I came across some interesting information last week. It appears that more women than men now go to the movies. In fact, the MPAA reported of those in the 18-24 demographic who go to the movies more than once a month, that 3.4 of the 6.5 million are women.  That’s 52.3% for those of you scoring at home, or in other words, more than half.  If you figure that a reasonable percentage of the 3.1 million young men are only buying tickets because they’re on a date, that indicates a female ticket-buying influence that could theoretically approach conventional household spending levels in the 70-80% range.  This has some interesting implications for what movies are made in the future.  While it may speak well for more attention to dialogue and character development, I’m not so sure this is a positive development for fans of adventure fiction.

I don’t happen to care one way or the other myself since I much prefer books and games.  I think the last movie I saw in the theater was The Return of the King. But it is clear that there has definitely been a sea change in the SF/F literary genre since urban fantasy became big, and it will be interesting to see if the movie industry follows the same pattern.

Via Torque Control I just learned that Wheatland Press won’t publish the seventh volume of its Polyphony series unless it gets a certain number of pre-orders by March 19, 2010. Of course, that was yesterday, but perhaps there’s still time to come to the rescue. My order was processed (no need to worry, by the way, that you might lose your money; the publisher promises to refund all orders if the book is ultimately aborted).

In fact, I’ve never read any of this series. But a quick scan of the authors for this volume and previous ones tells me I perhaps should have.

Hey, the economy is picking up. What better way to celebrate than to contribute to a stimulus plan for a book publisher.

The sarcophagus was empty, the mummy was on the loose, and Corporate expected her to deal with it. Seemed like a lot to ask, especially for minimum wage.

     “So where’s the mummy?” Cara asked. She ran her hand along the edge of the sarcophagus.
     “Well.” The man in the suit cleared his throat and studied the floor. “It escaped.”
     “You mean it was stolen?” she said.
     “I mean, it got up and walked away.” With his right hand, the man made a walking movement with his fingers; with his left, he pointed to the corner of the ceiling. “See that camera up there? We got the whole thing on film.”
     Slowly, very slowly, Cara pulled her hand away from the sarcophagus and looked around for something to wipe her fingers on.

Dan Brodribb is a Canadian writer and stand-up comic, whose stories have appeared in Canada, the U.S., and Australia.

“The Girl Who Feared Lightning” appears in Black Gate 14.  You can read a more complete excerpt here.

The complete Black Gate 14 Sneak Peek is available here.

Art by Bernie Mireault.

I freely cop to having the sort of geeky sense of humor that is immediately triggered by someone coming up with the perfect movie quote for any given situation. For that matter, the level of hilarity is proportionately magnified by the obscurity of the quote, how quickly I was able to identify it, and any subtle, “insider” references the quote might invoke.

Recently at my day job (no, I’m not doing this whole Goth Chick thing from my own Eastern European castle…yet) as my team faced a particularly nasty and potentially explosive dilemma, the guy to my left leaned over and whispered, “We’re going to need a bigger boat.” At which point I disrupted the whole proceeding with one of those incontrollable fits of laughter I told you about earlier.

Though I’d be extremely skeptical to learn you’re a fan of Black Gate and haven’t done this sort of thing yourself, or for that matter, don’t know precisely where that quote originated, I’ll give you this one just for conversation sake; it’s the famous line uttered by Chief Brody when the enormous shark from Jaws rears up along side his small fishing boat and gives him the eyeball.

It is one of the most used favorites from my own repertoire and, though it doesn’t score impressively high on the obscurity scale, it never fails to get a reaction.

OK, you get the idea. So for the rest of these, you’re on your own for the context. However, I will recommend that if any of the movies quoted here are unfamiliar, the next thing you should do is get them on your movie watching schedule. They’re quotable for a reason, even if that reason is extreme cheesiness.

Read More »

For best viewing:

- Scroll to the right to see the entire comic page

- Hit your F11 key to maximize your viewing area

- Scroll down to read from page to page

To read earlier chapters:

- Type SKULLS into the search field at the left and the earlier chapters will pop up. Enjoy…

Read More »

On April 2nd, “Titans Will Clash!” Which is perhaps the worst tag-line I’ve seen since “The Story That Won’t Go Away” for JFK. I wonder why the tag-line on director Louis Lettier’s previous film wasn’t “This Summer, The Hulk Is Incredible!”

And the Titans will also clash in 3D. But not real 3D; this is a post-production fix designed to cash-in on the success of another 3D movie. Clash ‘10 wasn’t shot with the extra dimension in mind, so don’t expect me to shell out extra cash for the polarized goggles.

I would feel a bit easier about the upcoming re-make of Clash of the Titans if it weren’t for the attitude of some online movie sites and critics who seem to take pleasure in putting down the 1981 original in their anticipation of the new film. I should feel nothing but excitement; who am I to object to Greek myth and big beasts on the silver screen? But I have this discomfort with those critics who normally object to re-makes but somehow feel that the Ray Harryhausen classic is going to get improved in a re-do because the original is only “cheesy nostalgia.”

