“So the manifold delights and pleasures of that rollicking novel The High Crusade came as no surprise, back there in 1960, and those of us who were on the scene then raced through the three installments of the magazine serialization as fast as we could pry them out of John Campbell. ”

3.5 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/poul-andersons-the-high-crusade-an-appreciation-by-robert-silverberg

Modesty is helping out with a local village fete, including with the bottle fruit stall. This surprises Tarrant rather a lot, but he pitches in.

If you are hoping for Blaise and Garvin to not stumble onto your operation, then don’t do this :-

Run a con involving Merlin and hence someone Modesty named herself after, and make a tv show of it

Hold an old not-girlfriend of Willie’s in obvious fright.

Send very low rent hoods and assassins to ambush people who are Blaise and Garvin, and will of course know them.

Definitely don’t get Willie and Modesty to be your treasure divers.

4 out of 5

An otherwise amiable enough billionaire has a loopy vision of a supervirus doomsday – and wants Blaise and Garvin as the couple who will repopulate the planet. After inviting them for dinner he suckers them and transports them to an African Eden with desert on all sides.

At the moment, people are still alive, though, and in search of satellite data that contains information on a resource assay for a small country – many rivals have sent people to get it from the rightful owners. But Modesty and Willie don’t take kindly to their primitive and fun soujourn being interrupted and help out.

4 out of 5

Tarrant tells Blaise and Garvin Jack Fraser is missing, and the postcards from him are fake.

They immediately suspect Salamander Four, and snatch a local leader who doesn’t like to get seasick. He blames a rival organisation, and offers to help get Fraser back.

He was lying, and Fraser is being held by a combat superwoman – someone who is actually better than Blaise technically, and stronger and faster.

However, proven on the battlefield means a lot. So does shooting down a helicopter containing the woman trying to turn you into a double agent traitor spy.

4 out of 5

And those Atlas guys are real it seems.

3.5 out of 5

A Black Widow? Bad? Nah.

3.5 out of 5

And a Reverse Flash Task Force and an apartment rebuild.

3 out of 5

A couple of Tamarans, a new planet.

3.5 out of 5

Hawk-Dove add White Canary file threat.

4 out of 5

Yeah, we Authority too.

2 out of 5

Working for a church sucks. So do big satanic monsters.

3 out of 5

Sketch of the character from The Windup Girl.

3.5 out of 5

Sketch of the character from The Windup Girl.

3 out of 5

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__FUCW2B8zB4/TIXcpQdkCWI/AAAAAAAAADg/8yTtQ14diGE/s400/windupgirl_post.jpg

Blew it up. Woops.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/3710/full

“She approached the Jaguar’s body, which was already dwindling and decaying and slumping-in on itself. She knelt, peering at the wreckage, until she spied the seed at its heart, a carving of a jaguar in black glass, about half life-sized. That had been the focus for Mutex’s spell – the foundation for the god’s body, augmented by dark rituals, blood magic, and the power of an ancient artifact called the Cornerstone that was utterly consumed in the process of luring the god to Earth.

Beta-B and Rondeau had succeeded. Mutex’s mind had been snatched out of the Jaguar and replaced in his own body, and since the god’s mind had been destroyed by Rondeau’s possession, there was nothing left to fill the avatar’s form. And now all the god’s works would disappear.”

http://www.marlamason.net/mirrors/?p=392

“She approached the Jaguar’s body, which was already dwindling and decaying and slumping-in on itself. She knelt, peering at the wreckage, until she spied the seed at its heart, a carving of a jaguar in black glass, about half life-sized. That had been the focus for Mutex’s spell – the foundation for the god’s body, augmented by dark rituals, blood magic, and the power of an ancient artifact called the Cornerstone that was utterly consumed in the process of luring the god to Earth.

Beta-B and Rondeau had succeeded. Mutex’s mind had been snatched out of the Jaguar and replaced in his own body, and since the god’s mind had been destroyed by Rondeau’s possession, there was nothing left to fill the avatar’s form. And now all the god’s works would disappear.”

http://www.marlamason.net/mirrors/?p=392

““So what’s the Mason’s deal, exactly?” Nicolette said, retaking her seat. “She wants to exterminate all life?”

Crapsey turned his chair upright and sat back down. “Nah. Not all life. Things that aren’t sentient don’t bother her much, though she doesn’t have any particular affection for them. It’s mostly people she can’t stand, and dolphins. Practically speaking, killing everybody is really hard, just in terms of plain logistics – the world’s teeming with people, more born every day, billions of them, and most fight like hell to stay alive. She could drop nukes or something, but she says she has plans for the planet, and doesn’t want to break it.””

