Riviere Blanche :: January: BLACK COATS, ORTOG, PACIFICA

JM Lofficier

Paul Féval's THE BLACK COATS: HEART OF STEEL was the second volume in that prodigious written by Paul Féval. It takes place pretty much parallel to the events of THE PARISIAN JUNGLE, and its plot also follows the "Monte-Cristo" pattern in which a man defrauded of his inheritance by the Black Coats returns as the eponymous powerful underworld figure to get revenge. The book's major attraction is that it concentrates upon the character of Marguerite Sadoulas, Countess of Clare, a clever, ambitious, wily and stunningly beautiful woman who clawed her way from nothing to becoming a member of the High Council of the Black Coats. Marguerite is, with Alexandre Dumas' Milady, one of the earliest strong female villain in popular literature, and pretty much steals the book away. Only two more novels to come and the Black Coats series will be complete!
http://www.blackcoatpress.com/heartofsteel.htm

The cover is, as usual, by Jean-Michel Ponzio.

Kurt Steiner's ORTOG is a classic of French sci-fi/fantasy penned in 1960 and 1969 (one novel + its sequel). It takes place in the 50th century. Earth has pretty much reverted to a neo-feudal state, after several major wars and crises. In typical fantasy fashion, Ortog, the hero, is a young man who eventually becomes a knight and embarks on a mission to save humanity. The second novel takes Ortog and his sidekick into the Afterlife to look for Ortog's fiancée who died. It is not unlike a sci-fi rewriting of Dante and Orpheus. If you like Moorcock or Delany, you will very likely like this book. It is considered a major novel in French SF.
http://www.blackcoatpress.com/ortog.htm

The cover is by Polish artist Mariusz Gandzel.

Finally, our third release, PACIFICA, is a collection of short stories Randy and I have written over the years. A detailed table of contents is here:
http://www.blackcoatpress.com/pacifica.htm
And you'll see that half of the book is reprints from TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN, ARSENE LUPIN VS SHERLOCK HOLMES and other BCP titles. On the other hand, the book includes a series of "PRISONER" crossovers, a GHOSTBUSTERS, SUPER-FRIENDS and STAR TREK DS9 (comics) script and a bit that didn't find its place in EDGAR ALLAN POE ON MARS. The contents are somewhat different from that of the French edition.

The cover is by Mike Hoffman.