Browsed by
Author: John ONeill

Vintage Treasures: Science Fiction of the 30’s edited by Damon Knight

Vintage Treasures: Science Fiction of the 30’s edited by Damon Knight

Comments 4 comments

Science Fiction of the 30s-smallWindy City Pulp and Paper is a fabulous convention and, as its name implies, it’s focused mostly on vintage magazines and paperbacks. Wandering the vast Dealer’s Room is like stepping into a Cave of Wonders for fans of pulp science fiction and fantasy.

But it’s also a den of surprises and a pleasant one awaited me while browsing a table piled high with pulps and digest magazines. A hand-written sign proclaimed all items were “3 For $10,” so I decided to spend a few minutes exploring the heaped stacks. Buried under a loose pile of Science Fiction Quarterly magazines and Amazing Stories, I found a lone hardcover volume: Damon Knight’s pulp anthology Science Fiction of the 30’s, in much better shape than my tattered copy.

Well, that was certainly worth $3.33. It didn’t take much effort to find two other worthy treasures (a July 1948 Fantastic Novels pulp with a classic Lawrence cover and the January 1956 issue of The Original Science Fiction Stories with a James Blish cover story, which looked like it had just come off the magazine rack.) I plunked down my ten bucks and fled before the vendor changed his mind.

Science Fiction of the 30’s was one of two great pulp anthologies I read over thirty years ago — the other being of course Isaac Asimov’s marvelous Before the Golden Age. Those books, together with Jacques Sadoul’s art book 2000 A.D. Illustrations From the Golden Age of Science Fiction Pulps, ignited a love of pulp fiction in me as a young teen that never died.

…

Read More Read More

Washington Attorney General Files Suit Against Ed Nash for Kickstarter Fraud

Washington Attorney General Files Suit Against Ed Nash for Kickstarter Fraud

Comments 0 Comment

Asylum Kickstarter cards-smallIn a surprising move, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a suit Thursday against Ed Nash and his game company Altius Management for Kickstarter Fraud.

I can’t recall a single instance of a Kickstarter creator being sued for non-delivery of a project, but some in the industry have been forecasting this for months — particularly in the face of recent high-profile Kickstarter failures such as John Campbell’s notorious Sad Pictures for Children and Erik Chevalier’s The Doom That Came To Atlantic City.

Here’s a summary of the suit from GeekWire:

Back in October 2012, Nash raised $25,146 from 810 backers — including at least 31 from Washington — for a playing card game called Asylum designed by a Serbian artist and managed by Nash. The campaign exceeded its funding goal of $15,000, meaning Nash was legally responsible for sending every backer the products they paid for. But as the estimated delivery date of December 2012 passed, customers never received their Asylum product. In the months following, angry backers voiced their frustration on the ongoing Kickstarter page comment thread.

“Almost a year and no updates,” one backer wrote. “Ed Nash is in hiding.”

Read the complete article here.

Against the Giants of Chaos: Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land

Against the Giants of Chaos: Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land

Comments 3 comments

Shadowdale the Scouring of the Land-smallLast month, I took a look at the the first Third Edition D&D Cormyr supplement, Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave, released in March 2007. It was a 160-page mega-adventure detailing a vast and sinister conspiracy deep in the Realms, and the first installment of what would eventually be a three-part supermodule.

I wasn’t aware Cormyr was part of a series while I was bidding like a fiend in the front row of the Spring Games Plus Auction. It was just one of several Forgotten Realms products I won, and all I knew at the time was that it was in brand new condition and criminally cheap – probably because it was released for version 3.5 and now was nearly two versions out of date.

So after I read through Cormyr and discovered I had just one third of an epic story line, I went scrambling through the rest of my auction winnings to see if I’d also scored any other parts of the saga. Luckily, I quickly found Part II: Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land, which picks up the thread and hurtles our adventurers deep into the newly-conquered land of Shadowdale.

Shadowdale lies conquered! Who can free this oppressed land?