4 out of 5

http://www.marlamason.net/mirrors/?p=365

““So what’s the Mason’s deal, exactly?” Nicolette said, retaking her seat. “She wants to exterminate all life?”

Crapsey turned his chair upright and sat back down. “Nah. Not all life. Things that aren’t sentient don’t bother her much, though she doesn’t have any particular affection for them. It’s mostly people she can’t stand, and dolphins. Practically speaking, killing everybody is really hard, just in terms of plain logistics – the world’s teeming with people, more born every day, billions of them, and most fight like hell to stay alive. She could drop nukes or something, but she says she has plans for the planet, and doesn’t want to break it.””

4 out of 5

http://www.marlamason.net/mirrors/?p=365

Team-up no good – try Lobo, no puking.

4 out of 5

Catman kid kill revenge.

3.5 out of 5

Bad Rag sister showdown.

3.5 out of 5

A panel from this strip.

Willie is wandering Yellstone National Park by himself for a few days while Modesty spends time with John Dall, and is to join him later.

A few dodgy looking types ask him if he is planning on hanging around. When he says yes they eventually decide to get rid of him, and managed to take him down and chuck him in the river in a canoe, unconscious to crash over falls.

A couple of other adventurers are also around – looking to make a deal for a treasure map to an ancient Aztec stash of all things, and they manage to rescue Willie. A good thing, as when Modesty shows up, they can return the favour with regards to a bent lawyer and his henchmen.

4.5 out of 5

The Golden Frog is a token in the possession of the worlds greatest unarmed combat master. He took Modesty on as a student when she impressed him with her raw versatility – and she earned the Frog sobriquet by basically being really good at jumping around and booting people.

A Khmer leader that The Network robbed in the past when he held lower rank wants revenge and is going to use Blaise’s old master and his granddaughter to get it.

So, off to Cambodia for Blaise and Garvin.

4.5 out of 5

Willie spots an entertaining tv show – a guru that claims he can make money materialise – and realises that it is their old friend the con artist Idaho George in disguise, along with his partner Maisie.

Unfortunately for him a psychopathic gangster is also watching – of the gullible superstitious variety, and she believes him.

She orders him snatched – but Modesty is with him because she had been helping him pick out a present, and she is snatched instead.

This does not go down well with said gang leader and her colourfully named cohort, so it is comas and con jobs to get out of it, to give Willie time to find them.

4.5 out of 5

Farishta door.

3 out of 5

Farishta door.

3 out of 5

Farishta door.

3 out of 5

The Scarlet Pimpernel – Emmuska Orczy
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/60

Set in France, the Scarlet Pimpernel is a pro royal, or at least anti-guillotine proto superhero, who leads the followers of Robespierre a merry dance as her rescues plenty of people from their fate.

He has his friends and helpers, this dashing Englishman, and it is through them that the French try and discover his identity.

3.5 out of 5

http://media.libsyn.com/media/classictales/CT_164_Pimpernel_1of9.mp3

The Curse of Capistrano – Johnston McCulley
http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/markzorro.htm

Repression and oppressive taxation grows in one corner of California. Don Diego Viega, whose picture might just be beside the word ‘fop’ if California had a dictionary, can do nothing about it.

As one of the local military says “he is about as dangerous as a lizard basking in the sun”.

The same cannot be said for Zorro. The Fox offers the local peons some hope, and does what he can to foment resistance.

When the moneygrubbing goes to far and some of the reasonably well liked local aristocracy are imprisoned, things come to a head, especially after the flogging of the local friar.

In an amusing scene, Senorita Pulido gets herself out of captivity by holding herself hostage. Luckily, while fleeing, Zorro is on hand.

Comedy, and action, and romance as Zorro saves the day.

Well worth reading.

4.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/download/curse_of_capistrano_1008/curseofcapistrano_01_mcculley_64kb.mp3

The Curse of Capistrano – Johnston McCulley
http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/markzorro.htm

Repression and oppressive taxation grows in one corner of California. Don Diego Viega, whose picture might just be beside the word ‘fop’ if California had a dictionary, can do nothing about it.

As one of the local military says “he is about as dangerous as a lizard basking in the sun”.

The same cannot be said for Zorro. The Fox offers the local peons some hope, and does what he can to foment resistance.

When the moneygrubbing goes to far and some of the reasonably well liked local aristocracy are imprisoned, things come to a head, especially after the flogging of the local friar.

In an amusing scene, Senorita Pulido gets herself out of captivity by holding herself hostage. Luckily, while fleeing, Zorro is on hand.

