Howard Andrew Jones's Blog, page 77

The Siren Depths

Martha Wells’ new book has just been released nationwide. Lovers of fine spec fiction, get thee forth and find it!

All his life, Moon roamed the Three Worlds, a solitary wanderer forced to hide his true nature–until he was reunited with his own kind, the Raksura, and found a new life as consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court.

But now a rival court has laid claim to Moon, and Jade may or may not be willing to fight for him. Beset by doubts, Moon must travel in the company of strangers to a distant realm where he will finally face the forgotten secrets of his past, even as an old enemy returns with a vengeance.

Available at:

Barnes and Noble, Chapters Indigo, Amazon US, Powell’s, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Books-a-Million, Book Depository.com (free shipping worldwide), Waterstones UK, Book Depository.uk, Whitcoulls NZ, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon Spain, or look for it at an independent book store in the US through IndieBound.

ebook: Baen Webscription eBook (DRM-Free), Barnes & Noble NookBook US, Amazon US Kindle, Kobo, Waterstones UK, Whitcoulls NZ, Kindle UK, Barnes & Noble NookBook UK, Kindle Germany, Kindle France, Kindle Spain, Kindle Italy.

Martha Wells is the author of fourteen fantasy novels, including The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, The Wizard Hunters, The Ships of Air, The Gate of Gods, The Element of Fire, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer and Emilie and the Hollow World, to be published by Strange Chemistry Books in April 2013. She has had short stories in the magazines Black Gate, Realms of Fantasy, Lone Star Stories, and Stargate Magazine, and in the Tsunami Relief anthology Elemental. She has also written two media-tie-in novels, Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary and Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement.

Treasures from the Vault of Time

When people talk about unique books, they usually mean a printing of a book that’s unlike any other. They almost never mean that there is only ONE of them. Well, me being the bibliophile that I am, I have a pretty cool selection of one-of-a-kind books. A few other people may have books like them, but no one else has these particular adventures from the pulp magazine days preserved in quite this way.

Click to embiggen.

To the right you’ll see a shelf above the window in my office, and beside the Harold Lamb books are ten hardback volumes. There are two other oversize volumes on nearby shelves, and two others loaned out to the mighty John Chris Hocking, bringing the total to fourteen. Every single one of them is one-of-a-kind.

If you’re a frequent visitor to my little corner of the web, you know that I spent years tracking down Harold Lamb’s fiction and getting it into print, and that I launched a search for other quality fiction from the same places — old pulp magazines that carried historical adventures. You might also have seen me write that no other pulp historical writer was as consistently excellent as Lamb. I never meant to suggest that there were no other good pulp adventure writers, or no other great historical stories! There were plenty of both. But finding those tales, ah, now that is a trick.

They don’t call them pulp magazines for nothing. They were printed on cheap, pulpy paper, which disintegrates, and they were no more intended to last than early radio or tv shows — and that’s a good analogy in more ways than one, because in the days before television, America turned to its pulp magazines for entertainment. Adventure magazine, or Argosy, or a pulp hero mag like The Shadow would come out three or four times a month, and so you’d sit down nearly every week for the next exciting installment of your favorite story, or kind of story. If you didn’t like historicals or costumed vigilantes, you could find romance or detective tales, or sports stories, or south sea tales, or just about anything else you could think of, even some Weird Tales (which, famous as it is today, was never as popular as a whole bunch of magazines you’ve never heard of).

Three from the collection (click to embiggen).

Imagine it — all those stories. What a time to be a reader, and what a time to be a writer, when you could actually prosper writing short stories because there was such a demand for fiction!

Now you’re probably aware of Sturgeon’s Revelation, “90% of film, literature, consumer goods, etc. are crap.” It holds true for pulp as well as anything else. (Honestly, I sometimes think that 90% is too low.) That being said, even with Sturgeon’s Revelation being accurate, with all those words printed over the pulp heyday, you’re looking at a whole lot of stories that were pretty good to excellent. But how do you find them? You can hunt through old magazines at conventions and take a shot, or buy up some reprints from Altus Press, Black Dog Books, and other places, but how will you know which authors tick your clock before you go investigate?