Zhentish soldiers, Maerimydran drow, and Sharran cultist have forged a dark alliance to subjugate the peaceful land of Shadowdale. Elminster’s tower lies in ruins, Lord Amcathra governs at the sufferance of the dale’s conquerors, and the very Weave of magic in this embattled land seems to fray with each passing day. The Zhentish yoke lies heavy over Shadowdale — but the Dalesfolk are ready to fight for their freedom, if only they can find true heroes to lead the way!

This Forgotten Realms campaign adventure is designed for characters of levels 9-13. It can be played as a stand-alone adventure or as the second adventure in a three-part series. Each encounter contains tactical information for the Dungeon Master and expanded map features for ease of play.

…

Read More Read More

Future Treasures: Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

Future Treasures: Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

Comments 4 comments

Rogues George R.R. Martin-smallGeorge R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois have edited a number of major anthologies together over the last few years, including the massive heroic fantasy volume Warriors (2010), the star-crossed love story collection Songs of Love and Death (2010), urban fantasy-focused Down These Strange Streets (2011), Jack Vance tribute Songs of the Dying Earth (2010), the 800-page Dangerous Women (2013), and (my personal favorite) Old Mars. But now they’ve assembled what may be the most intriguing of the lot, a collection of 21 original stories (including a brand new A Game of Thrones tale by George R.R. Martin) showcasing thieves, villains, and ambiguous heroes of all sorts.

If you’re a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R. R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.

Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart — and yet leave you all the richer for it.

Featuring all-new stories by Joe Abercrombie, Daniel Abraham, David W. Ball, Paul Cornell, Bradley Denton, Phyllis Eisenstein, Gillian Flynn, Neil Gaiman, Matthew Hughes, Joe R. Lansdale, Scott Lynch, Garth Nix, Cherie Priest, Patrick Rothfuss, Steven Saylor, Michael Swanwick, Lisa Tuttle, Carrie Vaughn, Walter Jon Williams, and Connie Willis.

Rogues includes an introduction by George R.R. Martin and will be published by Bantam Books on June 17, 2014. It is a massive 832 pages, priced at $30 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition. I’m underwhelmed by the cover, but I suppose it fits the theme of the earlier Warriors and Dangerous Women volumes.

New Treasures: A Different Kingdom by Paul Kearney

New Treasures: A Different Kingdom by Paul Kearney

Comments 3 comments

Paul Kearney A Different Kingdom-smallPaul Kearney’s first three novels, The Way to Babylon (1992), A Different Kingdom (1993) and Riding the Unicorn (1994), all appeared in the UK, but were never reprinted here in the US. That is, until both his five-volume Solaris series The Monarchies of God and The Macht trilogy (included in Locus Online’s Best Heroic Fantasy of 2010 list) became a success here.

Now Solaris is bringing his early novels into print in the US for the first time, starting with A Different Kingdom, which Interzone magazine called “An utterly splendid piece.”

Michael Fay is a normal boy, living with his grandparents on their family farm in rural Ireland. In the woods — once thought safe and well-explored — there are wolves; and other things, dangerous things. He doesn’t tell his family, not even his Aunt Rose, his closest friend. And then, as Michael wanders through the trees, he finds himself in the Other Place. There are strange people, and monsters, and a girl called Cat.

When the wolves follow him from the Other Place to his family’s doorstep, Michael must choose between locking the doors and looking away; or following Cat on an adventure that may take an entire lifetime in the Other Place. He will become a man, and a warrior, and confront the Devil himself: the terrible Dark Horseman…

Kearney’s first novel, The Way to Babylon, is scheduled to appear in paperback from Solaris later this month.

A Different Kingdom was published by Solaris on January 28, 2014. It is 427 pages. priced at $7.99 for the paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Pye Parr.

Spring 2014 Subterranean Magazine now Available

Spring 2014 Subterranean Magazine now Available

Comments 2 comments

Subterranean Spring 2014-smallNo other magazine makes me wish I was still editing the way Subterranean does. I think it’s the way they showcase a combination of top names mixed with exciting newcomers, an attractive website, and great covers. I don’t miss the non-stop busywork that comes with editing, publishing, and distributing a fantasy magazine… but boy, I do miss shopping for cover art.

