Tasty Teeth by Guilermo Del Toro & Matthew Robbins, Odder Jobs (SSM)

In 1994, Mike Mignola created one of the most unique and visually arresting comics series to ever see print: Hellboy. Tens of thousands have followed the exploits of “the World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator” in comics form and novels. In 2004, writer/director Guillermo del Toro made Hellboy the number one film in the country, reaching millions more fans. Now see Mike Mignola’s creation as seen through the eyes of some of today’s best writers in film and literature.

The above is the write-up from the back of the anthology: Odder Jobs as edited by that amazing man, Christopher Golden.

This is one of my favourite anthologies of all time. Not just because it's about Hellboy whom I love, but because Mr. Golden has pulled together some fantastic names to write some of the short stories including friend of MFB, Tim Lebbon, Frank Darrabont, Charles de Lint (swoon) to name but three of the big names. He also managed to entirce Del Toro and Robbins on board to play in the sandbox and their offering Tasty Teeth is both creepy and surreal and I loved it.

It's right at the end of the anthology and much shorter than I would have liked, but if you have seen Hellboy II (I loved loved Prince Nuada) you may remember that the team fight against a bunch of small creatures called the tooth fairies. This short story is very much the precursor to that scene.

In the story Hellboy is on the trail of some missing kids. He finds only dry bones within the lair of some kind of monster...soon he discovers two kids locked up and instead of being scared of Big Red the stare at the things behind him. It's the tooth fairies and they like nothing more than eating your bones.

Needless to say, Hellboy does things his way and with a giant explosion he saves the day, rescuing two of the missing kids.

The story is short, as I mentioned before. In fact, it's more a scene / vignette, but it's a pretty cool way for the anthology to end regardless. Stay tuned for other reviews from Odder Jobs.

Blog Tour - Wordsmith Tim Lebbon

Mark and I are lucky enough to be able to be a small part in Tim Lebbon's blog tour - okay, maybe not so tiny - we are afterall the FIRST STOP on the leg of his whirlwind tour of other blogs and sites. Tim (pictured left) is celebrating the publication of Fallen in paperback AND the publication of his newest novel in hardback - The Island.

We have also been given the opportunity to offer a copy of Fallen to give away to a lucky entrant. We'll let the competition run a week only (entries in by Friday, 15th) purely because you just have to get your grubby paws on a copy to read as soon as possible!

And there is even more. We have been given some special content, exclusive to MFB, just for you to read. But that is not all I've got up my sleeve for you. further down is chance to win - from the Allison and Busby publishers' site - a copy of Tim's newest novel, The Island.

More of that a little bit later on, though. Here is our main act, Tim Lebbon, wordsmith and world conjuror, in his own words:

Sometimes it’s the world where your story is set. The geography, flora and fauna, and how that becomes a place you want to write about, a whole new world you want to explore ...

Sometimes it’s the idea. The heart of your novel, the sun around which the characters and events form, orbit, and occasionally collide ...

It can be the theme, an underlying concept that you want to explore to its fullest potential, and which can be most successfully analysed in this particular world, with these people, civilisations, and these mad monsters tearing the world apart ...

But with FALLEN, it was none of these. It was the characters. When Ramus Rheel and Nomi Hyden introduced themselves to me, I knew I had to write a novel about them. They were screaming to have their story told, and at the same moment they made themselves known to me, I also knew some stuff about their backgrounds, their relationship, and some of what must happen to them to set them on course for this book's finale. I could even picture them in my mind's eye ... quite a spooky feeling considering their names had yet to appear on paper. But who ever said writers are normal, right?

There's always a definite moment when a book feels whole to me. It's the instant when a book changes from a two-dimensional idea on a piece of paper, to a three dimensional, complete world, where the characters I'm creating and the landscape they inhabit come alive and are suddenly real. Sometimes it'll happen when I'm brainstorming an idea on paper—making notes, sketching scenes, trying to expand on themes. Sometimes it's not until the actual writing process begins, either when I create that all-important opening scene (or even opening line), or when I'm feeling my way through the first chapter. Usually if the feeling hasn't hit by then, I'll leave the story alone for a while, take a step back and hope that a new approach will bring it to life. Sometimes I push on, and the story might grow and grow until it reaches that state of 'wholeness' that is so important ... or it might fade away with a whimper.
With FALLEN, the instant these two characters came along my mind caught fire. They're explorers, dedicating their lives to discovering the unknown landscapes of Noreela in its early years. They work for the Guild of Voyagers, though perhaps in the Guild's eyes they're not the most successful ... that plaudit often goes to Voyagers who have gone so far that they're lost in the land, never to be seen again. They're lifelong friends, attracted to each others' weaknesses as well as their strengths, and theirs is a relationship built on the wonders they have seen, and which can survive petty squabbles. They're also competitors ... because Voyaging is a lonely calling with sometimes selfish aims. And perhaps they might even be lovers ... or if they're not, it's something they've danced around, and which perhaps they both think of but avoid. Their friendship is precious, and perhaps this is the one thing it could not survive.

But it was still not quiet there. It itched at the edges, this story just waiting to be born, but there was one little thing missing, and I didn't know what. I knew that theirs would be a momentous quest, perhaps even the last great Voyage in Noreela's Age of Expansion ... but that wasn't it. There would be dangers and challenges, of course. But there was still something absent, and it had to be to do with Nomi and Ramus, not the world around them.

It took a walk in my local woods to realise what that was. It's beautiful in there, and I imagined finding it for the first time, being the very first person to see those trees, that stream, those bluebells. And I had it. These Voyagers covet the wonders they seek, and so at some point on their journey they must become mortal enemies.

