The most widely read article at Black Gate last month was Andy Duncan’s obituary for Tor senior editor David G. Hartwell, the founder of the World Fantasy Convention and one of the most accomplished editors this field has ever seen.

In the last few weeks we’ve compiled several articles on David’s most popular books, including:

The Masterpieces of Fantasy
The Dark Descent and The World Treasury of Science Fiction
The Early Horror Paperbacks
Foundations of Fear and The Ascent of Wonder

Coming in a close second was M. Harold Page’s look back at some of the best classic adventure fantasy, “Some Vintage Genre Fiction Still Worth Reading (and Why),” followed by our terrifying giant bug report, “I Don’t Mean to Alarm Anyone, But We’ve Discovered Giant Insects on Monster Island.”

Rounding out the Top Five were M. Harold Page’s Vintage Treasures report on The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour, and Fletcher Vredenburgh’s “Guides to Worlds Fantastic and Strange.”

The Top 10 articles for January also included Peter McLean’s look at writing modern noir fantasy, E.E. Knight’s review of the PC Game Endless Legend (which my son Drew can’t seem to stop playing), M. Harold Page’s examination of the writing lessons contained in Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum, Bob Byrne’s look at the R-Rated Nero Wolfe, and the first installment of our Hartwell tribute, a look at the Masterpieces of Fantasy volumes.

The complete list of Top Articles for January follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular overall articles, online fiction, and blog categories for the month.

The Top 50 Black Gate posts in January were:

1. David G. Hartwell, July 10, 1941 – January 20, 2016
2. Some Vintage Genre Fiction Still Worth Reading (and Why)
3. I Don’t Mean to Alarm Anyone, But We’ve Discovered Giant Insects on Monster Island
4. Vintage Treasures: The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour
5. Guides to Worlds Fantastic and Strange
6. On Writing Modern Noir Fantasy
7. PC Gaming Review: Endless Legend
8. Writerly Lessons from Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum
9. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The R-Rated Nero Wolfe
10. The Books of David G. Hartwell: The Masterpieces of Fantasy

     

11. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Shannara Chronicles
12. Vintage Treasures: The Well of the Unicorn by Fletcher Pratt
13. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Talking About Nero Wolfe
14. Ancient Lixus: A Roman City in Morocco
15. Cornelia Funke Founds Her Own Publishing Company to Release Reckless: The Golden Yarn
16. Vintage Treasures: Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
17. The Winds of Winter Won’t Arrive Before Season Six
18. A Positive View on the Accelerating Reboots in Comics
19. Part Gothic, Part Sword and Sorcery, and Part Horror: Andrew P. Weston’s Hell Bound
20. Goth Chick News: J.J. Abrams Sneaks Up On Us Again

     

21. Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek (2009)
22. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Pro-Tip From Craig Shaw Gardner
23. Vintage Treasures: The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
24. The Tor.com Novellas are Now Available in Bargain Bundles
25. Vintage Treasures: Tales From Gavagan’s Bar by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
26. From Toys to Comics: The Micronauts
27. The Goblin King is Gone. The Starman Has Returned to the Sky. R.I.P. David Bowie
28. Amazing Science Fiction Stories, March 1960: A Retro-Review
29. Larache: An Old Spanish Colony in Morocco
30. Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “Beyond the Black River”

     

31. Let Lawrence M. Schoen Hypnotize You Into Becoming a Writer
32. Become a Trader Among the Stars with Merchant of Venus
33. Future Treasures: Swords of Steel II edited by D.M. Ritzlin
34. Discovering Robert E. Howard: Barbara Barrett – Painting With Words: The Poetry of REH
35. Galaxy, October 1967: A Retro-Review
36. Feast Or Famine?
37. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Escaping the Darkness, or What to Do When Your Imaginary World Gives You Real Nightmares
38. A Concentrated Dose of the Best Our Field Has to Offer: Jonathan Strahan’s Best Short Novels 2004-2007
39. Ravenloft Returns: Curse of Strahd is Coming
40. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: 2015 Links Compendium

     

41. Beyond the Immediate Shiver: The Rim of Morning by William Sloane
42. The Series Series: The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson
43. Goth Chick News: Surviving the Long, Cold Winter, or Life Hacks for the Horror Fan
44. Alan Rickman, February 21, 1946 — January 14, 2016
45. Tracking Down Frank Kelly Freas’ Planet Stories Cover for “The Ambassadors of Flesh”
46. What We Can Learn From a Time Lord: Doctor Who and a New Enlightened Perspective
47. December Short Story Roundup
48. Wizards of the Coast Unveils Self-Publishing Site for D&D Adventures
49. A Horror-Movie Imagination: The Old Dark House We Lived In
50. Future Treasures: The Pagan Night by Tim Akers

There were plenty of older articles popular last month as well. The 25 most popular blog posts written before January were:

1. AD&D Figurines: Youth In a Box?
2. Goth Chick News: Getting A-head at Airport Security
3. Death Knight Love Story: WMA meets WTF
4. Challenging the Classics: Questioning the Arbitrary Browsing Mechanism
5. Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: A Review of The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
6. Art of the Genre: Top 10 Fantasy Artists of the Past 100 Years
7. My Inspiration: Black Canaan
8. A Red & Pleasant Land
9. Packed Full of Fantasy Goodness: The Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls RPG
10. Cover Reveal: Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction edited by Dominik Parisien
11. Out With the Old, In With the New: New Versus Vintage Treasures
12. Software Review (kind of): Fantasy Map Making with Hexographer
13. The Great Savage Sword Re-Read: Vol. 2
14. Caught Between Rebels and the Empire’s Blackest Magic: Beyond the Veil: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
15. A Proposal: An Award for SF Storytelling
16. Nazi Film Review: Hitlerjunge Quex
17. How to Run a Successful Kickstarter – Part II
18. Future Treasures: Vendetta, a Deadly Curiosities Novel by Gail Z. Martin
19. Tribulations Herculean and Tragic: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris
20. Return to Thieves World in Beyond Sanctuary: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
21. Ten Acclaimed Historical Fantasy Novels You Need to Read
22. Art of the Genre: Art of Dungeon Maps
23. Why I Created Labyrinth Lord
24. Frodo Baggins, Lady Galadriel, and the Games of the Mighty
25. Hubert Rogers’ Astounding Covers — And His Fascinating Correspondence with Robert A. Heinlein and L. Sprague de Camp

The Top Black Gate Online Fiction features were:

1. An Excerpt from The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
2. “Seven Against Hell,” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
3. ““The Trade,” Part I of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
4. “The Find,” Part II of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
5. The Death of the Necromancer, Part One, by Martha Wells
6. “The Pit Slave,” by Vaughn Heppner
7. “Seven Against Hell,” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
8. “The Keystone,” Part III of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
9. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” by Joe Bonadonna
10. In the Wake Of Sister Blue, Chapter One, by Mark Rigney

The top categories last month were:

1. Books
2. Blog Entry
3. Art of the Genre
4. Art
5. Magazines
6. Vintage Treasures
7. Comics
8. BG Staff
9. Black Gate Goes to Summer Movies
10. Conan
11. Fiction
12. New Treasures
13. Future Treasures
14. Convention Report
15. Contest
16. Editor’s Blog
17. Reviews
18. Pulp
19. News
20. Games Reviews

The Top 5o Black Gate blog posts in December 2015 are here, and you can see all 134 posts we made in the month of January here.