Blade Runner

I finally watched Blade Runner (the final cut version), and ... wow. Dark and disturbing and, definitely, a masterpiece of sci-fi film-making (in details ranging from the not-quite-human behaviors of the replicants to the score). Then this dark jewel from Rutger Hauer at the climax:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain ..."

Two thumbs up.

Food for thought

I came across these lines in the story "Gift from a Spring" by Delia Sherman (Realms of Fantasy, April 2008):

"Isn't that what art is?" I asked .... "Making things up?"

"No," she said. "That's what commerce is about--identifying a market and satisfying it. Art is about seeing the truth and revealing it, as beautifully and forcefully and honestly as you are able."

Amen.

One more, with feeling ...

The Return of the Sword has garnered one more excellent review, and the reviewer named "To Be A Man" one of his favorite stories in the anthology. Pura vida.

In other news, the dominoes appear to be falling in the right pattern for me to participate, likely as a guest lecturer, in the exciting Shared Worlds Camp, the inaugural session of which begins in July. I'll know more soon.

In more or less random thoughts, Tori Amos's Little Earthquakes strikes me more and more as a work of genius each time I listen to it. I aspire to such emotional power in my own work ... and likely have much more aspiring to do. ;)

"Well-crafted writing" in "To Be A Man"

The Fix has posted another positive review of The Return of the Sword and "To Be A Man." Good times.

As a sidebar, I've now read every tale in the anthology and can honestly say it's one of the strongest collections of speculative fiction I've seen. Not one bad apple in a barrel of crisp, fantastical bravado. (Please scroll down for the gorgeous cover and a purchasing link.)

A Review of "To Be A Man"

Bryan Hitchcock, an author who makes his debut in the Lords of Justice anthology, has some fine, insightful comments on "To Be A Man":

Bryan Hitchcock's review of "To Be A Man"

A rewarding highlight for me: "This story has a moral core that caught me off guard and lifts it from the realm of pure entertainment. It's sexy and mature, and that is part of the artfulness of the tale."

Please scroll down to see the gorgeous cover and a purchasing link for The Return of the Sword.

On Tour - The Return of the Sword

Welcome to those visiting as part of the web-tour for The Return of the Sword. Please look below for the book's gorgeous cover and a purchasing link. And to whet your appetite for adventure, here's an excerpt from Bill Ward's "The Wyrd of War":

* * *

It was the autumn of the world. On the hard earth of Toth, where the bones of twice ten thousand lay broken and scattered upon the plain, great hosts marched to war. From the north came proud armies beneath banners of rust red and red-gold and the stark white of wasteland snow. Assembled from fenland and mountain dale, city, town, and freehold, the able few of all tribes and nations stood within its ranks. They were the last of their kind upon the lands, the last to stand against the Animus – the living shadow at world’s end.

It had waxed strong, this unseen power, sweeping armies from the field and devouring whole kingdoms in its wars. It had spread across the lands, a blight, enslaving those it did not destroy. Now on this, the last day, the Animus brought forth its force of beasts and bestial men upon the parched earth of the ancient battle-plain, and there made war for the fate of all ...

Posted on StoryCrafters - 10 Guidelines

As part of a gracious promotion of The Return of the Sword, StoryCrafters has published my list of ten things I'd like to have known by rote when first setting out, as a fresh-faced rogue, from the Sign of the Undaunted Quill. Read them here:

Rob's 10 Guidelines for Aspiring Speculative Fiction Authors