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Author: John ONeill

Star Pirates and Cyborg Games: Rich Horton on The Star Virus by Barrington J. Bayley and Mask of Chaos by John Jakes

Star Pirates and Cyborg Games: Rich Horton on The Star Virus by Barrington J. Bayley and Mask of Chaos by John Jakes

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The famous Ace Double series is highly collectible in its early D-series, which included classic work by Isaac Asimov, Andre Norton, Philip K. Dick, H. Beam Piper, Eric Frank Russell, A.E. van Vogt, Poul Anderson, Robert E. Howard, Leigh Brackett, Clifford D. Simak, and many others.

Later series, however, published fewer big names (and had a reduced art budget), and aren’t nearly as in demand. But there are still a few curiosities in the bunch — and more than a few good reads, as Rich Horton notes in his ongoing series of Ace Double reviews at his website, Strange at Ecbatan.

Here he is on The Star Virus by Barrington J. Bayley, published as half of Ace Double #78400 in 1970 — the tale of a star pirate, a mysterious alien artifact, and a daring theft that leads to a galaxy-spanning pursuit.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 212 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 212 Now Available

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beneath-ceaseless-skies-212-smallIssue #212 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies is now available, completely free on their website. It is dated November 10 and features fiction by Stephan Case and Evan Dicken, a podcast by Evan Dicken, and a reprint by Kenneth Schneyer.

Over at Tangent Online, Robert Turner seemed to especially enjoy the story by Stephan Case.

In “The Aeroliths” Stephan Case creates a world of floating stone, exiled nobles and political intrigue. The story is framed as a scroll read by the current wizard Theodulus. In it we learn the history of the wind spirit that is tied to the floating house. The world created is imaginative and the language rich and evocative. The pace is slow with a focus on world building, rather than action. Overall, this is an interesting read and suggested for those who prefer a slower paced, magical story.

Read Robert’s complete review here.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents for issue 212.

“The Aeroliths” by Stephen Case
We walked through the empty, echoing corridors of my family’s manor. I watched the Is flow by the manicured gardens where my ancestors had walked and dined. Through the wide windows of the manor’s upper levels, I looked for the shape of mountains in the distance, beyond the ivory teeth of the Capital’s broken walls. I wanted to go home. me.

“The Uncarved Heart” by Evan Dicken
I used to dream of the heart our masters would give me; spend my days sketching rough cordiform shapes in the corners of Father’s quota sheets and the backs of letters Mother sent from the front. I was sure all the other girls back at the Roost already had their hearts, that the Volant had carved each of them for a special purpose just as they’d carved my Mother, my Father, everyone but me.

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in October

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in October

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captive-of-gor-smallHere at Black Gate, we take great pride in our meticulous research, passionate reporting, and thoughtful analysis, especially on fantasy writers who are being criminally overlooked.

None of that stuff gets read, of course. What does get read? Articles like Nick Ozment’s “An Experiment in Gor: What Are John Norman’s Books About, Really?”, the runaway most popular post at Black Gate last month — by a wide margin. We love our readers, but boy, are you ever predictable. (Also: Ozment! Five more Gor articles, on my desk by Friday. Chop chop!)

Those of you who weren’t reading Nick’s Gor piece were enjoying Sean McLachlan’s ghost writing expose, “The New Pulp Era: Ghostwriting, Ebooks, and the Economics of Now,” and Fletcher Vredenburgh’s essay on “Horror and Swords & Sorcery.” Rounding out the Top Five were Violette Malan’s “My Top Ten Novel-to-Movie Adaptations,” and Bob Byrne’s gaming post “Modular: Eye of the Beholder – The Art of Dungeons & Dragons.”

Our report on winning our first World Fantasy Award came in at #6, followed by Bob’s Modular piece on the new Swords & Wizardry Kickstarter. Coming in at #8 was Harold Page’s review of Jason Thompson’s graphic novel The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath & Other Stories.

Closing out the Top Ten were John DeNardo and his Savory Selection of Science Fiction and Fantasy for October, and an entry in Bob Byrne’s other popular column series, “The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Milton F. Perry’s ‘Harry S. Truman, Sherlockian’.”

The complete list of Top Articles for October follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular overall articles, online fiction, and blog categories for the month.

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Black Gate Online Fiction: An Exclusive Excerpt from The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu

Black Gate Online Fiction: An Exclusive Excerpt from The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu

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Black Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive excerpt from Chapter One of Ken’s Liu’s The Wall of Storms, the second novel of The Dandelion Dynasty, published in hardcover and digital formats last month by Saga Press. Here’s the description.

In the much-anticipated sequel to the “magnificent fantasy epic” (NPR) Grace of Kings, Emperor Kuni Garu is faced with the invasion of an invincible army in his kingdom and must quickly find a way to defeat the intruders. Kuni Garu, now known as Emperor Ragin, runs the archipelago kingdom of Dara, but struggles to maintain progress while serving the demands of the people and his vision. Then an unexpected invading force from the Lyucu empire in the far distant west comes to the shores of Dara — and chaos results.

