Browsed by
Author: Web Master

Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews

Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews

Comments 0 Comment

Flesh eating mutants, golden apples, post-apocalyptic witches, and a crazy little thing called Love — just another day in the office for Black Gate reviewer David Soyka. This week he reviews notable offerings from Fantasy and Science Fiction and Interzone, issues featuring the work of authors such as Ted Chiang, John Lanagan, M. John Harrison, and Gwyneth Jones. Which one prompted David to exclaim, “Cormac McCarthy, eat your heart out!”? Click the link and find out.

READ THE ARTICLE

The Death and Legacy of Robert Jordan

The Death and Legacy of Robert Jordan

Comments 0 Comment

James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (1948–2007) was one of the most popular authors in the fantasy field for decades. Writing under the pseudonym Robert Jordan, he continued the adventures of Robert E. Howard’s Conan in a series of pastiches in the ’80s, and built a name as a new fantasist worth watching. This was followed by his epic series of unprecedented scope, The Wheel of Time, which became a monstrous bestseller that delighted legions of fans — even as some began to fear that Jordan’s popularity and style would corrupt the genre’s soul. Now he’s suddenly gone, leaving his immense masterwork unfinished.

What will Robert Jordan’s enduring impact on the field be? Have we lost a revered master? A prodigious hack? Some combination of the two? Black Gate‘s Leo Grin analyses the meteoric rise and tragic fall of one of the most influential fantasists of modern times.

READ THE ARTICLE

The Fantasy Cycles of Clark Ashton Smith Part IV: Poseidonis, Mars, and Xiccarph

The Fantasy Cycles of Clark Ashton Smith Part IV: Poseidonis, Mars, and Xiccarph

Comments 1 comment

In this, the final chapter of Black Gate‘s deep, rich look at the extravagant worlds of the writer fondly remembered by his Cthulhuoid nickname Klarkash-Ton, explorer Ryan Harvey takes us on a tour of several of the prose-poet’s more obscure creations. From a fast-sinking Atlantis to a dying Red Planet to an extra-solar world unlike any ever put to paper, these imaginative visions may have been seldom used by Smith, but they ultimately would play host to some of his most memorable and well-regarded tales.

READ THE ARTICLE

A Review of The Book of the Ler

A Review of The Book of the Ler

Comments 0 Comment

Every once in awhile a long-forgotten genre classic is unearthed and reintroduced to a new generation of readers. Such is the case with M. A. Foster’s Ler trilogy of sci-fi books. But does the series’ classic status hold up after three decades of out-of-print neglect? Black Gate reviewer D. K. Latta explores all 928 pages of Foster’s mind-bending “genetic evolution and manipulation” to find out.

READ THE ARTICLE

An Interview with Paizo publisher Erik Mona

An Interview with Paizo publisher Erik Mona

Comments 0 Comment

Robert E. Howard. C. L. Moore. Henry Kuttner. Leigh Brackett. Gary Gygax. For fantasy readers and gamers, these are names to conjure with. And all of them are now roaring back into print courtesy of Paizo Publishing, one of the leading publishers in the fantasy and role-playing fields.

Black Gate Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones checks in with Paizo publisher Erik Mona for all the details about his ambitious new fantasy imprint, Planet Stories, and the classic tales at the center of the endeavor.

READ THE ARTICLE

Back Issue Sale!

Back Issue Sale!

Comments 0 Comment

With the arrival of Black Gate 11, it’s time to clear some space out of the New Epoch Press warehouse. And that means it’s time for our very first Back Issue Sale.

Now’s your chance to expand or complete your collection of the magazine RPGNet calls “wonderful… fantasy fans couldn’t ask for a more comprehensive and worthwhile buy.” And Locus’s Nick Gevers says “Black Gate [contains] serious work… and magnificent storytelling.”

For a very limited time, any four back issues are the same price as a new subscription: $29.95, plus shipping and handling. And any eight are just $55! That includes our second and third issues, normally $12.95, and even our rare first issue, priced at $15.95! You can own our first four issues — a $51.80 value — for just $29.95! But hurry. Quantities of certain issues are very limited, and when they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

Blood, Blade and Thruster Interview

Blood, Blade and Thruster Interview

Comments 0 Comment

“Think Realms of Fantasy meets The Onion.” That’s how the editors of Blood, Blade, and Thruster describe their new magazine of “speculative fiction and satire.” Angela at SciFiChick.com has posted a lengthy discussion with the editors of BBT which we thought would be of interest to Black Gate readers. We even get mentioned in the course of the interview:

I started by pestering every editor I could get my virtual little hands on. . . I was surprised when almost all of them answered in the most forthright way possible. So basically I used people who had been in the business a lot longer than I had for advice. People like Jason Sizemore at Apex Digest, John O’Neill at Black Gate, and all the folks at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, were of tremendous help.

Read the rest at the SciFiChick.com website, and learn about one of the more unique fantasy-oriented mags to hit the marketplace.

Review of Imaro 2: The Quest For Cush

Review of Imaro 2: The Quest For Cush

Comments 0 Comment

Imaro ranks among the all-time great fantasy heroes, a warrior stalking through a fantasticated, prehistoric Africa brimming with sword-and-sorcery pleasures. The character’s creator, Charles Saunders, is legendary in the field as the first black author to make a splash in the genre, ingeniously playing off of the work and headlong style of past masters like Robert E. Howard while creating a startling new fantasy world with all the quasi-historical verisimilitude of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. The result is sui generis, a brilliant evocation of S&S that hasn’t been seen before or since.

Black Gate regular Ryan Harvey takes a look at the new reprinting of the second Imaro book, The Quest For Cush, and tells us what has changed since it was first published back in 1984. It’s a series that no reader who claims to be a fantasy fan should miss.

READ THE ARTICLE

Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews

Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews

Comments 0 Comment

Time and History are on the agenda in David Soyka’s latest fiction reviews for Black Gate readers.

In Paradox Magazine #10, Soyka tells how author C. Kevin Barrett succeeds where so many others fail in their depictions of alternate history, and delves into new tales from Sarah Monette and Danny Adams, among others.

Meanwhile, Interzone 210 offers compelling new fiction by Rachel Swirsky and Tim Akers. . . but is the magazine’s cover more misleading than matter-of-fact? Dive into David’s review and find out.

READ THE ARTICLE