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FANTASY WOMEN
Lady E. and I brainstormed pretty heavily over the topic for this bi-week's column. We wanted to do something to celebrate the birth of my daughter, Emily Mae Blackston, born this September 14th. The column is long overdue -- but Emily Mae arrived right on time and we happily dedicate this installment of Firebrand Fiction to her.
Once again, we've combed the outer reaches of the web and stalked through some of the best print pubs on offer to unearth some outstanding Fantasy Adventures, all of which, this bi-week, are either written by women or feature glorious heroines in swashbuckling action.
Lady E. takes first honors with her review of a pulse-pounding story fromSWORD'S EDGE. If you haven't yet clicked over to this blade-slinging, spell-weaving webzine, we suggest you follow the link to some free Fantasy Adventure of the neoclassical vintage -- a label we feel is in much too short supply.
 Daniel recommended this site to me quite some time ago, with a special mention of Howard Jones' "Elise" stories. "Quarry of Sand" is the latest "Elise" offering at SWORD'S EDGE and this quick-read adventure would make a splendid introduction to Jones' series character for those who have yet to meet her. Elise Devareux, the Grand Marshall of Archatain, is one of those fictional personas that seems to have a life beyond the pages of her stories. While I'm usually doubtful and often disappointed by adventure heroines created by male writers, this wise, flintlock shooting lady is a superb protag and she suffers from none of the usual male miscues regarding female warriors. Don't expect to find a vegetarian Frostflower, or a half-naked, brass-brassiered cover-of Realms leading-lady when you enter Jones' world. Elise is intelligent, brave, creative, and morally astute -- with a looming sense of tragic sensitivity and tarnished idealism.
"Quarry of Sand" recounts Elise's quest for revenge against an assassin who murdered the high-mage Verdan, who was her gaming partner and friend. With Tulen, the fallen mage's best apprentice, Elise rides into a desert wasteland, tracking the murderer. After some nifty magework by the young apprentice, the pair enters a spooky tomb inhabited by a fiendishly powerful sorcerer, Amahazariad. One line that made me smile described Elise's reaction to Tulen's request for a "good-luck kiss", just as they descended into the gloomy burial place: 'Elise followed. She never failed to be amazed by men, for whom sex was a possibility that loomed large at all times.'
Never mix business with pleasure! The tale springs quickly into combat, pitting Elise and her flintlocks against Amaharaziad in avatar form -- in a body made of sand. I thought the combat scenes skillfully penned and the pacing of this story marvelous. In the end, there is a matinee style ending with some shedding of tears -- of course, Elise rides away, lonely and wise, hinting at epic adventures yet to come. I recommend this story, and all the "Elise" tales to anyone who likes adventure with their Fantasy. These tales are free, folks, and sharp as a shining broadsword.
 For a Fantasy tale of an entirely different flavor, I'd suggest, "To Give You the World, My Soul, My Love", by Emily Gaskin. This poetic tale, slow and dreamy like the river that is its setting, can be found, free of charge, at a unique website, IDEOMANCER. The site itself is a rainbow of moods and themes, but what all of the stories have in common (save for a couple I just didn't get) is a sense of beauty and ambiguous tragedy. I can't think of any other pub like this one. The surf-friendly site allows you to download whole issues or skip around by category. The Fantasy section is rich with off-beat, dreamlike tales, and Gaskin's is one of the best.
The story's plot concerns a young maiden who refuses all suitors while awaiting the man she know will be a true conqueror. After finding him, a man with eyes like "blistering coals", she surrenders completely to his amorous intensity, and inspires his ambition with her sublime beauty. Ultimately, she becomes a victim of his domination, only to assume her own undefeatable power despite his sorceric imprisonment. No synopsis, however, will do justice to this tale. Like the best allegorical reads, this story blends real-world concerns with mythical iconography. Those are big words, but Gaskin's prose encourages lofty compliments and if you are a devout lover of language like myself, you will relish reading this short piece aloud, when the words flow and ripple like a river flowing through the seasons... A wonderful treat for the soul.
IDEOMANCER is a sophisticated, yet unpretentious, webzine, and boasts some of the most lyrically written and meditative stories that you'll ever find without spending a nickel for your effort. Daniel has called the site "an oasis of daydreams". I like that phrase as it describes the ethereality of the site, as well as the easy transcendence you'll tap into while reading the short, stylistically radiant stories. "To Give You the World, My Soul, My Love" may have one of the more excessive titles of the short SF stories we've recently encountered, but it is a gem of a story -- one of many you'll find at this one of a kind website.
