Adrian Collins's Blog, page 241

Issue #5 Line up

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Grimdark Magazine Issue #5 Line Up

Grimdark Magazine issue #5 is chock full of grimdark goodness. We've pushed the genre boundaries of grimdark a bit more in this issue, with zombie apocalypses and cold-hearted near-future sci-fi to go with the three fantasy pieces, which include a Dominion of the Fallen short story by Aliette de Bodard.

Short fiction:

Against the Encroaching Darkness by Aliette de Bodard, a Dominion of the Fallen short story.

First They Came for the Pigs by Chadwick Ginther.

Boomer Hunter by Sean Patrick Hazlett

The Right Hand of Decay by David Annandale

Lessons of Necessity by T.C. Powell

Articles:

Who is the Grimdark Hero by C.T. Phipps

Reviews:

The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence (review by Tom Smith)

The Mechanical by Ian Tregellis (review by Malrubius)

The Witcher 3 (review by C.T. Phipps)

Interviews:

James A. Moore
Peter Orullian

Excerpts

The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milan (Chapter 1)

Purchase Grimdark Magazine #5 now over at our webstore:

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Or over on Amazon (we get a little extra kick back if you use the below link to get there):

Use this link to purchase Grimdark Magazine Issue #5 on Kindle from Amazon [image error]

Review: The Whitefire Crossing

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Review: The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer
Review by Jewel Elise

 

Reading The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer is a bit like climbing a mountain. There is the anticipation of the climb, planning, some struggles, renewed energy and even joy. Then, after the last exciting push, you reach the top and find yourself staring at another peak, another book.

The story starts with a heartbroken smuggler and extreme climber named Dev. To fulfill a promise made long ago he takes on a dangerous job he otherwise never would have. He must smuggle a man named Kiran over the Whitefire Mountains into Alathia and then betray him. Kiran’s a city boy who’s led a sheltered life, but he has his own secrets. He is on the run from a mage named Ruslan, who is willing to do whatever it takes to get Kiran back. The mountains are perilous enough, but with Ruslan close behind casting spells, the journey is that much more dangerous and suspenseful. Secrets are slowly revealed, plans are made and completed again and again, until the steady climb reaches its fulfilling, slightly grim conclusion. It is exciting, but I frequently found myself wishing more action would happen instead of continually reading about characters making plans for it. 

The story is told from two perspectives, one in first person and the other in third. While I enjoyed how there isn't a lot of jumping around, the element of surprise is lacking at times because we already know everything the characters are thinking. When Kiran reveals something to Dev, it is a surprise for him but not for the reader. Instead there is a feeling of relief that the secret has finally been revealed.

The relationship between Dev and Kiran is tense. They are both hiding too many things from each other, but as things progress they become closer. I especially enjoyed how Kiran had to learn from Dev how to climb and do hard labor during their crossing. Kiran’s amazement at the scenery was also a nice touch.

The story world is like our own in some ways. Dev’s city, Ninavel, reminded me of what I imagine Las Vegas to be like, filled with mage lights, riches, everyday people, and sin, but with snowcapped mountains in the distance. Mages sit at the top of the social ladder: powerful, rich, and deadly. The worst of these are the blood mages, which is exactly who Dev finds himself in trouble with. Alathia is in some ways the opposite of Ninavel. Magic is prohibited there. The only people who are allowed do perform magic are the mages who control city. There is a large border surrounding the city, and anyone who tries to bring magic over the border is met with harsh punishment. Getting caught smuggling Kiran could mean death, for both of them.

The Whitefire Crossing is an adventurous fantasy filled with magic and betrayal. While slow at times, it is an enjoyable read that will leave you wanting to go out and scale your own mountain. For lovers of grimdark, though, this is not the grim, gritty, action-filled story with unpredictable characters that we look for. Though Dev and Kiran have some moments of moral dilemma, they are still basically black and white. You can tell from the start who is good and who is evil. There wasn’t anything that greatly surprised me or made me cringe, although I have heard the next book is darker. I look forward to climbing that mountain, hopefully with blood mages close behind.

I give The Whitefire Crossing 3.5 grimdark lords out of 5.

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Check out The Whitefire Crossingover on:

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Paperback

Update from GdM

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After wrapping up our first year of Grimdark Magazine, we're doing everything we can to kick the magazine into the next gear. Below are a few of the things currently being stirred in the pot.

