D. K. Latta is a Canadian writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror as well as superheroes. His work began appearing in 1995 with “Ancient Guardian” in Shadow Sword #8, Fall 1995. Much of his early stuff is Sword & Sorcery and it this work we are going to look at in this interview. He has collected these stories in a book called Barbarians & Broadswords (2017) Darren has written article for Dark Worlds Quarterly and appears in Jason M Waltz’s Death’s Sting – Where Art Thou?
GWThomas: Why do you write Heroic Fantasy?
D. K. Latta: I write different types of fiction (science fiction, occasional horror, recently I’ve been indulging in a series of superhero-themed tales, as well as fantasy and S&S) and each genre exercises a different creative muscle. In a way, Heroic Fantasy is the least pretentious, the one where you just let your hair down. The appeal is in the name: “heroic” and “fantasy” – the escapism into a world removed from our own prosaic reality. It’s also a chance for a writer to try blending elements in a way not as common in other genres: it’s adventure, it’s horror, it’s historical; you’re trying to tell plot/characters, but also attempting to create atmosphere and a sense of place (a detective story just needs to tell you the body was found in the den; an S&S story needs a body and an environment). It also has the same appeal of Westerns, superheroes, even mob dramas in that it presents a kind of mythic narrative where heroes and villains can clash and real world consequences can be ignored. Of course, it’s also a genre that kind of veers toward nihilism, in that “heroes” are often rogues, thieves, and mercenaries, and generally solve problems by, y’know, killing their enemies. Which itself provides a challenge: figuring out where you want to draw the lines (or whether you do) between good and evil.
In some ways I think it was my late brother, Jeffrey Blair Latta, who helped introduce me to S&S (I was reading Tarzan when he started reading Conan). He later edited a webzine called Pulp and Dagger, which I helped with and for which I was sort of an unofficial staff writer. If submissions were slow, he knew he could count on me to turn in a few breezy, two-fisted stories in a variety of pulp genres to pad out the schedule. And he created a great character called Fukitso who was kind of Conan-like (among other creations).
GWT: Can writers actually improve on Howard, Leiber, Moorcock and Wagner? Is Sword & Sorcery a defunct sub-genre?
DKL: I should confess that my knowledge of the genre can be spotty: I’ve read plenty of Howard, Moorcock, Burroughs (not strictly S&S, but y’know, in the area) but a lot of my reading over the years is of the pick-it-up-on-a-whim-at-the-used-bookstore/library variety, so that I’ve read various authors (just glancing at my shelf I can see Poul Anderson, H. Warner Munn, H. Rider Haggard, Tolkien, Charles Saunders, etc.) but I won’t claim any expertise. Still, I think the old writers can be bettered – it would be sad to think we can’t always build on what went before (whether talking art, or politics, or society, hopefully we’re always hoping tomorrow will improve on yesterday). Certainly prose-styles evolve, and our social attitudes change over the generations. At the same time, there are ways that modern writers can still learn from them. Particularly in terms of pacing, of how to tell an adventure story. I’ll sometimes read a modern story or novel that’s billed as a swashbuckling adventure …only to find it just kind of plods along, and the plot itself trundles ahead in a doggedly predictable manner. To me the ideal would be to try and re-capture the spirit and plotting of the old masters, but married with a little more of the nuanced characterization one expects from modern stories. (I should hastily point out that I’m not saying I live up to my own ideals myself).
With that said, I do think Robert E. Howard is an interesting case in that people who pooh-pooh his style of brawny barbarian fantasy underestimate his skill with words, his pacing – yet even though he remains influential within his sub-genre, despite his legion of imitators and emulators (from literal Conan pastiches to Conan-like creations) even they often fail to capture some of the finer points of his style. This is wandering from your question a bit, but it maybe relates to the question of bettering the old guys and the future of S&S: so…to me one of the most memorable Conan tales is “Red Nails” which involves Conan stumbling upon a city-sized building in which the society has broken down into two eternally warring camps. It struck me as memorable both for the atmosphere and atypical milieu (almost Gormenghast-esque), but also for a premise that I’ve always felt (cheekily) could be likened to “Conan does Star Trek” as it feels almost like Howard meant it as an allegory. I guess my point is that sometimes there was more imagination and variety in these old tales than modern readers (whether fans or detractors) acknowledge. In a way it’s like how Tarzan movies mostly just recycle jungle safari plots, whereas the Tarzan novels often involved imaginative lost civilizations.
GWT: How much did Sword & Sorcery comic books influence you?