Comedy, and action, and romance as Zorro saves the day.

Well worth reading.

4.5 out of 5

http://www.archive.org/download/curse_of_capistrano_1008/curseofcapistrano_01_mcculley_64kb.mp3

Atmosphere fixing, spying, and sped up gestation soldier breeding.

3.5 out of 5

Just the old planet saving plan again.

3 out of 5

Terraforming bleed rejection suicide mission.

3 out of 5

Dead ship Aegean.

3 out of 5

Future want list.

4 out of 5

 Modesty is holidaying with a naturalist boyfriend, and being nice to spiders. Unfortunately an Eastern European spymaster just shown up by Tarrant decides to use her for revenge – by killing the naturalist in a nasty manner using an assassin.

To honor his dislike of aggression she forgoes infiltration and assassination of her own, until the spymaster baits a trap. He will put the assassin on trial if she comes to his country as a witness. Which she of course agrees to do. Not without ensuring that backup will be in town unsuspected, in the form of Willie Garvin’s circus. Clowns,stilts, and elephants to help out.

4 out of 5

Bored at a really dull party, Modesty and Willie make a bet for a bottle of Bolly – that one can beat the other on the Trail, complete with mule.

Willie stumbles into a coup and is jailed as a spy, and Modesty comes across a teacher trying to escape with the overthrown president’s children.

So two tasks to be accomplished. Luckily for Modesty she has another compation – the soldier-hating mule Lancelot.

4 out of 5

A stinking rich playboy Modesty rebuffed wants revenge. Now terminally ill with weeks to live, he decides to set up a Roman entertainment as his last party, complete with gladiatorial combat to the death.

He snatches a bunch of world leading combat experts, including Garvin. After one of his gladiators refuses to play and his shot – he has a spot for another – Modesty Blaise.

4 out of 5

A bunch of very good stories and a bunch of average stories. Or what you’d expect from a random collection from a decent author – a stock standard 3.41 average. If you have all the well-known ones already, no need to get this unless you are a fan, apart from the fact it is a webscription book, so in a great format and DRM free, and a good price which makes them worth getting for the hell of it.

If you haven’t read his stories before, it is definitely worth it.

Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Venice Drowned – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Ridge Running – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Before I Wake – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Black Air – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : The Lucky Strike – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : The Blind Geometer – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Our Town – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Escape from Kathmandu – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Remaking History – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : The Translator – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Glacier – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : The Lunatics – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Zurich – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Vinland the Dream – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : A History of the Twentieth Century with Illustrations – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Muir on Shasta – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Sexual Dimorphism – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Discovering Life – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : Prometheus Unbound At Last – Kim Stanley Robinson
Best of Kim Stanley Robinson : The Timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic 1942 – Kim Stanley Robinson

Underwater recovery deal.

4 out of 5

Mountain goat maniacs.

3 out of 5

Sleep pain.

3 out of 5

Can’t walk on water, Saint Anna.

3 out of 5

Japan nuke near miss punishment.

4.5 out of 5

Bomb choices, no diff.

3 out of 5

A coach has to adapt the game to the physics of the red planet, and help a young man along the way.

4 out of 5

Microuniversal power play plugged by polyhedral plonking.

4 out of 5

Ectogene scandal.

3 out of 5

Yeti rescue.

4 out of 5

Hostage movie fun.

3.5 out of 5

Ritual war heat.

3.5 out of 5

Even if you were a dog, you ain’t going to be in Kansas, ever.

3.5 out of 5

Promethium vision holed.

3 out of 5

White Swiss.

2.5 out of 5

Viking hoax investigation.

3.5 out of 5

War research cure.

4 out of 5

Bixby melt.

2.5 out of 5

Women, men, pretty similar most of the time. Boobs float differently while swimming, apparently.

4 out of 5

Bloody bacteria, fix here maybe.

3.5 out of 5

Novel outline Science Mutual.

3 out of 5

Nazi music captives.

3 out of 5

3.5 out of 5

Nazi music captives.

3 out of 5

Bloody bacteria, fix here maybe.

3.5 out of 5

Bixby melt.

2.5 out of 5

White Swiss.

2.5 out of 5

Promethium vision holed.

3 out of 5

Ritual war heat.

3.5 out of 5

Ectogene scandal.

3 out of 5

Bomb choices, no diff.

3 out of 5

Sleep pain.

3 out of 5

Sleep pain.

3 out of 5

An old Network forger gets into trouble and ends up in prison. He asks Modesty for help, but not what she expects.

