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Author: John ONeill

Vintage Treasures: The Damiano Trilogy, by R.A. MacAvoy

Vintage Treasures: The Damiano Trilogy, by R.A. MacAvoy

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Damiano-small Damiano's Lute-small Raphael-small

R. A. MacAvoy published her first novel, Tea with the Black Dragon, in May 1983. It was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, and received the 1984 Locus Award for Best First Novel. Not too surprisingly, she won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1984.

Her next novel, Damiano, the tale of a wizard’s son befriended by the Archangel Raphael, appeared in 1984, and became the first novel of an ambitious fantasy trilogy. The next two were published as paperback originals by Bantam Books the same year, all with gorgeous wraparound covers by Jim Burns (click the images above for bigger versions.)

Here’s the back covers for all three.

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Future Treasures: nEvermore!: Tales Of Murder, Mystery & The Macabre, edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles

Future Treasures: nEvermore!: Tales Of Murder, Mystery & The Macabre, edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles

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nEvermore Tales Of Murder, Mystery & The Macabre-smallNancy Kilpatrick’s previous anthologies include Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead, Outsiders, and Tesseracts Thirteen. Her other books include The Goth Bible and her 2000 collection The Vampire Stories of Nancy Kilpatrick. Her most recent offering, co-edited with author Caro Soles (The Danger Dance), is a promising collection of original short stories inspired by the great Edgar Allan Poe.

Dedicated to master dream-weaver, Edgar Allan Poe!

nEvermore! Tales of Murder, Mystery and the Macabre is an homage to the great American writer, the incomparable Edgar Allan Poe, and a must-have for every fan of his work.

Compiled by multi-award winning editors, Nancy Kilpatrick and Caro Soles, nEvermore! presents a tantalizing selection of imaginative stories by New York Times bestselling and prize-winning authors Margaret Atwood; Kelley Armstrong; Richard Christian Matheson; Tanith Lee; William F. Nolan; Nancy Holder; Christopher Rice; Chelsea Quinn Yarbro; Michael Jecks; Lisa Morton; J. Madison Davis; Barbara Fradkin, and many others.

The anthology consists of 21 original tales that blend supernatural and mystery elements in unique reimaginings of Edgar Allan Poe’s exquisite stories.

In addition to the 21 stories, the editors have also added an introduction, Contributor Notes, and two bonus items: a reprint by David Morrell, and an essay on Poe by Uwe Sommerlad.

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Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “Queen of the Black Coast”

Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “Queen of the Black Coast”

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Art by Brom for "Queen of the Black Coast"
Art by Brom for “Queen of the Black Coast”

Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward continue their insightful re-read of the first Del Rey Conan volume, The Coming of Conan, with the classic “Queen of the Black Coast,” featuring the beautiful pirate queen Bêlit, originally published in the May 1934 issue of Weird Tales.

Here’s Bill:

There’s a wonderfully vivid moment of stillness at the heart of “Queen of the Black Coast;” Conan sits high on the ruined pyramid of a vanished race as night falls over a scene of slaughter, the “black colossus” (which becomes the title of the next story) of the jungle a vast sea of darkness that enfolds him. He is as far away from any aid or comfort as we’ve ever seen him and far beyond the bounds of civilization, his lover lies dead on the ship they shared for years while the corpses of her pirate crew are scattered among the ruins, and a malignant evil that Conan has only glimpsed in a vision bides its time, waiting just as the Cimmerian, too, waits. Here is the man of “gigantic melancholies,” the man whose mind does not break, and, when the moon finally rises and the beasts rush upon him, the man of action.

Read the complete exchange here.

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Clarkesworld 108 Now on Sale

Clarkesworld 108 Now on Sale

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Clarkesworld 108-smallNeil Clarke’s editorial in the latest issue of Clarkesworld is entitled “The Sad Truth About Short Fiction Reviews.”

The sad truth about short fiction reviews is that the overwhelming majority of them have little-to-no impact on readership. After monitoring the incoming traffic for the online version of this magazine for nine years, I can say that the typical review has a statistically insignificant impact on the readership of a story or issue. The only notable exception to this has been reviews on high traffic sites, like io9 or Tor.com, that focus specifically on a single story. As the number of stories in a review increases, there’s a dramatic drop-off in story readership… Shouldn’t reviews of good stories have the effect of encouraging people to read the story?

