The Wardog’s Coin, by Vox Day
Last year, I read A THRONE OF BONES by Vox Day, and thought it was one of the more interesting new epic fantasy novels I’ve read. The author was kind enough to send me an advance copy of THE WARDOG’S COIN, a pair of short stories set in THRONE’s setting of Selenoth – specifically THE WARDOG’S COIN and QALABI DAWN.
In THE WARDOG’S COIN, the protagonist is the sergeant in a human mercenary company fighting for an elven kingdom against a horde of goblins and orcs. (The story’s name comes from the coin necklace each of the mercenaries bears – they act as sort of a dog tag.) What is supposed to be an easy assignment quickly turns into a death trap once the mercenaries realize the orcs are far more formidable than they expected – and that the elves are not unduly concerned if their hirelings survive or not. The mercenaries’ only hope of survival is through an audacious and risky plan. THE WARDOG’S COIN reminded me a great deal of Glen Cook’s* better BLACK COMPANY books, and also had some moments of surprising hilarity – the sergeant’s attempt to get a recalcitrant pig to move is one of them. I did not care for the sergeant’s dialect (it reminded me of the farmer’s final monologue in HP Lovecraft’s THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE, alas), but that was only a minor flaw in an otherwise good story.
The first story was good, but I think the second, QALABI DAWN, was more interesting. QALABI DAWN reminded me a great deal of both of the historical accounts of Arminius of the Cherusci and Shaka Zulu, and also one of Robert E. Howard’s KINGS OF THE NIGHT, one of his Bran Mak Morn stories. The protagonist of QALABI DAWN is Shakaba, a chieftain of a race of cat-like humanoids. (Think “great hunting cat”, not “obese house cat”.) Shakaba realizes that the Amorran Empire to the north (Selenoth’s equivalent to the Roman Republic) is going to destroy his people sooner or later, unless the warring tribes unite and fight off the Amorrans. Shakaba sets out to do just that.
I rather liked the depiction of the cat-people – their perspectives were truly alien, which is a hard trick for a writer to pull off. Shakaba was also a compelling protagonist, despite his ruthlessness. I rather hope he makes it into the main book series (and hopefully he’ll come to a better end than Arminius of the Cherusci!)
To sum up, people who have already read A THRONE OF BONES will find these stories an interesting addition to the world of Selenoth. If you haven’t read A THRONE OF BONES, these stories are a good introduction, and will help you decide if the longer book would be to your liking or not.
And on a related point, this in my opinion is another benefit of the ebook revolution. In all candor, a lot of the self-published and small-press published work I have read over the last two years has been vastly more interesting than traditionally published fantasy and science fiction I have read over the last two years. Ebooks have also made short stories and novellas more viable than they once were – I have both read and sold more short stories in the last two years than I have in the preceding ten.
-JM
*Glen Cook offers good advice for new writers: “First and foremost, Do It! Don’t talk about doing it. For God’s sake, don’t come telling me the whole story you’re going to write someday. Sit your ass down with a pen, a typewriter, a word processor, or a computer, and start making words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs.” Though his advice about self-publishing is obsolete.
