Matthew Hughes's Blog: barbarians of the beyond, page 12
December 11, 2015
Some review snippets
The January/February edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is out and my Raffalon story, "Telltale," is getting some nice reviews.
At Locus Online, Lois Tilton notes correctly that this episode in the archetypal thief's career has the ring of fairy tale about it -- a kind of Scheherazade in reverse -- but sums it up as "entertaining stuff."
At Tangent Online, reviewer Nicky Magas says, "Hughes neither over-explains nor hoards details, giving the reader the feeling of a natural character and world, even if they are experiencing it for the first time. Raffalon is a casually charming character, and set alongside neat, unobtrusive prose, “Telltale” is an easily digestible fantasy adventure story."
And though I don't usually take official note of Goodreads reviews, except to feel good about the positive ones, I was especially pleased by a recent one for my story "Greeves and the Evening Star,' in the George R.R. Martin/Gardner Dozois co-edited theme anthology, Old Venus. A reader/reviewer named Andrew Caldwell, like me a P.G. Wodehouse devotee, said, " Not only did I hurt myself laughing and brought on an asthma attack but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It is immensely well written, exciting and perhaps the funniest short story I have read in the last ten years. 5/5 "
And finally, for anyone who's interested, I'm working on the second draft of my historical novel and hope to have it in shape by the end of the month. After that, there will be a third draft to really polish the prose.
At Locus Online, Lois Tilton notes correctly that this episode in the archetypal thief's career has the ring of fairy tale about it -- a kind of Scheherazade in reverse -- but sums it up as "entertaining stuff."
At Tangent Online, reviewer Nicky Magas says, "Hughes neither over-explains nor hoards details, giving the reader the feeling of a natural character and world, even if they are experiencing it for the first time. Raffalon is a casually charming character, and set alongside neat, unobtrusive prose, “Telltale” is an easily digestible fantasy adventure story."
And though I don't usually take official note of Goodreads reviews, except to feel good about the positive ones, I was especially pleased by a recent one for my story "Greeves and the Evening Star,' in the George R.R. Martin/Gardner Dozois co-edited theme anthology, Old Venus. A reader/reviewer named Andrew Caldwell, like me a P.G. Wodehouse devotee, said, " Not only did I hurt myself laughing and brought on an asthma attack but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It is immensely well written, exciting and perhaps the funniest short story I have read in the last ten years. 5/5 "
And finally, for anyone who's interested, I'm working on the second draft of my historical novel and hope to have it in shape by the end of the month. After that, there will be a third draft to really polish the prose.
December 7, 2015
Where I'm going to be
I'm going to be at Mancunicon (UK Eastercon) in late March and VCon in Vancouver in the fall. I'll probably do Orycon in November, and for sure if I'm shortlisted again for the Endeavour Award. And I've just bought a membership for WorldCon in Kansas City in August.
I'm going to do some kind of how-to presentation, maybe story mechanics, at a writers festival called Creative Ink in Burnaby, BC, Canada in early May.
I'm thinking about World Fantasy in Ohio for October.
I'm going to do some kind of how-to presentation, maybe story mechanics, at a writers festival called Creative Ink in Burnaby, BC, Canada in early May.
I'm thinking about World Fantasy in Ohio for October.
November 24, 2015
I'm invited again
I can't say I'm a big name in the sff business -- known, certainly, but not a name to conjure with -- but every now and then I get a little validation, like being written up in The New York Review of Science Fiction or being shortlisted for a juried award.
Over the weekend, I received another one of those affirmations: super-editor Gardner Dozois invited me to send him a story for an upcoming theme anthology to be called The Book of Swords. Assuming Gardner likes what I'll send him, I'll be joining K.J. Parker, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, C.J. Cherryh, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Ken Liu, Danial Abraham, Cecelia Holland, and Peter S. Beagle in the table of contents. And probably more big names who have yet to commit.
Over the past several years, I've been in several invitation-only anthos, including the megaseller and World Fantasy Ward-shortlisted Rogues, for which I've actually received royalty payments over and above the generous advance. I've also been in Old Mars and Old Venus and Songs of the Dying Earth.
And while those appearances haven't made me a household name in fandom, they've brought me new readers, many of whom have stuck around. As I often say to fans who email me with kind words, I appreciate the encouragement.