Unlike Lady E., I found myself off-line for most of this bi-week. With the new baby, it was easier to read print pubs and the best read I've had while rocking the car-seat cradle with one foot is BLACK GATE #4 . We reviewed BG #3 in a bonus column some time ago and the pub has been frequently mentioned in the SFReader Discussion Forums. Add to that, our recent, outstanding interview with BLACK GATE's Editor/Publisher, John O' Neill, and I guess you could fairly say that we are enamored with the magazine.
 Issue #4 is a great read from cover to cover and, as usual, the pub is brilliantly visual with haunting interior art, author photos, comics, and pleasurably readable type. The fiction is likewise spellbinding.
Patrice E. Sarath's story, "A Prayer for Captain La Hire" fits nicely into our feminine theme for this bi-week's column. Although the protagonist of the tale is a man, La Hire is an historical figure who fought by the side of Joan Of Arc, and the story's power is derived largely by the ghostly influence of the Maid of Orleans. There are some narrative problems with Sarath's spiritual paean to La Hire's redemption -- mostly due to a confusing denoument involving ambiguous combat and her difficulty juggling a fairly large-scale onstage cast. However, the story succeeds despite its rough spots. "A Prayer for Captain La Hire" picks up where your high school history books leave off and follows the guilt-ridden and world-weary exploits of two knights who once fought beside the Maid. One has become a mercenary - and one, Marechal De Rais (who was the real life inspiration for the legend of Bluebeard) has become a demonic enemy, tortured by both a lust for power and a longing for Salvation. Fifteenth century France is alive and rife with mystical fire in this impressive story, which is both an adventure tale and a morale parable. Highly recommended.
In fact, we'd recommend the entire issue of BLACK GATE #4 -- with only one, minor reservation. Don't expect every story -- or even most of them - to feature swords, spells, and knights in armor. Instead, expect your vision of Fantasy fiction to be challenged and enlarged by some of the most imaginative and technically proficient storytellers the genre has to offer.
Our last feminine Fantasy comes from one of the industry big-guns, THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION. Lady E. reviewed this pub in her first solo column some weeks back. We both read and enjoy F&SF, so we were quite excited to receive the bonus-size 53rd anniversary issue. I mean -- just take a look at the stellar line-up for the issue: Damon Knight, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Reed, Tanith Lee, and Lucius Shepard! When the issue arrived, I set aside all my other plans for the morning and dug in immediately, with much excitement, sure that I would soon be transported to faraway worlds and bewitched by some sterling prose.
For the most part, my expectations were fulfilled. However, I'd like to take a moment to point out a few nagging concerns I had with the issue. First, there is the cover and its attendant story, by Charles Coleman Finlay, "A Democracy of Trolls".
Mr. Finlay's fiction has appeared in F&SF quite frequently in the recent past. Evidently, the editorial staff views him as a contender for eventual excellence. This may be so -- Mr. Finaly's writing shows a certain degree of promise. We do however, find it a bit presumptuous that "A Democracy of Trolls" was placed in the forefront spot for an issue where nearly every other story on offer was both more accomplished -- and penned by a worthier scribe. Finlay's story has a great title and some nice, playful moments, but it hardly deserves top-billing above some of the best writers in the genre. Specifically, the story -- about a tribe of caveman-like trolls with a human "foster child" along for the ride -- suffers not only from lack of originality, but from rough narration and excessive length. Finlay's penchant for hyphenated word-creations grows quite painful: "milk-heavy", "people-skin", "hundred-legs", "good-sized", "strange-smelling" -- and on and on.
In addition, the satirical inversion of "troll-culture": moss eating, rotted flesh eating, fear of sunlight, all the clichés you might expect are here in full-bloom. It is almost as though Finlay is trying to prop-up the run-of-the-mill premise with idiosyncratic word-games. That said, the possibilities suggested by the title, that there might be a palpable political allegory in this story, an inventiveness with satirical themes, is never actually realized, and what you have is a maudlin, mother-with-alien-baby story that runs about twice as long as it should for its own-good.
