Just a little something to lighten a friday afternoon. Enjoy. Then watch it again.
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He ran, ran as he hadn’t run in years. Broad sticks splintered beneath his heavy boots, driven deep into gritty soil. Branches whipped his face, scrub scraped at his calves above his boots, raising welts that remained all but invisible against skin red enough to suggest an agonizing sunburn. Or at least it would have, had he been human.
On an ogre, it was typical enough, no more abnormal than the single eye that darted frantically left and right, seeking any possible escape, or the horn that snagged on overhanging boughs and left a rain of dismembered leaves falling in his wake. He crashed directly through the trees where he could, snapping branches and saplings without slowing, darting around the larger trunks where even his prodigious strength proved insufficient to clear his path. And still he heard the sounds of pursuit, drawing ever nearer. The trees were not tightly packed here, and those who followed him could fit between and flit around far more easily than he.
Damn it all, he hadn’t even wanted this! He’d killed neither man nor woman, save when forced to defend himself, in almost three years. Not since he’d turned apostate, forsaking the worship of Chalsene Night-Bringer. Since he’d given up serving Lord Corvis Rebaine, the so-called Terror of the East.
Nicked from the Spectra Pulse Newsletter, The Ogre’s Pride is a short story set in the same world asThe Conquerer’s Shadow, the debut novel from Ari Marmell. Well, sorta…. He’s been writing tie-in fiction for years, but The Conquerer’s Shadow is his original novel. Beyond a sequel to The Conquerer’s Shadow, he’s also got a couple of novels coming out from Pyr Books, Household Gods and The Goblin Corps.
You can download a PDF of the story HERE. No knowledge of The Conquerer’s Shadow is necessary.
Keep an eye out early next week for an interview between Ari and I. We talk about everything from tie-in fiction to his upcoming books, David Eddings and Social Media.
Frederico leaned close to smell the poison on his thirteenth wife’s cold, dead lips. It tickled his nose and he resisted the strong desire to kiss her that suddenly overcame him.
That you might lose yourself from sadness by my lips, my husband and Czar, her open, glassy eyes promised him. He looked away, uncomfortable with her empty, inviting stare.
Behind him, the Minister of the Interior cleared his voice and spoke. “The cabinet feels it would be more stabilizing to consider this an assassination. Jazrel was a most popular wife.”
Frederico nodded. She had quite a following among the young girls in Espira, the region she represented, and this was a dance he knew. He’d been in this very room three years ago to watch them cut his ninth wife’s body down.
When Sasha had hung herself with a rope of knotted silk, six thousand young women in Borut had done the same to declare sisterhood with their region’s wife.
I’m currently in the middle of Ken Scholes’ Lamentation and absolutely loving it. In my excitement, I thought it only suitable to showcase one of Scholes’ short stories set in the same world. Before releasing Lamentation, the first book of five in The Psalms of Issak, Scholes made a name for himself as a short fiction writer.
A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon is available HERE.
I’m sounding like a broken record, but I’m a big fan of Chris McGrath, the artist behind these covers. What I’m worried about, though, is that as McGrath becomes more successful, his art is starting to become its own flash-in-the-pan marketing trend. He continues to appear on more and more covers, but his style doesn’t vary a whole lot. Individually, his covers are striking and he has a knack for nailing the characters as I see them in my head, but when put side-by-side, McGrath covers all start looking the same. Can’t blame the guy for finding success, though. Jeff, at Genre Reader, feels similarly. I’m also not sure that the cartoony typography really fits the tone of the series.
On top of that, I’m a big fan of the style used on the hardcovers of Lamentation and Canticle, with lovely Greg Manchess art and a classier layout and use of typography.
Thanks to Mad Hatter for the Antiphon cover.
It’s that time of year again. Take a look at the 2010 Hugo Award nominees. Much love to Joe Sherry for providing links to a bunch of the material.
