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Author: John ONeill

Grimdark Magazine 9 Now Available

Grimdark Magazine 9 Now Available

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grimdark-magazine-9-smallOver at Tangent Online, reviewer Kevin P Hallett demonstrates a knack for producing tantalizing three-sentence descriptions for each of the original pieces in the latest issue of Grimdark magazine.

“The Law of the Harvest” by Tim Waggoner

This horror fantasy short story is set in a world where the new power has expelled the old gods from the Dominion. Torvan is a harrower, sworn to find and kill any of these fallen gods that still live. He enters a poor village, where one of the Fallen is living off the people who scratch out a life there…

“The Bed of the Crimson King” by Filip Wiltgren

The Crimson King rose from a simple farm boy to become the hero who defeated the witches in this short fantasy. Now, in his elder years, he yearns for the simpler life of his youth. But a surviving witch is planning her revenge…

“Pre-emptive Revenge” by Rob J. Hayes

“Pre-emptive Revenge” is a short fantasy set in a medieval land. Betrim’s wife will rule this land; but first, all the members of the ruling Jogaren clan must die. Betrim has laid siege to a city and trapped a Jogaren family inside…

The issue also has fiction by Peter Orullian and Teresa Frohock.

The latest issue went on sale October 1. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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New Treasures: Crow Shine by Alan Baxter

New Treasures: Crow Shine by Alan Baxter

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Crow Shine is the debut horror collection from Australian dark fantasy writer Alan Baxter. I’ve never heard of Baxter, but the book is generating a lot of buzz from people I have heard of, like Nathan Ballingrud, who called it “A sweeping collection of horror and dark fantasy stories, packed with misfits and devils, repentant fathers and clockwork miracles.” On his website, Baxter talks about a little about the book.

It’s no news to regular readers here what a fan I am of short stories. Ever since I was about 11 years old and picked up a Roald Dahl book called Switch Bitch, expecting something like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Danny the Champion of the World and got… well, I got my mind blown. I think the short story and novella are a unique art form, one that is incredibly hard to do well, entirely different from novels, but one that is utterly captivating… So to be in a position now where a publisher as respected as Ticonderoga are publishing a book collecting the best of my own short stories? My mind is blown again. It’s amazing. Crow Shine will contain nineteen short stories and novellas, and is named after one of the three stories original to this collection. The other sixteen are drawn across many years of my yarns exploring the dark weird fantastic that I love so much.

Baxter’s short fiction has been published in F&SF, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Postscripts, Daily Science Fiction, Midnight Echo, Pseudopod, and in more than twenty anthologies. He is the author of the dark fantasy trilogy, Bound, Obsidian, and Abduction (the Alex Caine series) from by HarperVoyager, and the dark urban fantasy novels RealmShift and MageSign from Gryphonwood Press.

Crow Shine was published by Ticonderoga Publications on November 11, 2016. It is 296 pages, priced at $29.99 in hardcover, $22.99 in trade paperback, and $4.99 for the digital edition. I don’t know who did the excellent cover, but I’m trying to find out.

Explore the Dark Side of Dreams in Nightmare’s Realm: New Tales of the Weird & Fantastic

Explore the Dark Side of Dreams in Nightmare’s Realm: New Tales of the Weird & Fantastic

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nightmares-realm-new-tales-of-the-weird-and-fantastic-smallDark Regions Press is offering a deluxe signed limited edition hardcover edition of their upcoming anthology Nightmare’s Realm: New Tales of the Weird & Fantastic, edited by S. T. Joshi. It contains original fiction from Ramsey Campbell, Steve Rasnic Tem, John Langan, Simon Strantzas, John Shirley, Darrell Schweitzer, Gemma Files, and many others, all focusing on the theme of dreams and nightmares.

The striking cover artwork is by Samuel Araya (click the image at right for a bigger version). The limited edition is well out of my price range at $150, but there’s a trade paperback and digital edition promised for early next year as well.

Dreams and nightmares — what Ambrose Bierce called “visions of the night” — are the basis of some of the greatest weird fiction in literary history. The unruly images that torment us in sleep are usually dispelled by the coming of day — but can they be dismissed so easily? Do nightmares have some impalpable reality that can affect our daily lives, the lives of those around us, and perhaps the very fabric of the universe?