 

Battle-Off entries closed. Voters wanted!

The entry window for the GdM Battle-Off is now closed. With nearly 1,400 votes cast, now is the time to get in amongst the action, read some free fiction, discover some new authors, and rate their works!

Each piece takes only a few minutes to read, and voting takes a second per piece; perfect for your trip to work or an ad break. Click below and scroll down to find the full listing of excerpts available.

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Issue #5 update

We just locked in our last piece for Issue #5! The issue is looking brilliant, with another cover from Jason Deem setting the mood and a marquee story from Aliette de Bodard set in the world she built in The House of Shattered Wings. Keep an eye on the blog for pre-release and more content details!

 

First Reader Positions Open

With the brilliant Layla Cummins heading off and Cheresse Burke stepping into the second reader role we're after a couple of new first readers to join the GdM ranks. The GdM team is chock full of grimdark enthusiasts and a fun environment to be a part of.

If you're interested in checking out the role (and a couple of other roles we have available, click through below.

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The Grim Tidings Podcast

I had a chat with the blokes at the Grim Tidings Podcast a couple of weeks ago about grimdark (surprise!), the magazine, violence in grimdark, and the survivability of the genre.

The podcast, headed up by Rob and Phil, has been running for a few months and deals in all things Grimdark. They've interviewed a range of authors including, most recently, R.A. Salvator. If you're a fan of this magazine, then you'll love this podcast. 

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Review: Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley

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Review: Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley
Reviewed by Sean Grigsby

 

When it comes to second installments, especially in the realm of science fiction and fantasy, The Empire Strikes Back is an oft-compared milestone. Some might even regard it as the best film in the original Star Wars trilogy. I don’t know if I’m one of these people.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great movie. It introduces new and interesting characters, more questions are raised, and someone gets frozen in a fictional mineral that’s now a household name. But I always felt a little deprived at the end of Empire. I wanted more to it.

Kameron Hurley’s is about as grimdark as fantasy literature can get. Empire Ascendant is the second book in the series and releases in October, and though I enjoyed it, it left me with a little of that Empire Strikes Back longing.

To catch you up, The Mirror Empire introduced us to a world where the people worship four distinct celestial bodies: Tira, Para, Sina, and Oma. Certain gifted individuals can call on the “breath” of these bodies to help them perform all kinds of cool magic. However, only one body is in the sky at a time, sometimes not returning for a thousand years. Those gifted by the ascendant star are more powerful than those whose comet is in decline.

But it’s when Oma appears, that everyone gets worried. It signals the clashing of worlds, when the thread between parallel universes becomes so thin that crossing between them becomes possible. But the catch is that your “mirror” self has to be dead in the universe you want to cross into. So when Kirana’s world is coming to a cataclysmic end, she has a lot of people to kill on the other side so all of the people in her world can come over.

Ahkio is the kai, leader of the Dhai people, and he’s got several problems to handle in Empire Ascendant. Foremost is his dead sister, Kirana’s mirror self, crossing over and murdering everybody. Second is that he recently found out who his real mother is, and she’s been helping the enemy in exchange for a few lives spared.

Lilia is from the dying universe, sent by her mother when she was young. She’s now a holy symbol for the Dhai. She’s hell bent on revenge against Kirana and the entire invading Tai Mora force. But when her gifts as an Oma mage burn out, all she has left is her wits. And it looks like she’s her adopted world’s only hope.

Hurley is great at creating a unique world with lots of bloodshed. I was tense for every character, even the ones I despised, wondering if they would be next on the chopping block or the monster’s teeth or the walking trees’ grubby branches. However, there are so many characters in this book, I forgot who was who at several points and just had to go along with it, hoping I would remember. Sometimes I didn’t.

Returning to the world of the World Breaker Saga felt like seeing an old friend after a long separation. But I highly advise grimdark readers to start with The Mirror Empire before moving on to this second book. Even as one who was familiar with the material, I forgot many details of what had happened previously and was left to sink or swim in grasping the plot. Hurley would have done well to give the reader a few lifelines of recollection, and save the torture for her characters.