The Spring 2014 issue of Subterranean is packed with great names:

“The Screams of Dragons” by Kelley Armstrong
“Bus Fare” by Caitlín R. Kiernan
“The Traveller and the Book” by Ian R MacLeod
“Hath No Fury” by Kat Howard
“One Dove” by Stephen Gallagher
“The Burial Of Sir John Mawe At Cassini” by Chaz Brenchley
“The Days of the War, as Red as Blood, as Dark as Bile” by Aliette de Bodard

I’m pleased to see something new from Stephen Gallagher, who wrote several Doctor Who novels (under the name John Lydecker) in the early 80s. His later books include The Kingdom of Bones (2007) and The Bedlam Detective (2012), and the 2004 collection Out of His Mind, winner of the British Fantasy Award. Rich Horton reviewed Ian R MacLeod’s Song of Time for us back in 2011, and Emily Mah reported on Caitlin R. Kiernan being a co-recipient of the 2012 Tiptree Award last March. And we told you about Aliette de Bodard’s fabulous Obsidian & Blood omnibus in 2012.

Subterranean is edited by William Schafer and published quarterly. The Spring 2014 issue is completely free and available here; see their complete back issue catalog here. We last covered Subterranean magazine with their previous issue, Winter 2014.

New Treasures: Fantasy Scroll Magazine #1

New Treasures: Fantasy Scroll Magazine #1

Comments 5 comments

Fantasy Scroll 1-smallWell, here’s some exciting news. April 15th saw the release of a brand new, professionally produced digital fantasy magazine: Fantasy Scroll.

Here’s the description, from their website:

Fantasy Scroll Magazine is an online, quarterly publication featuring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal short-fiction. The magazine’s mission is to publish high-quality, entertaining, and thought-provoking speculative fiction. With a mixture of short stories, flash fiction, and micro-fiction, Fantasy Scroll Magazine aims to appeal to a wide audience.

Issue #1 brings you twelve short stories from authors such as Ken Liu, Seth Chambers, KJ Kabza, Alex Shvartsman, Hank Quense, and more. The magazine contains a well-balanced mix of original stories and reprints from new authors, bestsellers, and award-winning writers, plus a variety of nonfiction features, such as author and editor interviews, book reviews, and movie reviews.

The magazine is open to most sub-genres of science fiction, including hard SF, military, apocalyptic & post-apocalyptic, space opera, time travel, cyberpunk, steampunk, and humorous. Similarly for fantasy, we accept most sub-genres, including alternate world, dark fantasy, heroic, high or epic, historical, medieval, mythic, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, and humorous. The magazine also publishes horror and paranormal short fiction.

Kindle Magazines are fully downloaded onto your Kindle so you can read them even when you’re not wirelessly connected.

Fantasy Scroll Magazine is edited by Iulian Ionescu, Frederick Doot, and Alexandra Zamorski. Copies are $2.99, for roughly 134 pages. I quite like the cover art, “The Dragon Rider,” by Jonathan Gragg, which speaks to me of an adventure fantasy mindset (click on the image at right for a larger version). See the complete contents of issue #1 here. Check it out.

See all of our recent New Treasures here. And thanks to John DeNardo at SF Signal for the tip!

Future Treasures: Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Future Treasures: Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Comments 0 Comment

Skin Game Jim Butcher.-smallJim Butcher is something of an inspiration to modern fantasy writers.

Harry Dresden was not a hit when he first appeared, way back in the paperback original Storm Front (2000). Roc sent me a copy and I remember I couldn’t find anyone interested in reviewing it. Ditto with the next few, Fool Moon (2001) and Grave Peril (2001). Thomas Cunningham was the first to start reviewing them for us and he quickly became an unabashed fan.

Things happened fast after that. All my review copies were snapped up (except for my first edition of Summer Knight, which accidently ended up in a dollar bin at my booth at the 2010 World Fantasy Convention, where it was found by a lucky fan). I bought a complete set of the hardcover omnibus editions from the Science Fiction Book Club — and they were loaned out and never returned. I bought a second copy and it suffered the same fate.

