Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, and Games

ALL YOU ZOMBIES: Taking a Look at the Latest Zombie Fiction

2010-03-14T01:51:12Z

Zombies: they just won't stay dead...and neither will books about them. With more titles shambling from the shelves at your local bookstores each week, zombie fiction remains as popular as it ever, and that's great news for me. I have an insatiable hunger for zombie stories and novels - a hunger fierce enough to rival your average ghoul's lust for fresh, tasty brains. Happily, there's been plenty to choose from during the last few months. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Apocalyptic fiction powerhouse Permuted Press has developed a reputation as one of the best sources around for quality zombie fiction, and Mark E. Rogers' The Dead is a great example of that. Known best as the writer-illustrator behind the Samurai Cat books, Rogers' first foray into the zombie genre brings a uniquely theological angle to the living dead. Earth's final days arrive, and with them hordes of corpses possessed by Satan's fallen angels. Gary Holland and his family arrive in New Jersey for his father's funeral, only to find themselves hunted by mobs of zombies.

The Best of All Flesh from Elder Signs Press - no slouch themselves when it comes to fine zombie horror - gathers the best stories from the award-winning Books of Flesh anthologies (The Book of All Flesh, The Book of More Flesh, The Book of Final Flesh). Edited by original series editor James Lowder, The Best of All Flesh features works from Tobias Buckell, Scott Edelman, Ed Greenwood, Jim C. Hines, Tom Piccirilli and many more. Horror and even humor abounds within this satisfying anthology.

If you like The Best of All Flesh, you might want to try Pallid Light: the Waking Dead, also from Elder Signs Press. Readers may already know author William Jones from the many supplements he's written for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu horror role-playing game. Pallid Light's tough-guy protagonist Rand Clay - an ex-con that knows his way around a gun - isn't exactly the hero type, but when the city of Temperance, Illinois becomes overwhelmed by the living dead, Clay may be their best hope.

Finally, just hitting shelves at your local bookstore is The New Dead, a zombie anthology edited by Christopher Golden, the author of The Myth Hunters and co-author of Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. This collection features all-new fiction from big names like Max Brooks, Joe Hill, Kelly Armstrong, David Wellington, Brian Keene and Aimee Bender.

What if Sauron Had Won?

2010-03-13T15:00:00Z

I'm sure most of you have heard the quote "Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal." I've seen it phrased a dozen different ways, and attributed to everyone from T. S. Eliot to Oscar Wilde to (in altered form) Pablo Picasso. I have no idea what the truth is, and the great thing about this being my column is that I don't have to care enough to research it. The point is, it's a common sentiment--and for purposes of this column, I'm stealing it.

See what I did there?

If you've been following Suvudu for the past week or so, you've seen the various cage matches. Harry Dresden vs. Conan. Dumbledore vs. Vlad Taltos. Rand Al'Thor vs. Locke Lamora. I can only assume that the lack of Han Solo vs. Malcolm Reynolds was a terrible oversight. (And David, since the book's brand new, I'll forgive the absence of Corvis Rebaine this time. But if he's absent in 2011, you will find a horse's head in your bed. Or perhaps a zebra's.) But I think it's safe to say that anyone who was ever into any "geeky" hobby--role-playing games, comic books, fantasy novels, Star Wars or Star Trek, whatever--has engaged in such a discussion. "Hey, what if Doctor Doom fought Darth Vader?" "What if Connor MacLeod fought King Arthur?"

(In my own group of geeks, such discussions always--always--ended with one of us getting tired of the whole thing and breaking out Droopy. Yes, the cartoon dog. Because we all agreed that, no matter who you were talking about, Droopy would eventually say, "You know what? That makes me mad." And then he would slam the other person around the room until they gave up.)

(My friends and I were, perhaps, a tad weird.)

My point--because yes, I'm getting to one--is this: Such "what if" scenarios, no matter how silly, are a goldmine of ideas for storytellers, whether you're talking about novelists, RPG writers, or just folks playing their own D&D game at home.

]]> Obviously, you have to make changes and make the idea your own. But that doesn't mean you can't create a fascinating story by answering the question.

"What if Doctor Doom fought Darth Vader?" Well, presumably you don't have the rights to either character. (That's not a problem if you're just playing your own game at home, but I'm not sure your players are going to take it seriously presented in those terms.) But let's take a step back, present it like this:

What if you had a battle between two high-tech, armor-clad, magic-using tyrants, one of whom ruled a planet-side nation, the other of whom commanded a fleet of starships? How would the people trapped between them survive? How could any hero standing up for the people possibly save them? Would they have to ally with one villain over the other? Can they somehow stop both? I'll tell you what, I'm pretty sure I could get a solid story out of that concept.