He knows where some loot is, and has a relative in trouble with drugs. He wants to set up a fund to help people like that.

Which leads Modesty and Willie to Stutely castle and the middle of a Robin Hood re-enactment, with a bad guy named Tuck.

3.5 out of 5

“Watts: For sure. It’s a tired cliche that science fiction is “the literature of ideas,” and a lot of science fictional ideas for all their coolness don’t have the strength to carry a whole novel. Short stories serve an essential purpose as the one-line jokes of science fiction.

They’re also a valuable proving ground for novels-in-progress. I frequently play around with ideas at shorter, proof-of-principle lengths to figure out whether they justify longer treatment; if those practise sprints net me a few bucks on their own merits, so much the better. Starfish started out as a short story. You can see the ghosts of a couple of my shorter works poking their heads up here and there throughout Blindsight. And sometimes, a perfectly coherent novel can be built by bolting together standalone shorts pretty much as-is. Bradbury did it with The Martian Chronicles. Stross did it with Accelerando. I’m trying to do the same thing with Sunflowers, of which “The Island” is only one chapter.”

4 out of 5

http://aescifi.ca/

Modesty is asked for a favour by a CIA head, and the job is a dirty one. Looking after his 15 year old niece for a while.

The kid is a peacenik, and apart from keeping her from being alone too long with the local youthful Lotharios, she has to endure lectures on violence after she saves a mafia hitman from being chucked over the edge by a rival family’s men. Not to be mention being called ancient and Aunt Modesty.

This puts Modesty, and Willie, who had to be threatened to come and help look after the kid in the middle of a crime family war. A local police inspector, retired, tells them that someone high up is bent, and they have to head for his boat.

It is people snatching and deal making to get out of this one alive.

Tarrant wants to manoeuvre Modesty into talking a friend of theirs into helping him He is a mathematical genius who used to be a codebreaker, but is now happily living with his wife in Lapland, moving with the reindeer, helping out, and working on the Unfied Field Theory.

Tarrant’s story of KGB agents after the pair unfortunately turns into the real thing, not just a Swedish fake. So it is speed-skating, ski jumping and a showdown with an old enemy that hates Blaise.

4 out of 5

Modesty is holidaying with a doctor who is monomaniacal about fly fishing. You’d have to be, to ignore her and her stirring – and he gives plenty back, both to her and Willie, which is rather funny.

While down at a river, they see a woman get thrown over the falls with hands tied, and attempt a fly-rod assisted rescue.

Apparently she is the niece of a wealthy recluse – who is being held hostage by a rather nasty and lethal woman for financial gain.

Time to do something about it, complete with fishing rod and hauntings.

4.5 out of 5

Tarrant asks Modesty and Willie to accompany him on a strange caper. One of the hardes-headed sceptic scientists in the world has been convinced by some on an island site that aliens may just have landed on Earth.

Taking the two most versatile and flexible people he knows with him open minds, they go to investigate.

4.5 out of 5

Hugo Award for Best Novella, 2010.

4 out of 5

2010 for Best Novel for the Windup Girl.

5 out of 5

“Robinson, whose novels have won 11 major science fiction awards, also advocated for writers to rise to the challenge of depicting utopian futures.

“The truth is it’s really hard to write those kind of stories and we don’t see enough of them,” he said.

“Because of the utopian problem – the blueprint is boring whereas the disaster is more exciting. Making [sustainability] exciting is a double-bind, a particular problem that I wish more people would attack. ”

3.5 out of 5

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/04/3002670.htm

“I was actually there to promote my first anthology, Killers. And in fact when I met Marco (Marc Gascoigne, Editorial Director of Angry Robot) in the bar, I was so preoccupied with the missing copies of the anthology – which were stuck in a warehouse seventy five miles away, with the hotel and the courier each blaming the other – that it didn’t occur to me for about twenty minutes to ask who this guy was who was so interested in my work!”

4 out of 5

http://darkfictionreview.net/2010/08/colin-harvey-interview/

His Krypto is just miles ahead of the rest.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj209/margomeleon/Krypto.jpg

“What got you attracted to Carter Brown in the first place?

Carter Brown is the person about whom I talk the most because he is probably the best known of all Australian writers. It started, as most research projects do, from a very simple question – who is Australia’s most *popular* author…my colleagues at the University of Queensland and I were having a cup of tea asking this question. Someone said “Carter Brown”. I’d never heard of him so I went to our national library and discovered that he’d written nearly 300 novels. After ten years of studying Australian literature I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard his name mentioned once. Then I dug a little deeper and found dozens of Australian writers had written thousands of books in the 1950s — romances, westerns, and crime. And yet not one academic in Australia had investigated them more fully. So I decided it was time for the academy to get a bit of a wakeup call.”