Much as you would enlist a skilled Sherpa before ascending Everest, you would locate someone who knew the material and could recommend some authors and titles. That’s what I did. ( I mean I talked to some pulp experts, not Sherpas. Not that I have anything against Sherpas, many of whom, I’m sure, are big fans of pulp historical fiction.)

Look at Al’s hand sewn binding! (Click to embiggen.)

Some pulp collectors remove their favorite stories from magazines and then bind them between hardcovers. It takes up less space on the shelf, and they look pretty darned cool if you can do it properly. I was befriended by one of these pulp collectors, Al Lybeck, another huge Harold Lamb fan. Al was retired and had assembled a number of these collections that he never expected to read again, and he asked if I wanted to buy them. I knew that some of the volumes contained Harold Lamb texts I hadn’t actually seen and that others held unreprinted adventure stories from other writers I’d heard good things about, so I jumped at the chance. A week or so later, just in time for Christmas 2001, I received this small library of adventure tales.

These remain some of the most splendid books I have ever had the pleasure to hold in my hands. Imagine someone of similar taste preserving a whole collection of rare tales by authors that you have heard only rumors about, or have never heard of at all! Too hard? Imagine being a fan of guitar-driven rock with great melodic hooks but never having heard much mid to late ’60s music. Then someone hands you a Hendrix disc. Yes, these collections are THAT COOL.

Click to embiggen.

I first dipped into the stories by authors that I was familiar with, or had heard of, but I’ve been savoring this collection slowly (life got busy with child two, grad school, and teaching). The vast majority of these tales I haven’t yet read! Every one of these books still fills me with pleasure and an almost childlike sense of glee crossed with anticipation  every time I look through it. For instance, on the left is a peek inside a volume mostly dedicated to tales of the Canadian Mounties. I’ve never read a tale of the Canadian Mounties before in my life, but I know Al had pretty good taste, so I bet these are gonna be great!

Some of the collections have old pirate swashbucklers, or south sea adventure stories, or French Foreign Legion exploits, or Cossack yarns… it’s just grand stuff, and I’m looking forward to a plunge into some of these far-off places when I take a little time over Christmas break.

I thanked Al when I bought these from him, but I didn’t realize at the time how much joy these books would continue to bring me.

One More Thing

The official release of The Bones of the Old Ones is only a week away now, and there will be more and more news about the book in the coming days.

First, a reminder about the Goodreads giveaway. It’s still not too late to enter into a contest to win one of three signed copies of both The Desert of Souls and it’s standalone sequel, The Bones of the Old Ones, by clicking on this link.

Second, I have a lengthy interview over at Fantastical Imaginations that went live over the weekend, where I wax on about the writing of this series and some of my favorite writers, living and dead.

Third, over at Black Gate is a sneak peek at the first chapter and a half of The Bones of the Old Ones. Or chapter and two thirds. I forget where exactly I set the cut-off point.

One more thing. Bones is still available for pre-order through many fine outlets. If you follow this link and scroll most of the way to the bottom, the book can be ordered through Macmillan, Barnes & Noble, Powells, Books A Million, Indiebound, Amazon, or Walmart.

I have mostly been using my spare time for promotional stuff, but when I’ve had a brief breather (moments before stumbling into bed) I’ve been finding refuge in my pulp adventure fiction collection. I have a few treasures I’ll be posting about later this week. Adieu!

 

The Next Big Thing

A couple of weeks ago my friend Violette Malan invited me to participate in The Next Big Thing Blog Series, which would involve my answering a set of questions. What with all of the family health issues hanging over my head I’m a few days later than I intended to be, but here are my answers.

You’ll find Violette’s blog post for the series here. If you haven’t read any of her work, I have a sneaking suspicion that most of my site’s visitors would be interested in her Dhulyn and Parno adventures.

Right, so here are my answers to the questions.

What is the working title of your book?

Well, technically I’m working on two, the next novel for my Paizo Pathfinder series and the next novel (the third) for The Chronicles of Sword and Sand, tentatively titled The Maiden’s Eye.

But because my NEXT book to hit shelves is out in just two weeks, I think I’ll be talking about that one, The Bones of the Old Ones.

Where did the idea for the book come from?

