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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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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.

Weirdbook 35 Now Available

Weirdbook 35 Now Available

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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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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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Future Treasures: Kangaroo Too by Curtis C. Chen

Future Treasures: Kangaroo Too by Curtis C. Chen

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Curtis C. Chen’s debut novel Waypoint Kangaroo was a Locus Award finalist for Best First Novel. Not your typical SF adventure, it featured a secret agent sent on a forced vacation after screwing up once too often. James Patrick Kelly called it “A high tech thriller set on a passenger liner headed for Mars, featuring a wisecracking secret agent with a super power that will blow your mind,” and Charlie Jane Anders said “This Kangaroo could just be your new favorite wisecracking interplanetary adventurer.” The sequel, a brand new tale of outer space adventure, arrives in hardcover next week.

On the way home from his latest mission, secret agent Kangaroo’s spacecraft is wrecked by a rogue mining robot. The agency tracks the bot back to the Moon, where a retired asteroid miner — code named “Clementine” — might have information about who’s behind the sabotage.

Clementine will only deal with Jessica Chu, Kangaroo’s personal physician and a former military doctor once deployed in the asteroid belt. Kangaroo accompanies Jessica as a courier, smuggling Clementine’s payment of solid gold in the pocket universe that only he can use.

What should be a simple infiltration is hindered by the nearly one million tourists celebrating the anniversary of the first Moon landing. And before Kangaroo and Jessica can make contact, Lunar authorities arrest Jessica for the murder of a local worker.

Jessica won’t explain why she met the victim in secret or erased security footage that could exonerate her. To make things worse, a sudden terror attack puts the whole Moon under lockdown. Now Kangaroo alone has to get Clementine to talk, clear Jessica’s name, and stop a crooked scheme which threatens to ruin approximately one million vacations.

But old secrets are buried on the Moon, and digging up the past will make Kangaroo’s future very complicated…

Kangaroo Too will be published by St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books on June 20, 2017. It is 308 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by David Curtis.

Pulp Literature 13 Now Available

Pulp Literature 13 Now Available

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In his review of Pulp Literature 10 last April, Fletcher Vredenburgh wrote:

Pulp Literature has been around for several years now, having published ten thick issues… While it has only a few swords & sorcery stories, I was blown away by PL’s quality and richness…. Pulp Literature is filled with a wide variety of genres. Senior citizen detectives, Jewish monsters in contemporary Ontario, poetry, all sorts of good things. Don’t let that literature tag scare you off. The editors’ love of pulp in so many varieties means they have a love of storytelling and don’t neglect it. How such a magazine has escaped wider notice eludes me… Pulp Literature reminds me of Michael Chabon’s undertaking to revitalize contemporary literary writing with plot and narrative — which I completely appreciate and love.

That sounds pretty darn good. After I read Fletcher’s review I promised myself I’d check it out, so I was delighted to see the Winter 2017 issue had not one but two stories by acclaimed fantasy author Matthew Hughes (Black Brillion, The Damned Busters), one under his full name and a second under “Matt Hughes.” (He also publishes under Hugh Matthews, because why not?) Plus there’s also fantasy tales by FJ Bergmann, Rebecca Wurtz, Anna Belkine, Carolyn Oliver, Mel Anastasiou, and JM Landels.

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Andrew Liptak on 39 SF, Fantasy, and Horror Books to Read in June

Andrew Liptak on 39 SF, Fantasy, and Horror Books to Read in June

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The Rebellion's Last Traitor-small Slaves of the Switchboard FINA FINAL.indd The Witch Who Came In From The Cold-small

Last January, over at The Verge, Andrew Liptak combed through publisher catalogs and countless press releases to produce 16 SF and fantasy books worth noting. He did the same thing in March and came up with 23 titles. His June report includes a whopping 39 books. I can see this month is going to take some serious reading time if I even want to pretend to keep up.