Over the weekend, I received another one of those affirmations: super-editor Gardner Dozois invited me to send him a story for an upcoming theme anthology to be called The Book of Swords. Assuming Gardner likes what I'll send him, I'll be joining K.J. Parker, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, C.J. Cherryh, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Ken Liu, Danial Abraham, Cecelia Holland, and Peter S. Beagle in the table of contents. And probably more big names who have yet to commit.
Over the past several years, I've been in several invitation-only anthos, including the megaseller and World Fantasy Ward-shortlisted Rogues, for which I've actually received royalty payments over and above the generous advance. I've also been in Old Mars and Old Venus and Songs of the Dying Earth.
And while those appearances haven't made me a household name in fandom, they've brought me new readers, many of whom have stuck around. As I often say to fans who email me with kind words, I appreciate the encouragement.
November 11, 2015
Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice in paperback
I should have done this back when I started offering print-on-demand paperbacks through Amazon's CreateSpace subsidiary, but better late than never: my first two fantasy novels, Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice, are now available as POD paperbacks, for $12.99 each, from the CreateSpace store:
Fools Errant
Fool Me Twice
Together, they're the coming-of-age story of Filidor Vesh, apprentice Archon, who later became a pretty good Archon in his own right and had dealings with Henghis Hapthorn and took an interest in the doings of Luff Imbry.
Fools Errant was written when I was less than half the age I am today and hadn't yet learned not to go over the top. Fool Me Twice is a more mature book but still a farce. But people read them and like them, so who am I to argue?
These editions have been designed and formatted by the exceptionally able Bradley W. Schenck, Hero of the Archonate (he has the medal), and upcoming Tor author.
Fools Errant
Fool Me Twice
Together, they're the coming-of-age story of Filidor Vesh, apprentice Archon, who later became a pretty good Archon in his own right and had dealings with Henghis Hapthorn and took an interest in the doings of Luff Imbry.
Fools Errant was written when I was less than half the age I am today and hadn't yet learned not to go over the top. Fool Me Twice is a more mature book but still a farce. But people read them and like them, so who am I to argue?
These editions have been designed and formatted by the exceptionally able Bradley W. Schenck, Hero of the Archonate (he has the medal), and upcoming Tor author.
November 9, 2015
My crumb of glory
Rogues, the cross-genre anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, has won the World Fantasy Award for best antho of 2014.
I can claim a small slice of credit because Rogues contains my story, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," which is reprinted in Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, now out in paperback from the increasingly brilliant Canadian small press, ChiZine Publications.
Tying it all together, the principals of ChiZine, Sandra Kasturi and Brent Savory, won the Special Award for Professionals. ChiZine also published Gifts for the One Who Comes After, which won the Best Collection World Fantasy Award for the incredibly impressive Helen Marshall.
A very good night for Canadian specfic, indeed.
I can claim a small slice of credit because Rogues contains my story, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," which is reprinted in Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, now out in paperback from the increasingly brilliant Canadian small press, ChiZine Publications.
Tying it all together, the principals of ChiZine, Sandra Kasturi and Brent Savory, won the Special Award for Professionals. ChiZine also published Gifts for the One Who Comes After, which won the Best Collection World Fantasy Award for the incredibly impressive Helen Marshall.
A very good night for Canadian specfic, indeed.
November 5, 2015
Ecotones -- an SFF World anthoogy
A few years ago, I had a story called "Not a Problem" in an anthology of sf stories about global warming -- Welcome to the Greenhouse -- edited by Gordon Van Gelder. It was, frankly, a piece of comic relief in an otherwise pretty serious collection of shape-of-things-to-come science fiction.
Now I've resold the same story in another otherwise serious sf anthology, Ecotones, which is a project organized by the mainstays of the SFF World site, where I like to visit and give writing advice and so on. If you're not familiar with the world, an ecotone is a transitional zone where two different ecological biomes touch each other, such as where savanna meets rainforest.
It's the fourth antho SFF World has put out, and each table of contents has mixed contributions from established pros (bigger names than mine) with newcomers, some of them making their first sales.
The star names above the title in Ecotones are Lauren Beukes, Ken Liu, and Tobias S. Buckell.
This is a crowdfunded project, through Kickstarter, and the rewards for kicking in are pretty good. Here's where to go.
