Atop the pole of Mars, Northwest Smith runs into an old flame, a Lady in Red named Judai. Meanwhile, the Martians worship a god whose name is never spoken out of secret. How these two facts are related is yet to be seen, but the path to understanding begins with a simple request to retrieve a box of artifacts.

C. L. Moore unleashes another disaster on the spaceman smuggler Northwest Smith in “The Cold Gray God”. And, like the many before this, Smith’s downfall starts with a pretty face. This time, the face is known to him, from one unforgettable night in New York. For once, Smith senses the danger in Judai, as though something not-her is occupying her body, and it is this mystery that compels him to fulfil her request.

In earlier reviews, I have wondered if C. L. Moore is exploring various feminine roles in her heroines, and, in Judai, it is hard to shake that impression. Judai is a standard noir Lady in Red, an old flame, and a glamorous idol singer once thought to be missing. And, like all of Smith’s sudden flames, she is hopelessly doomed. By the time she returns to Northwest’s life, she is little more than a skinsuit for something unseen. All the little familiarities known between old partners are now wrong, enough to tip off the usually obtuse Smith. But the sheer memory of the beauty of the woman who was Judai causes Smith to investigate. Previous stories played with various roles that might turn a man’s head: women on the run, doomed beauties, seductive predators. But what kind of woman could keep a head turned, even for years after she has departed? Moore does not  answer this question, but auditions for the role for a time before delivering Smith to the other constant in his life: cosmic horror.

For the being occupying Judai has its eye on Northwest Smith as its next skinsuit, and the artifact Smith recovers is key to let it jump from one body to the next. Smith spends the last half of the tale fighting to keep control of his body and his mind from something more ancient and deadly than the Shambleau who almost devoured him. That something wants to use him to unlock the door for an even greater evil. For a time, Smith prevails, and then..

…well, it’s a good thing Smith has such reliable and loyal friends. Friends who know their way around a heat-ray and a flame gun.

It is a simple plot, to be sure, but Moore excels at the mood. Judai is seductive yet misguided from her introduction, leavened with the telltale wariness from Smith. The later stalemate between the mortal and the immortal is flooded with emotion and mystery, filling out a tense encounter where little conventional action is appropriate. And the weariness at the end almost collapses off the page. Other science fiction writers may be prone to bloodless explorations of concepts, but C. L. Moore instead explores the moment with all its sensations and emotional gravitas.

At the end, Smith survives another close-run encounter, where a shot of whiskey steadies him before he heads out on his next adventure, no doubt with another doomed beauty in red sirening him towards another cosmic monster.

But that one will be a review for another time.

Vikings, dungeon lords, and starship troopers clash in this week’s new releases.

Battle Lines (Tranquility #2) – Josh Hayes and Devon C. Ford

The Hive is gone, but the Queen’s effect on the world lingers.

As the people of Tranquility rebuild, those touched by the alien creature struggle to come to grips with what was done to them and the pain they’d caused to their friends and family. Joel Lander is no stranger to their hardships, but with a new threat looming, they have precious little time to lose.

The fight for Tranquility is not over.

Lander has defeated the Asiatic Chinese Alliance once before, but out here on the frontier, with no allies and nowhere to retreat, the odds are once again stacked against him. As old demons appear from his past and enemies press against him from all sides, new champions are forced to step up and fight.

Battle Lines have been drawn, and the victors will decide the fate of the world.

Dungeon Heart: Halls of Stone – David Sanchez-Ponton

Adventurers are coming, and they will do anything to steal the dungeon’s power…

Since awakening to his new life, Smit has hardly had a moment of rest. Goblins, ogres, and adventurers all seem to be attracted to him like flies to honey. Smit and his monstrous children only wanted to live out their days in peace, but now that his existence has been revealed to humanity, all eyes have fallen on the Dungeon of Origins.