Andrew’s list includes new titles by Tanya Huff, Catherynne M. Valente, Terry Brooks, Brenda Cooper, Victor LaValle, Yoon Ha Lee, Seanan McGuire, Cindy Pon, Lilith Saintcrow, Victoria Schwab, Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, Theodora Goss, James Gunn, Stephen Graham Jones, Linda Nagata, Will McIntosh, Rachel Dunne, Daryl Gregory, Jason M. Hough, Karin Tidbeck, Tad Williams, and others. Here’s some of his selections that I found most interesting.

The Rebellion’s Last Traitor by Nik Korpon — Angry Robot (352 pages, $7.99 in paperback, June 6, 2017)

Decades of war has shattered Eitan City, and to help restore order, the Tathadann Party rewrites history by outlawing the past. One man, Henraek, is a memory thief, stealing memories from civilians, until he harvests a memory of his own wife’s death. Now, he’s going to do whatever it takes to discover the truth about her killing, even if it means turning on the people he was most loyal to.

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New Treasures: Skitter by Ezekiel Boone

New Treasures: Skitter by Ezekiel Boone

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Ezekiel Boone (who also writes mainstream fiction under the name Alexi Zentner) published his debut horror novel last July. The Hatching, the tale of an Earth overrun by spiders, was called Arachnophobia meets 2012, and Publishers Weekly praised it as “An apocalyptic extravaganza of doom and heroism… addictive.”

The sequel Skitter arrived in hardcover from Atria/Emily Bestler Books last month. What can you expect in the second volume of a spider apocalypse saga? Let’s say that things don’t look good for mankind, and leave it at that. Spider apocalypse. Yeee…. I get the jitters just thinking about it.

First, there was the black swarm that swallowed a man whole, the suspicious seismic irregularities in India that confounded scientists, the nuclear bomb China dropped on its own territory without any explanation. Then, scientist Melanie Guyer’s lab received a package containing a mysterious egg sac; little did Dr. Guyer know that, almost overnight, Earth would be consumed by previously dormant spiders that suddenly wanted out.

Now, tens of millions of people around the world are dead. Half of China is a nuclear wasteland. Mysterious flesh-eating spiders are marching through Los Angeles, Oslo, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, and countless other cities. According to Dr. Guyer, the crisis may soon be over.

But in Japan, a giant, glowing egg sac gives a shocking preview of what is to come, even as survivors in Los Angeles panic and break the quarantine zone. Out in the desert, survivalists Gordo and Shotgun are trying to invent a weapon to fight back, but it may be too late, because President Stephanie Pilgrim has been forced to enact the plan of last resort.

America, you are on your own.

We covered The Hatching here last year. Skitter was published by Emily Bestler Books on May 2, 2017. It is $26 in hardcover, and $7.99 for the digital edition.

A Treasure Trove of Classic Science Fiction & Fantasy: The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson

A Treasure Trove of Classic Science Fiction & Fantasy: The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson

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The Collected Poul Anderson 1 Call Me Joe-small The Collected Poul Anderson 2 The Queen of Air and Darkness-small The Collected Poul Anderson 7 Question and Answer-small

By the time of his death in 2001, Poul Anderson was at the top of the field, with over 70 novels and numerous short stories to his credit. He’d won virtually every award science fiction has to offer, including seven Hugos and three Nebulas. In the 16 years since, however, virtually all of his work has fallen out of print. And like most of the greats of 20th Century science fiction, he’s now in very real danger of being forgotten.

Thank goodness for NESFA Press. Their ongoing project, The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, currently at seven volumes and counting, gathers the very best of his short fiction, including all of his Hugo and Nebula nominated and winning short stories. NESFA has produced some stellar collections over the past few decades, celebrating the work of Roger Zelazny, John W. Campbell, Fredric Brown, Zenna Henderson, Cordwainer Smith, C.M. Kornbluth, and countless others, with gorgeous permanent edition hardcovers.

Like each of those, these new volumes have made hard-to-find fiction available and fresh all over again, introducing Anderson to a whole new generation. The latest installment, The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, Volume 7: Question and Answer, collects five novellas, two novels, and a smattering of short works, including six tales of Dominic Flandry, agent of the Terran Empire, and two stories of the far-ranging Psychotechnic League. It was released in hardcover in February.

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