Archive for the ‘fantasy’ Category
Cover Reveal for Jasper’s Promise, Plus Three More Chapters…
Artist Brad Fraunfelter created this awesome cover for my forthcoming novel JASPER’S PROMISE, written by permission in Chris Nuttall’s Schooled in Magic universe, with a foreword from Chris himself.
I’m not great at showing off covers, as I don’t deal much with pictures. (I hope I sized this properly.) But I am happy to have this cover, as that’s exactly what I was thinking about with regards to Jasper, my main character, and his later love interest, Talinda. Jasper is studying healing, and that is exactly what he’s doing there — healing, not studying. (Minor joke there.)
As to why? Take my word for it that Talinda needs his help, specifically, in this one case due to a unique ability Jasper has that no one else seems to have.
At any rate, the last time I posted, I put up chapters one and two of JASPER’S PROMISE. I’m about to put up chapters three, four, and five…and I do hope you’ll enjoy them. (All of these chapters are meant as “teasers,” also known as things to whet the reader’s interest.)
Make sure to hit the back arrow if you haven’t yet read the first two chapters of JASPER’S PROMISE, then dive into the next three chapters, below.
…and away we go!
Chapter Three
The stagecoach, as my grandma had said, was just down the street. I was heartened to see that it was driven by someone I actually knew, a guy named Warren who had often spent time with Grandma Hannah playing cards or enjoying a good, home-cooked meal. (Sometimes, he even brought food that he cooked himself, and he was at least as good of a cook as Grandma was. Not that I’d ever admit that, even under torture. My grandmother had her reputation to worry about, after all.)
“Glad to see you, Jasper,” Warren said, doffing his cap. “Hop on. Or you can ride in the carriage, if you like.”
“No, I’d rather be up with you and the horses, providing David doesn’t see me.” I did open the carriage up, though, and stored my two bags—the food, and the clothes and books Grandma had given me—inside.
Warren understood, fortunately. “If I see him, I will pretend I didn’t. And if he tries to flag me down, he will regret it.” He patted his pocket, where a smaller version of Grandma’s blunderbuss seemed to sit. “Now, let’s go.”
Once I was up next to him, he clucked his tongue at the horses, and they set off at a steady pace. I didn’t know much about horses. But these seemed well-matched, and they had a flowing gait I could only admire. “How did you find four horses to work so well together?” I asked, trying to make conversation.
“These four were put up for auction by a guy with less sense than Goddess Anujit gave a gnat,” Warren told me in disgust. “I was fortunate to be there. He had gambling debts, I think…I paid him a fair price, and have used them ever since.”
I hadn’t known that Warren had ever driven a carriage before. I guess I’d just seen him as my Grandma’s friend, and the rest didn’t matter…I was fortunate, looking back, that Warren was the carriage-driver as it’s possible someone else wouldn’t have waited until I got there before setting off.
“Hannah told me you’re going to go to a new school, something called a ‘university,’ somewhere near a desert,” Warren said, his eyes not moving from watching over the horses. It was a bit past midday, the air was a bit cool but pleasant, without much in the way of wind.
“It will be a big change,” I told him. “I didn’t know anything at all about this place, Heart’s Eye University, before both my mother and Grandma Hannah told me about it.” I realized I was taking a lot on faith, but I didn’t want to examine things too closely just then. Or I might just have Warren turn around and take me back, which would be a betrayal of the promises I’d made to both my mother and my grandmother.
“I’ve heard that a lot of the New Learning has come from some of the teachers there,” Warren said, skillfully continuing to drive the horses. The terrain wasn’t all that bad, but it did have boulders studded here and there, so the track wasn’t always steady. “I hope they’ll figure out soon how to properly grade roads. You will ask them if you get a chance, won’t you?”
I agreed that I would. And I could see why he was worried, too. A less skillful driver than Warren was could’ve easily broken an axle or foundered one or more of the horses on this trail, as it wasn’t much more than a goat track.
We came to a bigger-sized town, and Warren stopped at a place he seemed familiar with. No one was there, which might’ve been just as well…no one to see where we went, if nothing else. He went into a local tavern to get a few provisions, and gave them to me, these being three hearty beef sandwiches with a slice of good, well-aged cheddar cheese on each. “Take these on the train with you.”
“Thanks!” I didn’t know why I deserved such largesse, but before I could ask, he’d gone on.
“You’re a growing boy. You need more than just what your grandma sent along, no shame to her.” He had a twinkle in his eye, which was both reassuring and disturbing at the same time. I didn’t think I wanted to know what he was thinking about, if that makes any sense.
After driving through the two additional towns, Warren drove straight up to the train depot. That was still a fairly new place at the time, as steam trains had only been in existence as far as I knew for five, maybe six years, and of course it took time to lay tracks to make those rides possible. The railroad had only put in a line to this town, called Trenton after its founder, in the last several months…the depot was made of white clapboard, but I didn’t need to go inside as Warren handed me a ticket and pointed me to the right train.
“This should get you to Heart’s Eye, son,” Warren said. “Go now, and be sure to write to your grandmother on occasion. I’ll be waiting for your news, too!” He smiled, a bit cheekily, as I got my belongings out of the carriage, then he doffed his cap again, bent from the waist in a manner that was oddly formal, then straightened up and clucked his tongue at the horses again.
I watched as he drove away, then went to the train he’d indicated. A man was checking tickets, and I presented mine. “This is the train that will take me to Heart’s Eye University?”
“To Heart’s Ease, anyway,” the man said, thawing fractionally.
“What’s that?” There was no one else behind me, so I felt reasonably safe in asking a question. I also used my magic to sense whether or not the man was telling the truth, for good measure.
