Robin D. Laws's Blog, page 76
July 13, 2012
The Belisarius Intervention
A revolt against a planetary despot disrupts your rescue mission. Do you intervene or stick to the brief? Check out the latest installment of StoryCraft at The Ancient Scroll.
July 12, 2012
July 11, 2012
Behind the Scenes on Shotguns v. Cthulhu
Yesterday I revealed the Shotguns v. Cthulhu Table of Contents. Today I thought I’d draw back the squamous curtain and share project brief I sent to our impressive roster of New Cthulhuvians. Here’s the meat of it, shorn of the boring business stuff.
The premise: a story of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos which includes at least one action sequence.
“Action sequence” could, among other things, evoke the spirit of:
Robert E. Howard’s two-fisted mythos tales
the rooftop chase from Shadow Over Innsmouth
Ludlumesque technothriller meets cosmic horror
that loopy, tommy-gun heavy Call of Cthulhu game you ran when you were thirteen
To fulfill the promise of the title, I need at least some adventure romps in which sinewy muscle and/or high-powered weaponry prevail against the minions of the Great Old Ones. That said, I’d also like to see stories combining movement and violence with the existential despair at the heart of Lovecraft’s work. There might be some room for the oddball or deconstructive takes on HPL; I’m not looking for outright spoof or parody.
Stories can be set in any period. If anything, I’m resistant to pieces that revel in the 1920s and 1930s as a wellspring of the quaint and old-timey. Prehistorical, historical, contemporary, futuristic are all possibilities.
I’ll also be skeptical of stories that include Lovecraft himself or his works as part of the fictional reality. Unless you have some stunning new take on it, the idea that HPL’s work masked an awareness of actual occult forces that more or less resemble the mythos has already been thoroughly explored.
I am in no way, shape or form looking for pastiches of Lovecraft’s style. We all know how painful that can be. Write the story in a voice of your own that’s appropriate to the piece.
You will note that this is a simpler concept than The New Hero, and thus, a much briefer brief. As you'll see when you pick up the book (which at present you can do through the Kickstarter for the Stone Skin Press launch), the writers came through with guns blazing, with exercises in clammy unease easily outnumbering the romps.
July 10, 2012
Shotguns v. Cthulhu Table of Contents Revealed
Stone Skin Press has already revealed the author roster for its upcoming second short fiction anthology, Shotguns v. Cthulhu. We haven’t yet tantalized you with the titles of its fourteen tales of action-packed cosmic horror...until now:
Kyla Ward, Who Looks Back?
Rob Heinsoo, Old Wave
Dennis Detwiller, Lithic
Chris Lackey, Snack Time
Dan Harms, The Host from the Hill
Steve Dempsey, Breaking Through
A. Scott Glancy, Last Things Last
Chad Fifer, One Small, Valuable Thing
Nick Mamatas, Wuji
Natania Barron, The One in the Swamp
Kenneth Hite, Infernal Devices
Dave Gross, Walker
Robin D. Laws, And I Feel Fine
Larry DiTillio, Welcome to Cthulhuville
Ekaterina Sedia, End of White
And yes, I included a story of my own in there. Simon made me do it.
As of this writing, the Kickstarter for the Stone Skin Press launch has just nudged past 80%. Go top it up, and watch Simon scramble for stretch goals.
July 9, 2012
Stone Skin Press Crowdfunding Round-Up
As is his wily, silver-coiffed wont, Simon Rogers has introduced considerable distraction to the final days of my vacation by launching the Kickstarter campaign for Stone Skin Press. Avenge me by heading over and making a pledge. The four ebook deal in particular is a steal. Bibliomanes among you may wish to snap up the various limited edition options.
As of this writing, we’re at the 57% mark after three days. But as the snake said of the scorpion, it’s the back half that’s the tricky part. Please join us in making this ambitious exercise in fictional boundary-hopping a reality.
When I return to work tomorrow I’ll have more to reveal about the Stone Skin line and the process that led us to it.
In the meantime, we’re highlighting the stories and iconic protagonists of The New Hero anthology. If you haven’t been glued to the Stone Skin site, here’s what you’ve missed so far:
Jonny Nexus’ character Pete Stone conjoins two streams of British heroism, nodding with equal affection toward both Dan Dare and James Bond.
Ed Greenwood’s Midnight Knight, a contemporary adventuress attended by an able crew of Ren-faire sidekicks, is a departure for Ed, yet also quintessentially Greenwoodian.
Kenneth Hite makes his fiction debut as you figure he might, with Ray Cazador, a hero who prowls the mean streets between historical probabilities. Ken seizes the joy of the alternate history genre with a conceit allowing him to elegantly set aside its overused devices.
July 3, 2012
God Particle
Click here for the complete strip archive.
Stuck in mobile mode? Click here for image file.
July 2, 2012
Upon a Shield
Keep a gruesome trophy from an orc army on the rampage in the latest installment of StoryCraft.
June 29, 2012
The Most Desirable Enchanted Item In the Entire Dying Earth Revivification Folio
If I could have one enchanted item from the Dying Earth Revivification Folio, I’d pass on the Laccodel’s Rune, the Live Boots, and even Orisant’s Impudent Monocle. Instead I’d ask my indentured sandestin to secure the following:
Motes of Exigent Social Rescue
What It Looks Like: a fine multicolored powder, in a container of your choice
What It Does: When blown into the face of another person, that person forgets an unsuccessful social interaction with you, provided that it that occurred no more than five minutes ago. The target’s basic attitude toward you reverts to what it was before the interaction. The rest of the target’s memories reform themselves to conform as much as possible to what really happened, minus your regrettable gaffe. Unless countered by other magical means, the target’s amnesia becomes permanent.
What It Costs: 1
June 28, 2012
Xenomorphic Bullet Points
By setting a new pattern with each film, Alien movies previous to Prometheus established a pattern: each presented an SF take on a separate, established genre.
Alien: slasher movie in space.
Aliens: war movie on an alien planet.
Alien3: prison movie on an alien planet.
Alien Resurrection: action/comic book movie in space.
One of the many odd choices about the new flick:
Prometheus: sci-fi movie on an alien planet.
June 27, 2012
The Birds: Almost Never
Click here for the complete strip archive.
Stuck in mobile mode? Click here for image file.
