D6 Issue Three is live

Just click on the badge to the left and you will be taken through to the Dimension 6 page where you can download your copy of Issue One (in Mobi or epub format). Or you can click here if the image isn’t showing in your browser.

What is Dimension 6 and How did it come about?

Short answer - a collection of free fiction, free from a price tag and free from DRM but containing the some of the cream of Australian SpecFic Writing.

Long answer – read Angela Slatter’s interview with Dimension 6 publisher Keith Stevenson of Coeur De Lion Publishing.

 

 

Issue 3 features:

‘Shark-God Covenant’ by Robert Hood
You never make a deal with the Devil. But what about the child of a god?

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‘The Last of The Butterflies’ by Steve Cameron
Let me tell you a story about when I was young and the world was a very different place.

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‘New Chronicles of Andras Thorn’ by Cat Sparks
Just like his uncle, Andras Thorn wanted adventure and excitement. Unfortunately he found it.

 

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Book Review – Fragments of a Broken Land : Valarl Undead

What do you get when “Australia’s Master of Dark Fantasy” sets out to write a debut adult fantasy novel?  Not Granddad's, journey through Middle Earth, that’s for sure.

I have read Robert Hood’s work before but short fiction is obviously different to the novel form, so I didn’t have any firm convictions going in – possibly the best way to approach a book really.

Other reviewers have compared Fragments of a Broken Land to that branch of the fantasy tree inhabited by Moorcock, Lieber and Vance. I know of these writers but have only ever played games that use them as a source material ( I’ll hand in my Fantasy Fan Union Card after this review).

So for the general fantasy reader, bereft of the esoteric knowledge bestowed on readers of Elric and Fafhrd what do you get? A world that is deceptively rich for one that exists only as a “solid firmament”.  Hood manages to evoke a sense of long history, a passage of time and an exoticism that doesn’t rely on orientalism.  It’s more sorcery than sword with a definite emphasis on the workings, metaphysics and consequences of manipulating “deep powers”.

In a place where no stars appear in the night sky, a group of strangers whose ancestries reach back to an earlier apocalyptic disaster are brought together to track down a resurrected corpse that might hold the key to the End of the World.

Structurally we have two stories, one that is a fairly straight forward fantasy quest, shadowed by the other which deals with the metaphysics, the unseen forces that impact on the first.  We have characters that exist in both stories and that are aware, though not always fully, of the existence of two differing realities.

Fragments of a Broken Land will take an investment of your time and attention.  This is not a book that you will want to devour.  It will exercise your brains as you hold these two storylines and attempt to figure their conclusion before the main character does.  It’s the mystery that pulls you through the book, the desire to know how Hood can pull the story, the world, together. 

Initially I found the dual storyline and the shared characters a work out, but I think the structure of the book emulates the state of confusion the main character is experiencing.  As the book progressed both I and the character seemed to get our head around things.  On reflection then, I feel the structure was well done.

Another thing I enjoyed was the use of poetry and song.  It’s a brave author that attempts these forms within a story.  Some readers will skip over them(why this is I am not sure) and  you have to have both skill and knowledge of poetic forms in addition to being able to place them in a fantasy setting and make them “sound” natural. So kudos to Hood for doing so.

Fragments of a Broken Land is a rich, thought provoking fantasy read with elements of horror.  It’s a book that requires some fantasy grounding and possibly a mature reading experience to fully enjoy ie you don’t get annoyed when things aren’t handed to you on a plate.

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eBook Review–Creeping in Reptile Flesh by Robert Hood

Creeping in Reptile Flesh is a collection of 15 stories by a Robert Hood, dubbed as “Australia’s Master of the Macabre”. 
I have a little confession to make - prior to getting this review copy I really didn’t know who Robert Hood was.

Which I hope means that my review of it isn’t affected by any sort of in-group bias( the in-group being the Australian SpecFic community which I participate in /support) rather than just underlining my ignorance.

Given the digital treatment
The collection was originally published in 2008 by Altair-Australia and has been reprinted/reissued by Morrigan Books as of July 2011 in digital form.
The collection, when it was first released, made available a number of stories that were hard to find after their initial publication run in overseas magazines.  Now with the eBook age finally upon us Robert has his work preserved for posterity or at least until our advanced civilisation is wiped out by an EMP.

A Definitive Collection?
Robert thankfully, is still with us.  There is a common wisdom that suggests that there’s a right time that a collection should be put out – writers are supposed to get better with time and experience and well, putting out a collection of works too early in one’s career could be damaging. Too early and you risk turning readers off I suppose.

But not having followed Rob’s career at all its really hard for me to judge.  What I can say is that Creeping in Reptile Flesh is consistently good.  There’s consistent tone and quality in the writing mixed with enough variation to make it an enjoyable and refreshing read.

So is it the definitive Robert Hood collection?  No, but it’s a fine snapshot of a good writer’s career(and I’d like to think Robert’s going to be around a little longer).

My picks
The Collection was a finalist in the 2009 Aurealis & Ditmar Awards, the title story  was also a finalist in the best Novella category for the 2009 Ditmar Awards.  That being said my favourites were to be found further  in the work.

They are:

Getting rid of mother, which I found to be charmingly disturbing.  A couple who can’t seem to look after themselves buy a house that comes with its own escapee from a nursing home.  The poor old …well I should let you read it for yourself.

Heartless definitely fell on the weird end of the horror spectrum.  Though this is one tory that features a bit of gore, there was a sort of Dexter-ish glee in in the outcome .  A sense of justice achieved though by rather less than ok means.

Rotten times – decay and corruption in modern times taken to a literal end.  I like this story for its non lineal arrangement as well.

And while all of the antagonists in the above shorts meet the deserved ends, as with all good horror there’s a lingering unease felt by the survivors (If there are any) and the reader.

Recommendations
I’d recommend it even if you are not that big on horror.  It tends more towards the weird than than the gory.  If you are a horror fan, well I’d hope you’d already have it, but then there's a lot of good reading out there.

(Note: You can now purchase a hard copy from Booktopia.)

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