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Year: 2017

Game Informer 290, June 2017: The Top 100 RPGs of All Time

Game Informer 290, June 2017: The Top 100 RPGs of All Time

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Game Informer 290 June 2017-small

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon here in St. Charles, and I spent much of it on the porch, listening to the rain and reading the latest issue of Game Informer.

I’m told Game Informer is the top-selling video game magazine in the US, and that’s not a big surprise. It’s my favorite of the current crop as well. While I subscribe to other gaming periodicals (PC Gamer, The Official XBox Magazine), they’re each devoted to a single platform. I own several gaming systems, and I like to keep on all of them, and Game Informer delivers. The June issue has the usual assortment of highly readable articles, including multi-platform news, reviews, and previews, plus features on the best indie PC titles, the bankruptcy of accessory maker Mad Catz, Microssoft’s lagging First Party development, and a peek at their upcoming 4K console Scorpio.

But the big draw this issue is a massive 34-page feature on the Top 100 RPGs of All Time. Pieces like this are always controversial of course (where’s SSI’s Eye of the Beholder, or Dungeon Master? Or Oblivion?) But we don’t read these big survey articles to agree with them… or at least, I don’t. I read them for the surprises, to see what games I’ve overlooked, and which ones history has judged kindly. I’m pretty old-school in my RPG-love but, somewhat to my surprise, I found myself nodding along as I made my way through the list.

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in May

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in May

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Four Thousand Year Old Bread from Ancient Egypt

Sean McLachlan was the top draw at the Black Gate blog last month, with three posts in the Top Ten for May — including the #1 article, a mouth-watering report on 4,000 year-old bread found in a tomb in Ancient Egypt (with pics!) Sean’s adventure-filled report on braving scorpions and impassible tunnels at the Queens’ Pyramids at Giza came in at #7. While he was in Egypt, Sean also interviewed Egyptian Science Fiction writer Mohammad Rabie, and that rounded out the Top 10 for the month.

It’s tough to compete with 4,000 year-old bread, but a few brave souls made the effort. Andrew Zimmerman Jones came closest to glory, with an exclusive scoop on two new Starfinder Starships, which came in at #2 for the month. Next was our advice on creating an instant SF collection (with loot pics from the Windy City Pulp & Paper show), followed by our report on the release of the second issue of Skelos, and Mick Gall’s review of the album Hardwired… to Self Destruct, “Cthulhu in Metallica.”

Coming in at #6 for the month was the update on the Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Volume II Kickstarter, followed by Doug Ellis’s reminiscence on art and vintage paperback collecting, “Why You Should Go to Conventions.” Closing out the list was our May 21st report on the 2016 Nebula Award winners.

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You Deserve a Great Mummy, So Here’s My Favorite: The Mummy ‘59

You Deserve a Great Mummy, So Here’s My Favorite: The Mummy ‘59

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Mummy-1959-US-posterMy short take on The Mummy unleashed to theaters last week as the start of Universal’s “Dark Universe” franchise gamble: It’s an embarrassment for everyone involved. Except maybe Sophia Boutella as Princess Ahmanet. She deserves a real mummy film, not a schlock Tom Cruise action picture only interested in selling later movies. The Mummy ‘17 is ugly, confused, stupid, and boring. North American moviegoers decided to watch Wonder Woman again rather than see Universal trash its own legacy: The Mummy opened to a glum $32 million domestically, putting it almost $25 million behind Wonder Woman’s second weekend. However, The Mummy is targeting international revenue (one of the reasons Universal allowed the criminally miscast Tom Cruise into the room), and so far it’s grossed $141 million in foreign markets. The “Dark Universe” will proceed, but under a bleak curse.

Okay, I’m finished with that movie. Healing time. I shall now read from the Scroll of Life, brew tana leaves, and bring back the sleeping Gods of Egypt with what I consider the high point of eighty-five years of movies about the undead of the Nile River Valley: 1959’s The Mummy from Hammer Films Productions.

The Alchemical Feat of The Mummy ‘59

“The Mummy made by Hammer Films is, in my opinion, one of the best films of its kind that British cinema has made.” — Christopher Lee

Because it stands in the shadow of Hammer’s first two Gothic hits, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula/Horror of Dracula (1958), it’s easy to gloss over The Mummy as merely a good Hammer horror film rather than one of the greats. But since it debuted on Blu-ray in the U.S., I’ve come to the realization I prefer The Mummy ‘59 to the famous 1932 Boris Karloff-Karl Freund film. I didn’t believe this was possible: The Mummy ‘32 is on my shortlist of Universal’s best classic monster movies. But watching the Hammer version in a pristine Hi-Def restoration, the vibrancy of its colors and designs rescued from dull DVD transfers, I had to face my emotions honestly and embrace it as My Favorite Mummy.

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A Debut Novel in Stephen King Territory: Ghost Radio by Leopoldo Gout

A Debut Novel in Stephen King Territory: Ghost Radio by Leopoldo Gout

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Ghost Radio was published in hardcover nearly a decade ago, and reprinted in paperback by HarperCollins in 2010. So why am I writing about it now? Well, partly because I just found a copy. But also because I was able to buy it — a brand new copy of a 2010 paperback! — for just $3.19 (including shipping), and you know how I get about book bargains.