That was it. FALLEN was a complete, rounded story, a tale with soul and meaning, emotionally challenging and fantastic in scope.

All I had to do now was write it.

Did that peak your interest? Whet your appetite for more? Allison and Busby, Tim's publisher sent us an exclusive excerpt of Fallen for you to read. This is the link to that extract.

And now, for a chance to win a zigned copy of The Island - it is a standalone novel set in the same world as Fallen - follow this link and it will take you to the A&B website where you need to enter this word - RAMUS - in order to enter. There is a different code for each blog stop, so up your chances of winning by collecting the different codes as you follow Tim’s tour. You can then enter more than once, as long as you don’t repeat the same code.

As I mentioned earlier, this is only the first stop of Tim's blog tour. Next up he'll be over at A&B's blog. Pop by to catch him on the 13th, doing a reading from Fallen. Check out Tim's blog for a full list of stops on his blog tour.

Thanks to both Tim and the publicity girls at Allison and Busby for this fantastic opportunity and for making MFB the first stop in the blog tour!

Fallen, Tim Lebbon

Make sure to click on the picture of the cover to view the larger version for full impact.

Synopsis:

Shrouded in mystery from time immemorial, the Great Divide – a treacherous sheer cliff soaring miles into the clouds above – has long provoked curiosity and fear in Noreela’s human inhabitants. If anyone can penetrate the myths surrounding it, they will instantly enter into legend and garner wealth and glory beyond imagination.

The potent lure of promised fame and riches entices two Voyagers, Ramus and Nomi, to attempt the impossible and they embark on their perilous quest amid great secrecy. But with danger lurking in the shadows around them, they never suspect the greatest threat may lie within themselves…

Having pawed the hardback copies of Fallen several times whilst visiting Forbidden Planet purely for its pretty cover (the truth, I swear, ask Sian!) I was incredibly chuffed to receive a copy of the newly released paperback in the post from Tim's UK publishers, Allison and Busby.

I fell to it with gusto. And if you follow me on twitter and Facebook, you will now that I've been putting notes out saying: Fallen is awesome, brilliant, amazing, a must-read...

Well, now that I've actually finished it, had some time to reflect on it and form coherent sentences in my head, here's the review.

What makes Fallen such a treat in fantasy writing is the fact that Tim Lebbon's taken his characters and set them up to go on a phyiscal journey and the tremendous feat he manages is: to keep your attention all the way through to the end.

Read any how-to book, read several published authors blogs and agent blogs - you are warned to stay away from books about journeys. As journeys are boring. Nothing ever happens on them. Even if there is a bit of fighting, well, you know, the characters get over it and move on.

Not in Fallen. The trick is that Fallen is plotted meticulously, within an inth of its life. But you don't actually realise this till after the fact. Every hook, every conversation, every bit of information you are given, serves to draw you further and further into the story and the two Voyagers' quest, to travel to the Great Divide to find what is there, is the lifeblood of the story.

Nomi and Ramus are two wildly different characters. Ramus (my favourite) is renowned for his knowledge and his sensible ways. He travels and goes on a Voyage to discover and come away with information and maps. He processes all of this, does more research and we realise that his quest is not for fame or fortune, but for knowledge and what that holds. He does not live a glamourous life. In fact, when we meet him he hardly has two coins to rub together. But his life is full of books, his research and his maps. Maybe he is a bit lonely but then time flies when you are so wrapped in your own research.

Nomi on the other hand is the one who glories in her discoveries - a shrewd business woman she has made a fortune exporting wine and selling the vintage beverages for silly prices to rich merchants and nobles. Her life is one of perceived leisure - she has money to spend on the finer things in life and she loves her home with all its small items which she had bought on her trips. She cannot read and isn't interested in sitting around in some dusty library, fingering old scrolls and breaking her head on musty writings.

But when she is offered a scroll by a wanderer she realises that this could be the game. The one that will not just make her fortune but will make her even better known than the first Voyager. She goes to Ramus, whom she is friends with, and puts the information to him. Ramus' researches the scroll and although he feels that it may mean the end of them, he agrees that she should buy this item. It is a mystery, a chance to find out more about the Great Divide, who knew what answers lay on the other side.

Nomi sets the plans in motion and too soon they are off on their journey with a group of experienced warriors, lead by Beko, the "captain" for this expedition.

The land they travel through is strange, with odd quirks. It may rain frogs and scorpions on you one moment or you may be followed by a wraith, the next. Personally I found this uncertainty to be disconcerting and a clear indicator in the novel that not all is what it seems and that as a reader you should be aware that this is not going to be the usual fantasy trope.

When the massive break-up between Ramus and Nomi happens - because it has to, to drive the story forward and give you a perspective on one group, then the next - I was so stunned and shocked but secretly titilated because well, this is what good writing and plotting does. Instead of sending in a man with a gun, Tim Lebbon decided to rip apart the happy status quo in the small group and thereby he upped the pace of the novel. Ramus and Nomi reveal their true selves to each other and the group and it causes a rift - an unconquerable rift. Awful things are said and the party splits. And things go utterly pearshaped as the journey turns into a race to get to the Great Divide first...

I found the writing to be very tight, the plotting a good example of how things ought to be done and the characterisations very finely drawn, even the hired hands as secondary characters were interesting and enigmatic. A thoroughly enjoyable romp by a well established author at the peak of his game - it will make an excellent beach read as it literally sweeps you along.

Highly recommended!

Find the http://www.noreela.com/ site here with the official Tim Lebbon site here. Keep an eye out for Tim's guest blog at the beginning of May and an opportunity to win copies of Fallen.