March 2012 – Page 6

New Treasures: Allen K’s Inhuman Magazine #5

Monday, March 12, 2012 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Allen Koszowski is almost supernaturally talented.

I first hired him more than a decade ago, when I was desperate to find an artist who could capture the eldritch horrors of Edmond Hamilton’s classic “The Monster-God of Mamurth,” a tale of ancient desert ruins and unlucky explorers from the August 1926 Weird Tales, which I reprinted in Black Gate 2. Allen’s work for Cemetery Dance, Whispers, and Weird Tales convinced me he was the guy.

He delivered three knockout pieces of art (see the first here). And the envelope they arrived in was stuffed with additional pieces which he offered for free. It was remarkably generous, and I was glad I was able to hire him again for Black Gate 3.

Since 2004 Allen has been publishing his own horror magazine, Allen K’s Inhuman Magazine. Every issue he assembles the top names in dark fantasy and horror, and he handles the art for each story personally.

The results have been consistently excellent, but with Issue 5 Allen has outdone himself. This issue Centipede Press has taken over production, and the magazine looks better than ever. To showcase other artists Allen has added a gallery, highlighting the Lovecraft Mythos work of Randy Broecker, Bob Eggleton, Jill Bauman, David Carson, and others, although Allen still handles the cover and interiors. Click on the image at left to get a closer look at his cover art for this issue.

This issue features fiction by Michael Shea, Darrell Schweitzer, Tim Curran, Tim Waggoner, James S. Dorr, Christopher M. Cervasco, John Pelan, and many others. The magazine is huge — 208 pages! — and copiously illustrated. It is perfect bound for the criminally low price of just $6.95, which makes it the single best buy you’ll hear about all week.

My thanks to my buddy Chris Cervasco for tipping me off that the magazine was available. Like many beautiful and precious things, copies can be hard to come by. I bought mine from the excellent online seller The Overlook Connection, who still have most issues in stock. There’s also ordering information on Allen’s website.

Support an excellent magazine, and discover a terrific source of quality dark fantasy. It’s a win-win. Buy your copy today!

Frederic S. Durbin’s The Star Shard Now on Sale

Sunday, March 11, 2012 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

One of the most acclaimed stories in Black Gate 15 was Fred Durbin’s “World’s End,” a terrific sword & sorcery piece featuring two young warrior heroines.

Since it appeared we’ve been looking forward to his new novel The Star Shard, and now the wait is over. His first novel for children takes place in a deliciously imaginative setting, a massive wagon city that rolls across a dangerous and magical land:

Twelve-year-old Cymbril is a slave on Thunder Rake, a gigantic wagon city that rolls from town to town carrying goods to be sold by its resident merchants. The Rake’s master purchases a new slave, a mysterious boy named Loric who is one of the magical Fey. Because he can see in the dark, Loric’s duty is to guide the Rake through the treacherous wilderness at night.Cymbril and Loric secretly join forces to plan their escape — soon the two friends thread their way through a series of increasing dangers, encountering an enchanted market and deadly monsters as their one chance for freedom draws nearer.

Frederic S. Durbin’s previous novel was Dragonfly, published in hardcover by Arkham House in 1999. If you have not heard him read one of his delightfully stories out loud, you are missing one of the great pleasures of the fantasy genre. You can read Patty Templeton’s Black Gate interview with Fred here.

The Star Shard was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It is 320 pages in hardcover for $16.99. Look for it in better bookstores around the country.

Forbes Presents Five Leadership Lessons From James T. Kirk

Saturday, March 10, 2012 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

It’s not often I get to use this space to link to Forbes magazine. In fact, let me check real quick… yeah, that’s what I thought. Last time we drew your attention to Forbes, Barry Goldwater was president.

Be that as it may, I feel compelled to alert you to an article posted this week by Alex Knapp, a Forbes staff writer, titled “Five Leadership Lessons From James T. Kirk.”

