Joshua Reynolds's Blog, page 61
July 24, 2015
Perilous Portmanteau
An all-new Royal Occultist story, “The Fates of Dr. Fell”, will be appearing in Spawn of the Ripper, a forthcoming anthology from April Moon Books–publishers of Ill-Considered Expeditions and Dark Rites of Cthulhu.
“The Fates of Dr. Fell” is an homage to the old Hammer/Tigon/Amicus films, especially ‘Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors’, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It may, or may not, feature cameos by those two fellows, as well as a certain Mr. Price…
July 15, 2015
Emby Press Sale
Emby Press, publishers of my novels, The Whitechapel Demon and The Jade Suit of Death, as well as A Grimoire of Eldritch Inquests, the anthology of occult detective stories I co-edited, are having a sale today on all titles, including mine. Too, Emby is instituting a new ‘rewards-for-reviews’ program–write a review for any two Emby Press titles and get a free Emby Press ebook of your choice. Check out the Emby Press site for more information.
July 14, 2015
Shadows of Wold Newton
I’ve been informed by the fine folks at Meteor House that there are still one or two copies of Phileas Fogg & the War of Shadows available for purchase, should you be so inclined. A sequel to Philip Jose Farmer’s The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, this fully authorized novella is available in trade paperback and hardcover. If you’re on the fence, why not check out this review from Jason Aiken, courtesy of the Lovecraft eZine, or this one from David Brzeski at the British Fantasy Society.
July 13, 2015
Assault on the Mandrake Bastion
From the blurb:
Orius Adamantine, Lord-Celestant of the Hammers of Sigmar, leads a ferocious attack on the Tephra Crater to unseat the dread lord Anhur of the Bloodbound. In his path lies the Mandrake Bastion, a fortress saturated with dark magic. Succeed here and the Adamantine Warrior Chamber will have a vital foothold in the ongoing war against the Chaos forces seeking to open the Black Rift of Klaxus!
The Black Rift of Klaxus will be a serialized novel in eight parts, one part a month. Each part will be available as a digital download at blacklibrary.com, and–to the best of my knowledge–compiled in print format at some point and time in the future. But while you’re waiting, why not go check out an excerpt?
June 24, 2015
Ring the Bells
Apropos of nothing in particular, a dramatic reading of my short story, “The Bells of Northam”, which appeared in the Lovecraft eZine a year or two back, by Anthony Pearce. Enjoy!:
June 17, 2015
Reprint-a-palooza
It appears I have several short stories coming around for a second pass in the near future. If you missed them the first time, now’s your chance to give them a try.
“Eliza” will appear in Apotheosis: Stories of Survival After the Rise of the Elder Gods, forthcoming from Simian Publishing. A complete table of contents can be found here. “Eliza” was first published in issue 10 of the Lovecraft eZine.
“Sign of the Salamander”, a Royal Occultist story, has been reprinted in issue 6 of Strange Detective Stories, courtesy of Rainfall Books. The story first appeared in issue 3 of Fantasy & Fear from Pro Se Press.
“The Dreaming Dead”, another Royal Occultist story, will appear (in translated form) in Volume 2 of Nightland Quarterly, a Japanese-language magazine. The story first appeared in the anthology Horror for the Holidays, from Miskatonic River Press.
So, if you missed them when they were first published, keep an eye out.
June 12, 2015
New Worlds, Lost Places
This coming Monday (June 15th, 2015) will see the release of the long awaited Professor Challenger: New Worlds, Lost Places, an anthology dedicated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s irascible Professor George Edward Challenger. The table of contents includes my story, “Time’s Black Gulf”, which finds Lord John Roxton and Edward Malone joining forces with Carnacki the Ghost-Finder to rescue Professor Challenger from an eons-old conspiracy.
To celebrate this monumental release, the publisher, EDGE Science-Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, has decided to make it an all day event, courtesy of Facebook:
Join us for the official ToC reveal and E-Book Launch Event for “Professor Challenger: New Worlds. Lost Places” edited by Charles Prepolec, and J. R. Campbell.
Ask the authors questions! Learn more about the stories! Join the Adventure!
About the Anthology
Professor Challenger: New Worlds, Lost Places
Release Dates:
E-book: June 15, 2015 (all formats)
CANADA: July 15, 2015 (Print Edition)
USA: August 15, 2015 (Print Edition)
“Science seeks knowledge! Let the knowledge lead us where it will, we still must seek it! To know once and for all what we are, why we are, where we are, is that not in itself the greatest of all human aspirations?” – Professor G. E. Challenger, When the World Screamed
Brilliant, belligerent and bearded in equal measure, incapable of suffering fools, or journalists, gladly, the greatest scientific mind of his generation – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor George Edward Challenger returns in ten all-new tales of scientific adventure and wonder. He is the discoverer of The Lost World, the prophet of The Poison Belt, the destroyer of The Disintegration Machine, and the man who made the World Scream! Who can deliver mankind from the shackles of ignorance? Who else but that great self-proclaimed champion of science? We give you, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, the one, the only, Professor George Edward Challenger!