Now I've resold the same story in another otherwise serious sf anthology, Ecotones, which is a project organized by the mainstays of the SFF World site, where I like to visit and give writing advice and so on. If you're not familiar with the world, an ecotone is a transitional zone where two different ecological biomes touch each other, such as where savanna meets rainforest.
It's the fourth antho SFF World has put out, and each table of contents has mixed contributions from established pros (bigger names than mine) with newcomers, some of them making their first sales.
The star names above the title in Ecotones are Lauren Beukes, Ken Liu, and Tobias S. Buckell.
This is a crowdfunded project, through Kickstarter, and the rewards for kicking in are pretty good. Here's where to go.
October 22, 2015
Two new titles scheduled from PS Publishing
The fourth and final Luff Imbry novella, "Epiphanies," is scheduled for publication by PS Publishing in April, 2016. As with the others, there will be two limited editions, one of them signed and numbered. There will also be an ebook.
Sometime down the road, all four novellas will be put out as a paperback omnibus.
A Wizard's Henchman, a novel previously serialized in Lightspeed Magazine, is scheduled for July, 2016. It, too, will be published in two limiteds, with an ebook version.
For those who tuned in just lately, it was called The Kaslo Chronicles when it ran in Lightspeed, and started out as a Vancean space opera about Erm Kaslo, a hardboiled confidential operative (a private eye) pursuing his career in a far-future civilization spanning the Ten Thousand Worlds of our galactic arm.
But as the story proceeds, it morphs into a science-fantasy as the basic operating principle of the universe shifts from rationalism to magic. Kaslo's hard-won skills are rendered inoperative and he finds that he has no talents at all for "sympathetic association." He goes to work for a former client who was a rich ninny before the change but is now becoming a powerful proto-thaumaturge.
The plot ties in with elements of the Filidor and Hapthorn series.
Sometime down the road, all four novellas will be put out as a paperback omnibus.
A Wizard's Henchman, a novel previously serialized in Lightspeed Magazine, is scheduled for July, 2016. It, too, will be published in two limiteds, with an ebook version.
For those who tuned in just lately, it was called The Kaslo Chronicles when it ran in Lightspeed, and started out as a Vancean space opera about Erm Kaslo, a hardboiled confidential operative (a private eye) pursuing his career in a far-future civilization spanning the Ten Thousand Worlds of our galactic arm.
But as the story proceeds, it morphs into a science-fantasy as the basic operating principle of the universe shifts from rationalism to magic. Kaslo's hard-won skills are rendered inoperative and he finds that he has no talents at all for "sympathetic association." He goes to work for a former client who was a rich ninny before the change but is now becoming a powerful proto-thaumaturge.
The plot ties in with elements of the Filidor and Hapthorn series.
October 21, 2015
New Raffalon story in F&SF
Charlie Finlay, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, tells me that I'll have a new Raffalon story in the January/February issue. It's called "Telltale."
F&SF is the venerable (as old as I am) sf and fantasy digest mag that Stephen King called "still the gold standard of short fiction in the US." It's a good deal and you can even get electronic subscriptions exclusively through Amazon. Check it out.
In other news, I've finished the first draft (153k words) of the historical novel I wanted to write for more than forty years. I think I'll let it cool a little before I get into the revisions, and in the meantime I'll try my hand at a new Raffalon tale.
F&SF is the venerable (as old as I am) sf and fantasy digest mag that Stephen King called "still the gold standard of short fiction in the US." It's a good deal and you can even get electronic subscriptions exclusively through Amazon. Check it out.
In other news, I've finished the first draft (153k words) of the historical novel I wanted to write for more than forty years. I think I'll let it cool a little before I get into the revisions, and in the meantime I'll try my hand at a new Raffalon tale.
October 19, 2015
Couple of good reviews
SF Crowsnest, a UK-based SF site, has caught up with the July/August edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Paul Mahon has reviewed my story, "Curse of the Myrmelon."
He says: "This is another excellent Raffalon story, even if the star of the show this time is his colleague Cascor. Both are interesting characters and Hughes provides a thoroughly enjoyable plot for them to unravel. Highly entertaining."
And the paperblog review site has given a very early notice to Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. One of the stories is "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," the first Raffalon story, which appeared in the Dozois/Martin-edited (and NYT bestselling) cross-genre anthology, Rogues.
