Words of Wisdom

March 11, 2024 at 6:07 pm

Current Mood: contemplative

The Sleeper Awakens

February 6, 2024 at 9:06 am

Exciting news for all the Wild Cards fans out there. Today is the publication day for the newest Wild Cards hardcover from Bantam, the thirty-third volume in the overall series… but no, you do not need to have read the first thirty-two to enjoy this book.

SLEEPER STRADDLE is the title. And yes, as our long-time readers will no doubt guess, this one features a character who has been around since the first Wild Cards Day (September 15, 1946 — the day Howard Waldrop was born): the Sleeper, created by the late great Roger Zelazny.

In poker, a sleeper straddle is a blind raise, made from a position other than the player “under the gun.” Sleepers are often considered illegal out-of-turn play and are commonly disallowed. In Wild Cards, the Sleeper is Croyd Crenson, who was a high school freshman on his way home from school when the virus was released over Manhattan. From that day on, Croyd has been continuously reinfected by the virus whenever he sleeps, his body reshaping itself into a myriad of new shapes and forms. Each time he wakes, he is changed. Sometimes he wakes as an ace, with astonishing new superpowers, different every time. Other times he wakes as a joker, malformed and hideous. He lives in terror of the day he draws the black queen, and does not wake at all. Croyd can sleep for days, weeks, even months, but when awake he does all he can to keep sleep at bay. Unable to hold a normal job or have a normal relationship, he lives on the margins of society; he has been a bodyguard, a thief, a mercenary, a con man, a hero for hire… whatever it takes to survive. Everyone knows Croyd, and no one really knows Croyd.

You never know what you are going to get when the Sleeper wakes. He is the ultimate wild card… and our most iconic character. It is long past time he had a book of his own.

The lineup this time around:

“Days Go By,” by Carrie Vaughn,
“The Hit Parade,” by Cherie Priest ,
“Yin-Yang Split,” from William F. Wu,
“Semiotics of the Strong Man,” by Walter Jon Williams,
“Party Like It’s 1999,” from Stephen Leigh,
“The Bloody Eagle,” by Mary Anne Mohanraj,
“The Boy Who Would Be Croyd,” from Max Gladstone.

The stories will be tied together by “Swimmer, Flier, Felon, Spy” from Christopher Rowe, featuring his enigmatic investigator Tesla. Other featured characters will include old favorites like Golden Boy, Oddity, Lazy Dragon, and Ramshead, along with some great new aces and a colorful assortment of jokers and jacks.

Ye editor is hardly objective, of course, but I have to confess, I have always loved Croyd, and it was great to see him in action again, in tales that spanned the decades, from the Fifties to the present day. Those of you who are already Sleeper fans will be delighted, I think, and as for all the readers out there who have yet to meet Mr. Crenson… you have a treat in store.

Roger would have loved this book, I like to think. I hope you will as well.

Tags: bantam spectra, editing, wild cards, writing

Come to the Pulls

February 3, 2024 at 3:04 pm

Howard Waldrop had a new book out last year: H’ARD STARTS: THE EARLY WALDROP, from Subterranean Press. Brad Denton and I put it together. It was a collection of Howard’s earliest work — the stories he wrote for comic book fanzines in the 60s and early 70s, some plays from college, con reports, articles from CRAWDADDY, a sketch he wrote for Red Skelton (Red passed), sword and sorcery in the mode of Robert E. Howard, science fiction in the mode of Cordwainer Smith, and his earliest pro work, including his first sale, one of the last stories bought by John W. Campbell Jr. Plus the never-published “Davy Crockett Shoots the Moon,” a story purely in the mode of Howard Waldrop. All of it tied together by a series of interviews done by Brad Denton, wherein H’ard told the stories behind the stories, and how all this came to be.

