Boycott Urban Fantasy*

Thanks for clicking into our zone. Glad to see you. Pleasure's ours. My partner Lady E. and I have combed the outskirts of the online galaxies to bring you reviews of Fantastic Free Fiction (AKA FFF) and to link you to some fine, easy to order print pubs, as well. Topic this bi-week is High Fantasy -- with a taste of Sexy SF. As usual, Miss. E. has a pub to recommend and I have my branding-iron fired to stamp a work or writer of G.F. (Great Fiction) you'll never forget. Oh yes, and a mystery contest. Try to solve it!

Ladies First,

Daniel the Romantic tries to shield High Fantasy like a knight in armor. What's wrong with the witch's creed, "Use what is good and move on?" La Belle Dame Sans Merci is everlasting. She finds us, we pay our debt. Dark fiction gives people pleasure as does erotica or mystery or gay-vampire. You must re-love innocence to enjoy all Fantasy Fiction, especially that which stimulates our guilty pleasures. :)

One good place for Fantasy thrills & chills is: Weird Tales a cornucopia of imaginative shorts, art, poetry, and Editorial (some of the best I've read lately), pulped out four joyous times a year. My hope is that they'll soon go bi-monthly!

Daniel and I feel a key reason for the unswerving quality of Weird Tales is the wizardry of Darrell Schweitzer, both as an Editor and as an alchemically correct weaver of haunting (and haunted) fiction.

"From out of the Crocodile's Mouth" (issue #325) is Schweitzer's musically scribed, experto crede fable of magical croc-teeth that split the fabric of time when they are crushed. What toll is charged when the magician, Sekenre, tries to reclaim his youthful love? The ending will resonate with you long after you leave the prose. A sinister, full-page illo by Stephen Fabian blooms alongside Schweitzer's lyrical prose perfectly. This is a must-read Fantasy. Order your copy now from DNA pubs.

Another striking Schweitzer story is, "Tom O' Bedlam and The King of Dreams" (W.T. #317). A multihued tapestry of humor and tenderness as well as a voyage through space and time in a flying washtub!! "Tom O' Bedlam" is the best kind of poetic writing, like an old, slightly mad English ballad that weaves in Historical detail without intrusion. Guaranteed to tickle and move.

Daniel loves Keith Taylor's, "Lamia", from Weird Tales Winter 2001-02 issue (#326). Tour ancient Egypt with a shapeshifting snakewoman, Mertseger the Lamia, who's sexier than anything on television. WT holds writers to an exceptionally high literary standard, and Keith Taylor's Egyptian stories vault right over the bar. Also to be had is Taylor's "The Emerald Scarab" a standout precursor from #323. Feel, touch, and taste your way through some adventurous stories that will arouse more than your curiosity.

Weird Tales is subscription based and worth every penny. Don't listen to lukewarm reviewers or rely on hearsay, check out what a print pub that's been running for over 75 years can do! The Editors at Weird Tales welcome letters.

Go to the Discussion Forum and send any message you'd like to me or Lady E.

Thank you, Lady E. I second your fascination with Weird Tales and urge everyone to get a subscription, worth every dime.

For those hungry for High Fantasy, I suggest Pegasus Online.

The following stories (now in the archives section) on Pegasus tilt heroically at the cyber-elf-cross-genre windmills that have lately crowded the horizon beyond Lothlorien. Paladin/Editor Scott F. Marlowe metes out a quartely gathering of wideranging Spec Fiction - some of which is very good traditional Fantasy - in a breezily readable format (no pop ups!) and gives it away for Time. Though tilting-at-windmills is often a sad and lonely business, its when we see those Tragic and Romantic April Fools out there, we find... we're April's Fools ourselves, and it ain't such a big windmill afterall.

One story you don't want to miss (from the current Winter 2002 posting) is, "Haladyn and the Minotaur" by Matt Ryan -- a Gygaxian adventure straight out of those summers when you role-played so often you started to dream in character. This tale about a Halfling thief sentenced to die in the Labyrinth of Alarill scrolls along in journeyman prose style, but beats a lively drum and weaves a welcome moral about Party Loyalty. Along with a band of fellow convicts (including a lovely half-elven warrior, Salona) Haladyn the Halfling confronts a tragic Minotaur and a mystic gem. Creative ending and lots of combat. Break out the twenty-sided dice!

