Close Encounters of the Urban Kind

OK, I have a few copies of Close Encounters of the Urban Kind, the anthology that includes my short story Mastihooba, among many other stories about urban legends given an alien twist. If you'd like a copy of the anthology, with my short story signed, send me a message at jpalmatier@sff.net and we can work out payment. The going price is $18.95, including shipment in the US.





Also, I have copies of Well of Sorrows available for $16 (including shipping in the US). Signed, of course, by Benjamin Tate. Again, contact me at jpalmatier@sff.net if you're interested.

Book Review: "Sandman, Volume 2: The Doll's House" by Neil Gaiman

I managed to finish off this second volume in the Sandman series a few weeks ago, but have been too busy to get to the review. But here it is!

Ok, this volume was MUCH better than the first. There was an obvious shift away from trying to tie Sandman into the general comics universe and making it more about the Sandman himself. So there weren't any of the crossover appearances of other comic books legends and such. I like this new focus on the Sandman and his Dream world, and I liked the general plotline of this volume as well.

It basically picks up where the last volume left off, with the Sandman returning to his realm to pick up the pieces after his absence. He finds that some of his dreams have escaped to the real world and so he goes after them to collect them. In the meantime, a mysterious "vortex" has appeared in the form of the woman Rose. We aren't told exactly what a "vortex" is and what it can do until toward the end of the volume, but the story behind Rose and its connections to the first volume were interesting.

Of course I had a few issues. The first was that it isn't clear what the vortex is, and the Sandman's reaction to her isn't consistent. He saves her at one point, and then later on it seems that she represents a significant danger to his Dream world and he'll have to kill her. He knew of the danger she represented earlier on, so why did he save her then? So little inconsistencies like this crop up. They may be explained in later volumes, but by the end of this volume it wasn't clear.

Also, a few parts were confusing. When he shows up to capture two of the escaped creatures of Dream and blows open the door, the people that live in that house sort of just disappear. We don't know what's happened to them until a few chapters later. And it isn't clear what's happening with Jed (Rose's brother) here, or what the rules are for real people appearing in the Dream world. I'm assuming that the claim that the child Lyda is carrying can be claimed by the Sandman will be cleared up in a later volume, since that thread is left completely dandling. But Jed's part in the scene should have been clearer. He appears in some of the frames, but apparently leaves at some point, but it isn't clear when.

And then the collection of the Corinthian--certainly the most horrid of the escaped Dream creatures--was sort of anticlimactic. I was expecting something more here, especially since the Corinthian was made out to be such a horrid creature.

BUT, those quibbles aside, this was a much better volume than the first. A clear plotline, with a great prologue, an interesting little side issue in the middle about the Sandman needing friendship, and a great resolution to the vortex plotline (even if there were a few questions about that left open as well).

The artwork was much better in this volume as well. Not as crowded as in the first, much more focused on what was necessary for the panel and the scene. A few parts where things weren't clear (as I pointed out earlier), and a few panels where I thought a posture or pose was way off, but some really spectacular panels and pages as well, especially the vortex effects toward the end.

I like the direction the Sandman is taking in both plot and art, and have already started reading volume 3.

Anthology Review: "Crime Spells" edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Loren L. Coleman

Crime Spells: Table of Contents

Web Ginn House by Phaedra Weldon: A good story with an interesting voice for the main character, who uses her ability to travel outside her body to earn a living. This new case presents her with some . . . unexpected problems. I liked the setup for the character and her career, but the case itself felt a little unwieldy. There were too many things going on and in the end they didn’t get connected as well as I would have liked.

The Hex Is In by Mike Resnick: Here, a bookie has to investigate who might have dropped a piano on a football player to screw up the spread. We meet a lot of interesting characters in here, all with a tongue-in-cheek mobster feel to it all. A fun story.

If Vanity Doesn’t Kill Me by Michael A. Stackpole: This time, the main character is actually an ex-detective charged with bribery a while back. He’s asked to look into a case because of his inherent talent, and the possible connection to his mother. The way that talents work in this world is interesting and relevant to the story and character. I missed the clue to who the killer was though.

