, pick-pocketing, and other skills. The training is so demanding that by the end of it they are equal parts criminal as well as ninja. I really liked this as it explains how a classic Dungeons and Dragons thief might be created.

Viola’s transformation is something that includes a strong character arc as she shreds her previous attachments. She has a romanticized view of her father and family that gradually slips away as she comes to blame him for her situation. Ilanna hates the Night Guild and wants to extricate herself from it but by the time she finally has the chance, it dawns on her that there’s nothing waiting for her outside of it nor does she have anything in common with “regular” citizens.

Ilanna’s journey is really a kind of inverse version of Harry Potter’s as she grows from an idealistic and kind-hearted young woman to a ruthless cynic that hates her peers as well as looks out for herself. Ilanna never loses the reader’s sympathies, though sometimes you wish she’d just learn to accept her circumstances versus always trying to look for a way out of the guild.

The characters are well-realized and well-written with almost all of them having different dreams that have become sublimated to their guild’s service. While set in a fantasy setting with a massive underground tunnel network to house the Night Guild, this is Low Fantasy with no sign of magic being a real thing. This helps keep the world grounded and when Ilanna suffers injuries, they often take weeks of healing as well as leave lasting scars.

We get a sense of what the Night Guild’s members are about. They are divided by houses with some of them specializing in murder and others in thievery. Andy Peloquin avoids painting the assassins as the bad guys and the thieves as the good guys. Each of the members are individuals and some hate Ilanna while others are protective of her but none of this necessarily correlates to her feelings. It keeps things surprising and the fates of a few took me by surprise as they broke the “rules” of most Young Adult fiction.

Child of the Night Guild is an introduction to a new world and something that I immediately set out to read the second volume of. The focus on the characterization, moral ambiguity of the setting, and grittiness is something that turns what could have been a straight coming of age novel into something special. I think grimdark fans looking for an afternoon’s read could do a lot worse than picking this one up. Andy Peloquin, I predict, is going to become known as one of the better indie dark fantasy writers out there.

Buy Child of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

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REVIEW: Home Fires by Gene Wolfe

Whatever dystopias the late Gene Wolfe may have written, it is perhaps fairer to say that he was more invested in investigating the state of the personality of his characters. We may track this in his novel of 2010, Home Fires.

A young man (Skip Grison) and a young woman (Chelle Blue) marry (‘Contract’), then she goes off to war on another planet, knowing the time dilation will mean that what were months for her will be years for him. Unlike a similar premise in Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, this is all part of the plan: she will come back to a rich husband; he will have a beautiful young wife.

The book picks up on the action as Chelle is due to return to earth, though we see the events of the plot almost exclusively from the point of view of Skip, who is now a wealthy lawyer of forty-nine years.

There are two forces behind the developing plot. The first is the motivations of Skip and Chelle and their tumultuous reunion. The reader is probably unsurprised stories of a veteran returning inevitably changed by war. But Skip has secrets of his own and his perspective conceals as much as it reveals.

The second lies in the world of Home Fires – which has many of the trappings of technological and social progress seen in something like Star Trek. Bullet trains are an ordinary fact of life. Cruises take place on fibreglass sailing ships. Healthcare appears to be both universal and free. Marriages seem to have been replaced by contracts. The United States has been replaced by the North American Union; the currency is the Nora; Hispanic culture seems to have a higher profile than the modern day US. Gun control laws also appear to be stricter.

This background – and Skip’s view of it as a criminal lawyer – is oddly isolated from the action of the plot itself, which is set largely aboard a cruise ship. The separation of the cast from many of the workings of society echoes the unfamiliarity of the veteran with civilian life – as well as regulating the quantity of exposition the reader must consume. Like Chelle, we are reliant on Skip for our understanding of the world and our place in this society.

Yet by the end of the book it is clear that Skip is used to creating defences for the accused – has he been defending himself all along, spinning a trail of motivated reasoning? It’s difficult to know, but dipping inside the world of slick lawyers, isolated veterans and futuristic tall ships is subtly and pervasively unsettling.

I can thoroughly recommend Home Fires, both in its own right and as an entry point for the works of Gene Wolfe.

Buy Home Fires by Gene Wolfe

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An Interview with Alicia Wanstall-Burke

G’day Grimmies! I’m here today with one of my favorite Aussies—Alicia Wanstall-Burke.

