There’s some exciting stuff happening over at Australian publisher, Clan Destine Press.

Going back a few months ago, Lindy Cameron (head honcho at CDP) sent out an invitation to a number of Australian genre writers to a brand new anthology she was putting together.

Lindy’s idea was to collect a bunch of adventure stories for a Great Big Book of Adventure Tales. The kind of stories that have the reader flipping pages fast, dying to know what happens next, what dire straits would the author throw their characters into, and how would they overcome it. How would they find the stolen artwork, the missing space ship, the ancient relic hidden deep beneath the island grotto in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle while swinging from a bi-plane?

So, the title And Then…The Great Big Book of Adventure Tales was born. Along with the invitation came some guidelines. Clan Destine wanted not one, but TWO main characters. Not a hero and sidekick kind of deal, but two real protagonists; best buddies, comrades, siblings or colleagues. The characters didn’t have to be human, but they did have to be equal. The stories also had to have an Australian flavour to them.

Lots of writerly folk got excited. Lindy was encouraging writers to think outside the box, to write away or within or between their ‘usual’ genres. She wanted the authors to play. She also offered them far more words than is usual in a short story anthology to tell their stories in – five to fifteen thousand. Fifteen thousand! That’s novella size, rather than short.

I was lucky enough to be one of the writers invited. My story, Come Now, Traveller is actually one of the shorter tales to be accepted in And Then… While I generally write crime, or, more recently science fiction, this time I got to delve into a nautical steam-punkish kind of world, with some fantasy thrown in for good measure.

Come Now, Traveller is the story of a ship – The Davee Trader – her captain and the next in line. There’s a surgery scene, opiates, fights, jealousy and lust. There’s the Davee’s own brand of history, mythology and family dysfunction. But most of all, it’s about The Davee Lady, the carved timber figurehead that leads the Trader through the sea, told by the two who love her.

Of all the short stories I’ve written, this one was the biggest challenge for me personally. It’s also (now) my favourite world to play in. So…I’d love to see it in print.

And that’s where all the authors, Clan Destine Press and Lindy need your help. You see, when writers are given a huge maximum word count like fifteen thousand words, we generally use it. So LOTS of the invited writers have written big adventure tales for this big book. In fact, so many of us did just that – there’ll now be two gorgeous volumes to sit side by side in your shelf (or e-reader).

But here’s the thing: Clan Destine has to pay us. We didn’t quite come in under budget. So they’re running an Indiegogo campaign to get things moving. For contributors to the campaign, there’s SO many goodies as reward, including of course, the two huge paperback volumes with stories from over thirty of Australia’s ‘finest genre fictioneers’ for only $50. Yep, serious. Fifty bucks for two bricks of books.

Lindy has also enlisted the services of fabulous illustrator, Vicky Pratt. You can see here the utterly gorgeous work she has done of my own Davee Lady Figurehead. She’s so perfect, I must admit the first time I saw her, I might have shed a tear. Every story in the collection will have its own illustration and title page. And, just check out this Table of Contents and the authors involved. There’s some huge Australian names in there:

 

Peter M Ball – Deadbeats

Alan Baxter – Golden Fortune, Dragon Jade

Mary Borsellino – The Australian Gang

Lindy Cameron – The Medusa Code

Kat Clay – In the Company of Rogues

Emilie Collyer – The Panther’s Paw

Jack Dann – The Talking Sword

Sarah Evans – Plumbing the Depths

Jason Franks – Exli and the Dragon

James Hopwood – The Lost Loot of Lima

Kelly Gardiner – Boots and the Bushranger

David Greagg & Kerry Greenwood – Cruel Sister

Narrelle M Harris – Moran & Cato: Virgin Soil

Maria Lewis – The Bushwalker Butcher

Sophie Masson – The Romanov Opal

Keith McArdle – The Demon’s Cave

Jason Nahrung – The Mermaid Club

Andrew Nette – Save a Last Kiss for Satan

Amanda Pillar – It

Michael Pryor – Cross Purposes

Dan Rabarts – Tipuna Tapu

Tansy Rayner Roberts – Death at the Dragon Circus

Finn J Ross – Genemesis

Tor Roxburgh – The Boudicca Society

Amanda Wrangles – Come Now, Traveller

Alison Goodman – The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

Sulari Gentill – The Stranding

Lucy Sussex – Sabah

Cameron Ashley – Dogs Leave Home to Die

Evelyn Tsitas – Stealing Back the Relics

 

So, head on over and check out the Indiegogo campaign. Contributions can start from as little as $5.