This volume contains seventeen original stories by some of the leading contemporary writers of weird fiction. Each tale probes the relation of nightmares to the real world, and to the human mind, in ways that are baffling, intriguing, terrifying, and poignant. Are we dreaming or are we awake? Can dreams gain a kind of quasi-reality and affect the workings of the real world? Can technology enhance or even create a dream-realm?

All all-star cast has contributed stories long and short … David Barker … Jason V Brock … Ramsey Campbell … Gemma Files … Richard Gavin … Caitlín R. Kiernan … Nancy Kilpatrick … John Langan … Reggie Oliver … W. H. Pugmire … Darrell Schweitzer … John Shirley … Simon Strantzas … Steve Rasnic Tem … Jonathan Thomas … Donald Tyson … Stephen Woodworth … The volume is edited by S. T. Joshi, a leading critic and anthologist of weird fiction.

Who can say that the nightmare is merely a wisp of fancy engendered by our own minds? After all, it was Edgar Allan Poe who said: “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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Future Treasures: The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova

Future Treasures: The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova

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perf5.500x8.500.inddElise Kova is the author of the bestselling Air Awaken series, and its prequel, the Golden Guard Trilogy, all from Silver Wing Press. Her newest novel, The Alchemists of Loom, is the opening volume in the Loom Saga. The second volume, The Dragons of Nova, arrives in July from Keymaster Press. I’ve never heard of Kaymaster, but I’ll grant them this — they produce attractive books.

Her vengeance. His vision.

Ari lost everything she once loved when the Five Guilds’ resistance fell to the Dragon King. Now, she uses her unparalleled gift for clockwork machinery in tandem with notoriously unscrupulous morals to contribute to a thriving underground organ market. There isn’t a place on Loom that is secure from the engineer-turned-thief, and her magical talents are sold to the highest bidder as long as the job defies their Dragon oppressors.

Cvareh would do anything to see his sister usurp the Dragon King and sit on the throne. His family’s house has endured the shame of being the lowest rung in the Dragons’ society for far too long. The Alchemist Guild, down on Loom, may just hold the key to putting his kin in power, if Cvareh can get to them before the Dragon King’s assassins.

When Ari stumbles upon a wounded Cvareh, she sees an opportunity to slaughter an enemy and make a profit off his corpse. But the Dragon sees an opportunity to navigate Loom with the best person to get him where he wants to go.

He offers her the one thing Ari can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she brings him to the Alchemists of Loom.

The Alchemists of Loom will be published by Keymaster Press on January 10, 2017. It is 380 pages, priced at $23.99 in hardcover and $4.99 for the digital edition.

Original Woodgrain Edition Dungeons and Dragons Box Set Sells For $22,100

Original Woodgrain Edition Dungeons and Dragons Box Set Sells For $22,100

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A first printing of the original woodgrain box edition of Dungeons and Dragons, one of the rarest RPG collectibles, sold on eBay Friday for $22,100. The seller tells the story of how they acquired this ultra-rare piece of gaming history in the item description:

This set is in Very Fine condition with one small stain on the front label and very minor scuffing on the corners of the box. Note that the Reference Sheets are not stapled, but loose sheets folded together. This was the original condition.

It was acquired by the present owner in an interesting way.

In 1974 I worked in a project offering supplemental educational materials to four school districts in Northwestern Wisconsin. I met Bill, an elementary school librarian, who was very excited about working with his students using role playing games. He had a friend in Minneapolis whom he had met through their shared interest in war gaming. This friend, “Lance,” was involved with creating a new project, a fantasy-style wargame in a box that could be played by anyone.

My librarian friend was working with a sixth-grade class to create a book based on playing the game. Included in this set is a copy of the booklet that his students created using the game. Bill also used a 20-sided die that he had hand-colored to differentiate scoring. Adding to the charm of this set, the die is included, as is a hand-written note from Bill, the librarian, explaining the use of the die. He added that there was currently a shortage of these dice, but they were available in England. He was going to England for a vacation, and would be bringing some back with him.

I’m not sure this is a record price, but it must be pretty close. It’s definitely one of the most high-profile sales of a D&D collectible in recent memory. The seller, editorjan_1, has never previously sold on eBay, and has a zero feedback score, which makes this auction something of a risk for the buyer. See the complete listing on eBay here, and a more detailed breakdown of everything in the box at acaeum.com.