How about the Dumbledore vs. Vlad Taltos cage match? A powerful but subtle wizard, with an entire school of students, vs. an assassin who's only moderately magical, but extremely devious, and the criminal organization he runs. Again, file off the details, and you're left with what could be the basis of a brilliant fantasy novel or RPG campaign.

And your "what ifs" don't have to come in the form of X vs. Y. What if Sauron had won, and the hobbits failed to destroy the ring? I point you toward Midnight a setting compatible with the prior edition of D&D, published by Fantasy Flight Games. This was a very successful and very well written line of products, describing a traditional fantasy world a hundred years after "the shadow fell." Sure, it's not exactly Sauron and Middle Earth, but the game wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and doing so made the setting more appealing, not less.

What if Godzilla came to the real-world USA? See Cloverfield. What if the Knights of the Round Table fought aliens? Well, that hasn't been done precisely, but you could start with Outlander. (Yeah, Outlander is actually more Beowulf than King Arthur, but as I said, it's a start.) Ragnarok in the modern world? Check out Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout. I'm not saying that all of these were necessarily inspired by such "what if" questions--but they certainly could have been, and they answer said questions whether or not they were.

Watchman is another great example. Alan Moore originally wanted to use a specific set of obscure superheroes that had been purchased by DC from Charlton Comics. When they refused, he reworked the story to make use of characters of his own creation--but it's a story that might well not have existed, had he not been inspired to take pre-existing characters and put them into a "what if" scenario of his own.

To an extent, this is a "duh" moment. Of course writers are influenced by what they've read/seen/heard. No surprise there. But I'm talking about something a lot more specific, about wanting to follow-up on, or experiment with, existing characters or concepts without the ability to do so directly. Now, I'm not saying that if you change Darth Vader's name to Vad Darther, and change his red lightsaber to a yellow plasma sword, that you're good to go. Merely filing the serial numbers off someone else's idea or Intellectual Property doesn't keep it from being their idea or IP. I absolutely despise plagiarists, and if you think I'm encouraging anything close to plagiarism, I suggest you recalibrate your Meaning-o-Meter, because it's seriously borked.

What I am saying is this: At any time you wonder "What if...?" when it comes to existing characters or concepts, don't dismiss that idea as the basis for a work--a novel, a story, an adventure, a game--of your own. Instead, take a closer look at it, examine the basic concepts behind why the idea interests you. Yes, there will be some times when it's purely about the IP, and the idea won't work in any other context--but more often than not, you'll find a strong enough kernel at the center of the concept from which you can grow something new, of your own, that still gives you the answer to your "what if."

And yes, I recommend trying this in RPGs first, before moving on to actual written works--that way, you have people who can tell you immediately if the inspiration for your idea sticks out too obviously, and you can hone your skills at adaptation accordingly--but if you've read certain of my prior columns, you already knew I was going to say that.

365 Days of Manga, Day 179: Love Recipe!

2010-03-13T13:23:24Z

LOVE RECIPE • Kirico Higashizato • DMP (2007-2008) • Frontier Works (2005-2006) • 2 volumes • Yaoi Otaku Romantic Comedy • 18+ (explicit sexual situations)
Bashful, innocent young Tomonori is hired to work as an editor at Rose Boy, a Boy's Love magazine produced by the (fictional) publishing giant Shukokan. Eager to please but boggled by Boy's Love, he finds himself hired to work as a sexual drawing model for Sakurako Kakyoin, a male BL artist who has three cute girl assistants in maid outfits. This extremely weird book seems almost not yaoi at all, with a hyperactive, spastic shônen manga art style and off-puttingly male plot elements such as maids, moe references, and busty women. The sex is almost an afterthought, but the in-jokes about the manga publishing business are entertaining, and the self-referential mood (and teeny-tiny, barely male main character) is vaguely reminiscent of Gravitation. Higashizato later wrote a followup manga, "Love Portion."

Today's winner is Mike R. of Virginia. Congratulations, Mike!

