“Team Cap”

Yep, I’ve seen it.

And yes, I liked it. Quite a lot, actually.

And yes again, that is an accolade since by and large I’m reasonably lukewarm about superhero movies. (I know, how can that be?)

So why the like? First of all #TeamCap. Just sayin’ 😉

I also liked the convincing way the film wove together so many different characters, far more convincingly than Avengers: Age of Ultron, imho. Plus a big thumbs-up for Black Panther as a new character who was far more than one-dimensional; the antagonist was also well drawn and well acted by Daniel Bruhl.

Really, though, Captain America: Civil War was pitched in what for me is heartland territory, focusing on a story that was all about the relationships between the characters and exploring consequences, rather than the usual superhero fare of OTT set-piece wham-kapows in which Manhattan/London/Segovia gets trashed (for the ker-zillioneth time in the case of Manhattan; I mean, seriously, who would live there?)

In fact, I really liked that the denouement pointed viewer expectation in the big wham-kapow direction–and then delivered something not only entirely different but also satisfying.

Put all that together with the moments of leavening—and refreshingly understated—humour and it’s probably fairly clear why I left the theatre a satisfied customer.

Rosie Cooper

A little while back, reader Rosie Cooper tweeted to tell me how much she had enjoyed Daughter of Blood (noice!) — but also how much she wanted to discuss the book with other The Wall Of Night series readers.

I was still pondering this, when the very next thing I knew, Rose was emailing to tell me she had set up a Facebook group for the series, titled Haarth, and that she wondered if I would mind spreading the good word.

Naturally I don’t mind at all. 😉

If you are a person who likes discussing books, and heart The Wall of Night series, too, then I would love it — and am very sure Rosie will, too — if you’d consider paying a visit and adding to the fun on:

The Wall of Night Facebook Group

The Haarth group may be small as yet, but like Rosie it is Made of Mighty — just like Daughter Of Blood & The Wall of Night series. 😀

~ by Rebecca Fisher

I’m sure that John Boorman’s ambitious attempt to adapt all the Arthurian legends into a single cinematic spectacle did not deliberately include capturing the aesthetic of the Eighties in all its glory – but it totally did.

As such, Excalibur is set in the Eighties version of the Dark Ages, complete with perms for the women, mullets for the men, and lots of massive jewellery and florescent eyeshadow. Because of the sheer volume of material it has to cover (and it covers nearly sixty years’ worth of story) any degree of character nuance has to be obliterated in favour of plot, making it a “cliff notes” version of the legends.

With this emphasis on story over character, the film is divided into five distinct parts: the first deals with Uther’s pursuit of Igraine, the second the Sword in the Stone and Arthur’s attempts to prove himself as king, the third Lancelot and Guenevere’s love affair, the fourth Perceval’s quest for the Holy Grail, and the fifth Arthur’s rejuvenation and the battle of Camlann.

The wedding of Arthur and Guenevere

Strewn throughout are the staple parts of Arthurian Romances: Merlin fostering Arthur to Sir Ector, the Lady of the Lake granting Arthur Excalibur, the formation of the Knights of the Round Table, Morgana and Arthur’s incestuous liaison, Guinevere and Lancelot’s infidelity, shiny armour, mysterious castles, crotchety bridge-keepers, and knights that lose their minds at the drop of a hat.

Some of the creative choices in merging characters and relying on potent imagery to get the point across are pretty clever. Here the sorceress Morgana is combined with Morgause (the original mother of Mordred) and Nimue (who traps Merlin in the crystal cave) in order to simplify matters, and the state of Arthur’s kingdom is usually signified by how shiny the armour is – and trust me, that armour can get pretty damn shiny. We’re talking a blinding mirror-quality level sheen here.

See what I mean?

There are a lot of familiar (albeit youthful) faces: Helen Mirren as Morgana, Patrick Stewart as Leondegrance, Liam Neeson as Gawaine and Gabriel Byrne as Uther, though in regards to the performances, it’s largely Nicol Williamson as Merlin who’s the standout.

Despite the huge swathes of material it has to cover, it’s to Boorman’s credit that the film remains coherent. There are stirring speeches and incredible set pieces – but is it the quintessential retelling of the Arthurian legends?

