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Year: 2016

October 2016 Analog Now on Sale

October 2016 Analog Now on Sale

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analog-science-fiction-october-smallPeople have been watching Trevor Qachari’s rein as the new editor of Analog pretty closely. It’s been four years exactly since he took over from Stanley Schmidt in September of 2012, plenty of time to get a sense of his editorial taste.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Trevor is a bit more experimental than Stan, especially in his willingness to blend genres a little. The October issue features a pair of stories that playfully mix SF and pulp thrillers, including perhaps the last thing I would have expected to see in Analog: a Shadow homage by Robert R. Chase, “Revenge of the Invisible Man.” Here’s a snippet from Jason McGregor’s review at Tangent Online.

The Shadow gets on the trail of the Invisible Man. Sort of. In the near future, a company has been working on human invisibility and has succeeded in making a human invisible — but not in getting rich off it, which means the guinea pig gets no reward either and, worse, it turns out not to be reversible. So the heads of the company start falling down stairs and having their throats cut. This prompts a call to a mysterious Power who sends his agent, our protagonist, in to discover how the invisible man has been committing these crimes from the locked room in which the company holds him. The agent adopts the name Kent Allard (one of the Shadow’s real names) for this mission (which… seems likely to be one of a series) and proceeds to investigate. The strongest feature of this story is probably the direct, sinewy prose… a good read.

While we’re at it, he’s a sample from Jason’s review of the other SF thriller, Adam-Troy Castro’s novella “The Soul Behind the Face.”

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Future Treasures: The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard

Future Treasures: The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard

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the-fall-of-the-house-of-cabal-smallJonathan is a marvelously talented fantasy author. We published two of his stories featuring Kyth the Taker, the cunning and resourceful thief whose commissions somehow always involve her in sorcerous intrigue: “The Beautiful Corridor,” (Black Gate 13) and its sequel, “The Shuttered Temple” (BG 15).

His most recent novel was Carter & Lovecraft (October 2015). He published his first novel, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, in 2009; his newest novel The Fall of the House of Cabal is the fifth to feature gentleman necromancer Johannes Cabal and his comrades, including his vampiric brother, Horst. It arrives in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books at the end of the month.

Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has come into possession of a vital clue that may lead him to his ultimate goal: a cure for death. The path is vague, however, and certainly treacherous as it takes him into strange territories that, quite literally, no one has ever seen before. The task is too dangerous to venture upon alone, so he must seek assistance, comrades for the coming travails.

So assisted ― ably and otherwise ― by his vampiric brother, Horst, and by the kindly accompaniment of a criminologist and a devil, he will encounter ruins and diableries, mystery and murder, the depths of the lowest pit and a city of horrors. London, to be exact.

Yet even though Cabal has risked such peril believing he understands the dangers he faces, he is still underestimating them. He is walking into a trap of such arcane complexity that even the one who drew him there has no idea of its true terrors. As the snare closes slowly and subtly around them, it may be that there will be no survivors at all.

We’ve covered most of Jonathan’s recent releases here at Black Gate — including his article on writing the Johannes Cabal series, “Some Little Infamy.”

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: RPGing is Story Telling

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: RPGing is Story Telling

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inspiration_tomblizardAs I recall, I began playing Dungeons and Dragons at the very end of 1st Edition. Most of my early memories are of playing AD&D and that’s still my favorite Role Playing Game (RPG) system. My buddy Chris and I used to ride our bikes to Hobbyland and he would get a shiny new TSR module, while I grabbed a color-bled, paper-bound supplement from Judges Guild.

I had read Moorcock and Lieber by then (though I didn’t get to Tolkien until early high school). I had acquired a love of Greek mythology (and to a lesser extent, Norse) earlier, and The Trojan War was probably my favorite subject matter (I rooted for Troy: that was disappointing: I mean, c’mon, tear apart the walls to drag in a giant horse your enemy left you???).