4.5 out of 5

http://pulpetti.blogspot.com/2010/08/toni-johnson-woods-on-carter-brown.html

Wu expedition game over.

4 out of 5

http://futurismic.com/2010/09/01/new-fiction-in-pacmandu-by-lavie-tidhar/

“The Hammer movie in contrast starts by updating the action to 1918, where our three adventurers meet up in Palestine following WW1. Not knowing their future plans (“We survived the war. Let’s hope we survive this place.”) they decide to kill time in a local bar. No longer averse to women we see Cushing’s Holly more than openly lusty after a couple of belly dancers; one of them practically topless if it wasn’t for those enraging nipple cover-ups that ensure that the movie would still get a decent release in 1960s movie theatres. Cushing also gets involved in a bar brawl. As short as the scene lasts, but watching a womanising, bar brawling, hard drinking Cushing does make for some enjoyable viewing.

There is no trace of Leo (John Richardson) being Holly’s step son. They’re just comrades in arms. In actual fact, Cushing’s character is addressed as “Major” and seems to have commanded the other two.

There is also no indication of any prior premonition on the team’s side that Leo may have been related to Kallikrates. Instead Ayesha played by Ursula Andress makes a very early appearance when Lee’s Billali discovers Leo’s uncanny similarity to the ancient priest whose portrait covers a golden medal. Ustane (Rosenda Monteros) makes a dash for Leo and gets him kidnapped and knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he sees Ayesha – and we get to listen to James Bernard’s beautiful leitmotiv – who promises everything he ever desired (including herself apparently) provided he follows a quest and makes it through the desert to her Kingdom. Not being able to resist that kind of offer our intrepid explorers go on a voyage that they barely survive if it wasn’t for Ustane’s help.”

5 out of 5

http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/she-1964.html

Japanese isolation machine genocide infiltration.

4 out of 5

A little disappointing is the conclusion to this trilogy. Still a decent book, but not as interesting as the first two.

Part of the problem perhaps is that Dakota Merrick is rather a ghost here, and very much secondary to Lucas Corso and what is going on with him. Trader is around, too, occasionally, but the major thread surrounds corso.

That being to try and stop huge swathes of their space being annihilated by Emissaries who don’t like them.

That bit is all good, desperate ship nicking and finding super weapons that can stop other superweapons, etc.

It finishes with a hook for more – with Dakota Merrick – which leaves you with a sort of a huh? feeling as far as that goes.

(call it 3.25)
3.5 out of 5

The Dune Encyclopedia – Frank Herbert
An overview of the places, people and technology in the Dune universe. This explains a lot of the detail of things that Herbert just mentions in passing, such as the scientists that invented shields, or space travel, or things like that.

It is very useful to gain a better understanding of all those finer points.

4 out of 5

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.thedune.ru/duneenc/download/DUNE_ENCYCLOPEDIA.pdf

The Dune Encyclopedia – Frank Herbert
An overview of the places, people and technology in the Dune universe. This explains a lot of the detail of things that Herbert just mentions in passing, such as the scientists that invented shields, or space travel, or things like that.

It is very useful to gain a better understanding of all those finer points.

4 out of 5

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.thedune.ru/duneenc/download/DUNE_ENCYCLOPEDIA.pdf

“You’ve announced that you’re next releases will be a short story collection, Manhattan in Reverse, and a stand alone novel in a brand new setting, Great North Road. Can you reveal anything about these two yet and what readers can expect from them?

The collection is every short story and novella I’ve written since Second Chance At Eden came out, plus one written specifically for the collection, the title story itself, Manhattan in Reverse, which is another Paula Myo story, set directly after the end of Judas Unchained. Great North Road is what I’ve taken to calling my monster in the dark book.”

3.5 out of 5

http://www.walkerofworlds.com/2010/09/interview-peter-f-hamilton.html

Boson rifled.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/08/the-speed-of-time?j=24607638&e=john@sfsignal.com&l=15162145_HTML&u=282302383&mid=83886&jb=0

As a sword and sorcery anthology this generally succeeds, and in general the writers understand what that actually means.

Except for Gene Wolfe. Having read a lot of stuff by Wolfe, I see no evidence of him ever having the ability to produce a sword and sorcery story.
And I still don’t. As a story his is passable – and I do happen to like chess. However, passable, but a failure as a S&S tale. A case of editor really likes writer and wants the name perhaps, but they certainly should have dumped this. You wouldn’t ask Glen Cook to write fluffy unicorn stories, so same thing, wrong writer.

