The Cambist and Lord Iron

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The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics is a 2007 novelette by Daniel Abraham. It was originally published in the anthology Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories, and subsequently republished in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection (2008), in Fantasy: The Best of the Year (2008), in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two (2008), and in Lightspeed (2013); as well, an audio version was made available via PodCastle in 2009.

Daniel Abraham (author) speculative fiction writer from the United States

Daniel James Abraham, pen names M. L. N. Hanover and James S. A. Corey, is an American novelist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series, and with Ty Franck, as the co-author of The Expanse series of science fiction novels, written under the joint pseudonym James S. A. Corey. The series has been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–present), with both Abraham and Franck serving as writers and producers on the show.

Lightspeed is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine edited and published by John Joseph Adams. The first issue was published in June 2010 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since. The magazine currently publishes four original stories and four reprints in every issue, in addition to interviews with the authors and other nonfiction. All of the content published in each issue is available for purchase as an ebook and for free on the magazine's website. Lightspeed also makes selected stories available as a free podcast, produced by Audie Award-winning editor Stefan Rudnicki.

PodCastle is a weekly audio fantasy fiction podcast. They release audio performances of fantasy short fiction, including all the subgenres of fantasy, including magical realism, urban fantasy, slipstream, high fantasy, and dark fantasy. As of 2018, Jen R. Albert and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali share editing duties and the show is mainly hosted by assistant editor Setsu Uzume, with occasional guest hosts.

Contents

Synopsis

Olaf Neddelsohn is a cambist who leads a quiet life until he comes to the attention of Lord Iron, a brutal and decadent aristocrat who sets him impossible challenges.

Money changer

A money changer is a person or organisation whose business is the exchange of coins or currency of one country, for that of another. This trade was a predecessor of modern banking.

Reception

Cambist was nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novelette [1] and the 2008 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. [2]

Hugo Award for Best Novelette literary award for science fiction or fantasy stories in English

The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of between 7,500 and 17,500 words; awards are also given out in the short story, novella and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".

Black Gate called it "amazing" and "a fable of economics", [3] and the SF Site described it as "splendid" and "delightful", [4] while Strange Horizons considered it "brilliantly intellectual", but stated that it "could be straight historical fiction for all the use it makes of its vaguely fantastic setting." [5] Steven Levitt noted that, despite agreeing with Olaf's response to Lord Iron's first challenge, he was unable to apply standard economic reasoning to the second and third challenges. [6]

<i>Black Gate</i> (magazine)

Black Gate was a glossy fantasy magazine and published by New Epoch Press. Using the slogan "Adventures in Fantasy Literature," Black Gate primarily featured original short fiction up to novella length.

Fable short fictional story that anthropomorphises non-humans to illustrate a moral lesson

Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson, which may at the end be added explicitly as a pithy maxim or saying.

SF Site is a science fiction online magazine edited by Rodger Turner. Established in 1996 by John O'Neill, it is based in Canada, but includes contributors from around the world. It publishes reviews of science fiction books, films, and television, and features interviews with authors and fiction excerpts. Contributors include Steven H Silver, Richard Lupoff, Rick Norwood, Victoria Strauss, Mark London Williams, and Rick Klaw.

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References

  1. ↑ 2008 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved April 28, 2016
  2. ↑ 2008 World Fantasy Award Winners & Nominees Archived 2010-12-01 at the Wayback Machine ., at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved 28 April, 2016
  3. ↑ Is Fantasy Inherently Not Political?, by Derek Kunsken, at Black Gate ; published January 11, 2014; retrieved April 28, 2016
  4. ↑ The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection, book review by Mario Guslandi, at the SF Site; published 2009; retrieved April 28, 2016
  5. ↑ Year's Bests edited by Jonathan Strahan, and David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer Archived 2016-08-06 at the Wayback Machine ., book review by Karen Burnham; at Strange Horizons ; published 22 August 2008; retrieved April 28, 2016
  6. ↑ Economic Fairy Tales, by Steven Levitt, at the Freakonomics blog; published December 15, 2008; retrieved April 28, 2016
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