No. It’s. Not.

Read More »

It was Lena’s fifth suicide. Such was the way of the Killaster Witches. But as ambitious as she was, Lena’s schemes for revenge might not be quite treacherous enough…

     After a few more steps, I realized Rego was no longer behind me.
     From the corner of my eye, I could see him. He was not alone.
     “Lena…” His voice was thick with fear. “Should’ve gone ‘round.”
     Dripping dirt, dust, and strips of leathered flesh, four corpses had risen from the dirt to surround Rego. His mount’s back was arched, its tail puffed up and thick. The skeletal hands clattered as they beat ragged chests and yellowed ribcages, inching closer to Rego. They glowed with the same sickly light as the cauldron beast. Even as I watched, more corpses pulled themselves from their shallow, unmarked graves.

Michael Jasper has three novels in print, and his collection Gunning for the Buddha is now available from Prime.  Jay Lake is the award-winning author of over 250 short stories and ten novels, including Green and Escapement.

“Devil on the Wind” appears in Black Gate 14.  You can read a more complete excerpt here.

Note: this story contains some adult themes.

The complete Black Gate 14 Sneak Peek is available here.

Art by John Kaufmann.

Last month we announced we were giving away eight copies of the Eberron Campaign Guide, a 4th Edition D&D Supplement from Wizards of the Coast.

How do you win? By sending a two-sentence summary of a recent Eberron product to eberron@blackgate.com. The best eight — as selected by a capricious panel of barely-literate judges — will be published here, and the authors will be awarded the prizes.

That’s it. No forms to fill out.  No skill-testing questions. No money down. No fine print.  OK, maybe a little fine print, so sue us. It’s a contest, no one’s gonna believe it’s legit until they see some fine print.

It’s a mighty fine book, too.  Yes, that’s Edward Scissorhand’s dad on the front cover.  And his dogs Zipper and Papercut.  They bring a whole new level of menace to “running with scissors.” Ouchie ouchie.

Come on, this is the easiest contest we’ve ever run.  Maybe the easiest contest in the whole history of civilization.  I could even make it even easier by pointing you to a complete list of Eberron modules and sourcebooks to get you started, but that would be spoon feeding you, wouldn’t it?  Yes it would.

Time is running out to claim one of these fine D&D books, and perhaps to introduce yourself to the very cool Eberron setting. E-mail us at eberron@blackgate.com now.  Operators are standing by.

Paxton Martin has come home to Switchcreek, Tennessee, to attend the funeral of a childhood friend. He drove in from Chicago, pulling an all-nighter, because he could not decide until the last minute if he wanted to go back. He’d been living in Chicago since running away from Switchcreek, 13 years ago, after everything changed.

The opening of any number of novels, classic in its prodigal simplicity, promising Faulknerian brambles with a dash of Wolf (Thomas that is) and a thread of O’Connor. The returning son of the local preacher, reconnecting, abrading old scabs, stirring nearly-dead ashes, the stuff of Americana along gothic lines. The changes, of course, mask how much everything has remained pretty much the same. After a time, one can even overlook those changes…

Not in Daryl Gregory’s second novel, The Devil’s Alphabet. The changes in this case cannot be ignored. By anyone.

Switchcreek has undergone a profound experience in the form of mutations which swept through the small population, transforming many residents into distinctly divergent species. The genetic instructions for these people have been rewritten by some unknown process, which did not strike all people. When the changes worked their way through, Switchcreek was home to populations of what became known as Argos, Betas, and Charlies, as well as the untouched population.

Read More »

The latest issue of  webzine Flurb, is now online.  After an erratic start, this seems to be publishing on a regular schedule, with the next installment promised for September.  In addition to the current issue #9, you can access all the previous editions in what seems to be an exercise for co-founder/editors Rudy Rucker and Paul DiFillipo to ask their friends to submit stories.  Check out, for example, “Clod, Pebble” by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz. It’s about book signings. And what to choose, when all your choices seem bad ones, particularly if you’re not seeing things in the right light.

Given the company it keeps, you can expect Flurb to be a little quirky. Speaking of which, Small Beer Press has announced an upcoming edition of Lady Churchhill’s Rosebud Wristlet, though there’s nothing up yet on the website.

You know how it is with zines. They’re nothing if the first page isn’t an apology for being late. And, you know, we haven’t gotten that apology written yet, which is really holding things up.

What’s in that issue (number 25) of LCRW? Fiction and poetry and Advice from: Veronica Schanoes, Richard Parks, Dear Aunt Gwenda, Jeanine Hall Gailey, and more as well as not one but two translations. We may have more news on the translation front later this spring, keep an eye out. (Ouch.) The translations are from Edward Gauvin of French author Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s “A City of Museums” (which will be included in A Life on Paper, the first book by G.-O. C. in English which we will publish in May— galleys are going out now!) and a self-translation by award-winning Chinese author Haihong Zhao (which was brought to our attention by Michael Swanwick, yay!).