The second issue of Bull Spec, Samuel Montgomery-Blinn’s quarterly print magazine of Speculative Fiction, arrived last week, with a spectacular cover by Vladimir Krizan.

I asked Samuel to give a quick rundown of the contents for us, and he delivered with style:

Greetings, fantasy adventurers of Black Gate! Bull Spec #2 was published on July 13, with original short speculative fiction ranging from far future science fiction on distant worlds, to a near future science fiction NYC, to a fantasy take on naga mythology. And there’s Kaolin Fire’s “By the Dragon’s Tail” which follows a broken man from a soothsayer’s table to his journey into a volcano’s mouth in search of… well, you might be able to guess by the title, eh? There’s an essay from John Kessel on posthuman ethics, in-depth interviews touching on subjects including non-narrative game design and even Wagner’s operas, and, of course, the serialized graphic story “Closed System” which features a scientist who travels through time. On a motorcycle chassis. Grafted onto a giant ape head. Black Gate folks might also be interested in a darkly fantastic bit of poetry, “The Torturer’s Boy” by J.P. Wickwire. And the cover. Thank you, Vladimir Krizan! It’s available in print (yes, print! in this day and age!) and DRM-free, pay-what-you-want PDF.

You had me at “giant ape head.” And I’m still jealous of that cover. Copies of Bull Spec #2 can be ordered from their website.

There are indeed urban legends at work in the Collector’s market. For example, the entire print order of George Alec Effinger’s first novel, What Entropy Means to Me (Doubleday, 1972) was supposedly pulped before publication (almost certainly untrue). 

We associate Doubleday with very short print-runs, quickie pulpings, and fabulously high collector’s prices. Many of the most expensive books in our field are Doubledays. (Specifically, early Heinlein, early Zelazny, early King.)

What Entropy Means to Me is not a rare book, even in non-ex-library copies. I have one. It may be that the price is still low because the demand is low, but this is not a hard book to obtain.

What I have always heard is that it was Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness which was mistakenly pulped prematurely. Apparently they planned to pulp something else, most likely Nine Princes in Amber, and pulped the wrong one, which resulted in Creatures only being in print a few months.

Meanwhile, most copies of Nine Princes were sold to libraries and were either defaced or destroyed. In retrospect this became a very sought-after title, and thus one of the great collector’s items of SF. There is one on Abebooks right now for $8,500.

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Locus reports the ballot of nominees for the World Fantasy Awards.  It’s a little confusing.  I can’t seem to find the ballot on the World Fantasy site, which does references the “2009″ nominees and winners for last year (meaning these were for works published in 2008 that won at the 2009 convention). Locus refers the “2009 Nominees,” by which it means works published in 2009 that will be awarded at the 2010 WF convention in October. Why this isn’t on the WF site I couldn’t say.  Now that I’ve cleared that up, here are the nominees in the novella and short story categories:

(Haven’t read any of these.  In fact, for the entire ballot, the only thing I’ve read is The City & The City by China Miéville.  Maybe I get extra credit for reading some of James Enge’s Morlock stories; his Blood of Ambrose is also a novel nominee.)

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Dark Worlds #5 (Summer 2010) is online at last.

Fans of the magazine will notice a few changes. First, it’s now in quarto size (7 1/2″ x 10″) instead of 6″ x 9″ trade paper size (to make it more like an old pulp) and the cover is a wraparound.

The cover illustrates “Of Kings and Servants,” and is painted by M. D. Jackson. The interior pages have a new graphic look as well.

This issue features the work of C. J. Burch (author of The Star of Kaleel – a novel  reviewed in this issue). C. J. offers the Tiana Dumond and Krystyn Hamerskjold novella “Of Kings and Servants,” a Sword & Sorcery tale of undead pirates and evil magicians. Cover artist M. D. Jackson also did the illustrations.

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I arrived at our building this morning to find people milling around in the street, pointing into the air. A fat, smoke-shrouded zeppelin was moored to the Black Gate rooftop headquarters.

“Oh God, no,” I thought. “I was sure Howard was joking. That thing is a death trap.”

