Grimdark Magazine Issue #6 ePub Read online

  [GB] One word - professionalism. On time, excited, willing to work with promotion, and most of all able to accept edits without being difficult.

  [GdM] Ideally, how will your publishing house be performing in one year?

  [SS] World domination via a benevolent dictatorship. More seriously, I just want to keep producing beautiful books and if I’m doing that in one year, I will be happy.

  [KC] Business wise – increased sales, actual profit, more fans, and acquire four novels that fit the EGM brand.

  [TM] As Ragnarok Publications has just signed a deal for worldwide distribution of our books I would hope we’d be seeing returns on that by then, that our authors and readers will find the Rok’s stories in bookstores and libraries all over the world and that we will increase our visibility a hundredfold. We want our authors to become household names. They deserve it and that’s what we want to accomplish for them.

  [GB] I’m with Shawn. World domination. :D

  I want to not run at a loss, and I want to ensure our writers get read by as many as possible, and make money from their writing.

  [GdM] If you could change something about the industry of short fiction publishing in the darker SF/F/H genres, what would it be?

  [SS] More readers giving short fiction and anthologies a chance.

  [KC] Yes, people need to give anthologies and short fiction a chance. When I go to conventions, I try to explain that if you are a busy person an antho is the perfect book for you. What other type of work do you get a collection of work in a theme that you can put down and pick back up any time you want? That usually wins people over.

  [TM] That short stories and anthologies are the gateway drug to your new favorite authors. There’s always someone in a book that you, the reader, don’t already know. Those authors are in there for a reason: they rock. They’ll also always have more work out there too. Anthologies are about expanding your stable of quality reads.

  [GB] Again, I’m with Shawn. Our anthos sell pretty damn well, but I want more readers so our newer writers gain a real fanbase through being published by us.

  [GdM] What can followers expect to see from you next?

  [SS] I have a number of forthcoming projects. I am producing a leatherbound signed and numbered edition of The Unremembered by Peter Orullian. In December, I am publishing a new anthology titled Unbound featuring the talents of Terry Brooks, Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Rachel Caine, Joe Abercrombie, and many more. Mark Lawrence and I are producing a gorgeous hardcover omnibus of his Broken Empire trilogy. And I am working hard at acquiring a few new projects like publishing a beautiful set of the original Shannara novels as well as bringing together the talent for Unfettered II, which will publish mid-2016. It’s an exciting time!

  [KC] In February 2016, our dark modern vampire novel, Rachel by Dobromir Harrison will release followed by Women in Practical Armor edited by Ed Greenwood and Gabrielle Harbowy. We will be acquiring more projects for 2016-17 starting January 2016. We will shift from flash fiction on EGM SHORTS to once a month short story on our website. We are also working on our website and some changes to brand design.

  [TM] We’ve a ton of projects coming out at Ragnarok, from Horsemen of the Apocalypse (a card game featuring the twisted mind of Mark Lawrence) to our anthologies Genius Loci and Mech, to a fantastic lineup of quality stories from familiar and not so familiar authors under our banner, to include book three in the Valducan series by Seth Skorkowsy and an entirely new series by Rob Hayes in the same world as his Ties that Bind series, plus a new short novel by Jennifer Brozek, and a ton more. All of which will be found in bookstores across the globe.

  [GB] More SNAFUs lined up, with more and more renowned writers taking part.

  Plus I’m really excited about our upcoming Natural Selection novel series. It’s pure schlock/80s biohorror, with man versus nature in the form of mutated or oversized animals, like the classic creature-horror such as Jaws, Anaconda, Piranha, and all those classics. We have some very big names lined up, so keep an eye out for announcements.

  [GdM] Looks like there’s plenty of great fiction projects on their way from these awesome publishers. You can connect with these publishers on their Facebook pages using the links below.

  Cohesion Press: https://www.facebook.com/CohesionPress/

  Grim Oak Press: https://www.facebook.com/GrimOakPress/

  Evil Girlfriend Media:

  https://www.facebook.com/EvilGirlfriendMedia/

  Ragnarok Publications:

  https://www.facebook.com/RagnarokPublications/

  [GdM]

  Review: Dishonoured

  C.T. Phipps

  ‘Vengeance fixes everything.’

  Dishonored is a video game initially released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2012 that has since been updated for current-generation consoles. It is also, in my opinion, one of the best grimdark games ever created.

  The premise is Corvo Attano, the Empress of Dunwall's Lord Protector (royal bodyguard), is returning home from a diplomatic mission when he witnesses his patron's assassination. Worse, he witnesses the kidnapping of the Empress’ daughter, Emily, threatening to plunge the country into chaos. Corvo is promptly framed for the attack, tortured, and imprisoned.

  Driven half-insane, Corvo is offered a chance at revenge by the Satan-like Outsider. Taking the Outsider's Mark onto his hand, Corvo is unleashed upon Dunwall to bring down those who killed his Empress. It is up to the player to decide if Corvo’s revenge is more important than saving Princess Emily, the last living remnant of Dunwall’s royal family.

