Matthew Hughes's Blog: barbarians of the beyond - Posts Tagged "rogues"

I had an email from Gardner Dozois today to say that ROGUES, the latest cross-genre anthology he has co-edited with George R.R. Martin, has been turned in to the publisher. A publication date will be announced soon.

I have a story in it called "The Inn of the Seven Blessings" about a thief named Raffalon, who made his first appearance in "Wearaway and Flambeau" in last year's July/August issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

I've sold a new adventure of Raffalon the thief: "Stones and Glass," a 15,000-word novelette, will appear in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, probably in the next year.

For those wondering where Raffalon fits into the Archonate universe: in my first Archonate novel, Fools Errant, the protagonist Filidor carried with him on his wanderings a book entitled The Edifications and Discourses of Liw Osfeo. The place names and settings of the Raffalon tales are the same as those of the Osfeo book. As to whether or how those locations relate to Old Earth in its penultimate age, you'd have to ask that book's author.

I will write more Raffalon stories as time goes by. When I have enough of them, and the first-use rights have all been accounted for, I'll put them into one volume and self-publish them as an ebook and a POD paperback.

There aren't enough Osfeo tales to justify their own collection, so they will be included in a round-up of non-Archonate sf stories that I plan to put out in e- and POD-formats down the road.

Another Raffalon story, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," will appear in the cross-genre anthology, Rogues, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, and to be published by Bantam Spectra next year.

The cross-genre anthology, Rogues , edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, has had its release date moved up by the publisher, Bantam. It will now be in stores as of June 17, instead of the fall. My story in the antho is "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," a tale of Raffalon the thief and his uncomfortable relationship with a minor deity.

"Avianca's Bezel," a new adventure of my archetypal Dying-Earthish thief, Raffalon, is now scheduled to run in the September/October issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

For Raffalon aficonados who wish to keep track, this will be the third Raffalon story to appear in F&SF, after "Wearaway and Flambeau" and "Stones and Glass." I've sold two more of them to editor Gordon Van Gelder -- "Prisoner of Pandarius" and "Telltale" -- which should run over the next year.

And those who can't wait for the September/October ish of F&SF might want to consider picking up a copy of Rogues, the cross-genre anthology co-edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. It comes out on June 17 and contains the Raffalon novelette, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings."

Today is publication day for Rogues , the cross-genre anthology of picaresque tales co-edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. The last such antho, Dangerous Women, was a NYT bestseller, and the new one is well up in the Amazon rankings.

I'm in there with Gaiman, Rothfuss, Lansdale, and George himself. I'm fascinated to see if I get a sudden surge in my own Amazon listings.

From a reader's point of view, if you're into short fiction about anti-heroic characters, this is one you don't want to miss. And if you're also into collectables, there's going to be a Subterranean Press limited edition down the road.

Lots of things to report, since I've been off-line almost two months:

"Enter Saunterance" is the latest installment in the serialized novel, The Kaslo Chronicles, now up for a free read at Lightspeed Magazine.

This month also saw the reprinting of the first Rafffalon tale, "Wearaway and Flambeau," in Sean Wallace's anthology, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF WARRIORS AND WIZARDRY.

I've turned in the last episode of Kaslo, so Lightspeed will be running the remaining chapters through to the end of the novel sometime in 2015.

"Prisoner of Pandarius," another tale of Raffalon, my archetypal journeyman thief, should run in the January/December issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction . Gordon van Gelder has two more Raffalon stories in inventory, which should run in 2015.

I'll do at least a couple more Raffalons to make sure I have a collection's worth. Then I'll self-publish them as an ebook and POD paperback, once they've all run. I'll include the actual first-written Raffalon story, written for George R.R. Martin's and Gardner Dozois's cross-genre anthology, ROGUES, which made the bestseller lists and is a bargain at Amazon where it's discounted about forty percent.

Something I'm particularly proud of is a Jeeves and Wooster pastiche in OLD VENUS, the next Martin/Dozois antho coming out in March.

And I'm thinking of reviving my corpulent master criminal of the Archonate, Luff Imbry, in a few stories and offering them to John Joseph Adams at Lightspeed. BTW, my self-pubbed Imbry collection, THE MEANING OF LUFF AND OTHER STORIES, did not win the Endeavour Award earlier this month, but making the shortlist of five out of a longlist of forty-five is not bad.