Nevertheless, there were many awesome moments in Empire Ascendant. Some that had me severely creeped out or squirming in my seat. One especially intense scene that I really enjoyed is when legionnaire Zezili crawls into the lair of monsters and comes across a disgusting creature straight out of nightmares. If Hurley ever tried her hand at horror, she’d do fantastically.

Though the World Breaker Saga is set in a vivid fantasy world, Hurley has asks us to contemplate modern day gender issues and how we all interact as woman, man, and transgendered. It is a compelling theme although, admittedly, I stumbled over every ze and hir pronoun I came across in one character’s POV.

With Empire Ascendant, Hurley has added another unique grimdark opus to the hungry shelves in our dark realm. True, it left me unsated the same way Empire Strikes Back did, but I’m excited to see what’s in store for the next installment—even though I’m fairly certain someone will die horribly.

Empire Ascendant releases October 6th from Angry Robot Books, and gets three-and-a-half Grimdark Lords out of five.

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Purchase Empire Ascendant in one of the following formats:

Kindle
Paperback

 

Review: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Review: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
Reviewed by Adrian Collins

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It's pretty rare that I get the first 50 pages into a book and decide on the spot to go purchase the rest of a series, but there are times when you just know that you're going to love an author's work. It happened to me the first time with Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes, and then again with Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns. And even though I thought I didn't like flintlock fantasy, it's happened again with Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood.

Promise of Blood reads like the French Revolution crossed with Lightbringer. McClellan presents Adro through the eyes of Adamant, a retired investigator whose taken up as a freelancer. His old general, Tamas, has called him back into service. In need of work, he responds, only to find the coup has already happened. Tamas, the military leader of the coup, has just killed all bar one -- his son Taniel's best friend Bo --of the royal cabal and had a group of his powder mages killed by a fleeing Privileged of incredible power. Taniel Two-Shot, famed Powder Mage marksman, hunter, and killer of Privileged has come home to see his father. His relationship with famed general Tamas is a strained one, and despite his best efforts, Tamas always seems to want him around as no more as a particularly useful soldier.
 
As the city reacts to the coup -- the royal family and supporting lords and their families put to the guillotine, the Royalist military's last stand, the new council in charge -- Tamas sends Adamant on a mission to find out what Kresimir's Promise is, apart from the final words on a dying Privileged's lips. Adamant gets knee-deep in Adro's underworld to find out what danger comes the realm's way. Taniel chases the mystery Privileged through the city, before being retasked with taking out the last Royal Cabal member, his best friend Bo. All the while, Tamas tries to keep his new city and council in one piece, and the mighty Kez nation have smelled blood in the water and are on the way with their immense army.


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As the Predii and a few ancient gods nobody actually believed were real come in to play a part in the ever-twisting treachery, the end game becomes clear. And what an end game it is. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't pick up this series as soon as possible.

McClellan's story has brilliant depth, with plenty for you to get your teeth stuck in to. There's a rich and inventive magic system that pitches a more traditional fantasy magic system against the powdermages, whose expertise is in manipulating gunpowder. The gods in the background are an enjoyable part of the story, without becoming ridiculous as many gods in stories are wont to do. Political factions, both under and Tamas' nose and far away, provide another level of depth to the story, and McClellan makes sure there are plenty of tantalising bits to keep you interested in the series beyond the back cover of Promise of Blood.

One of the things that really makes Promise of Blood stick out to me is the relationship between Tamas and Taniel. Father and son, they struggle to have a normal relationship. Taniel wishes for a more fatherly figure, while Tamas struggles to separate his family from his soldier subordinates. To me, McClellan writes these characters so well that this relationship alone is enough to put me on to the second book.

Promise of Blood is a brilliant book that you need to pick up immediately. I'll race you through The Crimson Campaignand meet you at the end of The Autumn Republic. Do yourself a favour and pick it up at Galaxy Bookstore (paperback/hardcover), Amazon (Kindle), iBooks (ebook | audio book), or Kobo.

5 grimdark Lords out of 5.

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Writing About Firearms

by Matthew Sylvester

 

Burke ripped his revolver from his holster, diving into cover as his prey opened fire. Rounds sent chips of concrete flying through the air. Ducking round his cover, he blazed away until the hammer clicked home on an empty chamber. Not the best way to ensure a hit, but a good way to keep an opponent's head down. Quickly he popped another clip into the pistol. 