Hope you can join us on this wild adventure ride!

Assassin’s Creed: The Complete Visual History is quite simply one of the most visually stunning books I’ve ever held in my hands. Penned by gaming journo, Matthew Miller, this sumptuous hardback runs to a whopping 320 pages, most of which are filled with extraordinary artwork that you will want to revisit repeatedly. The franchise’s brand art director, Raphael Lacoste, has provided a short foreword in which he informs us that ‘Assassin’s Creed is about reimagining and reliving history, and with every instalment we aim to create plausible worlds and credible immersion for our fans.’ Fans of the game will already be familiar with just what an escapist’s wonderland Assassin’s Creed is, but this beautifully bound hardback takes the reader through the entire history of the game: its conception, development, characters, timelines, and historical inspirations.

Even before you open this mammoth hardback, the cover is likely to hold you transfixed for several moments with its embossing and arresting image of Ezio, head bowed, blades drawn – stark and dramatic against a pure white background. The comprehensive and jaw droppingly gorgeous concept art within is an absolute delight.

Many of the images have won design awards and make for fantastic posters or prints. The book also contains illuminating interviews with Ubisoft developers and artists who describe the complex planning and evolution behind the outrageously successful franchise. Every detail appears to be underpinned by an underlying philosophy that adds depth and dimension to this impressive artistic vision. Everything, from the logos and costume design through to the background rendering and architectural detail, has been thought through with the aim of preserving iconic design elements and intelligently enhancing the player’s immersion in the Assassin’s Creed universe.

 It has to be said that you don’t even have to be a gamer to appreciate the beauty of this Insight Editions publication. Designers, artists, history buffs, and anyone who simply appreciates beautiful illustration and art will become equally lost in this incredible world. The book is divided into 11 sections, the initial 9 being devoted to the various historical periods represented in the game, kicking off with the Middle Ages and working through the Renaissance, American Revolution and so forth, right through to the shorter Chronicles games, set in China, India, and Russia, and finally offering insight into the mysterious World Before. Following these info-packed, yet easy-to-read sections, we are presented with a chapter dedicated to the products and spin-offs inspired by the game, including cartoons, novels (and graphic novels), short films, and collectibles.

The background and genesis of each of the franchise’s assassins are explained in satisfying but never overwhelming detail, along with those of a number of secondary characters and adversaries/ Templars. It’s also fascinating to read about which historical characters were chosen to best serve the storyline and reflect each time period (e.g. Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolo Machiavelli, Paul Revere, and Ben Franklin). The planning behind each of the cities or settings throughout the franchise is also discussed and it has to be said that these reimagined historical places are every bit as fascinating and complex as the characters who inhabit them. Designers discuss having to narrow landmarks down, for example, in order to best represent an area (such as Paris) or having to deliberately add scaffolding to structures in order for characters to scale them. Elsewhere, details such as the shift from day to night throughout a game are described as being key features of the game’s realism. Each individual element has been cleverly engineered to spark our imagination in order that we may, as Lacoste states, ‘travel in time in order to discover epic locations and witness some of the world’s most pivotal moments in history.’

If you’re stuck for Christmas gift ideas this year, this release is highly recommended for fans of the game or anyone who appreciates an astonishingly beautiful coffee table art book.

