New Larry Elmore Book Being Funded @ Kickstarter

Just because it's funded shouldn't keep you from contributing to the cause!Master fantasy artist Larry Elmore is bringing 40 years of artwork together in his new book, The Complete Elmore Artbook.  The project is open to funding at Kickstarter as I type and some of the pledge goals are quite amazing - they range from a doodle of a dragon to an original painting.  If you have read about this project, jump on over to Kickstarter and see what's going on. 

If memory serves, the project's goal was reached the first day.  Further contribution just continue to make this MORE AWESOME!

Have a Holly Jolly Steampunky Christmas

So it’s that time of year when you hear holiday songs and CDs by practically every artist under the sun as done one.  Some make sense – like any country artist you can think of – and some don’t – think Judas Priest.  Some artist, you just don’t think of when you think of Christmas CDs.  To me, Abney Park is one of those artists. 

Abney Park have been the leaders of the steampunk music movement since . . . well . . . since people started wearing pith helmets to cons.  The whole point of artist like Abney Park is to create a musical soundscape equivalent to a H. G. Wells or Jules Verne novel.  It’s looking back to the Victorian age while looking forward to the future – if that makes sense.   

Now, jumping to Christmas CDs – I’m very picky about the ones I buy, and I always follow two criteria: do I like the artist and/or does it have a version of “O Holy Night”?  The first criteria is super important to me.  I must thoroughly enjoy an artist to dish out money.  I’ll buy almost anything by Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby or any of the classic artists where every song is guaranteed to be good.   Of more “contemporary” artist, I’ve enjoyed Jimmy Buffett, Leon Redbone, Jethro Tull, and Blackmore’ Night.  Now, the second one.  “O Holy Night” is probably my favorite Christmas song – when sung properly.  There’s that one part of the song – you know the part – where the singer must hit that high part, usually reaching for Pavarroti-esque heights.  When I hear a good version, every hair on my body stands at attention.  When it’s done improperly . . . “eh.”     

Abney Park definitely fits my first criteria.  I’ve followed them ever since they went steampunk, and I’ve enjoyed every cd, especially their unplugged one, Off the Grid.   (And because I didn’t have the opportunity to review it before, here it is: the original songs are great, the revised ones better.)  As for the second . . . Well, if you’ve heard Captain Robert sing, you know he’s no Pavarotti.  I don’t think there’s a high note in his body, and yet “O Holy Night” is track 2.  So I listened.  No, no mysterious high notes here from the Captain, but you know what?  By the end of the song, every hair was doing its thing.  The arrangement was uniquely Abney Park and quite refreshing.  It did not dazzle with vocal prowess, but with its solemnity and dignity.  Jody’s vocals are haunting, as usual, and really push the song into unearthly heights.

Overall, their Christmas album, Through Your Eyes on Christmas Eve, is typical Abney Park.  “We Three Kings” is propelled with tribal rhythms, “The Little Drummer Boy” sort of mechanized, and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” kind of dark and creepy.  The originals are excellent too.  The title track really captures that sense of sadness and regret that underlies the holiday season.  Captain Robert continues to impress as a songwriter and prove his mastery at musical arrangements once more.

Like the best of Abney Park’s albums, I recommend Through Your Eyes on Christmas Eve even to those who aren’t particularly familiar with the whole steampunk thing.  The arrangements on the traditional songs make them different and new, but also, the title track alone makes this one a worthy listen. 

Enjoy!

Quick Review: Harry Harrison's Starworld

From the back cover: "The stars are afire with rebellion against the tyranny of Earth.  Jan Kulozik, rebel in exile, returns home as a prisoner on a ship bearing a cargo of death.  But Kulozik escapes his captors and ignites the flames of revolt across half a world.  With the aid of Dvora, a lovely but lethal comrade-at-arms, Jan races toward a rendezvous with destiny, and a reckoning with a treacherous double agent who holds the fate of the human race in his hands."

The Return of the RebelI have the belief that the last book in a series, trilogy, or whatever should be better than the first book.  Sadly, this is not true for the last volume in Harry Harrison's To the Stars trilogy.  The first volume introduced us the the dystopian future earth; the second allowed us a view of one of the colony worlds. 

For the protagonist, those book were a preparation for the battle that I expected to happen in this final book.  There was a battle, but for the most part, the plot centered on a "double agent" that stretched the limits of my willingness to disbelieve.  (And Jan's annoying ability to completely forget about his wife and unborn child, who, you'd think, would be the main fuel for his rebellious fire!)  When this element was introduced, it was so outrageous, I figured it had to be a ploy to trap our hero.  But no.  And it was this heavy plot machnination that made my read less enjoyable than the previous entries - not too mention that it undermines the role of the protagonist. 

Overall, I would recommend To the Stars, but not so enthusiastically as I had hoped I would.

Monte Cook's Short Story Collection Released

Monte Cook's short story collection Small Matters has been released. 

Monte Cook has written a couple of novels and several short stories but is primarily known for his game designs.  He worked on D&D 3.0, Ptolus, and Arcana Unearthed just to name a few.

The author describes the collection on his website: "Small Matters is a new collection of some of my short fiction. It includes seven stories, all of which are science fiction and fantasy tales. As the title might suggest, these are not stories about saving the world or mighty quests to defeat the ubiquitous dark lord. These are smaller stories. Nevertheless, they have big implications for the lives of the characters involved."

The collection is available from Stone Box Press, Amazon.com, and DriveThruFiction over at DriveThruRpg. 

I bought my copy from DriveThru, and for $3.99, I received a pdf, mobi, and epub version.

Quick Review: Harry Harrison's Wheelworld

Too Dangerous to Live. Too Valuable to Kill.From the back cover: Jan Kulozik is in exile: sentenced to service the machines of Halvmork, the farmworld that grows crops to the the holds of Earth's grain-ships.  This Wheelworld, baked by eternal summer, is a world of peasants enslaved by a handful of powerful families.  The disaster.  One year, the ships do not come; starvation threatens Halvmork.  Jan rallies the people for their own survival, and guides them on a perilous trek across half a planet.  Battling heat and savage creatures, earthquakes and volcanoes, fighting the violence and treachery of the Families, Jan leads the people of Wheelworld to their new destiny.

The first time I read Harry Harrison's Wheelworld, I was in highschool, about twenty-five years ago, and it was the fond memories of this one that spurred me on to finally read the entire To the Stars trilogy.  I remember the image of the great trains making a desperate run from the north pole to the south before the four-year summer cycle began.  Having reread it now, I see there's so much more there to appreciate. 

The great run constitutes the largest part of the action, but the tension of the book is built around the protagonist's clash with the stagnet, ultra-conservative rulers of the human settlement.  When the people's normal cycle of harvesting corn, migrating to the other pole, and delivering the food to ships is disrupted, the ruling class clings to its old ways.  Jan, our hero, realizes this is basically suicide.  They must change or die - new situations call for new actions.  So the power struggle begins.  It is interrupted by the many obstacles and hazards they must face on their trek, but it always re-emerges.  It's also interesting in this volume to see Jan, who was at the top looking down in Homeworld, on the bottom side of things looking up.  If book 1 taught him about the injustice of his world, book 2 is all about preparing him for the battle to come.  More than anything, though, this book reveals the dangers of ignorance.  The ruling families rule by keeping knowledge away from the population, and as the book ends, Jan's battle for freedom begins with education.

I very much look forward to the final volume, Starworld.  As for Wheelworld, I have to give it an extra star, not only for nolstalgia's sake but for also having a more complex and exciting plot than its predecssor.  Wheelworld is available as an ebook at Amazon.

Enjoy!