Also good on the Winter 2002 post is "A Claymore for Dragon" by G.W. Thomas, a rough but inventive dragon story from a cool POV. The fiction on Pegasus is typically more yarn than Literature and there is a bit of confusion with Scott's intro page that posts excerpts from the stories. The problem is the excerpts are sometimes from the beginning of the stories and sometimes not, so when you get to the actual story you may feel as though you should jump right in where the excerpt ended and that's not always the case. One nice thing, Scott lets you rate every story when you're through and has an extensive archives section that's easy to access.

I commend Scott F. Marlowe for having the chutzpah to run a free site that remembers the values of Mace, Magic, and Minotaurs. Click over and rediscover why writing doesn't have to be slick to fascinate, when it's dedicated to Adventure and delivered with class.

Mystery!

I've hidden a dark secret on Pegasus Online and defy any of you readers to find it. Anyone who posts the solution (before the next column) in the FIREBRAND discussion forum will be eligible to win an autographed prize from Lady E.

Other Pubs of Interest

1) Glyph -- an energetic semipro mag where you can find traditional fantasy and some stunning artwork, all for $3.50 an issue. Issue #7 blew me away, visually, because of the inclusion of Sarah Zares' line drawings. The cover by Zares is inventive and graceful and her interior line-drawing, reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley, is exquisite. Stories range from a lyrical and romantic mermaid story by Trent Walters to a slight but clever timeshift metamorphosis story by Gary Every, who boasts over 400 publication credits. Oh yeah, the editors welcome issue-theme proposals from readers! Well worth the $3.50 price of admission. Order from: Cullen Bunn PO Box 70 St Charles MO 63302.

2) Elysian Fiction -- this is a FREE website and a good one, but the content seems to change very slowly. I recommend "Alindra" by Terry McGarry, a romance told with grace and feeling. Lonndralon, son of a sheepherder, falls in love with the daughter of a "Mender" a gypsy-like sorceress with power to repair broken objects. Yours truly was deeply moved by this lyrical story of love and wanderlust that twists tragically only to resolve in a celebration of endurance. June 2001 post still "current", with promises of an eminent but never specified post-date for Issue #2. I encourage everyone to click over and see what Jim Bailey's doing at EF, but nudge him to move along a bit faster and more reliably with his pub.

Writers and editors are invited to the Writers and Editors Cafe in the Discussion Forum for chat and rumor link

Branding Ceremony

Will the recipient of Ringmaster Blackston's Great Fiction brand please present hindquarters!

It is my pleasure to burn my first award into the hide of Darrell Schweitzer, Editor and Fantasy Writer extraordinaire! Mr. Schweitzer, we'd like to offer you a standing ovation for your years of service and creativity in this most beloved of genres. For your writing -- a hearty round of applause! And for your hard work, and Editorial class, a low and grateful bow.

Congrats to Mr. Schweitzer and Weird Tales. From this moment on, when I mention his name, or Weird Tales in this column, the brand will follow. All brandees have my permission to promote themselves accordingly!

Next bi-week, we accelerate back to light-speed. Lady E. will challenge your attention span with a tour of some Flash Erotic SF. She'll test-taste some free sites guaranteed to keep you awake at work and I'll give a gander to a new electronic Science Fiction pub, Future Orbits. We'll also begin our survey of what the Big Boys and Girls are doing, the pro SF pubs everybody knows. Are they earning their keep?

Thanks for clicking over, and thank you Lady E. for proposing a conversation on such a stimulating topic, as usual.

Remember, until there's a better Palm-Pilot, every great novel starts with a tree.

Fiction is the Root of Imagination!

Until next time,

Daniel E. Blackston

* By the way, April Fools! We love Urban Fantasy, too, when it's well-written.

Lady E.'s review of Black Gate will appear as a bonus FIREBRAND Fiction Review column, so keep your eye out!

Firebrand Fiction Reviews: all content © Daniel E. Blackston