“It’s the town outside of Heart’s Eye, and it grew up because of the school there. I don’t know much else about it, except that after Lady Emily beat the necromancer who’d taken the place over, people came back and got the town back up and running.”
The man was telling the truth as he knew it, which was comforting.
“I can see why they’d fled,” I ventured. “No one wants to be anywhere close to a necromancer if they can help it.” I felt like shivering, but refrained.
“Lady Emily fixed it, all right and tight,” the man said. “Now, it’s time to get going…take a seat anywhere you like, and when we stop for a break, I’ll let you know.” He also informed me that there was a privy on the train, but that he hoped I’d not have to use it.
After I thanked him, I went to sit down. I knew the train trip would take several days, minimum, but it was heartening to know that they knew where we were going, and that neither my mother nor grandmother had been misled.
I wonder, I thought. They’ll train me? Me? Why?
Yet I’d promised my grandma, and promised my mother herself, that I would go and do the very best I could to get the training Mom had lacked. No matter how worried I was about what would happen when I got there, I needed to put that aside…and as the miles went on, and as we first went up one mountain, down another, into a valley, then up onto a plain, I did my best to calm my nerves.
The stops we had along the way, I used the way the man (called a “porter”) had suggested, carrying my belongings with me as I went, just in case the train started up again without me.
But I was fortunate. The porter looked out for me, letting me know when we were within a half a day of Heart’s Ease, the town outside Heart’s Eye. I went to use the privy, which stank as much as I’d feared, but it did have clean, running water. I used the water purification spell, too, just in case, before I cleaned my face, hands, and neck as best I could (as everything else was covered, I didn’t have to worry about that). I also put on my best outfit, a cambric shirt with a bit of Mom’s whimsical embroidery around the cuffs (why she liked yellow sunflowers, I’ll never understand, but they reminded me of her) and a pair of tough denim pants of a dark blue indigo. They fit well, because I’d only had them for maybe a month…
The longer I thought about it, the more planning and forethought I saw in my mother’s decision. She wanted what was best for me.
Now I had to go convert on my promise. And hope that it would be possible, as anything else would be unthinkable.
oOo
Chapter Four
The porter, who’d since told me on the several-day trip that his name was Dave (like my stepfather, but as unlike the man as it was possible to be, thank goodness), came to let me know the depot was within sight. I appreciated that, as there were a lot more people on the train than before…at the last stop, at least fifty people had boarded, most with a hatbox and a suitcase in hand.
Dave must’ve known I was nervous, because he blurted out, “Son, you will do just fine here. There’s all sorts of opportunities for a young man with ambition here. And I sense you have that.”
Startled, I looked at him again, trying to figure out if he had magic or some other talent that I wasn’t aware of. As far as I could tell, he didn’t.
“How—Why—What do you mean?” I stammered.
“A young man doesn’t come from so far away unless he has ambition,” Dave said comfortably. “And not much in the way of prospects where he initially came from…am I right?”
I nodded, but didn’t go into any of my story. It wasn’t proper. And if I tried to tell him, I might break down in tears, something not befitting under the circumstances..
“I wish you the best of luck and every happiness,” Dave said with a big smile.
I didn’t know what I’d ever done to warrant that smile, but I smiled back, tentatively, and thanked him. Then I waited in a line until I had disembarked, and saw the many carriages and conveyances waiting there—one had two big wheels on the back, a bigger wheel on the front, and space for several people to sit along with the driver! It seemed to be steam-powered, unless I missed my guess, and I couldn’t help but stare at it in astonishment. In addition, they seemed to be constructing even more train tracks, possibly going up to Heart’s Eye University itself soon…but for now, this was all there was.
There was no way I was going to use that strange wheeled-thing, not now anyway, because I had to conserve money. I’d long since eaten the excellent beefsteak sandwiches, eaten most of the cheese my grandma gave me, and also ate some raisins, though I still had some left of both for another meal in case I couldn’t afford anything else. I had no idea what the prices were here, and couldn’t assume that things would be cheap just because the tuition at the university was said to be free.
After walking in the same direction a number of other young men and women, hatboxes and suitcases in hand, were going, I came along a row of what seemed to be boarding houses, or perhaps a type of inn. I used my nascent magic to see if any of the homes had a welcoming aura, and found that four of them had a warn-off (Don’t touch! Danger!) for whatever reason, but two others seemed worthy of consideration. The first was at the beginning of the row, while the second was at the end…and I could see in the distance what I took to be Heart’s Eye University: a massive school, one that could hold hundreds of people if not even more than that, and it even included a castle with a moat! Most of it seemed made of brick and mortar, with newer, wooden buildings popping up here and there as needed. Several areas seemed to have new construction going, too…there even were barns, which presumably held animals, and grain silos, too! This had to be the right place.
You might be wondering why I didn’t go straight up to the university as the others I saw seemed to be doing. Well, they’d been on the train far less time than I had. They might not be as tired…or maybe they already had instructors that had agreed to take them on.
I felt it was far too risky to do that, because if I did, and if I wasn’t at my best, how could I make a good impression? As it was, I had to find out what was what in a hurry, get the lay of the land (as the saying goes), and also get out of the heat, as it was true that Heart’s Ease, like Heart’s Eye University, was on the edge of a searing desert.
When I walked into the inn I chose, the temperature dropped immediately, enough so I was comfortable and no longer sweating. A clerk at a nearby desk chirped brightly, “New in town?” She gestured to a pitcher of water.
“Yes, actually.” I used my magic and sensed the water was good, so I poured some of the water out into a nearby waiting glass. It was cold and took the grit out of my throat. “My name is Jasper, and I’m here because I am looking into applying to Heart’s Eye’s university.”