Now, if you aren’t familiar with Alicia’s work—it’s ok.  She is still fairly new to the scene; however, she has been stirring more than a little buzz with her book Blood of Heirs which is a current SPFBO (Self Published Fantasy Blog Off) finalist. Book two (which until recently I thought was called Legacy of Goats, I kid, I kid—oops, did it again. OK, I’m done) Legacy of Ghosts was just recently released and has been well reviewed.

[TS] Alicia, thanks for stopping by!

[AWB] Hey mate! No worries!

[TS] First off, congrats on making the finals of the SPFBO.  I think the last few years the Aussie women have been really making their mark on the fantasy scene.  I’ve been a big fan of Lian Hearn (Across the Nightingale Floor) since like forever, but I’ve enjoyed watching the likes of you, Sam Hawke, and Devin Madson lighting up the scene.

Do you think that living in the unique environment that Australia offers lends itself to the kind of thinking necessary to write darker fantasy, and why or why not?

[AWB] Short answer—yes, absolutely! Australia is inherently terrifying, even to people who live there. We also get a bit of a kick out of scaring the pants off our foreign friends, but that’s how you know we love you! I’d say the worst thing about the place is the isolation. No one can hear you scream out there. Then there’s the landscape, the animals, the weather—all completely uncontrollable and untamable. They almost become a character of their own in the narrative of home. The other thing is, there isn’t a great deal of fantasy in the mainstream (that I know of) that uses Australia as the foundation for its worldbuilding, so it tends to stand out as strange and otherworldly, which again can be scary in and of itself. I haven’t even mentioned the spider and the drop bears and the snakes yet…

[TS] As you recently moved to the UK, I have to ask:  How does the writing scene differ from Australia to England? And what is the craziest thing that you have encountered that you are having trouble wrapping your head around?

[AWB] Writers in Australia are horribly isolated 90% of the time, which is probably a good thing. Large concentrations of Australian writers tend to cause damage to the fabric of space-time. I lived in Central Queensland, in a town about two hours drive from the nearest coast, 12 hours drive from the nearest capital city, and that’s not even that isolated compared to where some people live. What it means is that we hang out with other Aussie authors on social media, then end up meeting in, I don’t know, Dublin at a WorldCon (hey, Sam and Devin!). Industry contacts tend to be based in the US and the UK too, and for self-publishers there are all sorts of bullshit restrictions within Amazon that we have to navigate.

As for completely mental things in the UK, I’ve almost mastered driving here (these people are deadly behind the wheel), but the fucking seagulls here are HUGE! And vicious! I’ve met sharks that are more polite than these pale, hook-beaked Pteranodons.

[TS] What would you say is the most influential fantasy book written in the last 10 years, and why?

[AWB] Depends if you’re looking at global impact or just within our little genre pocket. I’m going to go with a cliché and say that A Song of Ice and Fire is my pick, but let me try and explain. The books are one thing (some of them falling outside the ten-year time frame), but the show was something else entirely. Say what you will about the creative choices made there and the long release periods between books, but the series as a whole took our genre and shoved it all the way down the mainstream’s throat.

For the longest time, I could only describe my books as being ‘like’ The Lord of the Rings—it was the only fantasy most people I knew could relate to and it wasn’t a very accurate comparison. Every now and then I would meet someone who had read an author I knew, but in my world that was rare. Meeting someone who read for fun was rare! But now we’ve got fantasy and sci-fi stepping out of the dungeon and into the light; comic book heroes, dragon riding queens and sword-wielding witchers are now part and parcel of the everyday. I could go to work and talk about the latest ep of The Expanse or Altered Carbon. Ten or twenty years ago, that just wasn’t a thing, and for me, the real ground swell began when Game of Thrones broke down the door, and that meant SFF books became something a wider audience was interested in.

[TS] Everyone has different reasons for writing, and the writers’ goals vary just as much. What writing goals have you set for yourself?

[AWB] I’d like to get this trilogy done and dusted by the end of 2020! I’m really excited about the projects I have lined up after that, starting with The Smuggler’s Daughter. I love stepping out and doing something I haven’t tried before, but I have to finish one project before I can start another! My brain will collapse into a steaming pile of goop otherwise.

[TS] In Blood of Heirs, you have established some pretty young protagonists—12 year old Lidan and mid-teens Ran. Was your intent all along to write a coming of age type of story or did it just work out that way?