365 Days of Manga, Day 178: Hoshin Engi

2010-03-12T21:04:16Z

HOSHIN ENGI (Hôshin Engi, "Creation of the Gods") （封神演義) • Ryu Fujisaki • VIZ (2007-ongoing) • Shueisha (Weekly Shônen Jump, 1996-2000) • 23 volumes • Shônen Fantasy Action-Adventure • 13+ (violence, brief nudity, mild sexual situations)
Loosely historical fantasy manga based on novels by Tsutomu Ano, themselves loosely based on the ancient Chinese novel Fengshen Yangyi (the original Chinese pronunciation of Houshin Engi). In ancient China, the Yin dynasty is falling, thanks to the demoness Dakki who has bewitched the emperor and oppresses the people with her cruel punishments and expensive follies. The sennin--immortal sages who dwell high in the sky atop floating mountains--send Taikobo, a sennin-in-training, to hinder Dakki's plans by defeating evil sennin and collecting their souls for the mysterious "Hoshin Project." An engaging blend of mythology and science fiction, Hoshin Engi absorbs the reader in its animistic world of spirits, humans and high-tech magic. Unusually for a Shônen Jump manga, Taikobo achieves most of his goals through deceit and smarts rather than fighting; there's a huge cast of characters and the fight scenes, with characters zooming through the air blasting each other, are overshadowed by courtly plots of diplomacy and betrayal. The art is attractive, with lavishly screentoned skyscapes and detailed anime-style characters in elaborate costumes, a bit like mid-1990s Kazushi Hagiwara. A slightly tongue-in-cheek spirit infuses the entire manga; an atypically shocking scene in which a character is butchered and served in a banquet is alluded to rather than shown, by a sudden cutaway to two bad guys doing a comedic two-page "how to cook" lesson. This self-aware humor at times makes it difficult to emotionally connect to the action, and the many subplots and characters makes for a dense read, but it's an interesting and unique manga. The anime was released in English under the title Soul Hunter.

Today's winner is Brittany F. of Arizona. Congratulations, Brittany!

What defines a good guy vs. a bad guy in manga? If comics like "Watchmen" broke through the moral assumptions of superhero comics, what are the corresponding manga which break through the morality of stories like, say, Naruto? Check out my article To Protect and Kill: Power and Morality in Action Manga. Did I mention it's also got giant robots?

Top Ten Most Awkward, Strange and Hilarious PSAs Featuring Super Heroes, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Characters

2010-03-12T15:41:10Z

Our childhood heroes: R2-D2 and C3PO; Batman and Robin; He-Man. They entertained us with their feats of derring-do, empowered our imaginations, and sometimes - just sometimes - they even tried to protect us from life's dangers and teach us things. Here's a collection of ten of the most awkward, strange and just plain hilarious public service announcements from some of our favorite heroes.

1. He-Man and She-Ra: Child Abuse
He-Man and She-Ra want to talk with you about your body, and they won't take no for an answer no matter how awkward or uncomfortable you feel about receiving this information from a half-naked man and his lady friend.

2. Star Wars: Drinking and Driving
Imperial Patrolman: I need you to step out of the sand speeder, sir.
Jedi: You don't need me to perform a field sobriety test.
Imperial Patrolman: You're drunker than I thought you were, old man.

]]> 3. Star Trek: Hard Drug Abuse
Seventies era kid: You know, I just got this really trippy album full of outer space noises and barbarian planets.
Other seventies era kid: Really? I didn't know that Pink Floyd had a new album out.
Seventies era kid: No, man. It's from some anti-drug group. Do you still have that bag of weed?

4. Star Wars: Smoking
Funny. The only smoking I remember in Star Wars was coming from the charred corpses of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Too soon?

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Drug Dealers
Sure, kid, that drug dealer may be a turkey, but if he's a Pubescent Radioactive Judo Turkey you might be in trouble.

6. Batgirl: Equal Pay for Women
I think I've guessed Batgirl's secret identity: Valerie Solanas. Oh, Google it, you kids.

7. Wonder Woman: How to Make a Yo-Yo
You'd think that with an invisible jet, bullet-proof bracers and a magic lasso that Wonder Woman would be able to come up with something a little better than this depressing excuse for a toy, but if everyone dresses like her back in Amazonia then I'm guessing she hasn't had that much experience with textiles.

8. Batman and Robin: Fruits and Vegetables
I'm not even going there. And by "there" I mean out to the country to get a delicious snack with these two wholesome crime fighters. What did you think I meant?

9. The Addams Family: Fire Prevention
Say, you know who would really be good role models for safety? The Addams Family. Gomez smokes like a chimney, Wednesday and Pugsley play with torture instruments and Uncle Fester has this special magic trick that involves his mouth and a lightbulb. Perfect, sign them up. By the way, you think that Thing could maybe teach a typing course down at the learning annex?

10. Gremlins: Drinking and Driving
I'm thinking that the guy whose grandson couldn't be trusted to not swipe and sell an ancient mystical creature to a family of suburban bunglers probably shouldn't be giving parenting advice.

Cage Match wrap-up of Divisions 1 & 2 - Round 1 Results

2010-03-12T15:05:00Z

Suvudu commentators take a moment to discuss round 1 results of our Cage Match for divisions 1 & 2.