“Really?” she asked. Then we haggled over the price, until I gave over a single gold coin. (I was surprised it wasn’t more. I still had more than enough to buy any book I wanted or another night at the inn if I needed it, so I was happy.) She had me sign something she called a “register of guests,” and told me that dinner would be available in a few hours.
I thanked her, went to the room I’d been assigned, and cleaned up using the warm water jug and a hand-towel the inn provided. I sat down on a hard, but comfortable chair, and tried not to think about Mom, dying at home, or probably already dead, with Grandma having to arrange a funeral (as I was sure David wouldn’t do it, the old skinflint).
At dinner, which was a midday meal here (rather than the later time I was used to back in Newtown), there was a lively conversation, first about a musical production held elsewhere in town (something called a “revue,” I guess; a bunch of different singers and actors doing all sorts of different things), then about goings-on at the university. My ears perked up as I heard reference to a young Gorgon woman, and I heard the following:
“It’s weird to be in a store with that Gorgon, you know?” a youngish woman said, sitting alongside the man I thought was probably her husband, as they held hands and seemed to dote on one another. “I kept expecting her to turn me into stone!”
“She doesn’t do that,” a bluff, hearty, older man put in. “She’s the Administrator’s apprentice, so she is. The last thing she wants to do is alienate the townspeople!”
Then the conversation turned to other things, and I tuned back out again.
So, the head of the university was called an administrator. The young Gorgon woman was her apprentice. And it was widely known as to who and what she was…this had to be the person I should approach, as maybe she’d understand exactly why I’d come here, her being the only Gorgon I’d heard reference to whatsoever, living and working among others who weren’t Gorgons.
Yes, she had to be the person to approach. And if nothing else, I told myself, I won’t mistake her for anyone else.
On that note, I went to my room, laid down on the bed, and slept for at least fourteen solid hours.
oOo
Chapter Five
When I got to the university, proper, I saw many people bustling around. There wasn’t an official greeter; in some ways, there didn’t seem to be an official anything. I wandered around, seeing various outbuildings, all sorts of different places being constructed, and knew that couldn’t be where I needed to go. But after some searching, I found a long, low building that seemed to be where newcomers were supposed to go. I walked in, and saw I was in a fairly large chamber with several entrances and exits. There were chairs and benches dotted here and there, and there were staircases going up one side and down the other…it was most confusing.
Eventually, though, I spotted the young Gorgon woman I’d heard about the day before in the inn, and because I knew that the Gorgon was highly placed at Heart’s Eye, she should know what to do with me.
I walked up to her, bowed as my grandmother had taught me, and said, “Madam Gorgon, I am Jasper. I’ve come for teaching, as I have magical gifts but don’t know how to use them very well.”
The Gorgon looked surprised but made a motion with her hand to continue.
I took a deep breath and went on. “My mother was a magician. She was the first in her family, but she was cast out. Only her mother, my grandmother, was willing to help, and they both moved to a town far away from their family. Mom died recently, and her dying wish was for me to come to Heart’s Eye and get the training she, herself, didn’t have that she so desperately wanted.” I wasn’t sure why I was giving the Gorgon so much of my truth, but I wasn’t about to stop now. “I admit I haven’t been to any of the magical schools, and I’m about fifteen years old.”
“I’d have guessed you for at least eighteen,” the Gorgon said in a soft alto voice. “But please, do go on.”
“I have two talents and know a few scraps of spells, but I learn quickly and adore reading.”
“Emily would love you,” the Gorgon mused.
Emily? Lady Emily? The Necromancer’s Bane? Even I had heard of her—but the Gorgon had continued.
“What do you want to do with your life?” she asked.
“I want to live well, treat others with respect, and find a way to help people like my mother, so they don’t die in childbirth.”
The Gorgon raised her eyebrows, impressed.
“I don’t know if I have any healing talents because my mother didn’t have any of those spells. What I know I can do is light up my fingers and teleport a book from across the room.”
“The first, most of us can do. We magicians, I mean, as there are nonmagicians who also study here.”
Yes, my grandmother had told me that. But she went right on.
“The second, though…would you be willing to demonstrate it for me, after some food and rest? There are a few people I’d like you to meet, later.”
I willingly agreed, and she brought me to a well-appointed guest room of sorts. It had a big, wide bed with fresh and clean sheets, more pillows than I’d ever seen on a bed before (I’d only had one when I’d stayed the night before in Heart’s Ease, and it was a thin rag at best compared to these bounteous pillows), and there was a private bathroom off to the side with clean running water. It even had both hot and cold water, something the Gorgon murmured was due to nonmagical engineers.
After giving me some chits for the evening and morning meals and reminding me to follow the arrows to find the mess hall, she promised to find me in the morning so I could demonstrate my book-teleportation talent.
I tried not to be nervous, as I settled on that big, wide bed. It had springs and was very comfortable…I’d never before felt the like. Wealthy people in our part of the world had featherbeds, and those who weren’t as wealthy or who had a skinflint stepfather like mine made do with scratchy straw-filled ones. But this bed was a revelation…and maybe even a warning.
What could my talents possibly do here, in a place swimming with such luxury that they willingly gave anyone who showed up a lovely room like this?
End Excerpt
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapters and seeing the excellent cover artwork, too. I’m sure I’ll be back fairly soon to show you a few more chapters.
Discussing Other, Alternate Timelines
Folks, the last several weeks have been extremely challenging. I am unable to say why, as what’s going on mostly does not pertain to me…let’s just say it’s a family health crisis and be done with it.
Anyway, I knew I should write a blog, but about what?