It’s a swell book, if I do say so myself. Howard liked it too. If you missed it, you can still grab a copy from SubPress, autographed by me, Brad, and Howard himself.

https://subterraneanpress.com/hstew/

Howard also had a movie out last year… well, actually the year before, but overlapping. NIGHT OF THE COOTERS, an adaptation of his novelette of the same name, debuted at the LA Shorts Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Sci-Fi. Scripted by Joe Lansdale, directed and starring Vincent d’Onofrio, produced by the sfx wizards at Trioscope, it spent most of the year on the festival circuit, screening at the Atlanta Film Festival, the Dubuque Film Festival, FilmQuest in Provo, Utah, the New York Shorts Film Festival, Midwest WeirdFest in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the Santa Fe International Film Festival, winning several additional awards along the way.

Howard liked it too.

COOTERS was just the beginning, though. Only the first of a series of short films — and one full-length feature, we hope — we have been making, based on some of Howard’s astonishing, and unique, stories. He wrote so many, it was hard to know where to start, but start we did, and I am pleased to say that we have three more Waldrop movies filmed and in the can, in various stages of post production. Some of you — the lucky ones — will get a chance to see them this year, at a film festival near you. As with COOTERS, we’re taking them out on the festival circuit.

First one out of the chute will be MARY-MARGARET ROAD GRADER. We were able to screen a rough cut for Howard just a few days before his death. I am so so so glad we did. And I am thrilled to be able to report that he loved it.

We can’t show it to the world yet. But here’s a trailer, to give you all a taste.

MARY-MARGARET was adapted and directed by Steven Paul Judd, and features an all-indigenous cast, with Crystal Lightning as Mary-Margaret and Martin Sensemeier as Billy-Bob Chevrolet. The tractors are all by our friends at Trioscope.

I will be sure to let you know where the movie will be appearing just as soon as we hear back from some of those film festivals.

And there’s more coming after that. Next up will be THE UGLY CHICKENS, Howard’s most famous story, which won the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award (and should have won the Hugo too, if you ask me). That one is almost done, and I hope to have a trailer for you soon. Further down the pike is the film we’re calling FRIENDS FOREVER (that will not be the final title), which should be ready in another four-five months.

And after that, we hope we hope, will come the feature, a full length adaptation of A DOZEN TOUGH JOBS. Have not started filming on that yet, but the deals are in place. The amazing Joe Lansdale adapted the novella, and Howard loved the script.

I wish he was here to see the movies. To see all the movies.

Howard’s gone. But his genius lives on.

Current Mood: pleased pleased

Tags: film festivals, films, friends

Dark Days

January 29, 2024 at 9:37 am

In years past, I would often do a Not A Blog post on or about New Year’s, looking back over the year that was ending and ahead to the year to come. This year, though, as I reflected on the year we had just lived through, I found I had no appetite for living through any of that again. 2023 was a nightmare of a year, for the world and the nation and for me and mine, both professionally and personally. I am very glad that it is over.

Unfortunately, so far 2024 looks to be even worse.

There is war everywhere. Ukraine and Gaza dominate the news, but there is a war in Myanmar as well that our western media just ignores, things are heating up in Yemen and the Red Sea, North Korea has nukes and is testing missiles and rattling sabres, Venezuela is threatening to annex three quarters of neighboring Guyana.

Meanwhile the US grows more polarized every day. Hate is rising, democracy is under threat, millions of Americans have swallowed the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Newspeak has taken over political discourse, cancel culture is destroying lives and careers, and we have a disgraced, indicted, venomous ex-president winning primaries despite openly declaring that he will be a dictator on day one and will govern on a platform of “retribution,” when he is not busy grabbing women by the pussy. His last attempt to overthrow the government failed on January 6, but some of his more ardent supporters are now saying that “next time” they will bring more guns. There are actually folks out there wanting civil war.

It is hard to escape the feeling that we are living in the Weimar Republic.

I am famous and I am wealthy and, supposedly, I have a “big platform.” Whatever that is. But I have grown more and more cynical about this supposed “power” that people keep telling me I have. Has anything I have ever written here ever changed a single mind, a single vote? I see no evidence of that. The era of rational discourse seems to have ended.