For Imbry fans, "Of Whimsies and Noubles," the third in the trio of novellas published by PS Publishing in the UK, is now available in two limited editions, one of them signed.

Worth mentioning, I think: the cross-genre anthology, ROGUES, co-edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, is number one in Amazon's action/adventure short-story category. One of the rogues in the collection is my archetypal Vancean thief, Raffalon.

In the March issue of Locus Magazine, Gardner Dozois has reviewed "Prisoner of Pandarius," the Raffalon story in In the January/February Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, saying, "Matthew Hughes offers us another highly entertaining adventure of Raffalon the Thief, Prisoner of Pandarius. The major influence on Hughes is clearly Jack Vance, and these Raffalon tales are about as close as you're going to get these days to one of Vance's stories of the misadventures of Cugel the Clever, now that Vance is gone. However, unlike Cugel , who was nowhere near as clever as he believed himself to be, Raffalon actually is clever and is a highly competent thief - but is consistently dogged by terrible luck, which continues to hamper him here as he struggles to pull off a complicated and dangerous heist."

I saw the review on the Jack Vance Message Board, a good meeting place for Vance Fans. It was posted by my old friend and Official First Fan, Mike Berro. Here's what I posted in reply:

Some of my best stories are never reviewed by Gardner, because they appear in anthologies that he's co-edited with George Martin -- including the original Raffalon tale, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," which I wrote when Gardner asked me to send something to him for the big cross-genre antho, Rogues. That first story showed Raff near the end of his career, starving in a forest after being unable even to lift a chicken from a farmer's coop. He's very down on his luck (Gardner's right: he's smart but unlucky -- much like me).

After the story was accepted for the antho, I decided Raffalon was too good a character to drop, so I started writing adventures from when he was in his prime. I've since sold six more, including the one Gardner's reviewing, to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I figure to do another couple, which will give me enough for a collection, then I'll self-publish them as an ebook and POD paperback.

"Curse of the Myrmelon," the latest Raffalon story, will appear in the July/August edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Actually, Raffalon the archetypical thief plays a supporting role in the story; the lead character is Cascor, the former provostman turned private security consultant who increasingly dabbles in sorcery.

Those who read editor Charlie Finlay's introductory note to the story will learn how it fits into my Archonate milieu. Those who can't wait for the magazine to appear can learn it now: I originally created Raffalon when George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois asked me for a Vancean story for their bestselling theme anthology, ROGUES. I conjured up Raffalon as a version of Cugel the Clever, except that Raffalon really is clever, which Cugel ain't.

But, as one perceptive reviewer has pointed out, he tends to have bad luck -- much like his author, I suppose. The exception is in the ROGUES story, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," where we find him at the end of an unsuccessful career. What happened in the story changed the thief's luck for the better and permanently.

When I started writing it, I borrowed the geography and the cannibalistic were-men, the Vandaayo, from The Discourses and Edifications of Liw Osfeo, a-book-within-a-book that was included in my first Archonate novel, Fools Errant . So that's the connection.

If you're a Raffalon fan and you haven't read "Seven Blessings," you might want to get a copy of ROGUES. It's out in paperback and Kindle, or you can find it in a library. The Rothfuss story is said to be one of his best, and he's joined by a lot of big-name authors -- including Joe R. Lansdale, whose Texas-set noir stories I've come to enjoy.

There's a new review of my Raffalon story "The Inn of the Seven Blessings," from the 2014 cross-genre antho, ROGUES, at the Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together blog. And I like it a lot.

The reviewer, who may be famous in fandom (the blog came in 12th in the Hugo runnings this year) identifies herself only as Tia. And Tia really gets what I'm trying to do with what I'm writing. She says:

What I like most about this story is that it is full of classic fantasy tropes, but does not feel contrived or forced. . . Sure, I love when books successfully push the boundaries of the genre, challenge pre-conceived notions, and subvert tropes, but it is also refreshing to see that the foundations of the genre can still be done well and are still entertaining.

I couldn't agree more. I have nothing against boundary pushers. They sometimes cause problems, but that's part of life. Yet, without boundary pushers, we'd still be chipping flints and wondering which one of us the lions would pull out of the tree tonight.

I believe there's plenty of room left in the old mansions to move the furniture around and come up with new arrangements that please and gratify. That's what I feel like doing with my talents and abilities. I don't expect it to make me rich and famous, but I really respond when someone comes by for a visit and says, "Hey, that's a room I'd like to spend some time in."

A small ambition, but mine own.