I could write about sports — the Milwaukee Bucks made a coaching change, mid-season, which is quite unusual — but that didn’t seem right.
I could write about politics — some of what I’m seeing from people like Rep. Elise Stefanik of NY (R) is extremely disquieting. (Rep. Stefanik seems to have the attitude of “Vice President or Bust” and is doing her best to ingratiate herself with former POTUS Donald Trump despite her past voting record, which shows at one point she was a moderate.) But again, that didn’t seem right…though I do admire Nikki Haley’s pluck in refusing to get out of the Republican primary, mind you. (She’s right that only two states have spoken. There are 48 states and a number of US territories, plus the US emigres abroad, that have yet to vote and thus indicate a preference.) While Haley is almost certainly not going to win the Republican nomination, any more than Bernie Sanders was going to win the Democratic nomination in 2016, Haley can highlight important issues to voters and ultimately make a positive policy difference (if nothing else).
And while that was a long digression about politics, that’s not what I want to talk about today. I am a SF&F writer, no matter how little-known, and thus I think about a lot of stuff most other folks don’t. I’ve done this for a long time, mind you; my Elfy books, which feature alternate universes (where the Elfs lived — don’t call ’em “Elves” as that’s a swear word to them– and the Elfys were created, among other races), were not the first time I’ve ever thought about alternate universes. I may have thought about them even sooner than age fourteen, which is when I read Philip K. Dick’s classic MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, which features an alternate universe where the Nazis and the Japanese won World War II.
I’m not the only one to think about this, of course. There are other writers who’ve discussed this in various ways, such as Doris Lessing and the more recent book THE FUTURE OF ANOTHER TIMELINE by Annalee Newitz. But my own ruminations lead me to how my own, personal timeline could’ve been changed by the following events:
2004: Instead of dying after four heart attacks, Michael has one heart attack and survives with brain and body intact. He does cardiac rehab, which I fully support him doing, and we get another ten-twenty years together rather than two. More books of different types result, and at least some of Michael’s artwork survives. (In this timeline, I have one piece of Michael’s artwork. That’s it. It was a brief drawing of what the uniforms looked like in his Atlantean Union universe.)
But even if Michael had still died in 2004, I had another possible better timeline with which to work, as follows:
2011: Instead of dying of a massive stroke, my good friend Jeff Wilson lives despite the heart virus that nearly killed him. He does cardiac rehab and anything else they suggest; after six or eight months of treatment, he’s allowed to leave the rehab hospital (really a nursing home). During this time, we start to date, long-distance…maybe I even manage to visit him in Fort Collins while he’s in the hospital, as it’s under the threshold of altitude that I can tolerate. (Jeff knew I get high-altitude sickness at about 7000 feet and it gets worse the higher up I go.) Books and stories follow, and whether we ever progressed beyond a very solid friendship or not, things would’ve been much better all the way around for both of us.
And even if Jeff had still died in 2011, I had yet another possible, better timeline to work with, as follows:
2014: A good friend, someone I had no idea that was interested in me, makes a play and I respond. (This happened in real life, though not in 2014.) Things progress. Books and stories follow. The relationship is serious enough to perhaps lead to marriage, and despite some major difficulties, we manage to overcome them and forge a life together.
Of course, that timeline didn’t happen either. So how about this one?
2020: Covid-19 does not happen. Millions of people do not die. (If this was lab-grown in China or anywhere else, it does not escape the lab.) People are not shut in for weeks, months, or years; there is no such thing as public-shaming over mask-wearing (I believe masks can help, especially if you, yourself, are ill and don’t know it; you won’t give it to someone else that way. But shaming people is wrong.) There’s no such thing as kicking people off public trails because of fears that they might get Covid…one of the dumbest things I ever heard, yet it happened to a good friend of mine in 2020. (I wish that hadn’t happened to him, too. As we found out later, Covid is not likely to spread outside with the same frequency as it’s going to spread inside with the greater density of people to work with.)
And as we all know, unfortunately that timeline didn’t happen either.
I’ve avoided some of the obvious ones, mind you. (Some folks may be asking, “Why not go back to 2000 and have Gore win instead of W.? Why not go back to 2016 and have your choice, Hillary Clinton, win instead of Trump?” Or even this: “Why didn’t you eliminate the war in Ukraine?”) I think many others have gone over those possibilities, and I wanted to make you think more about smaller, more personal decisions rather than stuff like that. (Well, with the exception of Covid, of course, though Covid caused more small-scale upheaval than just about anything in the past fifty years in my own not-so-humble opinion.)
So, what other timelines could you have had? What other timelines do you wish you would’ve had? (I know I wish Michael would’ve lived. Everyone who’s ever read this blog or known me in any way whatsoever should know that’s been my most fervent wish.) And is it still possible to create a better timeline in the future than the one we fear may happen? (I hope so, otherwise I’d not do anything, much less write this blog.)
Introducing “The Conjuring Man” by Chris Nuttall
Folks, it may seem quite odd to discuss a new book I’ve edited on Christmas Day. That said, I wanted to discuss it ASAP because I enjoyed working on it and feel that it’s one of Chris Nuttall’s best novels to date. (Below is the cover, which is a particularly nifty piece of artwork by Brad Fraunfelter. It gets pride of place for obvious reasons.)