Upcoming Master Class: Elizabeth Moon and Jack Campbell (How to Research)

2010-03-11T20:00:00Z

On March 16, 4 p.m. EST, join bestselling authors Elizabeth Moon and Jack Campbell/John Hemry in the first of Suvudu's brand-new series of Master Class author discussions. Each discussion will center around a particular topic in writing, and the topic for this first session is How to Research. We'll talk about methods for conducting online, library, and live-interview research; how not to be carried away by investigating side topics; how many sources are enough; how does one approach an expert; and much more. If you're an aspiring writer, this series is for you, so sign up for an email reminder here using the widget above (it's a one-time email--no spamming, promise!) or bookmark our dedicated page here: Elizabeth Moon and Jack Campbell Live Chat Page.

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Elizabeth Moon

Former Marine Elizabeth Moon is the author of many novels, including Victory Conditions, Command Decision, Engaging the Enemy, Marque and Reprisal, Trading in Danger, the Nebula Award winner The Speed of Dark, and Remnant Population, a Hugo Award finalist. After earning a degree in history from Rice University, Moon went on to obtain a degree in biology from the University of Texas, Austin. She lives in Florence, Texas.

Jack Campbell

John G. Hemry is the author, under the pen name Jack Campbell, of the New York Times and USA Today national bestselling Lost Fleet series (Dauntless, Fearless, Courageous, Valiant, Relentless, and coming in April, 2010, Victorious). Under his own name, John is also the author of the JAG in Space series and the Stark's War series, as well as a variety of short fiction. John had the opportunity to live on Midway Island during the 1960s. After attending the U.S. Naval Academy, he served in a variety of jobs, including gunnery officer and navigator on a destroyer, with an amphibious squadron, at the Navy's anti-terrorism center, and in a number of intelligence assignments.

365 Days of Manga, Day 177: King of the Lamp

2010-03-11T19:19:19Z

KING OF THE LAMP (Lamp no Ôsama, "King of the Lamp") (ランプの王様) • Takako Shigematsu • Go! Comi (2007) • Akita Shoten (Petit Princess, 2005) • Shôjo Romance • 1 volume • 16+ (nudity, sex)
Lovelorn girls seek help from a shirtless guy in a magic lamp (technically not a genie, but a legendary king cursed for his lechery), who provides them with magic breast enlargements, magic disguises, whatever they need to get their man. In return, however, he requires sexual payment. Nonconsensual elements and some really mean love interests leave this low-comedy bodice-ripper with an unpleasant aftertaste, although the sex scenes themselves are brief and flowery (albeit explicit enough). The sausage-fingered character designs, like the general mood of dirty thrills, feel like a B-list Mayu Shinjo (Sensual Phrase).

Today's winner is Melissa P. of Georgia. Congratulations, Melissa!

Do you think of manga and anime as a wading pool of mysterious kink and sexuality? Did yaoi freak you out when you first found out about it? But of course, yaoi is just one subculture of anime and manga, and there are many other sorts of weird types of romance and sex in Japanese pop culture, just as there are in American (as if Americans can point fingers -- impreg fanfic?!?!? "Secret baby" Harlequin romances?!?! What the heck, people?!) On that note, I've written an article on one particular facet of strange romances in manga: Incest: The Other Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name. Please check it out on comixology.com!

What Are You Up To, Lev Grossman?

2010-03-11T18:20:28Z

Every week I'll ask a writer, musician, director, actor or other person one question: "What are you up to?" and post their answer here.

This week's entry comes from Lev Grossman. Lev is the author of The Magicians, a coming-of-age tale of magic and loss, as well as Codex, a literary mystery. He is the book critic at Time magazine and a contributor to the popular blog Techland.

So, what are you up to, Lev?

Right now, I am repeatedly rebooting my Xbox 360 and wiping my Modern Warfare 2 disk with the proverbial soft cloth because it won't play. It's just mad because I kicked it.

Speaking more generally, I'm counting the minutes before I can go on leave from my job and get back to work on my new book. It's a sequel, of sorts -- that word scares me for some reason so I always try to qualify it -- to my novel The Magicians, which came out last year. I'm about a third of the way through the first draft, the point where I start to question everything I thought or hoped or told my editor or signed a contract specifying that this book was going to be. I've been very pointedly not thinking about it for the past few weeks, in the hopes that its many structural and stylistic failings will magically correct themselves in my absence. Kind of like the way my Xbox 360 will magically start playing MW2 in three, two, one ... dammit.

Thoughtful Warriors Post by Naomi Novik

2010-03-11T17:35:00Z

Earlier today I posted my review for Seven Years From Home, the novella by author Naomi Novik featured in the stellar and forthcoming anthology, Warriors.

Like the other writers I've featured and reviewed this week for that anthology, I sent Naomi an interview.