Do you feel that the use of child-age characters taps into the reader’s own perceived vulnerabilities? 

[AWB] I knew this was going to be a story about young people who are on one path only to find themselves crashing down to another, but the question was where to start telling it. I could have kicked off where Legacy of Ghosts starts, but I would have spent half the book in backstory, explaining things that happened four years before, and that wasn’t what I wanted to do. So, we ended up with Blood of Heirs telling the story from the beginning, with two reasonably young characters in some rather adult situations.

I’ve had people tell me Lidan and Ran seem too old for their numerical age, but I could easily point to examples of young protagonists in more well-known books who seem older than their age. Expectations and ideas of childhood have changed vastly in the past century or so, and what a medieval teenager would have dealt with is vastly different to what we expect of teens now. The very concept of the ‘teenager’ didn’t even come into existence until the first half of the 20th century—before that you were a child, then you were an adult, and history is littered with examples of young people doing extraordinary things. Fantasy straddles this divide between what was and what is, and we need to accept that this will make us question what we are comfortable with, especially for those of us with kids ourselves!

[TS] In Blood of Heirs, you use separate storylines for the two main characters and maintain separation between the two for pretty much the whole story. How do you feel that adds to the story, and do you think it takes anything away from it, whether intentionally or unintentionally?

[AWB] Ah see this is tricky, because it shows where my planning went in the bin and the story took over! The ending of Blood of Heirs was supposed to be its halfway point, but the story needed more time. So, I set fire to the plan (mostly) and I let it be what it needed to be. Some people have baulked at the parallel POV story lines, but it gives the characters time to grow before they are drawn together by time and circumstances in Legacy of Ghosts.

[TS] What direction do you see the fantasy scene going to in the near future? Which way would you like to see it go?

[AWB] I’m really enjoying the move away from Euro-centric, northern hemisphere settings and the growth of character diversity. I grew up reading stories where female characters were either non-existent, a love interest holding a male character back from his destiny, or a seductress the male hero had to escape. Female-centered fantasy was usually overly romantic, which I lost interest in during my twenties. Now I get to read fantasy with a diverse array of genders, backgrounds, relationships and cultures in the cast, and this is a good thing!

I’m also loving the changes in the way traditional and indie publishing interact. Not so long ago, self-publishing meant you had signed your own professional death warrant. You were never going to be taken seriously, and your book would be forever consigned to the swamp reserved for vanity publications. These days readers, agents and publishers are paying attention to the indie scene more and more, accepting that indie titles aren’t merely the ‘leftovers’, but a place where some real gems lay hidden. If we can keep this up, continuing to bring the two sides of the industry together, then I think publishing has an exciting future!

[TS] What is your opinion on the grimdark sub-genre, and do you see the growing of a grimdark sub-genre as a positive or negative for fantasy as a whole?

[AWB] I love it! I know it’s not everyone’s bag, and it’s not easily defined, but that’s ok. And it frustrates some people that it’s hard to put a finger on exactly what grimdark is. One person’s grim and dark might be vanilla ice cream to someone else, and it’s about the same with horror. I can get creeped out watching an episode of Doctor Who, while my friends will happily sit through hours of horror movies or books. On the flipside I’ve seen reviews for grimdark books that warn off people who may have a delicate constitution, while I’m left wondering if we’re reading the same thing! At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you ‘get’ what grimdark is or not. If you like it, read it. If you don’t, go find your jam. We don’t need to understand something or have defined boundaries on it to enjoy it.

[TS] Have you written a character that you would consider the most like you as a person?  Also, if you lived in that world what do you think you would be doing there?

[AWB] Each of my characters has a part of me in them—sometimes the parts I dislike the most, and other times parts of me I wish were stronger or more present. Lidan’s mother comes from a very dark part of my soul, a place of desperation and rage. Lidan and Ran’s anxieties and insecurities are born of my own, but they also show resilience and strength in ways I wish I could. For one thing, both of their bodies work properly! Mine is in need of a full refit, a new hardware install and the software is getting well out of date.

[TS] What can we expect in the future from you?

[AWB] I mentioned before that after the release of Empire of Shadows I’ll be working on the first book of Salt and Stone, The Smuggler’s Daughter, and I’m really looking forward to where that story will go. It’s anyone’s guess when pirates, spies, single mums, war-mongering empresses, and criminal kingpins are at each other’s throats for control of the Syod Archipelago and the future of the Free Nations of Coraidin.