As you see, this novel is called THE CONJURING MAN. It’s the third book in a series that started with THE CUNNING MAN, and features Adam, a nonmagician who’s studied theoretical magic his whole life but wasn’t sure what he could do with it until he went to Heart’s Eye University. Adam starts off as somewhat of a callow youth; though he was always well-meaning and treated most people the way he wanted to be treated, he has typical teenage angst going on. Because of that, Adam was manipulated unwittingly by a guy who called himself “Arnold” who claimed he, too, had no magic…but actually was a combat sorcerer (meaning he not only had a lot of magic, he had studied to become particularly good at magic used expressly in combat; since “Arnold” is evil, he also uses his combat magic for personal gain). Arnold is a running foil in all three books of this series, which is a spinoff from the Schooled in Magic universe featuring Emily, a young woman from Kansas in our world who was grabbed from our world by a nefarious magician, saved by an enigmatic one who then sends her to magic school (as Emily has a ton of magic), and has all sorts of interesting magical adventures. Emily’s the one who set up the first-ever university on Chris’s Nameless World (names have power, you see) at Heart’s Eye, which had been a magic school until it was overrun by a necromancer, then liberated after Emily and a few friends destroyed the necromancer, and you need to know that because Adam kind of has a crush on Emily. (He’s never met her and wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a lineup unless she’d introduced herself, but Adam reveres Emily due to the innovations she’s brought to the Nameless World, including Arabic numerals.) It’s not a romantic crush, but it’s still present, and must be considered as a main driver of how Adam behaves throughout all three novels.
Got all that? (I know it’s lengthy but at the moment, it’s the best I can do to sum things up.)
Anyway, Adam grows, changes, and becomes a much more well-rounded, interesting person throughout this trilogy. His girlfriend is a powerful magician named Lilith (yes, that’s her on the pitchfork, flying), and the two of them, along with several others, have come up with a new field: magitech. (How magic and technology intersect, and how both can benefit each other, in short.) Adam, like Emily, has changed the world, but Adam doesn’t see it that way; he still sees himself as just a normal, average guy who loved magic but had none in his blood, so apprenticed originally to an apothecary as that was the closest he could come to his goals. He was sent to Heart’s Eye by his first master at the apothecary, which proves to be the making of him…and that’s where this blurb comes into play for THE CONJURING MAN, as it’s about where Adam is at the start of the third book, much less the problems he and Lilith still continue to face.
Adam has come far.
From a lowly apprentice, and a powerless one at that, he has discovered a whole new field of magic, combining magic and technology into one, and become the leading light of the university. His innovations have made many other things possible, from powerful magics anyone can use to hot air balloons and flying battleships. And the world has changed beyond hope of repair.
And yet, the war is not yet over. King Ephialtes of Tarsier may have lost one army, but he has others – and secret weapons, capable of keeping his aristocrats in check and eventually destroying the university. As his own people rise in revolt, and Adam and the rest of the university’s population are drawn ever further into the fighting, an old enemy plots his final moves …
… And the final battle between the old world and the new is about to begin.
At any rate, I loved working on this novel, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! (Holiday blahs aside, of course.)
Moving Along…and Discussion about the Esquire “Best Fantasy” List
Folks, the last few weeks at Chez Caffrey have been unusual, to say the least.
Somehow, I came down with a middle-ear infection. This has caused me a great deal of trouble with regards to moving around or doing much of anything, unless it’s of a mental nature. (Fortunately, as a writer and editor, most of the work I do is exactly that.)
I had two pressing edits along with several more that are urgent, and I didn’t want to say anything until those two most-pressing edits were done and “in the can.” (An aside: if our work on the computer is made up solely of electrical particles, can we actually say something is in the can anymore?)
Why?
Mostly, because I didn’t want my clients to think I was going to bail on them. But partly, I was conserving my strength and stamina to finish up the work I had to do, and to prepare for the next urgent edits. (There are three more on the table, and only one will be knocked out by the end of the weekend. The other two are longer and larger projects that I’ve devoted a good deal of time to in the past, but still require more from me before I can send them on to their authors.)
Anyway, the middle-ear infection has left me feeling weak, shaky, off-balance, and more than a bit nervous. I’ve never had this happen before, as usually I will get sinus infections or have asthma attacks or some sort of weird allergic reaction/response.
Fortunately, I have been able to think and work. And I am on the mend, finally, which is why I’m even talking about it today.
Otherwise, I wanted to mention the Esquire “50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time” list. (If you haven’t seen this yet, take a look after I’ve written the next part, and see if you agree with me.)
That half of them are books that don’t appeal to me or frankly aren’t SF&F at all (including the wonderful book CIRCE; it’s a great book, and I recommend that you read it, but it truly is not SF&F) is part of the problem. That many of these authors are not all-time greats is the rest of the problem.
Anne McCaffrey’s not on this list. Stephen R. Donaldson’s not on this list. David and Leigh Eddings aren’t on this list. Mercedes Lackey isn’t represented, either. Neither is Andre Norton. Nor is Marion Zimmer Bradley, Patricia A. McKillip, Ray Bradbury, Terry Pratchett, or Poul Anderson. (Edited to add: Where are Philip K. Dick, Philip Jose Farmer, and Roger Zelazny? Shouldn’t they all be there?)
And what about Margaret Atwood? Or Connie Willis?
The worst and most egregious contemporary writer missing from this list is Lois McMaster Bujold, who is a grand master of SF&F. (Hint: There are at least five more grand masters above on this list that were not represented at all.)
And if you’re going to mention contemporary SF&F authors, where’s Katherine Addison? Where’s Jacqueline Carey? Or the even heavier hitter, J.K. Rowling?
As for other authors I know and read regularly, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller aren’t on this list. (Arguably, the Liaden Universe books could probably be called fantasy by some, and I’d rather have something much closer to fantasy than Circe.) Rosemary Edghill isn’t on this list. Neither is Katharine Eliska Kimbriel.
