Grimdark Magazine and the End of an Era

I have been a long-time supporter of Grimdark Magazine (hereafter GdM).  Fantasy stories featuring morally compromised protagonists doing the best they can in a flawed world appeal to me.

I have nominated the publisher Adrian Collins and editor Beth Tabler for the Best Editor, Short Fiction Hugo Award as well as the magazine itself in the appropriate category.  They generally do a great job at finding interesting stories for GdM.  GdM's anthology projects have also been outstanding.

To be clear, I wish them the best in their efforts to provide top-notch fantasy fiction to Grimdark fans and readers.  I hope they continue to attract new customers.  

I've traded emails with Adrian over the years and interacted with him on the Grimdark Readers and Writers group on Facebook.  He's a great guy.  I've also had some contact with Beth via an anonymous account.  Again, a perfectly delightful individual.

The direction of the magazine has shifted over the last 12+ months.  As a result, I have canceled my Patreon support for the magazine.

The short version is that I have less interest in reading GdM.  I downloaded the 10th Anniversary issue (#40) and found that I had 4 or 5 issues that I had left unread.  My motivation for reading GdM has apparently declined.

Issue #40 made it clear why I haven't been as interested in GdM.  There has been a significant shift in the editorial objective of GdM.

In past years, it seemed that GdM was committed to publishing the best stories, interviews, and reviews within the Grimdark sub-genre.  GdM didn't care who you were.  If you could tell a great story, do a great interview, or write a compelling review, then they wanted to print your work.

The lead editorial in issue #40, by Krystle Matar, was titled "Grimdark, Home of the Other".  In it, she proclaims:

The future of grimdark lies in its diversity.

Hogwash.  The pursuit of diversity is absolutely a vice.  Pursuing diversity at the expense of excellence harms everyone.  It harms readers by neglecting to provide the very best writing possible.  It harms authors by reducing the opportunities and incentives for them to refine their craft and tell the best stories possible.

My past practice was to skim through GdM interviews and reviews.  I stopped doing even that much after running into far too many articles that included an identitarian "As a [inserted gender/ethnicity combination here], I feel...".

Their identity may well contribute to the types of stories an author tells.  But it is not the measure of their ability as a writer.  Can they tell a solid story?  

One potential illustration of how an emphasis on diversity may be harming the genre is the first featured fiction story in GdM issue #40.  "Little Mermaid, In Passing" by Angela Slatter was originally published in 2017.  It is a fine enough story.  It is also a derivative tale that relies on existing stories to tell a new one.  If there were not enough solid stories in the slush pile to fill out this issue, then re-running a previously published story is a reasonable choice.  But should an older, derivative work be the leading piece of fiction in an anniversary issue ahead of new and original work?

Story/interview/review selection and placement also tell the reader something about the priorities of a publication.  

Being open to new perspectives and different sources of fiction is absolutely a virtue.  While it is harmful to use diversity as a key performance indicator, everyone should be open to new perspectives and new sources of genre fiction.  The doors should be open wide to everyone.  

I enjoy the works of a wide range of authors.  Currently, two authors whose works I almost automatically purchase have identity-related features that might surprise some.  Reading the works of C.T. Rwizi and Rebecca Roanhorse is almost always a solid, entertaining experience.  If you haven't experienced their fiction, please seek it out.  You will not be disappointed. 

I am a Hugo nominator and voter.  I participate in that process because I value high-quality genre fiction regardless of the source.  Being a nominator and a voter has led me to discover some outright gems.

The experience has also had disappointing moments as the small cadre of Hugo nominators appears to read and appreciate a very narrow range of works.  It is a group that is sorely in need of diversification.  But that is a subject for another day.

I might re-subscribe to GdM at some point in the future.  My experience with the magazine has been positive, overall, even if there have been some recent disappointments.  But for the moment, I'm taking a step back.