[TS] Alicia, thanks so much for taking the time to talk!

[AWB] Thanks for having me around and letting me ramble!

Check out GdM’s review of Blood of Heirs here.

Buy Blood of Heirs by Alicia Wanstall-Burke

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REVIEW: The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

I received an uncorrected proof copy of The Obsidian Tower in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Melissa Caruso and Orbit Books.

“There are two kinds of magic.

There is the kind that lifts you up and fills you with wonder, saving you when all is lost or opening doors to new worlds of possibility. And there is the kind that wrecks you, that shatters you, bitter in your mouth and jagged in your hand, breaking everything you touch.

Mine was the second kind.”

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Caruso’s debut trilogy Swords and Fire, with The Unbound Empire being one of my favourite novels of 2019. The Obsidian Tower, the first entry in the Rooks and Ruin series, was a book that I had to pick up as soon as I was given the chance.

Like Caruso’s previous trilogy, The Obsidian Tower is set in the world of Eruvia. The action takes place at least 150 years after the events of Swords and Fire and follows Exalted Ryxander in the first-person perspective. Ryx resides in Morgrain and is the granddaughter of the powerful and immortal Witch Lord, The Lady of Owls. Ryx is a vivomancer but her magic is flawed and so twisted that it is dangerous. Anyone she touches dies, which, to her dismay, has happened a few times. At twenty-one years old, her role is to look after the castle in Gloamingard and at the beginning of the narrative, she is hosting a conference with neighbouring Alevar and the Serene Empire. Her castle is full of nooks, crannies, and secret passages, many of which seem only known to Ryx, as well as being host to a mysterious tower with a magical door which must not be unsealed. What lies behind that door is hugely important to the story, as are the attendees of the meeting, and a team of magic problem-solvers known as the Rookery.

“Guard the tower, ward the stone

Find your answers writ in bone

Keep your trust through wits or war:

Nothing must unseal the Door.”

Caruso is a terrific writer who weaves fascinating and intricate fantasy tales that are heavily focused on magic and politics. In The Obsidian Tower Caruso also introduces mystery elements to the mix which fit perfectly with her style. Returning to Eruvia again was a great experience which underlines the fact that I get completely engrossed with Caruso’s work. It would be easy for a newcomer to pick up this novel without having read any of the author’s previous work. I would say my enjoyment was heightened by an extra 5-10% because I was already familiar with the way the magic works, the past relationships of the Serene Empire and Vaskandar, and the technology of the world. That being said, for first-time readers, everything that they need to know for this story is explained fresh and well here too, such as how the magic works, what the Chimeras are, the powers of the Witch Lords of Vaskandar, and the relationship between the Serene Empire’s Falcons and Falconers, etc…

The Obsidian Tower is brimming with many well-crafted and colourful characters presented through Ryx’s eyes. My personal favourites were the formidable ruler of Morgrain The Lady of Owls, the mysterious Severin, the envoy from the neighbouring Alevar, the talking fox-like Chimera and castle guardian Whisper, and the loveable oddballs that make up the Rookery. Ryx’s deeply personal portrayal was intriguing to follow. It as interesting to walk in the shoes of someone who is unable to touch, feel, or love through fear of harming others. At this point, I don’t think she is quite sure of her sexuality. We go on quite a journey with Ryx here. A personal journey as the events themselves are restricted to taking place in and around Morgrain. Eruvia is a huge world and I am sure we will travel to many of its areas in the upcoming Rooks and Ruin books. It’s also worth noting that The Obsidian Tower features a gender-neutral character and LGBT emotions too.

The Obsidian Tower is an entertaining, well-written, and expertly-paced novel with incredible magic schemes and a great cast of characters. What is behind the magical door and in the titular obsidian tower and how will it affect Ryx, the Rookery, and Eruvia? I guess you’ll have to read the novel to find out. The Obsidian Tower is a highly recommended read, as is Caruso’s previous trilogy.

Buy The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

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5 Grimdark Books that Won’t Suspend Your Idea of Truth, Reality, or Science

Scientists are human beings too, and like all humans we want to add narratives to our data and experiments. Despite the temptation to influence, such desires must be resisted. Even if the human condition pushes us to proselytize, good science cannot be simultaneously political. It is more natural to do these things than to stick to the bare, comfortless truth. No soundbite, story or narrative.