She wrote me this morning, and rather than merely answering the questions she wrote a well-thought out longer post I was not expecting.

I think it's great, and gives a real look at the mechanics of what a short story writer is thinking while they tackle a new project. So rather than cutting her email up and putting the pieces under their corresponding questions—which I think would detract from the overall tone of the piece—I just decided to post what Naomi wrote.

Here it is:

Hey Shawn! Hopefully this ramble works for you —

I actually started out writing shorter works, in the world of fanfic, so it's a form I really enjoy — original short stories are in particular a great way to experiment with ideas and play with universes that haven't quite gelled in my head enough for me to tell a novel-length story about them yet.

Seven Years From Home is very much about a specific voice for me, Ruth's voice, which is inspired heavily by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in his memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It's the voice of someone who's a sort of desperate outsider — someone lost in her own society, finding an internally strong society that she feels more warmth towards than her own, except she can never be a real immigrant — the only reason she's allowed in at all is because there's this silent threatening power of the Confederacy behind her that she's trading on.

So it's about that tragedy of being an outsider in your own world and imagining a perfect home for yourself, someplace magical and welcoming, and then you find it and discover — you don't really belong there, either. I think it takes a kind of very intense distance in order to even look at something that painful, almost clinical, and it struck me really hard in Lawrence's work — that he looks at himself with this merciless eye. I find that a really interesting unreliable-narrator technique, because it sounds so trustworthy, so unbiased — and then he calmly tells you something utterly appalling, or you find out later he made something up.

At the risk of being wanky, I'll add that I hadn't actually even heard of Avatar before I wrote this, but after the fact, this story feels like my strongly-worded reply to that movie. One of the things that deeply disappointed me about Avatar was that — well, obvious bias is obvious here, but I do feel like Seven Years From Home is at least trying (whether I succeed or not is up to the reader) to tell a true story — which is, this doesn't work! You can't just show up in an alien society and start swanning around being a hero and having laurels heaped on your head, no matter how wonderful you are and how perfect the society is for you, and there is something hard and complicated going on when you have someone who so badly wants to so completely reject everything about themselves, even to the point of rejecting their own body.

And, I mean, I personally think that the more complicated story is much more interesting! So anyway, that's what I'm trying to do in the story.

Next up from me is Tongues of Serpents, volume six of the Temeraire series, out this July! This one is probably the most action-adventure-y of the series, and was heaps of fun to write — it's set in Australia.

— Naomi

Seven Years From Home will be published next week alongside many other great writers in Warriors, the anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.

More tomorrow!

Warriors Review: Seven Years from Home by Naomi Novik

2010-03-11T05:05:45Z

Naomi Novik has had a great couple of years.

She has published five books in the Temeraire series, creating two very memorable characters in the dragon Temeraire and his rider Willian Laurence. The fantasy / alternate history series has been embraced by a burgeoning fan base all over the world. Peter Jackson has acquired the rights to adapt it in a live-action form--either silver screen or television mini-series.

Now she has been invited into the anthology Warriors, alongside some of the biggest names in the business.

Naomi, you are and have been very deserving of that company for quite some time.

The short story Seven Years From Home is a departure for Naomi but it proves that place among the very best of her peers. It is not part of her Temeraire series, set on a distant planet where two different cultures have migrated to two different continents. When the human Esperigans consume the resources of their own continent, they begin to encroach upon their harmonious-living neighbors, the Melidans. Tension rises, conflict ensues.

The main character of the short story is a woman named Ruth Patrona. She is a representative from an entity known as the Confederacy, a type of Star Trek Federation that tries to bring new planets into their jurisdiction. Meant to be impartial but in fact secretly sent to begin a civil war, the diplomat soon gravitates to the Melidan cause.

The Melidans, however, are not the defenseless, peaceful people Ruth thinks they are.

The story is related to the reader as a journal entry. Ruth has long-since left the planet when the narrative begins and is recounting her life, having faced the crimes of her actions and survived. The consequences of her actions weigh heavy on her during the entire tale, leading the reader on to discover what she has done to deserve such self-loathing. There are echoes of the driving principles in Dances with Wolves and Avatar—a person from a corrupt civilization enters a purer society and is drawn by it—but there is more going on in the piece than that only.

I particularly enjoyed the world building for the Melidans. They use a form of genetic engineering that grows and controls whatever they need. In these moments when the accompanying philosophy of the Melidans is shared with the reader, I felt quite close to Ursula K. Le Guin, whose Left Hand of Darkness and short stories left an indelible impression on me many years ago.

Seven Years From Home is a very good entry in Warriors. It isn't as powerfully delivered as I would have liked, the narrative a bit slow in places, but the writing was solid, the story compelling by its end, and as good science fiction does, it made me think about our own world and its own struggles.