Yes, that James T. Kirk. Why does the flagship magazine of American capitalism feel the need to draw on the wisdom of the Captain of the Starship Enterprise? Here’s why:

Captain Kirk may have a reputation as a suave ladies man, but don’t let that exterior cool fool you. Kirk’s reputation at the Academy was that of a “walking stack of books,” in the words of his former first officer, Gary Mitchell. And a passion for learning helped him through several missions. Perhaps the best demonstration of this is in the episode “Arena,” where Kirk is forced to fight a Gorn Captain in single combat…

If you think about it, there’s no need for a 23rd Century Starship Captain to know how to mix and prepare gunpowder… But the same drive for knowledge that drove Kirk to the stars also caused him to learn that bit of information, and it paid off several years later.

In the same way, no matter what your organization does, it helps to never stop learning.

Well, nuts. The secret of my success is finally out. At virtually every junction of my life, I simply mumbled “What would Kirk do?” under my breath, and then did that. At least until my wife asked me stop mumbling all the damn time, and to stop putting the moves on every attractive woman I met.

Nonetheless. If you want to know how your life too can be easier, more exciting, and accompanied by a cool jazz soundtrack, your first step is to follow the five leadership lessons refined by Captain Kirk and outlined by Mr. Knapp here.

Soon men in red shirts will be flocking to your side, ready to take a bullet for you. Use them wisely.

Apex #34 and Black Static #27

Saturday, March 10, 2012 Soyka Comments 0 Comment

apexmag03_12

This month’s Apex Magazine features ”A Member of the Wedding of Heaven and Hell” by Richard Bowes and ”Copper, Iron, Blood” by Mari Ness; the classic reprint is “Lehr, Rex” by Jay Lake, who is interviewed by Maggie Slater.

Julie Dillon provides the cover art: Julia Rios and editor Lynne M. Thomas penned nonfiction columns round out the issue.

429_large1 Further details about this on-line publication can be found here.

The February-March Black Static features new horror fiction from Simon Bestwick (”The Churn”), Gord Sellar (”Empty of Words, thePage”), Jacob Ruby (”The Little Things”), V.H. Leslie (”Family Tree”) and Stephen Bacon (”Cuckoo Spit”).

Nonfiction by the usual suspects, Peter Tennant, Christopher Fowler, Tony Lee, and Mike Driscoll.
The editor is Andy Cox.

Black Static alternates monthly publication with sister SF and fantasy focused Interzone.

John Carter [of Mars] Is a Perfect Edgar Rice Burroughs Movie

Friday, March 9, 2012 Ryan Harvey Comments 17 comments

John Carter (2012)
Directed by Andrew Stanton. Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Dominic West, Samantha Morton, Ciarán Hinds, Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy, Darryl Sabara.

Update: Thank you to all Black Gate readers who have shown the love for John Carter and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and who boosted me with positive comments and emails regarding my long-term project of reviewing all the Martian novels. I’ve never felt so much support from the Internet in the eight years I’ve been an active blogger and reviewer, four of them at Black Gate.

Don’t expect the brackets in my post title John Carter [of Mars] to endure. People who have already seen John Carter will know what I mean: Walt Disney Pictures could not stop director Andrew Stanton from making John Carter of Mars the true title of his adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s century-old classic A Princess of Mars. Stanton, a fan of the Martian novels since he was a child, has given the perfect fan treatment to the material. If you’re a fan as well, then John Carter will carry you from the beginning until the end on a wave of childhood joy until you choke up at the final title cards.

If you’ve been reading my reviews of the Martian novels, then you already know my bias; I am also an Edgar Rice Burroughs fanatic from a young age. As with Captain America: The First Avenger, I am inclined to love this film more than most viewers. But, as with Captain America, I feel confident that the majority of viewers will enjoy this film, with a few caveats. Burroughs fans, however, may purchase with rock solid confidence.

