Apologies for not having an edition of Speculative Basement last week, but I was a bit busy. I was in that hazy faze in which nothing but that one thing you are focusing on can get through to you. And for me that one thing was getting married!
Laura and I tied the knot in a small, outdoor ceremony in front of close friends and family. It was a beautiful celebration–though it was dimpled with small, technical difficulties and sprinkled with bad luck. Everyone seemed to get lost on the way, including the pastor, who ended up being pulled over while trying to off-road his way to the site.
But now the ceremony is done, and we can get back into our normal routines once more. And that includes my blog … which leads us to!!
Grimdark Fantasy
I’m sure the title alone leaves little to the imagination. Grim … dark … so it must be a pretty bleak, and sour world for our fantasy stories. If that is what you are thinking, you are completely correct.
Grimdark Fantasies are dark stories told in the shadows, whose characters are questionable, and their behaviors deplorable. Set in worlds that are ultra violent and overly graphic, the characters are vile, self-serving creatures. But all of that is what makes it all so entertaining!
We have enough soft, beautiful worlds where the good stand tall. Grimdark sets a scene “where nobody is honourable and Might is Right”–or so says writer Adam Roberts.
Want to read stories where blood spills easily, and the hero smirks at the misfortune of others? Do you love a good–well, not so good–anti-hero that cheats everyone, even his friends? Then check out these Grimdark Fantasy titles!
The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) by Joe Abercrombie
Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1) by Steven Erikson
The Steel Remains Paperback by Richard K. Morgan
The Darkness that Comes Before: The Prince of Nothing, Book One by R. Scott Bakker
Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover
mpmcvey.com 