I suppose it had its genesis in the mountain range I saw in a hardback copy of one of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar books. Of course, the bones in my book aren’t related to mountains, not even remotely, but I loved the place name. The rest of it is a mish-mash of interesting bits of mythology and history I’ve chanced upon over the last decade or so, with a few of my favorite characters thrown into the mix.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s marketed as historical fantasy, or alternate history… me, I think it’s sword-and-sorcery in an Arabian Nights setting, but since it’s an 8th century that’s fairly true to life EXCEPT for bits of dark magic lurking at the edges, maybe historical fantasy is the better description. It’s not really alternate history because all of the real events and people have, and will, happen and be born. When I see “alternate history” I think of stories where Hitler was assassinated, or Hannibal won the 2nd Punic War, or Picasso was really a T-Rex. The only thing “alternate” about my book is that magic is real… except, like I said, it’s not something you encounter every day.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie version?

My first thought was to skip this question, and then I thought I’d grab my soapbox. My main characters are Arabian and Persian, and there just aren’t a whole lot of parts for these heritages in Hollywood these days unless they’re playing bad guys. Would that there was a whole crop of gifted Arabian and Persian actors to choose for these roles, but, due to the dearth of parts in our movies there is a dearth of actors. I wish it was not so.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of the book?

Dabir and Asim, 8th century scholar and warrior, venture into worst winter in human memory, seeking the aid of their hated enemy, the necromancer Lydia, to stop an ancient evil with powerful magical weapons called the bones of the old ones from shrouding the world in ice forever….

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

My publisher is Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s, and my agent is Bob Mecoy of Creative Book Services.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

A little over a year and a half, which was about a year longer than I expected. If you want to count research, then, yikes, I’ve been researching the 8th century for more than ten years.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

A lot of people compare my work to that of the talented Saladin Ahmed because we both are writing Arabian Fantasy for major publishers, and we both love sword-and-sorcery, and we both draft standalone novels that are part of a character driven series — meaning that each novel is complete in and of itself. Stylistically we’re different, as Saladin himself would tell you, and he writes in a secondary world, but I think fans of one series would certainly enjoy the other.

There really aren’t many other Arabian fantasy series, sad to say. I’ve heard good things about Mazarkis Williams’ book (The Emperor’s Knife), and I thought Scott Oden’s book (The Lion of Cairo) was brilliant, but I’ve been told his planned sequel is unlikely.

But, of course, there’s a lot more to my book than being an Arabian fantasy. I take a lot of cues from mystery series, the most obvious influence being Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Dabir’s not as infallible as Sherlock Holmes, and his narrator Asim is much more crucial to the team than the literary Watson, but there are surely similarities. And of course I took great dollops of inspiration from my favorite writers, Harold Lamb, Robert E. Howard, Leigh Brackett, Fritz Leiber, C.L. Moore, Roger Zelazny, and C.S. Forester, and you can surely find echoes of them in my work. I think the friendship between Dabir and Asim definitely has some similarities to that of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and the strong moral drive of my characters has a lot to do with those same qualities in most of Harold Lamb’s heroes.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Probably the aforementioned writers. I wouldn’t have become a writer myself if I hadn’t loved the work of those who have come before me. And then, naturally, my great love for The Arabian Nights, and the time and people of the 8th and 9th century Middle-East.

What else about your book might pique the interest of readers?

Well, if you’re tired of fantasy books that have long bits of digression, or slow pacing, or characters who’re mostly dark and in it for themselves, I believe you’ll find The Bones of the Old Ones a refreshing change. Sure, the bad guys are pretty bad, but they think they’ve got good reasons for what they’re doing. And as for Dabir and Asim, they’re brothers in all but blood and stand up to do the right thing even when no one is watching. They make mistakes, but they don’t give up.

Their first novel, The Desert of Souls, was their origin story, showing how they came to depend upon one another. This sequel is more complex, with a larger cast of characters, including two central female characters who are a lot more than generic love interests.

And now for some recommendations, personally selected by me. Here are five authors who’ll be participating in the Next Big Thing Blog Series next week. Check them out!

