Episode 181: Dr. Robert Runté – Dave Duncan’s The Traitor’s Son and Corridor to Nightmare

A chat with editor Robert Runté, Ph.D., about the last two novels by the late, great Dave Duncan’s, The Traitor’s Son and Corridor to Nightmare, which he edited and which were just released by Shadowpaw Press.

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essentialedits.ca

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@runte

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@dr.robert.runte

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@drrunte

Dave Duncan’s Amazon Page

Amazon Links for The Traitor’s Son
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com

Amazon links for Corridor to Nightmare
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com

About The Traitor’s Son

“They know the world is dying, but they hope not in their lifetimes. Meanwhile, they’re top dogs and will do anything to stay that way.”

Doig Gray is fifteen when his father is killed in a mining accident, which Doig comes to realizes was no accident. Torn from his mother and sister, Doig is sent off to college, his every movement monitored in case he has inherited his dissident father’s unacceptable attitudes . . . or passwords. Doig has nothing but his own sense that there’s something desperately wrong with the world—and a last name that evokes the assumption that he’s destined to be the next traitor-hero.

The Traitor’s Son is a science fiction novel about a colony world where everything that could go wrong already has. Stuck on the wrong world at the wrong site, with the wrong leaders, the colony is doomed to extinction unless immediate steps are taken to correct—everything. But 500 years of hiding from the reality of their situation has created an unchallengeable status quo—and the Accident Squad, determined to ensure it remains that way.

The Traitor’s Son is a fast-paced SF adventure in the best tradition of Duncan’s HeroWest of January, and Eocene Station.

About Corridor to Nightmare

The never-before-published final novel by the late Dave Duncan, one of Canada’s most beloved authors of fantasy and science fiction

When one life ends, another begins.

After forty years as the village school teacher in the idyllic valley of Greenbottom, Agatha is looking forward to a quiet retirement. Instead, an enigmatic stranger arrives to drag her through a long-closed portal to another world.

Confronted with a completely foreign culture steeped in magic and violence, Agatha finds herself a crucial pawn being played between rival factions. The only way forward through the rigid traditions and convoluted politics of the Archons of Otopia is to remain true to herself and her Greenbottom ideals.

But will it be enough to save, not only herself, but the man to whom she is now magically bound in love?

Praise for Dave Duncan

“Dave Duncan writes rollicking adventure novels filled with subtle characterization and made bitter-sweet by an underlying darkness. Without striving for grand effects or momentous meetings between genres, he has produced one excellent book after another.” – Locus Magazine

“Duncan is an exceedingly finished stylist and a master of world building and characterization.” – Booklist

“Dave Duncan has long been one of the great unsung figures of Canadian fantasy and science fiction, graced with a fertile imagination, a prolific output, and keen writerly skills.” – Quill & Quire

“When you’re looking for a good adventure, Dave Duncan is a sure thing . . . [with] his sly and fast-paced plotting, his ability to construct intriguingly different worlds, and his knack for quick and entertaining characterization and dialogue.” – Eclectic Ruckus

About Dr. Robert Runté

Dr. Robert Runté

Robert Runté, Ph.D., is Senior Academic Editor with EssentialEdits.ca and freelances at SFeditor.ca. He was, for nearly a decade, senior editor at Five Rivers Publishing, where he acquired and edited more than thirty books, primarily speculative fiction.

A retired professor, he has won three Aurora Awards (Canadian SF&F) for his literary criticism, wrote the Canadian speculative fiction entry for the Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, published the NCF Guide to Canadian SF, and has given more than a hundred presentations and workshops at writers’ conferences. He currently reviews for the Ottawa Review of Books .

As a writer, he has published more than sixty  short stories in a variety of magazines and anthologies, six of which were reprinted in “best of” collections, and one of which was short-listed for an Aurora Award.

