Monthly Archives: January 2013

Art

Cover Art for Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, edited by Landon and Shurin

By Aidan Moher January 17th, 2013
Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, edited by Landon and Shurin

It’s a nice cover. Clean, and reminiscent of high end literary journals without looking stale. It’s a cute play on expectations to change the letters of the keyboard as well.

Of the project, Landon says:

Our goal, if any such thing can be claimed, is to create a record of all the incredibly rich content being created on the web. We put out a call for submissions from the community at large and received over 200. Accounting for our own finds, that means well over 300 pieces of non-fiction that range from reviews, to essays about the field, to what it means to live the genre life (or something to that effect).

I’m very excited for this project, and contributed several handfuls of links and articles around the web for consideration by Shurin and Landon. I’m hoping to see some of these articles, written by my favourite online members of the fan community, make it among the 40-50 articles published in the collection. Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary is a great step towards not only chronicling the best online fan writing, but also for providing a new audience for these writers. How great would it be to see a collection like this appear in packages distributed to members of major conventions, like WorldCon or the World Fantasy Convention? Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary is set for release in late February or early March by Pandemonium Fiction.

Art

You like Fantasy Maps? We got Fantasy Maps.

By Aidan Moher January 15th, 2013
You like Fantasy Maps? We got Fantasy Maps.

Map from The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham

If you read A Dribble of Ink, chances are that you’re an entrenched Fantasy fan, yah? And, if you’re such a committed Fantasy fan, chances are that you love maps. I mean, don’t we all have a little Bilbo Baggins in all of us? I sure do. So, I pleased to run across a large collection of various Fantasy maps collected together on A Fantasy Reader, gathered together from across the ‘net.

Maps included among the many are:

Joe Abercrombie

Abraham, Daniel

Hobb, Robin

Jordan, Robert

Keyes, Greg

If you’re serious about maps, like I am, you’ll want to keep an eye on this Index of Fantasy Maps, which has been updated frequently since it first began in 2009. What are your favourite maps?

Feature Article

‘Life and Death in Fantasy’ by Francis Knight

By Francis Knight January 14th, 2013

Fiction, it often seems to me is becoming more preoccupied with deaths, both death itself and the manner of it in nasty, gruesome ways. Why? Many reasons I’m sure – a more cynical age for one. Another is the western obsession with Youth and Beauty as though they alone can stave off Death and Decay. As a society we are more personally removed from death than at any time in history, yet via media at the same time we are exposed – at an emotional distance – to deaths we would once never have known about. Where once bodies were laid out by their family, washed, dressed, respects given, now they are hidden away in their coffins, dressed by strangers, almost as though we’re ashamed that one of us let death overtake him. It is no longer a part and parcel of our lives in the same way – ably demonstrated by my co worker, who moonlights as an embalmer. When she tells people, almost every reaction is a variation on ‘Ewww, you touch dead people!’. So, with death removed from our real lives, less matter-of-factly “there”, perhaps we delve into it more in fiction, because it’s one of the few places we have left. Read More »

News

Free Readin’, The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin

By Aidan Moher January 10th, 2013

A-Song-Of-Ice-And-Fire-2012-Calendar-a-song-of-ice-and-fire-31077687-900-900Over on his blog-that’s-not-a-blog-that’s-actually-just-a-blog, George R.R. Martin has released a new teaser chapter from The Winds of Winter, the sixth volume of his popular A Song of Ice and Fire series. There’s still no release date, but it’s a nice treat anyway. That said, I won’t read it until the book is released, but I know some people like these.

On the morning that she left the Water Gardens, her father rose from his chair to kiss her on both cheeks. “The fate of Dorne goes with you, daughter,” he said, as he pressed the parchment into her hand. “Go swiftly, go safely, be my eyes and ears and voice… but most of all, take care.”

“I will, Father.” She did not shed a tear. Arianne Martell was a princess of Dorne, and Dornishmen did not waste water lightly. It was a near thing, though. It was not her father’s kisses nor his hoarse words that made her eyes glisten, but the effort that brought him to his feet, his legs trembling under him, his joints swollen and inflamed with gout. Standing was an act of love. Standing was an act of faith.

He believes in me. I will not fail him.

Seven of them set out together on seven Dornish sand steeds. A small party travels more swiftly than a large one, but the heir to Dorne does not ride alone. From Godsgrace came Ser Daemon Sand, the bastard; once Prince Oberyn’s squire, now Arianne’s sworn shield. From Sunspear two bold young knights, Joss Hood and Garibald Shells, to lend their swords to his. From the Water Gardens seven ravens and a tall young lad to tend them. His name was Nate, but he had been working with the birds so long that no one called him anything but Feathers. And since a princess must have some women to attend her, her company also included pretty Jayne Ladybright and wild Elia Sand, a maid of ten-and-four.

What does this mean for The Winds of Winter? Who knows. But, if it’s your thing to read Martin’s books one trickled-out chapter at a time, have at ‘er.