Howard Andrew Jones's Blog, page 13

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How Captain Kirk Led Me to Historical Fiction

It was Star Trek that got me interested in historical fiction. Not because I’d been watching the crew interact with historical figures on the holodeck—the Next Generation didn’t exist when I was a kid. And it wasn’t because Kirk and Spock once met a simulacrum of Abraham Lincoln. It was because, Star Trek nerd that I was, I’d read that Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry had modeled Captain Kirk after some guy named Horatio Hornblower. I didn’t think I’d like history stories, but I sure liked Star Trek, so I decided to take a chance. Once I rode my bicycle to the library and saw how many books about Hornblower there were, I figured I’d be enjoying a whole lot of sailing age Star Trek fiction for a long time to come.

Of course, it didn’t turn out quite like that. Hornblower wasn’t exactly like Kirk, and his exploits weren’t that much like those shared by the crew of the Enterprise, but they were cracking good adventures. Thanks to my own curiosity but mostly to the prose of the talented C.S. Forester, my tastes had suddenly, and accidentally, broadened beyond science fiction. I’d learned that other flavors of storytelling tasted just as good.

I no longer thought of historical fiction as a strange, untouchable world, and as I grew older I tried more and more of it, sometimes because a period interested me and sometimes just because I liked a cover or a title. That’s how I found the work of Cecilia Holland, and it’s why I wasn’t afraid to try out a book by Harold Lamb titled The Curved Saber after I was spellbound by Lamb’s biography of Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general. (I’d read it for a high school research paper.) I’d read Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories by then, and recognized Harold Lamb’s Cossack tales were a related animal. In an introduction to one of Harold Lamb’s books, L. Sprague de Camp mentioned dozens of Lamb’s stories had never been reprinted. I never forgot that statement, although it was years before I decided to look into the matter. After all, if no one had bothered to collect them, how good could they be?

Really good, as it turned out. So good that my hunt for them felt a little like a search for lost artifacts, difficult to obtain, but gleaming with promise. Lamb’s stories were hard to find because they existed only in rare, yellowing pulp magazines, owned only by collectors or a handful of libraries scattered over the United States. The more of Lamb’s stories I read, the more interested I became not only in his fiction, but in the pulp historicals in general. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me that the kind of heroic fantasy fiction I’d come to love sounded so much like the best of the pulp era historicals. These were the stories in the magazines when sword-and-sorcery founders Howard, Leiber, Moore, and Kuttner were coming of age. We know from Robert E. Howard’s letters that he purchased the most prestigious of these historical pulp mags, Adventure, regularly, and that he loved the work of a number of authors who were printed regularly in its pages.

After years of research I came to conclude something that was obvious in retrospect: fantasy and historical writers had been cross-pollinating for a long time. More recently, authors like Guy Gavriel Kay and George R.R. Martin have been writing acclaimed works at least partially inspired by real world cultures and events. And some writers have been blending fantasy and history. We don’t have to look too much further than Howard’s stories of Solomon Kane or C.L. Moore’s tales of Jirel of Joiry to see that genre mash-ups have been going on for a half century, but we can journey even further back to Beckford’s Vathek or even into the mythlogized cultural history of the Persian Book of Kings (the Shahnameh) or the Iliad and the Odyssey and see that genre divisions didn’t used to exist.

Our society’s currently experiencing a resurgence of interest in historical movies, and I can’t help noting that films like The Centurion or The Eagle were marketed very much like fantasy action movies; few would argue that 300 was targeted to hit the same demographic that had enjoyed the battle sequences from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It might be that today’s audiences are more savvy than I was as a young man, and that the blending of genres we’ve seen over the last decade has broken down the barriers that once kept historical fiction readers apart from fantasy readers apart from science fiction readers and so on. I’d certainly like to think so. Maybe none of us, readers, writers, or viewers, are as worried about the boundaries any more so long as the story takes us to strange new places.

This article originally appeared at TOR.com.

Collecting Brackett

I’ve read an awful lot of the work of Leigh Brackett, and much of it multiple times. I thought I’d share a photo of some of my favorite of her books.

On the top there is a great short novel, one of my very favorites by her. It’s actually included in the Sea-Kings volume immediately beneath it, but the version in that collection had so many typos I went out and re-purchased another version of the paperback I sent away to Joe McCullough, because when I’m re-reading one of my favorite stories I don’t want to be distracted by errors.

I mentioned the excellence of the compilation beneath it just last week (except for typos). The titular “Best-of” book was compiled by Brackett’s husband and is another one-stop shopping for a sample of Brackett’s best, although neither it nor Sea-Kings has ALL of her best.

Beneath that is a hardback collection of the three Skaith books. Good stuff, although I didn’t enjoy them quite as much as some of her earlier novellas. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I’ll pick up the complete Stark book that Haffner is printing, given that I already have the stories he’ll include as they appear in either this Skaith volume or the Stark and the Star Kings book beneath it. On the other hand, the complete Stark book will have notes on the unwritten fourth Skaith book… and it will also look really great on the shelf.