About Dave Duncan

Born and raised in Scotland, Dave Duncan moved to Calgary, Alberta, after graduating from university to take up his thirty-year career as a geologist. As the oil boom faltered in the 1980s, he sold his first novel and switched careers to become one of the most prolific and popular Canadian authors of science fiction and fantasy, with more than sixty-five traditionally published novels. Early in his career, he was producing books so fast his publisher could not keep up, so he wrote a fantasy trilogy under the name Ken Hood for a different house and a historical novel about the fall of Troy as Sarah B. Franklin.

Duncan won the Aurora Award for Best Novel in 1990 and again in 2007, and was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in 2015. Duncan had just finished Corridor to Nightmare and was awaiting final edits on The Traitor’s Son when he died, on October 29, 2018. 

Robert Runtés memorial speech outlining Dave Duncan’s contribution to Canadian SF can be watched here.

Episode 176: Tobias S. Buckell & Dave Klecha – Runes of Engagement

A chat with Tobias S. Buckell and Dave Klecha about their new humorous collaborative fantasy novel, Runes of Engagement.

Websites
Tobias S. Buckell
Dave Klecha

Bluesky
@tobiasbuckell.bsky.social
@daveklecha.bsky.social

Instagram
@daveklecha

Threads
@daveklecha

Tobias S. Buckell’s Amazon Page

Amazon Links for Runes of Engagement
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com

About the Book

The Lord of the Rings meets Call of Duty in this delirious mashup pitting confused soldiers against legendary monsters. This riotous campaign of a novel could only have sprung from the nerdy minds of a science fiction award-winner and an extreme amateur landscaper.

No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But now a very tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side. The enchanting world looks like Middle Earth, but to the dismay of even the geekiest soldiers, is nothing like it.

While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a Very Important Princess who could broker a crucial strategic alliance between worlds. What could possibly go wrong?

Praise for Runes of Engagement

[STARRED REVIEW] “Will be catnip to readers who love this combination of military SF, alternate history, and fantasy. ”Library Journal

“Fun, action-packed, occasionally gritty, and full of jokes for geeks and Marines alike.”
Jim C. Hines, author of Terminal Alliance

About Tobias S. Buckell & Dave Klecha

Tobias S. Buckell

Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times bestselling writer and World Fantasy Award winner. He was born in the Caribbean, grew up in Grenada, and has lived in the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. He is the author of the popular Xenowealth series (Crystal Rain), along with other standalone novels and almost one hundred stories. His latest novel is A Stranger in the Citadel. Buckell lives in Bluffton, Ohio.

Dave Klecha

Dave Klecha was born in Detroit and studied Russian and history in college. He then joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. In addition to writing, Dave engages in a number of other creative pursuits, including acting, set-building, scriptwriting, and extreme amateur landscaping. His fiction has appeared in the Subterranean Press MagazineClarkesworld, and various anthologies. Klecha lives in Rochester, Michigan.

Episode 175: Lynne Shaner – Journey to Everland Bay

A chat with author Lynne Shaner about her debut fantasy novel, Journey to Everland Bay.

Website
lynneshaner.com

Facebook

Threads
@lynne.shaner

Lynne Shaner’s Amazon Page

Amazon Links for Journey to Everland Bay
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com

About the Book

A Heroine’s Journey for our times.

Jemma Avalon, an unconventional mage-in-training, longs to return to Everland Bay, her ancestral homeland, and find a way to join the renowned magical research institute there, like the women in her family before her.

Daughter of a gentle part elf-fae mother and a father with fiery dragon blood, an unusual combination even in the magical world, ten years after her mother’s sudden death, she is working at a major museum in DC, where magic is all but outlawed. Her father wants her to assimilate and live without magic, but Jemma is determined to fully embrace her heritage.

When an ordinary day at the museum takes an extraordinary turn, Jemma is rocketed to an Everland Bay Institute under violent siege, where dark-arts mages threaten everything important to her. Once there, she joins forces with her companions and works feverishly to save Everland Bay from crumbling under enemy attack. In so doing, she finds a path to her own strength and mastery, and her heart’s true home. 