Reviewer Pamela Scott calls it, "a very enjoyable, mad-cap adventure."
He says: "This is another excellent Raffalon story, even if the star of the show this time is his colleague Cascor. Both are interesting characters and Hughes provides a thoroughly enjoyable plot for them to unravel. Highly entertaining."
And the paperblog review site has given a very early notice to Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. One of the stories is "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," the first Raffalon story, which appeared in the Dozois/Martin-edited (and NYT bestselling) cross-genre anthology, Rogues.
Reviewer Pamela Scott calls it, "a very enjoyable, mad-cap adventure."
October 13, 2015
A little Krunzle in your ear
I don't have much to post about here lately because I'm generally beavering away on my historical novel -- 146,000 words now and should have the first draft done in a week or so. But I had an email from James Sutter, my editor at Paizo, to tell me that Song of the Serpent will be out as an Amazon Audible audio book in January.
That gives me an opportunity to mention the book to those of you who have started coming by since its release in May 2012. You won't find it listed under my usual fantasy-author name, Matthew Hughes, because it was a media tie-in. That means it was a for-hire job where I was hired to write a novel set in somebody else's trademarked universe. I write those kinds of books under the pen name Hugh Matthews.
The universe in this instance was that of the Pathfinder role-playing game, which has created a world called Golarion. Paizo Books publisher Erik Mona, a major Jack Vance fan who reprinted my stand-alone Vancean space opera, Template, asked me if I could do a Cugel the Clever-type story set in Golarion for their Pathfinder Tales imprint. I said, I'd be delighted, and out came Song of the Serpent.
I'm mentioning all of this because there might be amongst you some people who say to themselves, "Gosh, I wish Hughes would write a Cugel the Clever novel."
Well, I have. The character is called Krunzle the Quick. Like Cugel, he's a thief. He makes the mistake of trying to rob a plutocrat whose goods are guarded by a magician and finds himself sent on a life-threatening quest he can't quit because the mage put a semi-sentient bronze snake around his neck, and it will choke him if he departs from the assignment.
Of course, there's more to it than that. The story has levels, and the deeper Krunzle delves into those levels the more desperate the situation becomes. Oh, and it also has an exceptional young troll named Skanderbrog, who now has his own action figure in the Pathfinder store.
Here's a link to Amazon for the title. And, by the way, I don't get anything from sales of the book beyond the initial writing fee. I just thought fans of Vance's and mine might enjoy it.
If you'd like a free sample, I did a short story as a prequel that was published on the web. It's called "Krunzle the Quick," and you can find links to all five segments on the Pathfinder wiki.
That gives me an opportunity to mention the book to those of you who have started coming by since its release in May 2012. You won't find it listed under my usual fantasy-author name, Matthew Hughes, because it was a media tie-in. That means it was a for-hire job where I was hired to write a novel set in somebody else's trademarked universe. I write those kinds of books under the pen name Hugh Matthews.
The universe in this instance was that of the Pathfinder role-playing game, which has created a world called Golarion. Paizo Books publisher Erik Mona, a major Jack Vance fan who reprinted my stand-alone Vancean space opera, Template, asked me if I could do a Cugel the Clever-type story set in Golarion for their Pathfinder Tales imprint. I said, I'd be delighted, and out came Song of the Serpent.
I'm mentioning all of this because there might be amongst you some people who say to themselves, "Gosh, I wish Hughes would write a Cugel the Clever novel."
Well, I have. The character is called Krunzle the Quick. Like Cugel, he's a thief. He makes the mistake of trying to rob a plutocrat whose goods are guarded by a magician and finds himself sent on a life-threatening quest he can't quit because the mage put a semi-sentient bronze snake around his neck, and it will choke him if he departs from the assignment.
Of course, there's more to it than that. The story has levels, and the deeper Krunzle delves into those levels the more desperate the situation becomes. Oh, and it also has an exceptional young troll named Skanderbrog, who now has his own action figure in the Pathfinder store.
Here's a link to Amazon for the title. And, by the way, I don't get anything from sales of the book beyond the initial writing fee. I just thought fans of Vance's and mine might enjoy it.
If you'd like a free sample, I did a short story as a prequel that was published on the web. It's called "Krunzle the Quick," and you can find links to all five segments on the Pathfinder wiki.
