Category: I Wrote That

On Stands Now

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Calliope, April 2013.Mrs. Kuhl expressed surprise upon seeing the fantastic cover of this month’s Calliope, in particular to the “POWs Meet Their Captors” blurb. The story examines three different experiences during World War II: those of German POWs in England, German POWs in the US, and of Japanese-Americans in American internment camps. Her shock is why I adore Calliope — it’s not the pablum like Time For Kids they shovel at my sons’ school.

The entire issue explores such differing perspectives of and within history. Also inside are letters from Pliny and Trajan regarding early Christians, a story about the racism that surrounded the archaeology of Great Zimbabwe, conflicting theories about the peopling of Polynesia, and the arguments that led to the Civil War. I round out the issue by describing some of the comparatively mild disagreements over which sports should be included in the Olympics.

You can purchase a subscription to Calliope at Amazon.

Samuel Smedley Talk

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Samuel Smedley, Connecticut PrivateerTomorrow night — Thursday, February 21 — I’ll be speaking about Samuel Smedley, Connecticut Privateer at the Black Rock Yacht Club, 80 Grovers Avenue in Bridgeport, right on the shores of Smedley’s very own port o’ call.

I’ll talk about Smedley, Defence, and how the division of prizes — that is, the proceeds from captured ships and their cargoes — impacted the Connecticut state navy during the American Revolution.

You don’t have to be a member of the club to attend! The presentation begins at 7pm.

On Stands Now

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Calliope, February 2013.The theme of February’s Calliope is dictators and tyrants throughout history: men like Peisistratos of Athens, Shi Huangdi of China, and of course, Julius Caesar of Rome.

There’s also a fun imaginary debate between Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau about what government students should choose if the adults vanish from their school, leaving them in a state of nature (the pig’s head was unavailable for comment).

I have a feature about modern dictators, some of whom are still kicking and some — like Muammar Qaddafi — who are not.

A one-year, nine-issue subscription to Calliope is available at Amazon.

An Interview With Jeffrey E. Barlough

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Over at Black Gate, you can read my interview with Jeffrey Barlough, author of the long-running Western Lights series of alternate-history novels.

There’s nothing out there on the shelves like Jeffrey Barlough’s Western Lights novels. The series — called such because “the sole place on earth where lights still shine at night is in the west” — is a bouillabaisse of mystery, ghost story, and post-apocalyptic gaslamp fantasy. His seventh and most recent book, What I Found at Hoole, was published in November.

Dr. Barlough, who moonlights as a veterinary physician, kindly spoke to me about the world-building of the Western Lights, his latest project, and which Ice Age animal he’d most like to meet in a dark alley.

Barlough has flown under the radar for far too long; in a just universe, steampunk convention-goers would be cosplaying his characters and dressing up their pets as woolly mammoths. Here’s hoping the interview brings him a little more attention.

Barbary

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The current issue of Black Static opens with my historical fantasy, “Barbary.”

I began to smoke mummies on the advice of a pharmacist off Pacific Avenue. His was an almost derelict alley-way shop, the sign faded, the bills in the window brown and curling. Several times I had to step like a Lipizzaner in the lane over inebriates or dragon-chasers, and I couldn’t imagine how such a frail old geezer passed daily to and from his business unmolested. For all I knew he never left and slept under the floor, subsisting on unguent and rose water. And for me — well, the risk of a blackjack or a knife between the ribs was a lesser injury than my chronic disorder.

One reviewer at Tangent said the story is “very well-done, spooky and disturbing … The prose is realistically archaic without being awkward or stiff,” while another wrote that it “twists to a perfect ending.” Author and fellow cider-swiller Matthew Dent noted, “it was the peculiar and slightly archaic way in which it was written — fitting the plot like a glove — which fascinated me … An excellent piece of fiction.”

I’m grateful for the kind praise! Artist Ben Baldwin created an amazing accompaniment to the story, seen above. Thanks to him as well.

Alas, while Black Static is available at the Waterstones in every burgh’s High Street, I have no idea how you buy it outside of the UK. You can wait for the Kindle version — though I don’t know when that will be available — or purchase a hard copy off the publisher’s Back Issues page once the next issue is out.