As a geophysicist, I eventually understood that scientific writing must not contain a narrative no matter how tempting it is to add one. For decades I denied myself the pleasure and manipulative power of telling a good story about the data I analyzed. Even as I worked as a scientist, I wanted to rebel and tell a story that was not fully constrained by the data alone. So once I retired, I became an author.

Being finally unleashed to make things up, I realized that I should not leave all my hard-earned scientific knowledge behind. While good science must avoid all narrative, good narrative must contain something true. Thematic truth is fundamental to any story, however, modern readers demand something more. Good fiction must feel real. The evolution of the fantasy genre is a good example of this.

Suspension of disbelief came easy in the early days when D&D playing readers were happy to finally have a few stories written for them. Wizards could just use “spells” and be called “mages” and that was enough. But readers are more sophisticated now. We live in grimmer, less naive times, and readers demand that their stories reflect it. Fantasy characters must show a grittier, truer, darker side of the human condition, and the magic system must feel real. The grimdark subgenre of fantasy epitomizes this evolution.

My favorite grimdark books have magic systems that tie into some other truth necessary to their stories. These magic systems are often subtle, devilishly original, minimalized, or so tied into the themes, character and conflict of the story that skeptical readers accept rather than reject them.

Here are My Top 5 Grimdark Books that Won’t Suspend Your Idea of Truth, Reality, or Science.

Magic, Science and Theme

Dynamicist, by Lee Hunt, is about a group of people who attend the New School, hoping to change the world. The magic system of Dynamicist is based on real-life signal and inverse theory. It is original, has tremendously fantastic elements and is also so self-consistent and grounded in science that readers won’t fight to suspend their disbelief. For those who struggled to believe that a twig and Latin could do much of anything, Dynamicist’s use of physics and mathematics will make a lot more sense. 

But even science has limitations. Dynamicist’s physical realism also contains a metaphor to the trilogy’s thematic issue, that change is difficult and unpredictable. We all want to change the world but what are the chances we won’t cock it up?

Magic and Cosmologic Consistency

The Curse of Chalion (CoC), by Lois McMaster Bujold has probably never appeared in any other list of grimdark books. Ever. CoC is fantastically written and should not be missed by anyone who hates suspending their disbelief but loves a good story. The magic system in CoC at first appears non-existent, but as the story goes on the supernatural is revealed instead to be exceedingly subtle and entirely related to the cosmological system of Bujold’s world. No reader will question Bujold’s magic system, it is simply too natural to the ways in which her wonderful world works.

The plot involves politics, corruption and the forced marriage of a young princess to a manipulative and evil family. Bujold’s ending may be the best ending in all of fantasy, and it is entirely supported by her parsimonious magic system and the nature of her broken hero.

Magic and Character

The First Law Trilogy, (FLT), by Joe Abercrombie set the standard for grimdark. His trilogy can boast of stunning violence, parsimonious magic and most of all, incredible characters. In Abercrombie’s FLT, the magic system conforms with the cynical characters who wield it. Abercrombie barely has to define a frightening magic system that is a product of bald political power and the sociopathic men who use it. The First of the Magi, Bayez, is a man of infinitesimal sympathies and limitless political cunning. FLT’s magic system is realistic not for what it is, but by how it is used and by the nature of its user.

Magic and What Makes Us Human

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is about a little girl with magical claws who attends a convent and makes blood come out of people. Magic in Red Sister is primarily genetic, deriving from the differences in four different subspecies of the humans who landed on the cold, dying world of Abeth. Each of these tribes had a powerful genetic gift: speed, size, or two flavors of power derived from touching the underlying truth of the world. The last two talents are the most magical, but Lawrence weaves them seamlessly into his story, tieing them to his theme that despite the differences between his peoples, their connection to each other is the most important thing of all. The magic system at once highlights the genetic and religious differences in people and reinforces that they are all connected.

Magic and Understanding

The Name of the Wind (NoW) by Patrick Rothfuss succeeds where many would have failed. NoW enjoys a pervasive use of magic, enough to threaten many modern readers’ suspension of disbelief, but Rothfuss avoids doing so. There is a grittiness to his telling of the story that helps, a sense that life in his world is anything but a fantasy. The most powerful magic in NoW has to do with knowing the “name” for a thing, which is another way of asserting a deep intuitive understanding for it. Rothfuss’s naming ties into an archetypical fantasy that we are actually capable of understanding a complex world and render it simple.