  Dishonored is, on the surface, a simple tale of revenge. There are you, the people you're after, and a number of missions devoted to bringing down the people you want to destroy. However, The Count of Monte Cristo was a ‘simple tale of revenge’ yet remains one of the greatest novels ever written. There are a few twists and turns related to a conspiracy to bring down the Lord Regent, mastermind behind the Empress' assassination, but what makes Dishonored such a great example of grimdark isn't the plotting but the atmosphere.

  Dishonored has loads and loads of atmosphere.

  What makes the game great is, undoubtedly, the amazingly detailed city of Dunwall, setting for the game's myriad levels. A dark, filthy, rat-infested city, Dunwall is slowly dying due to a plague, which has killed much of its population. The response by the rich, in true ‘Masque of the Red Death’ fashion, is to seal off the impoverished sections of the city in hopes that the plague will only afflict the poor. Using bizarre steampunk devices, the city guard abuses the already miserable citizens while propping up the Lord Regent's regime even as he's helpless to do anything about the plague's progress.

  Dunwall is a triumph of grimdark as the levels are set in such vivid locations as a nightmarish prison, a fanatical inquisition's headquarters, a brothel where prostitutes are kept as slaves, a flooded industrial district, and innumerable plague-ridden ruins. The Definitive Edition adds such levels as a whale slaughterhouse, a crime lord’s base, and the palace home of an insane witch. One of the niftier bits of in-game lore is Corvo's possession of a magical heart that is capable of reading the darkest secrets of those individuals it is held over. This allows you to hear some truly shocking bits of gossip from the seedy, corrupt world our hero is travelling through. All of the locations are rendered in beautiful, eye-popping detail with sound effects to match.

  As you might expect, the allies Corvo makes in this grim environment aren't exactly the best people in the world. The Lord Regent is an elitist, evil snob who wants to eradicate the poor, and everyone else also has their own motives for siding with Corvo or his enemies. The woman helping you in your one-man revolution against the Lord Regent is doing so primarily for money. Likewise, the most operatic and epic ways of resolving each of the assassination missions is to inflict some horrifying fate on your targets like selling them into slavery with their tongues cut out.

  There are no heroes in Dunwall.

 
Not even you.

  But how does it play? Dishonored is, primarily, a first-person stealth game. Corvo is given several levels that he has complete freedom of movement to traverse and a target he can dispose of in any manner he likes. The game provides the player with a wide variety of terribly destructive weapons and traps. Plus Corvo’s Outsider-granted abilities include the ability to see through walls, teleport short distances, slow down time, possess guards, and even summon swarms of rats to attack his enemies. To me, however, the most satisfying method of handling the game is to travel unseen to your target and condemn them to one of the aforementioned horrific fates the game encourages you to inflict upon them.

  The Definitive Edition updates the game to the Xbox One and contains all of the downloadable content for the original game including the story campaigns: The Knife of Dunwall, The Brigmore Witches, and the Dunwall City Trials. The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches do not star Corvo Attano but Daud, the assassin of the Empress, voiced by Michael Madsen. Given one of the biggest complaints about Corvo Attano is he never speaks during the main game, many people will enjoy Madsen's nuanced, remorseful performance.

  I don't really have any complaints about this game and strongly recommend it to people who want to explore a grimdark steampunk dystopian London with a supernatural assassin. If you're not that sort of person, why are you reading this magazine?[GdM]

  An Interview with Aliette de Bodard

  Jewel Elise

  [GdM] Thanks for joining us at Grimdark Magazine Aliette de Bodard! First up, could you tell the readers a bit about yourself, and your new fantasy novel House of Shattered Wings?

  [AdB] Sure! I'm a fantasy and science fiction writer who lives in Paris. I write short fiction (the Xuya universe which is Confucian-based space opera based on Vietnamese myths) and long fiction (previous works include Obsidian and Blood, a trilogy of fantastical thrillers set among the Aztecs in the 14th Century). I've won two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award, and a British Science Fiction Association Award.

  My newest book, The House of Shattered Wings, is set in Paris in the aftermath of a devastating magical war; and features political intrigue amongst factions of Fallen angels and magicians, alchemists, dragons, a Vietnamese ex-immortal with a grudge, and entirely too many dead bodies.

  [GdM] One of the first things I noticed when reading House of Shattered Wings, is that there isn't a lot of dialogue between characters! It explores every nook and cranny of the characters headspace - it feels like you've taken up residence in their minds for much of the book! I was wondering if that was an intentional direction when you set about writing the novel, or did it progress as organically as it reads?

  [AdB] One of the things that I like about books is that they allow you to get under a character's skin and know their thoughts (something which you can't easily have in, say, movies or comics). For me, it's a very important thing, because as much as I think crackling dialogue is important, and as much as action scenes are cool, empathy with the characters goes through knowing why they do the things they do, and what thoughts are going through their heads at the moment. It's not something I consciously set out to do: by now it's part of my writing style...