Uncanny Magazine Issue 13 Now on Sale

Uncanny Magazine Issue 13 Now on Sale

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uncanny-magazine-november-december-2016-smallThe November/December issue of Uncanny is all about alien invasions and fairy tales. Here’s Bob Blough from his Tangent Online review, with some high praise for the stories within.

This is my first read of this magazine and I am impressed. By this small taste I can tell that the editors favor good writing and well-crafted prose.

Paul Cornell has written one of Britain’s “cozy catastrophes” in “Don’t You Worry, You Aliens.” In fact the catastrophe is never explained. Suddenly people seem to be moving away. The protagonist, the local librarian, states that before the BBC went completely off the air it commented that no virus or plague seemed to be the cause. In any case, the librarian – an old man – is left completely alone in a small village with no electricity, internet or telephone. This story is a day in his life as he putters around town feeding his neighbor’s dog, and checking his garden. It is an elegiac story told at the pace of the elderly and is a beautiful miniature of his life. I must admit it has stuck in my mind. A very compelling story…

In “Kamanti’s Child” Jennifer Marie Brissett drops us in media res in an alien battle between two races. I like that tactic as we have to really follow all the clues to understand where we are and what is happening. A quiet village living off the land is invaded by another group. Kamanti, a pregnant alien woman survives the attack. She decides to travel to a city of her own kind. Along the way we are introduced to her daughter telepathically from her womb and the invaders called hoomans. Even as we see that we are the attackers it is stated that all of this world is related. So, an Earth so far ahead that we have developed into different species? An alien planet that has developed us into different species? Still the mystery continues and we learn just enough to get through this story…

Read his complete review here

The issue includes all–new short fiction by Paul Cornell, Brooke Bolander, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Alex Bledsoe, Kat Howard, and Nalo Hopkinson, and a reprint by Amal El–Mohtar, plus nonfiction by Alyssa Wong, Monica Valentinelli, Navah Wolfe, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Keidra Chaney, and recent Hugo Award winner Hao Jingfang (translated by Ken Liu), plus poetry, interviews, and an editorial. All of the content became available for purchase as an eBook (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) on November 1, 2016.

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Win a copy of The Watcher at the Door: The Early Kuttner, Volume Two, from Haffner Press!

Win a copy of The Watcher at the Door: The Early Kuttner, Volume Two, from Haffner Press!

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The Watcher at the Door-smallContests! We love contests. It’s because we love to give you things, just like Santa Claus.

In this case, it’s something you really, really want: the latest archival quality hardcover from Haffner Press, The Watcher at the Door: The Early Kuttner, Volume Two, a massive collection of 30 early weird fantasy tales by Henry Kuttner. Here in the Black Gate offices we’ve been awaiting this gorgeous book for a long, long time. We first gave you a sneak peek back in April 2015.

The Watcher at the Door is the second volume in a three-volume “Early Kuttner” set collecting many of Kuttner’s earliest stories, most of which have never been reprinted. The first volume, Terror in the House, was released way back in 2010.

We have two copies of this beautiful hardcover to gave away. How do you win one? Now pay attention, this is the fun part. You must submit the title of an imaginary weird fantasy story. The most compelling titles — as selected by a crack team of Black Gate judges — will be entered into the drawing. We’ll draw two names from that list, and the two winners will receive a free copy of The Watcher at the Door, complements of Haffner Press and Black Gate magazine. Here are the titles of some of the stories in this book, to give you a little inspiration:

“We Are the Dead,” Weird Tales, Apr ’37
“The Curse of the Crocodile,” Strange Stories, Aug ’39
“Corpse Castle,” Thrilling Mystery, Nov ’39
“When New York Vanished,” Startling Stories, Mar ’40
“The Room of Souls,” Strange Stories, Jun ’40

How hard is that? One submission per person, please. Winners will be contacted by e-mail, so use a real e-mail address maybe. All submissions must be sent to john@blackgate.com, with the subject line The Watcher at the Door, or something obvious like that so I don’t randomly delete it.

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New Treasures: Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu

New Treasures: Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu

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Ken Liu’s been having a heck of a year. His English language translation of Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem helped the book win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015, and his first collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, appeared in hardcover from Saga Press in March. And the second volume in his new fantasy epic, The Dandelion Dynasty, arrived in October (read the first chapter right here at Black Gate).