 My other objection to the issue's otherwise splendid contents is to "Something by the Sea", by Jeffery Ford. Ford's contribution (a selection from his recent short-story collection) seemed somewhat confused and slight of purpose and theme. The element of story here takes a backseat to a pastiche of disassociated lyricism and poetic description. There's a dog, Mathematics, who lopes through the tale, conveniently appearing and disappearing like a soap-opera toddler, and well, I may be old-fashioned, but I still believe a writer ought to provide a plot and substantive characters to go along with all his whirligigs: magic lanterns, crushed pearls, sailing ships, and hookah pipes. Of course, it might have helped to have a hookah pipe handy while reading this story and we wonder if its discombobulated narration wasn't the result of some late night imbibing. Still, if you are a Ford fan (and we hear there are more than a few) then you will probably like this story despite our lack of enthusiasm.
Now, finished with objections, you can rest assured that the other stories in the anniversary issue are worthwhile reads. Tanith Lee's, "In the City of Dead Night", is our aforementioned feminine Fantasy and this story shows how brilliantly a writer can incorporate poetic fancy with skillful plotting and characterization. Lee is a master of lyricism and, though this tale also boasts a fair number of hyphenated nouns and adjectives, they are less obtrusive than in, "A Democracy of Trolls."
The story concerns a pair of thieves, Aira and Hassent, who enter the City in search of a huge score in the underground Thesuary. Briefed by a questionable Source and provided with magical apparatus suitable for the task, the pair begin a stealthy and highly professional burglary in a City that has no night. Illumined by a magically created second Sun, the City exists in without true night and moves from twilight to dawn.
Lee's story is brilliant even at the surface level of adventure, but the story is much more than an adventure. Like all great Fantasy, this tale is also a psychological paradigm rife with Archetypical resonance; her writing is so accomplished in every detail from dialogue to description that I relished each sentence of this story and found myself transported to that magical space where the room I was sitting in, reading, disappeared, and I was with Aira and Hassent in the treasure room, cringing with mounting fear as a Dark Guardian of unknown substance traced the edges of our perception.
A glimpse at the treasure room: 'Zi-rubies, mostly of absurd enormity, stacked up from floor to ceiling, like columns of fiery blood, emeralds green as the sea that lay packed tight as figs in clear glass boxes, pink sapphires heaped more carelessly in low pens, over which they had sometimes coyly spilled. Electris was ranked along, row on row, in bundles, like spears, as we had been told. Next to the pale gleam of it burned the matured glow of gold, in bricks, rings, rods, and hot-white jidel silver, one good piece of which sells for a year's luxury, in cups and shields, body mail and beast-armor, or formed into books, where every page was of thin leaf-silver set with thick lines of golden qualium... '
This is just the barest sample of Lee's elegance and imagination. A simply amazing writer who offers here an Adventure Fantasy story of the highest caliber. The story is itself as rich as the treasure trove the two thiefs attempt to plunder. This tale absolutely defies and destroys the absurd conclusions of some critics who believe the Fantasy Adventure story has been mined for all it's worth. "In the City of Dead Night" is original, dark, foreboding, superbly written, and reaches to the highest levels of literary expression that the novelette form will admit. We are breathlessly amazed....
In conclusion, the anniversary issue of F&SF is a tremendous success. The Shepard and Le Guin stories are solid and entertaining, while the farewell, final published story by Damon Knight, "Watching Matthew", is positively sublime. Tanith Lee's story is a masterpiece of lyricism and imagination. The contributions of the newer writers, however, suffer from the contrast. If Mr. Finlay and Mr. Ford are to be posed as 'successors' to the aforementioned master-storytellers, then they must labor hard to 'carry the torch'. Mr. Ford, in particular, seems to have engendered ubiquitous praise and enthusiasm; we only hope that he won't let this prevent him from focusing on the task at hand, which is working beyond himself to create quality fiction.
Our Brand Award goes to Tanith Lee for, "In the City of Dead Night." Of course, this is a superfluous Award for Ms. Lee, but we must give credit where credit is due. Congrats Tanith Lee, you are truly one of the best writers of speculative fiction around and we hope we will continue to see your stories and novels on our bookstore shelves for many years to come.
Debate and conversation available now in the SFReader.com Discussion Forums.
Until Next Time,
Daniel E. Blackston
Firebrand Fiction Reviews: all content © 2002, Daniel E. Blackston |