You know, The Iliad is like a game of Chainmail: a mass combat wargame with the fantasy supplement for individual heroes. Then  you’ve got The Odyssey, which is an overland (over-the-sea, mostly) D&D campaign. After you’ve played that one a time or two, you could switch to The Aeneid and you’ve got an overland campaign with a kingdom building mechanic. Huh – there’s fodder for another post…

My earliest fantasy gaming memories are of playing Adventure on an Atari 2600. That led to Temple of Apshai on an Atari 1200XL computer. I mapped out every room of that game (and The Upper Reaches sequel) on graph paper. Eventually I got an IBM-compatible PC and tore through the gold box games from SSI. I made the graphical leap to Dungeon Master from FTL (this preceded the more successful but derivative Eye of the Beholder by a few years). Even when I stopped playing pen and paper D&D, I continued on through Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Morrowwind and right up to Age of Conan.

Though I stopped playing, I still read a lot of 3rd Edition D&D stuff and began playing once again with Pathfinder. And as I wrote here at Black Gate just a few weeks ago, I’ve begun running a Swords & Wizardry game for some non-pen and paper fantasy players (it’s a good post. Really. You should go read it!).

And from Dungeon! to Wrath of Ashardalon to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, I’ve played fantasy board games for decades.

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A Secret Conflict During the Civil War: The House Divided Series by Sean McLachlan

A Secret Conflict During the Civil War: The House Divided Series by Sean McLachlan

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Sean McLachlan, our Wednesday afternoon blogger, is primarily known around our offices as the guy with the enviable travel budget. His recent travelogues have taken him to Roman ruins in Spain, Wallingord Castle in England, a volcanic island in the Canary Islands, the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, a writing retreat in Tangier, Morocco, and even more exotic places.

But Sean is also a prolific author. A former archaeologist, he is now a full-time writer who specializes in history, travel, and fiction. He won the 2013 Society of American Travel Writers Award for his Iraq reportage, and his historical fantasy novella “The Quintessence of Absence” appeared in Black Gate. He currently has several series on the go, including Toxic World, a post-apocalyptic science fiction adventure, and the Trench Raiders action series set in World War One. And his contemporary thriller, The Last Hotel Room, will be released later this month.

But my current favorite is his Civil War horror series House Divided, which so far consists of two novels: A Fine Likeness and The River of Desperation. Here’s what Sean told me when I asked him about the origin of the series.

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Amazing, May 1963: A Retro-Review

Amazing, May 1963: A Retro-Review

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amazing-science-fiction-may-1963-smallThis is one of the best issues of Cele Goldsmith’s Amazing I’ve encountered. Only four stories, but all decent, one really good.

The cover is by Ray Kalfus, illustrating Henry Slesar’s “Jobo” in a fashion that gives away one of the story’s secrets (not that it’s that big of a secret). Interiors are by Leo Summers, George Schelling, and Virgil Finlay.

Norman Lobsenz’ Editorial opens thusly:

The New Yorker magazine, which normally does not care to admit of the existence of such a literary form as science fiction (probably because sf stories have plots with beginnings, middles, and ends, which the New Yorker fiction editors abhor)…

Plus ça change! The occasion is an approving New Yorker review of Arthur C. Clarke’s Tales of Ten Worlds, and in particular their praise for the story “Before Eden,” which was first published in Amazing in 1961.

“… Or So You Say”, the letter column, is mostly occupied with complaints about a letter in the January issue from Lorne Yacuk, which apparently complained about the “new” type of stories published in those days, particularly that they featured dull “common men” instead of “supermen.” The writers are James C. Pierce, W. D. Shephard, and Gil Lamont. In addition, Paul Gilster (from St. Louis!) praises Albert Teichner’s “Cerebrum” (mentioned in these reviews some time ago).