Taking a deep breath, he popped his head round the cover and straight back. It took less than a second, but that was all that he needed.  There were two men further down the corridor both armed with AK47 machine guns.

+++++

Many people who write about firearms don't know much about firearms. Many probably haven't even handled one. Many of them will have watched films, which look awesome but are not entirely accurate in their depiction of firearms and the effects that they have, and based their writing upon that. Unfortunately, many content editors and test readers will compound the issue by using the same inexperience to affirm the author’s writing.

The above excerpt featuring Burke is full of errors, which I shall cover below. 

 

Rounds and Bullets

The first mistake, and one which many people make, is mistaking rounds for bullets. As you can see from the picture below, the bullet is what is actually fired. The round is what houses the bullet, the propellant, and which is fed into the chamber. 

 

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*Parts of a round, also demonstrating the difference between rimfire and centre fire.

Now that you know what a round is, the line "Rounds sent chips of concrete flying through the air," is now an impossibility, and also sounds faintly ridiculous.

 

Is that a revolver in your pocket, or are you pleased to see me?

The next common mistake is to confuse a revolver with a pistol. Put simply, a revolver is the type of pistol most commonly seen in use by cowboys and Dirty Harry. There are a number of rounds (usually 6) set into chambers within a rotating cylinder. Every time the trigger is pulled, the cylinder rotates and another bullet is fired, the expended round staying within the cylinder­.

A semi-automatic pistol uses a magazine (see the next mistake below) that has an internal mechanism that feeds a new round into the pistol's chamber every time the pistol is fired. These pistols usually (depending on the calibre of the round) have at least 10 rounds in each magazine.

 

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*A semi-automatic pistol (left) and a revolver (right)

 

* Pistol Shooting, some good explanations.

* Revolver shooting

Clips and magazines

Another common mistake is confusing clips with magazines. The picture below shows a clip, used to reload a .303 Lee Enfield rifle. In order to load the Lee Enfield, a soldier places the clip into the rifle's internal magazine, presses down and pushes the bullets into the rifle. The piece of metal (the clip) holding them is then discarded. 

 

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*A bolt action Lee Enfield rifle with a clip being loaded into the magazine (left) and a magazine (right)

Pistols - specifically semi-automatic pistols - do not use clips. They use magazines. A magazine can either be a self-contained and temporary unit that is pre-loaded with rounds, as per the picture below, or which can be a permanent internal fixture in bolt-action rifles, and some vintage semi-automatic rifles such as the World War Two M1 rifle. 

Another common mistake is soldiers letting magazine fall to the floor like confetti. Magazines are usually not discarded by soldiers but are placed into their webbing or combat gear so that they can be reloaded at a later point.

 

Assault rifle or machine gun?

A lot of authors also tend to confuse assault rifles with machine guns, as in the introductory paragraph. An AK-47 is one of the most famous assault rifles in the world, but it is still referred to as a machine gun. In addition to this, authors and editors go on to confuse machine guns with sub-machine guns. This is understandable, as when someone is firing on full automatic at you, the distinction isn't all that important. 

An Assault Rifle is, as the name implies, a rifle. However, unlike bolt-action rifles which require the user to manually feed a round into the chamber by working the bolt back and forth (back to eject the expended round, forward to feed another round into the chamber), an assault rifle has to be capable of allowing the user to select semi-automatic, or automatic fire of some sort.

Semi-automatic means that the gun fires one round and sends one bullet towards the opponent every time the trigger is pulled, for as many times as there are rounds in the magazine, the spring in the magazine pushing each round up into the weapon's chamber. 

Fully automatic means that the gun fires rounds for as long as the user holds the trigger down, or for as many rounds are in the magazine or on the belt (for machine guns). 

Most modern assault rifles also have what is known as a burst fire option. This means that the user pulls the trigger once, but the gun fires a set number of rounds. Usually three. This is because with every round that is fired, the barrel of the weapon rises, taking it further and further off target. Three round bursts give better stopping power, whilst keeping the weapon as accurate as possible.