Assassin’s Creed: The Complete Visual History – Matthew Miller

Insight Editions

320 Pages, hardback

Published 30^th October, 2015

• ISBN10 1608876004
• ISBN13 9781608876006

 

Home invasion movies are an old and popular genre in horror, and it is possibly the only horror genre that is targeted more towards women. This may be because in the real world, women are taught to fear strangers and the dangers they represent on a greater scale than men. The home has also historically been portrayed as a woman’s place, one of the few in which a woman was expected to take charge. In a society where men are viewed as the physical protectors of the home, having a solitary woman pursued and under attack by an ill-intentioned invader is a popular narrative tool used to inspire terror.

The problem this presents is that it implies women without men are more vulnerable and less able to defend themselves. It also often places men in a predatory role. This involves a certain amount of sexism in both directions, indicating a woman’s weakness and a man’s supposedly aggressive nature. These movies tend to show women as terrified and helpless, being stalked by the big bad wolf in the form of an unknown assailant. Both an outdated stereotype and a harmful one, this sub-genre of horror can have real world negative effects as it reinforces insulting ideas about women’s strength. Even when the woman escapes, the implication remains that they survived against the odds rather than as a matter of course.

For example, in Panic Room (2002) the female protagonist feared danger so greatly that she literally hides in a panic room with her sick child (not a feature that most homes contain), though ironically a working cell phone was not something she thought to store there.

Her eventual bid to escape is not due to inherent bravery, but in order to get treatment for her daughter. In Funny Games (1997), both a husband and wife are attacked, but the implication exists that it is the man’s job to fend off the attackers while the women, his wife, is only expected to escape at best. Instead, they both die. In The Strangers (2008), a more modern film, a similar setup occurs through one of the three assailants is actually a woman. The female half of the attacked duo in this case survives, satisfying the “final girl” trope popular in all genres of horror.

Though this final girl trope of having one surviving woman at the end of a horror film tends to play out more often in scenarios where there are groups under attack, such as slasher films, there are examples found in the home invasion category as well. The film You’re Next (2013) is another such example, where Erin is the last woman standing after killing four attackers and then, accidentally, one police officer. She survives but is on the hook for the deaths even though they were in self-defense or accidental. This movie is a bit of an exception in the genre in general anyway, due to Erin’s ability to physically fight back.

 In fact, often women in these movies use their wits rather than their strength to fend off attackers. Wait Until Dark (1967) stars Audrey Hepburn as a woman being terrorized by three men searching for drugs in her home. To emphasize her vulnerability even further she is blind in the film, but there the convention is turned on its head. Hepburn’s character uses her blindness as an advantage, plunging the robbers into the dark and setting traps they cannot see to avoid. She likely would have had an easier time had this movie been set more recently, as a security system would have done her job for her.

Women are sometimes the attackers as well. 1992’s Single White Female is a perfect example. Hedy is the murderous assailant – though that is not apparent at first – and she manages to kill two men and severely injure a third in her pursuit of Ally, the “victim.” In the end, Ally is able to outwit her, once again relying on the positive brains over brawn narrative. Though the women here are not portrayed as weak in the same way as other movies in this genre, there are nevertheless negative stereotypes at play. One is of women as constantly being in competition with and jealous of each other. After all, there is no better way of portraying jealousy than literally trying to take over someone’s life. Another is of the crazy or unstable woman, an extremely damaging stereotype of its own. Those same stereotypes are at play in 2007’s Inside, where a woman stalks and eventually kills a mother-to-be in order to claim her child as her own.

In all these films, the sanctity of the home – an historically female sphere – is disturbed and a woman is shown as the main or ultimate victim. Most show women being forced to rely on their cleverness to protect them rather than a direct physical defense. The home becomes a trap that must be escaped, in fact an apt allegory for repressive sexism in general.

 However, there are differences as well, and signs of change in more recent movies. This genre sometimes has a woman as the attacker as well as the victim. There is even the occasional physical battle in which the woman triumphs. This is a sign of progress both in fiction and hopefully in how women are viewed in real life. Though the genre has historically relied on incorrect and offensive stereotypes of the weak and frightened female victims, if it continues to show women in the stronger role of successful defender and even sometimes attacker, the genre may be able to successfully evolve with the times.