Witness to the Fall by Jay Lake: An interesting and very atmospheric story about a “witch” who uses the wind for prophecy. She’s called to help unravel what happened about a death in the local village. I liked the style of this story, very literary (and I don’t usually like literary style), but the atmosphere was great. A little more clarity would have been nice about some of the nuances of the crime and the characters involved, but definitely a good story.

The Best Defense by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Here, the main character is a lawyer who is forced to take on a client that, for all practical purposes, obviously committed the crime. He manages to use his rather non-magical powers to defend his client . . . but it turns out that that’s only the beginning. I can’t say much more without spoiling the story, but this one has a rather nice twist at the end.

Call of the Second Wolf by Steven Mohan, Jr.: This story has a main character who’s Russian . . . and that comes across in the style of the writing. The author gives the character’s inner voice the appropriate accent, which took some getting used to while reading. However, once you get into the flow, the subsequent Russian mafia story is so far my favorite story in the anthology. I loved the twist and plotline of the story. Well thought out, and a lot happens in the course of such a short piece.

The Old Girlfriend of Doom by Dean Wesley Smith: A tongue-in-cheek story with a main character that could be a superhero with superpowers . . . or not. It’s never exactly clear. But whatever he’s got, he’s trying to save an old girlfriend who’s in trouble with some Silicon Suckers who want her breasts. Like I said, tongue-in-cheek.

Second Sight by Ilsa J. Bick: This story had quite a bit going on in it. The main character is a detective who has some special abilities that he hasn’t embraced yet. The plot is complicated and there a lot to sort out. So while the magical content of the story—the magic coming from a pre-Hindu culture that I haven’t seen used in anything else—was interesting and intriguing, I found that I had a hard time following what was going on and keeping track of the multiple characters. I felt this story would have been much better as a much longer piece, either a novella or a novel. I wanted more time spent on nearly all of its aspects, so that I could absorb the material.

The True Secret of Magic, Only $1.98, Write Box 47, Portland, ORE by Joe Edwards: I really liked this short story. It was calm and quiet and only had two characters of importance (although the overall idea behind the story had huge stakes for everyone, not just these two). The main character was a woman with her own special abilities, and she was interesting and drew me in. The other character was a cop, and he didn’t quite have the same dimension as the woman. But a good story.

The Sweet Smell of Cherries by Devon Monk: A very well-written story about a young girl who can “Hound” out magic, meaning she can sense magic and the signature of who used it. She uses this ability to find things—people, lost dogs, etc. Here, she thinks she’s being hired to Hound out a lost dog, but instead they want her to find a lost girl. The prose is smooth and the story solid.

Eye Opening by Jason Schmetzer: An interesting story about a thief with a kind of second sight which allows him to “see” through wood, glass, metal, etc. Very helpful in his profession, since he can see the tumblers on a safe lock, for example. He ends up getting mixed up in something much bigger, however, and learns that his Sight is more than it seems. A fun little story.

Faith’s Curse by Randall Bills: This story plays on the idea that magic comes from the belief, that a magician is more powerful if more people believe he’s actually a magician. The main character has garnered a ton of power, but in the process has perhaps abused those that were faithful to him. The plot surrounds his search for another magician and begins with a body that could only have been murdered using powerful magic. I found the story hard to get into, mostly because I didn’t like the main character. He wasn’t a likeable character, which was kind of the point by the end, but I still found it difficult to care for him.

The Wish of a Wish by Robert T. Jeschonek: The main character here is attempting to save a genie from her current rather cruel master, but his attempts are foiled by the laws that bind a genie and by the mindset a genie would have based on their upbringing—the idea that they were created solely to serve their master. It had an interesting premise and a good ending, along with a slight tongue-in-cheek approach that helped mitigate some of the cruelty and darker elements of the story.

RPG Reunion by Peter Orullian: This was an interesting story simply because of the RPG elements and the fact that how this particular RPG game ended 20 years before is probably how every RPG group ends—a fight over something stupid that happened during an adventure. Here, the “victim” in that fight learns some true magic and comes back for revenge. Some good jabs at the D&D gaming world, while it’s still obvious that there’s a certain sense of nostalgia and love of the whole RPG experience as well.

