Mark Rigney’s “The Find,” part of his perennially popular Tales of Gemen series, maintained  the top spot last month, holding off a stiff challenge from Jon Sprunk’s hit novel Blood and Iron.

“The Find” is actually Part II of the series. It began with “The Trade,” which Tangent Online called a “Marvelous tale.” Read all three tales in their entirety right here.

Jon Sprunk’s Blood and Iron, Book One of The Book of the Black Earth, was released this month by Pyr Books and we offered an exclusive pre-release excerpt of this brand new sword & sorcery epic in February.

Next on the list was Joe Bonadonna’s fast-paced adventure “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” followed by E.E. Knight’s sword & sorcery epic “The Terror of the Vale,” the second in the Blue Pilgrim sequence, and sequel to “That of the Pit.”

Fifth and sixth were our excerpt from Sword Sisters, the new novel from Tara Cardinal and Black Gate blogger Alex Bledsoe, and “The Sealord’s Successor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr, a new tale of Gallery Hunters Gloren Avericci and Yr Neh, last seen in “The Tea-Maker’s Task” and “The Daughter’s Dowry.” Next was Martha Wells’s complete novel, the Nebula nominee The Death of the Necromancer.

Also making the list were exciting stories by Dave Gross, Jamie McEwan, Janet Morris and Chris Morris, Mike Allen, Ryan Harvey, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, C.S.E. Cooney, Vaughn Heppner, Jason E. Thummel, David C. Smith, Michael Shea, and John C. Hocking. If you haven’t sampled the free adventure fantasy stories offered through our Black Gate Online Fiction line, you’re missing out. Here are the Top Twenty most-read stories in February.

1. “The Find,” Part II of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
2. An excerpt from Blood and Iron, by Jon Sprunk
3. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” by Joe Bonadonna
4. “The Terror in the Vale,” by E.E. Knight
5. An excerpt from Sword Sisters, by Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe
6. “The Sealord’s Successor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
7. The Death of the Necromancer, a complete novel by Martha Wells
8. An excerpt from Pathfinder Tales: King of Chaos, by Dave Gross
9. “Falling Castles,” by Jamie McEwan
10. An excerpt from The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
11. An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto, by Mike Allen
12. “The Sorrowless Thief,” by Ryan Harvey
13. “Truck Stop Luck,” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
14. “Godmother Lizard” by C.S.E. Cooney
15. “That of the Pit,” by E.E. Knight
16. “Draugr Stonemaker,” by Vaughn Heppner
17. “The Duelist,” by Jason E. Thummel
18. An excerpt from Dark Muse, by David C. Smith
19. “Tsathoggua,” by Michael Shea
20. “Vestments of Pestilence,” by John C. Hocking

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including new stories by Howard Andrew Jones, Peadar Ó Guilín, Judith Berman, David Evan Harris, John R. Fultz, Gregory Bierly, Vera Nazarian, Harry Connolly, and many others, is here.

The top fiction from January is here.