Featuring stories by: Guy Adams & James Goss, Lawrence C. Connolly, Mark Morris, Josh Reynolds, John Takis, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Stephen Volk, Wendy N. Wagner, Andrew J. Wilson and J. R. Campbell. With an introduction by Christopher Roden.
This original anthology, from the authors and editors who brought you the Gaslight Sherlock Holmes series, sees Challenger and his stalwart companions including the reporter Malone, big game hunter Lord John Roxton and the skeptical colleague Professor Summerlee, travel across space and witness the ravages of time, narrowly eluding a dinosaur’s bite only to battle against the invasive red bloom of alien foliage, and then plunge deep into the mysteries hidden within the Earth and reach out to the moon and into the heart of the unknown. Strap yourself in for chills, thrills, and challenges to the unknown in exciting new worlds and lost places with literature’s foremost scientific adventurer.
So why not head over to the ‘online TOC reveal and author chat’ event page and check it out?
May 29, 2015
A Grimoire of Eldritch Investigators: Lone Crow
My guest today is Joel Jenkins, writer of “Case of the Vorpal Tomahawk”, featuring Native American gunslinger/occult investigator, Lone Crow. Jenkins is the author of The Nuclear Suitcase as well as The Coming of Crow (a collection of stories featuring Lone Crow) and numerous short stories. You can find out more at http://www.joeljenkins.net/.
“GUNS OF THE CROW”
Though details of Lone Crow’s origins are sketchy, it is clear that he hails from a tribe that originated in the Floridas, but had wandered far afield only to be ambushed by Apaches and wiped out. In the story ‘The Vanishing City’ Lone Crow encounters one of the Apache warriors who participated in that slaughter. Throughout the Lone Crow stories it is mentioned time and again that Crow is the last survivor of his tribe. Whether this is fact, or merely the perception of Lone Crow, remains to be seen, but none of the published Crow stories indicate otherwise.
How Lone Crow evolved from last of his tribe to an investigator of the occult is unclear, but when the readers meet Lone Crow he is an expert with the tomahawk, carbine, and the six gun, and has passing enough familiarity with the strange and occult that its occurrence does not surprise him.
Oddly enough, Lone Crow does not seem particularly well-suited to the task of occult investigator. Though he is literate in English, is able to communicate in several Indian dialects and in Spanish he is not well versed in the ancient languages which many occult tomes are written in, and he is not a sorcerer of any sort.
Instead, he is found utilizing more mundane methods of dealing with the occult such as blade, bullet and trinitrotoluene, which is better known as dynamite. Still, as effective as he finds these, they are not always sufficient to vanquish the forces of evil and he depends heavily upon his eagle-butted Colt .45 which has been blessed by the hand of an as yet unspecified prophet while in the ‘salty wastelands’. This weapon seems to provide effective defense against many supernatural foes, though Crow must provide a steady aim and an accurate shot.
His other defense against the depredations of supernatural foes is a Priesthood which is mentioned in several tales, and though this appears to be supernal in nature it is not the type of magic we typically see from occult investigators of various stripes—the source of power being derived from celestial sources, rather than being dark or sinister in nature.
On top of the difficulties and dangers of investigating and battling hounds that pass through angles, dinosaurs, and extraterrestrial worms bent and devouring the earth Crow has encountered more mundane but no less life-threatening of foes such as thieves, murderers, and gunfighters. Crow is reputed to have slain Butch Cassidy while in South America, though the exact method of his demise is greatly disputed and varies upon the telling.
Though of Native American heritage and subject to the prejudices of the times we see Crow passing freely from the frontiers and into the heart of New York City, and he is admitted into some institutions that would normally bar a man of his race. However, we still hear racist jibes and it is hinted that more than once Crow has used his guns to defend himself against lynch mobs and racists. Perhaps it is just Crow’s reputation as a deadly gunfighter that allows him to function in white society.
Despite these prejudices Crow is shown to be affiliated with the Miskatonic University in some stories, acting in the capacity of a bodyguard and occult investigator. In this role he has access to the arcane libraries of the university and interacts with the faculty. However, in later stories it is made clear that Crow has had a falling out with the president of the college and is no longer welcome on the premises, though he continues to maintain a relationship with one Doctor Sylvia Conrad (maiden name Spelling) whom he once accompanied into the depths of the Amazon jungles in search of the Lost City of da Silva Guimarães.
Other notable companions include Morgan, Warren, and Wyatt Earp and the Mormon gunfighter Porter Rockwell. He was also noted to be some time companion of the infamous escaped slave Shotgun Ferguson, and the female gunfighter Six-Gun Susannah Johnson, who was reputed to be the fastest gun in the west—but not necessarily the most accurate…
A Grimoire of Eldritch Inquests: Occult Detective Monster Hunter,Volume 1, edited by Josh Reynolds and Miles Boothe, with an introduction by Bob Freeman, is now available in digital format. Trade and hardback versions are also available. Grab your copy today, on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
May 22, 2015
A Grimoire of Eldritch Investigators: Maybelle Tremens
My guest today is Thomas Deja, writer of “Body of Proof”, featuring Maybelle Tremens, AKA Dreamcatcher. Deja is the author of Shadow Legion: New Roads to Hell as well as numerous short stories. You can find out more at http://welcometonocturne.blogspot.co.uk/.