Speaking of which, those three Brackett volumes have ALMOST all of Brackett’s short fiction, good and more run-of-the-mill. There are plenty of goodies in there that didn’t make it into the various best-of volumes. And did I mention that the Haffner hardbacks are beautiful and very well made?

Tales From the Magician’s Skull Issue 2

In case you hadn’t heard, issue 1 is heading out to subscribers now. And, as I mentioned, issue 2 is already headed to layout. I wanted to give you a sneak peek at the contents!

There are other plans afoot, but this is probably enough excitement for today. I’ll share some other information later in the week.

 

Trial by Scarab

by John C. Hocking

Benhus drew and met him in a clash of strident steel.  They traded blows, at first with more maddened intent than skill, swords meeting and sliding apart with a sound like a blacksmith’s anvil seeing frantic work.

Break them on the Dying Stones

by Setsu Uzume

The blindfold itched, and stank of wet sheep. Gatja raised her hands and leaned forward to scratch her face, but the muting chains rang taut — locking her wrists and neck just beyond reach.

Stolen Witness

by James Enge

They followed the crooked man, bearing a corpse on his back and a light in his hand, into the wizard’s garden.

Blood of the Forest Born

by Nathan Long

Then she saw it. The eight-legged circle of Atseska. Any Haata child with a grandfather who told ghost stories knew about the black magic of Atseska the Spider.

“He’s going to kill them,” murmured Anla. “He’s going to kill everyone in this house.”

Day of the Shark

by James Stoddard

“I led my hunters here, daring the depths to seek you.  I have a keen eye, steady arms, and the courage of ten. I have killed the Great White single-handed. I demand the Trial.”

A Soul’s Second Skin

by Violette Malan

“Hush,” Dhulyn’s tone was such that even the mage fell silent. “Something large breathes ten or twelve paces away from us.”

Shuhalla’s Sword

by Dave Gross

Only the commander’s head emerged from the woody cage, neck stretched back and mouth open. From it protruded his tongue, darker than blood and—incredibly—as long as his forearm.

The People of the Pit

Illustrated by Stefan Poag

An illustrated adaptation of Abraham Merritt’s classic story.

Appendix: Game Statistics

by Terry Olson

In each issue, we present an appendix of game statistics for the various creatures, spells, and items described in each issue. All of these stats are for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game system.

Interior Illustrations: Samuel Dillon, Jennell Jaquays, Cliff Kurowski, William McAusland, Brad McDevitt, Russ Nicholson, Stefan Poag, and Chuck Whelon

Cover Illustration: Diesel LaForce

The second issue of Tales From the Magicians Skull will be headed your way on June 15th, but you can pre-order it now! And don’t forget the first issue, either! It’s not too late to get in on the ground floor of our new fiction series!

Sea-Kings of Mars

One of the finest anthologies I happen to own is Sea-Kings of Mars, which collects most of Leigh Brackett’s best short work. Not ALL, but it’s a great sampling. I’d only replace one or two of the weaker ones with other favorites of my own. If you happen to see a copy, grab one, because it’s out of print and prices seem to be climbing.

If you don’t prefer to have a book, you can get an e-copy of Leigh Brackett’s stuff from BAEN’s online site for ridiculously cheap prices.They also have a collection titled Sea-Kings of Mars, but it’s not the same collection. It’s still good, though.

 

Ambush!

When I was first getting into solitaire boardgames a few years ago I kept hearing that one of the best of them all was Ambush! from Victory Games, so I dutifully tracked it down, set it up on the table, and after playing one mission decided it wasn’t for me.

Boy, did I miss the ball on that one. I think the reason I didn’t appreciate it was because I hadn’t ever been exposed to heavier boardgames, and I didn’t give myself a chance to get used to the play. Now that I’ve been getting into more and more detailed tactical games, I got to questioning my earlier judgment that Ambush! had been fiddly and tedious. Chris Hocking, whose taste I agree with upwards of 95% of the time, kept telling me it was a great game and how he couldn’t believe I hadn’t liked it.

I found myself in the middle of a shelf purge of games I wouldn’t be playing anymore, and with that gaming cash in the ‘ol e-wallet chanced to mention to a gamer I sold one of the games to that I wanted to track down Ambush! again. He had the game and most of its expansions and happily sold them to me. They’re just in fantastic shape (thanks, Glen!). You see, Ambush! has been out of print since some time in the ’80s and it’s unlikely it will ever be reprinted, so the used market is the only place to acquire it.

Like a good modern gamer I went to BoardGame Geek and looked up errata and rules clarifications, even printing out an updated rulebook that included a lot of the extra rules and errata added over the years. And I read through a lot of posts detailing best tactics and strategy.

