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Author: John ONeill

A Pilgrimmage to DreamHaven Books

A Pilgrimmage to DreamHaven Books

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Greg Ketter in front of DreamHaven Books and Comics in
downtown Minneapolis. Photo taken Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Science fiction collector Denny Lien died in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, and word started going out that the folks handling his estate were looking for help. Rich Horton let me know that they were searching for a home for his legendary collection of vintage science fiction magazines. I didn’t need to be told twice, and on Wednesday I rented a minivan, folded down the back seats, and drove 379 miles from Chicago to Minneapolis.

Greg Ketter had the key to Denny’s place so I swung by Greg’s store, DreamHaven Books and Comics, just a few blocks from George Floyd Square. Greg is a friend of mine, and I’ve known him since I started buying books from the DreamHaven booth at conventions in the mid-90s. But I’d never made the trip to DreamHaven Books before… and I wasn’t prepared for the wonders that awaited inside.

DreamHaven is the most glorious and well-stocked specialty bookstore I’ve ever seen, and if you’re a science fiction collector (or even a casual fan), it is a place you absolutely must visit at least once in your life. I don’t know why I never did it sooner, but it’s clear to me now that I’ve lived a lot of wasted years.

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Future Treasures: Witch King by Martha Wells

Future Treasures: Witch King by Martha Wells

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Witch King by Martha Wells (Tor.com, May 30, 2023). Cover art by Cynthia Sheppard

Martha Wells was one of the most popular authors we published in Black Gate. Her terrific Ile-Rien tales (“Reflections,” Black Gate #10, “Holy Places,” BG #11, and “Houses of the Dead,” BG #12) were set in the same world as her nebula-nominated novel The Death of the Necromancer, and her popular Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy (The Wizard Hunters, The Ships of Air, and The Gate of Gods).

Of course, her career really took off with the appearance of Muderbot. The first two books in the series, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition, won back-to-back Hugo and Locus Awards; after that Martha graciously declined further nominations to give other nominees a chance. That didn’t stop the Hugo electorate from voting The Murderbot Diaries the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Series (the same year that Network Effect, the 5th volume, won the Hugo for Best Novel).

Martha’s upcoming Witch King, her first new fantasy novel in over a decade, arrives from Tor.com at the end of the month and, as you can imagine, it’s one of the most highly anticipated books of the year. Martha has promised us a guest post on the book in a few weeks, so stay tuned.

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New Treasures: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

New Treasures: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

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The Scourge Between Stars (Tor Nightfire, April 4, 2023). Cover by Chris McGrath

Tor’s new Nightfire horror imprint has really hit the ground running. Launched in April 2019, its first project was the audio-only horror anthology Come Join Us By the Fire in October 2019, and it hasn’t slowed down since — with books from T. Kingfisher, Brian Lumley, Lucy A. Snyder, Catriona Ward, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Cassandra Khaw, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and lots more.

Its latest title, The Scourge Between Stars, is a delicious-looking debut novel from Ness Brown, a deep-space horror tale that Ally Wilkes (All the White Spaces) calls “a stellar, perfectly-formed piece of space horror: a smart blend of Alien-esque monsters with generation-ship existential despair,” and Publishers Weekly praises as “Tense, gory, and genuinely creepy… sci-fi horror that holds its own with the classics of the genre.”

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Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part I

Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part I

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Some of the eye-popping pulps from the Bob Weinberg collection auctioned at Windy City

This weekend was the Windy City Pulp & Paper show, an annual gathering of about 600-800 pulp and vintage paperback enthusiasts in Lombard, Illinois. Founded by Doug Ellis and run by a dedicated and talented team, Windy City has gradually become my favorite convention. Back when Black Gate was a print magazine I used to get a table and sell back issues, but these days I spend my time more productively. Namely buying stuff, but also hanging out with friends and attending the auction.

And gawking at amazing sights. If you’re interested in rare and unusual items — such as mint-condition pulps, rare first editions, signed volumes, original art, and letters and esoterica from pulp writers such as Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, and countless others — Windy City is the place to be. It’s a chance to hang out with like-minded individuals, gossip, and (especially!) find incredible treasures.

Reader, I found some treasures.

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The New Weird Tales

The New Weird Tales

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Weird Tales #366, the Sword & Sorcery issue (January 2023), and #367, the
Cosmic Horror issue (May 2023). Covers by Bob Eggleton and Mike Mignola

I ordered a copy of the new Sword & Sorcery issue of Weird Tales last year, and it finally arrived a few weeks ago — so late that I almost forgot I ordered it.

But it did arrive — and turned out to be damn impressive. A huge oversize (8×10) issue in full color, with terrific front and back covers by Bob Eggleton and Archer H. Anglow (see below), and weighing in at 128 pages. The stellar TOC includes a new Elric tale by Michael Moorcock, plus Kevin J. Anderson, Marguerite Reed, and Black Gate‘s own Howard Andrew Jones (an exclusive excerpt from his upcoming book Lord of the Shattered Land), along with an appreciation of Moorcock by Neil Gaiman, and a delightful full-color article on Sword & Sorcery by Charles R. Rutledge.

