The text du jour is the most recent release from Skull Island Expeditions, Called To Battle. This is unique among the current stable of eBooks available from Skull Island, in that it’s an anthology of novelettes. No, that doesn’t mean it’s a collection of young ladies who appear as a kick-line at book readings, it means that we get a handful of Iron Kingdom vignettes even shorter than the novellas that make up the bulk of Skull Island’s library. On the one hand, that’s particularly groovy – short snapshots like these novelettes can focus on the minor characters of the Iron Kingdoms who may not have enough personal fluff oomph to warrant or support a longer text; at the same time, it makes me pout since, especially if it’s a character the reader is personally invested in, we only get the barest taste, the merest glimpse. Still, it’s better than a kick in the teeth, and you can view it like a cheese platter, taking a nibble from four different authors and using it as a guide when you next visit Skull Island Expeditions with an eye to purchasing a longer work of fiction. I make no apologies to those of you who are right now comparing Larry Correia to aged Jarlsberg, and Orrin Grey to Red Leicester. Okay, so Called To Battle. Four appetizer-length tales, each from a different author, each about a quarter-length of a novella. Our four authors – Larry Correia, Orrin Grey, Howard Tayler and Erik Scott de Bie – bring us tales (respectively) of the mercenary sniper Kell Bailoch, Cryxian monstrosity Gerlak Slaughterbon, Cygnaran mechanic Arlan Strangeways, and the Iosan mage hunter par excellence Narn. Each short story is independent of the others, so it only makes sense to look at them in a similarly independent fashion. As usual, just to cover my proverbial - here be spoilers. Heartfire, by Howard Tayler - Arlan Strangeways Hot off the heels of Extraordinary Zoology, one of my favourite of the Skull Island Expeditions releases, I came into Heartfire wondering how Tayler would handle the more restrictive format of the novelette… and then it occurred to me that they way he’d broken up Extraordinary Zoology, it was essentially multiple novelettes with an ongoing narrative, to make for a novella – this was in his wheelhouse. I wasn’t disappointed. Heartfire takes Cygnaran master mechanic Captain Arlan Strangeways into the field, delivering some of the first Minuteman light warjacks to Siege, field testing as they go. Sounds all nice and routine, until one of the two prototype Minutemen explodes during a jump test. Post mortem reveals… sabotage?? A traitor in the ranks has Strangeways and his team on edge. Who is it? Who are they working for? Are they looking to destroy the Minutemen? To capture Strangeways? What of the impressionable Lieutenant Caspi Burrick? Could the Gobbers Mo and Rala really be capable of something so sinister? As is the case with many works of fiction, I often find myself more engaged by the supporting characters than by the protagonist. Any hero is only as interesting as his supporting cast and opposition. In Heartfire we don’t get to engage the opposition much – at all, really – but I found myself thinking of Strangeways as a bit of a jerk throughout much of the tale, while Caspi caught my attention in particular. I suppose on some level I was comparing Strangeways with Artificer General Nemo as portrayed in Dark Convergence by Dave Gross, but I just didn’t find Arlan that likeable. I prefer my grump old mechanics to wield lightning-based polearms, apparently. Heartfire has a special bonus in that amidst the drama and intrigue we find Arlan reactivating warjacks in the middle of a firefight. It’s the first I’ve read in Skull Island fiction of the process. It’s not major portion of the story – as entertaining as the code phrases are – but it adds to the narrative. This is key. The reason I’m so glad we have fiction coming at us from Skull Island Expeditions is that it adds to our own understanding of how things work in the Iron Kingdoms. In our heads, this can only serve to enrich our experiences as we play both Warmachine/Hordes and the IK RPG. I’ll bet you five Internetz that next time I’m playing a field marshal, in the back of my head – and possibly out loud, cos I like making sound effects when I play – I’ll be saying “Four-Eleven-Nine Tutti Frutti!” or something similar. Destiny of a Bullet, by Larry Correia - Kell Bailoch Ah, Larry Correia... Author of the first Skull Island Expeditions book I ever read (Instruments of War) and of the last one Id read prior to Called To Battle (Into the Storm). Larry has already impressed with his earlier efforts; the thing that caught me with Destiny of a Bullet was the change in tone. Im sure Im using the wrong term here, but the survival-noir feel of the short story resonated very differently from Makedas tale and the Dirty Dozen-esque tale of the Caspia-Sul war. Its a credit to Correias versatility. Destiny tells the story of a contract taken by Kell Beiloch to ... sanction ... another survival expert. Kayazy coin spends well, apparently. The tale flips from the meeting between Kell and his client (with which I was totally using Sam Spade voices in my head while reading) and the cold, lonely wait on the mountainside, underscoring the patience and dedication (or is that just stubbornness?) thats needed to do what Kell does... and of course, theres a fight scene when the target shows up and decides to object to Kells efforts to put a bullet in his brainpan. Correias third contribution to the Skull Island Expeditions imprint is very enjoyable. Judgement, by Erik Scott de Bie - Narn Being a Retribution player, this may have been the short story I had the highest hopes for. Prior to reading I was completely unfamiliar with the author, Erik Scott de Bie, so I went in blind. What I found was not entirely the tale I was expecting. Narn is one of the most respected Mage Hunters in the entire Retribution. To find him in a situation where hes actually working *with* a human spellcaster? Narns always been a character Ive viewed as having very black and white views on human magi, so this rang a little odd to me. Now that said... ... the bad guys in Judgment are creepy as all heck. I dont know exactly *what* they are, but their entry into the tavern had me envisioning a handful of Cenobites strolling into Wendys with less then noble intentions toward the general patronage. Ill be very curious to see what else the author contributes to the imprint, and whether itll be more along the lines of the bizarrely macabre. Under The Shadow, by Orrin Grey - Gerlak Slaughterborn This is an odd duck of a tale in that while the other three are largely centered on the their assigned character, Under the Shadow is more the tale of ships pilot Corley, who finds himself strapped to the wheel piloting the ship returning Gerlak Slaughterborn to Cryx after his army is defeated while assaulting the Cygnaran coastal fortress of Highgate. I expected the story of Gerlak Slaughterborn to be full of casual violence - his name, after all - and I wasnt disappointed. The trollkin general is painted as a creature completely lacking in empathy and generally being a deplorable monster... which, lets face it, he is. Theres nothing redeeming about a beast wholl happily eat someone alive, one limb at a time, while forcing others to watch. Its a dark story about the death of hope and faith, and for that reason it left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled. This isnt a reflection on Greys writing, so much as it is the nature of the character he was writing about. There was no way the story was going to have a happy ending. I was surprised at Corleys actual fate in the end, but it wasnt the happy ending that I usually look forward to in fiction. ###### Called To Battle is worth the read - as a sampler of different authors, or as a sampler of the Iron Kingdoms - but most valuable to me as a chance to see canon fiction about the lesser characters of Warmachine and Hordes. I hope to see more from Skull Island Expeditions.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 02:30:52 +0000
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