In my opinion: no. But only because it’s virtually impossible to fully capture the depth and scope of the Arthurian legends in their entirety. Most other adaptations chose only one chapter of Arthur’s life to dramatize: Disney’s The Sword in the Stone explores his youth, while Jerry Zucker’s First Knight dealt with the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle.

Morgana prepares her son Mordred for battle (plus proof that George Clooney’s Batman was not the first to have armoured nipples).

Perhaps one day someone will do the entirety of the Arthurian cycle justice – though I expect when that happens it’ll be an episodic television event so as to give itself time and space to delve into all of the myriad legends. Until then, Excalibur remains a flawed but interesting contraction of a story that has been retold countless times before, and has yet to be told countless more.

Next Time:

We veer away from the strict “fantasy” genre to explore what can more generously be categorized as “speculative fiction” – starting with Terry Gilliam’s time-travelling comedy/adventure: Time Bandits.
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About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens

Rebecca won the 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Fan Writer, for writing that included Big Worlds On Small Screens.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

by William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616

—

Autumn now being fully upon us in the southern hemisphere, I am marking it with poems that reflect the season.

Last Thursday US time, Friday here  in NZ, I and many others bade a sorrowful farewell to SF Signal:

All Good Things

From my perspective, SF Signal has been a Very Good Thing indeed from the first time I detected the signal. As I explained in my personal valedictory post, that was in 2010 when SF Signal linked to my blog celebration for the publication of The Heir of Night.

Encouraged by the friendly response that followed first contact, I maintained communication and within a year or so had penned a number of guest posts for SF Signal:

• Looking at the Stars: Why Epic Fantasy Keeps Speaking To Us — which was a Top 25 post for the month;
• Having Fun with Epic Fantasy: “Making the Grand Tour”; “The Band Of Brothers”; and “The Soul-sucking Sword.”

A little later, I commenced a more regular series, interviewing fellow Antipodean speculative fiction authors about their work. Fun With Friends  ran from June 2012 until October 2013, during which time I interviewed thirteen fellow authors. Last year I commenced another series, Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World, that was still running when the decision to shut down SF Signal was made.

So why close? As John said in the last post:

“The reason is boringly simple: time. As the blog has grown, so has its demands for our attention. That is time we would rather spend with our families.”

Despite my personal regret for the termination of the Signal, I completely understand. Even wee author blogs like mine take a reasonable amount of time. SF Signal had been running for twelve years and was a major fan site — but that simple word ‘fan’ also means that all the work needed to keep the site going and continue being the wonderful place it has been, was entirely voluntary.

Yet SF Signal was not only large, it operated to a very professional standard: something that doesn’t just happen through wishing and wanting, but through a lot of hard work. The sort of work that is going to cut into family time.

Is there another solution for sites like SF Signal? One path John, JP, and the team considered was downsizing the site, but felt that was a retrograde step — and one, I suspect, that would have been hard to pull off/sustain having created an expectation of what SF Signal meant.

The only other path would be to try and make the shift to semi-pro or professional site, but that is notoriously difficult to pull off and comes with not inconsiderable financial risk for those who attempt to do so. Not to mention probably requiring even more hard work for those trying to make it happen.

So, however sadly, I really do understand the SF Signal decision — and join together with so many others in the speculative fiction community in waving a sorrowful farewell.

“I’ve loved being part of the SF Signal community. I would like to thank all the regulars, including Paul, Patrick, JP, and Kristin, to name just a few, for supporting my more irregular contributions throughout that time. Most of all, though, I’d like to thank John, for his unfailing friendliness and openness to my ideas for posts on a fantastic theme – but also for his support for a SFF newcomer from the far side of the world.

Thank you, John, for SF Signal, a SFF site that has rocked my world for the past six years.

As we say where I come from: haere ra – farewell.”

~ Helen Lowe

In the writing ‘verse, interviews always come thick and fast around book publication day and then gradually taper off.

USA

UK/AU/NZ

Daughter of Blood seems to have generated a longer tail in that respect, however, and today I’m chuffed to be able to link to an interview with one of my older friends in the world of books, blogging, and speculative fiction, the equally estimable and inestimable Stefan Fergus of Civilian Reader.