  [GdM] Is it hard to occupy those headspaces, considering the turmoil that each of the characters is going through?

  [AdB] Hahaha no, actually it's easier! I like characters who are going through turmoil, they're easier to get a grip on (and I love writing about strong emotions). Yes, I'm a bit of a sadistic writer, insofar as characters are concerned, why do you ask...

  [GdM] The characters in House of Shattered Wings are almost all grey characters, neither good nor evil, they range on the spectrum. It actually gives the book an extra element of interest, as you can never be sure which road they'll take next. After so many years of fantasy sticking to the idea absolutes, is it hard to break through those long standing walls that have been built? Is there any resistance to the changes we are starting to see in the genre?

  [AdB] I don't really know to be honest? I'm not a big believer in good and evil--more in good and evil acts rather than a neat division between good and evil characters (I'm particularly wary of something I've seen a lot of times with good/evil characters, which is that the good characters can do no evil, even if their acts would seem to actually be more at home with the evil characters. I find this kind of moral... shifting goal posts particularly bothersome). To answer your question, I think moral greyness been going on for a while, though I'm not sure to what extent? I'm rereading David Gemmell at the moment, and it's very clear that while you have a clear good and evil boundary, every character, at every moment, must make a choice as to where they stand, and no one is immune to falling from grace, and redeeming themselves (and those are books from the ‘90s’). In many ways, actually, I feel like we've gone back on this (possibly after 9/11 and the need for moral absolute, evil/good guys, etc.), and that it's only in recent years it's has become a thing again. The response to the book has been good so far, so I'll presume not too many people wanted to complain!

  [GdM] Strangely, one of the most striking things I find in fantasy, are those moments that explore reality in a somewhat safe space. House tackles quite a few pertinent topics: the feelings of loss and nostalgia for a home that has irrevocably changed, drug addiction, diversity in characters, etc. Is it important to you, as an author, to try and explain - or show readers things in fantasy narrative that they might not be able to or want to grasp in reality?

  [AdB] For me, it's important insofar as some of this is my lived-in experience (or the experience of other marginalised people), and I see no reason to hide this. I don't want to preach, because I feel that actively preaching tends to turn people away, but equally I'm not keen on dumbing things down or suppressing bits that might possibly differ from reader expectation. SFF, for me, is a genre for the open-minded, and expanding readers' horizons seem to fit right in.

  [GdM] If we told you that we were transporting you to The Dominion of The Fallen (we have powers unseen!), which House would you want to live with, and why?

  [AdB] Hawthorn. I don't think Asmodeus is the best politician ever (he has a tendency for the theatrical and for plots that blow up in his face), or the friendliest of persons (he's definitely on my ‘scary scary’ list because of his ruthlessness), but he takes good care of his people. And, frankly, I'd rather be on his side rather than fighting against him!

  [GdM] Now that Grimdark has a fairly secure place in the fantasy market place, do you see any changes occurring in the sub-genre in the future? Where would you like to see it head?

  [AdB] This is all with the caveat that I haven't read an awful lot of grimdark, especially the recent stuff. I think I would like to see it headed towards more diversity: it feels to me (but I could be wrong about this) that most of the household names and the up-and-coming ones are still male. I would like to see more women, more POCs working in it. But then I say this about the rest of the genre, too :)

  (and a pet peeve of mine that I know not everyone is going to agree with, but personally I think the use of rape as a plot point could be retired for a bit--I'm starting to have a bit of fatigue around the subject...)

  [GdM] We've seen over the last few years that you write in different genres - and win awards in the process (many congratulations!). How do you think your writing has progressed - or changed, through the exploration of different genres? Has it changed your approach to writing all?

  [AdB] I read a lot, and I read a lot that's not necessarily genre, or that's not necessarily the latest bestsellers in Western Anglophone (US/UK/etc.) genre. For me, it's important, because I think that, if I were only in conversation with the same narrations over and over again, and the same traditions, my writing would essentially eat its own tail and ossify. I need to see other genres, other tropes and other modes of storytelling to keep me invigorated--and that's what I try to do with my own writing too, to not necessarily hew too closely to genre boundaries, and be willi
ng to push past received ideas so I can (hopefully) write something better.

  [GdM] Will you be writing or releasing anything outside of the fantasy genre in the near future?

  [AdB] Science Fiction, definitely--I have short stories forthcoming in several anthologies like Jonathan Strahan's Meeting Infinity, Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisian's The Starlit Wood, etc. I'm not planning to write anything outside of Science Fiction/Fantasy in the near future.

  [GdM] Your blog has a wealth of content: free short stories (now including a story set in The Dominion of The Fallen: In Morningstar's Shadow!), recipes (stay away if hungry! Yikes!), articles on topics ranging from parenting, writing, reading, gender and so much more! It's a fantastic space to just hunker down and explore for hours! What drives you to keep creating such a range of diverse, yet fascinating content?