domingo, 31 de julio de 2016

Novedad: The Hunting of the Princes, de Peter F. Hamilton

Además de A Window into Time, Peter F. Hamilton también ha publicado esta semana The Hunting of the Princes, segunda parte de su serie infantil The Queen of Dreams. Ésta es su sinopsis:
The Hunting of the Princes is the second title in the Queen of Dreams trilogy. Featuring black and white illustrations, this fantastic series from the UK's best-selling sci-fi author, Peter F. Hamilton is a future classic in the making. 
It had been a big year for Taggie Paganuzzi. From learning that she was actually the Queen-to-be of a magical realm, to learning to use magic, to fighting for her life against the King of Night, there had been a lot of 'firsts'. And when someone tried to assassinate her as she was cycling home from the local pool in Stamford, England. Well, that was a first too. 
It turns out that someone has been killing royal heirs throughout the magical kingdoms, and every leader from every realm believes the King of Night's army, the Karraks, are responsible. War seems inevitable . . . and yet Taggie has just discovered two very interesting facts. Firstly, that the Karraks come from a cold, dark universe, and they cannot abide warmth and light. And secondly, that there was once a gate to this universe . . . now lost in the mists of time. 
But where do you begin to look for a gate which was deliberately hidden centuries ago? To find out, Taggie must rescue the one Karrak Lord who also hopes for peace. Who happens to be imprisoned in an impenetrable fortress . . .

sábado, 30 de julio de 2016

Novedad: City of Wolves, de Willow Palecek

La nueva entrega de la colección de novelas cortas de Tor.com ya está a la venta. Se trata de City of Wolves, de Willow Palecek. 

Ésta es su sinopsis:

Alexander Drake, Investigator for Hire, doesn’t like working for the Nobility, and doesn’t prefer to take jobs from strange men who accost him in alleyways. A combination of hired muscle and ready silver have a way of changing a man’s mind. 
A lord has been killed, his body found covered in bite marks. Even worse, the late lord’s will is missing, and not everyone wants Drake to find it. Solving the case might plunge Drake into deeper danger. 
City of Wolves is a gaslamp fantasy noir from debut author Willow Palecek.

viernes, 29 de julio de 2016

Félix García interviews Nathan Ballingrud

Félix García is back with us with another of his amazing interviews. In this case, he talks with Nathan Ballingrud whose short story collection, Ecce Monstrum, has been recently published in Spanish by Fata Libelli. Hope you enjoy the interview and notice that you can read a translation into Spanish at Fata Libelli's website.  

Félix García: Let’s begin assuming you, as many of contemporary readers and writers, have been attracted to literary horror by the boom that this genre had in the 70’s and 80’s (S. King, P. Straub, etc.) Nevertheless, many of you have ended up in a literature very different from these formative models. Which are the main differences between that so called golden age and this one that we could label as weird renaissance?

Nathan Ballingrud: That’s an interesting question, and one I’m not sure I have the right perspective to answer. I suspect people a generation from now will be better able to say. That being said, the writers of today have the advantage of drawing from the imaginations of those that have come before. Whereas they wrote in response to the generation which preceded them, we write in response to their own work. We’re just the latest iteration in a long conversation.

FG: As far as I know, your first stories started appearing in magazines and anthologies, kicking ass as Athenea from Zeus skull, that is, without any noticeable learning period. And this, after what I fancy to imagine as a lairdbarronesque life, working as waiter in New Orleans and cook in offshore oil rigs. How do you come to writing in that time of your life?

NB: Like many writers, I knew I wanted to do this since I was a kid. I definitely had an apprenticeship period; it’s just that I chose not to submit most of those stories for publication, and I was fortunate enough that those I did submit were mostly rejected. So though it might seem like it happened all at once, it took many years. I’m grateful, in a way, that there were less avenues into print when I was in my twenties. I’d not like to be dragging those stories behind me today. I learned that fairly early on, too; I knew I wasn’t writing the kind of thing I felt like I’d eventually be capable of, so I chose to work the kinds of jobs, and live in the kinds of places, that would put me into contact with different perspectives on the world. At some point in my early thirties, without even really thinking about it, I felt ready, and I started writing again. I think it’s extremely important for writers not to get too isolated from the world around them. You have to keep in touch with the world. That’s much more important than keeping current with the latest trends in literature.

