http://www.blackgate.com Adventures in Fantasy Literature Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:22:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_29828" align="alignleft" width="256" caption="Our beloved founder John O'Neill, just before losing all his money at the shipboard casino."][/caption] On Sunday February 5th, I returned to Chicago from a cruise with my family, my first vacation on a cruise liner and my first trip to the Caribbean. It's good to be home. The cruise ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/06/back-on-solid-ground/ Last Wednesday, DC Comics announced a new publishing venture: "Before Watchmen," a set of related miniseries that would act as a prologue to the best-selling and critically acclaimed Watchmen graphic novel. The news was met with a considerably mixed reaction. Alan Moore, writer and primary creator of Watchmen, has spoken ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/06/ill-look-down-and-whisper-no-before-watchmen/ Dreadnought (Amazon, B&N) Cherie Priest Tor (400 pp., $14.99, 2010) Reviewed by Andrew Zimmerman Jones Cherie Priest returns to her "Clockwork Century" in full force in this third novel. In some ways, I would recommend that readers begin with Dreadought, even though it's the third book in the series. Basically, the plot twist at ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/06/dreadnought/ The Holler Marge Fulton BlackWyrm Press (87pp, $11.95, 2010; kindle edition $2.99) Reviewed by Mark Rigney Brevity, observed Shakespeare in the ghost story known as Hamlet, is the soul of wit. Does it follow that it is also the soul of horror fiction? Writers as diverse as Shirley Jackson (“The Lottery”) and Jeffrey Ford ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/05/mark-rigney-reviews-the-holler/ So it now it seems publishers are counting on Barnes and Noble to help them stay in business.  Which is funny because it wasn't that long ago when Barnes and Noble was a slayer of independent bookstores and an enemy of the books business; now it's considered the only thing ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/04/the-future-of-bookstores-latest-update/ “Fiery Desert of Mongo” was the nineteenth installment of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon Sunday comic strip serial for King Features Syndicate. Originally published between November 8, 1942 and July 11, 1943, “Fiery Desert of Mongo” picks up where the preceding installment, “Jungles of Mongo” left off with Prince Brazor trailing ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/03/blogging-alex-raymond%e2%80%99s-flash-gordon-part-nineteen-%e2%80%93-%e2%80%9cfiery-desert-of-mongo%e2%80%9d/ My Black Gate post this week is not a review, nor an essay proper, but a question: Is it possible for fantasy to move beyond the political? Or because it is written by authors of a particular time and place, must fantasy—however fantastic its subject matter—forever remain trapped within the ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/02/transcendent-fantasy-or-politics-as-usual/ The Last Page Anthony Huso Tor (431 pp, $25.99, 2010) Reviewed by Matthew David Surridge Anthony Huso’s debut novel The Last Page is something of a problem. It’s not that it is a bad book; in many ways, it is quite a good one. In fact, it is good enough, creative enough, smart enough, ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/02/matthew-david-surridge-reviews-the-last-page/ The interns are between semesters, the temperatures in Chicago are sub-zero and most important, the Boss is in Belize. Belize…?  What’s in Belize?  Anybody? Well, no matter.  What we have here is the perfect storm of opportunity to take the week off and get ready for Goth Chick News’ second busiest season ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/02/goth-chick-news-taking-the-week-off/ Yes, Black Gate’s focus is on the literature of the fantastic. But sometimes, fantasy needs a soundtrack. In my first installment of “Fantasy Out Loud,” I focused on the act of reading adventure fantasy aloud. To children, by and large. But what happens once the darling tots are ... http://www.blackgate.com/2012/02/02/fantasy-out-loud-part-ii/