Praise for Journey to Everland Bay

“A beautifully engaging fantasy teeming with dragons, fae, magic and the importance of family and friendship. A joy to read from beginning to end. I found myself rooting for our main heroine, Jemma, as she grew into a wonderful and powerful young woman. I am already looking forward to the next work in this thrilling series!” – Julie Boglisch, author of The Elifer Chronicles and The Requiem of Stones series and standalone Ghost of a Memory

About Lynne Shaner

Lynne Shaner

Lynne Shaner has been captivated by fantasy, myth, and fairy tales since childhood, when her mother first read Charlotte’s Web and The Wind in the Willows to her.

She lives in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, close enough to Lake Michigan to walk to the shoreline every day. Shelves overflowing with books line her home, and there is always a knitting project on her needles. Lynne lives with her husband and Merlin, her small, adorable pup. When not writing, she can be found reading and knitting in her garden, where she grows herbs, flowers and story ideas.

Her work has appeared in various literary magazines. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing/fiction from Johns Hopkins.

Episode 171: Samantha Mills – The Wings Upon Her Back

A chat with Locus, Sturgeon, and Nebula Award-winning author Samantha Mills about her debut novel, The Wings Upon Her Back.

Website
samtasticbooks.com

Instagram
@samtasticbooks

Bluesky
@samtasticbooks

Goodreads

Amazon Links for The Wings Upon Her Back
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com

About the Book

In this gripping debut novel from acclaimed Nebula, Sturgeon, and Locus Award-winning author Samantha Mills, a disgraced soldier fights to make sense of her world and the gods who abandoned it.

The Wings Upon Her Back is an action-packed, devastating exploration of the brutal costs of zealous loyalty.

Zenya was a teenager when she ran away to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people of Radezhda, the city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Vodaya, Zenya finally became Winged Zemolai.

But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is brutally cast out and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai struggles for her life, she must question her sect, their leader, and even the gods themselves.

Praise for The Wings Upon Her Back

[STARRED REVIEW] “In the city-state of Radezha—a towering metropolis constructed vertically to reach the five slumbering gods in the heavens—discontent is stirring. Devoted to the mecha god, patron of the city’s warriors and keeper of the law, Zemolai has spent 26 years rising in the ranks of her sect until she receives the ultimate sign of devotion: mechanized wings attached to ports along her back. One fateful evening, returning home from a brutal, month-long mission patrolling Radezha’s borders, Winged Zemolai performs a single act of mercy that results in the destruction of everything she has ever known. Zemolai is shunned by her god, and the wings are ripped from her back, leaving her permanently disfigured. With no one to turn to but the rebels that she unknowingly saved, the Once-Winged Zemolai’s disillusionment continues to grow as her eyes are opened to the increasingly fascist state she has spent her life defending. The Wings upon Her Back is a triumphant debut novel. The complex narrative examines the intricacies of blind devotion, self-image, and the hidden motivations behind martial control. For fans of C. L. Clark’s The Unbroken looking for a timely perspective on the human cost of destructive nationalism.” —Booklist

[STARRED REVIEW] “Mills debuts with an intricate and intriguing science fantasy set in the divided city of Radezhda. Five sects each serve one of five gods who sleep behind portals floating high above the land. After a brutal civil war, the mecha sect, a group of human warriors with their nerves wired into mechanical wings that allow them to fly, reigns supreme, led by power-hungry Winged Vodaya. After Vodaya’s closest confidant, Winged Zemolai, returns home tired and aching from a month of border patrol, she makes what is perhaps the worst mistake of her life: letting a spy go free. Cast out of the sect and left to die on the streets of Radezhda, Zemolai is miraculously saved by another sect, forcing her to decide whether to beg Vodaya’s forgiveness or betray her people. Toggling between two timelines, Mills juxtaposes Zemolai’s adult regrets and childhood hopes to devastating effect. Much like the winged warriors it follows, the story begins on the ground and takes flight as the characters attempt higher stakes battles and plans, eventually achieving a complete aerial view of Zemolai’s life and the full history of Radezhda. This cathartic adventure will stay with readers long after the final page.” Publishers Weekly

