Steel Remains mixes noir and fantasy, with a big twist

Best-selling SF author Richard K. Morgan moves from SF to fantasy with his new novel The Steel Remains , a book that grew out of his enthusiasm for old-school sword-and-sorcery. "I grew up reading guys like [Michael] Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner and Poul Anderson, and I'd always thought it would be fun to have a crack at something in that line," Morgan said in an interview. But rather than simply write in that same tradition, Morgan thought it would be interesting to mix a noirish sensibility into the genre. And by noir, he's not just talking about dark and gritty: He's talking about the full array of "protagonist self-loathing, corrupt social systems and hidden agendas, enemies more internal than external, guilt, betrayal and lack of clean resolution," he said. (link)