Treasure by Leslie Claire Walker: A story dealing with fairy magic and the consequences of making a deal with the fairy, even when the person who breaks that pact isn’t yourself, although you suffer the consequences. I liked the writing of this piece in particular, as well as the main character. Definitely one of my favorites in this anthology.

She’s Not There by Steve Perry: In this story, we have a main character who can make herself appear as anyone she wishes, although she has to touch someone first before the glamour works. It also doesn’t disguise her voice. She uses this ability to steal minor things from rich folk, but just enough to get by. The story involves what happens when one of her small thefts goes wrong and what she’s driven to do in order to survive . . . and what she’s willing to risk. A good story to finish off the anthology.

***********************

Overall, a good anthology. Some interesting stories in here, and interesting takes on magical crimes. Definitely an anthology I’d recommend.

Author Introduction: Ari Marmell

Hey, an author introduction! I haven't done one of these in forever. I need to start this back up on a regular basis. Maybe now that the semester is coming to an end I'll have some extra time. (I'll just ignore that looming deadline for the sequel to WELL OF SORROWS. *grin*)

In any case, here's the first author introduction for a while. Ari Marmell (mouseferatu) wrote a post about mixing fantasy with horror as a way of introducing us to his book The Conquerer's Shadow, out from Spectra right now in hardcover. Check out the post and comment! And then check out the book!





In Ari Marmell's words:

Fantasy, if you’ll pardon the somewhat questionable metaphor, is like cocaine or heroine. I’m not talking about it being addictive, though it is that. (The first hit was free, and in the decades since, I’ve been paying huge amounts for my regular fix.) I’m referring to the fact that it’s more valuable if you cut it with something else.

This may be an odd thing to say, coming from a guy who recently wrote a column expressing his dislike for mixing hard sci-fi and fantasy. That combination, while it can occasionally be done well, just isn’t normally to my taste. But that doesn’t mean that fantasy can’t benefit from other genres. In fact, the more fantasy I write (or just read), the more I’m coming to believe something that I’m sure at least some of you will find a little objectionable.

Specifically, fantasy is almost never complete--almost never “pure,” if you will--without at least a little bit of horror.

The two genres are really a lot more intertwined than some people ever realize. I mean, really, look at the staples of so much classic fantasy. Dragons, trolls, werewolves, evil fey. . . . Ghosties, ghoulies, and long-legetty beasties. Man-eating giants, hordes of orcs, vampires in dark towers. Necromancers and evil wizards and sorceresses.

Picture a vile spirit, a shade of ancient times, a corrupt ruler who sold his soul for power. He now roams the earth, hunting on behalf of his hellish master, sometimes alone, sometimes with his minions who are themselves only slightly lesser wraiths. Alternatively, picture a traveling carnival, run with an iron hand by an evil witch. This carnival survives by misleading and deceiving its patrons, and occasionally imprisons people to make them part of its exhibits.

These sound like they could at least be potentially come out of a horror novel or movie, right? The first is the Witch-king of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl from Lord of the Rings. The second is Mommy Fortuna’s carnival from The Last Unicorn. (Okay, technically I cheated--Mommy Fortuna didn’t imprison people--but I’d argue that imprisoning fully intelligent and self-aware beings like the unicorn and the harpy counts as the same thing.)

This is a combination that was especially well understood by the early pulp writers; pick any Conan or Solomon Kane tale at random, and odds are good it’s got some pretty horrific elements to it. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the line of demarcation between fantasy and horror isn’t defined by content, but purely by focus. The exact same setup--characters, setting, plot--can sometimes be written as a horror if it focuses on the supernatural evils and their influence, playing it out via scenes of suspense and discomfort; and other times written as fantasy, by focusing on the efforts of the heroes to overcome the evil, which is presented much more matter-of-factly.