So, you may be wondering which books I felt should be on there. Because I believe books should be able to stand the test of time, I have excluded anyone who hasn’t had a twenty- to twenty-five year career in SF&F. (If I went with writers who’ve been active, say, for ten years or thereabouts, I’d have some editorial clients to put on the list. And that isn’t exactly unbiased…)
At any rate, here are the books I’d put in my personal top fifty from the Esquire list linked to above (or at least the author):
Ursula K. LeGuin — their pick is A Wizard of Earthsea; mine is The Lathe of Heaven
Octavia E. Butler — Kindred
C.S. Lewis — their pick is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; mine is The Screwtape Letters
George R.R. Martin — A Game of Thrones
Susanna Clarke — Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
J.R.R. Tolkien — The Fellowship of the Ring
L. Frank Baum — Ozma of Oz (it’s hard to pick just one Oz book)
Robert Jordan — The Shadow Rising
Neil Gaiman — Stardust (I’d put his and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens on this list instead)
Friends of mine would agree with Brandon Sanderson’s selection on this list, and Gene Wolfe’s, and probably a few others. (Kelly Link is another fine choice.) I don’t disagree with these authors and their books as they’re interesting and worthy, but those are not the books I turn to most of the time. That’s why I didn’t add them into the mix.
So, I agree with nine of the authors and six of the choices they made for the self-same authors. I have no trouble with another three of the authors, and agree they should be represented somehow in the “best of” fantasy list.
But I’d personally add these:
Anne McCaffrey — The White Dragon (included in the omnibus The Dragonriders of Pern) and/or the Harper Hall YA trilogy (first book is Dragonsong)
Stephen R. Donaldson — A Man Rides Through (I’d not quibble with any of the novels about Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, either)
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel — Night Calls
Lois McMaster Bujold — Paladin of Souls, The Curse of Chalion, many more
Rosemary Edghill– Paying the Piper at the Gates of Dawn (a short story collection that’s currently out of print, but used copies are available), or anything else she’s ever written. (She has a wonderful new novella available in Dreaming the Goddess that I’m quite keen on.)
Mercedes Lackey– By the Sword, the Vanyel Trilogy, Oathbreakers, or the original Heralds of Valdemar trilogy featuring Talia (or better yet, all of them)
J.K. Rowling — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (my personal favorite of the HP books)
Patricia C. Wrede — The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and/or Sorcery and Cecilia with Caroline Stevermer
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller — I Dare, Mouse and Dragon, or anything they’ve ever written
Edited to add:
Diana Wynne Jones — The Chronicles of Chrestomanci series (Volume 1 is here), and/or Hexwood (How did I forget her?)
Roger Zelazny — This Immortal
Philip K. Dick — The Man in the High Castle
Philip Jose Farmer — To Your Scattered Bodies Go (available in the omnibus Riverworld)
Andre Norton — Ice Crown (available in the omnibus Ice and Shadow), Forerunner Foray (available in the omnibus Warlock)
Poul Anderson — Brain Wave, Boat of a Million Years
Margaret Atwood — The Handmaid’s Tale
Ray Bradbury — Fahrenheit 451
Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth — The Space Merchants (not currently available in Kindle)
Connie Willis, Doomsday Book
All of the above authors are excellent. You can’t go wrong if you pick up their books. If you’re like me, you’ll read them again and again, too.
What are your favorite fantasy and/or SF&F novels? Did you agree with the Esquire list? Disagree with it? Partially agree but mostly are disgusted? Let me know in the comments!
A Brewers Update, a Personal Update…and a word about Chris Nuttall’s newest, THE CUNNING MAN
Folks, I am fighting yet another sinus infection. I am beyond tired of these sinus infections, to put it mildly. But all I can do is rest to tolerance, drink lots of fluids, get more rest, and work to tolerance after I regain enough energy to do so.
As far as music or writing goes (aside from this blog), nothing is getting done. (I did write 32 bars of music last weekend, though.) This is frustrating for me as a creative person, as when I can’t create things get bottled up inside.
The only solution I have is to rest. Again, I hate not being able to do much of anything. But I have to be smart, and I have to realize that my body is extremely worn out right now. Otherwise, I’ll just get sicker, and what good will that do for me or anyone else?
Never mind that. I want to talk about baseball, and I want to talk about books now.
Baseball first.
As I’m sure most of you are aware, my favorite baseball team is the Milwaukee Brewers. They have won the National League Central division, and will be going to the playoffs that start next week. (This week, they’re finishing the regular season, but they’re already locked in for the playoffs as it is. Nothing will change for the team as a whole.)
This has been a season of first, in some ways. There was a combined no-hitter, just the second no-hitter in Brewers baseball history (Corbin Burnes pitched eight innings, and closer extraordinaire Josh Hader pitched the ninth). The Brewers have been good at home but astonishingly good on the road, which almost never happens. And, oddly enough, the usually homerun-hitting Brewers have had to rely on outstanding pitching rather than offense as their offense has been downright offensive at times. (Sorry about the pun, but I couldn’t resist.)
So, the Brewers have better defense and better pitching than most of the rest of the National League. But their hitting is average or below for the most part, and their clutch hitting (hitting with runners in scoring position) isn’t as good as it should be.
What all that means is, when a player like shortstop Willy Adames needs time off to rest a nagging injury, that hurts the Brewers’ offensive capability as a team. When Lorenzo Cain takes a day off to rest, it also hurts for the same reasons. And while the highly-paid former MVP, Christian Yelich, continues to scuffle offensively, he does take walks and uses his speed to some effect…meaning he’s not a black hole, offensively speaking, but he’s not a shining light, either.