Every noble in the kingdom has hired a team of adventurers to secure Smit’s core, guaranteeing both a victory against their political rivals and their rule over him. This time, he cannot run away from the encroaching greedy and power-hungry nobles and ambitious men – his new family depends on him. Time is running out to save his dungeon. Can Smit grow his power fast enough, or will he and his children be enslaved forever?

Eden’s Gate: The Scourge – Edward Brody

The Scourge have launched an attack, and the Freelands are overrun with Ergoth’s army of orcs and goblins. Travel is no longer safe, trade is at a standstill, and Edgewood Village is in ruins.

With the guild in desperate need of gold, Gunnar treks through the battle zone to complete an unresolved quest and is faced with a moral dilemma unlike anything he’s ever experienced in Eden’s Gate.

His choices lead him to join forces with some unlikely companions and sends him straight into the heart of the Wastelands.

Orcs would never allow humans to enter the Wastelands freely, so how exactly will he get inside, and what secrets are lurking deep below the Wastelands’ surface?

In an unforgiving land filled with bloodthirsty beasts and monsters, Gunnar will be left questioning, Who is the real monster, and who’s the worst monster of them all?

Everyday, Including Holidays (The Valens Legacy #18) – Jan Stryvant

Several years have passed since the war with the djevels ended, the reality they’d infested was destroyed, and their king killed. But that left Sean and the lions faced with another problem: The million or so djevels currently in the world that needed to be hunted down and killed. Part of the solution was to fence in the biggest area that was infested, to stop them from spreading any further, while teams began hunting down the ones that had escaped. It’s not an easy job, but it’s a lot easier than the previous one by far.

While constant vigilance is better than constant battle, it’s still constant. Plus, fights do crop up from time to time, but the enemy is sneaky and underhanded, so trouble will always come from the corner you least expect it. The world is also now a much different place now that the war is over. Everyone now knows about magic, lycans, djevels, dwarves, elves, and all rest.

Worse still is that it’s not done changing as everyone has to learn to face the reality that there are demons in the world today, and they can and will show up where you least expect it. No one truly knows what the future holds anymore, other than the lions have their work cut out for them, for the next several hundred years. Read More

Professor Nathan Enderby has a problem. An aging socialite has a mind to drag him to the altar, regardless of his wishes. But when she discovers a book bound in human parchment among his library, things quickly get worse. While it might not be trendy among social circles to believe in witches, she does steal the book, with a mind to sketch out the ritual inside with lipstick. She did not intend to call up the demon now chasing her, but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and it can be travelled in both directions. Now the professor of esoterica must get rid of two unwelcome guests if he is to return to his quiet life of study.

Enderby’s struggle to rescue an inadvertent witch from her own blunderings was supposed to be the first in a series written by Manly Wade Wellman for Strange Stories. The good professor only appeared once, in 1939, in the middle of the time when Wellman was writing his Judge Pursuivant stories for Weird Tales. He also represents a stage along the path from Jules de Grandin-style occult detectives towards the more country and hands-on John the Balladeer. The understanding and use of various obscure books might remain, but the social castes and the action are constantly in flux. To a genteel professor, the things that go bump in the night are abstract, passionless, and distant, but to a man walking the mountains at night, they are more immediate and harrowing concerns.

Perhaps that is why Enderby only appeared once during the pulps. He is too passionless, too in control, as he dispatches the demonic familiar stalking the socialite. His encounter is all esoteric fact, no drama, and no stakes to the clash. Later Wellman heroes such as John Thunstone and John the Balladeer might display the same knowledge, but they are not as assured of success in their clashes with the Devil and his forces. Even in the earlier “Golgotha Dancers”, the encounter with the things from the painting was a close-run thing, full of drama and close calls. But here, in “Vigil”, it is a bloodless puzzle, with the only spark coming when Enderby turns out his visitor with a warning to wash off her makeup, eat in silence, and then leave.