[STARRED REVIEW] “Mills’s debut novel is complex and haunting, filled with beautiful prose and timely themes of political and religious upheaval and personal journeys.” — Library Journal

[STARRED REVIEW] “An absolute must-read—to paraphrase a line from the novel, fantasy fans will find themselves in literary heaven.”Kirkus

About Samantha Mills

Samantha Mills

Samantha Mills is a multiple award-winning author living in Southern California. She has published a dozen short stories, appearing in Uncanny Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, Escape Pod and others. In addition to winning the Nebula, Locus, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial awards for her short story “Rabbit Test” in 2023, Sam has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, made the Locus Recommended Reading List and the BSFA long list multiple times, and was included in the best-of anthologies The New Voices of Science Fiction and The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2023.

She grew up in Southern California, where she still lives with her family and cats. She graduated from the University of Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Pre- and Early Modern Literature, and received a Master’s in Information and Library Science from San Jose State University. In the other half of her life, she is a trained archivist specializing in primary documents, with a particular focus on helping local historical societies and research libraries preserve and manage their collections.

When Sam isn’t working, writing, or taking care of children, she’s watching B-movies, binding books, and crocheting stuffed animals.

Episode 167: E.C. Hibbs – The Shade Between Shadows

A chat with author, artist, and storyteller E.C. Hibbs about the first book in her new Nightland Quartet, The Shade Between Shadows.

Website
echibbs.weebly.com

Facebook
@echibbs

Instagram
@e_c_hibbs

TikTok
@e_c_hibbs

YouTube
@echibbs

E.C. Hibbs’s Amazon Page

Amazon Links for The Shade Between Shadows
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca

About the Book

I didn’t think myself truly silent. I possessed a voice, as sure as any other. It was simply not the same as any other I had met.

The year is 1838. Queen Victoria has ascended the throne. And within the United Kingdom lies Nightland: a sprawling forest filled with darkness and danger.

Beatrice has always been different. She has not spoken since childhood, communicates through drawings, and hates to be touched. And she is a grey: half-English and half-Nightlander.

When she is forced into servitude across the border, she hatches a plan to escape with siblings Anselm and Gretchen. But gaining her freedom will be no simple task, for first, she must unravel the secrets of her master, Prince Edward. A man rumoured to have murdered his wife — and who shares Beatrice’s ability to see people’s souls.

About E.C. Hibbs

E.C. Hibbs

E.C. Hibbs was born by the sea in Cheshire, northwest England, which she describes at “a quaint little corner of the world that folks might know thanks to a certain grinning cat.” Her village was only a street long, filled with Victorian cottages and encased in woodland. She was brought up around a log fire, on a steady diet of fairy tales and a huge collection of books.

​When she was twelve, she completed my first novel. She says, “It sucked. A lot. But it sowed the seeds of a distant dream. In a childhood which was both beautiful and dark, words were an anchor.  needed to make sense of the tangle of thoughts in my head; breathe life into the fantasies I saw. Writing was a way for me to both escape the world and make sense of it.”

Emma attended the University of Chester, studying animal behaviour, specializing in marine and polar ethology and ecology, working with more than eighty species of animals—everything from rabbits to rhinos—and eventually gaining a master’s degree in Wildlife Conservation. But all the while, she was writing stories.

The same week she graduated with her BSc (Hons), her debut novel, Blindsighted Wanderer was published. Then she jumped on a plane and headed to Finland. It marked the beginning of her  winters inside the Arctic Circle, once again surrounded by woods and huddled around a log fire, in another village barely a street long. It became her second home: a place which seemed to be woven from magic and myth. She spent the next few years between there and England, always writing, always creating. 