The Brewers offense, in short, needs every player to fire on all cylinders. If they don’t, the only way they can win is to rely on their pitching. With three starters among the top ten in ERA (Earned Run Average) as adjusted for time and innings pitched, and outstanding relievers Hader and Devin Williams, the Brewers have put together a formidable pitching staff.
Now, Williams found out he’d busted his hand while celebrating the Brewers division-clinching win over the New York Mets on Sunday. This means he’ll not be available, at best, for three weeks. And as that’s when the World Series is likely to be played, the Brewers will have to worry about it later while focusing on the first opponent (likely to be the Atlanta Braves, though the Philadelphia Phillies still have a mathematical shot to win their division instead and face the Brewers).
It won’t help the Brewers to have Williams sidelined. (He has apologized, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, to his teammates.) But they’ll have to do the best they can as he heals up.
I’m looking forward to watching them in the postseason, and I do hope they’ll hit (for a change) as well as pitch well.
Shifting gears, let’s talk about books. Or at least one, specific book, that being Chris Nuttall’s THE CUNNING MAN, which is now out in e-book format. (Disclaimer: I edited this book and know it quite well.) He’s having some trouble with his website right now (though his blog is up), and thus he can’t get the word out in his usual ways. I figured I could perhaps help just a tad by letting you know it’s out.
Of course, you probably are wondering what the book is about. (It is entitled as a “Schooled In Magic” spinoff, but that isn’t a lot to go on if you haven’t read the Schooled in Magic series to begin with.) It stars Adam, a young man without the magical gift who has become quite interested in studying alchemy and magical theory. Thus, in many ways, he’s a man without a home. The magicians mostly disregard him, and the nonmagicians (“mundanes,” in Chris’s concept, as it is in many fantasy novels) don’t understand him.
Anyway, there’s one place that will take him as a possible apprentice. That place is Heart’s Eye University. A university is a new concept in the Nameless World (Chris’s environs; it has that name because for the most part magicians believe they should use use-names rather than real ones, as your real name being known can give someone unscrupulous power over you; this does not apply to nonmagical people, as there are plenty of ways to get power over a nonmagician already), and they are trying to blend mundane and magical solutions to good effect.
Once he’s there, it’s not a bed of roses, to put it mildly. He meets Lilith, who’s in an apprenticeship she hates (for reasons Adam doesn’t understand at first), and doesn’t know why anyone would want to study magic when they don’t have magic at all. So, as most people can’t stand Lilith, she falls in with Adam. And at first, the unlikely pairing does not do very well, as you might expect.
However, as both Adam and Lilith have adventures, they slowly start to realize they have more in common than not. (They both have ethics and principles, for example.) And Lilith’s worldview (that of magicians being on top because they have magic, AKA “magical supremacy”) starts to change quite a bit (as it should).
I’m going to stop there with a plot summary, but I hope that has intrigued you.
Otherwise, I have several edits in train, I am hoping to write some fiction somehow in the next few days, and I’ll be focusing on healing up so I can do all of these things as quickly as possible.
What are you all doing this week? Let me know in the comments! (And what books are you reading?)
Introducing STAND AGAINST THE LIGHT, a Great YA Novel by George Phillies
Folks, I’m happy to introduce you to George Phillies’ newest novel, STAND AGAINST THE LIGHT. It’s a book about young superheroes, in a world where they know about such things; more specifically, it’s a book about twelve-year-old Eclipse, one of the baddest twelve-year-old girls you’re ever likely to meet (in the best of senses.) It’s an excellent book, the third in the “Eclipse: The Girl Who Saved the World” series, and I enjoyed editing it immensely.
(Note that I didn’t edit books one and two, but they are also excellent. You can get book one, ECLIPSE: THE GIRL WHO SAVED THE WORLD here for only ninety-nine cents, and book two, AIRY CASTLES ALL ABLAZE, here.)
Take a look at this gorgeous cover art by Brad Fraunfelter:
But you are probably wondering by this point, “Who is Eclipse, anyway?” Well, as I can’t do any better than George’s own blurb, take a gander at that:
Eclipse:
World’s greatest tween superhero.
World’s most terrifying tween supervillain.
Opinions differ.She’s twelve. She’s hardworking, bright, self-reliant, good with tools,
vigorously physically fit, tough as nails, still young enough to
disguise herself as a boy. Since arriving she’s only blown up one
mountain range. And she knows that when she faces the final doom, win
or lose, she will die trying.
I just loved working on this book, loved Eclipse, thought she was such a great character, and enjoyed everything about the milieu with the superheroes (called “personae” in their own universe). The best part of the book, though, were the friendships between Eclipse and the other young superheroes, most particularly with a girl named Trisha (persona name: Comet). And because I enjoyed the book so very, very much, I asked George for an excerpt, so you’d have some idea of just what you’re getting into — only in the best of senses! — and he obligingly sent the following:
Cloud stared at the wall clock. Eclipse was supposed to appear in their
base in a few minutes. Where was she?“We’ll be ready in a moment, Cloud,” Comet said. “Just so soon as all
five of us are here.” Her wait was interrupted by the hitherto-unseen
Eclipse, who materialized in the room’s center. Her garb was freshly
washed and ironed. Silver curls were precisely combed. Her face was
the image of tranquility.Star almost made a comment about girls needing to do their hair before a
fight, then bit his tongue. When Eclipse walked, she left a trail of
power that rippled the space behind her. She moved her hands. The air
through which her fingers passed curdled, warped by eddies and whorls
from half-called gifts. Looking near her was like staring at hot
pavement on a sunbright day. The slightest hint of screens flickered
above her garb, violet spiderwebs tracing the pattern of her motif.“Sorry if I needed a little longer.” Eclipse’s voice was remote, as
though she no longer lived only in the here and now. “Calling the deeper
levels is more safely done through slowness and tranquility. Is all else
prepared? Aurora? Comet?”The younger girl posed, arms outstretched, fading behind the pyramid and
eye that marked her powers’ manifestation. *Eclipse? They’re a mile
down, spread along that mountain range, except that city. Their
tunnels…that mountain range is hollowed out, with barely enough rock
left to keep it from collapsing. There! That’s all of them in Tibet,
`cept relay stations. [Images of rock tunnels, a tracery penetrating to
the roots of the Himalayas.] Rock’s laced with screens!*Eclipse’s screens appeared, bright as a magnesium flare as they enfolded
her and Comet, burning the violet usually reserved for morning glories.“We’re invisible…Now!” Comet shouted. The two girls vanished.