DKL: That’s an interesting question. I think the first time I read Michael Moorcock’s Elric was a comic book adaptation by Roy Thomas and P. Craig Russell, which then inspired me to seek out the prose stories. But I can’t remember if I read Conan in comics before I read the prose – certainly I’ve read a lot of Conan comics, but I’ve also read most of Howard’s stories (Kull I think I first encountered in a comic illustrated by John Bolton, whereas Solomon Kane I think I’ve only read in prose). Certainly I think comics in some ways were an interesting melding of old pulp sensibilities with more modern ambitions in that original S&S comics like The Warlord and Arak (as well as Marvel’s Conan) were definitely unapologetic pulp adventures with lots of action and cliff-hangers, but married with sometimes deeper themes and characterization (and wry humour) that a lot of the traditional pulp-era stories lacked (in part because monthly adventures demands more development of characters and relationships). They also mashed up genres in a way typical of the whole superhero genre itself: series like The Warlord, Killraven, and others were often Sword & Science, while Arak was blatantly fantasy but also (if I recall) historically researched.
I think comics did influence me as much as prose because as much as I might draw upon old pulp writers when trying to conjure up atmosphere, I’m probably drawing upon comics when figuring out the rhythm of dialogue, and in the way I often favour some sort of twist to the end a tale. I also tend to break stories down into scenes in a way that I sometimes think of as being comic book-y (or cinematic) – conveying information through a conversation rather than simply relaying it through the narration.
GWT: Have you ever written a Sword & Sorcery novel? Or attempted one?
DKL: I haven’t yet tried a full length fantasy novel, in part from simple pragmatism. I have a few ideas, some themes, or characters (some I test drove in short stories) but I was just never sure I could find a publisher for my sometimes pulpy sensibilities. I have written a few SF novels and they mostly just sit on my computer because I’m not very good at the technical side of the business (finding an agent, schmoozing, all the things a lot of struggling writers need to do – I’m conveniently side-stepping the question of whether maybe I’m just not that good).
I’m the first to acknowledge I’m not a “great” writer, but I have managed to sell a few stories here and there, and occasionally pick up a few “fans” (people writing to me, or I’ll come upon someone complimenting a story of mine on a message board). But to embark on the lengthy process of writing a novel needs self-confidence that you’ll eventually get it before potential readers. Like, I suspect, a lot of writers, the writing flows a lot easier if you think there’s a potential venue waiting at the end! I recently tried experimenting with self-publishing some ebooks: a collection of some of my previously published S&S tales called “Barbarians & Broadswords” and some superhero-themed collections; not to circumnavigate or dismiss conventional publishers, but as a way of kind of testing the waters.
GWT: You have described your latest story, “The Maiden’s Path” (at Lackington’s this fall), as “more literary”. Can you tell us a little about the story and what you mean by that?
DKL: I’m probably being a bit facetious when I describe “The Maiden’s Path” as more “literary.” But what I mean is there’s the kind of traditional, Old School, pulpy kind of adventure tale (in fantasy, SF, etc.) that can seem a little less prevalent these days, often with fantasy magazines leaning more toward introspective tales, or whimsical-satire (this isn’t good or bad, just the whims of the market). Now traditionally I tended to write Old School – pulpy adventure as a hero/heroine battles a wizard/ogre/whatever. But “The Maiden’s Path” was my attempt at something a little more lyrical, still set in a High Fantasy milieu, with magic and curses, but where the dilemma isn’t solved by swordplay. In a way, there’s still a pulp sensibility, there’s plot and obstacles to be overcome, and the hero’s motive/emotions are articulated; I like the story and am quite proud of it but it’s more folk tale than pulse-pounding adventure.
GWT: What does the future hold in store for D. K. Latta fans?
DKL: The future? I dunno. I recently realized I’ve spent too long procrastinating, thinking “someday I should…” while writing non-fiction on-line about comic books and Canadian film/TV. My fiction out-put has been thin in recent years and I’ve decided I need to knuckle down put some more effort into that (in addition to Lackington I have a story up-coming in Crimson Street – or possibly already published depending on when this interview sees print – called “Last Stand for Lucifer’s Legion” that’s a sort of mash-up of The Dirty Dozen, Predator, and superheroes!). I decided to self-publish a few ebooks — not because I expected to sell many – but just hoping to get some stuff out there, maybe get a few reviews (good or bad) and get a sense of whether I’m writing anything others want to read. Because as much as I’m a creative type, I’m also an entertainer. And if people aren’t entertained by what I do, then what’s the point in doing it? I should mention I kind of believe reviewing is part of the process – I say this as someone who has written innumerable reviews (of movies, graphic novels, etc.) over the years. If you create something, you want people to respond to it. Sure — you hope they’ll like it, but even if they don’t, it can suggest ways to improve next time. Not that you can or should take every review to heart. I remember once coming upon two different reviews of a story I wrote. Both agreed it was a decent story, but one said it was a great plot, hurt by mediocre writing, the other said it was a generic plot, redeemed by great writing. So, as a writer, you can only shrug.