The Spectroscope, S. E. Cotts’ book review column, covers The Space Child’s Mother Goose, by Frederick Winsor; Moon Missing, by Edward Gorey; They Walked Like Men, by Clifford Simak; and Anything You Can Do…, by Darrel T. Langart (Randall Garrett). The only one he really approves of is the Simak.

There are two “fact” articles. One is called “A Soviet View of American SF,” by Alexander Kazantsev. It’s a reprint (translated by John Isaac) of the introduction to an anthology of American SF published in the Soviet Union. The author (Kazantsev) is said to be famous for suggesting that the Tunguska event was caused by the explosion of a Martian spaceship. His views of the stories mentioned are politically tinged to the point of parody. The other article is by Ben Bova, “Where is Everybody?”, and it’s a look at the Fermi Paradox.

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The September Fantasy Magazine Rack

The September Fantasy Magazine Rack

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I’ve been relying more and more on Charles Payseur’s Quick Sip Reviews to point me towards the fiction that will interest me each month. Charles doesn’t just tell me why he enjoys each story… he gives me enough detail to let me know which stories will grab my attention right out of the gate. Here he is on Rich Larson’s 12,000-word novelette “The Green Man Cometh” in the latest issue of Clarkesworld, for example.

This is a rather thrilling story about technology and damage, about ideology and fanaticism… [it] shows a nicely cyberpunk vision of Earth post-Calamity (which sounds familiar and I can’t remember if I’ve read a story or stories set in this world before), where most of the population has concentrated into one megacity. And in that megacity Eris is a cab driver with prosthetic arms and a bit of a chip on her shoulder because she was born on a neoprimitive colony and then sent away because of her disability… The action is fierce and the characters are fun. I quite liked the play between Eris and Kit, the government agent that gets assigned to her. The tech and the setting are richly explored and it’s a fun story with some nice points… Eris has to grapple with her own frustrations with the system against the terror that is what the cult plans. And yeah, it’s fun and it’s fast and it hits a lot of nice beats with its twists and turns. For an edge-of-your-seat thrilling science fiction, look no further. Very fun and very worth checking out!

Read his complete review of the issue here.

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New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois

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When my copy of The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection arrived last week, I was pleased (and a little flattered) to see this quote on the back.

There are roughly ten Year’s Best volumes currently being published in the speculative fiction market, but they all bow before Gardner Dozois’ The Year’s Best Science Fiction… To read Gardner’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction every year is to get the pulse of the entire industry. All the new writers, literary movements, shake­ups, and happenings in the field ― it’s all there at your fingertips. ― Black Gate

That’s taken from my article on last year’s volume, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection.

I’ve covered eight Best of the Year anthologies so far this year, from editors like Rich Horton, Jonathan Strahan, Neil Clarke, and John Joseph Adams. But the gold standard remains Gardner Dozois’ massive The Year’s Best Science Fiction, now in its 33rd annual volume.

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It’s Not Too Late to Sample Theresa DeLucci’s 5 Horror Reads for Summer

It’s Not Too Late to Sample Theresa DeLucci’s 5 Horror Reads for Summer

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The last day of summer is September 22. Which means I have four days left to keep the promise to myself I made when I read Theresa DeLucci’s Tor.com article Bright Days, Dark Fiction: 5 Horror Reads for Summer, and read at least two of her tantalizing selections. Top of my list right now are Michael Wehunt’s Greener Pastures and I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas. But I’m also considering Daniel Braum’s debut collection The Night Marchers.

Braum has a knack for describing the indescribable in extraordinarily accessible language. No mean feat when one is relating stories of extra-dimensional creatures and ancient, pissed-off gods. The plight of the underrepresented features prominently in a number of stories, like the title story (conquered gods of Hawaii,) “The Ghost Dance” (Native American spirits,) and “The Green Man of Punta Cabre” (ancient gods of Guatemala.) The latter story in particular was full of pathos as a missionary struggles to understand the true gods of his flock, and the ugly exploitation they suffer at the hands of civil war and invading corporation’s greed… My favorites were the desert horror of “The Moon and the Mesa” and the final story, one original to this collection, “The Sphinx of Cropsey Avenue.” A melancholy surrealist piece about riddles, misfortune, and familial duty finds a man, his fortune-telling girlfriend, and her son all linked as a found family, inextricably connected to a larger universal mystery steeped in ambivalence.

