I am delighted to do a Just Arrived post for you today, because the new arrival is a novella-in-flash, The Crazed Wind (Truth Serum Press), written by my friend and fellow Christchurch author, Nod Ghosh.
Not only that, but I got to go the book launch last Thursday p.m. and there’s always something very special about a book launch, which combines celebration with the sense of an event that marks both an ending and a beginning.
Shiny…
I suspect you will have questions for me, including, “What is a novella-in-flash?” The best explanation I can think of is that the form comprises a series of flash fiction pieces that can be read as standalone works but are linked in theme or subject matter to comprise an overarching, novella-length work.
Flash fiction, by the way, is very short fiction — in some cases, but not always, akin to prose poetry.
The Crazed Wind addresses the relationship between a father (resident in India) and daughter (visting from the UK) that plays out against the backdrop of societal, cultural, and familial change in India, post-independence (1947) and through to the present day. Nod maintains that The Crazed Wind is primarily fiction but is informed by personal experience and her own family history. From the readings chosen by Nod for the launch, I already know that the flash pieces, while grounded in contemporary realism, also contains elements of magical realism—but otherwise I am very much looking forward to reading and discovering more.
Nod reading from the book
The following is one of several, very positive book quotes for The Crazed Wind:
“As always with flash at its best, the power is in the space between the words. In The Crazed Wind, Ghosh provides a lush, unique collection of flash fiction that takes the reader from past to present day India and back again. The reader is taken on a turbulent journey through cultural and family divides, and is left with a disquieting truth.”
~ Eileen Merriman, author of Pieces of You and Catch Me When You Fall
The listening audience
Here’s a little bit more about Nod herself:
Nod Ghosh
Nod Ghosh was born in the U.K. to Indian parents, and works as a medical laboratory scientist. The day job involves writing the truth, which is why it’s such fun writing made up stuff at night.
Nod completed a creative writing course at the Hagley Writers’ Institute in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2014. Her stories and poems have appeared in Landfall, Takahē, JAAM, and other New Zealand and overseas publications.
Anthologies featuring Nod’s work include: Horizons2, Love on the Road and Landmarks (2015); Leaving the Red Zone (2016); and Sleep is A Beautiful Colour (2017).
Nod’s competition placements include:
• Runner up New Zealand National Flash Fiction Day, 2016.
• Runner up Bath Flash Fiction award, June 2017.
• Joint 1st place Wallace Foundation Creative Non Fiction Contest 2018.
• Runner up North and South short short story competition 2016 and 2018.
Nod has also contributed to the anthologies Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Happy², Wiser and, True. You can visit her website at: http://www.nodghosh.com/about/
Truth Serum Press published Nod’s novella The Crazed Wind in July 2018. For various formats, click here for paperback / ePub / iBookstore / Amazon Kindle / B & N NOOKbook / Kobobooks
Stormbringer from Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone series
And one cannot discuss artefacts or swords of power without reference to Excalibur from the many variants of the King Arthur legend. Not the least of those was Excalibur’s re-imagining as Caliburn, the sword of the fallen (Roman) Emperor Maximus, in Mary Stewart’s wonderful Arthurian sequence.
“Hold on,” you may cry, “what about Druss, the legendary axeman in David Gemmell’s groundbreaking heroic fantasy, Legend?” To which I reply—nodding sagely—that although Druss is clearly one of the three leading protagonists in Legend, in the context of the book he is i) not of the high, knightly classes; and ii) does not see himself as heroic, although others clearly do. It is Rek, who becomes the Earl of Bronze, albeit through marriage, who is the great swordsman. Serbitar and the Thirty, who are mostly if not all of noble birth, also primarily use swords.
Alan Garner goes directly to the Four Treasures of Celtic myth in Elidor, which are found in a mound. These may also be found, although not necessarily in their official Four Treasures guise, in other Celtic-inpsired fantasy novels, such as Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar series and Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising quintet.
In Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen the treasure is a stone and not the necklace of Norse myth, but it’s rightful resting place is also a cave. Returning to Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series (as mentioned in the MacGuffin post), the five books centre on the finding of longlost artefacts that will support the power of the light and turn back the dark. These include the grail, a codex to decipher it, and the “six signs” of Will Stanton’s Twelfth Night quest in the second book, also titled The Dark is Rising. As for where to find such items, “over sea and under stone” and generally secreted in unexpected places is the order of things.
In Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass trilogy, the first book is centered around the mysterious alethiometer, a truth-telling and predictive compass that only Lyra can readily interpret. In the second book, The Subtle Knife, the blade for which the book is named opens gateways between parallel universes. The armour of the panzerbjorn is also a significant artefact as well as the essence of the bears’ physical and spiritual being. The latter are only found in the forges of the frozen north.