And death is everywhere. Howard Waldrop was the latest, and his passing has hit me very very hard, but before him we lost Michael Bishop, Terry Bisson, David Drake… from my Wild Cards team, Victor Milan, John Jos. Miller, Edward Bryant, Steve Perrin… I still miss Gardner Dozois and Phyllis Eisenstein and my amazing agent Kay McCauley… Len Wein is gone, Vonda McIntyre, and Harlan Ellison… Greg Bear too, and… oh, I could go on. I look around, and it seems as though my entire generation of SF and fantasy writers is gone or going. Only a handful of us remain… and for how long, I wonder? I know I have forgotten people in the list above, and maybe that is the destiny that awaits all of us… to be forgotten.

For that matter, the entire human race may be forgotten. If climate change does not get us, war will. Too many countries have nukes.

Sigh.

Well, I take solace where I can. In chocolate thrones, if nowhere else. In books. In films and television shows… though even there, toxicity is growing. It used to be fun talking about our favorite books and films, and having spirited debates with fans who saw things different… but somehow in this age of social media, it is no longer enough to say “I did not like book X or film Y, and here’s why.” Now social media is ruled by anti-fans who would rather talk about the stuff they hate than the stuff they love, and delight in dancing on the graves of anyone whose film has flopped.

And don’t get me started on immigration. We are a nation of immigrants, yet millions of us have now decided we hate immigrants… refugees dreaming of a better life who are no better or worse or different than our own ancestors.

It is all so sad.

Now that I have made you all as depressed and angry as I am, let me close with something nice. When word of Howard’s death got out, I got a lot of texts and emails of condolence from mutual friends and fans. One of them was from Steven Paul Judd, the amazingly talented screenwriter and director who worked with us on the adaptation of MARY-MARGARET ROAD GRADER that will be going out on the film festival circuit Real Soon Now (more on that in a later blog post).

Steve wrote:

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry. My heart is heavy for your loss… In my tribe (Kiowa) in the old beliefs, they said we would go ‘west’ when we walked on into the spirit world. Who knows if that’s true, but if it is, then Howard is on his journey west now, going to the place where the fields are filled with buffalo and the grass is green even in winter — and when he gets there he can tell all his wonderful stories to those around the campfire.”

Howard would like nothing better, I think.

Current Mood: depressed

Tags: life and death, politics

2025 Calendar Artist Revealed

January 22, 2024 at 8:51 am

2025 Calendar Featuring Eddie Mendoza!

From Skagos to Qarth, the Water Gardens to the Nightfort, journey across Westeros and Essos with artist Eddie Mendoza, who brings us both new takes on some of the classic series locations as well as never-before-seen locales. With thirteen stunning illustrations, including a bonus fold-out poster, experience the full majesty and sweeping vistas of the Seven Kingdoms and Essos.

And if you want to see more of Eddie’s amazing work check out his website.

Enjoy.

Preorders are now available for Eddie Mendoza’s 2025 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

Current Mood: pleased

Tags: artwork, calendar, song of ice and fire

Howard Is Gone

January 19, 2024 at 2:08 pm

Howard Waldrop died on January 14 in Texas, of a stroke. He was 77 years old. (Two years my senior, barely).

The world got a little darker then.

I learned of Howard’s passing through a phone call from a mutual friend. I was away from home when it happened, out of the country, with no email and no internet, else I would have posted something here much sooner.

Howard and I never lived in the same city, nor the same state, but we had been friends for a long long time. When we first “met” — via comic fandom and the US mail — John F. Kennedy was in the White House and both of us were in high school, Howard in Texas and me in New Jersey. I had just bought a comic book from him. BRAVE & BOLD #28, as it happened. Starro the Conquerer. Howard charged me a quarter. When he sent the comic, he backed it up with a nice drawing of a barbarian on stiff cardboard, and a friendly letter asking me if I liked Conan. We struck up a correspondence that lasted more than half a century. We finally met in person in 1972, at MidAmerican Con in Kansas City. He was my oldest friend from the SF community… the kindest, brightest, funniest man you could meet… and one of the greatest writers of his generation.

He was one of a kind. There will never be another like him. But he only wrote one-and-a-half novels, so he never got the acclaim (or the money) that he deserved. These days, short story writers get little respect (’twas not always so, at least in SF and fantasy) and less money. And Howard Waldrop was among the very best short story writers ever to work in our genre.