Now, she says, “my life is a wonderful balance of all the things I love the most. I spin novels and short stories, write calligraphy for heritage books, and give talks on the history of fairy tales. Thanks to a photographic memory, I’m also a traditional storyteller, with over 1000 performances under my belt, in front of such names as Ed Byrne, Colleen Rooney, and James McAvoy. On top of that, I’m a 2nd Dan black belt in Shotokan karate, and I helped to break a Guinness World Record on the world’s biggest catwalk.”

She concludes, “My path has certainly been interesting so far, with its share of both light and dark. But it’s my path, and I choose to own it. It’s not always made it easy to fit in, but that’s never bothered me. I still see the world with a sense of childlike wonder and hope I never lose that. So I’ll carry on creating, exploring reality through a lens of fantasy, expressing myself in the silent language of words and stories. 

​“And now, I can share that vision with you: with everyone who doesn’t fit the mould, who finds magic and adventure in every question they ask.”

Episode 166: Jennifer Anne Gordon – The Japanese Box and Other Stories

A chat with award-winning horror author Jennifer Anne Gordon about her new short story collection, The Japanese Box and Other Stories.

Website
jenniferannegordon.com

Facebook
@JenniferAnneGordonAuthor

Instagram
@jennifergenevievegordon

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@JenniferAnneGo5

Jennifer Anne Gordon’s Amazon Page

Amazon Links for The Japanese Box and Other Stories
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca

About the Book

A collection of short stories contemplating horror, grief, and trauma.

Simulacrum: A dark comedic tale about college life, and love. It is the story of what happens when two sociopaths attend art exhibits, drink lemon vodka, and spar over everything and anything.

Periods.

Coloring books.

Art.

This is the story of our unnamed narrator . . . an origin story of a would-be, hopes to be, serial killer.

The Japanese Box: Story that blends memoir, creative nonfiction, and the horror of a coming-of-age story, and a coming of middle-aged story.

Imagine growing up with a reflection that is often absent, and a Japanese box that is filled with things that should never have been there.

Memories.

Violence.

“The Japanese Box” is a love letter to anxiety, trauma, grief, and longing. It is a story of a child becoming an adult, and all the ghosts and misfortunes that happen in order to survive.

The Lithium Moon: Simone is an artist by day, and an emotionally abused wife at night. She is a successful artist with a long history of schizoid effective disorder with bipolar tendencies.

When her marriage goes from good to bad, she suffers her first miscarriage. The tragedy coincides with a wolf moon-Trauma and magic converge seem to converge in Simone’s head.

This story explores sadness, illness, hallucinations, full moons, and the creative process.

What Stage of Grief is not a poem, or a song, but a dirge.

Fantasy and facts, this poem walks a fine line between nightmares and memories. Grief stories and love stories. Dogs, and drama. Nightmares, and nevermore.

Praise for The Japanese Box and Other Stories

“The precision of observation here speaks not only to the honesty of the writer, but to the respect granted in all phases of life; Jennifer Anne Gordon is on full display. Smart, full of character, vibrant. You will feel, you will feel big, and you will return, too, to the richest moments of your own history, landmarks that bring you to both smile and weep.”Josh Malerman, New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Daphne

“I compulsively read anything Jennifer Anne Gordon writes. Like the best contemporary filmmakers stitching together grief and horror, her storytelling is a sharp needle that both pierces and tugs us close. Compulsive and genre-slashing, with exquisite, rhythmic prose, THE JAPANESE BOX is an extraordinary exploration of alone-ness that beats and breathes: grief is horror, grief is love. We as readers are drawn ever closer to this beautifully haunted narrator until we’re face-down in the box with her. Does she feel us? She thinks she is alone. We all think we are alone. By the end we’ve become the ghosts in her black room, reaching out to gently touch her hair and whisper we’re here.”Diane Zinna, author of The All-Night Sun

About Jennifer Anne Gordon

Jennifer Anne Gordon

Jennifer Anne Gordon is an award-winning author and popular host of the Vox Vomitus podcast. Her novel Beautiful, Frightening and Silent won the Kindle Award for Best Horror/Suspense for 2020 and Best Horror 2020 from Authors on the Air, and was a finalist for American Book Fest’s Best Book Award- Horror, 2020. It also received the Platinum 5-Star Review from Reader’s Choice as well as the Gold Seal from Book View.

