Sword and Sorcery dominated the stage at Black Gate last month. The most popular topic in October was the new S&S magazine from industry pioneers Joseph Goodman and Howard Andrew Jones, Tales From the Magician’s Skull, which showed up twice in the Top Ten, first with a far-ranging interview with Joseph and Howard (and their undead overlord, the Talking Skull), followed by a report on the blockbuster Kickstarter that funded the first two issues.

Gaming and game news were definitely popular as well. The #1 article for the month was M. Harold Page’s review of Starfinder Alien Archive, followed by our look at the top-sellers at the semi-annual Games Plus auction in Mount Prospect. Goth Chick came in third with her trip report on the Cedar Point HalloWeekends event, featuring Midnight Syndicate’s 20th anniversary concert. Rounding out the Top Five were Elizabeth Crowens’ interview with horror master Nancy Kilpatrick, and M. Harold Page’s advance peek at the Elite Dangerous Role Playing Game.

Coming in at #7 for the month was Fletcher Vredenburgh’s touching reminiscence of his long-time gaming circle, “The Past Remembered.” Ninth was our feature on the very first piece of Greyhawk fiction, Gygax’s 1974 article “The Expedition Into the Black Reservoir: A Dungeon Adventure at Greyhawk Castle.” And closing out the Top Ten was our look at the popular Corpse-Rat King novels by Lee Battersby

The complete list of Top Articles for October 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 October were:

1. Modular: Starfinder Alien Archive — Clark Ashton Smith meets Douglas Adams (with visuals by Ray Harryhausen)
2. The Subtle Art of Game Speculation
3. Goth Chick News: That Time We Drove 350 Miles for Haunted Houses and Gothic Music
4. The Poison Apple: The Lure of the Vampire, an Interview with Author Nancy Kilpatrick
5. Modular: A First Look at Elite Dangerous Role Playing Game
6. In Search of a new Weird Tales: An Interview with Joseph Goodman, Howard Andrew Jones, and the Talking Skull!
7. The Past Remembered
8. Support an Exciting New Magazine of Sword & Sorcery: Tales From the Magician’s Skull
9. The Expedition Into the Black Reservoir: A Dungeon Adventure at Greyhawk Castle by Gary Gygax
10. Battlefield Looters in the Kingdom of the Dead: The Corpse-Rat King Novels by Lee Battersby

     

11. Another View: The Difficult Experiment of Scott Oden’s A Gathering of Ravens
12. Tempus Takes Manhattan: Janet and Chris Morris’ Tempus Unbound
13. Future Treasures: The Book of Swords, edited by Gardner Dozois
14. New Treasures: Swords Against Darkness edited by Paula Guran
15. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1969: A Retro-Review
16. A Tale Most Gruesome and Bonkers: Dark Ventures by T.C. Rypel
17. October Is Hammer Country: The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
18. Nothing To Be Afraid Of
19. New Treasures: Blackwater: The Complete Saga by Michael McDowell
20. RBE returns with a WWE-style SmackDown: Challenge! Discovery

     

21. October Short Story Roundup
22. Keep Up With the Latest Releases from Black Gate Authors — October Edition
23. 1970s Horror Comics, Old and New: Eerie and Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror
24. October Is Hammer Country: The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
25. Questing in New York! New York ComicCon 2017/
26. Fantastic Stories of Imagination, January and February 1964: A Retro-Review
27. Check out the Table of Contents for The Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Volume Four, edited by Helen Marshall and Michael Kelly
28. In 500 Words or Less: An Advance Review of the The Nine by Tracy Townsend
29. Three Fifths of a Great Horror Movie: Dead of Night
30. Future Treasures: The Art of the Pulps edited by Douglas Ellis, Ed Hulse and Robert Weinberg

     

31. A Mutiny in Space, and an Emperor of the Stars: High Adventure #153: Classic Stories from Wonder Stories
32. October Is Hammer Country: The Gorgon (1964)
33. Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast: Halloween Special 2017
34. Hit That Word Count! Reading The Fiction Factory by William Wallace Cook
35. Old School Steampunk: Reading The Steam Man of the Plains (1883)
36. Future Treasures: Vallista by Steven Brust
37. Strolling through Medieval Segovia, Spain
38. Invasion Fleets and Rogue Stars: Rich Horton on Who Speaks of Conquest by Lan Wright & The Earth in Peril, edited by Donald A. Wollheim
39. Avalon Hill Tries a D&D Boardgame: Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate
40. Check out the Table of Contents for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017, edited by Charles Yu and John Joseph Adams

     