David C. Smith

Ryan Harvey

Moses Siregar

Charles Rutledge

David Alastair Hayden

 

 

Good News

More reviews of The Bones of the Old Ones are rolling in. I was just alerted to a wonderful one over at Book Page, where I was declared to have maintained the magic of my debut (The Desert of the Souls). No sophomore slump for me in this reviewers eyes. There was other high praise, and were I a truly modest man, I wouldn’t quote it. But I’m not, so I will. Michael Burgin writes:

Howard Andrew Jones’ debut novel was an impressive achievement. An exquisite distillation made from only the finest pulp ingredients, The Desert of Souls introduced readers to Captain Asim and the scholar, Dabir, a potent Watson/Holmes pairing placed in a realm flavored by Arabian Nights rather than Victorian London. (Thank goodness . . . have you tasted Victorian London lately?!) With writing both crisp and evocative and characters both familiar in template yet fresh in execution, The Desert of Souls provided readers with the next best thing to reading the works of Howard, Doyle or Lovecraft for the first time.

But with every sensational freshman effort, there are nearly as many sophomore slumps—could Jones carry over the magic of his debut into the sequel?

Yes. (We’ll forego the suspense.)

Follow this link to read the rest.

Meanwhile, over at Ranting Dragon, The Bones of the Old Ones  is on the top 20 most anticipated spec fic novels of December.

In case you don’t already have it pre-ordered or on your Christmas list, Goodreads is hosting a giveaway of The Bones of the Old Ones. You can go to The Bones of the Old Ones Goodreads page to enter. Three lucky winners will receive a signed copy of the hardback of Bones AND it’s standalone predecessor, The Desert of Souls. Contest winners will be announced on December 19th.

 

 

Signing In

If you happen to be in the neighborhood of the Evanville, Indiana Barnes & Noble bookstore on December 15th at 2:00, I hope you’ll swing by my book signing. I’ll be reading from The Bones of the Old Ones and signing any copies of the book you happen to purchase for Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukhah, Robonica, or just because.

I’ll be heading to Terre Haute in early January for a similar event, and am looking to schedule a few other readings/signings in nearby areas. I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I hope all of my American friends had a Happy Thanksgiving! Ours was relatively low-key but pretty delicious. I still haven’t managed to get out and catch Skyfall. Hopefully soon. We caught part of a James Bond marathon over the weekend at the in-laws Thanksgiving extravaganza and happened to wander in during some real series low points.

We ended up switching over to The Mummy, because nothing says Thanksgiving like ancient Egyptian horror and mayhem. I have a soft spot for the first Brendan Fraser mummy movie, which I enjoy almost as much as Raiders of the Lost Ark, and for pretty similar reasons. Both movies are fun adventure romps with snappy scripts, great pacing and action scenes, and both know just how seriously they should take themselves. Both succeed wonderfully at exactly what they set out to do. And both are followed by sequels I’m not that fond of. There sure are an awful lot of native casualties, though. I’d like to see a big budget action movie with Arabian protagonists some day…

Reviews and Praise

A few early reviews of The Bones of the Old Ones and words of praise from fellow authors have come in, and it dawned on me the other night that I hadn’t posted them all in one place. First, the final, official cover copy:

As a snowfall blankets 8th century Mosul, a Persian noblewoman arrives at the home of the scholar Dabir and his friend the swordsman Captain Asim. Najya has escaped from a dangerous cabal that has ensorcelled her to track down ancient magical tools of tremendous power, the bones of the old ones.

To stop the cabal and save Najya, Dabir and Asim venture into the worst winter in human memory, hunted by a shape-changing assassin. The stalwart Asim is drawn irresistibly toward the beautiful Persian even as Dabir realizes she may be far more dangerous a threat than anyone who pursues them, for her enchantment worsens with the winter. As their opposition grows, Dabir and Asim have no choice but to ally with their deadliest enemy, the treacherous Greek necromancer, Lydia. But even if they can trust one another long enough to escape their foes, it may be too late for Najya, whose soul is bound up with a vengeful spirit intent on sheathing the world in ice for a thousand years…

And now, some praise. Look, I’m blushing a bit!