In a discussion on his editorial here at Black Gate, Neil elaborated on his thoughts:

A review that doesn’t send new readers is functionally equivalent to emailing your thoughts to the author. Nothing wrong with that, but there are reviews that send the author a message and readers to the story. I’m saying that the we should all aspire to the former and that most reviewers aren’t. That’s the sad truth I was referring to in the title.

Issue #108 of Clarkesworld has seven stories — five new, and two reprints — from Robert Reed, Erica L. Satifka, Bao Shu, Elizabeth Bourne, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Tom Purdom, and Una McCormack.

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in August

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in August

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2011 Hugo Award-smallIf there was a predominate topic last month at Black Gate, it was unquestionably the Hugo Awards.

Black Gate was nominated for a Hugo Award for the first time this year — an honor we declined on April 19. The Awards were presented at the World Science Fiction Convention on August 22, and our coverage of the awards and its immediate aftermath, written by me and Jay Maynard, produced the top three BG articles in August. In fact, those three posts were read more than the next 30 articles on the list combined.

The most popular non-Hugo article this month was Elizabeth Cady’s look at Aristophanes’ The Birds, “Ancient Worlds: The First Fantasy World.” Next was our report on a controversial analysis of NPR’s Top 100 Books list, “New Statesmen on the “Shockingly Offensive” 100 Best Fantasy and SF Novels.”

Sixth was David B. Coe’s second essay on the 2015 Hugo Kerfuffle, “Enough, Part II,” followed by the 8th entry in our very popular Discovering Robert E. Howard series, “Jeffrey Shanks on The Worldbuilding of REH.” Coming in at number 8, and sticking with the Robert E. Howard theme, was Bob Byrne’s “The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Ramblings on REH.”

Number 9 last month was M. Harold Page on “Chivalry: Not Really About Opening Doors (and Still Quite a Useful Coping Strategy).” And rounding out the Top 10 was another in our Discovering Robert E. Howard series, Don Herron’s “Pigeons From Hell From Lovecraft.”

The complete list of Top Articles for August follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular blog categories for the month.

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New Treasures: The Sea of Trolls Trilogy by Nancy Farmer

New Treasures: The Sea of Trolls Trilogy by Nancy Farmer

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The Sea of Trolls-small The Land of the Silver Apples-small The Islands of the Blessed-small

I’ve been very excited by what I’ve seen from Saga Press in the last few months. They’ve published novels from some of the most exciting new names in fantasy, including Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings, and Genevieve Valentine’s Persona, among many others. And just this month they brought us John Joseph Adam’s timely new anthology Loosed upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction.

But mixed in with that sharp nose for exciting new work is a keen talent for finding and repackaging overlooked older fantasy. So I was just as excited to see Saga bring Nancy Farmer’s The Sea of Trolls trilogy, originally published in hardcover by Atheneum Books in 2004-2009, out in mass market paperback for the first time, with a gorgeous series of new covers by Richard Anderson. The release dates were:

The Sea of Trolls (496 pages) – June 30, 2015
The Land of the Silver Apples (496 pages) – July 28, 2015
The Islands of the Blessed (496 pages) – August 25, 2015

All three books are now on sale from Saga, priced at $8.99 in paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition. Check ’em out.

Win a Copy of Gestapo Mars by Victor Gischler

Win a Copy of Gestapo Mars by Victor Gischler

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Gestapo Mars-smallOn Monday, we told you about the upcoming release of a brand new novel of far future adventure and Nazi mayhem, Victor Gischler’s Gestapo Mars.

Gestapo Mars, a Carter Sloan novel, combines science fiction, Nazis, assassins, and disgusting gelatinous aliens in a fast-paced, rollicking adventure, on sale September 22 from Titan Books.

We are very pleased to announce that we have three copies to give away to readers of Black Gate, compliments of Titan Books.

How do you enter? Just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “Gestapo Mars,” and a one-sentence review of your favorite Nazi science fiction story (bonus points if it includes Gestapo!) That’s it — what could possibly be easier? We’ll announce the winners in 10 days, and present some of the best entries here.

Three winners will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries. All entries become the property of New Epoch Press. No purchase necessary. Must be 12 or older. Decisions of the judges (capricious as they may be) are final. Not valid where prohibited by law. Or anywhere postage for a hefty trade paperback is more than, like, 10 bucks (practically, that means US and Canada).

Gestapo Mars will be released on Tuesday by Titan Books. It is 277 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital version. Learn more at the Titan Books website.