Among many other matters, he asks both:

CR: What can fans expect from the third book?

HL: … the Twitter synopsis goes something like: “Intrigue, war, & friendship in the face of darkness as two heroes race against time to find a lost shield and solve a 400 year-old mystery … [more follows]”

and

CR: Three books in, what lessons have you learned from the process of writing and plotting the series? …

HL: “I think the most profound lesson I have learned is that even when you are telling one story in four parts, every book is different and you have to approach it that way from the start. … [more follows]”

To read the rest of my answers and check out the interview in full, click on:

Civilian Reader: An Interview With Helen Lowe

And as always — enjoy. 🙂

A great many people around the world chiefly know New Zealand as “Middle Earth” in The Lord of the Rings films.

As a Fantasy author living right here in Middle Earth, I feel it’s my bounden duty to share the occasional image or images of “my” Middle Earth on the blog — and as I recently went on holiday to the wonderful Abel Tasman National Park, in the upper north-west section of the South Island, I thought it was time to share some “inside Middle Earth” photos again.

Technically, I believe it’s official that Abel Tasman did not feature in any of The Lord of the Rings or Hobbit films, but if NZ be Middle Earth then it’s unquestionable that the National Park is inside it … (I rest my case for the authenticity of the title. 😉 )

Although, in fact, today’s pics are from Kaiteriteri and environs, on our way to our destination, but the beginning of the holiday is still the holiday, and perhaps even its most magical part.

As you can see, Kaiteriteri, close by the entrance to the national park, is definitely a special place. Despite it now being autumn here in the southern hemisphere, the weather was magical, too.

The famous Split Apple rock

As for the sea, and the “getting there” experience (by boat or helicopter only, where we were going), I believe the picture below speaks for itself:

Look out for “more Inside Middle Earth” photos from t’holiday over the next few weeks. 🙂

SF Signal Mind melds are always a lot of fun, but as I love Fantasy and SciFi weapons, I was even more pleased than usual to be part of this one.

Because I very recently featured Five Legendary Swords on Fantasy Faction, I decided to check out some less usual suspects for this Mind Meld — so I hope you’ll rock on over to SF Signal and read all about it:

Our Favorite Weapons in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Not to mention all the other great entries by other authors (my contribution’s about half-way down the page.)

I would also be very interested to find out your favourite SFF weapons, whether conventional or unconventional, so do think about telling me — and the rest of the Signal crew — by leaving a comment. (Go on, you know you want to!) 😉

Joanna Preston

The Selwyn Writers’ Salon has recently been launched by award-winning Christchurch poet and editor, Joanna Preston.

The idea of the Salon is to provide somewhere that local writers and literary enthusiasts can get together to talk about books and writing, share things they’ve written recently, and listen to guest speakers talk about aspects of their own writing practice.

I was delighted to be the Salon’s second guest yesterday evening and meet some new faces from the Selwyn and Christchurch writing communities.

UK/AU/NZ

USA

Ah, but here’s the thing, dear readers, not only did I read from Daughter of Blood, I also read a short chapter from The Chaos Gate (The Wall of Night Book Four.)

Exciting, huh? I shall tantalise you further by telling you that this particular chapter picks up on two seemingly minor characters that series’ readers will have met at the end of The Gathering of the Lost. More than that, however, I shall not say: these lips are sealed. 😉

I also got to discuss more general questions, including why I write Fantasy, the influence of history on my books (huge), doing background research, the path to publication, and more. I also enjoyed finding out about what the others present were writing — a nice mix of poetry and short stories, fiction and non fiction — and talking about getting their work out into the world.

The Laboratory – home of the Selwyn Salon

I think the Salon is a great idea and all praise to Joanna for making it happen. If you’re in the area and keen to experience it for yourself , the Salons will be held from 7 pm to 9 pm on the first Tuesday of each month, in the upstairs mezzanine of The Laboratory in Lincoln.

Ode To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
…Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
…With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
…And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
……To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
…With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
…For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
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The “season of mists” being fully upon us now, here in the southern hemisphere, I can think of no better way to mark it than with what is potentially the English language’s most famous poem to autumn.