Jim Butcher began to hit bestseller lists. I clearly remember the moment when I realized he’d crossed over to literary megastardom — it was at Dragon*Con 2010, when I glimpsed the size of the mob that showed up to get his autograph. The line wound around the room, out the door, and down several blocks.

Jim Butcher is proof positive that it’s still possible to achieve bestseller status starting with a midlist paperback series. That’s the dream of virtually every midlist fantasy writer, and for the greater part of the last decade, as publishing suffered one upheaval after another — the rise of Amazon, the collapse of Borders, and the shift to e-books, just to name a few — it was beginning to look like that dream may have suffered a hard death.

So there’s a lot of reasons to celebrate Jim Butcher’s success. But for most of us, it’s enough to know that the fifteenth volume of one of the most popular fantasy series on the market has finally arrived, breaking an 18-month drought since the last volume, Cold Days (November 2012).

…

Read More Read More

io9 Looks at the Megadungeon

io9 Looks at the Megadungeon

Comments 5 comments

The Temple of Elemental EvilOver at io9, Ed Grabianowski has posted a thoughtful survey of that underappreciated RPG stable, the megadungeon.

He covers many of the essentials — including The Temple of Elemental Evil, Undermountain, and Castle Greyhawk — and throws in a few clever suggestions I hadn’t thought of (such as the Death Star and Minecraft.) He here is on the modern classic Blackreach:

Blackreach is a signature location in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. It’s semi-abandoned underground city filled with eerily beautiful glowing mushrooms, strange ruins, rare plants and other oddities. The first time you delve into Blackreach, you can’t help but be a bit awestruck. The silence down there is intense, creating a tension and wonder I’ve rarely experienced in video games. Blackreach itself is massive, but to get to it you actually have to work your way down through another dungeon, a Dwemer ruin. And Blackreach is actually connected to three of these dungeons, so there’s no doubt it’s worthy of the “mega” appellation.

As thorough as he is, there’s plenty left over for folks in the comments section to add, including the epic Rappan Athuk, Dragon Mountain, Judges Guild’s early classic Tegel Manor, Arduin Dungeon, Ultima Underworld, and many others.

I’m disappointed that so far no one has mentioned a few of my favorites, including Monte Cook’s massive (and now extremely hard to find) Ptolus, Gygax’s Castle Zagyg modules, AEG’s ridiculously oversized World’s Largest Dungeon, and Goodman Games’ massive Castle Whiterock. Ah well. Who would have thought the market would be crowded with megadungeons?

You can read Ed’s complete io9 article here.

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in March

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in March

Comments 2 comments

Pictures for Sad ChildrenYou Black Gate peeps sure are a reliable bunch. You love vintage fantasy paperbacks, 80s horror movies, and gaming news, and with a noble passion. But you know what you really crave? Tales of People Behaving Badly, that’s what. Figures.

And thus we find that the #1 article on the Black Gate blog last month was our report on John Campbell’s ugly KickStarter implosion, a sad tale of comics, hubris, and book-burning. (It was my favorite, too. I’m not throwing stones.)

Things got a little more wholesome (sort of) with our #2 article, M. Harold Page’s “What’s the Point of Steampunk?” (You remember. The one with the line, “WHAT WAS THAT, SIR? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY ZEPPELIN ENGINES.”)

Moving on, we find that Derek Kunsken’s interview with comic wunderkind’s Mirror Comics was the third most-read post for the month, followed by Bob Byrne’s opening post in his popular new blog series, The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes. Rounding out the Top Five was Fletcher Vredenburgh’s look at a forgotten Lin Carter novel, Kellory the Warlock (forgotten by everyone but Black Gate readers, apparently).

The complete Top 50 Black Gate posts in March were:

  1. Another Crowdfunding Fail: John Campbell Self-Destructs on Kickstarter
  2. What’s the Point of Steampunk?
  3. Rising Star Indie Publisher Mirror Comics on their Weird Western Mission Arizona
  4. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes
  5. His Name is Vengeance: Kellory the Warlock by Lin Carter

    6. …

    Read More Read More