But Emperor Kuni cannot go and lead his kingdom against the threat himself with his recently healed empire fraying at the seams, so he sends the only people he trusts to be Dara’s savvy and cunning hopes against the invincible invaders: his children, now grown and ready to make their mark on history.

The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu’s debut novel and the opening novel of The Dandelion Dynasty, was nominated for the Nebula Award, and won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. His short story collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories was called “Profound enough to hurt” by Amal El-Mohtar of NPR, and his acclaimed translation of Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015.

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At Long Last, the World Begins to Appreciate Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney

At Long Last, the World Begins to Appreciate Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney

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Claire Cooney, who writes under the name CSE Cooney, was Black Gate‘s first website editor, and we published two of her short stories, “Godmother Lizard” and “Life on the Sun,” as part of our Black Gate Online Fiction library. I was sitting next to Claire three weeks ago when she won the World Fantasy Award for her groundbreaking debut collection Bone Swans, and I watched in pleasant surprise as the crowd around us exploded in cheers. It seems that, at long last, the world is starting to appreciate what those of us in the BG community have long known: CSE Cooney is one of the genre’s most gifted writers.

Today The Westerly Sun published a fine feature on Claire, titled “World award is no fantasy for Westerly author Claire Cooney.” Here’s a snippet.

“I had no expectation of winning so I didn’t prepare any comments,” said Cooney, whose stories take readers on fantastical journeys through reimagined fairy tales and myths. “I just sat there saying ‘No way’ … until my friends started screaming.”

Cooney describes her writing as secondary world fantasy, similar in genre to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Her writing features flying carpets, strange clowns and pied pipers, she said, with strong female characters and people who turn into things. “Swords and sorcery,” said the writer who has been influenced by such fairy tales as the The Pied Piper and Rumpelstilskin…

The World Fantasy Award is one of the three big awards given in her fantasy genre, and Cooney faced stiff competition in a category that included a Pulitzer Prize finalist and two career retrospectives from well-established international writers.

Read the complete article, written by Nancy Burns-Fusaro, here, and read the Nebula-nominated title story “The Bone Swans of Amandale” online here.

New Treasures: The Supernaturals by David L. Golemon

New Treasures: The Supernaturals by David L. Golemon

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the-supernaturals-david-golemon-smallI don’t know about you lot, but here in Chicago, a blustery wind just blew through the city and temperatures have plummeted 25 degrees. Dead leaves are blowing across the streets by the thousands, and the water in the bird feeder froze overnight. Fall is well and truly here, and the only way to manage it is to sit by the window, listen to the wind blow through the trees, and curl up under a blanket with a good creepy book.

David L. Golemon (author of the Event Group Thrillers) has a new haunted house novel out in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books that fits the bill nicely.

Built at the turn of the twentieth century by one of the richest and most powerful men in the world tucked away in the pristine Pocono Mountains, Summer Place, a retreat for the rich and famous, seems the very essence of charm and beauty, “a scene borrowed from a wondrous fairytale of gingerbread houses, bright forests, and glowing, sunny meadows.”

But behind the yellow and white trimmed exterior lurks an evil, waiting to devour the unwary…

Seven years ago, Professor Gabriel Kennedy’s investigation into paranormal activity at Summer Place ended in tragedy, and destroyed his career. Now, Kelly Delaphoy, the ambitious producer of a top-rated ghost-hunting television series, is determined to make Summer Place the centerpiece of an epic live broadcast on Halloween night. To ensure success, she needs help from the one man who has come face-to-face with the evil that dwells in Summer Place, a man still haunted by the ghosts of his own failure. Disgraced and alienated from the academic community, Kennedy wants nothing to do with the event. But Summer Place has other plans…

As Summer Place grows stronger, Kennedy, along with the paranormal ghost hunting team, The Supernaturals, sets out to confront… and if possible, destroy… the evil presence dwelling there.

The Supernaturals was published by Thomas Dunne Books on October 18, 2016. It is 383 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Jerry Todd.

John DeNardo on the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads for November

John DeNardo on the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads for November

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How does John DeNardo pick the best books every month? “Jedi Mind Tricks,” he tells me. Fine. Keep your secrets, DeNardo. We probably wouldn’t believe the answer, anyway.

John’s picks for November include new titles from Bruce Sterling, Anne Rice, Jean Johnson, Ken MacLeod, Rachel Neumeier, and many others. Here he is on Alien Morning by Rick Wilber

When seemingly-benevolent aliens arrive in our near-future and their true nature is revealed, the fate of two civilizations depends on the members of a family who have some serious issues to resolve… This near-future first contact story adds a personal element by placing a troubled family at the center of history-changing events.

And Remnants of Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel, the sequel to The Cold Between.