They also could have got rid of the Silverberg. Maybe the Majipoor thing was a selling point, but this was ordinary and predictable and also outside the subgenre.

While I don’t think you’d ever get a sword and sorcery story out of Wolfe, even if you beat him over the head with a hammer, it seems that Michael Moorcock can still do it if he wants to – and with what he has produced here, he could probably manage it with one hand while beating Gene Wolfe in the head with the hammer in the other.

Steven Erikson, along with the camel-killing sized novels has shown a talent for shorter work in the novella, and this is shorter still. Goats of Glory is one of the three best stories in this book, the other two being the aforementioned Moorcock, and Tim Lebbon’s ‘Echo City’ tale. The other standouts are Enge’s Singing Spear and Lynch’s library exam outing.

I like the Black Company a lot, so was very happy to see another story, however I think that those unfamiliar may find this one a little lacking.

Rounding up, this book gets a 4.5. Without the bad cases of editormusthaveitis and replaced with something that fits it would approach the top score.

Swords and Dark Magic : Goats of Glory – Steven Erikson
Swords and Dark Magic : Tides Elba A Tale of the Black Company – Glen Cook
Swords and Dark Magic : Bloodsport – Gene Wolfe
Swords and Dark Magic : The Singing Spear – James Enge
Swords and Dark Magic : A Wizard of Wiscezan – C. J. Cherryh
Swords and Dark Magic : A Rich Full Week – K. J. Parker
Swords and Dark Magic : A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet – Garth Nix
Swords and Dark Magic : Red Pearls An Elric Story – Michael Moorcock
Swords and Dark Magic : The Deification of Dal Bamore – Tim Lebbon
Swords and Dark Magic : Dark Times at the Midnight Market – Robert Silverberg
Swords and Dark Magic : The Undefiled – Greg Keyes
Swords and Dark Magic : Dapple Hew the Tint Master – Michael Shea
Swords and Dark Magic : In the Stacks – Scott Lynch
Swords and Dark Magic : Two Lions A Witch and the War-Robe – Tanith Lee
Swords and Dark Magic : The Sea Troll’s Daughter – Caitlin R Kiernan
Swords and Dark Magic : Thieves of Daring – Bill Willingham
Swords and Dark Magic : The Fool Jobs – Joe Abercrombie

We kill demons for a living, silly shovel boy.

4 out of 5

Taken generation garrison not hairy.

4 out of 5

Chess tyrant chop.

3 out of 5

You killed my bartender, demon. You’re really in the shit now.

4 out of 5

Tewk me. I’m an illusion Master.

3.5 out of 5

DeadHeadroom for improvement

3.5 out of 5

Maladroit music mishaps, evil entity. Naked God preferred.

4 out of 5

Sphere world Phroom pirate slaughter dragon dad distraction White Sword steal.

4.5 out of 5

Sorcerer torture scare stunt revenant rebellion ending.

4 out of 5

Potion deflowering rebound problem.

3 out of 5

Godridden good riddance, virgins.

3.5 out of 5

Slymire crystal revelation.

3.5 out of 5

Vocabuvore giant exam passing psycho roommate consumption.

4 out of 5

Better if you geas don’t think about it, brothers.

3.5 out of 5

Kill dad, no big deal short girls. Want furs?

3 out of 5

Sorcerers. If you stab them and they don’t die they have an absolute shitload of deathtraps.

4 out of 5

No, get that thing.

3.5 out of 5

4.5 out of 5

As a sword and sorcery anthology this generally succeeds, and in general the writers understand what that actually means.

Except for Gene Wolfe. Having read a lot of stuff by Wolfe, I see no evidence of him ever having the ability to produce a sword and sorcery story.
And I still don’t. As a story his is passable – and I do happen to like chess. However, passable, but a failure as a S&S tale. A case of editor really likes writer and wants the name perhaps, but they certainly should have dumped this. You wouldn’t ask Glen Cook to write fluffy unicorn stories, so same thing, wrong writer.

They also could have got rid of the Silverberg. Maybe the Majipoor thing was a selling point, but this was ordinary and predictable and also outside the subgenre.

While I don’t think you’d ever get a sword and sorcery story out of Wolfe, even if you beat him over the head with a hammer, it seems that Michael Moorcock can still do it if he wants to – and with what he has produced here, he could probably manage it with one hand while beating Gene Wolfe in the head with the hammer in the other.