As for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter, in which the books grow increasingly epic as the story progresses, the series features an abundance of artefacts of power. These include the philosopher’s stone of the first book (try Gringott’s vaults and/or caves beneath Hogwarts), the cloak of invisibility, the sword of Gryffindor (the Sorting Hat provides sure access), Hermione’s timeturner (professors such as Minerva McGonagall are a reliable source), and the goblet of fire (enchanted within a maze) for which the fourth book is named—not to mention the seven horcruxes in which Lord Voldemort has secreted part of his being. The latter will always be concealed in secret and highly dangerous locations.
If we look back to ships such as the Argo and 
In terms of artefacts that bridge Children’s and Adult literature, one can say that this is “all of them!” since artefacts of power are integral to epic fantasy. Ships, though, are one of my particular favourites, possibly because I always wanted to be an Argonaut as a kid. 😉 So it may then come as no surprise to learn that Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy, which starts with Ship of Magic, is a favourite of mine and that I heart all the ships. Vivacia and Paragon are definitely just as much characters as the human protagonists. (At this point, of course, I yearn to mention Iain M Banks’s Culture ships, but of course I can’t because, fantastic though they are, they’re definitely Science Fiction and not Fantasy.)
Musical instruments are another of my favourite artefacts of power. I’ve always had a particular fondness for the cwidder (a musical instrument, reminiscent of a lute) that Moril uses to bring down mountains in Diana Wynne Jones’ Cart and Cwidder. In literature for older readers, I’ve always respected Morgon of Hed’s starred harp (in Patricia McKillip’s Riddlemaster trilogy), which has a lowest string that will snap steel and shatter stone. Unlike the cwidder, though, which belonged to Moril’s father before he inherited it, Morgon’s harp is a “found” object.
When it comes to artefacts of doom, stones hold a distinguished place in the literature. The stone called the Terrenon, in Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard Of Earthsea, and the Stone-at the-Heart-of-the-Deep in Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane, are both sources of great power that can be drawn on by others. The difference is that in Earthsea, the Terrenon is clearly evil, whereas the Dragonsbane Stone is neutral but the will of the user determines whether the magic is turned to good or evil ends. Both stones are to be found in secret chambers, deep within the earth.
Golden torcs are a crucial artefact in Julian May’s Saga of the Exiles quartet, as it is the torcs that enable the Tanu (i.e. the sidhe or fey) and those humans allied with them, to access their psychic and magical powers. Being born to or enlisting in the ranks of the Tanu is the usual way to obtain one. Golden torcs also play a significant part, for weal and woe, in Diana Wynne Jones’ Power of Three.
In David Gemmell’s Legend (mentioned above), Druss’s axe Snaga may be named but it has no magical powers. The armour of the Earl of Bronze, however—which also appears in Waylander, the prequel to Legend—is known as “the soul of the Earl of Bronze” and has considerable legendary and mystical status in the hearts and imaginations of the populace. As to where to find it, it is in “a deep cave high up the side of a tall mountain” in Waylander, and in a locked room beneath the fortress of Dros Delnoch in Legend—where the Earl’s sword is encased in a block of mysterious crystal.
No discussion of artefacts of power would be complete without reference to The Luggage from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. The Luggage is first encountered following the tourist, Twoflower, who hails from the Counterweight continent and gifts The Luggage to the wizard, Rincewind. The Luggage is distinguished by being able to follow Twoflower or Rincewind anywhere, including into alternate dimensions. It also devours thieves and is the only entity in the Discworld that presents a real challenge to the invincible Coen the Barbarian. If you want your own set of similar luggage, I’m guessing the Counterweight continent is the place to look…
Fantasy in general and epic fantasy in particular is often categorized as intrinsically nostalgic and inherently anti-tech. Yet I find it fascinating that artefacts are integral to fantasy storytelling, since they are created or shaped objects and in this sense technological, although usually from an earlier age. The stolen computer in Barbara Hambly’s The Silent Tower is one exception to that rule, though.
An excellent question. As a reader, listener, and viewer, I have always loved artefacts of power in all their forms so it’s no surprise one or even quite a few of them appear in 
As regulars here probably know, but newcomers may not, on the first of every month I post on the 
As it turns out, the post is timely because July 31 is Harry Potter’s birthday, so what better time to share my thoughts re a first-time listen which is also effectively a “re-read.” 😉 Here’s how it starts:
I have chosen this specific book in the Harry Potter series for two reasons. Firstly, because the series became increasingly epic in character as it progressed. And secondly because The Deathly Hallows contains a classic MacGuffin hunt: Harry and Hermione’s quest to find and destroy the remaining horcruxes that preserve the life of Voldemort, the series’ 
MacGuffins come in many different forms and in this Tim Powers novel that form is “the dark.” The dark is an ancient and potent brew of (presumably very dark) beer that has the power to restore the Fisher King (aka Arthur and before that Sigurd) and tilt the international balance of power, stemming the ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire. Needless to say both the protagonists and antagonists (in this case, the Ottomans who wish to preserve their hegemony) are in a race to gain control of the dark first. In the classic fashion of MacGuffins the tale is not so much about the beer as the ups and downs of the race…
I am reasonably certain (although I stand to be corrected) that a MacGuffin hunt does not feature in 
