Epic Fantasy Fans Celebrate! This is Your Month!

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2002

There are a lot of great books to cover this month, so I want to get to it...but let's get business out of the way first. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the landslide of suggestions for the name of this new monthly book column. We put it to a vote (via our on-line poll) and, as you can see, "Wordscape" was the clear victor (Thank you, Paul G).

The most common suggestion was "Book 'Em" (or sometimes "Book 'Em, Dano") which was submitted 36 individual times by different people. The second most suggested title was "Top Shelf", but I have to tell you that my personal favorite was "Crazy Chris' Barrel O' Books".

The most erudite suggestion by far was "Book People", an obscure reference to those dudes at the end of FAHRENHEIT 451. The most accurate suggestion was probably "Stop the Madness". The silliest was "Conan the Librarian". The sexiest was "Between the Covers". And there's no question that the single most random suggestion was "My Toy Trains".

Thanks again, everyone. Now on to the books...

In terms of personal taste, I heavily favor the medium-to-hard SF side of things. For me, and others like me, it's going to be a slow month. High profile fantasy offerings are going to be dominating the new release shelves at your local bookstore, crowding out the science...


Fantasy fans, August belongs to you. Here are some of the noteworthy releases:

Sean Russell, author of the "River into Darkness" books and the "Moontide and Magic Rise" series, continues to pound out the epics (in a good way) with the release of the second book in his "Swan's War" adventures. In the new volume, THE ISLE OF BATTLE, BOOK TWO OF THE SWANS' WAR (HarperColins/Eos) no one can make it into the Hidden Lands without the guidance of a mysterious weirdo, the "map-maker".

A New York state car dealer turned epic fantasy author gets a chance to prove himself this month with his book THE FIFTH SORCERESS, CHRONICLES OF BLOOD AND STONE, BOOK ONE (Del Rey). Robert Newcomb was bored on a long plane trip when he finally read a fantasy novel that his girlfriend had been pushing him to try. He hadn't ever read any fantasy, but he enjoyed the book, and for some reason decided to try writing something similar.

The thousand plus page results of his attempt wound up on some editors' desks and a bidding war broke out over the rights to publish itwhich is an amazingly unusual accomplishment for an unknown. But...will the readers respond? It'll be interesting to found out...

Deep, deep Tolkein fans can check out the Del Rey re-release of THE BOOK OF LOST TALES 2...but casual readers BEWARE...this is not for the inexperienced. Seriously.

Out from the Forge imprint is the new Fred Saberhagen, GODS OF FIRE AND THUNDER: BOOK OF THE GODS SERIES, BOOK 5. I can't say that I'm personally in love with Saberhagen's choice of material, but I know that there are a lot of hardcore Saberhagen fans out there. You guys will undoubtedly be excited by this volume which follows a human who sneaks into Valhalla to penetrate Loki's stronghold.

THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and released by St. Martin's Press, features some really, really great stuff by both Ursula K LeGuin and Charles De Lint. Also, someone I'm not familiar with named Jan Yolen contributes an interesting conceptual piece called "The Barbarian and the Queen: Thirteen Views". (But, unless you're looking to fall asleep fast, you should only skim the "year in summery" nonfiction stuff at the beginning. It's all either too simplistic or too academic, never a good medium).

Other notable fantasies this month include: Ace's THE KING by David Feintuch, which is a "new novel in the Rodrigo of Caledon saga"; and Overlook Press' release of the legendary fantasist Tanith Lee's A BED OF EARTH, which is the third book in the loosely connected "Secret Books of Venus". Each "secret book" is a stand alone story set in an alternative history Venice where alchemy is commonly practiced.

One outpost for non-fantasy fans this month is a Sci-fi that's actually called THE OUTPOST by Mike Resnick. The good folks at TOR have put it out in a good-looking trade paperback edition. As much as I enjoy Resnick, last year I actually missed the hardcover release of this one, so I was delighted to get it in the mail.

It's a collection of interlaced short stories told through the device of guys swapping tales in a last resort dive bar on the edge of known universe. Think of it as Spider Robinson's CALLAHAN'S CROSSTIME SALOON in deep space. There's a hell of a lot more action than in Robinson (and a lot less bad puns) but the same sense of camaraderie and ironic humor can be found.

Speaking of Spider Robinson THE FREE LUNCH is also being reprinted, also by TOR, but in a mass market edition. It's about a surrealistic future amusement park that is being infiltrated, possibly by aliens. It's science fiction light, but it's entertaining and its typical Robinson optimism will brighten up your day.

And now for the...

WORDSCAPE PICK OF THE MONTH

This month it goes to THE COLLECTED FICTION OF WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON, VOLUME 1. The tome is being released by Night Shade Books, an independent imprint interested in old school "weird fiction".

Hodgson was one of the more obscure of the pulp horror writers, though the man led one hell of an interesting life. At various times he was a professional photographer, sailor, body-builder and author. He produced an incredibly large body of work, all in only an eleven year period. He died in World War I.

Lovecraft himself called Hodgson "second only to Blackwood in his serious treatment of unreality" (referring to beloved ghost story writer Algernon Blackwood). That's pretty high praise coming from the master of weird fiction.

Night Shade plans to make public every one of Hodgson's novels and short stories by means of a five volume series. This first volume will tackle all the "Sargasso Sea" stories, all the "Captain Gault" adventures and all the tales of "Cargunka". The volume will be out this month, but the other books don't have any definite release dates set.

That's it for this month, kids. Happy reading!

Wordscape is our monthly Books column.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at feedback@cinescape.com.