A final thought for Adrian and Beth, should they ever find this piece.  There is a subtle but important difference between being open to a broad range of perspectives and purposefully subjugating quality storytelling to the purpose of representation.  

If the very best submissions come from left-handed members of a tribe in Borneo, then so be it.  The issue will not be very diverse, but it will be filled with great stories.  The reverse is also true.

On The 2024 Election

We are days away from the 2024 election.  The good news is that we won't have to deal with all of the campaign advertising starting November 6th.

The harder to hear news is that what happens to America after that point is really up to us.  Who we elect is a secondary concern.

As an example, you may have heard of people on the left who are talking about leaving the US if Donald Trump wins.

And I get it.  His commitment to the Constitution is marginal at best.  He has a well-documented affinity for authoritarian leaders in other countries.  His behavior and incompetence in the wake of the 2020 election are a big part of why I cannot vote for him this year.

But if you are talking about leaving the US if Donald Trump wins, then please do the rest of us a favor.  Skip voting and move now.  He isn't the devil or a demon.  He isn't a fascist.

You clearly lack the Americanism needed to advocate for your preferred policies.  You lack the dedication to advocate for years and perhaps decades.  You lack a commitment to our Constitutional republic and obviously prefer some sort of left-wing dictatorship.  Please go there now so we can all be happier.

And you may have heard about people on the right who are talking about leaving if Kamala Harris is elected.

And I get it.  She cannot communicate even the simplest of ideas.  She spews out word salads that obfuscate and delay rather than directly responding to issues and questions.  Her demonstrated performance in public office makes her barely qualified to run for county commissioner.  Her failure in the 2020 election primaries and the fact that she did not face any credible form of primary in 2024 suggest that she isn't up to the task of being President of the US.  And quite frankly her cover-up of President Biden's obvious inability to be anything more than a warm body in the Oval Office suggests a lack of concern for America's national security and a lack of support for the Constitution.  She was ineligible for my vote in 2020 and absolutely nothing about her actions has caused that to change.

But if you are talking about leaving the US if Kamala Harris wins, then please do the rest of us a favor.  Skip voting and move now.  She isn't the end of America.

You clearly lack the Americanism needed to advocate for your preferred policies.  You lack the dedication to advocate for years and perhaps decades.  You lack a commitment to our Constitutional republic and obviously prefer some sort of right-wing dictatorship.  Please go there now so we can all be happier.

For everyone else, 2025 is a new year.  We will have a new President.  They will get the support and condemnation they deserve.  They will get support and condemnation that they don't deserve as well.  That's American politics.

Maybe we could try something new next year and reach for a little more civility.  Instead of calling one another morons...and much worse...maybe we could just simply say "I disagree".  

We don't need a unifying leader.  We need a unified populace; one that can disagree civilly as well as passionately.

Let's try being that instead.

A brief coda.

To my Republican-leaning friends, don't blame me if Donald Trump loses.  The GOP had plenty of better options on the table.  Both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis come to mind.  There were others.  Worshipping a person rather than advancing ideas comes at a price.  A Trump loss is the price.

To my Democrat-leaning friends, don't blame me if Kamala Harris loses.  The Democrats had other options waiting to run.  I think Tulsi Gabbard would have been an interesting candidate, but y'all drove her out of the party.  Democrat politicians and functionaries have pushed so far to the left that they are pushing really bad ideas.  A Harris loss is the price of moving from being a liberal party to one that is progressive and/or socialist.

Review: Empire of the Vampire

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 4-star review. Some would rate it higher for good reasons.

If you are new to genre-fiction, then please go read this book. It is a good ride with great characters. Don't read my spoiler section...go read the book. The experience is worth the price of admission. The author has a lot of talent that is evident.

SPOILER
Now that it's just us, part of the reason for not giving this a full-throated (heh) 5-star review is that I've read a lot of genre fiction. I've seen a lot of movies.

This book uses many plot devices that have already been used.

