Balefires

Balefires; David Drake (Night Shade Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-59780-071-6, cover by Richard Pellegrino).

It wasn't until this year that I discovered that David Drake wrote more than stories about future armored combat. Most of my reading experience had been with his Hammer's Slammers series. This year, in a combination of second-hand book purchases and new book purchases, I've added a significant number of Drake titles that also deal with fantasy, humor, horror, space opera and more.

Balefires mostly runs in the horror vein. There is some humor, there is some war, there is some fantasy...but the strongest underlying thread is horror. Whether you sell your soul to the Devil, open that burial mound that your father once whooped your hide over, encounter European-style monster on a Asian battlefield, or toy with Lovecraftian horrors...you'll find all that and more here.

Several of these stories (as I've noted below), I've encountered this year in another collection, so while I read them again in this collection, I haven't reviewed them again.

The Red Leer: A fairly traditional horror story. You know, if your father has warned you to stay away from that old burial mound, and even beat you within an inch of your life to emphasize the point...maybe you should listen to him!

A Land of Romance: A story written for a tribute anthology dedicated to L. Sprague de Camp. The most humorous entry in the collection. I'll have to hunt down the themed anthology it appeared in.

Smokie Joe: A deal-with-the-Devil tale with a touch of sex in it. Drake's description of the originally intended vehicle is hilarious. The Devil and the gangsters.

Awakening: Originally written by Drake while he was serving in Vietnam. Inspired by the columns that used to run in Astounding Science Fiction derived from the works of Charles Fort.

Denkirch: Probably the most "Lovecraftian" story in the collection, not only in terms of plot, but in terms of the style used so often by H.P. Lovecraft in stories such as The Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountains of Madness, among others. As much as I like Lovecraft's tales, I'm glad that Drake developed his own distinct style.

The False Prophet, Black Iron, The Shortest Way: Three stories set in the time when the Roman Empire was on the decline and featuring the same two characters (Vettius, a soldier and Dama, a merchant). Each has a very good introduction by Drake on how much Latin and ancient history (especially that of Rome) has played a part in his life. The tales are a good mix of solid historical research and elements of the fantastic. The first could be a science fiction tale (or a fantasy tale, the reader can decide). The second is more traditional fantasy. The third is more horror, of a Lovecraftian bent.

Lord of the Depths: Drake says this was inspired by Robert E. Howard; I detect a bit of Ray Harryhausen as well. Another early tale, marred by a bit of discontinuity in the plot. I'll never look at seafood the same way again...

Children of the Forest: What if Hansel and Gretel met up with some trolls instead of a wicked witch? A long entry in the anthology, well characterized and plotted.

The Barrow Troll: Where do new trolls come from? Drake puts forth one (very believable) theory.

Than Curse the Darkness: Another Lovecraftian pastiche, but a very, very good one.

The Song of the Bone: A good fantasy tale, something along the line of Poul Anderson's love of "the Northern thing". Some humor injected here, of the blackest kind.

The Master of Demons: Historically-based fantasy, with some Lovecraftian overtones injected. A small effort, but very nice in its execution. Again, some black humor, with a twist that will make you chuckle.

The Elf House: A short story set in Drake's major fantasy series (The Lord of the Isles), featuring the character Cashel or-Kenset. The style and feel reminded me of some of the works in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series of books or even of the BAF-inspired works of James Stoddard. Good stuff; I'm going to have to start reading this series by Drake (as my wallet cringes, once again).

The Hunting Ground: A horror/science fiction story. While Drake does not talk about any influence of H.P. Lovecraft in this tale, it reminded me of some sessions that I've run for the Chaosium Games' Call of Cthulhu SF-RPG.

The Automatic Rifleman: Inspired by a similarly-named tale by Fritz Leiber. Think there was only one shooter at the assassination of Kennedy (either one) or King or so many others? A "haunted" weapon works to change the future, using people as tools.

Blood Debt: A fantasy tale (occult tale, if you prefer) that takes place in our world. There's not much in the plot, but Drake does some excellent descriptive work here.

Men Like Us: A tale set in the US after an atomic holocaust. Much more fantasy than science fiction, due to some characteristics of the main characters. Not sure (like Jim Baen) if I agree with some of the sentiments in the tale.

A Working Biography of David Drake's Writing: Can also be found online at Drake's site, where it is a living document (updated on a regular basis).

Final thoughts? A good collection from several points. It shows Drake's evolution as a writer. It is a good mix of horror, SF and fantasy. It certainly gives pointers to several additional books to pick up! (As a result of reading this, I've ordered about eight more books by Drake.) Highly recommended, even if you have only a peripheral interest in fantasy/horror. Better grab a paper copy now, the supply is dwindling fast at NightShadeBooks.

Made up of: The Red Leer; A Land of Romance; Smokie Joe; Awakening; Denkirch; The False Prophet; Black Iron; The Shortest Way; Lord of the Depths; Children of the Forest; The Barrow Troll; Than Curse the Darkness; The Song of the Bone; The Master of Demons; The Dancer in the Flames (not reviewed); Firefight (not reviewed); Best of Luck (not reviewed); ARCLight (not reviewed); Something Had to be Done (not reviewed); The Elf House; The Hunting Ground; The Automatic Rifleman; Blood Debt; Men Like Us; A Working Biography of David Drake's Writing.

Each story is preceded by a short introduction. These introductions, while short, contain some interesting autobiographical bits or bits on Drake's writing process; so even if you've read all the stories before, the book is worth picking up for these plus the biography that is at the end.

The following stories were read previously: The Dancer in the Flames, ARCLight, Firefight, Best of Luck, Something Had to be Done.

Only the introductions to those stories are counted new in the short story count for the year. Reviews of those stories can be found here.

Twenty-two (22) entries in the 2007 Year in Shorts.

Counts as twenty-two (22) entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.