 

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*An M-16 Assault Rifle 

Assault rifles also fire much larger calibre rounds, usually .223, .303, and 7.62mm, but even going up to .50 inch (such as the famous Barrett rifle). Because of their size and weight, the bullets in these rounds require a large amount of propellant. This in turn means that the bullets can be deadly at ranges up to and over a mile. They have a high penetrative power, which means they can punch through a car door as easily as a hot knife through butter. They will not ricochet off the metal or the windows in a shower of sparks. Those cops hiding behind the door? Unless it's reinforced or armoured, they're dead. That one-brick wall the detective ducks behind? Not enough. He’s dead, too. Nothing short of proper armoured plate (for vehicles), or body armour with either a Level III or IV rifle plate, or military specification body armour can stop these bullets in their tracks and have the person behind it still be able to operate. Even then, the body armour is only designed to stop a certain number of these bullets. The more that hit, the greater the chance of penetration. In fact, the original military spec body armour, Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI), only required that it stop three bullets. Yes, three.

*An apparently bulletproof mercedes, being shot by an assault rifle on semi-automatic. 1:30 onwards shows what it would be like to be inside a car when being shot at by determined attackers.

* Excellent video demonstrating the penetrative qualities of different shotgun rounds and different walls types. Scarily the ‘home defence’ round blows right through a typical american house wall. This has serious consequences for any family members on the other side!

Even then, getting hit by a bullet is going to hurt. People are going to register a hit, they’re going to be bruised, maybe break a rib or three. If you’ve never broken a rib before, it causes excruciating pain. The break effects all forms of movement and makes breathing in a combat situation very difficult and very painful.

 

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* Pistol and Rifle round comparison chart.

The penetrative power is such that these bullets can, and will, go through a number of bodies. One particularly accurate, albeit stomach-churning and chilling, example can be seen in Schindler's List where members of the SS line up a number of Jewish males in single file, and use one bullet from a Mauser K98 rifle to kill a group of them in one go. 

Some very well known authors have confused bolt action rifles with assault rifles, even going so far as to say that solders were armed with bolt-action assault rifles. Below is a picture of an assault rifle that has been fitted with a bolt action. Now that it can only fire one round before the user has to manually operate the bolt, it is no longer an assault rifle because there is no ability to fire on full automatic. It is a very cool looking bolt-action rifle. Just like the Lee Enfield next to it.

 

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The picture below is of a machine gun. Machine guns don't have selective fire. They are an infantryman's favourite support weapon. These weapons will chew through a double-brick wall, and will fire for as long as the user holds the trigger down, or the ammunition lasts. They're hard to aim accurately and are designed to put a large amount of bullets down into an area, suppressing - keeping their heads down - the enemy long enough for squad members to neutralise the threat. They are hard to fire accurately from the shoulder and so usually come with a bipod (two little legs at the front that allow the user to rest the weapon securely). 

 

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*A bipod mounted machine gun 

*M60 Machine Gun

A sub-machine gun is an entirely different weapon. Initially designed for trench warfare, weapons such as the .45 Thompson Sub-Machine Gun became famous. Sub-machine guns fire small-calibre rounds, the sort of round that is used in a pistol, most usually 9mm, .38in or .45in. They may have selective fire as per assault rifles, but what they're useful for is sending a lot of bullets towards an opponent at a short distance. They don't have the penetrative power of an assault rifle, which means that their bullets aren't known for punching through bad guys and killing innocent civilians. This is one reason that the SAS adopted the Heckler and Koch MP9 sub-machine gun. The rounds were powerful enough to kill terrorists, but weak enough to stay in the terrorist and not kill hostages. With selective fire, they were also highly accurate. 

 

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*A Heckler & Koch sub-machine gun (left) and the Thompson sub-machine gun (right).

* Classic Uzi sub-machine gun being fired, some swearing, but makes it better.

To summarise; if you're going to write about firearms, even the futuristic sci-fi versions of what we use today, do your research. If you're not sure, ask people who do know about firearms. If you live in a country where you can go and fire a number of firearms, do so. Handling and firing a pistol, or a rifle, or any firearm is completely different to seeing them in films, or reading articles such as this. As soon as you put the stock into your shoulder, and take aim, you will instantly know how heavy they are, how they feel whilst snugged into your shoulder, or held in both of your hands. It really is a game changer, and can save you from the ire of your readers!

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Matthew Sylvester is a multiple dan, multiple black belt holder and instructor in a number of martial arts ranging from Taekwondo through to Reality Based Self-Defence. He has been in the Officer Training Corps, Special Constables, worked as a Door Supervisor, and topped turnips. He knows how to talk a good fight, write a good fight, and slaughter his enemies using nothing but his cutting wit.