In fact, the fan-service the film offers might end up a problem. If anything holds back John Carter from being a sizable hit — aside from some poor marketing choices — it will be that it is relentlessly “Burroughsian.” Never has an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs caught so closely his spirit and his style. But John Carter goes even farther than finding the tone of its source: it is steeped in the mythology of Barsoom — ERB’s fantasy version of Mars — crammed with its politics, its biology, its language, its technology. For general audiences who know little about The First Citizen of Tarzana, the film may confuse them. Director Andrew Stanton shows how much he loves his source material in the way he refuses to water down any of it. The intricacies of Martian politics and its array of races appear on screen without apology and without hand-holding the audience.

I applaud that in a movie that on the surface looks like nothing more than a standard science-fiction popcorn event offering big action thrills and beautiful people armed with swords and guns. But I wonder if this will turn off the casual viewer. I hope not, because John Carter far exceeds other recent films of its genre with strong characters and CGI that enhances the experience instead of turning it into Transformers 3-style noise. Perhaps the movie isn’t a classic, but I have a sense that if Andrew Stanton gets a shot at making the next movie in the series, The Gods of Mars, then classic-dom is within his grasp. And ours.

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Retro Movie Posters

Friday, March 9, 2012 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Over at his blog, artist and designer Peter Stults has been having fun with “What If…” movie posters, depicting retro versions of great modern films — complete with a re-imagining of the entire cast and crew.

This sort of thing has been done before, but I’ve rarely seen it done with such a deft touch, both artistically and in his spot-on cast selections.

Probably my favorite is Leonard Nimoy as New York cop John McClane in the re-imagined Die Hard.

But I also greatly enjoyed seeing Sean Connery and Christopher Lee in The Fifth Element; Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Jack Lemmon in The Hangover; Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in The Terminator; and especially Frank Zappa as The Big Lebowski.

Stults has shown more than some fine skill with Photoshop, however. His design sense is terrific, and he unerringly mimics a wide range of Hollywood advertising styles through the decades. One of his best is the faux poster for Fritz Lang’s magnum opus 2001: A Space Odyssey (written in German, naturally).

He’s been adding more posters each month. Check out the latest here.

It’s worth the click just to see John Wayne as Superman (and who else but a young Clint Eastwood as the menacing General Zod?).

Bram Stoker’s Dracula Reconsidered

Friday, March 9, 2012 William Patrick Maynard Comments 2 comments

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) has gradually won acceptance in literary circles over the past few decades as a legitimate work of literature after years of being dismissed as an influential work in a genre unworthy of serious consideration. Horror, much like mystery and fantasy, has always been dismissed as lowbrow entertainment. If mass acceptance is any measure of success, the book’s place has long since been secured. It is the only one of Stoker’s titles that has never fallen out of print at any point in the past 115 years. Public domain copies abound alongside dozens of editions from popular presses.

Most readers who happen upon this article are likely familiar with the book. Enthusiasts can be divided into two camps, although this division is rarely spoken of in polite company. The deciding factor that divides the two elitist camps is based solely on the matter of whether or not one chooses to accept “Dracula’s Guest,” the posthumously published excised chapter of an earlier draft of the novel, as an integral part of the story.

For most, the inclusion of the fragment is the deciding factor that determines whether one is obliged to purchase a particular edition of the book to sit alongside the others that inevitably collect upon one’s shelf. The more discerning consumer will also consider the placement of the story before or after the text of the novel as a deciding factor for a purchase. Contrarians will inevitably dismiss the fragment for the minor continuity errors it introduces to the narrative. Their smug dismissal sits rather uncomfortably in the face that the novel itself contains several other quibbling points of equal inconsequence. Sadly, the enlightened defender of “Dracula’s Guest” is invariably the more rational and less vocal of the two groups. Needless to say, I choose not to reveal which camp I fall into so as to preserve my objectivity and not alienate those heathen who fail to appreciate it.

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Goth Chick News: 17th Annual Halloween and Attractions Show

Thursday, March 8, 2012 Sue Granquist Comments 1 comment

It’s that time of year again.