Howard wasn’t joking. I took the elevator to the roof, punched in the secret code, and stepped out into chaos. Minions were scurrying everywhere, loading cargo into the airship. John Woolley, our graphic designer, was stuffing our brand new 12-foot banners into a well-worn travel case from the 1920s. I caught him just as a strong gust of wind damn near took him over the edge, and we got it stowed into the cargo hold.

I found Howard commanding operations. “Are you crazy?” I shouted at him. “That thing will never make it to Atlanta. It can barely do five knots!”

Howard did look slightly crazy, dressed in jungle fatigues and standing on a desk. He was clutching a worn parchment. “Isn’t she beautiful? Jason Waltz completely re-built the engines. She hit Mach 2 just after midnight last night during our test run!”

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Howard Andrew Jones’ Dabir and Asim stories are some of the most popular we’ve published in Black Gate. His first novel featuring his 9th Century adventurers, The Desert of Souls, is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com.

Howard’s tales of Dabir and Asim have appeared in many fine venues, including the anthology Sages and Swords, and Paradox, the magazine of historical and speculative fiction. In “Sight of Vengeance” (Black Gate 10), our intrepid heroes investigate a fiendish foe who claims the eyes of his victims.  In “Whispers From the Stone” (Black Gate 12), Dabir and Asim find themselves trapped in an ancient tomb, up against an sinister conspiracy led by a long-dead — and very formidable — opponent.

Howard has discussed the fascinating details of selling his novel here on the Black Gate blog (”How to Get a Book Deal“). We’ll publish an excerpt from the novel in our next issue, Black Gate 15. But for now you’ll have to content yourself with the enticing plot summary from the Amazon listing:

In 9th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled tablet he carries, but he is murdered before he can explain. Charged with solving the puzzle, the scholar Dabir soon realizes that the tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. When the tablet is stolen from his care, Dabir and Captain Asim are sent after it, and into a life and death chase through the ancient Middle East. Stopping the thieves — a cunning Greek spy and a fire wizard of the Magi — requires a desperate journey into the desert, but first Dabir and Asim must find the lost ruins of Ubar and contend with a mythic, sorcerous being that has traded wisdom for the souls of men since the dawn of time. Debut author Howard Jones breathes new life into the glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery, combining the masterful fantasy of Robert E. Howard with the high-speed action of Bernard Cornwell.

Already being described as “A thrilling, inventive cross between One Thousand and One Nights and Sherlock Holmes,” The Desert of Souls will appear in hardcover in February, 2011, from St. Martin’s imprint Thomas Dunne Books.

Art by Storn Cook for “Whispers From the Stone.”

Am I a bad gamer if I really, really want to play this game?

I mean… a role playing game of heroic rodents, tiny critters struggling valiantly against barbarian rat tribes,  gargantuan predators such as foxes and owls, legendary horrors that prowl the land, and foul sorcery.  All in Conan’s backyard.

Just listen to this product description:

The ancient White Lords, albino mice with magical powers, rule over the valley of Hyperborea, but their empire is crumbling. Barbarian rat tribes, deadly predators and political intrigue threaten to bring their mousy civilization to an end. Terrible predators like foxes and owls take the place of giants and dragons. Voracious shrew clans raid the Fallows, seeking mice and rats to fill their larders. Centipedes scuttle beneath the underbrush, seeking prey. Hawks force the inhabitants to stay under cover during the day, while owls stalk the sky at night… Legendary horrors stalk the land, unique predators with potent magical abilities of their own. The terrifying Mocker, a centipede whose only voice is the imitated cries of his victims. The serpent Ssaaa gathers a cult of worshipers to do her bidding in the valley. And no mouse dares stand against dread Hoorooru, the ancient ruler of Rookswood and the enemy of the gods.

It’s like Robert E. Howard was hired to write the screenplay for The Secret of Nimh. Scott Oden reports that it’s “Filled with REH and Lovecraft homages! Like an owl that’s worshipped as a god by clans of savage mice.” I got chills, I swear.

Hyperborean Mice was written by Frank Sronce and published by Kiz and Jenn Press. It’s 102 pages, and is available as a softcover book from Lulu.com or as a digital download PDF from RPGNow and DriveThru RPG. Show it some love and check it out, and let me know I’m not crazy.

