Thursday, November 21, 2013

The Last of His Kind - Review by S.E.

The Last of His Kind and Other StoriesThe Last of His Kind and Other Stories by Bill Ward
S.E.Lindberg rating: 5 of 5 stars

Last Man Standing – Seven Delightful, Demonic Duels


The Last of His Kind and Other Stories  by Bill Ward packages five of his previously published tales with two new ones (see the table of contents below.) This is highly recommended for Dark Fantasy fans.

One story is “man vs. self/society” but the rest share the conflict of “protagonist vs. rival.” These are the most serious of conflicts, each being a fantastic duel to the death. Hence an apt, alternative title would be “Last Man Standing.” All are dark fantasy, and Ward’s entertaining narrative will escort you kindly through hell (but not back). Each story is original and varied in milieu/perspective/available magic. The tales are also arranged nicely, with two flash fiction pieces breaking up the normal length short stories.

You’ll experience heavy doses of chaotic evil, small aliquots of guns, a bit of oriental mystique, and two solid hits of bewilderment. Also, the last tale echoes the hellish goodness presented in the first; check out these excerpts:

Hellish Environment, from By Hellish Means
…within the amphitheater vestibule was a thick, unbroken darkness, and the demon within her saw through it with a crystalline clarity. It relished, too, the tormented and frozen forms of the hundreds of corpses that filled the place…Caught in their last agony, mummified by the long years in the desert air and any the blast of hellpower that must have slain them, the dead surrounded Yrisa, screaming silent screams. Many of them, impossibly, still stood upright with their withered limbs rooted to the spot, their clothing and flesh long since fused into a single tough skin of mottled black. Most lay in heaps upon the ground, a tangled and undifferentiated mass of contorted bodies...

Hellish Action, from Wyrd of War
A red cliff of seeping flesh reared above Vendic. He charged, penetrating the aura of terror surrounding the juggernaut, his body shuddering from the tortured dirge of the construct’s chorus. He hacked at the nearest limb as one felling timber, chopping a wedge in the unprotected meat. Close now to the beast Vendic saw the individual contours of people entwined in its sickening mass—skinless tissues melding, entire bodies stretched into tendons driving dense clumps of muscle—layer upon layer of manlike shapes slithering above and beneath one another in a nightmarish parody of human anatomy. Through the clot of blood and lymph that clung to the great composite beast, scores of faces wept and screamed.

Contents
1. “The Wyrd of War” originally published in The Return of the Sword from Rogue Blades Entertainment, March 2008
2. Shadow of the Demonspawn Emperor – first time published here 2013
3. Above the Dark Wood - first time published here 2013
4. “The Killer’s Face” originally published in Morpheus Tales Issue 6, October 2009
5. “The Last of His Kind” originally published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Issue 3, Winter 2010
6. “The Tale of Gerroth the Damned” originally published in Morpheus Tales Issue 2, October 2008
7. “By Hellish Means” originally published in Demons: A Clash of Steel from Rogue Blades Entertainment, June 2010

The titular tale is a fine adventure, but my favorites were the opening tale The Wyrd of War” and Above the Dark Wood” since they left me feeling disturbed/uncertain. Make no mistake, they were crisply and deliberately written. They were not as mind-blowing as Phillip Dick, but I was reminded of his ability to pleasantly confuse readers. I devoured the eBook on a business trip and was left hungry for more. And luckily there is! I will be checking out these other Ward anthologies in the near future:
Mightier than the Sword and Other Stories and Heartless Gao Walks Number Nine Hell and Other Stories
Mightier than the Sword and Other Stories Heartless Gao Walks Number Nine Hell and Other Stories









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Saturday, November 16, 2013

Timlett's "The Seedbearers" - Review by S.E.

The Seedbearers

The Seedbearers by Peter Valentine Timlett


S.E. Lindberg rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Game of Thrones on the Titanic!


Peter Valentine Timlett’s 1976 The Seedbearers starts a trilogy. Ostensibly inspired by history, the tale takes place on the island of Ruta (Atlantis). The cover blurb is accurate: it is a “bloody, sensual tale of an immense and violent struggle in the Atlantis of ancient Legend.” It begins with a brutal first chapter; the body of work is all political intrigue laced with sensual, adult themes; the final third is a satisfying, all-out-war synchronized with cataclysm.

Many tits are exposed, and all are gilded in gold: The domineering, Mayan-like Toltecs lead a fragile coalition. The Toltec’s themselves are split into the army and priesthood camps, and they rule over the Akkadian craftsman and Rmoahal slaves. They all live on Ruta. Chapter one is over-the-top, presenting all cultures as sexist in some way; in fact, misogyny appears intricate to the plot. The nicer cultures may treat woman okay, but still like to sacrifice virgins. Another rapes and murders them. Another eats them on occasion. In the first chapter alone there is (1) a beheading of a young girl… the subsequent eating of her corpse, (2) the a rape of one girl by >4 dozen soldiers, (3) a traditional sacrifice of young girl strapped to an altar, and (4) a slave girl whoring to maintain her life.

Timlett represents no culture in a positive light (to support the plot), but having just read Charles R. SaundersImaro (in which a wondrous blend of fantasy warfare was mixed respectfully with African history) it was jarring to see the presentation of the enslaved, black Rmoahal as ruthless cannibals led by Voodoo priests.

Sword & Sorcery?: This was pitched to Sword & Sorcery fans, but the magic is limited to telepathic and psychic elements. There are several instances in which the astral realm is explored, and the story flirts with ghosts & invisible demons (more of this would have been welcomed). The closest thing to a magic-item is the “Instrument of Mating” (a ritualistic wooden phallus…seriously).

Rating & Recommendation: Fans of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire series) should enjoy this. Martin may be a better writer of characterization & adult-soap-opera, but Timlett offers similar adult-fantasy themes that come to closure in one novel (this does start a trilogy, but this first dose could stand alone). Atlantis is doomed to sink after all (that is no spoiler), but there are several groups vying for power: in a nut shell, this is “Game of Thrones” on the Titanic.

The characterization probably deserves a 3-rating, but the plot is thoughtfully constructed and the action delivered well. I tend to give the initial story in a trilogy a “4’ if I am inclined to check out the second, which I am (The Power Of The Serpent).









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Friday, November 1, 2013

Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Topics for Nov-Dec 2013: Kane and Obscure Books


Sword and Sorcery Nov0Dec 2013 Groupread Kane and Obscure

All Sword & Sorcery Groupies, the poll is done and the two Groupreads Topics for Nov-Dec 2013 are:


1) Obscure Books: 
Link = https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

2) And Karl Edward Wagner's Kane
Link to groupread here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Please join us!  The banner is a montage of coverart; artist credits below:

Frank Frazetta's work shown:
Bloodstone, 1975
Dark Crusade, 1976
Night Winds, 1978

Bloodstone Dark Crusade Night Winds

Ken Kelly's cover for the Nightshade edition of:
Gods in Darkness: The Complete Novels of Kane, 2002.
Gods in Darkness  The Complete Novels of Kane