Read Theresa’s complete article here.

Arin Komins on the September 2016 Locus

Arin Komins on the September 2016 Locus

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locus-september-2016-smallLocus magazine publishes a quarterly Forthcoming Books wrap-up, and have been doing so for at least the last 25 years, and the latest one appears in the new September issue. In years gone past I spent a lot of time pouring over those lists, making shopping lists and then calling Mark Zeising Books in California to make an order (or two). So reading the following brief post by my friend and follow book collector Arin Komins brought back a wave of nostalgia.

Spent the evening with the quarterly Locus Mag forthcoming books list in hand, highlighting happily (books to buy for the next 6 months or so.)

This will be followed by the quarterly pre-ordering frenzy, I suspect.

This says something sad about me, I am sure 🙁

It’s funny how publishers catch and lose my interest, too. Finding less and less on the Tor list (with a few notable exceptions), and more and more on the Titan one. Still have a few holdouts with Ace, Roc, Del Rey, etc, but Pocket is all but dead to me anymore.

Still, well pleased to see a new Norman Spinrad coming… and 2 new Kim Newman books. A couple of new Ken MacLeod. The expected 2 new L.E. Modesitt Jr books (of which Recluce Tales is what I am most waiting on.). No new non-Star Wars Alan Dean Foster (sad!). A handful of fun looking anthologies. Jared’s new book! New non-YA by Rachel. New Simon R. Green (Moonbreaker). Misc various others, including guilty pleasure reading (latest Cal Leandros book, newest Valdemar, Butcher anthology, new Chris Golden anthology, some Ari Marmell,etc.). Latest pretty thing from Charnel House that I won’t be able to afford.

Ah the exciting life of a book fiend. Don’t you envy me? (Hah!)

As a matter of fact I do, Arin! These days I spend all my time writing blog posts, and not nearly enough reading magazines. But I did recently renew my subscription to Locus. So that’s a step in the right direction.

See all the details on the September 2016 issue of Locus here. We last covered Locus with the July 2016 issue.

Much of a Muchness: Phyllis Eisenstein’s Born to Exile

Much of a Muchness: Phyllis Eisenstein’s Born to Exile

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First edition of Eisenstein’s Born to Exile
Fantasy Fiction, editorial, detail
Why was the editor of Fantasy Fiction getting stories full of mystical strangeness? We cannot tell.

Recently I was reading an editorial in Fantasy Fiction, an old magazine from near the end of the pulp era. This is the kind of thing I’m apt to do, especially when I should be getting some work done, but in this case I was hooked by the title, which was one of Latin’s greatest hits about reading: NON MULTA, SED MULTUM (“not many things, but much of a thing”).

The message of the editorial was that the editor was seeing too many stories that overdid the number of fantastic elements: “Recently a story came in which had everything — ghosts were making a compact with a group of trolls to defeat the Greek gods, now about to retake the world with a bunch of Hebraic letter incantations.”

The editor felt this was bad and stopped reading on the third page. I say it sounds awesome and the editor should have been banished to the outer darkness where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. But I’m of the opposite school of fantasy — the “more cowbell” school, you might call it (to allude to another classic). Some people will try to tell you that less is more, but “more cowbell” people insist that only more is more: more miracles, more fireballs, more talking squids in space.

The truth is that neither school is right or wrong; it’s just a question of what works in a given story. The advantage of the non multa, sed multum approach is that it allows the writer to explore the ramifications of a fantastic concept, and maybe work in a character or two, not to mention a more carefully detailed world.

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