Note that I’m not saying horror can’t focus on the latter, or fantasy on the former; I’m just throwing out one example of how they often differ. (Actually, now I’m thinking that I’d love to see the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring reimagined as a horror, focused primarily on a group of hobbits trying to make this journey while being stalked by the ringwraiths . . .)

This intertwining of the two genres isn’t coincidental. I’d argue that fantasy is, in fact, an offshoot of horror. Look at the oldest inspirations for fantasy: myth, fairy tales, and the like. These were all attempts at explaining the world around us, specifically the parts that frightened us--or, in the case of some fairy tales, of imposing certain moral behaviors by making us fear the consequences of other behaviors.

And what is fantasy, then, but an alteration or addition to that baseline, in which we suddenly produce heroes capable of protecting us from those fearsome powers?

Obviously, I’m speaking to extremes. It’s patently obvious that people can write fantasy without including horror. And it’s equally obvious that there’s a huge gray area between “no horror at all” and “H.P. Lovecraft’s Narnia.” (Which I also want to see, now.) Even fairly light fantasy can include a few darker/more horrific scenes; there are a couple, for instance, in the Belgariad, which is otherwise as pretty non-horrific as fantasy comes. But as you may have picked up from what I’ve said so far, I tend to prefer fantasy that goes darker. I’m not saying it must be very horrific, just that I believe fantasy is stronger, and cleaves nearer to its source inspirations and archetypes, if it allows itself to get dark/frightening/bloody when necessary. That “when necessary” is key, of course. If it’s purely gratuitous, it’s not helping the story.

(If one includes gore in one’s definition of horror--and gore is certainly an effective tool of horror, if used properly--then one could potentially argue that any fantasy that includes sword-fights or people being eaten by monsters is being dishonest with itself by not including at least a tiny touch of horror. But that’s a different discussion, I think.)

Which brings me to my second Great Belief. (I really ought to start a religion based on this.) And that is, even the darkest/most horrific fantasy can--indeed, must--include substantial amounts of humor.

The last thing I want is for my entertainment to be undiluted bleakness. I don’t find that--well, entertaining. But more specific to my point, I don’t feel that humor interferes with horror. In fact, when done right, it improves it; the humor offers a relief of tension, or the horror is accentuated coming on the heels of the humor. (In his darker moments, Steven Brust makes great use of this combination. And though his horror is usually more of the gory/squicky variety than the creepy/suspenseful variety, the humor/horror combination seems to be a favorite of Simon Green’s as well.)

Thing is, in addition to “unrelenting dolefulness” not being a fun read, it’s also simply not realistic. Very few people are completely humorless, and yes, people often joke to make themselves feel better, or break tension. If fantasy is drifting further from its roots and archetypes by avoiding horror, the characters in both horror and fantasy drift further from being real people by avoiding at least some amount of humor. But I guess this is less about “characters in horror” or “characters in fantasy” than it is just “characters in general.”

I am, of course, speaking of humor in the dialog, and in the occasional funny situation. I’m not advocating for the addition of slapstick, or the use of Douglas Adams/Terry Brooks-style humor in a book that otherwise resembles Clive Barker or Glen Cook.

Now, while these two traits aren’t necessarily tightly linked, I’ve discovered that I have a tendency to combine them in my own writing. In most of my books to date, the funniest characters tend to also be among the darkest. Maybe it’s because I feel I can be more bitterly/offensively sarcastic when speaking through the mouths of the less sympathetic? I don’t know. I don’t think it was deliberate on my part, and there are certainly exceptions; but it’s definitely a trait that arises more often than it doesn’t.

Still, that’s not required. All I want of my fantasy--again, written or read--is that it allow itself to get as dark as the story and the mood require, while also remaining humorous enough to make me laugh, all without sacrificing either the character development or the unveiling of an interesting plot.

Is that a lot to ask? I dunno, maybe. But this is fantasy, after all; it’s not that unreasonable to expect the impossible.

(My most sincere gratitude to Joshua Palmatier for the opportunity to speak with you folks. If you’re interested in learning more about The Conqueror’s Shadow--my recent novel, which inspired many of these thoughts, and which I hope lives up to the fairly strenuous demands I just made of others--you can do so here.)