Blackguards_ Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues - J. M. Martin Page 0,2

mere sneaky hobbit to a bona fide blackguard.

Blackguard, by the way, is actually pronounced ‘blaggard,’ as in haggard. The term seemingly originated from scullions and kitchen-knaves, in particular those in courtly caravans who were in charge of the pots, pans, utensils, and the conveyance of coal. They were called as such for often being a sullied and rag-tag assembly in comparison to the livery of the guard at the head of the convoy. They have been defined as ‘the lowest menials in a royal or noble household,’ and the works of one Ben Jonson in Love Restored (dated 1612), declares:

“In all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, there were a number of mean and dirty dependents, whose office it was to attend the wood-yard and sculleries. Of these the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens and halls…and to this smutty regiment who rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, which, with every other article of furniture, were then moved from palace to palace, [and] the people, in derision, gave [them] the name of black guards, a term since become sufficiently familiar, and never properly explained.”

Even more interesting to note is the French word ‘blague,’ which today means more of a prank or joke but, in 18th century France, meant “to lie,” more or less, a ‘blageur’ being someone who speaks pretentiously. Therefore one could extrapolate that a ‘blaggard’—also ‘blagger’ in some texts—is a ‘rag-tag deceiver with grandiloquent habits.’ Some learned men might debate that this extrapolation is a bit of a stretch, but it certainly seems to fit the bill as far as I’m concerned.

So Bilbo Baggins could be pinned as a blackguard of sorts, but a well-meaning one on an estimable quest, rather unlike the goals and general misconduct of a true blackguard; that is to say those encompassing the rank and file not only of thieves but all manner of mercenaries from hucksters and devil-may-care cheats to narcissistic cutthroats and rapacious slave traders that populate the emerging fantasy subgenre called ‘grimdark,’ an amalgam of the adventure novel in gritty attire, cloaked in fool’s motley, vitriol, and the picaresque.

Indeed, the seeds were planted and my imagination sprouted in early bloom. At a young age I became entranced by fantasy fiction, particularly to the rag-tag, outcast, grandiloquent, cunning blackguard. Tolkien’s hobbits, dwarfs, and wizards were just the beginning. Throughout my teens and twenties I devoured entire series of blaggardly anti-heroes. R.E. Howard’s Conan and Red Sonja. Michael Moorcock’s Elric and Moonglum. Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. Glen Cook’s The Black Company. Robert Lynn Asprin’s Thieves’ World. Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane the Mystic Swordsman. Bob Salvatore’s Drizzt Du’Orden. Robin Hobb’s FitzChivalry. David Gemmell’s Druss the Legend and Waylander. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. And in my thirties I went on to discover such indisputable innovators of the anti-hero movement as Rafael Sabatini, Alexandre Dumas, even Gene Wolfe, and more recently the brilliant works of Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard series and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn titles.

Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues is rooted in all of the above and more. I am so proud of this book with its 27 brilliant stories by the industry’s leaders in speculative fiction, with tales of ‘forlorn wretches’ and ‘smutty regiments,’ most set in their own proprietary worlds. This was my goal from the beginning, to gather a collection of proprietary works, and I started with some of my writer chums who I’d come to know through an online group I started in 2010 called ‘The Writers of the Storm.’ Among these, I hit up Django Wexler, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk, Kenny Soward, John Gwynne, Tim Marquitz, and David Dalglish. I knew they would make a solid core to build from, and after greasing those knaves’ sweaty palms, the ripple effect took over. It’s a cool feeling, going from reading the works of Carol Berg and Paul Kemp and Richard Lee Byers to actually publishing them (I sometimes pinch myself), and I’m well pleased with the table of contents herein.

But none of this could have happened without our Kickstarter benefactors. Blackguards was crowdfunded by 1,237 generous contributors (kickstarter.com, search: Blackguards) who invested their ducats and enabled us to pay the authors, artists, and printer, as well as produce some dandy add-ons like posters, magnet calendars, and collectible coins. It overfunded so far beyond the target goal—and my expectations—that I almost feel like a highwayman brigand myself. Like a blaggard!

Hmm. In fact…I feel less