Future Treasures: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Future Treasures: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Six of Crows-smallI love a good caper novel. Fantasy doesn’t have enough of them. There’s Steven Brust’s Jhereg books, of course, and Scott Lynch’s marvelous Gentleman Bastard trilogy (The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and The Republic of Thieves). But we could certainly use a few more. Leigh Bardugo sets out to correct that deficiency with Six of Crows, a very promising new novel featuring “a cunning leader with a plan for every occasion, nigh-impossible odds, an entertainingly combative team of skilled misfits, a twisty plot, and a nerve-wracking cliffhanger” (Publishers Weekly). It’s on sale September 29 from Henry Holt and Co.

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price — and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction — if they don’t kill each other first.

Leigh Bardugo is the author of the popular YA novels Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising (collectively The Grisha Trilogy). Read her story “The Too-Clever Fox” for free at Tor.com.

Six of Crows will be published by Henry Holt and Co. on September 29, 2015. It is 480 pages, priced at $18.99 in hardcover and $8.99 for the digital edition.

Lackington’s Issue 7 Now on Sale

Lackington’s Issue 7 Now on Sale

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Lackington's issue 7-smallBlack Gate blogger Derek Kunsken was the first to alert me to the birth of new online market Lackington’s last June. The Ottawa-based magazine is edited by Ranylt Richildis and appears four times a year; it publishes art and speculative fiction between 1,500 – 5,000 words in length. It has produced seven issues, like clockwork, which had me counting on my fingers… have there really been that many quarters since last June?

Anyway, it’s high time I started paying attention to this fine magazine, adding it to our regular magazine coverage, and answering some of your questions. Questions like, “Who the heck is Lackington?” That riddle is answered on their Donate page:

Once upon a time, a British bookseller named James Lackington made books affordable for nearly everyone. It was the late eighteenth century, literacy was on the rise, but books were still a luxury item for many Londoners. Lackington changed that by popularizing the cheap “remainder” and making a tidy profit for himself, in the bargain.

We’ll never make a profit at Lackington’s Magazine. Our principles, in fact, have us in a bind. We want to keep content accessible to everyone, the way Lackington did. But we also want to pay contributors, because we believe creative labour must be compensated. To do so, we rely on donations to buy stories and art. Help keep this project afloat, support creators, and ensure we remain open to anyone with an internet connection.

Lackington invented remaindered books? Seriously, that guy is totally my hero.

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New Treasures: Awaiting Strange Gods by Darrell Schweitzer

New Treasures: Awaiting Strange Gods by Darrell Schweitzer

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Awaiting Strange Gods-smallI was proud to publish two very fine stories by Darrell Schweitzer in the print version of Black Gate: the frontier horror story “A Dark Miracle” (BG 3) and the Thomas the Rhymer tale “Into the Gathering Dark” (BG 15). So I’m very pleased indeed to see a brand new collection from Mr. Schweitzer, Awaiting Strange Gods: Weird and Lovecraftian Fictions, which collects 22 tales in a very handsome package. In addition to a new introduction by S.T. Joshi, the book also contains three interior illustrations by cover artist Tim Kirk.

I’m especially delighted by Awaiting Strange Gods because it also marks the continued resurgence of Fedogan & Bremer, the Minneapolis-based weird fiction publisher that produced over two dozen fabulous volumes in the 80s and 90s, including Colossus by Donald Wandrei, Stephen Jones’ Shadows Over Innsmouth and Dark Detectives, and Exorcisms and Ecstasies by Karl Edward Wagner. It’s marvelous to see them active again.

Darrell Schweitzer, for 19 years co-editor of Weird Tales, is a familiar name in Dark Fantasy and fringe SF stories. But his forays into Weird/Lovecraftian got underway long after he had established his literary voice. These are very personal stories, notable for character development as opposed to HPL’s cutouts against a cosmic background. 22 tales ranging from straight Mythos to Historical, and from Pennsylvania to Asia Minor. We think these tales are a treat, and you will too!

John R. Fultz produced a marvelously detailed survey of Schweitzer’s weird fantasy, coupled with an interview, in “The Sorcery of Storytelling: The Imaginary Worlds of Darrell Schweitzer,” published at Black Gate ‘way back in 2006. Read it here.

Awaiting Strange Gods: Weird and Lovecraftian Fictions was published by Fedogan & Bremer on September 15, 2015. It is 292 pages, priced at $39.95 in hardcover, and $125 for the deluxe limited edition, with a signature page and fitted slipcase. The cover art is by Tim Kirk. There is no digital edition.