FG: Focusing now in North America Lake Monsters, the collection Ecce Monstrum stories are taken from, I notice a clear will of drawing up the classic horror tropes but for the significant exception of the lovecraftian pantheon. Explain to us, please, this abhorrence to tentacles.

NB: I don’t abhor tentacles at all. I get great joy from reading Lovecraft, and other kinds of cosmic horror. But it doesn’t reflect what’s inside of me: my own fears or anxieties or obsessions. I don’t care about humanity’s insignificance; in fact, I find comfort in it. To write effectively -- whether or not you’re writing horror -- I think it’s important that you write about whatever unsettles you, or nags at your spirit, or puts a thorn in your heart. For me, it almost always comes down to the misunderstandings in close relationships, or the way love can lead you down strange avenues, sometimes to your peril. The classic tropes of horror fiction have always held great appeal to me; I think they’re still powerful symbols, if properly used. Part of the fun of using them is rediscovering what made them terrifying to begin with. They can be wonderful tools for magnifying a variety of themes.

FG: Your stories bring up characters living crucial moments, just in the act of making the decisions that determine them to the reader and themselves. In this sense, comparisons with Raymond Carver are justified, although in your stories that crucial moments usually include some supernatural or monstrous element that catalyzes the conflict. When it comes to build these characters, do you turn to observation, to your own personal experiences or established archetypes?

NB: I avoid archetypes with characters whenever possible. Archetypes can work well for the monsters, but you have to be mindful of how you’re using them, to avoid falling into cliche. For my characters I rely on both observation and personal experience. There’s a lot of both in North American Lake Monsters. A lot of myself, a lot of what I fear I might be, and a lot of what I see in the people around me. Writers should be observers of the human drama, which means more listening than speaking. Writers should do their talking on the page.

FG: I’m asking the same thing about the places. In a recent debate, Scott Nicolay emphasized very eloquently the need to use places you are familiar with, and it’s obviously a successful method for him. Does it also work for you?

NB: It does. Most of my stories have been set in New Orleans and the southern Appalachians, two places I’m very familiar with. Atmosphere is vital to horror and dark fiction, and setting is often the bedrock for atmosphere. Familiarity allows you to access elements of setting that will not be available to those who haven’t experience it first-hand: the smell, the air pressure, the hidden pockets. I wouldn’t go so far as to call that kind of familiarity a need, but it’s certainly a boon. 

FG: In the last years we have watched some “indie” horror films as It Follows (2014) or The Babadook (2014) that resonate deeply with what’s going on in the literary field, although it seems that Hollywood blockbusters go against the tide. How do you see the mutual influence between horror literature and horror film?

NB: I’m not sure I agree that those movies resonate much with what’s going in the current literary field. I think they resonate with the writers, because they’re terrific films, but they seem more engaged with the tropes of other, older horror films than they do with the current literary scene. The new Netflix series Stranger Things is another example of this; it engages with the horror tropes of the 80s -- King and Spielberg, most obviously -- and arguably not at all with anything from the new century. I think this is typical. Writers are often much more directly influenced by movies than vice versa. No doubt this is due to the nature of the movie making business, which tends to proceed glacially and with extraordinary timidity. Thankfully, there are signs that the filmmaking world is starting to notice what’s happening on this side of the fence, with forthcoming movies based on works by Jeff VanderMeer and Laird Barron. Others, no doubt, are percolating behind the scenes.

FG: If I were to judge by your recent works (I’m thinking now of “The atlas of Hell”), a clear influence of contemporary comic book -in the line of Vertigo or Image- can be noticed, which translates in that a growing focus on the plot without detriment of weird atmospherics. To me, this relates you even more to classic pulp. Can you talk to us about this topic and say if we can wait similar things in your future works?