I’ve certainly got ideas bouncing around in my head for stories, novels, even comics: fantasy, SF, adventure, etc.
In the S&S genre I’ve used a few recurring characters such as Neekin (a kind of female Conan, often with a racy, mature readers undercurrent), Kainar (riffing on the hero with the enchanted weapon, a battle axe named Hawk’s Wood) and Zargatha (also riffing on an old theme: the hero with a cursed limb) and every now and then I’ll toy with doing something more with them. Zargatha (and the Lady Vyanna) in particular seemed surprisingly popular with readers, and I felt bad I never completed his saga after the webzine that was publishing his adventures folded; his tales were an experiment in telling a series of stand-alone adventures that, nonetheless, form an arc that would build eventually to a resolution (or at least a revelation about his mysterious hand).
With “Barbarians & Broadswords” I collected some previously published S&S tales (including some featuring the characters I mentioned, ranging in style from lurid Conan-esque pulp to a doom-laden tragi-hero ala Moorcock). While the superhero-themed collections include an omnibus, “The Fellowship of the Midnight Sun,” collecting a trilogy of novellas about WW II superheroes deliberately meant to try and capture the fast-paced, cliff-hanger style of old pulp serials – kind of borrowing a bit of Lester Dent and a bit of Roy Thomas’ Invaders/All-Star Squadron comics; and what is kind of my magnum opus, the two volume The Masques Chronicles, which attempts to imagine a Canadian superhero universe (I’m Canadian too) stretching from 1939 to today in a series of stories that are both meant to just be entertaining adventures & mysteries, while also playing around with history, Canadian themes, and comic book tropes and archetypes through the decades – essentially asking: if there had been a decades-spanning Marvel/DC-style Canadian publisher, what sort of stories and characters might have been told?
So, I suppose the future might go one of two ways: either I’ll get off my arse and put my nose to the creative grindstone…or I’ll sink back into apathy.
I’m hoping to see what sort of feedback my ebooks garner, if any. At one point a publisher seemed genuinely interested in picking up The Masques Chronicles…but it’s beginning to look like that won’t happen. I’ve long been interested in the idea of Canadian identity in popular culture (specifically I’ve been frustrated by the way so much Canadian pop entertainment hides its Canadianness). Part of the undercurrent with my superhero tales was to try and tell exciting, mainstream, American-style heroic adventure but using a Canadian backdrop. And funnily enough, I’ve had a few ideas (vague, half-formed, admittedly) for a “Canadian” High Fantasy novel . Yes, I know there are great Canadian fantasy writers, but I mean a novel that feels thematically Canadian. I suspect it sounds a bit un-doable …but that’s all the more reason why it might be fun to see if it could be done.
I guess only time will tell if I ever attempt it.
“Ancient Guardian” (Shadow Sword #9 – 1995)
“Beneath the Great River” (Bardic Runes #16 – 1997 and reprinted in Gauntlet #5 – 2000)
“The Blood Marsh” (Flashing Swords #5, 2008)
“The Burning Ones” (Space and Time #89 – 1999)
“The City of the Scarlet Sands” (Bardic Runes #15 – 1996)
“The Crystal Ship” (Under Shadowed Wings Webzine)
“The Fury of the Faithful” (Bardic Runes #13 – 1996)
“Hawk’s Wood” (Adventures of Sword & Sorcery #4 – 1997)
“The High Tower” (Gauntlet #6 – cover story – 2001, reprinted in Flashing Swords #1)
“Loyalties” (Bardic Runes #12 – 1995 and reprinted in Gauntlet #3 – 2000)
“The Mad Queen of the Sky” (Fantastical Visions, ed. W.H. Horner – anthology pub. 2001)
“The Name of the Enemy” (E-Scape Webzine – 1999)
“Reflections in a Crystal Palace” (SpaceWays Weekly #98 – 1999)
“The Skull of the Serpent” (Adventures of Sword and Sorcery #7 – 2000)
“The Solitary Castle” (Flashing Swords #11, 2008)
“Something Dwells ‘Neath Hannah Town” (Lords of Swords, ed: Daniel E. Blackston, 2004)
“The Stone Man” (Flashing Swords #2, 2005)
“The Temple of the Damned” (Bardic Runes #14 – 1996)
“The Test of the Pearl” (Bardic Runes #11 – 1995)
Read “The Prisoners” from Daily Science Fiction.