Issue 367, shipping next month, looks even more impressive. The Cosmic Horror issue offers an eye-catching Hellboy cover by Mike Mignola, a Hellboy story by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, plus new work from Ramsey Campbell, Paul Cornell, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Nancy Kilpatrick, Tim Lebbon, F. Paul Wilson, and lots more.

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New Treasures: The Kirilli Matter, Book 9 of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

New Treasures: The Kirilli Matter, Book 9 of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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All 9 volumes of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
(WMG Publishing, 2013 – 2023). Covers by Dirk Berger and WMG Publishing

In the mid-90s Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote The Fey, a 5-volume fantasy series released by the hottest publisher in fantasy, Bantam Spectra (publisher of, among other things, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin). Jayme Lynn Blaschke interviewed Kristine for my old website SF Site in 1998, and she gave a great synopsis of her ambitions for the series.

When I started working on The Fey, I described it to my editor as a Hundred Years’ War. Now, if you’ve read The Fey, you realize I haven’t gotten anywhere close to a hundred years. We’re in the first twenty years, and I’m starting in on book five. If this series sells well, I could probably go the full hundred years. It may take me twenty years to write, but I know the cycle is going to be long. We’re talking War of the Roses here. And there are a lot of stories in there, and they don’t necessarily have to be about the same characters.

Kristine followed the first five books in The Fey with a 2-volume sequel, The Black Throne, in 1999 and 2000. When the rights reverted back to her, she repacked the books in handsome new editions and re-released them through WMG, the publishing house she runs with her husband, the talented Dean Wesley Smith. As she predicted back in 1998, she is still writing the series 20 years later, and in fact she just released volume 9, The Kirilli Matter, last month.

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Weird Horror #6 Now on Sale

Weird Horror #6 Now on Sale

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Weird Horror #6 (Undertow Publications,
March 14, 2023). Cover art by Asya Yordanova

The sixth issue of Michael Kelly’s excellent magazine Weird Horror has arrived, and it’s packed with deliciously creepy fiction and non-fiction from some of the most exciting writers in the business, including Simon Strantzas, Barbara A. Barnett, Neil Williamson, and many others — plus Steve Rasnic Tem’s 500th story sale (!!!).

Michael has made many of the stories — and the fabulous accompanying artwork — available for free on the Weird Horror website, so there’s no excuse not to check it out. Have a look below.

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Future Treasures: Fall of the Iron Gods, Book II of The Mechanists by Olivia Chadha

Future Treasures: Fall of the Iron Gods, Book II of The Mechanists by Olivia Chadha

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Rise of the Red Hand and Fall of the Iron Gods (Erewhon Books,
January 19, 2021, and April 30, 2024). Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio. Covers by Rashed AlAkroka

Liz Gorinsky is one of the most respected editors in science fiction and fantasy. In fact, when I finished my first novel The Robots of Gotham, Liz was the first person I brought it to (she didn’t buy it). Liz left Tor Books in 2018 to found an independent speculative fiction publishing company, Erewhon Books. Liz left Erewhon last year, but not before growing it into one of the most exciting new publishers of SF and fantasy.

One of their recent discoveries is Olivia Chadha, a Colorado author of literary novels (Balance of Fragile Things), comic books, and SF/Hopepunk. Her first SF novel was Rise of the Red Hand, the tale of a group of rebels in a climate ravaged future South Asia who discover an appalling government conspiracy, which Nerd Daily calls “a stunning read from beginning to end.” The sequel, Fall of the Iron Gods, is due next spring.

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A Salute to a Science Fiction Reader: R.K. Robinson, 1945 – June 30, 2022

A Salute to a Science Fiction Reader: R.K. Robinson, 1945 – June 30, 2022

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I never met Rick Robinson. I knew him, as many of you did, as R.K. Robinson, one of Black Gate‘s most enthusiastic readers. He began by subscribing to our print version two decades ago, and became a regular supporter of the blog when we switched to electronic publication in 2011. He left over 500 comments here over the years, and that’s how I came to know him, as a knowledgeable and friendly reader whom we could always count on to kick off the discussion in the Comments section, especially when we were talking vintage science fiction and fantasy.

Here’s a typical Rick comment, from a 2019 New Treasures piece on Megan E. O’Keefe’s Velocity Weapon, lamenting the sheer volume of fabulous new stuff on the shelves.

This sounds really good. John, you’re like the candy man of new books. I’m getting overwhelmed, sinking, slowly, into the swamp of hardcovers, paperbacks, ebooks… I’m drowning here.

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New Treasures: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

New Treasures: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

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A Door in the Dark (Margaret K. McElderry Books, March 28, 2023). Cover by Bose Collins

I’m such a sucker for a great cover. And Bose Collins’ glorious cover artwork for Scott Reintgen’s new fantasy A Door in the Dark — featuring the tantalizing and mysterious grounds of Balmerick University — definitely got my attention.

A Door in the Dark is the opening novel in the Waxways series, a fantasy thriller that follows six young wizards fighting their way home after a portal spell malfunction leaves them stranded in the Dires, and stalked by a terrifying revenant. Kirkus Reviews calls is “Truly fantastic… [with] elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system,” and I like the sound of that.

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