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Sunday, October 28, 2007 |
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A Review of Black God's
Kiss
By Ryan Harvey
A few weeks ago we presented an
interview with the head of Paizo Publishing. Now
Black Gate's Ryan Harvey reviews the newest release in their
Planet Stories line of pulp reprints. It's a volume of tales featuring
C. L. Moore's S&S heroine extraordinaire Jirel of Joiry,
and it's one of the most complete Jirel collections ever assembled
—
read on to find out why.
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Sunday, October 21, 2007 |
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A Review of Infinite Crisis: The
Novel
By D. K. Latta
This week Black Gate turns its attention to the comics medium,
as reviewer D. K. Latta investigates the latest
earth-shattering miniseries to be presented in novel form by DC Comics.
Is this outburst of existential mayhem (written by Greg Cox) truly something new, or does it follow in
the timeworn footsteps of Crisis on Infinite Earths and its
prodigious progeny of universe-altering storylines? D. K. has the answers
inside.
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Sunday, October 14, 2007 |
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Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews
By David Soyka
Flesh eating mutants, golden apples, post-apocalyptic witches, and a crazy
little thing called Love — just another day in the office for Black Gate
reviewer David Soyka. This week he reviews notable offerings
from Fantasy and Science Fiction and Interzone,
issues featuring the work of authors such as Ted Chiang, John Lanagan, M. John
Harrison, and Gwyneth Jones. Which one prompted David to exclaim, "Cormac
McCarthy, eat your heart out!"? Click the link and find out.
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Sunday, October 7, 2007 |
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A Review of Harrowing the Dragon
By Thomas M. MacKay
This week Black Gate presents a short overview of the latest
collection of stories from Patricia A. McKillip, the popular
fantasy writer and two-time World Fantasy Award winner. If you like original,
lyrical fantasy presented in a series of eclectic tales, then Harrowing
the Dragon is for you.
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Sunday, September 30, 2007 |
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The Death and Legacy of Robert Jordan
By Leo Grin
James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (1948-2007) was one of the most
popular authors in the fantasy field for decades. Writing under the pseudonym
Robert Jordan, he continued the adventures of Robert E.
Howard's Conan in a series of pastiches in the '80s, and built a name
as a new fantasist worth watching. This was followed by his epic series of
unprecedented scope, The Wheel of Time, which became a monstrous bestseller that
delighted legions of fans — even as some began to fear that Jordan's popularity
and style would corrupt the genre's soul. Now he's suddenly gone, leaving his
immense masterwork unfinished.
What will Robert Jordan's enduring impact on the field be? Have we lost a
revered master? A prodigious hack? Some combination of the two? Black
Gate's Leo Grin analyses the meteoric rise and tragic fall of one of
the most influential fantasists of modern times.
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Sunday, September 23, 2007 |
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The Fantasy Cycles of
Clark Ashton Smith
Part
IV: Poseidonis, Mars, and Xiccarph
By Ryan Harvey
In this, the final chapter of Black Gate's deep, rich look at
the extravagant worlds of the writer fondly remembered by his Cthulhuoid
nickname Klarkash-Ton, explorer Ryan Harvey
takes us on a tour of several of the prose-poet's more obscure creations.
From a fast-sinking Atlantis to a dying Red Planet to an extra-solar world
unlike any ever put to paper, these
imaginative visions may have been seldom used by Smith, but they ultimately
would play host to some of his most memorable and well-regarded tales.
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Sunday, September 16, 2007 |
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A Review of The Book of the Ler
By D. K. Latta
Every once in awhile a long-forgotten genre classic is unearthed and
reintroduced to a new generation of readers. Such is the case with M. A.
Foster's Ler trilogy of sci-fi books. But does the series'
classic status hold up after three decades of out-of-print neglect?
Black Gate reviewer D. K. Latta explores all 928 pages
of Foster's mind-bending "genetic evolution and manipulation" to find out.
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Sunday, September 9, 2007 |
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An Interview with Paizo
publisher Erik Mona
By Howard Andrew Jones
Robert E. Howard. C. L. Moore. Henry Kuttner. Leigh Brackett. Gary
Gygax. For fantasy readers and gamers, these are names to conjure with.