Two central corps soldiers, patrolling an empty sector of space as punishment for trying to uncover a government conspiracy, receive a distress call from a ship embroiled in battle. When they arrive, they find nearly one hundred corpses. But are they dead because of attacking raiders or due to sabotage?… Remnants of Trust is an engaging blend of military science fiction, mystery, and thriller.

See John’s complete article at Kirkus Reviews.

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Future Treasures: Apes and Angels, the Newest Volume in the Star Quest Trilogy by Ben Bova

Future Treasures: Apes and Angels, the Newest Volume in the Star Quest Trilogy by Ben Bova

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When I was a teenager in Ottawa I attended the local SF convention, Maplecon, a marvelous con that I still miss today, without fail every year. In 1984 I was a volunteer, and I was assigned as the liaison for our Guest of Honor, author and editor Ben Bova. I picked Ben and his wife up from the airport and drove them around town, and got to know them pretty well. Ben was gracious, kind, and a marvelous conversationalist, and we talked about everything — various ways to express the laws of thermodynamics, the re-election of Ronald Reagan, his time as editor of Analog, and lots more. In fact, Ben was one of the first industry professionals I got to know personally, and he made a big impression on me.

As a writer, he’s been amazingly prolific over the past few decades, releasing 22 books in his Grand Tour SF series, which explore the solar system, as well as his Voyager series, his Sam Gunn stories, six novels in the Orion sequence, and nearly two dozen standalone novels and collections. His current project is the Star Quest Trilogy (part of the Grand Tour), which takes the series outside the solar system for the first time. New Earth (2013) sets the stage for the trilogy, which began with Death Wave (2015), and continues with Apes and Angels, arriving in hardcover from Tor Books at the end of this month.

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November 2016 Clarkesworld Now Available

November 2016 Clarkesworld Now Available

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clarkesworld-122-smallI checked Tangent Online this morning to get their thoughts on the current issue of Clarkesworld, but their review isn’t up yet. Phooey. Fortunately, Charles Payseur at Quick Sip Reviews posted an enthusiastic review this week. Here’s his overview:

It’s another packed month at Clarkesworld with six original stories, including a rather charming novelette in translation. And it’s another month that is entirely science fiction, with a splash of science-fantasy thrown in for flavor. These are tales that show visions of the future, conflicts playing out for the soul of humanity and for the fate of planets. Many of the stories take their focus off of Earth to show what humanity is capable of, the way that it can move from place to place, leaving a trail of destruction behind it. There’s hope, though, too, and the stories also show the power that humanity can hold to create and to change and to love….

Yeah, Charles knows how to whet your appetite. I’m especially curious about that “charming novelette in translation,” which turns out to be “Western Heaven” by Chen Hongyu, translated by Andy Dudak. Here’s what he says (in part).

Aww. This is a rather adorable adventure story about a robot artist, Wu Kong, on an Earth still deeply tainted from humanity, who wants to see where humans went, the planet that they fled to in order to escape the destruction they had wrought, leaving the robots behind, abandoned. Wu Kong gathers up a small band of robots to accompany him and together they work to find where humanity went and answer the questions burning within them. What are humans like? What is the meaning of work? Why were robots created? It’s a story that moves along with a rather chipper feel, this great adventure that the robots are going on. It almost feels like an old animated film to me, fun and with robots with distinct styles and voices… An excellent read!

Here he is on “Afrofuturist 419” by Nnedi Okorafor, just because I love his one-line story description:

Well this is a very fun, funny, and creepy story about a Nigerian astronaut left in space for 14 years and finally coming home because of a viral scam letter… It’s another short work but it’s an excellent blend of audio and text, tension and mystery, horror and humor. Go read it!

Read Charles’ complete review of the issue here.

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Sentient Spaceships, Alien Derelicts, and Warring Empires: S.K. Dunstell’s Linesman Trilogy

Sentient Spaceships, Alien Derelicts, and Warring Empires: S.K. Dunstell’s Linesman Trilogy

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I know a few collaborative writing teams who publish under a joint pseudonym (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, for example, who publish the Expanse novels under the name James S. A. Corey), and I even know a few husband and wife writing teams (like Ann & Andres Aguirre, who write urban fantasy under the name A. A. Aguirre, and bestselling fantasy authors Ilona and Andrew Gordon, who write under the name Ilona Andrews). But I’d never heard of a pair of siblings writing under one name — or at least I hadn’t, until I came across Sherylyn and Karen Dunstall, who write together under the name “S.K. Dunstall.”

Their first book was Linesman, published in paperback by Ace in June of last year. My friend Sharon Shinn called it “Full of fast action, interplanetary intrigue, appealing characters, and a fascinating new take on the idea of the sentient spaceship.” My son Tim, who’s currently studying physics in college, read it in virtually one sitting, and loved it — so much so that when I gave him an advance proof of the second volume, Alliance, for Christmas last year, he happily disappeared for hours.

The third volume in what’s now being called the Linesman series, Confluence, arrives in paperback from Ace at the end of this month. Great timing! That’s my Christmas shopping for Tim done.

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