Best Novel
Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest (Tor)
The City & The City, by China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer (Ace; Penguin; Gollancz; Analog)
The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest (Tor)
The City & The City, by China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer (Ace; Penguin; Gollancz; Analog)
The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
Best Novella
“Act One”, by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 3/09)
The God Engines, by John Scalzi (Subterranean)
“Palimpsest”, by Charles Stross (Wireless)
Shambling Towards Hiroshima, by James Morrow (Tachyon)
“Vishnu at the Cat Circus”, by Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, by Kage Baker (Subterranean)
Best Novelette
“Eros, Philia, Agape”, by Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/09)
“The Island”, by Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)
“It Takes Two”, by Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)
“One of Our Bastards is Missing”, by Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
“Overtime”, by Charles Stross (Tor.com 12/09)
“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast”, by Eugie Foster (Interzone 2/09)
Best Short Story
“The Bride of Frankenstein”, by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s 12/09)
“Bridesicle”, by Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)
“The Moment”, by Lawrence M. Schoen (Footprints)
“Non-Zero Probabilities”, by N.K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld 9/09)
“Spar”, by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
Best Related Book
Canary Fever: Reviews, by John Clute (Beccon)
Hope-In-The-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees, by Michael Swanwick (Temporary Culture)
The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction, by Farah Mendlesohn (McFarland)
On Joanna Russ, by Farah Mendlesohn (ed.) (Wesleyan)
The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of SF Feminisms, by Helen Merrick (Aqueduct)
This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is “I”), by Jack Vance (Subterranean)
Best Graphic Story
Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Written by Neil Gaiman; Pencilled by Andy Kubert; Inked by Scott Williams (DC Comics)
Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State Written by Paul Cornell; Pencilled by Leonard Kirk with Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona and Ardian Syaf (Marvel Comics)
Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages Written by Bill Willingham; Pencilled by Mark Buckingham; Art by Peter Gross & Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, David Hahn; Colour by Lee Loughridge & Laura Allred; Letters by Todd Klein (Vertigo Comics)
Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; Art by Phil Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse Written and Illustrated by Howard Tayler
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Avatar Screenplay and Directed by James Cameron (Twentieth Century Fox)
District 9 Screenplay by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell; Directed by Neill Blomkamp (TriStar Pictures)
Moon Screenplay by Nathan Parker; Story by Duncan Jones; Directed by Duncan Jones (Liberty Films)
Star Trek Screenplay by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Directed by J.J. Abrams (Paramount)
Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter; Story by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, & Thomas McCarthy; Directed by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Doctor Who: “The Next Doctor” Written by Russell T Davies; Directed by Andy Goddard (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who: “Planet of the Dead” Written by Russell T Davies & Gareth Roberts; Directed by James Strong (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who: “The Waters of Mars” Written by Russell T Davies & Phil Ford; Directed by Graeme Harper (BBC Wales)
Dollhouse: “Epitaph 1″ Story by Joss Whedon; Written by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon; Directed by David Solomon (Mutant Enemy)
FlashForward: “No More Good Days” Written by Brannon Braga & David S. Goyer; Directed by David S. Goyer; based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer (ABC)
Best Editor, Long Form
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
Liz Gorinsky
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Juliet Ulman
Best Editor, Short Form
Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams
Best Professional Artist
Bob Eggleton
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio
Daniel Dos Santos
Shaun Tan
Best Semiprozine
Ansible edited by David Langford
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, & Cheryl Morgan
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal
Best Fan Writer
Claire Brialey
Christopher J Garcia
James Nicoll
Lloyd Penney
Frederik Pohl
Best Fanzine
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
CHALLENGER edited by Guy H. Lillian III
Drink Tank edited by Christopher J Garcia, with guest editor James Bacon
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith
Best Fan Artist
Brad W. Foster
Dave Howell
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Saladin Ahmed
Gail Carriger
Felix Gilman
Seanan McGuire
Lezli Robyn
Congrats to everyone nominated! I’m more interested in the ‘Best Novel‘ category than I have been for years. I read, and loved, The City & The City, I’ve been sitting on Julian Comstock and The Windup Girl for a few months. Boneshaker is near the top of my ‘To Buy’ list. Certainly a good list to turn to as I choose my reading material over the next couple of months.
After reading Blake Charlton’s interview with Saladin Ahmed, I was curious to check out his work. Seeing his name on the ballot for the Campbell Award makes it a priority.
One caveat, though. Am I the only one who doesn’t really understand why Ansible gets so much love? Is it based on legacy at this point? Or is there something I’m missing?
- Hugo Award
Winner
- About Aidan Moher
- Bibliography