The Black Gate Christmas Gift List

The Black Gate Christmas Gift List

a-guile-of-dragons[Apologies in advance for not being politically correct enough to call this the Black Gate Holiday Gift List. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, kindly ignore this post. Or use our suggestions to buy something for yourself, we won’t tell anyone.]

If you’re a Black Gate fan, we already know a lot about you. You’re almost certainly a fantasy devotee, well-read, with impeccable taste, and accustomed to the natural adoration of your peers. Pretty close, right? And you’re probably also a procrastinator who puts off Christmas shopping until the last minute, and ends up buying Wal-Mart gift certificates on December 24.

You can do better than that. In fact, we’re here to help you. Here’s a handy list of the best fantasy books, movies, games and comics of the season, with a link to a recent review, courtesy of the editors and staff of Black Gate magazine. We have gifts for every price range, from $5 to $150. Good luck, and happy shopping!

  1. A Guile of Dragons, James Enge ($17.95)
  2. The Bones of the Old Ones, by Howard Andrew Jones ($25.99)
  3. American Science Fiction: 9 Classic Novels, edited by Gary K. Wolfe ($70)
  4. Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection ($149.98)
  5. Lords of Waterdeep, Wizards of the Coast ($49.99)
  6. The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer ($39.99)
  7. Epic: Legends of Fantasy, edited by John Joseph Adams ($17.95)
  8. A Throne of Bones, Vox Day ($4.99)
  9. Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone ($24.99)
  10. Books To Die For, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke ($29.99)
  11. american-science-fiction

  12. The Thief of Baghdad ($29.99)
  13. The Inferior, Peadar Ô Guilin ($6.80)
  14. Up the Bright River, Philip Jose Farmer ($40)
  15. Ashen Stars, Robin D. Laws ($44.95)
  16. X-Plorers ($12.95)
  17. The Hawkmoon Collection, by Michael Moorcock ($5.60)
  18. Cult Magazines: A to Z, Earl Kemp and Luis Ortiz ($34.95)
  19. Awakening: The Art of Halo ($34.95)
  20. Anomaly, Brian Haberlin and Skip Brittenham ($75)
  21. Kitty Steals the Show, Carrie Vaughn ($7.99)
  22. Perry Rhodan: The Cosmic League, Z-Man Games ($24.99)
  23. The Thing in the Mist, John S. Glasby ($13.99)
  24. The Nekropolis Archives, Tim Waggoner ($15.99)
  25. Airship Pirates, Peter Cakebread & Ken Walton ($49.99)
  26. Black Bottle, Anthony Huso ($27.99)
  27. universal-classic-monsters-the-essential-collection-classicmonsters_bluraycollection_3d_rgb-560x739

  28. Dead Reckoning, Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill ($16.99)
  29. Red Sonja Omnibus, Dynamite Entertainment ($29.99)
  30. Dreadfleet, Games Workshop ($114.99)
  31. The Return of the Sorcerer: The Best of Clark Ashton Smith ($14.95)
  32. Mindjammer, Sarah Newton ($15.95)
  33. The Last Musketeer, Jason ($12.95)
  34. Castle Waiting, Linda Medley ($29.99)
  35. The Spy Princess, Sherwood Smith ($17.99)
  36. The Avengers ($29.99)
  37. Night’s Engines, Trent Jamieson ($7.99)
  38. Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregillis ($7.99)
  39. Empires of the Void, Red Raven Games ($65)
  40. The Hand of Fu-Manchu, Sax Rohmer ($9.95)
  41. Dungeon Command, Wizards of the Coast ($39.99)
  42. The Beast with Five Fingers, W.F. Harvey ($6.99)
  43. three-parts-dead-small

  44. Unfinished Tales, J.R.R. Tolkien ($26)
  45. What I Found at Hoole, Jeffrey E. Barlough ($14.95)
  46. Stormdancer, Jay Kristoff ($24.99)
  47. Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns, Dave Gross ($9.99)
  48. The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan ($16)
  49. The Neighbors, Ania Ahlborn ($14.95)
  50. Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Dungeons & Dragons, Shelly Mazzanoble ($12.95)
  51. Albert of Adelaide, Howard L. Anderson ($24.99)
  52. The Diviner, Melanie Rawn ($7.99)
  53. My Heart Laid Bare, Joyce Carol Oates ($5.50)

Whew. There it is — the Top 50 Christmas gift suggestions for the discerning fantasy fan, from the staff of Black Gate. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

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Glenn

Not funny listing Bones of the Old Ones….We can’t get that till Tuesday!

Joe H.

It’s already on at least one store shelf that I’m aware of.

[…] If you’re looking for a holiday gift for that gamer in your life, I included more than a few in our recent Christmas Gift List. […]

John Hocking

I bought Bones of the Old Ones off the shelf of a Barnes and Noble yesterday afternoon.

It looks very good, indeed.

Allen Snyder

I’m agnostic at most, but using the term Christmas doesn’t bother me. On the other hand, people whining about the so-called “war on Christmas” do bother me.

Basically, I’m an equal-opportunity grouch. 😉

RadiantAbyss

A handsome list indeed Mr. ONeill.

I would bump “Return Of The Sorcerer” up, as I have had great success with that as lending-library-among-trusted-people-thingie.

Turns out Clark Ashton Smith has a broader appeal than he has been given credit for by writers, fans, critics, and editors.

Go on, surprise a ‘general/casual fantasy fan’ with Clark Ashton Smith, go on, he’s that good. No one will be sorry.

Any ways 80% of these suggestions don’t seem ‘special’ enough for me.

I really liked these 4:

The Library of Americas’ “American Science Fiction: 9 Classic Novels.”

A couple people I know are getting this.

( The Library of America also has an H.P. Lovecraft antho + a Philip K. Dick thingie check out there site people nice stuff for this time of year )

Again I say that “The Weird” is an elder-godsend as there is ‘type’ of person that that excellent antho just blows away.

I’ve purchased then gifted 15 copies of “The Weird,” since it came out.

“Up The Bright River” is blue chip

Husos’ Last Page/Black Bottle books are a bit of a gamble maybe.

I don’t people seem to really get into it, though no ones’ heard of the books.

More people know about Enge/Jones than Huso it seems ( at least in my spheres ) so his work wins out for ‘surprise factor’.

Glenn

What a bad day. I went to my local Barnes and noble and no Bones of the Old Ones…this never would have happened at borders…

[…] Saturday I posted the Black Gate Christmas Gift List, crammed with gift-giving ideas for the discerning fantasy fan. For the last week I’ve been […]

[…] The Black Gate Christmas Gift List […]


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