Locus Online reports that James Enge’s first novel Blood of Ambrose, part of his Morlock series, has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel of the Year.

The other nominees are The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan, China Miéville’s The City & The City, Finch by Jeff VanderMeer, and In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield.

Morlock first appeared in “Turn Up This Crooked Way” in Black Gate 8. Since then he’s returned to our pages a total of four times, most recently in the novella “Destroyer” in Black Gate 14. All the Black Gate stories, plus many others, were collected in This Crooked Way, the second volume in the series.

Howard Andrew Jones also published three Morlock tales in the late, lamented Flashing Swords e-zine. Morlock’s most recent appearance was in the new Eos anthology Swords and Dark Magic. You can learn more about the origin of Morlock in Howard’s lengthy Black Gate interview with Enge here.

The complete list of World Fantasy Award nominees is here.

In other Enge news, Publisher’s Weekly has given the third Morlock volume, the upcoming novel The Wolf Age, a starred review, saying:

Werewolves clash with legends in the harrowing and beautiful third novel (after 2009’s This Crooked Way) detailing the epic travels of enchanter Morlock Ambrosius. Following a string of bad luck, Morlock is incarcerated in the werewolf fortress of Vargulleion… Enge’s elegant prose perfectly captures Morlock’s terse and morbid nature, which thrives in the vicious, honorable werewolf nation. Numerous intimate, complicated, and contentious relationships provide depth and gravity to the grim tale, which will enthrall fans of the dark and sinister.

The Wolf Age will be published by Pyr in October.

Congratulations James — on both the boffo review, and the nomination!  They are richly deserved.

How cool is this? Wizards of the Coast has released an updated version of Gary Gygax’s 1979 classic The Village of Hommlet, one of the most celebrated AD&D adventures and the first part of the notoriously difficult Temple of Elemental Evil mega-campaign, revised to run in the 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The new version was updated by Andy Collins and is suitable for fourth level characters.

Oh, wait. “Released” is too strong a word. The module was actually a free giveaway WotC mailed to RPGA  members as a DM Reward, and is not available for sale (unless you count eBay, where copies are currently selling for around $50.) Curses!

If you’re the creative sort, Familiar Ground is offering a free copy for one lucky winner, selected randomly from all those who leave a comment with a “gaming or RPG related joke or funny incident.” Deadline is Aug 31.

The original module is still played today by die-hard fans.  It’s been converted to a popular computer game, and the back-story behind it all is annually re-enacted as a tabletop miniatures game at Garycon.  Not bad for a module that’s been out of print for over two decades.

I have fond memories of the original.  And when I’m 80, I hope to have fond memories of tracking down this one.  Let the search begin.

Newcomers to fantasy collecting may be unaware of the scope of pertinent and very useful information on the web, and particulary the resources assembled by members of the Yahoo Fictionmags Group. The terms “Big List,” “FMI,” “Galactic Central,” “Locus Index” and many others crop up without necessarily being understood. Fictionmags includes the authors of some of the most seminal and definitive reference works on magazine Science Fiction, Fantasy, and General Fiction. Not only is this material substantial and providing of answers to many questions, but it is also FREE to anyone conversant in accessing the internet.
 
The major portal to this trove is www.philsp.com, the website of Fictionmags’ Phil Stephensen-Payne. This place is rather like a fantasy collector’s version of the Smithsonian. Just about everywhere you turn, there is something of interest. The site opens directly onto Phil SP’s  “Galactic Central.” If you’ve ever wondered what a full run of Amazing Stories, Astounding/Analog, New Worlds or most any other SF prozine looks like, this is where you get to scroll through pages of color cover images arranged chronologically as illustrated checklists (including, for example, an up-to-date Black Gate checklist).

There are tens of thousands of these images from SF/F/H, Western, Crime, Adventure, Romance and general fiction  titles. I’ve contributed images to this project from my own collection as have many others, and Phil has also gathered the content from many sources on the internet as well. There is also an accounting (The Big List) provided of all of the magazine titles pictured in Galactic Central showing where else they are more fully indexed.  Huge as it is, this project is still not done, and Phil will probably have to come back in another lifetime to complete it.

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