And all of them are now roaring back into print courtesy of Paizo
Publishing,
one of the leading publishers in the fantasy and role-playing fields.
Black Gate Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones
checks in with Paizo publisher Erik Mona for all the details
about his ambitious new fantasy imprint, Planet Stories, and the classic tales at
the center of the endeavor.
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Sunday, September 2, 2007 |
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Back Issue Sale!
With the arrival of Black Gate 11, it's time to clear some space out of the New Epoch Press
warehouse. And that means it's time for our very first Back Issue Sale.
Now's your chance to expand or complete your collection of the magazine RPGNet calls "wonderful...
fantasy fans couldn't ask for a more comprehensive and worthwhile buy."
And Locus's Nick Gevers says "Black Gate
[contains] serious work... and magnificent storytelling."
For a very limited time, any four back issues are the same price as a new subscription: $29.95, plus shipping and handling.
And any eight are just $55! That includes our second and third issues, normally $12.95, and even our rare first issue, priced
at $15.95! You can own our first four issues
—
a $51.80 value
—
for just $29.95! But hurry. Quantities of certain issues
are very limited, and when they're gone, they're gone for good.
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Sunday, August 26, 2007 |
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Blood, Blade and Thruster
Interview
by SciFiChick
"Think Realms of Fantasy meets The Onion."
That's how the editors of Blood,
Blade, and Thruster describe their new magazine of "speculative
fiction and satire." Angela at SciFiChick.com has posted a
lengthy discussion with the editors of BBT which we thought
would be of interest to Black Gate readers. We even get
mentioned in the course of the interview:
"I started by pestering every editor I could get my virtual little hands on.. I
was surprised when almost all of them answered in the most forthright way
possible. So basically I used people who had been in the business a lot longer
than I had for advice. People like Jason Sizemore at Apex Digest,
John O’Neill at Black Gate, and all the folks at
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, were of tremendous help."
Read the rest at the SciFiChick.com website, and learn about
one of the more unique fantasy-oriented mags to hit the marketplace.
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Sunday, August 19, 2007 |
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Review of Imaro 2: The Quest
For Cush
by Ryan Harvey
Imaro ranks among the all-time great fantasy heroes, a warrior
stalking through a fantasticated, prehistoric Africa brimming with
sword-and-sorcery pleasures. The character's creator, Charles Saunders,
is legendary in the field as the first black author to make a splash in the
genre, ingeniously playing off of the work and headlong style of past masters
like Robert E. Howard while creating a startling new fantasy world with all the
quasi-historical verisimilitude of Tolkien's Middle-earth. The result is sui
generis, a brilliant evocation of S&S that hasn't been seen before or
since.
Black Gate regular Ryan Harvey takes a look at
the new reprinting of the second Imaro book, The Quest For Cush,
and tells us what has changed since it was first published back in 1984. It's a
series that no reader who claims to be a fantasy fan should miss.
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Sunday, August 12, 2007 |
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Black Gate Short Fiction
Reviews
by David Soyka
Time and History are on the agenda in David Soyka's
latest fiction reviews for Black Gate readers.
In
Paradox Magazine #10, Soyka tells how author C. Kevin Barrett
succeeds where so many others fail in their depictions of alternate history, and delves into new tales from
Sarah Monette and
Danny Adams, among others.
Meanwhile, Interzone 210 offers compelling new fiction by
Rachel Swirsky and Tim Akers...but is the magazine's cover more
misleading than matter-of-fact? Dive into David's review and find out.
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Sunday, August 5, 2007 |
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A Review of The Spriggan Mirror
by Rich Horton
Lawrence Watt-Evans utilized the Internet in novel fashion to
bring the latest entry in his Ethshar series to readers. Black Gate's
Rich Horton tells you all about how he did it, what it may hint about
the future of publishing, and whether the book itself lives up to the previous
volumes in Watt-Evans' fantasy saga.
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Sunday, July 29, 2007 |
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Black Gate 11
Black Gate 11 is now at the printers — and it promises to be our best issue yet, as
Martha Wells, James Enge, Iain Rowan, and Mark Sumner all return with big new installments building on the action in Black Gate 10.
