An RotS Review I Missed

I just discovered today another review of Return of the Sword that fell completely under my radar.  Argentinian author Gustavo Bondoni penned his positive impressions of the anthology back in October of 2009 for SFReader.com.  Bondoni writes:

“The stories strike a balance between entertainment and character development that is satisfying from both a literary and an adventure point of view.”

That’s not always an easy balance to strike. And I was very happy to see he enjoyed my own contribution to the anthology.

“A couple of stories stood out for me – ‘What Heroes Leave Behind’ by Nicholas Ian Hawkins is a somewhat poignant story of an aging warrior who, nevertheless, accepts his duty and ‘The Red Worm’s Way’ by James Enge, a convoluted tale in which nothing, and no one is what they seem.”

It’s always nice when someone says your story stands out, but this praise is particularly pleasing because Bondoni is a rather prolific author, and the other tale he mentions is written by a World Fantasy Award nominee.

This reminds me I need to start writing again one of these days soon.

Summer Day, Touch of Autumn

Summer doesn’t seem to be dying gently, but I can feel that fall will soon be here. I see that the high school football season has begun, which always brings to mind this poem:

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio
By James Wright

In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home.
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Therefore,
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other’s bodies.

I also recall the bittersweet returns to the library after the long summers of my college days: eager to learn, reluctant to give up lazy days. I do think of those early days of fall semesters with a fondness that this quotation by Alcuin (from right around the end of the 8th century) captures beautifully:

“O how sweet life was when we used to sit at leisure amid the book boxes of a learned man, piles of books, and the venerable thoughts of the Fathers; nothing was missing that was needed for…the pursuit of knowledge.”

Autumn has always been a creatively inspiring time for me, and I hope the tradition continues this year.

In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home.
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Therefore,
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other's bodies.

The Utility of Mythology

I’m reading Primitive Mythology, book one of Joseph Campbell’s The Masks of God, and came across this passage:

“…it must be conceded, as a basic principle of our natural history of the gods and heroes, that whenever a myth has been taken literally, its sense has been perverted; but also, reciprocally, that whenever it has been dismissed as a mere priestly fraud or sign of inferior intelligence, truth has slipped out the door.”

I post it here because a) mythology and fantasy literature are closely related (or one in the same?), and therefore the usefulness of one can be attributed to the other,  and b), it approximates my own thoughts on the subject of myth, religion, rite, and ceremony. When I write “the utility of mythology,” I refer to its usefulness in achieving human understanding.

Campbell has an uncanny ability to distill complex metaphysical concepts into terms most people can understand. So far, I’ve come across numerous pithy paragraphs like this that make me feel as if he pulled the very thoughts from my mind–thoughts which I couldn’t quite articulate, or at least not nearly as well–and transcribed them on the page. I highly recommend The Masks of God.

Review of ‘Return of the Sword’ at ‘The Cimmerian’

Deuce Richardson, the heavy-metal-looking blogger at The Cimmerian (a website devoted to “Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the best in heroic fantasy, horror, and historical adventure”), just posted a review of Return of the Sword.

He had some very positive things to say about the anthology, which means a great deal because the praise comes from a gathering place of experts in the heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery genres.

My First Interview

Over the last several months, Jason Waltz at Rogue Blades Entertainment has been posting interviews with the authors, artists, and editors involved in Return of the Sword. It’s been great getting to know a little about everyone else who was a part of the anthology.

My interview — my first as an author — was posted today. I think it may be one of the last, if not the last, interviews because I was most likely the last one to submit answers. (I’m a terrible procrastinator, you see).

Anyway, check it out if you have a few spare moments, and stop back here to let me know if I came across as a tool, or worse, a pontificator. It’s the only way I’ll learn.

You can check out interviews with the other authors/editors/artists by scrolling down to the comments section on the Return of the Sword page, selecting the “Authors” category in the right column on the RBE home page, or perusing the RBE news archives.