“By turns groundbreaking and classical, Howard Andrew Jones is a pure joy to read.” – Nebula and Campbell Award finalist Saladin Ahmed

“Jones is a resurrector of unfairly forgotten tales and an illuminator of a neglected milieu. His love for the setting of the Dabir and Asim stories is as obvious as his grasp of classic sword-and-sorcery forms. The result is something rich and brisk at the same time, just as it ought to be.” –Scott Lynch, author of Red Seas Under Red Skies

“The Bones of the Old Ones is one lovely fantastical adventure, blending mystery, romance and magic in such a way that I had to keep reading.  There were moments of laughter, passion, and edge-of-my-seat surprises.  A fabulous read!” –Elizabeth Vaughan, USA Today bestselling author of the Chronicles of the Warlands series

“In the midst of a sea of Tolkien clones, Howard A. Jones stands out with his Arabian Nights inspired detective stories. Rollicking, and magical. What more could you want?” –Mary Robinette Kowal, Hugo and Campbell Award Winner

“The Bones of the Old Ones is a damn good tale that not only pays homage to the masters, but sets its own print on the genre.” –SF Signal

“This rousing sequel to The Desert of Souls offers a mélange of ancient adventure myths populated by convincing, endearing characters… As intricately woven as the magic carpet of Greek sorceress Lydia, Jones’s tale incorporates real historical personages and settings like Mosul of “haggard beauty” from the early days of Islam, and fills the pages with gallantry and glamour to provide a thrilling spectacle.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

Don’t forget about the Goodreads contest to win one of three  free copies. It’s available for pre-order through most major bookstore chains and e-sites  and will be released on December 11. A sneak peek at the first chapter is available here.

Win a Copy of Bones of the Old Ones

Goodreads is hosting a giveaway of The Bones of the Old Ones. You can go to The Bones of the Old Ones Goodreads page to enter. Three lucky winners will receive a signed copy of the hardback of Bones AND it’s standalone predecessor, The Desert of Souls. Contest winners will be announced on December 19th.

There will be additional contests as the publication date gets closer and closer. Stay tuned, and please spread the word!

 

 

 

 

 

November Update

I keep checking the mail with the eagerness of a kid looking for the arrival of birthday party guests. Some day very soon I’ll receive  my hardback copies of The Bones of the Old Ones. They’re already on their way to reviewers, which would probably make me more nervous if I were better rested.

In the coming days I will be announcing several The Bones of the Old Ones giveaways and linking to various guest articles I’ve been busy writing over the weekend. Today I can point you toward a post I took live over on the Black Gate site about the adventures of Alexander the Great in Persia, as told by the great Persian poet Absoalasem Ferdowsi in the Shahnameh.

Behind-the-scenes I’ve been working on a whole series of promotional essays, working through some character motivation issues in my next Paizo Pathfinder book, and developing a new opening for the third Dabir and Asim novel.

A number of you have sent me nice notes asking about my mom’s health, which is very kind of you. She is home with us and on the mend, and I am trying to get used to not having a dedicated office (it’s now her bedroom).

I had hoped to sneak out this weekend to watch Skyfall, but time didn’t work out. My wife and son and I did catch Wreck-it Ralph last weekend and found it surprisingly good. Andrew Zimmerman Jones’  over at Black Gate does a great job summing up the movie’s strengths without giving much of the plot away (and let’s you know when he’s about to reveal some minor spoilers, so you can turn your head if you wish). I recommend it highly as a family film that really can be enjoyed by adults and kids.

 

 

Dabir and Asim Go to England

I am pleased to announce that the Chronicles of Sword and Sand, aka the adventures of Dabir and Asim, now has a British publisher. The books will be available overseas, beginning in April of 2013, courtesy of Head of Zeus.

Head of Zeus is new on the scene, with an exciting looking line-up of books and talented and experienced  in-house staffers. And sure, you might think I’d naturally say that because I’m thrilled to have a British publisher, but there are a number of cool looking series that they already have on board, and they’ve been a delight to work with so far.

I hope to have more exciting news to update you about soon, including some giveaway contests. Watch this space!

Also… The Bones of the Old Ones will be released on December 11. Did I mention the book got a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly? I did? Whoops. I hope you won’t mind if I’ve repeated myself a bit there…