And certainly the most original.

I last spoke to Howard less than a week before his death. He has been living in an assisted living hotel in Austin for the past few years. We have been adapting a few of Howard’s classic stories into short films, and our mutual friend Robert Taylor had just screened a rough cut of MARY-MARGARET ROAD GRADER for him on his laptop. (Howard did not use a computer and had no truck with email, texts, or social media). I was calling to ask if he liked it. He did, I am pleased to say… and I am so so so happy that he got to see the film before he left us. He was not entirely happy when we spoke… he had fallen out of bed a few days before, and had required help to get back up. That made him grouchy. Howard gave good grouchy. But talking about the film cheered him up. That was good to hear. He was laughing by the time we ended the call.

We are making a couple of other Waldrop adaptations as well, and I promised him I’d get him a cut of those as well before the end of January. I never dreamed when hanging up that we would never speak again.

There’s so much more I could say about Howard… and I will, I will. But not today. This would turn into a novel if I told all my stories in one long post. So many memories. So much laughter. So much love.

I still cannot believe he is gone. I want to call him up right now, and hear him laugh again.

Current Mood: gloomy gloomy

Tags: friendship, life and death, wild cards, writing

Amazing Animation

December 31, 2023 at 8:24 am

There is so much on television these days, in the age of streaming, it is hard to keep up. The days when we had only three networks, and we pretty much knew what was on each of them every night of the week are long gone. One thing is the same, though. It is always a joy to stumble on a show that you haven’t seen before, a great show that just blows you away, that sinks its claws into you and won’t let go.

Parris and I found one just last week; an animated series called BLUE EYE SAMURAI.

I hardly know where to start on this one. Once we started watching it, we could not stop. Binged the whole thing in three nights, and I am already hungry for the second season. They are doing some amazing things with animation these days, as series like LOVE, DEATH, AND ROBOTS have shown… and this is coming from a kid who was weaned on the classic Disney features (my favorites being PINOCCHIO and DUMBO, but really, I loved them all — the originals, please, not these “live action” rehashes). Even so, BLUE EYE SAMURAI has the most gorgeous art that I have ever seen. The story is terrific as well. Set in Japan during the Edo period, it is violent, visceral, sexy (and more than a little kinky in spots), with amazing action sequences and a cast of well-developed characters, colorful and complex and real. Flawed heroes, villains who are more than cartoons (though they are cartoons, being drawn, after all).

It reminded me of some books I read… what was the title of that series, now? Something about a song…

Ah, never mind…

BLUE EYE SAMURAI is very much its own thing, and it is magnificent. Even if you don’t normally watch animation, give it a try. It’s terrific. If you like my own stuff, I think you’ll love it.

As it happens, HBO and I have our own animated projects, set in the world of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE. None of them have been greenlit yet, but I think we are getting close to taking the next step with a couple of them. When this last round of development started a few years back, we had four ideas for animated shows, with some great talents attached. Writers rooms and summits, outline and scripts followed in due course… but, alas, two of the original projects were subsequently shelved.

(Those of you who have read my reports in years past may recall that I prefer to say “shelved” rather than “killed,” as nothing is ever dead for good in Hollywood, and a project put on the shelf one year can be taken off the shelf a few years later). (( I still have hopes of presenting the stories that we shelved in another form, perhaps as graphic novels)).

Work on the other two animated projects continues apace, however…and meanwhile, we have moved NINE VOYAGES, our series about the legendary voyages of the Sea Snake, over from live action to animation. A move I support fully. Budgetary constraints would likely have made a live action version prohibitively expensive, what with half the show taking place at sea, and the necessity of creating a different port every week, from Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles to Volantis to Qarth to… well, on and on and on. There’s a whole world out there. And we have a lot better chance of showing it all with animation. So we now have three animated projects underway.

Will any of them make it to air? happen? No way to know. Nothing is certain in Hollywood. But if it does happen, with one or two or all three shows, I hope we can make them as good as gorgeous and gripping as BLUE EYE SAMURAI. We will for damn sure try.

Tags: animation, artwork, hbo, television

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