Join us for the first meeting of Giliead & Ilias, as Morlock the Maker assists a small fraternity of warriors in desperate battle
against the dreaded Boneless One, Dao Shi the exorcist comes face to face with an unkillable demon deep in the Underworld, and the
Naturalist returns to civilization to warn of the approach of the terror from the interior.
That's not all — Maria V. Snyder, Peadar Ó GuilÃn, William I. Lengeman III and many others offer exciting new stories. A dead wizard
hires a thief to break into his tower and uncover a deadly secret, a man fights to save his son from a woman whose charms are literally
irresistible, and a modern father is inducted into Valhalla after a particularly challenging roller coaster ride. All that plus four
pages of Knights of the Dinner Table. It's 224 pages of the best in modern adventure fantasy!
Follow the link to a sneak peek of Black Gate 11, with story excerpts, artwork, and even a look
at "Neglected Stories from the SF Magazines" from Rich Horton.
Subscribe Now so you don't miss out!
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Sunday, July 22, 2007 |
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2007 Halloween, Costume and Party Show
and the
12th National Haunt and Attractions Show
by Sue Granquist
Ever wonder where the masters of horror go shopping? Look no further —Black
Gate correspondent Sue Granquist takes you on an
exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the premier event in the country for all of
the new costumes, masks, animatronics and gadgets set to take horror films,
haunted houses, and goth parties by storm.
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Sunday, July 8, 2007 |
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Jirel of Joiry: The Mother of Us All
by Ryan Harvey
As Robert E. Howard's Conan
was marauding through the pages of Weird Tales, a young authoress named
Catherine Moore began crafting unique adventures of a S&S heroine in
the same magazine. In doing so, she blazed a trail for female fantasists to
follow for decades to come. Join Black Gate's Ryan Harvey for a look at
Jirel of Joiry, the very first female sword-and-sorcery series character.
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Sunday, July 1, 2007 |
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Broken In Two: Poul Anderson's two
versions of The Broken Sword
by Ryan Harvey
It's a well-known tale in Sword-and-Sorcery circles:
in 1954 the legendary fantasist Poul Anderson wrote one of the classics of the
subgenre, a thrilling homage to the myths and Icelandic sagas of old titled
The Broken Sword. Over fifteen years later Anderson heavily revised the
book, and ever since readers have been debating which edition is better.
Black Gate's Ryan Harvey leads us on a textual journey through both
versions, giving you all the information you need to come to your own
conclusions.
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Sunday, June 24, 2007 |
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Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews
by David Soyka
From the venerable Sunday New
York Times Magazine to small online bastions such as Clarkesworld and
Strange Horizons, short fantasy and science fiction is still out there in
the marketplace of ideas, thrilling readers around the world. Join Black
Gate's David Soyka on a trip through all the latest gems in the field,
including the latest from a Pulitzer Prize winner and several nominees for the
prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards.
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Sunday, June 17, 2007 |
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Out of the Harbor: More Online
Adventure
by Mac Denier
Black Gate's multi-part look at Dungeons & Dragons Online
continues with a contemplation on the joys of intermediate play. Treacherous sewers, new
wilderness areas filled with quests, and deciding whether or not to join a guild
or adventure alone are just some of the topics covered.
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Sunday, June 10, 2007 |
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The Fantasy Cycles of
Clark Ashton Smith
Part
II: The Book of Hyperborea
by Ryan Harvey
"A
far northern continent in its younger days before glaciers claimed it, when
wizards and elder gods and wily thieves and greedy moneylenders crisscrossed its
steamy jungles and ebony mountains and opulent cities."
That is how Ryan Harvey introduces
us to Hyperborea, the second invented world of Clark Ashton Smith's
to be put under Black Gate's critical microscope. Join us on a journey to
one of fantasy's most delightfully strange milieus.
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Sunday, June 03, 2007 |
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Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews
by David Soyka
It's into the small press
maelstrom once again with Black Gate's David Soyka, as he considers two
new offerings from the world of short genre fiction.
This month we look at the debut of
an ambitious new print magazine titled Greatest Uncommon Denominator, as
well as the third issue of the online publication Darker Matter. Both are
crammed with lots of intriguing stories by authors such as
Jason Stoddard, Bruce Boston, and Charlie Anders,
and David points you to the best of the bunch.
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