There’s a new sheriff in town. And he has a cat.

Gallery Hunters Gloren Avericci and Yr Neh, last seen in “The Daughter’s Dowry” (published here October 2012) and “The Sealord’s Successor” (March 2013), accept a dangerous commission to investigate a deadly island in Aaron Bradford Starr’s compelling fantasy mystery, “The Tea-Maker’s Task,” which vaulted to the very top of our fiction charts last month. Louis West at Tangent Online called it:

An entertaining, tongue-in-cheek fantasy… Their adventures take them from the rancid food of Burrow Deep Lane in the city of Ravanon to the workshop of a Tea-Making master then through the forests of Candelon, wherein lurks the Walker of the Woods, until they finally reach the ruined city of Vandelon. All the while, Gloren and the cat engage in constant, silent banter, much like two brothers or war buddies… I wanted more.

Steven H Silver’s tale of the strange astral adventures of Hoggar the Cremator, “The Cremator’s Tale,” extended its run at the top of the charts, taking second place this month.

Next was Mark Rigney’s adventure fantasy, “The Find,” the second part of the tale of Gemen the Antiques Dealer.

Also making the list were exciting stories by Janet Morris and Chris Morris, Joe Bonadonna, Martha Wells, Peter Cakebread, E.E. Knight, Gregory Bierly, Dave Gross, Ryan Harvey, Jason E. Thummel, C.S.E. Cooney, Jon Sprunk, Michael Shea, Harry Connolly, John C. Hocking, Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe, and John R. Fultz.

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 April.

1. “The Tea-Maker’s Task” by Aaron Bradford Starr
2. “The Cremator’s Tale” by Steven H Silver
3. “The Find,” Part II of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
4. An excerpt from The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
5. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” by Joe Bonadonna
6. The Death of the Necromancer, a complete novel by Martha Wells
7. An excerpt from The Alchemists Revenge by Peter Cakebread
8. “The Terror in the Vale,” by E.E. Knight
9. “A Princess of Jadh,” by Gregory Bierly
10. An excerpt from Pathfinder Tales: King of Chaos, by Dave Gross
11. “Stand at Dubun-Geb,” by Ryan Harvey
12. “The Duelist,” by Jason E. Thummel
13. “Godmother Lizard” by C.S.E. Cooney
14. An excerpt from Blood and Iron, by Jon Sprunk
15. “Tsathoggua,” by Michael Shea
16. “The Whoremaster of Pald,” by Harry Connolly
17. “The Sealord’s Successor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
18. “Vestments of Pestilence,” by John C. Hocking
19. An excerpt from Sword Sisters, by Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe
20. “The Weird of Ironspell” by John R. Fultz

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including new stories by Howard Andrew Jones, Peadar Ó Guilín, Judith Berman, David Evan Harris, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Vera Nazarian, Vaughn Heppner, Mike Allen, and many others, is here.

The top fiction from March is here.