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Knight at the Movies: James Bond, The Ultimate Fantasy Hero

Knight at the Movies: James Bond, The Ultimate Fantasy Hero

When we think of Ian Fleming’s iconic superspy, our thoughts turn to action, sleuthing, womanizing, and of course hi-tech gadgets. But how many of us has ever considered James “007” Bond primarily a fantasy hero? E. E. Knight does, and at Black Gate this week he takes a long, thoughtful look at one of the greatest literary and filmic creations of all time, showing us how Bond’s appeal is not just as a cold war soldier oozing cool, but as the memorable hero of “fairy tales with Aston Martins, fables with Walthers, swashbucklers with assault helicopters.”

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A Review of The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

A Review of The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

Most of us remember John Steinbeck (1902–1968) for classic novels such as Tortilla Flat, Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, The Pearl, East of Eden, and of course his Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. But how many of us knew that at his death he left an unfinished adaptation of Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a labor of love he had been tinkering with for over ten years?

Mark Rigney, a longtime fan of T. H. White’s The Once and Future King and all things Arthurian, has perused the fine new edition of this book released last fall by Viking Press, with a foreword by Eragon author Christopher Paolini.

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Black Gate Symposium: A Tribute to E. Gary Gygax (1938 – 2008)

Black Gate Symposium: A Tribute to E. Gary Gygax (1938 – 2008)

The death of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, marks the passing of an era. Gygax changed the face of fantasy like no other since J.R.R. Tolkien or Robert E. Howard. D&D brought people together, forged lasting friendships, and introduced a whole new generation to classic fantasy — in the process firing imaginations, heavily influencing the fledgling computer and video game markets, and laying the foundation for the billion-dollar online RPG industry. Just as importantly Gygax invited — indeed, demanded — that his readers become creators themselves, and the young fans he inspired eventually became some of today’s bestselling authors, including Raymond E. Feist, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, R. A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, and dozens of others.

While his creation became famous the world over, Gygax never truly left his home in Lake Geneva, WI, and remained approachable and active until his death on Tuesday, March 4, 2008. To mark the passing of one of our generation’s most creative minds, Black Gate has assembled several personal reminiscences, from BG webmaster and Cimmerian editor Leo Grin, Planet Stories editor and publisher Erik Mona, and Black Gate editors Howard Andrew Jones and John O’Neill.

Finally, we invite you to drop by the Black Gate blog, where you can leave your own memories and thoughts, either about Gygax or any of his varied creations, from D&D to Greyhawk, Drow to Fantastic Journeys, Lejendary Adventure to Castles & Crusades.

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Dave Truesdale’s 2007 SF and Fantasy Recommended Reading List

Dave Truesdale’s 2007 SF and Fantasy Recommended Reading List

OK, so you’re an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy, and you’re always on the lookout for new material. Trouble is, in a field as diverse and prolific as this, where do you start searching? The list of books and other publications released last year is a daunting one. With hundreds — thousands? — of novels, novelettes, and short stories to choose from, it’s tougher than ever to winnow them all down to a manageable selection of the very best stories.

Black Gate correspondent Dave Truesdale is here to help. He has done all of the groundwork for you, scouring a vast array of books, anthologies, magazines, and small-press items for the cream of the 2007 crop. The result is a select list of 214 of the top tales printed last year, all of them sorted and arranged right here at your greedy fingertips. All the standouts are here, stories culled from anthologies such as The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Future Weapons of War, Alien Crimes, Logorrhea, The New Space Opera, Coyote Road, Eclipse One, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy, Man vs. Machine, Writers of the Future XXIII, and Thrilling Wonder Stories, along with magazines like Asimov’s, Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Interzone, Paradox, Weird Tales, H. P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, Talebones, Apex, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and of course Black Gate. It’s a massive list that will keep you enmeshed in the best that sci-fi and fantasy has to offer for a long time, and it’s only available here at Black Gate. Dive in!

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Judith Berman’s “Awakening” Nominated for a Nebula Award!

Judith Berman’s “Awakening” Nominated for a Nebula Award!

Congratulations to Black Gate‘s Judith Berman for getting a Nebula nod for her story appearing in Black Gate #10, “Awakening.” A fascinating, mind-bending fantasy of ghosts, sorcerers, treasure, haunted cities, perilous forests, and lost souls, it’s a standout tale that appeared in one of our best issues yet. Read the entire story here.

When you’re through reading Judith’s tale, you can click on the issue links on the sidebar to your left and read excerpts from some of the many other talented authors to be found in the pages of Black Gate. If you haven’t subscribed yet, get to it — you’re missing out on lots of the very best fantasy and Sword-and-Sorcery fiction being published today. And be sure to check out our Back Issue Sale, the perfect way to get caught up on your Black Gate collection, available only while supplies last.

A Review of Skin Hunger

A Review of Skin Hunger

When an unabashed work of fantasy gets shortlisted for a National Book Award, Black Gate‘s Rich Horton sits up and takes notice. The volume in question is titled Skin Hunger, Book One of a series called A Resurrection of Magic. Penned by talented writer Kathleen Duey, it’s filled with witches, magic, ove and loss. Horton judges it an intriguing page-turner that acts as a promising introduction to Duey’s fictional world.

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Black Gate #1 gets a new review

Black Gate #1 gets a new review

It’s been awhile since the premier issue of Black Gate stormed onto the fantasy landscape, but even now it continues to attract new readers and stellar reviews. The latest rolls in courtesy of Blue Tyson, an Australian fan who runs a number of different blogs that cover the sci-fi and fantasy fields. Tyson recently ordered up a batch of Black Gate back numbers, and he’s set to review them one by one on his website. So what did he think of those classic Issue #1 tales from such talents as Karl Edward Wagner, Michael Moorcock, Charles de Lint, Richard Parks, and Jeffrey Ford? Read on to find out.

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And if you haven’t picked up Black Gate #1 yet, you better hurry. Like a fortuitous rift in the space-time continuum, we still have a few copies available on the website — but that window of opportunity won’t last forever. Order your copies today, and discover what reviewers and readers alike have been raving about.

Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews

Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews

It’s always nice to see an old standby come roaring back into the fiction arena. Almost three years after The Third Alternative vanished from newsstands the popular magazine has returned, sporting a new look, new focus, and even a new title: Black Static. Does it measure up to what came before?

Black Gate reviewer David Soyka delves into the first two issues and finds a lot to like. Highlights include work from authors like M. K. Hobson, Lisa Tuttle, Steve Utley, Scott Nicholson, and of course old TTA veterans such as columnist Christopher Fowler and book reviewer Peter Tennant.

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Knight at the Movies: The Roots of Action/Horror

Knight at the Movies: The Roots of Action/Horror

There’s been action and horror in films since the very beginning — but when did the now-distinctive “action/horror” genre come about? Join Black Gate‘s E. E. Knight on a journey across decades in search of the milestones in this longstanding admixture of spooks and dukes. Aliens, bugs, skeletons, vampires and…RVs? They’re all here for this eclectic romp through movie history.

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A Review of The Name of the Wind

A Review of The Name of the Wind

To start off the new year, Black Gate‘s Robert Rhodes reviews the first volume in a new trilogy of novels penned by a fresh voice on the fantasy scene, Wisconsin’s Patrick Rothfuss. This story was seven years in the making, and it shows. Click inside to discover how Rothfuss’ world of fantasy and magic differs in intriguing ways from the work of past masters like Lewis, Tolkien, and Rowling.

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