The Top Black Gate Posts in January

The Top Black Gate Posts in January

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Ryan Harvey was the man to beat at Black Gate in January. He claimed three of the Top Ten articles — including our overall most popular post last month, a review of the new animated film Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters.

Bob Byrne came in at #2 with his Conan pastiche review round-up, “By Crom: Some Conans are More Equal Than Others…” Fletcher Vredenburgh took third with a look at J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Children of Húrin. Derek Kunsken’s review of Frank Herbert’s classic Dune was the fourth most popular post in January, and Fletcher rounded out the Top Five with “Why I’m Here – Part Two: Some Thoughts on Old Books and Appendix N.”

Our obituary for the great Ursula K. Le Guin was #6, followed by John DeNardo’s Definitive List of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of last year. Eighth was my article on vintage paperbacks, “Christmas for the Paperback Collector,” followed by Ryan’s review of Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Ryan closed out the Top Ten with a piece on that Saturday morning classic, Warlords of Atlantis.

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. The Animated Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Mostly Does Its Job
  2. By Crom: Some Conans are More Equal Than Others…
  3. Grimmer Than Grim: The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
  4. Dune: Warts and All
  5. Why I’m Here – Part Two: Some Thoughts on Old Books and Appendix N
  6. Ursula K. Le Guin, October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018
  7. John DeNardo on the Definitive List of 2017’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy
  8. Christmas for the Paperback Collector
  9. War Eternal: Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  10. Warlords of Atlantis: The Edgar Rice Burroughs Adaptation That Isn’t

     

  11. The Top Five Books I Read in 2017
  12. The High House by James Stoddard
  13. Winter Reading: The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson with an Assist from James Stoddard
  14. The Last Jedi: The Creature of the Lagoon Trashes the Toxic Tropes (Porg is a Verb)
  15. The 2018 Philip K. Dick Nominees
  16. Oz Goes Thrift Shopping: “This is [bleeping] Awesome!”
  17. Peter S. Beagle will be the Next SFWA Grand Master
  18. It’s A Tragedy
  19. Modular: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
  20. Son of Tall Eagle by John R. Fultz

     

  21. Horrors, Marvels, Gods and Demons: C.L. Moore’s Tales of Northwest Smith
  22. Future Treasures: 95 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books to Read in 2018
  23. When Science Fiction Sucks: Rich Horton on Alien Sea, by John Rackham and C.O.D. Mars, by E. C. Tubb
  24. Birthday Reviews: Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Maze of Maal Dweb”
  25. GOING BIG! Super Sized Marvel Treasury Editions
  26. Birthday Reviews: Philip José Farmer’s “The Rise Gotten”
  27. The Fellowship of the Ring and the Palantir
  28. Goth Chick News: The Rampaging Continues…
  29. Birthday Reviews: C.L. Moore’s “Lost Paradise”
  30. Vintage Treasures: The World Fantasy Awards, Volume One and Two

     

  31. Birthday Reviews: Nat Schachner’s “Ancestral Voices”
  32. Birthday Reviews: E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”
  33. Reading 2000AD’s The ABC Warriors for the First Time
  34. In 500 Words or Less: From a Certain Point of View (Del Rey Books)
  35. Vintage Treasures: Ten Thousand Light-Years From Home by James Tiptree, Jr.
  36. Vintage Treasures: Dark Imaginings: A Collection of Gothic Fantasy edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski
  37. Peplum Populist: The Last Days of Pompeii (1959)
  38. Vintage Treasures: Barrow by John Deakins
  39. Goth Chick News: Pop Culture Meets Couture…
  40. Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1954: A Retro-Review

     

  41. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in December
  42. Birthday Reviews: John Bellairs’s “The Pedant and the Shuffly”
  43. The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2017
  44. Birthday Reviews: Hayford Peirce’s “Mail Supremacy”
  45. Egyptian Dystopian Fiction: The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
  46. A Gentle Book about Harsh Times: The List by Patricia Forde
  47. Worlds of If, November 1969: A Retro-Review
  48. Tell Me A Story
  49. Robot Lilliput N.P. 5357
  50. Goth Chick News: Oscars Smoscars – Pass Me a Stoker Any Day…