I bought it at BookOutlet.com, which has about 85,000 new books in stock at remaindered prices, and shipping is free for order over $35 (They still have copies in stock — as well as over nearly 2,000 other discount novels from HarperCollins). In the last few months I’ve spent a lot of money at BookOutlet, on books by Gene Wolfe, Cixin Liu, Ken Liu, Ian McDonald, Gardner Dozois, Ursula K. Le Guin, David Hartwell, Greg Bear, Robert Jackson Bennett, Tanya Huff, Peter Watts, Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen King, Charlie Jane Anders, Frederik Pohl, Jeff VanderMeer, and many others. Check out their complete selection of in-stock SF & Fantasy here.

But getting back to Leopoldo Gout… he’s written two novels so far, Ghost Radio and Genius: The Game (2016) — plus a collaboration with James Patterson, Daniel X: Alien Hunter (2008). Ghost Radio was his debut, and it made something of a splash when it appeared — Booklist called it “A deliciously creepy yarn,” and Kirkus praised it as “A first novel that heads with deserved confidence into Stephen King territory.” There’s also a cover blurb by James Patterson, which, really, seemed like the least the guy could do for the writer  he collaborated with two months later. The paperback edition is copiously illustrated with b&w drawings by the author and someone known as “The Fates Crew.”

Ghost Radio was published by Harper in February 2010. It is 369 pages, priced at $7.99 (or $3.19 for the remaindered edition). It is still in print.

In 500 Words or Less: Dogs of War by Jonathan Maberry

In 500 Words or Less: Dogs of War by Jonathan Maberry

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oie_16223419LR6sdDWQDogs of War (Joe Ledger #9)
Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Press (544 pages, $10.99 paperback, April 2017)

When I was a kid (and into my late teens/early adulthood), I grew up watching the series 24. Right from the Season One premiere on Fox, my parents and I were hooked, and watching became one of my family’s few rituals. Yes, 24 was a sometimes-ridiculous show and not without its problems, but what I loved was how real it was. This was the first program I watched where the hero really showed the effects of the terrible things he went through, and how he overcame personal and emotional hurdles to somehow save the day. (And we all hope Jack Bauer manages the same in Russian prison, until Kiefer Sutherland returns to the role).

The above is one of the main reasons I’m such a fan of the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry, and have waited with baited breath for each sequel since I first tore through Patient Zero like the book’s pathogen-infused zombies. Much like 24 was about way more than Jack Bauer, this series is about way more than its main protagonist, Joe Ledger, and is filled with a host of deeply-imagined heroes and villains. So the short version of this review is essentially two points: first, that if you’ve never read this series, you really need to; and second, if you’ve read even part of the series and you’re worried that it might lose steam nine books in, your worries are needless. If anything, each book is better than the next, which is a feat I’ve only encountered from one other author besides Maberry.

Every Joe Ledger novel features some sort of established horror premise – like vampires, zombies, and even Cthulhu – and gives it a mad science twist, where the cause of this horror is genetic engineering, pathogens or computer software. Dogs of War actually opens with a warning from Maberry that the drones and nanotechnology he discusses are based on projects that already exist or are in some stage of development, which possibly makes this novel the most horrifying of them all.

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Modular: Adventuring in Dangerous Terrain – Frog God Games’ Perilous Vistas

Modular: Adventuring in Dangerous Terrain – Frog God Games’ Perilous Vistas

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Fields_CoverBack in 3rd Edition D&D, there were five supplements that fell under the ‘Environmental Series’ category (I’d argue it should only be the first three, but I don’t make that decision):

  1. Sandstorm: Mastering the Perils of Fire & Sand (Bruce R. Cordell)
  2. Frostburn: Mastering the Perils of Ice & Snow (Wolfgang Baur)
  3. Stormwrack: Mastering the Perils of Wind and Wave (Richard Baker)
  4. Dungeonscape: An Essential Guide to Dungeon Adventuring (Jason Buhlman)
  5. Cityscape: A Guidebook to Urban Planning (Ari Marmell & C.A. Suleiman)

It’s not uncommon to hear one of those books cited as a favorite by players from that era. They gave Dungeon Masters lots of material to incorporate into their adventures. Necromancer Games (who you read about here, right?) added to the concept with Glades of Death (a wilderness book) and Dead Man’s Chest (sea adventuring).

The concept has been continued by Frog God Games (surely you read this post about them!) for Pathfinder, Swords & Wizardry and 5th Edition D&D under the moniker, Perilous Vistas. Along with an updated Dead Man’s Chest, there have been four releases so far, all written by Tom Knauss:

Dunes of Desolation (Deserts)
Fields of Blood (Plains)
Marshes of Malice (Wetlands)
Mountains of Madness (Mountains)

The fifth installment, Icebound (Frozen Wastes), is in the works!