Matthew edits books for their hand weapons, firearms and fights authenticity. Hire Matthew to ensure that your book is full of action-packed and authentic scenes by contacting him at matthewsylvester (at) me.com

 

Audio Review: The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs

Review: The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs
Reviewed by Sean Grigsby

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John Hornor Jacobs provided Grimdark Magazine with an audiobook recording of The Incorruptibles for an honest review.

Part alternate history, part western, but all fantasy, The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs is something different that jumps up and bites you like a rattlesnake you never saw coming.

Our storyteller is Shoestring, a half dvergar (dwarf) who’s been partners with gunslinger, Fisk, for over a decade. Their current job has them outriding alongside a Rumen steamship called the Cornelian. If the word “Rumen” looks familiar, it’s because Jacobs has taken much of ancient Roman civilization and put it smack dab in what could just as easily be the American West.

But this land, the Hardscrabble Territories, is a tough and untamed place, filled with savage elves they call “stretchers” that stand eight feet or more and love to scalp and devour any unlucky enough to get stranded out in the wilderness.

It’s these stretchers from whom Fisk and Shoe have to protect the Cornelian and her passengers, namely, Governor Cornelius, his children, and the engineers that operate the demon-powered boat.

Oh, yes. The Rumens have made use of demons to power their engines, light their lamps, and even Fisk’s bullets contain imps that leave flashes of their wicked forms as the bullets fire from the barrel. It’s one of the reasons Shoestring refuses to arm himself with anything but his trusty blades. Shoe’s faith in his deity Ia, and his desire to keep his soul clean, leaves the gunwork to Fisk.

 

But the Cornelian has another aboard her that Fisk and Shoestring hadn’t counted on, a young foreign woman whose welfare is the key to either peace or war. When a fellow mercenary falls in love with the girl and runs away with her, it’s up to Fisk and Shoe to see her back to the ship safe and sound. But time is short, and there are stretchers about.

This is John Hornor Jacobs’ sixth book and the first in a new grimdark series. John’s first novel Southern Gods was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award, and his horror roots have wonderfully trickled into his fantasy work. There’s a raw sophistication to John’s writing that is simultaneously eloquent and to the point. The narrative is slow in parts, but still engaging, reminiscent of the river the Cornelian chugs along. Shoestring’s voice is one readers will love and resonate with. It’s through him we care about Fisk, sympathize with the stretchers, and are wary of demons.

With an audio book, you have to acknowledge great voice work, and Steven Pacey did a phenomenal job, giving variable life to each character. Fisk sounded almost like Clint Eastwood, which added a nice spaghetti western splash of color.

Whether you choose audio, digital, or a paper copy, you can’t go wrong with this fresh grimdark tale available from Gollancz.

Four and a half grimdark lords out of five.

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The Grimdark Magazine 1 year anniversary

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With issue #4 out, we've hit the end of our first year. We've had victories, failures (and a couple of epic fails, like Goodreads giving us the boot), laughs, and managed to get 4 issues out there on time each quarter. It's been a magnificent year working out just what it is to be a small publisher, and I've got some people to thank for the experience.



Firstly, to you, our readers, thank you for giving us a crack and reading our issues, Facebook posts and blog rantings. Engaging you guys on our pages has been one of the highlights of running GdM. It's been awesome getting to know the grimdark community. 



Secondly, and very importantly, a huge thank you to the GdM team who have made this dream a reality by putting their expertise, passion and time into each issue and all that happens in between. Something that often goes unrecognised is that these small publisher teams often volunteer their time. Our team is 100% voluntary. GdM runs on pure passion for grimdark alone.



To find out more about the guys and to follow their own works, go over to our about us page.


To the lifeblood; those hundreds of you who have submitted short stories to compete for the very few spots we have available for unsolicited short stories in a year. You've opened my eyes to what is possible in under 4,000 words. You've also shown us just how bloody difficult it can be to run a publication like this. Having to let some of your stories go to other publications because we ran out of budget is nothing short of gutting. I've been so stoked to be able to publish guys like Peter Fugazotto, Kelly Sandoval, Siobhan Gallagher, Aaron Fox-Lerner, Tim Napper and Tara Calaby alongside articles from contributors such as Jeremy Szal and our very own Layla Cummins. I can't wait until we can afford to publish more words per issue.