Steven Erikson, along with the camel-killing sized novels has shown a talent for shorter work in the novella, and this is shorter still. Goats of Glory is one of the three best stories in this book, the other two being the aforementioned Moorcock, and Tim Lebbon’s ‘Echo City’ tale. The other standouts are Enge’s Singing Spear and Lynch’s library exam outing.

I like the Black Company a lot, so was very happy to see another story, however I think that those unfamiliar may find this one a little lacking.

Rounding up, this book gets a 4.5. Without the bad cases of editormusthaveitis and replaced with something that fits it would approach the top score.

Swords and Dark Magic : Goats of Glory – Steven Erikson
Swords and Dark Magic : Tides Elba A Tale of the Black Company – Glen Cook
Swords and Dark Magic : Bloodsport – Gene Wolfe
Swords and Dark Magic : The Singing Spear – James Enge
Swords and Dark Magic : A Wizard of Wiscezan – C. J. Cherryh
Swords and Dark Magic : A Rich Full Week – K. J. Parker
Swords and Dark Magic : A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet – Garth Nix
Swords and Dark Magic : Red Pearls An Elric Story – Michael Moorcock
Swords and Dark Magic : The Deification of Dal Bamore – Tim Lebbon
Swords and Dark Magic : Dark Times at the Midnight Market – Robert Silverberg
Swords and Dark Magic : The Undefiled – Greg Keyes
Swords and Dark Magic : Dapple Hew the Tint Master – Michael Shea
Swords and Dark Magic : In the Stacks – Scott Lynch
Swords and Dark Magic : Two Lions A Witch and the War-Robe – Tanith Lee
Swords and Dark Magic : The Sea Troll’s Daughter – Caitlin R Kiernan
Swords and Dark Magic : Thieves of Daring – Bill Willingham
Swords and Dark Magic : The Fool Jobs – Joe Abercrombie

We kill demons for a living, silly shovel boy.

4 out of 5

Taken generation garrison not hairy.

4 out of 5

Chess tyrant chop.

3 out of 5

You killed my bartender, demon. You’re really in the shit now.

4 out of 5

Tewk me. I’m an illusion Master.

3.5 out of 5

DeadHeadroom for improvement

3.5 out of 5

Maladroit music mishaps, evil entity. Naked God preferred.

4 out of 5

Sphere world Phroom pirate slaughter dragon dad distraction White Sword steal.

4.5 out of 5

Sorcerer torture scare stunt revenant rebellion ending.

4 out of 5

Potion deflowering rebound problem.

3 out of 5

Godridden good riddance, virgins.

3.5 out of 5

Slymire crystal revelation.

3.5 out of 5

Vocabuvore giant exam passing psycho roommate consumption.

4 out of 5

Better if you geas don’t think about it, brothers.

3.5 out of 5

Kill dad, no big deal short girls. Want furs?

3 out of 5

Sorcerers. If you stab them and they don’t die they have an absolute shitload of deathtraps.

4 out of 5

No, get that thing.

3.5 out of 5

4.5 out of 5

No, get that thing.

3.5 out of 5

No, get that thing.

3.5 out of 5

Sorcerers. If you stab them and they don’t die they have an absolute shitload of deathtraps.

4 out of 5

Sorcerers. If you stab them and they don’t die they have an absolute shitload of deathtraps.

4 out of 5

Better if you geas don’t think about it, brothers.

3.5 out of 5

Kill dad, no big deal short girls. Want furs?

3 out of 5

Kill dad, no big deal short girls. Want furs?

3 out of 5

Better if you geas don’t think about it, brothers.

3.5 out of 5

Willie is helping out a friend in New Guinea, when Modesty comes to visit. After some plane trouble they discover a local girl on the run – and find out that she has been trained as a nurse, so speaks English as part of a bridging program.

After her are the not so educated, who have been manipulated by an Irish psychopath that the pair have stumbled across before. The Iron God of the title is a safe he wants Willie to crack, containing a fortune.

4 out of 5

Maude Tiller helps to capture a spy. Said woman’s employers want her back, so they hire Salamander Four to snatch Maude.

When Modesty and Willie realise the government aren’t going to agree to a swap for such a junior agent they go into action, and have to scam all sides to get Maude out of trouble

Plus, Willie and Modesty in fairyland.

4 out of 5

It is Mardi Gras for Willie and Modesty – but the trouble magnets run across a hanging. Not to mention Steve Taylor, who is there to handle a threat to drown the city of New Orleans if they don’t pay a ransom.

So it is costumes and hanging for Modesty Blaise, as a married couple have a thing for the noose because of the execution of the wife’s father.