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REVIEW: The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

The Pale Horseman is the excellent continuation of Uhtred of Bebbanburg’s story. Set between 876 – 878 AD, Uhtred is now in his early 20’s, having proven himself as a man and a warrior. He’s fought in a shield wall, killed Ubba in one on one combat, and has sworn an oath to the Saxon king Alfred. Uhtred believes life revolves around fighting, women, ale, and creating a reputation. Uhtred has a reputation now, but it is not always glowing as he is as misunderstood as he is feared. He’s a complex lead character that I can’t get enough of following. He’s half Saxon and half Danish, however, his loyalties lie with the Saxon’s here, although he is extremely fond of his brother and friend, the Danish Earl Ragnar, and I loved the page time that they shared together.

“When I was twenty I considered myself a full-grown man. I had fathered a child, fought in the shield wall, and was loath to take advice from anyone.”

Following The Last Kingdom’s climactic battle with the Danes at Cynuit, Uhtred wishes to return to his family and his estate instead of returning to King Alfred with Ubba’s war axe and banner to claim the victory and the spoils that come with it. In Uhtred’s absence, the slimy lord Odda the Younger claims to have led the Saxons to their victory and to have bested Ubba himself. When Uhtred returns to Winchester he is shocked to see that there has been no mention of his extremely influential input to the events of the battle. Uhtred’s longtime friend Father Beocca was not even aware that Uhtred had escaped from being a hostage of Guthrum. Odda’s weaving of events to paint himself in a perfect light, the fact he glosses over Uhtred’s importance completely, and that none of Odda’s followers are willing to contradict him even though they know the truth of the matter, really pisses Uhtred off. Uhtred expresses his dissatisfaction as only a man as headstrong as the lord of Bebbanburg can and unsheaths his sword in the King’s chamber in the presence of all the men of influence in Wessex. Uhtred should have received a hero’s welcome but what he gets is anything but, planting a seed of loathing and an atmosphere of discord.

“We make much in this life if we are able. We make children and wealth and amass land and build halls and assemble armies and give great feasts, but only one thing survives us. Reputation. I could not walk away.”

Uhtred’s dream is to take back his rightful home of Bebbanburg where his uncle unlawfully sits as Ealderman. He realises that by following Alfred and giving his blood, sweat, and tears to the monarch isn’t going to make him the silver to raise an army to complete his objective. So, alongside the gruff warrior Leofric, Uhtred and some followers decide to take one of the King’s ships, to dress it up as a Viking raider, and to do some raiding themselves under the disguise of being Danes.

During The Pale Horseman, there are expertly crafted battles, skirmishes and duels that are gripping to read about. We are introduced to fine new characters such as the lord of war Svein, the Shadow Queen Iseult, and the loyal but dim warrior Steopa. My personal favourites from the first novel such as Leofric and Young Ragnar shine here too although in some cases have limited page time. Characters relations change and develop finely through Uhtred’s unique, honest, and extremely personal first-person perspective. I trust and understand Uhtred’s opinions and plans however reckless they seem or provoking they are to the church of the crown.

The Pale Horseman was more of the same of what I adored in The Last Kingdom, however, if all of the novels in this series are so similar then I can see myself getting a bit bored about halfway through the series. I hope that doesn’t happen and that Cornwell continues to present exciting, action-packed historical fiction during the next stages of Uhtred’s life whilst keeping it fresh and interesting enough to keep me intrigued. A huge positive for these novels, so far, is that at around 300-400 pages, I am able to race through them in a couple of days. I have Lords of the North already loaded on my Kindle and am ready to start reading that today to rejoin Uhtred in the front row of the shield wall. Fate is inexorable.

“The fear came then. The shield wall is a terrible place. It is where a warrior makes his reputation, and reputation is dear to us. Reputation is honour, but to gain that honour a man must stand in the shield wall where death runs rampant. I had been in the shield wall at Cynuit and I knew the smell of death, the stink of it, the uncertainty of survival, the horror of the axes and swords and spears, and I feared it. And it was coming.”

Buy The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

 

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