When I set it up last Saturday morning there was, naturally, some rules confusion, but the play was also compelling and completely immersive, and I could hardly wait to finish the scenario Sunday morning. Now I’m dying to play the next mission this coming weekend.

So what’s it like? Well, Paul Dean over at Shut Up & Sit Down described it very well and pretty much summed up my own feelings. Read that and you’ll get a sense of how the game plays. If you don’t want to make the jump, you’re commanding a squad of soldiers in WWII and are sent on various missions on a variety of maps. If you can lead them through, then they improve in skills and combat acumen. The enemy is controlled by the game with pre-programmed instructions that are also randomized to some extent, and there are random events that can take place as well. It’s all governed, naturally, by dice rolls, but there’s a sort of choose your own adventure/paper computer aspect as well with a card sleeve with hidden results and a paragraph booklet… and like I said, go read the article at the other end of the link. This sentence of Dean’s really brings home the truth of the matter: “Each game isn’t merely a series of random events, it’s a vignette, a coherent story that you step into one hex at a time.” Last weekend’s mission was a GRAND story. And for me, experiencing a great story is an addiction.

The main Ambush! box comes with eight missions, and the others have either four or six additional missions. There’s also the Pacific war variant, Battle Hymn, and its expansion, Leatherneck.

If you visit the BGG forums you can see the love for the game just pouring out in pixels. You also see the occasional odd criticism about how the missions aren’t that replayable. Well, yeah, because it’s hard to be surprised when the German sniper pops up in the same hex next time you play. But I don’t see that’s a fair reason to downgrade a game’s rating. It’s like complaining that you can’t read the book again and get surprised. When you play a mission in Ambush!, it’s like playing through an episode in a WWII miniseries where your characters are the stars. And that’s certainly worth the price of admission.

If my future plays were as much fun as last weekend’s, I have a lot of boardgame fun in my future. And judging by what the fans say, I probably do.

Here’s a great review of the whole system.

 

Secret Project

Last year I mentioned I was working on two secret projects. One of them turned out to be Tales From the Magician’s Skull, but I haven’t revealed project two… until now.

I was the lead writer on Lock ‘n Load Tactical’s Heroes of Normandy: The Untold Stories, Volume 1. I wrote three of the tales in the collection and edited the others, along with some serious help from technical editor Hans Korting. It’s not QUITE available for release yet, but you can listen to an audio of the first few minutes of the first tale in the collection, “The Stovepipe Bluff,” written by yours truly, by going here.

The stories in the collection are all fiction, though they’re based around actual events in WWII, and they feature characters depicted upon counters in the Lock ‘n Load Tactical game series.

I’ll have further updates as the book gets closer to release. Here’s a link to the future ordering page…

 

The Skull Lives

I have the proof — observe, a copy of the issue, back from the printers. Addresses and envelopes and all that good stuff are being printed up and issues should be going out in the next few weeks.

Also, issue 2 has already headed to layout, and we’re now finalizing ads. How’s THAT for some sword-and-sorcery service?

Feast your eyes upon a random page flip, to the right. Oh, look at that. It’s a story by Bill Ward!

This is just the first step. Soon there will be multiple issues of the skull available for enjoyment.

If you missed the Kickstarter, it’s not too late to pre-order an issue.

 

Durandal

It was a late night last night, getting my revision ready for final turnover. Or, at least, hopefully final turnover. The morning that followed was delightful and promising but should remain mysterious for now.

So since I have nothing new to say, here’s one of Lamb’s very best stories, Durandal, as published by Doubleday back in 1931. That’s my personal copy. I very seldom see copies with dust jackets.

Durandal was originally published as three separate novellas, two of which were reprinted by Donald M. Grant Co. in the 1980s. They were planning to finally reprint the third, and I actually supplied them with its text, but nothing ever happened.

I intend to try, before the end of the month, a final time to get the complete collection printed by Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press. It’s criminal that this historical swashbuckler remains out of print. The problem is that Bison seems to have moved away from it’s historical prints. I’m going to give it my best shot, though. Keep your fingers crossed. And have a great weekend!

Paul Pine

Word has arrived via camel caravan that the complete collection of Howard Browne’s stories featuring hardboiled detective Paul Pine are going to be in print, soonish, from Haffner Press.

I actually pre-ordered this collection several years back, because Browne’s writing is sublime. He sounds a heckuva lot like Chandler, and as a bonus his novel plots don’t wander as much as Chandler’s do. The fourth and final Paul Pine novel,  The Taste of Ashes, is a masterpiece that stacks up well against Chandler’s finest.

In other words, I’m really looking forward to the volume, especially because it contains one of the novels I’ve never been able to find, as well as some fragments.

The art chosen for the cover is certainly evocative and professional, but it looks a little more like it’s from a lighthearted ’80s TV series than the rather somber adventures Paul Pine experiences. Perhaps that cover will help attract new readers, though, and they’ll stay for the prose.