Then there are those authors and publishers, literary heroes to the GdM team and I, who have been generous enough to trust us with their established world short stories, excerpts, articles, ARCs and interviews. We're, of course, talking about Mark Lawrence (the first to give us a chance), Joe Abercrombie, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Graham McNeill, R. Scott Bakker, Richard K. Morgan, Kameron Hurley, Rob J. Hayes, John R. Fultz, Karen Miller, Luke Scull, Mike Brooks, Tim Marquitz, Matthew Ward, Richard Ford, Alex Marshall, Peter Newman, Peter V. Brett, Brandon Sanderson, Mike Fletcher, the guys at Hachette Australia, those champions at Ragnarok Publications, and Roc (among a few others).



Finally, the GdM covers. The artists have been fantastic, as I'm sure you will all agree. Jason Deem (GdM#4), Julian De Lio (GdM#2) and Austen Mengler (GdM#3) provided excellent covers. Nora Collins (isses #1 and #4) and Rob Matheny (Issues #2 and #3) have done fantastic graphic design jobs with the cover images we've purchased.



After reading through what must feel like a bit of a cast of thousands, I'm sure you're wondering what's coming up for year 2? We're going to provide more of the same, with short stories, interviews, reviews, and articles from established and new grimdark authors and a far more active blog presence. There are a bunch of irons in the fire with our favourite authors and some new ideas on competitions (watch this space).


We're hoping to reach and get beyond the break-even point financially this year so we can increase the per issue budget. This will include putting up some Google ads in our blog posts, among a few other different strategies, which we hope will provide us with better longevity and a meatier fiction part to each issue without pissing you off too much!



We can't wait to bring you the second year of Grimdark Magazine. It's going to be an absolute corker.

Grimdark Magazine issue #4 OUT NOW

Grimdark Magazine issue #4 is locked in, and have we got a cracking issue ready for you! Behind another brilliant piece of artwork on the cover, you'll get short stories, an article, a review, excerpts and a couple of interviews. Here's what you'll find inside:

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Cover art: a dark piece from Jason Deem named Symbiosis.

Short stories:

In Brazen Dreams by Matthew Ward shady characters converge on a powerful relic.

Tara Calaby asks "what happens after happily ever after" in Ashes. 

Redemption Waits by Mike Brooks set in his Keiko universe (Dark Run).

A Steelhaven short story by Richard Ford, The Halfwyrd's Burden.

Excerpts:

A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall


The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence

Reviews:

The Vagrant by Peter Newman

Interviews:

Peter V. Brett 

Brandon Sanderson 

Article:

The Mud, the Blood and the Years by Ragnarok and Orbit author John R. Fultz


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Interview with Mike Fletcher

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[GdM] Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Our reviewer really enjoyed reading about Gehirn in Beyond Redemption (link to review). Gehirn's abilities and craziness, the undead army of assassin corpses, the sociopath that feeds on the organs of those who worship him, and Stehlen who killed anyone without any remorse provided a really enjoyable cast of dark characters in a truly gritty and dark world. Beyond Redemption was right up our alley. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what inspired you to write Beyond Redemption?

[MRF] Wow. You make it sound kinda dark when you put it like that. 

Okay. Me. Uh... For over a decade and a half I worked as an audio engineer mixing live bands (over 10,000 bands in that time) and recording albums. If anyone defines the delusional, it's musicians. Actually, probably all artists. Your grip on reality has to be a little shaky if you believe playing badly written two chord songs on an out of tune acoustic guitar will lead to fame and fortune. You have to be outright bugfuck crazy if you're so certain about the fame and fortune you do it over and over, playing the same shitty songs night after night. Much like you have to be at least a little unstable if you spend a year locked in your bedroom writing a novel about insane people and do so thinking it will sell to a major publisher.

At some point I realized most of the successful musicians I interacted with were sociopaths of one hue or another. That may have coloured my thinking.

 

[GdM] The book has all the elements that are considered the bread and butter of the grimdark subgenre -- a grim story in a dark world told by morally ambiguous protagonists. Do you see your book as grimdark? Have you had much exposure to the subgenre before and what are your views on it?