Those readers expecting the excellence in esoterica and imaginative creatures that Wellman is known for will not be disappointed. But those expecting that all-too-human touch and romantic inclinations of Wellman’s better known works will be. Pick up “Vigil” only if it is part of a collection with Pursuivant and Thunstone, but make sure not to miss their stories.

A death race across dimensions, the clash of semi-autos and sorcery, and the hidden knowledge of the Bizarchives set the stage for the adventures of this week’s new releases.

The Bizarchives: Weird Tales of Monsters, Magic and Machines #1 – edited by Dave Martel

On the abysmal fringes of sanity itself lies a repository of tales from realms untold.

The Bizarchives: Weird Tales of Monsters, Magic and Machines holds secrets of far flung galaxies, haunted dimensions and fantastical heroes.

Inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft and Robert E Howard, this compilation of short stories takes a reader through all things strange and exhilarating.

15 stories written by lifelong enthusiasts of the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres The Bizarchives is an unapologetic homage to the golden era of pulp fiction.

If you love Conan, Cthulhu and everything in between you won’t want to miss this.

Blood and Jade (Semi-Autos and Sorcery #1) – Ken Lizzi

When an ancient sorcerer pursues an enchanted blade at any cost, only one man stands in his way.

Archaeologists uncovering a lost Mayan city unearth a magic artifact. An earthquake disturbs the operations of neighboring narcotraffickers. An ancient sorcerer and his mercenary henchmen arrive to claim the artifact.

When these three factions converge, Karl Thorson, ex-Special Forces, is thrust into action.

Dexicos Megistos, a nigh immortal sorcerer, wants to retrieve a mystical jade dagger. Alejandra Matamoros-Lopez wants to smuggle narcotics through the tunnels beneath the ruins, avoiding the notice of rival cartels. Professor May Chen wants to see if any sparks remain from her relationship with the head of the archaeological dig.

Karl Thorson just wants to do his job, and maybe have a cold beer.

Can he safeguard the archaeologists, especially the lovely Professor May Chen? Can he defeat a murderous band of narcotraffickers? And can he deprive the sorcerer Dexicos Megistos of the jade dagger?

Cherubim (War Angel #2) – David Hallquist

A Fragile Peace…For Now…

The alien encounter at the Battle of Mars left all sides in disarray and horror. The cease-fire between worlds could be the beginning of lasting peace…or a pause to prepare for the next war.

In the interim, the Jovian Republic sends a carrier task force to patrol the worlds of the inner system, seeing to the security of the smaller worlds, opening up new diplomatic negotiations, and searching for the hidden forces of the Saturnine Union still waging a secret war against Jupiter.

Jovian Angel Pilot Michael Vance is called upon to serve again, now in a fully modern Cherubim-class exo-frame. Commander Vance is at home in nearly any combat environment, but now he must also deal with the hidden threats inherent to diplomacy, espionage, and covert warfare.

Clearing out hidden Saturnine forces in the asteroids, in the depths of Mercury, and hidden in the sun’s blinding glare are only the beginnings of his problems as the task force’s primary mission will the escorting a diplomatic envoy to the deadly hotbed of intrigue and treachery that is Venus.

At least in the last battle he knew who the enemy was…

The Colony (The Survivors #17) – Nathan Hystad

A forgotten world. A dangerous adversary.

Dean Parker is alive and well thanks to his daughter, but something’s changed inside him since the incident at Newei. Ovalax lingers in his mind… whispering… waiting…

Jules is now the commander on Outpost, the Alliance’s newest high-tech warship, and encounters what initially seems like an innocent mission to Udoon Station. With her parents on Ebos, Sarlun missing in action, and Slate on Light, Jules feels the building pressure. When the galaxy’s most notorious criminal escapes from the Traro prison, pieces of the puzzle begin falling into place.

Can Dean fight his demons, and gain a foothold on Ebos for the Alliance? Will Jules solve the trap she’s tripped before it’s too late? Read More