Well done, Naomi. Well done.

And I can't wait for July to get here and Tongues of Serpents!

On to tomorrow and the last review!

Update: Read Naomi's thoughts here: Thoughtful Warriors Post by Naomi Novik

Cage Match 2010: Time's Running Out!

2010-03-10T23:00:00Z

Look out: A bomb with an hourglass!

And what, exactly, does that mean?

It means that the voting for the Round 1 matches of the first two divisions:

1st Division: Dragon Army

1) The Shrike vs 32) Arthur Dent

16) Kahlan Amnell vs. Drizzt Do'Urden

8) Ged vs. 25) Edward Cullen

9) Aragorn vs. 24) The Wee Free Men

2nd Division: Gryffindor

5) Rand Al'Thor vs. 28) Locke Lamora

12) Harry Dresden vs. 21) Conan the Barbarian

13) Roland Deschain -- The Gunslinger vs 20) Elric

4) Gandalf vs 29) Hiro Protagonist

is coming to a close. In fact, voting closes Thursday (tomorrow), 5 pm EST, so hurry up and make sure your voice is heard.

And, of course, keep voting on the second batch of matches (I love "batch of matches")--the voting for those close on Sunday, March 14, 5 pm EST.

Hope you're all having fun!

Warriors Review: And Ministers of Grace by Tad Williams

2010-03-10T22:25:47Z

Tad Williams is one of my favorite authors.

He is also arguably the greatest wordsmith of our time. The man simply knows how to bring together a group of words to convey emotion and story. He also uses a lot of words, painting a gorgeous setting or highlighting a character's motivations or enacting a battle sequence. From the first time I read The Dragonbone Chair, I knew Tad to be something special and unique in the fantasy genre.

Imagine my curiosity at how Tad would approach a medium where less words is actually more...

Tad has written several short stories. I've only read one of them, the story in Legends. It was a long time ago and I do not remember much from that anthology. I was excited to see him included in Warriors, the forthcoming anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, because even though I've forgotten story particulars after all these years, the feeling Tad leaves behind remains.

Tad didn't disappoint this time out either.

In fact, he overcame all of my expectations for the entire Warriors anthology, with the short story titled And Ministers of Grace.

Here's why.

]]> The premise in And Ministers of Grace is an ancient one, one that has plagued philosophers and theologians since Plato and Aristotle. Tad has written a science fiction piece, centered around two planets—Archimedes and Covenant. Both are extreme in their beliefs. Archimedes is filled with a populace of Rationalists, those who only believe what they scientifically can understand. Covenant is populated by Abramites, those who listen to and lead their lives by the scripture of the Spirit.

As you can imagine, these two sides are in a bitter war with one another that spans worlds.

In the middle of the conflict, Tad has created one of the best characters I've ever read—Lamentation Kane.

Kane is a holy assassin for Covenant, a Guardian on a mission of utmost importance: Infiltrate the capital city of Archimedes and kill the Prime Minister. When the Spirit is taken away from him though so he can complete that mission, Kane enters a spiritually gray area where right and wrong begin to bleed together.

Like many of the great short stories of science fiction's past, And Ministers of Grace highlights current social and cultural differences in our own world, in this case the extremism that seems to be so prevalent.

That is what I like about it most.

Tad is a highly-intelligent man, a writer who brings that into his work. But that is not the only aspect to this new novella. And Ministers of Grace brims with vigor and excitement from beginning to end. Tad has created a very real world of conflict that in many ways mirrors our own, and through that creation Kane walks, a competent killer using all means at his disposal to complete his quest. The realities of both worlds feel real to me as I see them in our own; the science that allows Kane to transform his body into a killing machine was fascinating to behold and just plain cool.

It is an extremely creative piece.

Yesterday Robin Hobb mentioned how George and Gardener took her short story and chiseled it down to a finely-cut diamond. I see this in Tad's short story as well.

I think And Ministers of Grace will be at the top of those novellas people love in Warriors.

I can't wait to hear what others have to say!