The first one is the transmutation of Jesus Christ into a fictional redeemer broken on a wheel rather than on a cross. My first encounter with that technique was in Devil's Night Dawning by Damien Black. Another example is when a priest lacks the faith to face a vampire without being able to bear a religious symbol as a metaphysical shield. I first encountered that in Stephen King's ’Salem’s Lot. There are other examples, but you should get the point.

There are plot holes and omitted details. For example, the palebloods that fight to destroy the vampires are created by vampire fathers impregnating human mothers. Given that the palebloods are a significant threat to the vampires, one has to wonder why they continue getting human women pregnant. Also, what is the motivation for vampires to have sex with human women in the first place? It remains unexplored.

Other elements of the story remain unresolved at the end. How did Gabriel get his sword? How did he kill the Forever King? Unexplored. Unresolved.

And last, this book is not a complete story. It ends leaving plot threads unresolved and clearly intends more in the series. While I enjoy many genre series, I'm always disappointed when an author transparently announces the next book in the series.

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Review: Battle for the Wastelands

Battle for the Wastelands by Matthew W. Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review which is a good estimate of my experience.

In a post-apocalyptic world, two opposing forces fight for dominance. One is an outright dictatorship that uses a variety of factions including one made up of cannibals and one that breeds genetic monsters.

The other is made up of people who seem to just want to be left alone. They are led by the remnants of a family, the Merrills. This side seems to be still a sort of monarchy rather than any sort of reconstituted democracy.

The common folks have to kneel to someone. Or so it seems.

The story is presented in a workmanlike fashion. Good spelling and grammar. Decent if somewhat pedestrian characters and plotting.

Several unexplained elements. It is inferred that the genetic monsters are related to some sort of nuclear radioactive location. There also seem to be several species of dinosaurs in the story - again, no explanation. And the cannibals are following some sort of "religion" for which there are no details.

I was reminded of the TV character Radar from MASH. In one episode, Radar begins correspondence courses to learn to write like Hemmingway and some other, allegedly, notable authors. In this case, it was Ethel Hemmingway.

The prose in this book similarly runs into the purple range.

Also, the guts of many characters clench on a regular basis. They must all have 6-pack abs.

Not a bad story, but I won't be continuing anything new in this series.

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Review: Dirty Water

Dirty Water by Tom Kratman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a two-star, Dorothy-Parker-DNF review.

I've enjoyed some of this author's other works a great deal.

This one was boring. I made it 10% through the book before moving on to anything better.

Most of the early parts of the book were a generic old guy taking his grandkids on a tour of Boston and lamenting how things have changed. It was heavy on the geography of Boston and light on making the old guy or his grandkids into interesting characters.

The brief interludes with the alien were good but infrequent and brief.

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Review: Murder at Spindle Manor

Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 4-star review. Call it a weak 4.5-star review.

Murder at Spindle Manor is an entertaining melange of Agatha Christie, Lovecraft, and steam-punk seasoned with some bits of Monty Python-esque humor. Or "humour" as the whole thing has a decidedly late 19th-century British vibe.

This eclectic mixture of elements shouldn't work and yet it works almost perfectly. I don't read many murder mysteries as I find the big reveal less than satisfying. Perhaps that is something I bring to this experience.

Anyone who enjoys movies such as The Naked Gun or any Monty Python shows will find this delightful. The author has somehow managed to meld a pretentious, stuffed-shirt, murder mystery with the farcical version of the same tale.

This book won the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off in 2023. I have read most of the SPFBO winners and found them (with one exception) to be very rewarding experiences. Murder at Spindle Manor continues that trend.


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Review: Mirrored Heavens

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse


This is a review without stars. I DNF'd this book.

I dislike extensive chapters based on some character's internal monologue. This book has an early chapter featuring an internal monologue from/with a character that I don't care about. It got in the way of the narrative of the main characters that actually matter to the plot.

Life is too short to have reading be a chore.

I didn't think it was fair to provide a star rating based on a few chapters.

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