That should be enough for anyone… but not for him, apparently. Last month Liu released his first anthology, a groundbreaking collection of SF stories from China that is getting a lot of attention. Invisible Planets is available now in hardcover. Don’t look for a review here any time soon… I didn’t mail our advance copy out to our reviewers, because I refused to part with it.

Award-winning translator and author Ken Liu presents a collection of short speculative fiction from China. Some stories have won awards (including Hao Jingfang’s Hugo-winning novella, Folding Beijing); some have been included in various ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies; some have been well reviewed by critics and readers; and some are simply Ken’s personal favorites. Many of the authors collected here (with the obvious exception of New York Times bestseller Liu Cixin’s two stories) belong to the younger generation of ‘rising stars’. In addition, three essays at the end of the book explore Chinese science fiction. Liu Cixin’s essay, The Worst of All Possible Universes and The Best of All Possible Earths, gives a historical overview of SF in China and situates his own rise to prominence as the premier Chinese author within that context. Chen Qiufan’s The Torn Generation gives the view of a younger generation of authors trying to come to terms with the tumultuous transformations around them. Finally, Xia Jia, who holds the first Ph.D. issued for the study of Chinese SF, asks What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?

Invisible Planets was published by Tor Books on November 1, 2016. It is 384 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition.

A Tale of Two Covers: Shadows and Tall Trees 7 edited by Michael Kelly

A Tale of Two Covers: Shadows and Tall Trees 7 edited by Michael Kelly

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Michael Kelly’s Shadows and Tall Trees may be the most acclaimed original horror anthology series on the market. It’s been growing in stature and popularity every year, and anticipation is high for volume 7, due in March from Undertow Publications.

Michael had revealed the striking covers for both the trade paperback (at left) and hardcover (right) editions of the upcomnig volume at the Undertow website. About the trade edition he writes:

Very pleased to reveal the cover design for the Trade edition of Shadows & Tall Trees 7 coming March 2017. Art by Yaroslav Gerzhedovich. Design by Vince Haig. The hardcover will have a completely different cover.

And for the hardcover:

Very happy to reveal the cover for the hardback version of Shadows and Tall Trees, Vol. 7. Artwork and design is by the talented Vince Haig. Vince created that font specifically for this project. Kudos to him.

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Future Treasures: The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams

Future Treasures: The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams

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the-heart-of-what-was-lost-tad-williams-smallTad Williams’ massive Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and the 1,100-page To Green Angel Tower) was one of the biggest fantasy series of the late 80s and early 90s. Set in the world of Osten Ard, the books were enormously influential on an entire generation of fantasy writers. Patrick Rothfuss called it “Groundbreaking… changed how people thought of the genre, and paved the way for so much modern fantasy. Including mine,” and George R. R. Martin said it “Inspired me to write my own seven-book trilogy…. It’s one of my favorite fantasy series.”

Tad Williams returns to Osten Ard for the first time in over two decades with The Heart of What Was Lost. It arrives in hardcover next month from DAW, and will be followed by The Witchwood Crown (the opening novel in a brand new series, Last King of Osten Ard) in April 4, 2017.

At the end of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Ineluki the Storm King, an undead spirit of horrifying, demonic power, came within moments of stopping Time itself and obliterating humankind. He was defeated by a coalition of mortal men and women joined by his own deathless descendants, the Sithi.

In the wake of the Storm King’s fall, Ineluki’s loyal minions, the Norns, dark cousins to the Sithi, choose to flee the lands of men and retreat north to Nakkiga, their ancient citadel within the hollow heart of the mountain called Stormspike. But as the defeated Norns make their way to this last haven, the mortal Rimmersman Duke Isgrimnur leads an army in pursuit, determined to end the Norns’ attacks and defeat their ageless Queen Utuk’ku for all time.

Two southern soldiers, Porto and Endri, joined the mortal army to help achieve this ambitious goal — though as they venture farther and farther into the frozen north, braving the fierce resistance and deadly magics of the retreating Norns, they cannot help but wonder what they are doing so very far from home. Meanwhile, the Norns must now confront the prospect of extinction at the hands of Isgrimnur and his mortal army.

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