[MRF] I absolutely understand why people are calling Beyond Redemption grimdark. That said, I'd never heard the term until my agent referred to it as such. I had to google it before I understood what she was talking about. I had a moment of, 'how dare you label me!' but I got over it.

One look at the list of writers being labelled as grimdark, and I was sold. Anything putting me in the same sentence as Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, or Mark Lawrence can't be bad; these guys are writing the best fantasy out there!

 

[GdM] In Beyond Redemption you created characters that could use different types of insanity to manipulate reality. How much research did you have to do on mental disorders to bring realism to this character? And how did it help you in furthering the plot of the story?

[MRF] Having no background in psychiatry, I had to do quite a lot of research to get a feel for the various mental disorders. The fun part was deciding how each would manifest and twist reality. 

In a way, the insanity is the story. I do almost no pre-plotting or planning. I had a situation in mind and then threw this cast of messed up characters into it. I don't decide in advance how anything will end. Instead, I try and figure out what each character would do in their situation and then write it. If I write myself into a corner (it happens a lot) then those characters better be awful creative and figure some way out. Or I kill 'em.

I suppose that's a fairly schizophrenic way of writing a book about insanity.

 

[GdM] Mental illness is a central theme in this book, was it easier or more difficult writing Bedeckt as more of a normal kind of person?

[MRF] Bedeckt is that pillar of stone standing just off the shore. Day after day relentless waves of insanity crash against him. In a world where belief defines reality, he is manically sane, psychotically sane.

In a book of crazy people I needed a sane character to balance the others. I think he did a good job.

  

[GdM] Was the mental illness theme a comment on society, a representation of something in your life, or just something you wanted to explore?

[MRF] Yes, yes, and yes. I'd rather people decided for themselves what the book is about so I won't comment on that. But I did spend a fair amount of time interacting with a sociopath and that definitely influenced the book. It's amazing how someone so glib and charming can also be utterly self-centred.

Others have written about reality being influence by belief, but I was unaware of anyone taking it in this direction. Once the idea gelled, I just had to explore it.

 

[GdM] What does the concept of the Afterdeath mean to you compared to our modern concept of the afterlife?

[MRF] The Afterdeath is an amalgamation of different concepts of the afterlife stolen from several cultures. Those whom you slay must serve, what you carry on your body makes the journey with you, etc.

Because Beyond Redemption is so focussed on a particular type of character you don't get a feel for the wider picture. There are in fact many Afterdeaths; not everyone follows the Warrior's Credo. Heavens and hells abound. It all depends on what you believe. There will be more on this in future books.

 

[GdM] The world of Beyond Redemption has a very clear German inspiration in the language. What made you choose this? Was is a cool difference or was there further meaning behind it?

[MRF] Initially it was the sound and look of German that drew me. If you want dark and gritty, what's better than German?

There is definitely further meaning. Sometimes. Maybe.

I think it should be noted that none of the characters in the book speak German.

 

[GdM] This book left our reviewer wanting more. When do your fans get to find out the next piece of the story? What can they expect?

[MRF] Good! That was definitely the plan. I've got the next two books written (working titles, The Mirror's Truth, and The All Consuming) and I'm currently editing them. TMT is a sequel to Beyond Redemption and TAC involves a whole new cast of characters. Lot's of new craziness to explore.

The two story lines will come together like the most horrendous train-wreck in a future book. The awesome folks at Harper Voyager haven't even seen these yet so I can't possibly guess as to when they might be released.

 

[GdM] Note to readers: if you want a taste of the stuff Mike can put up, head on over to his website and check out the free short stories he has up there. You can also follow him on Twitter @FletcherMR.

Michael's coming release, Beyond Redemption, can be ordered through the following links:

Hard copy: Galaxy Bookstore
iBooks

Kobo


Kindle

 

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Michael R. Fletcher is a science fiction and fantasy author represented by Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

His novel, Beyond Redemption, a work of dark fantasy and rampant delusion, is being published by HARPER Voyager and is slated for release June 16th, 2015.

His début novel, 88, was released by Five Rivers Publishing and tastes like dystopia with a dash of cyberpunk. 88 is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and elsewhere.

The next two Manifest Delusions novels, The All Consuming and The Mirror’s Truth, have been written and are currently in editing.