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

  1. Death Knight Love Story: WMA meets WTF
  2. Goth Chick News: Samuel L. Jackson Takes On Japanese OVA – Hold On To Your Butts…
  3. New Treasures: The Library of America Publishes Elmore Leonard
  4. “Are You Not Still Entertained?”: Gladiator’s 10-Year Oscar Anniversary
  5. The IX by Andrew P. Weston
  6. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 5: Teana: 10000 Years Later, Crimson Whale, and The Shamer’s Daughter
  7. AD&D Figurines: Youth In a Box?
  8. My Fantasia Festival, Days 5 to 7: Cold in July, The Fatal Encounter, and Huntresses
  9. Eccentric in Retrospect: Helen Simpson’s The Woman on the Beast
  10. Solitaire Adventure with Victory Point Games
  11. Blowing the Doors Off the Barn: Expanding the Iron Fist Mythos
  12. Living it Large: How Larger Than Life Characters Work
  13. Haunt the House: The Music and Art of Will Houlihan
  14. Adventures on Stage: Fantasy Literature’s Missing Link
  15. The Return of the King (1980)
  16. Adventures In Gaming: The Temple Of the Sea Gods
  17. Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
  18. The Series Series: Shieldwall: Barbarians! by M. Harold Page
  19. Modular: Resurrecting RuneQuest: An Investigation by the Tales of the Reaching Moon Editorial Staff
  20. Return to Thieves World in Beyond Sanctuary: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
  21. Part Gothic, Part Sword and Sorcery, and Part Horror: Andrew P. Weston’s Hell Bound
  22. Battles with Blades and Bows, and Creatures Charming and Terrifying: Journeys, edited by Teresa Edgerton
  23. From Ancient Opar to the Moon: An Interview with Author Christopher Paul Carey
  24. Tribulations Herculean and Tragic: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris
  25. Tempus Takes Manhattan: Janet and Chris Morris’ Tempus Unbound

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. Tempus Unbound, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
  4. An excerpt from Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
  5. Goat-Beard the Pirate, Part 2: Evil Angel,” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
  6. An excerpt from Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder by Roy A. Mauritsen
  7. An excerpt from A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden
  8. An excerpt from Mouth of the Dragon by Tom Barczak
  9. An excerpt from Truck Stop Earth by Michael A. Armstrong
  10. Stand at Duben-Geb” by Ryan Harvey
  11. Nero Wolfe – Stamped for Murder” by Bob Byrne
  12. An excerpt from The Power of the Sapphire Wand by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
  13. The Sorrowless Thief” by Ryan Harvey
  14. Seeker of Fortune” by David Evan Harris
  15. An excerpt from “Night of Two Moons” by David B. Coe
  16. Niola’s Last Stand” by Vera Nazarian
  17. Disciple” by Emily Mah
  18. An excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
  19. The Highwater Harbor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
  20. An excerpt from “The Mudslinger” by David Evan Harris
  21. An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen
  22. Disciple” by Emily Mah
  23. Vestments of Pestilence” by John C. Hocking
  24. Fiction Excerpt: “Tumithak of the Corridors” by Charles R. Tanner
  25. The first chapter of The Wreck of the Marissa by M Harold Page
  26. Tsathoggua” by Michael Shea
  27. Iron Joan” by ElizaBeth Gilligan
  28. A Princess of Jadh” by Gregory Bierly
  29. The Trade” by Mark Rigney
  30. The Cremator’s Tale” by Steven H Silver

The top categories last month were:

  1. Editor’s Blog
  2. Books
  3. Blog Entry
  4. Art of the Genre
  5. Art
  6. Comics
  7. BG Staff
  8. Conan
  9. Black Gate Goes to Summer Movies
  10. Contest
  11. Convention Report
  12. Vintage Treasures
  13. Discovering Robert E. Howard
  14. Reviews
  15. Pulp
  16. Game Reviews
  17. Essays
  18. Magazines
  19. New Treasures
  20. Reviews of Black Gate
  21. Future Treasures
  22. Uncategorized
  23. Role Playing Games
  24. Interviews
  25. Fashion

The Top 50 Black Gate blog posts in December are here, and you can see all 102 posts we made in the month of January here.

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Ryan Harvey

I’m noticing a pattern when I write about Godzilla.

Bob Byrne

Now a post about Conan and Godzilla…

Joe H.

I’m frankly shocked that never happened in a Marvel comic circa 1978.

James McGlothlin

Dang it! As usual, Bob Byrne beat me to the comment. You are very quick-witted Sir Byrne. This is why you remain the master of Black Gate charts.

Bob Byrne

Back in high school, I started an Elric pastiche where Holmes was summoned to aid Elric. The quest required a champion of law and a champion of chaos. I think I had the Warrior in Jet and Gold in there for the balance.

Hmm…What story could put together Conan and a Sherlock Holmes-ish priest of Mitra?

Rich Horton

How about Conan and Godzilla meet Lincoln’s doctor’s dog?

Joe H.

Conan and Detective Conan meet Arthur Conan Doyle.

Nick Ozment

Conan & Godzilla:

Hmmmm….I’m thinking back over my read of the entire run of Marvel Godzilla comics a couple years back. Nick Fury and agents of SHIELD, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor and some other members of the Avengers all made appearances, but no beloved brawny Cimmerian.

Interesting, when you come to think of it: Usually when Marvel had a license they went crossover crazy: G.I. Joe Vs. Transformers, anyone? But they always kept Conan pretty sealed off in his own world.

Bob Byrne

I think this came out late last year?

Glenn

I’ve you’re interested in the Conan/Wonder Woman crossover I would buy it sooner than later.

The Conan listener isn’t going back to marvel at the start of 2019. I doubt this one will be available in any format after that.

Glenn

License*

That’s what I get for replying on a phone.


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