The general idea is that if the Dungeon Master wants to infuse some atmosphere and environment into the adventure, these supplements provide a myriad of options. Sure, they can just have the party get to the abandoned fort in the desert, or have them uneventfully move through the mountains to the deserted abbey or the monster-infested dwarven hall. Some folks like to just get to the dungeon crawl and start hacking away. That’s fine.

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Weirdbook 35 Now Available

Weirdbook 35 Now Available

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Weirdbook 35-small Weirdbook 35-back-small

Last issue, editor Douglas Draa shared the good news that Weirdbook would produce four issues this year — plus a themed annual. That seemed a little ambitious for a re-launched magazine still getting its sea legs… but the second issue of 2017 arrived right on schedule last month. Weirdbook has fast become one of the most reliable and energetic new fantasy magazines on the market, and with over 80,000 words of fiction (nearly 200 pages) crammed into every issue, its already one of the best values around. I predict great things for this magazine.

In his editorial, Doug reported that the themed issue this October will be dedicated to Witches. A fine choice. A glance at the TOC for this issue reveals a pair of names that will be familiar to Black Gate readers: Darrell Schweitzer (who published two pieces in the print edition of BG) and John R. Fultz, who contributed no less than four (including “When the Glimmer Faire Came to the City of the Lonely Eye,” which you can read in its entirety online as part of our Online Fiction Library.)

Here’s what John had to say about his newest story on his blog.

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New Treasures: The Forgotten Girl by Rio Youers

New Treasures: The Forgotten Girl by Rio Youers

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The Forgotten Girl Rio Youers-smallRio Youers’ short fiction has been published in Postscripts, Northern Haunts, 21st Century Dead, End of the Road, Seize the Night: New Tales of Vampiric Terror, and other fine venues. James McGlothlin called “Outside Heavenly,” his contribution to Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven, “By far my favorite tale… outstanding. It really made the hairs on the back of my neck stick up.”

Youers’ novels include Westlake Soul (2012), which Matthew David Surridge said has “a lot of heart” in his Black Gate review, and Point Hollow (2015). His latest is a dark mystery that Joe Hill calls “An absolute rocket… a supernatural thriller that thunders along at Mach 5 from the first page to the last. Written with a brutal lyricism, a savage wit, and a killer instinct for suspense.” It was published this week by St. Martin’s Press.

Harvey Anderson is a twenty-six-year-old street performer from New Jersey. He enjoys his peaceful life, but everything turns upside down when he is abducted and beaten by a group of nondescript thugs. Working for a sinister man known as “the spider,” these goons have spent nine years searching for Harvey’s girlfriend, Sally Starling. Now they think they know where she lives. And whom she loves.

There’s only one problem: Sally is gone and Harvey has no memory of her. Which makes no sense to him, until the spider explains that Sally has the unique ability to selectively erase a person’s memories ― an ability she has used to delete herself from Harvey’s mind.

But emotion runs deeper than memory, and Harvey realizes he still feels something for Sally. And so ― with the spider threatening ― he goes looking for a girl he loves but can’t remember… and encounters a danger that reaches beyond anything he could ever imagine.

Political corruption and manipulation. A serial killer’s dark secrets. An appetite for absolute, terrible power. For Harvey Anderson, finding the forgotten girl comes at quite a cost.

The Forgotten Girl was published by St. Martin’s Press on June 13, 2017. It is 343 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Danielle Christopher. Read an excerpt at Criminal Element.

The World is Not the Way it Was: Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane

The World is Not the Way it Was: Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane

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Unholy Ghosts-small Unholy Magic-small City of Ghosts-small

A decade ago, the shelves of my local bookstores were groaning under the weight of countless paranormal romances. Urban fantasies featuring baddass women and the dangerous men they desired (including vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, aliens, zombies, buff mannequins, and all manner of sexy and not-so-sexy undead) thoroughly dominated the genre.

Today, the paranormal romance is dead. Not even undead — totally dead. That particular vein of fantasy has been thoroughly played out, and we are not likely to see it return in our lifetime. I can’t say I’m sorry to see it go; paranormal romance was never my favorite subgenre, and while it was at its peak it so thoroughly dominated the market that it seemed to choke out everything else.

Still, hidden in every genre and subgenre, there is always good, innovative work. Amongst the derivative pseudo-erotica about well-groomed vampire lords and werewolf bikers was a handful of real gems, produced by writers using the trappings of paranormal romance to craft truly fun urban serials, and those who had tweaked the formula to come up with something uniquely their own. Now that the roaring tide has finally receded on paranormal romance it’s time to do a little beachcombing, picking out treasures in the sand. My first pick is the Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane, set in a dark and ominous world where the dead have risen, the living are threatened every day, and the Church of Real Truth seized power when governments around the world collapsed.

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More Thoughts on Ghostwriting for a Living

More Thoughts on Ghostwriting for a Living

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I haven’t written this many books, but I’m working on it

Last year I wrote an article about making a living as a ghostwriter. I talked about how a plethora of small presses have created a new pulp era, in which ghostwriters put out large numbers of stories and short novels under house names. It’s a world that rewards hardworking writers who can hit high word counts and deliver in a variety of genres.

That was more than six months ago, and I thought I’d share some more insights I’ve had from the crazy new world of wordsmiths.

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