“Witches, warlocks, mages, magicians, shamen….call us what you like. It’s all the same. We’ve helped when we can, eluded those too ignorant to understand that magic isn’t evil….and it’s made us sensitive to others who have magic running in their veins.”
Dreamcatcher, as with most of the characters who populated the first Shadow Legion novel, New Roads To Hell, started out as a redesign of a lower level DC character for the fan fiction site DC Omega (pretty much nothing remains of the character Maybelle was based on, although I recognize she has some similarities to another character). When that fan fiction proposal morphed into an original supernatural super-hero series, Dreamcatcher became the team’s resident mage, splitting her time between fighting on the front lines alongside her life partner, the hunter of the concrete jungle called Black Talon, and researching spells and cantrips in her own private mystical library.
Since I made the decision that The Shadow Legion was part of what I call The Chimera Falls Universe (named after the stand-in for Boston in this world where there are no real cities, just analogs), I decided to tie her into Meredith Tremens, the white witch who is Chimera Falls’ wise old protector in the 60‘s. It was simple to make Maybelle into Meredith’s sister, compelled to come to Nocturne because something is brewing in The City That Lives By Night…something very big, and very evil.
The Tremens family is unique because the female members of the line have a mystic mutation that allows them to absorb any ambient magical energy around her. They can then use this energy to fuel their own spells, allowing them to act as the guardians of the line between the natural and supernatural. Maybelle’s mutation is particularly strong, making her arguably the most powerful of The Shadow Legionnaires.
Here’s the funny thing about Dreamcatcher, though. Even though she does behave as a super-hero in The Shadow Legion novels, she is uncomfortable with the designation. I discovered this when I began writing solo stories for each of the Legionnaires. Unlike the others, Maybelle didn’t behave like a super-hero, eschewing her already street functional costume for what she refers to as her ‘battle coat,’ a long duster with a multitude of hidden pockets that she can secure with ingredients she needs for her spells. And in the solo stories (of which, to my surprise, there are shaping to be more of than for any Shadow Legion characters) she behaves like a detective, looking into executives who seem to be walking around after they’ve been murdered and locked room mysteries where magic is involved. If someone or something is abusing the arcane arts to do something sinister in the City of Nocturne, Maybelle Tremens will be there to police it.
Maybelle Tremens The Dreamcatcher appears in New Roads To Hell, the upcoming The Shadow Legion Casebook: The Shape of Fears To Come, and in stories in A Grimoire of Eldritch Inquests and Strange and Cozy.
A Grimoire of Eldritch Inquests: Occult Detective Monster Hunter,Volume 1, edited by Josh Reynolds and Miles Boothe, with an introduction by Bob Freeman, is now available in digital format. Trade and hardback versions are also available. Grab your copy today, on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
May 21, 2015
LOST AND LURKING
Today is Manly Wade Wellman’s birthday. I’ve spoken of my regard for Wellman before, so rather than rehash it here, I’ll simply direct you to the post in question. I still mean every word of it. Wellman and his world still have the power to see me through the dark days and rough patches, even after all these years. I regularly re-read the adventures of John Thunstone and wise old Judge Pursuivant. I still like to imagine a man called John, striding along a mountain trail, strumming his silver-stringed guitar.
Wellman’s work has influenced my own to a massive degree. Without Wellman, I wouldn’t have been a writer–or at least not the writer I am. Without Wellman, I never would have made my first fumbling attempt at storytelling, and certainly not my second. I never would have created the backwoods ghostbreaker, John Bass.
So, in honor of Manly Wade Wellman, I’d like to direct you to two stories of mine, set solidly in Wellman-country. In the hollers and hills of the North Carolina mountains, where strange beasts slink just out of sight, and something new is always around the next bend.
“How dead is he?” John Bass said around a mouthful of sunflower seeds. “Is he sort of dead or real dead?”
“He ain’t dancing, if that’s what you’re asking,” Cestus Clay said. Clay looked at Bass from the corner of his eye, taking in the lean, bent shape that sat on the hood of the battered Ford pick-up. Bass was old, but like a tree he just got harder with age and tougher. Short-clipped iron-gray hair and round shoulders that strained at the flannel shirt he wore beneath his suspenders. Scarred fingers dug into the bag of sunflower seeds as he spat out the chewed hulls…
Isaac Clay hauled in a rattling, wheezy breath. His chest pouched jerkily beneath the bed-covers and his thin, tight flesh looked like wax paper in the lantern light. His eyes were closed and turned inward, lost in old times and foggy dreams. He hadn’t said nary a word in a week, and likely wouldn’t in what little time he had left. The breath he’d just dragged in slid out from between his thin lips in a shrill whistle, as if eager to escape the confines of his worn-out body…
And, if that’s not enough, why not check out artist Michael Bukowski’s week-long tribute to Wellman, over at his site, Yog-Blogsoth?