You can tell because the blender in the underground offices of Goth Chick News is cranking out frozen adult beverages at a terrific clip, fueling the preparations for TransWorld Exhibits’ annual bacchanalia of special effect grossness.

This weekend one lucky Black Gate photographer and I will sign out one of the company vehicles (which I assure you with not be that oft-mentioned zeppelin) and head south toward St. Louis, MO in search of the latest trends in all things Halloween and horror.

Though I have been known to lose members of my team in the Leg Avenue adult costume section, and I myself have been known to become woozy when hob-knobbing with some of Hollywood’s lords of gore, the HAA never fails to yield amazing content and must-have products. This year my personal holy grail consists of an autograph and interview with Tony Moran, who played the original Michael Myers. And then there’s all the swag we collect from vendors in pursuit of a coveted “5 Bat Award” for best in show products (for instance, who can forget the Blood Energy Drink dispensed in blood donation hang bags?).

Attending the HAA is a job perk of working at Black Gate as it’s an “industry only” event not open to the public.

But fear not!

We’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing and to hold you over, here’s a little video clip from the 2011 show.

Is there something in particular you’re looking for to add to your own Halloween decorations? Ever wonder how a particular movie horror effect is done? What to know if Michael Myers is boxers or briefs? Post your question here and I’ll ask the experts at the HAA.

Art of the Genre: Top 10 Fantasy Swords

Wednesday, March 7, 2012 Scott Taylor Comments 31 comments

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed in the realm of fantasy has been the sword. There’s just something so pure about a good blade at your side, and if that weapon is somehow touched with magic or fate then all the better.

Something so ancient and primal is attached to a sword, and even when the world has outdated their use they still find their way into science fiction just because of the nostalgic power they evoke. Space pirates have swords ala Captain Harlock, and Jedi carry their glowing Lightsabers ‘which are not as clumsy or random as a blaster‘, to name just a couple of instances where time couldn’t deny man’s need for a blade at their side.

I myself have dreamed of blades, forged them with my imagination and made them come alive in both my writings and my games over the past thirty years. There is a power in such creation, and it goes back beyond my ability to remember my early childhood yet I see my own reflection in the actions of my son as he started swinging sticks in phantom duels as early as age three.

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Jane Carver of Waar On Sale Today

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

What is Jane Carver of Waar, you ask?

Wake up! Just because bookstores around the country are getting thin on the ground, that’s no excuse for not being on top of the latest trends in fantasy. Where have you been?

It’s all right. Don’t panic, don’t panic. Just sit back, and we’ll fill you in. That’s what we’re here for.

Jane Carver of Waar is the latest fantasy from hot writer Nathan Long, author of the splendid Ulrika the Vampire and Gotrek & Felix novels, among many others. Here’s the blurb:

Jane Carver is nobody’s idea of a space princess. A hard-ridin’, hard-lovin’ biker chick and ex-Airborne Ranger, Jane is as surprised as anyone else when, on the run from the law, she ducks into the wrong cave at the wrong time — and wakes up butt-naked on an exotic alien planet light-years away from everything she’s ever known. Waar is a savage world of four-armed tiger-men, sky-pirates, slaves, gladiators, and purple-skinned warriors in thrall to a bloodthirsty code of honor and chivalry. Caught up in a disgraced nobleman’s quest to win back the hand of a sexy alien princess, Jane encounters bizarre wonders and dangers unlike anything she ever ran into back home. Then again, Waar has never seen anyone like Jane before… Both a loving tribute and scathing parody of the swashbuckling space fantasies of yore, Jane Carver of Waar introduces an unforgettable new science fiction heroine.

With John Carter of Mars opening this Friday, this book is the perfect way to get you in the mood. Mike Resnick says:

If Edgar Rice Burroughs were writing today, with 21st Century skills and sensibilities, Jane Carver of Waar is the book he’d have written.

Well said, Mike. You can find Jane Carver of Waar at any decent bookstore, or from the finest online merchants. It is published by the splendid Night Shade Press, in trade paperback for $14.99

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Month: March 2012