Latest Library Acquisition: Salmonson’s ‘The Dark Tales’

Every once in a while, in my endless search for hard-to-find books, I come across a deal that seems too good to be true. This time, I found a copy of Jessica Amanda Salmonson‘s The Dark Tales for a ridiculously low price. Only 277 copies of this hard copy collection were printed by the United Kingdom’s Sarob Press in 2002 — 225 limited edition copies (one of which I now have), and 52 deluxe/lettered editions.

The Dark Tales assembles 14 of Salmonson’s high fantasy tales “intended to be completely dark and decadent, all set in the same unpleasant world distant in place and time, inspired…by a fondness for the magazine Weird Tales in its classic period.”

It arrived in the mail today. When I opened it, the binding released a string of delicious cracks. It’s truly in pristine condition.

I’m looking forward to this one. My exposure to Salmonson’s work has been largely limited to her edited volumes and her essays. In fact, I’m quite fond of her essay Enjoying Heroic Fantasy, which I wrote about on this site as part of the Return of the Sword blog tour.

Needless to say, I’m thrilled to have found a copy of this book in such good shape, and at such a low price.

‘Magic & Mechanica’ Available for Purchase

At long last, Magic & Mechanica, an anthology by Ricasso Press and edited by Robert J. Santa and Bill Ward, has been released and is now available for purchase online. The first story I ever sold, “Knowledge and Dust,” appears in this publication, so I’m very happy it’s finally in print.

I was surprised and pleased to see that my story was among three to be mentioned in the product description:

Enter a world of piston-driven fantasy, where magic smashes headlong into the down-to-earth reality of technology and machines. From the all out war of dragon-riding sorcerers against an army of self-replicating, clockwork robots in Christopher M. Cevasco’s “Gambit,” to the discovery of an alien submersible by pirates in Christopher Heath’s Azieran tale “Savior in a Flask,” further still to Nicholas Ian Hawkins’ collision of a wizardly scholar and the newly-invented printing press that will ruin his career in “Knowledge and Dust,” you will certainly be amazed at the breathtaking imaginations of fifteen authors. Dragons, steam-powered tanks, Aztec warriors, angry gods, assassins both large and small…Magic & Mechanica is unlike any collection of fantasy you’ve ever seen.

Ricasso Press released Magic & Mechanica simultaneously with two other anthologies you should check out: Black Dragon, White Dragon, and Magistria: The Realm of the Sorcerer.

NOTE ADDED 3/6/2009:There’s an even better deal on Magic & Mechanica and other Ricasso Press titles at their online bookstore.

The Savage Sword of Obama

President Barack Obama made it known during his campaign that he has been an avid collector of two Marvel comic books since his childhood: Spider Man and the Savage Sword of Conan. While I don’t read comic books, I find this presidential connection to one of fantasy fiction’s most iconic characters rather heartening (after all, one’s tastes say a great deal about a person), and I smile at the idea of classic comic books residing in a future presidential library.

The Onion took Obama’s fascination with Conan a few steps into the realm of the ludicrous (as they often do) in a recent article sure to elicit a chuckle from comic book and Conan fans alike. Perhaps there’s a Department of Swords and Sorcery in our nation’s near future, or is that already a bureau in the Department of Homeland Security?

Man, do I love The Onion.

Preditors and Editors Nomination

Well I’ll be.  Someone saw fit to nominate my story, “What Heroes Leave Behind,” for best SciFi/Fantasy short story in the Preditors and Editors Poll.  Thank you to my anonymous supporter.  I see a lot of other stories from the Return of the Sword anthology in there, too, which is great.  In fact, I cast my own vote for one of them.

You can vote for or nominate your own favorite short story here.  There are loads of other categories, too, so have at it.

Martin and Le Guin Discuss the Future of SFF on Wisconsin Public Radio

I listened to a great archived piece from Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge today.  It featured commentary from George R. R. Martin and Ursula K. Le Guin on the future of science fiction (and fantasy). It was great to hear these two discuss the topic, especially on the public radio station of my home and native state.

While I’ve seen Martin speak in person and enjoyed it, I have to say his voice has a certain quality suited exceptionally well to reading on the air waves.  Be sure to listen to the end of the first segment so you can hear him read from one of his essays on why he loves fantasy (which I believe is published in one of the two volumes of Dreamsongs).

It’s good stuff, so have a listen.