“You’re invisible,” Star confirmed.
Eclipse’s teleport transported the two of them. They hovered in the
upper air over the Tibetan High Plateau.“How can you do this?” Comet asked. “Those mountains are huge.”
Eclipse smiled grimly. *I cheat.* This is Pickering’s world, she told
herself, not even understanding what they’re facing. Saving them all
depends on me. She shuddered at the name of the levels she would need.
*Lucky for us, I find breaking things real easy.* She reached into the
core of her being, deeper than the Fall of Crystal, deeper than the
Tomb, deeper than the Hall of the Lidless Eye. Deeper. Deeper. Beyond
the Straight Circle. Beyond the warm touch of the Solid Rainbow. All
the way to the bottom of the Well of Infinity.A column of pure energy stabbed downwards from her right hand, piercing
thousands of feet of stone and tens of intertwined defense screens like
a surgeon’s needle lancing a troublesome boil. Hidden chambers carved
from living rock were brilliantly lit, their contents transformed in
microseconds into incandescent gas.Tibetan Empire defenses engaged. Colossal explosions shredded the air
around Eclipse and Comet. Shock waves rolled out in all directions.
Superheated fireballs, blindingly bright, rose through the stratosphere,
punching a hole in the sky above as they rose far into the ionosphere.
Comet, frightened, leaned into Eclipse’s shoulder.*Trisha,* Eclipse thought, *Don’t be afraid of these clowns. We’re
good. Give me a little more space, please?*Comet drifted back.
Eclipse summoned the full depth of her gifts. For tens of seconds her
plasma torch probed through granite, a torrent of power momentarily
absorbed by the enormous mass of the mountains.The Himalayan massif exploded. A column of superheated gas burst
skywards, carrying with it an entire line of mountains transformed to
incandescent ash. Steep cliff sides, crushed to white-hot sand, blew
out in all directions. Shock waves tore through the bedrock, the ground
of the surrounding valleys rolling in great waves as majestic as the
swells of the distant Indian Ocean.Eclipse focused her thoughts on holding her own screens against the
geological catastrophe she had created. Her own attack lanced down,
deeper and deeper, striking to the ultimate core of the fortress beneath
her.Comet managed a last glimpse of the doomed City of the Sun, a city whose
From Chapter Forty-Four, Waging Peace Through Unlimited Firepower, STAND AGAINST THE LIGHT by George Phillies
rigidly mathematical lines blurred under the impact of impact of earth
shocks, then disappeared behind falling rocks and clouds of glowing
ash. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that her last images of the
City, architecture crumbling like a matchwood ship hurled against the
coast by gale-driven waves, would be with her until her life’s end.
At any rate, I hope you’ve enjoyed the excerpt, the cover art, and my blog…now, go to Amazon and get the e-books! (Again, book one, ECLIPSE: The Girl Who Saved the World, is only ninety-nine cents today.)
Chris Nuttall’s Newest Book, STUCK IN MAGIC, Is Out…
Folks, Chris Nuttall is a good friend of mine, and also an editorial client. I lead with that, because I recently edited his newest novel, STUCK IN MAGIC, for the reinvigorated Henchman Press.
This book is a spinoff of Chris’s popular Schooled in Magic universe (which so far has spawned 23 full novels, at least five novellas, and a few other short stories). Instead of starring Emily, a girl from Kansas in our world who finds out she has magic (and thus can change her new world), it stars Elliot, also an American from our time and place. He is a military man, describes himself as “big, black, and beefy,” and one day he’s driving along the Interstate, very angry at his cheating wife. Before he knows it, his car is wrecked, he’s in the middle of a primeval forest, and a young woman — not Emily — has worked a spell so he can understand the local language.
Mind you, Elliot quickly figures out there has to have been someone from our world who’s shown up there, as books use English letters and numbers use Arabic numerals. There also are “new” inventions — new to the Nameless World, anyway — of muskets, flintlocks, and steam engine-driven trains. (All of these are thanks to Emily, but of course Elliot cannot know that.)
Elliot has no magic at all. What he has are his quick mind, his military knowledge (including knowing a great deal of military history), and how to fight insurgents bent only on his destruction. (No, he’s not faced actual magicians before. But he has faced insurgents galore in “the Sandbox,” i.e., Afghanistan, Iraq, and quite possibly Pakistan as well.)
So, what would you do, if you ended up stuck in magic? How would you deal with the wrenching sense of loss, of losing everything including that of the world of your birth, when you don’t have a major talent (as Emily does)? Would you be able to adapt?
At any rate, the ebook came out at lightspeed, and is out now. (Here’s a link from Amazon, in case you’re interested.) And the cover art is spectacular. You have to see this. (Thank artist Lydia Kurnia for coming up with this great cover.)
So, go forth, and read this! (You’ll be glad you did.)