Her latest novel Pretty/Ugly, won the Helicon Award for Best Horror for 2022, as well as the Gold Medal from Literary Titan.

Jennifer is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association (where she served on the jury for the Stoker Awards), and is an A&E chair of the New England Crime Bake Committee. 

Episode 150: Richard Sparks

An hour-long chat with Richard Sparks, English-born comedy writer, lyricist, librettist, author and director, author of the new gaming-meets-epic fantasy novel New Rock, New Role.

Website
richardsparks.com

Richard Sparks’s Amazon Page

The Introduction

Richard Sparks is an English-born comedy writer, lyricist, librettist, author and director now living in Los Angeles. His writing credentials span the gamut of the entertainment world, from film and TV and books through lyrics for operas.

His TV writing includes iconic shows like Not the Nine O’clock News (BBC TV) and The Secret Policeman’s Ball (BBC TV, performed by Rowen Atkinson and directed by John Cleese).

He has written several books, including the biography of the music producer Milt Okun, Along the Cherry Lane. (Oku discovered and launched John Denver and mentored him throughout his career. He created arrangements for Peter, Paul and Mary that the trio performed for half a century. He brought Placido Domingo a crossover career that made him an international star beyond the world of opera.)

Richard’s latest book, New Rock, New Role blends the gaming world and epic fantasy.

Episode 149: Aurora Ascher

An hour-long chat with paranormal and fantasy romance writer Aurora Ascher, author of the new novel Sanctuary of the Shadow, Book 1 of the Elemental Races series.

Website
auroraascher.com

Facebook
@aurora.ascher.author

Instagram
@aurora.ascher.author/

TikTok
@aurora.ascher.author

Aurora Ascher’s Amazon Page

The Introduction

Photo by Sergio Veranes

Paranormal and fantasy romance author Aurora Ascher loves misunderstood mythical monsters, redeemable anti-heroes, and epic happily-ever-afters.

A woman of many creative pursuits, Aurora is also a professional musician and visual artist. She currently resides in Montreal with her trusty espresso machine and her endlessly patient husband, whom she sometimes doesn’t see for hours until she emerges from her writing cave like a bear in springtime.

Episode 148: Christopher Rowe

An hour-long chat with Christopher Rowe, Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy (and others) shortlisted author of the critically acclaimed novellas The Navigating Fox and These Prisoning Hills, as well as the story collection Telling the Map.

Website
christopherrowe.net

Facebook

Instagram
@cvrowe1234

Twitter/X
@ChristopherRowe

Bluesky
@christopherrowe

Christopher Rowe’s Amazon Page

The Introduction

Christopher Rowe is the author of the critically acclaimed novellas The Navigating Fox and These Prisoning Hills, as well as a story collection regarded as one of best of recent years, Telling the Map. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Neukom, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards, as well as others. He lives in Kentucky.

Episode 147: Kerstin Stanford

An hour-long chat with Kerstin Stanford, author of the middle-grade fantasy novel Escape from Portaliege: A Sam Harte Adventure.

Website
kerstinstanford.com

Facebook
@kerstin.stanforddorren

Twitter/X
@StanfordDorren

Instagram
@stanforddorren

TikTok
@kerstinstanford

Kerstin Stanford’s Amazon page

The Introduction

Kerstin Stanford is a California-based author, marketing professional, and event construction enthusiast. Her debut novel, Escape From Portaliege: A Sam Harte Adventure, follows 12-year-old Sam Harte as she navigates a summer camp filled with strange creatures and peculiar counsellors.

Before Kerstin became an author, she worked in promotions and marketing for twenty years, with experience in writing blogs, newsletters, brochures, website, social media content, and more.

Kerstin currently lives with her family in Huntington Beach, where she is working on the second book in the Sam Harte Adventure series.