NB: Oh, definitely. I love comic books, and I love pulp fiction. I think some of the most interesting writers today are working in comics -- Mike Mignola, Emily Carroll, and Matt Fraction, to name a very few. I love the wild inventiveness, the unapologetic striving for entertainment value, the pursuit of joy. None of this works at cross-purposes to the atmosphere, weird or otherwise. On the contrary, pulp and atmosphere are natural cousins. More challenging is avoiding cliche. Part of the appeal of pulp fiction has traditionally been its reliance on predictable settings or outcomes, functioning as a kind of literary comfort food. When working with these trappings, I try to subvert those expectations. As in earlier stories like “Wild Acre” and “The Good Husband”, I try to use genre trappings -- in this case, pulp or comic book trappings -- to tell different kinds of stories, which might lead to unexpected endings. I’ve been having a lot of fun pursuing this new avenue.

FG: In Spain we have a settled bias against short fiction. Press houses consider collections and anthologies as poor sellers, and readers seem anxious to punish their wrists with doorstoppers the heavier the better. Nevertheless, there’s a view in the horror field, a view that dates back to Edgar Allan Poe, that short stories are the ideal vehicle for literary horror, or even, that the sensation of dread cannot be maintained through the length of a novel. As a known short story writer who is writing at least a novel (as far as I know) at the same time, where do you stand on this controversy?

NB: I think there have been novels which maintained the atmosphere of dread very successfully -- Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Robert Marasco’s Burnt Offerings, Adam Nevill’s No One Gets Out Alive -- but I think it’s fair to say that successful examples are much rarer in the long form. Horror fiction relies as heavily on atmosphere as it does on character, so it really thrives in the short story to novella range. You can’t consider yourself a connoisseur of horror fiction if you’re not engaging with short fiction. Most of the true classics are found there.

FG: Finally, it has been two years from North American Lake Monsters release and what your devoted readers want to know is if there is another collection coming our way. If so, will it be only previously published material or unpublished one? Where would it be published?...

NB: Absolutely! My next collection of stories will be published soon -- probably in 2017 -- by Small Beer Press. It will be called The Atlas of Hell: Stories, and will have a lot of stories which engage with the pulp themes we’ve already talked about. Most of it will be reprints, but there should be two brand new pieces. It’ll be a lot different in tone from North American Lake Monsters, but it will have the same underlying aesthetic, so hopefully readers will come along for the ride. 

(You can also read this interview in Spanish at Fata Libelli's website/También puedes leer esta entrevista en español en la página de Fata Libelli)

Novedad: A Window into Time, de Peter F. Hamilton

Ayer se puso a la venta A Window into Time, una novela corta de Peter F. Hamilton. Ésta es su sinopsis:
The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine. 
Whip-smart thirteen-year-old Julian Costello Proctor—better known as Jules—has an eidetic memory. For as long as he can remember, he has remembered everything. “My mind is always on,” he explains. But when an unexpected death throws his life into turmoil, Jules begins to experience something strange. For the first time, there are holes in his memory. 
But that’s not the strangest part. What’s really weird isn’t what he’s forgotten; it’s what heremembers. Memories of another life, not his own. And not from some distant past. No, these memories belong to a man who’s alive right now. 
With bravery, ingenuity, and quirky good humor, Jules devises a theory to explain this baffling phenomenon. While tracking down the identity of his mysterious doppelgänger, he finds himself enmeshed in the hopes and dreams of a stranger . . . and caught in the coils of a madman’s deadly plot.

jueves, 28 de julio de 2016

Ebook en oferta: La Patrulla del Tiempo, de Poul Anderson


En estos momentos se puede adquirir a precio promocional en varias tienda online (Lektu - 1,49€; Casa del Libro - 1,42€; Kobo - 1,42€) el ebook La Patrulla del Tiempo, de Poul Anderson. Ésta es su sinopsis:

La Patrulla del Tiempo es un clásico indiscutible de la ciencia ficción y una obra maestra de la ucronía, escrita por Poul Anderson, Gran Maestro Nebula y el autor que más premios Hugo ha obtenido en toda la historia del género. En 1960, Anderson publicaba la que entonces parecía una obra cerrada, Guardianes del Tiempo, en la que se incluían cuatro relatos protagonizados por un carismático patrullero del tiempo, Manse Everard. Esas historias habían aparecido previamente en la revista The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction y eran, todas ellas, aventuras de una policía del tiempo que debía vigilar el pasado para evitar que la futura existencia de una máquina del tiempo pudiera alterar el devenir de la humanidad. En la década de 1980 esta serie se amplió con varios títulos adicionales en torno al mismo protagonista, hasta completar la presente versión en un solo volumen. Desde entonces, esta asombrosa revisión de la historia de la humanidad se ha convertido en un clásico de la ciencia ficción moderna. 
Manse Everard es un patrullero del tiempo, uno de los esforzados paladines que protegen la historia de las alteraciones que una máquina del tiempo podría introducir en la incierta matriz del futuro. En sus diversas aventuras por el pasado, lo vemos intrigando entre los persas de Cambises, Astiages y Ciro en su guerra con Grecia; con los conquistadores españoles y el imperio inca; con los vikingos y godos en la Escandinavia regida por Odín; en la Jerusalén de David y Salomón; en la Germania invadida por Roma y en otros muchos momentos cruciales del pasado de la humanidad. El resultado es una maravillosa visión de la Historia que fue, pudo ser y tal vez será, con todo el sabor de la mejor especulación y la paradoja temporal. 

Poul Anderson, Gran Maestro Nebula y el autor que más premios Hugo ha obtenido en toda la historia de la ciencia ficción, domina el saber histórico como pocos en el género. En La patrulla del tiempo vuelve a maravillarnos con una visión inteligente de la historia que fue, la que pudo ser y, tal vez, la que será. Un tour de force que nos demuestra cómo todas las ciencias (y no sólo las duras... ) proporcionan buen material para la mejor ciencia ficción.



Por primera vez, la serie completa de las historias de la patrulla del tiempo, escritas entre 1955 y 1988, reunida en sun solo volumen para satisfacción de todos.

Relatos:

- Patrulla del Tiempo
- El valor de un rey
- Las cascadas de Gibraltar
- La única partida en esta ciudad
- Delenda Est
- Marfil y monas y pavos reales
- El pesar de Odín el Godo
- Estrella del mar
- El año del Rescate


Más información sobre el Festival Niebla de Salamanca

La organización del Festival Niebla ha emitido un comunicado dirigido a blogs en el que se da un poco más de información sobre las actividades que tendrán lugar dentro mismo. Como sabéis, el festival, que se estrena este año, tendrá lugar en Salamanca del 30 de septiembre (viernes) al 2 de octubre y estará dedicado a "la literatura fantástica, entendida de forma amplia, y con voluntad de perdurar en el tiempo y convertirse en una de las grandes citas de nuestro país".

Durante los tres días que dura el evento se celebrarán "mesas redondas y charlas acerca de temas relacionados con la literatura fantástica" pero "también habrá, por supuesto, presentaciones de libros y sesiones de firmas" así como:

  • Actividades para niños: cuentacuentos, presentaciones de libros, teatro y otros.
  • Charlas con algunos de los principales representantes de las nuevas formas de difusión y crítica: bloggers, youtubers, booktubers, podcasters.
  • Talleres diversos de cosplay, softcombat, creación literaria, microteatro, etc.

En un festival de estas características el plato fuerte son, evidentemente, los autores invitados. Los confirmados hasta el momento son Ken Liu, Ian Watson, Aranzazu Serrano y Carlos Sisí, pero pronto se irán desvelando más nombres. Además, habrá varias sesiones dedicadas a la traducción, para lo que se contará con profesionales tan reconocidos como Cristina Macía, Pilar Ramírez Tello, Nieves Azofra, Noemí Risco o Manuel de los Reyes. 

Podéis encontrar más información a través de las cuentas del Festival Niebla en Facebook y Twitter y, dentro de poco, también en www.festivalnieblasalamanca.com.