4 out of 5

“The demon let out a blood-curdling shriek. Even though his mask muffled his voice, the cry was so sudden, so shocking, that Haakon felt like he had been struck by lightning. His muscles jumped and he couldn’t think straight enough to react to the flickering steel lunging toward his face. Instinctively Haakon took a passing step back, twisting his body to the left. The blade of the pole-arm snapped past him, and with a flick of his wrists, the demon whirled the pole in a tight circle. The blade seemed to jump sideways, coming right for his face even though his body was turned in profile to the other fighter.”

3 out of 5

http://mongoliad.com/contents/29

If an actual director and film company with a clue had the rights to the movie when a certain actress was in her prime, we might have had tie-in editions like this :-

If an actual director and film company with a clue had the rights to the movie when a certain actress was in her prime, we might have had tie-in editions like this :-

If an actual director and film company with a clue had the rights to the movie when a certain actress was in her prime, we might have had tie-in editions like this :-

If an actual director and film company with a clue had the rights to the movie when a certain actress was in her prime, we might have had tie-in editions like this :-

Black Guard who’s protecting who treaty?

3 out of 5

A Bluebeard in this sense is a male black widow, not a pirate, as you might think.

This particularly variety goes after rich wallflowers, and after an appropriate length of time, gets rid of them with the help of his two creepy daughters.

When a relative of Rene’s is the next target, Modesty decides to investigate.

She is bemused by Willie Garvin’s just-majority ownership of a circus, and even more surprised when he helps out with an elephant!

3.5 out of 5

““As I explained to Gail earlier, we ended up divided. Half of Black Lodge wanted to enact an old ritual that called for the sacrifice of a human infant. Summoning Leviathan and Behemoth—opening a doorway for them to enter our world, required the sacrifice of an infant. A number of our members believed that banishing them and closing the doorway would require the same thing. They learned of several surviving infants—one in Australia, one in Illinois, and one or two elsewhere, and went in search of them. The other half of my group labored to stop them. We were convinced that there was another way to banish Behemoth and Leviathan, seal the gate, and undo the damage caused by the cultists. Regrettably, we wasted too much time in-fighting when we should have been acting together, and now it’s too late. Behemoth and Leviathan have both moved on to another version of Earth—another level.””

3.5 out of 5

http://www.briankeene.com/?p=4617

““There are thirteen entities—supernatural beings—neither demon nor angel, but something far older and far more powerful, whose only goal is the complete destruction of all creation and existence. They are older than our universe and they intend to be here still when our universe is gone. Are any of you familiar with string theory or alternate dimensions?”

All three nodded.”

http://www.briankeene.com/?p=4189

No, killing them all isn’t ensuring their future, old guys.

3.5 out of 5

Willie is rather amused when a teenaged jewel thief breaks in and leaves Modesty roses in their safe. He is a big fan – and also the nephew of Brookie of Scotland CID. Not one for cradle snatching, Modesty has to provide this young man with a lesson that life isn’t really like Raffles.

A new fence in town does this for her by snatching him – but now she has to get Rufus and his girlfriend back alive.

4.5 out of 5

This time it is Modesty an old enemy tries attacking mentally – he has hired a psychologist to give her amnesia and then convince her that Willie Garvin is a deadly enemy. A problem keeping a strong personality like this under control, however, before a chairlift confrontation, with an assist from Maude Tiller.

4 out of 5

Modesty is holidaying in Sydney – with an eccentric Australian scientist, while Willie goes opal hunting on camel near Andamooka.

An old criminal acquaintance is disturbed to learn she is town when he has a nickel scam planned. Blaise and Garvin don’t mind scams – but they take a ruthlessly dim view of hostage taking. Plus they have help in Jacko, a local and ex-network member, currently on walkabout. You won’t see boomerangs used like this anywhere else.

4.5 out of 5

A couple of hippies stumble across an anachronistic manhunt, and Willie and Modesty stumble across them.

An agent of Tarrant’s had infiltrated a bizarre medieval re-enactment setup run by some ex-commandos. So now Blaise and Garvin fancy being the rich guests the next time. Swords and axes it is.

4 out of 5

Beats them first.

2.5 out of 5

Back to an unstable little Central American town for Modesty – where she has found a new boyfriend.

The woman of whom he was the old boyfriend does not take this too kindly, and she is the daughter of the British envoy. She is also soon a hostage as the local terrorist group who wants to overthrow the stability through dictatorship currently achieved kidnap her.

Do you risk your life to rescue someone that you all despise? The answer is yes, if it means giving in to terrorists otherwise – or letting them feed people to giant anacondas.

3.5 out of 5