Magistria: Realm of the Sorceror

This is an anthology I contributed to many years ago that has since gone out of print. I'm making this page so I have somewhere to link to when I mention it.

It was reviewed by Bruce Durham, and by David A. Olson at SFReader. I'll repost the parts of the reviews relevant to my story, "The Metal Mages," since those are the sections most interesting to me. :)

Here's Bruce's take:

Onark can't understand why the girl is reluctant to become an Automaton, thereby achieving immortality. And then young Luje attempts to save her. This science-as-magic tale is well written and intriguing. A nice, smooth read with a disturbing finish.

David considered "The Metal Mages" the best story in the book, and says:

A boy follows a girl who was sacrificed up a mountain to save her from the metal mages. Two shocking surprises await the reader at the conclusion of this short, gripping tale. I hope that this story's plot line is followed up on in the future books planned for this anthology. Could make for some exciting sequels!

Dark Worlds #1

The premiere issue of DARK WORLDS, a quarterly magazine of "Pulp-descended" fiction, featuring science fiction, fantasy, horror, dark fantasy, mystery, sword and sorcery, mystery, suspense, action-adventure tales illustrated in the old Pulp manner.

This issue features C. J. Burch's novella "In the Service of the All-Father" (sword and sorcery), Bret Tallman's "Red Engine" (dark fantasy), David Bain's "Fifteen Minutes" (suspense), G. W. Thomas' "Heller" (weird western), J. F. Gonzalez's "The Revenge of Cthulhu" (horror), Joel Jenkins' space opera novella "The Investment", Robert Burke Richardson's "Eye, Urreal" (Fantasy) and a review of Justin Gustainis' new novel BLACK MAGIC WOMAN with an interview with the author. Illustrations by M. D. Jackson, Samuel de Graff and G. W. Thomas. Cover by M. D. Jackson.

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Elf-Help free at Wowio.com

Elf-Help is available for download for free at Wowio.com. The site is only open to Americans for the time-being, but please download a copy and help support us if you live in the United States (and tell all your American buddies to do the same!).




http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=1908

Dumb stuff I thought a year ago

One year ago (roughly), this is what I thought.

The all-ages stuff I had a hankering to do is coming along (tantalizing glimpses above!), and production is wrapping on both OLD SCHOOL and THE MATRIARCH.

TWILIGHT PRECINCT is dead, although I did eventually get the submission package finished thanks to the help and talents of Giuseppe Pica. THE EREHWYNA DESTINY remains stalled, but I think it will roar back to life one of these days.

Work on THE PURE LANDS resumed only recently, but we'll hopefully have lineart for the first seven or eight pages within the next week or two.

Turned out it wasn't fantasy, but rather science fiction that came to dominate 2006 for me, as I placed both PATHWALKERS and its tonal and thematic opposite, VENTURESOME MOTES at Arcana.

So. It's good to make plans, I guess, as long as you expect them to sometimes go off track. And then to find the track again later. Sometimes. But not always. I guess.