365 Days of Manga, Day 176: King of Thorn

2010-03-10T18:15:11Z

KING OF THORN (Ibara no Ô, "King of Thorns") (いばらの王) • Yuji Iwahara (story and art) • TokyoPop (2007-ongoing) • Enterbrain (Comic Beam, 2002-2005) • 6 volumes • Science Fiction Horror Action • 16+ (language, graphic violence)
When medical science is perplexed by a strange fossilizing disease known as Medusa, a group of victims are placed in cold sleep to await a cure. They awaken to find themselves in an abandoned facility overgrown with thorns and infested by ferocious dinosaur-like creatures, which pick them off one by one, as they try to find a way out and discover the truth of what happened...before they, too, succumb to the disease. Although nominated for a 2006 Seiun (Nebula) Award for Best Science Fiction Manga, this postapocalyptic action movie in manga form most shows the influence of the "survival horror" genre, as typified by Resident Evil and of course, Dino Crisis. Most of the manga is a series of running fight scenes in creepy locations, cute kids in danger, and people arguing with one another. However, the pacing is dramatic, the heroes are sympathetic, and Iwahara's unconventional, American-animation-influenced artwork--using black-and-white shading and crosshatching instead of screentone--gives the manga a bold, unique look. (Review by Jason Thompson and Mark Simmons)

Today's review was written with a little help from my researcher friend Mark Simmons. In addition to looking up the publishing and summary information for "King of Thorn" for me back in 2007, he's also an awesome artist -- check out his website!

Today's winner (really last night's winner, since I get the data every evening) is Amber K. of Pennsylvania. I've also received a photo from a past winner, Eric:

Eric, thanks for giving it up (your picture, that is) for 365 Days of Manga. I edited Pretty Face, and it was one of the most fun editing jobs I've ever done... I'd had my eye on that manga ever since 2002, it just took awhile for me to convince Viz to translate it. Definitely one of the best twin-sister-incest tranny/cross-dressing manga ever! Hope you enjoy it!

A Conversation with N.D. Wilson, Author of "The Chestnut King"

2010-03-10T17:27:34Z

N.D. Wilson is the author of the 100 Cupboards trilogy, which tells the story of Henry York, a young man who discovers 99 portals to fantastic, magical worlds hidden in his bedroom wall. The series, which has been praised by readers as being "delicious, dark and insightful," counts both children and adults among its fans.

The final book in the trilogy, The Chestnut King, is available in stores now.

Just to catch our readers up a bit, could you share with us the premise behind the 100 Cupboards series? What about The Chestnut King, specifically?

A boy (Henry York) is forced to stay with his eccentric aunt, uncle, and cousins in a town that shares his name--Henry, Kansas. Behind the plaster in the little attic room assigned to him (in his dead grandfather's archaic farmhouse), he discovers 99 small, mysterious, and mismatched doors. It is in the opening of these (frequently unpleasant) doors that Henry's adventures begin.

There's your plot snapshot. But more esoterically, these are stories about a repressed and stifled boy who discovers the magic of this (our) world. In that discovery the doors to adventure are opened to him, and he discovers the magic in himself, his past, and his future.

As for the Chestnut King specifically, Henry arrives at his full inheritance through taking responsibility for, facing, and ultimately conquering the evil he unwittingly released into the worlds through the opening of the cupboards in Book 1. Pretty Intangible answer there--but who really wants spoilers?

]]> Is it necessary to have read the first two books in the series to enjoy The Chestnut King?

Ideally, someone would have read the first two, but--being so entangled in the stories myself--I couldn't say how the third book would strike a reader solo. I should force it on some poor innocent and find out.

The three books have followed Henry from his start as an uncertain and even sheltered boy to an explorer of worlds and a caster of magic. Is there much of your own childhood in Henry?

There are a lot of superficial similarities, but I was never as sheltered as Henry is at the beginning of his adventures, and I will never be as powerful as he is at the end. But I did spend some time in my grandparents' attic, and I put a fair amount of work into my fastball. And, of course, I know what it is to be uncertain and nervous, to be forced into facing fears and attacking obstacles (even though those obstacles never involved world-hopping).

In your official bio for Random House you imply that what is fantasy is truly a matter of perspective, and that our own lives would appear to be the stuff of fables to the fantasy heroes we read about. Not many adults get through life with this sense of wonder intact. How do you continue to maintain this gift, and would you consider it a prerequisite for a successful author of literature for young people?

I can't say exactly why I still see the world the way I do, but I'm sure it has a great deal to do with how my parents explained the world to me when I was young, and the fact that I am now busily explaining it to my own children in the same way. And reading the right books always helps (mainly C.S. Lewis stuff--The Discarded Image, Narnia, That Hideous Strength, etc.)

A strong sense of wonder isn't necessary to become a 'successful' children's author, but I do believe it is necessary to become a great one. (Which is not to say that having a strong sense of wonder alone will make you a great author.) All too often, authors (and especially fantasy authors) are panderers of pleasant childhood lies and escapes--they manufacture and publish things that will inevitably be outgrown and left behind. The same people expect a teen or an adult to grow more cynical and hardened in their literary tastes. But why wouldn't they? I would too if I felt that I'd spent my childhood being lied to. When I'm young, show me how to marvel at storm clouds, but don't tell me that they're made of cotton candy. Show me how to overcome great obstacles, but don't tell me that it will be easy if I simply believe in myself. Show me that a life well lived will be hard, it will hurt, it will require sacrifice and courage and loss; make me yearn to throw myself into the fight, knowing that I might end up bruised and battered, with stitches on my jaw and gaps for teeth. In the end, I will be old and broken. But I'll be grinning, ready with a tale or two to tell.