41. A Tale of Three Covers: The Mammoth Book of Dracula / In the Footsteps of Dracula, edited by Stephen Jones
42. New Treasures: The Gates of Tagmeth by P. C. Hodgell
43. Vintage Treasures: The Sword of Winter by Marta Randall
44. September/October Analog Now on Sale
45. Modular: Tabletop Terror in the Tomb of Annihilation
46. Self-published Book Review: A History of Magic by Scott Robinson
47. Undead Emperors and Cybernetic Rebels: The Succession Novels by Scott Westerfeld
48. October Is Hammer Country: Twins of Evil (1971)
49. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in September
50. The October Fantasy Magazine Rack

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

1. Death Knight Love Story: WMA meets WTF
2. “Are You Not Still Entertained?”: Gladiator’s 10-Year Oscar Anniversary
3. Goth Chick News: Samuel L. Jackson Takes On Japanese OVA – Hold On To Your Butts…
4. Solitaire Adventure with Victory Point Games
5. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 5: Teana: 10000 Years Later, Crimson Whale, and The Shamer’s Daughter
6. My Fantasia Festival, Days 5 to 7: Cold in July, The Fatal Encounter, and Huntresses
7. The Return of the King (1980)
8. Living it Large: How Larger Than Life Characters Work
9. Blowing the Doors Off the Barn: Expanding the Iron Fist Mythos
10. Adventures on Stage: Fantasy Literature’s Missing Link
11. The Series Series: Shieldwall: Barbarians! by M. Harold Page
12. New Treasures: The Library of America Publishes Elmore Leonard
13. Eccentric in Retrospect: Helen Simpson’s The Woman on the Beast
14. Haunt the House: The Music and Art of Will Houlihan
15. Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
16. Goth Chick News: If You Like Your Horror Victorian Style…
17. Adventures In Gaming: The Temple Of the Sea Gods
18. Return to Thieves World in Beyond Sanctuary: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
19. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: The Skeleton Matters (Or, Why It’s Not OK to Skip Scenes in Your Third Act)
20. Battles with Blades and Bows, and Creatures Charming and Terrifying: Journeys, edited by Teresa Edgerton
21. Tribulations Herculean and Tragic: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris
22. Why isn’t Conan a Mary Sue?
23. Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Desperate Hours – A One-Two Combo
24. The IX by Andrew P. Weston
25. Caught Between Rebels and the Empire’s Blackest Magic: Beyond the Veil: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris

The Top Black Gate Online Fiction features were:

1. An excerpt from The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
2. An Excerpt from The Power of the Sapphire Wand by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
3. “Seven Against Hell” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
4. Tempus Unbound, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
5. An excerpt from Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
6. “Goat-Beard the Pirate, Part 2: Evil Angel,” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
7. “Iron Joan” by ElizaBeth Gilligan
8. An excerpt from Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder by Roy A. Mauritsen
9. An excerpt from Truck Stop Earth by Michael A. Armstrong
10. An excerpt from Mouth of the Dragon by Tom Barczak
11. “The Trade” by Mark Rigney
12. An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen
13. The first chapter of The Wreck of the Marissa by M Harold Page
14. “Stand at Duben-Geb” by Ryan Harvey
15. “The Cremator’s Tale” by Steven H Silver
16. Fiction Excerpt: “Tumithak of the Corridors” by Charles R. Tanner
17. “The Renunciation of the Crimes of Gharad the Undying” by Alex Kreis
18. “Awakening” by Judith Berman
19. “The Sorrowless Thief” by Ryan Harvey
20. An Excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
21. “Vestments of Pestilence” by John C. Hocking
22. “Nero Wolfe – Stamped for Murder” by Bob Byrne
23. An excerpt from “The Hand That Binds” by Michael Livingston
24. “The Whoremaster of Pald” by Harry Connolly
25. “Tsathoggua” by Michael Shea
26. An excerpt from Soleri by Michael Johnston
27. An Excerpt from Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra
28. An excerpt from Mad Shadows II by Joe Bonadonna
29. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum” by Joe Bonadonna

The top categories last month were:

1. Editor’s Blog
2. Interviews
3. Vintage Treasures
4. Comics
5. Blog Entry
6. Art of the Genre
7. Books
8. Magazines
9. Art
10. Conan
11. BG Staff
12. Game Reviews
13. Reviews
14. Black Gate Goes to Summer Movies
15. Fiction
16. Future Treasures
17. Role Playing Games
18. New Treasures
19. Discovering Robert E. Howard
20. Contest
21. Obituary
22. Goth Chick
23. Movies & TV
24. Convention Report
25. News
26. Pulp
27. Essays
28. Series Fantasy
29. Weird Western
30. Paranormal Romance
31. Rich Horton
32. Writing
33. Fashion
34. Solitaire Game Reviews

The Top 50 Black Gate blog posts in September are here, and you can see all 77 posts we made in the month of October here.