The motif of the young man who discovers that he has an otherworldly talent or special heritage is a truly perennial one, from the tales of Perseus to a certain boy wizard. What is the appeal? How did you take this and make it your own for the 100 Cupboards series?

I spin the motif by using the language of seventh sons (and green men) from Celtic and European mythology, but then I hybridize it with the stories of the Hebrew prophets. For me, Henry York is far more like Elijah or Moses than Potter. He's not a wizard. He's someone externally expanded in his own nature completely beyond his control (like and man with wings suddenly tearing out of his shoulders). One of the things that I love about the prophets is that it's never fun to be one. It's rough, dangerous stuff, working outside the normal abilities of man--in the realm of angels, but limited by flesh. It feels like those bearded men in the wilderness could explode or burn up at any moment. Some of them do. Some of them go crazy. All of them seem crazy.

As for the appeal, I think we all have a 'special heritage' and a special role on this spinning ball of water (and in this universe). That knowledge is written deep in our natures and in our subconscious minds. But claiming that heritage in our corrupt weakness is difficult. We love to see it done, and we yearn to do it ourselves.

Witches and mysterious kings are just a few of the exotic characters in your work. Is it difficult to gauge how scary a character should be without going over the line and frightening your readers?

Sure. But I blame my editor for all the scary scenes. Actually, having young kids of my own, I can stick on my parent hat and ask myself if I'd want to read some questionable bit to my kids right before bed. My wife is also extremely useful in this regard. I read something aloud and watch for tell-tale eyebrow arching. But, just to lean back against the question a little bit--I do want to frighten my readers. Just the right amount . . .

It's impossible to discuss a book about young people finding a door to another world in their home without invoking C.S. Lewis' Narnia series. Has Lewis' work been particularly influential? When did you discover those books? What about the rest of the Inklings? Have you learned anything about your craft from Lewis and Chesterton?

Lewis has been very influential, too much so for me to even measure. His stuff textured my imagination at a very young age. But, if I step back and squint at my own stuff, I think that his Space Trilogy might have had even more impact on me than Narnia (if that's possible). The myth-mixing is richer, the scale is larger, etc. As for the other Inklings, Tolkien was almost as formative as Lewis. I read Charles Williams a little later, and most of his influence is indirect (through influencing Lewis). Chesterton is a different thing entirely--his way of seeing the world really rubbed off on me later (or affirmed what was already percolating). While his novels are awfully undisciplined, his voice, his playfulness, his tone are all things that I've imitated. To throw out two more unrelated Brits, P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler are both prose masters that have left their sticky fingerprints all over me (Wodehouse as much as Lewis).

At a pretty young age, I actually decided to write under N.D. as a way of tipping my hat to my favorite superiors--C.S., P.G., G.K., J.R.R.

How has being a father to children of your own affected your work? Do you feel like you have a better sense of what it's like to write for a younger audience?

Absolutely. It keeps my imagination in the right place for this kind of writing. As my kids grow, who knows what will happen to my novels.

It seems like there's been a renaissance in literature for young people. It's more popular than ever, and now even adults are reading it. Why do you think that this is so? Have you heard of both parents and children reading your books?

I have heard from lots of adult readers. I wouldn't be surprised if my adult/child reader ration was at fifty-fifty. I think a big reason for the current boom is a result of the aroma of good children's fiction. The kids' market provides an experience (and flavor) to the adult reader that is not really available in the broader respectable adult market. A lot of adults (from college or upper high school on) have been fed 'important' books. Issues books. Hard books. Depressing books. Can you blame them for wanting to go back to the kitchen table for something hot and fresh (that involves gravy) to be followed by homemade apple pie and ice cream? A lot of adults are simply looking to reawaken wonder and feed long-starved imaginations.

The book's ending implies that The Chestnut King won't be the last time we enter the world of 100 Cupboards. Have you given any thought to the next volume?

You know, from the beginning this was always a trilogy, though Random House resisted calling it that. Now the trilogy is wrapped. The Chestnut King was the last hurrah (as far as I can see into the future at the moment). I am currently working on a new adventure/fantasy series called "The Ashtown Burials". Book One (The Dragon's Tooth) should be pubbing on the Fall '11 list from Random House. And there's also this little gem of a picture book that I'm working on (The Wisdom of Ninja Boy). I'll miss Henry, but I'm looking forward to new characters and new adventures.