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Author: John ONeill

BlackWyrm Publishing’s Latest: Burning the Middle Ground

BlackWyrm Publishing’s Latest: Burning the Middle Ground

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burning-the-middle-ground-smallI’ve been continually impressed with the growing fantasy and dark fantasy/horror catalog from Dave Mattingly’s BlackWyrm Publishing. They first appeared on my radar in 2008 with unapologetically straightforward adventure fantasy novels such as Jason Walters’s The Vast White and Trevis Powell’s Albrim’s Curse. Their cover art was excellent, their production values were solid, and they clearly knew what they were doing. Independent sword-and-sorcery publishers are thin on the ground these days, especially those willing to take a chance of new authors, and their arrival was much celebrated in our offices.

I met Dave for the first time at Worldcon in Chicago, and I was glad to finally be able to shake his hand. He had an impressive booth just around the corner from ours in the Dealer’s room, and I was stunned when I set eyes on the complete BlackWyrm catalog for the first time: dozens of new fantasy titles from a host of exciting new authors, spread out in an eye-catching panorama. Dave handed me a copy of their newest release, Jason S. Walters’s fiction collection An Unforgiving Land, and I took it home determined to steal enough time to read it.

I should have known that the mighty BlackWyrm Publishing empire would move faster than I could. Long before I could put the finishing touches on a review, Dave had added no less than seven new publications to his resume, including the epic fantasy Witches by Georgia L. Jones, Andrew Toy’s dark fantasy The Man in the Box — and Andrew Cooper’s novel of modern horror Burning the Middle Ground, which arrived in my mail box this week.

Burning the Middle Ground is a tale of religious conspiracy and supernatural mind control in small-town America. Journalist Ronald Glassner is determined to write a book on the McCullough Tragedy, which began the day Brian McCullough came home from school to discover that his ten-year-old sister Fran had murdered their parents. But the more time Ronald spends in the small town of Kenning, Georgia, the more the mystery deepens… until he finds himself caught up in a struggle between two very different churches. When the town’s pets begin to go berserk and mutilated corpses begin to appear, Ronald realizes he’s stumbled on the story of his life.

Burning the Middle Ground by L. Andrew Cooper was published in trade paperback by BlackWyrm Publishing on Nov 30, 2012. It is 330 pages, priced at $15.95. It’s only the latest in a terrific line of titles from an exciting new publisher — do yourself a favor and check them out.

New Treasures: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

New Treasures: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

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astonishing-swordsmen-and-sorcerers-of-hyperborea-smallBack in 2010, I attended Garycon II, a rapidly-growing game convention in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, held in honor of Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. In my BG convention report I said:

One of the delights of the con for me was the discovery of Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent, an adventure for the forthcoming Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea system by Gary’s Castle Zagyg co-author Jeffrey Talanian. A black and white staple-bound folio sold at a tiny table in the hallway for five bucks, Charnel Crypt reminded me of nothing so much as Dave Arneson’s original Blackmoor supplement, which first appeared in 1975 (and cost about the same.)

According to the program book Talanian was running players through the adventure in one of the gaming rooms, and I wished I’d had a chance to find them. He describes Hyperborea as “largely influenced by the fictional works of R.E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H.P. Lovecraft.”

That I’d like to see. He promises the rules will see print this year.

I’ve been keeping an eye on Jeff’s website at North Wind Adventures ever since, and I’m happy to say my efforts were not in vain. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea was released in October and proved well worth the long wait.

Astonishing Swordsmen was clearly created in homage to the original boxed edition of Dungeons and Dragons (what’s known as the OE version, circa 1974, by Old School Renaissance gamers), and the contents reflect this. The box is massive — it’s like Gygax and Arneson’s original release got a Charles Atlas bodybuilding makeover. I was ooooing and awwwing for the first ten minutes as I pulled it open.

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Vintage Treasures: The Little Book of Vintage Sci-Fi

Vintage Treasures: The Little Book of Vintage Sci-Fi

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the-little-book-of-vintage-sci-fiIt’s a great time to be a Golden Age comics fan. If you’re interested in high-priced, archival-quality reproductions of 1950s science fiction and horror comics, there are plenty on the market.

This isn’t one of them.

The Little Book of Vintage Sci-Fi, in fact, is a tiny marvel of affordable comics nostalgia in a sea of overpriced hardcovers. It makes no pretense of offering complete issues, or highly collectible authors and artists, or re-colored anything. But for less than the price of a crummy SF paperback, it offers 112 full-color pages of gonzo Golden Age greatness from an assortment of impossible-to-find comics.

Opening with an 8-page introduction by Tim Pilcher, covering the history of 50s sci-fi comics in surprising detail, The Little Book of Vintage Sci-Fi contains five complete tales, including Explanation, Please! No. 1 Falling Frogs, and Out of the Unknown No. 1: Creature From the Crater. In between are glorious covers from Outer Space, Forbidden Worlds, Adventures Into the Unknown and others, depicting crashing alien spacecraft, stolen moons, and skyscraper-destroying dinosaurs.

There are even full-color reproductions of the classic advertisements that mesmerized me as a kid, including the “Jet” Rocket Space Ship — over six feet long, with levers that work, for only $2.98! — and the 98-cent Sensational Televiewer.

The Little Book of Vintage Sci-Fi was published on April 1, 2012 by Ilex Gift. It is $5.95 for 112 pages, and is one of a set of Little Books from the same publisher, all edited by Tom Pilcher. The others cover Vintage Horror, Sauciness, Crime , Combat, Terror, Romance, and Space. Collect them all!

Locus Online on the Best Fantasy Novels of the 20th and 21st Centuries

Locus Online on the Best Fantasy Novels of the 20th and 21st Centuries

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lord-of-the-rings‘Tis the season for Top Ten lists. David E. Harris kicked it off here this morning with his Arbitrary Top 10: Fantasy Films (which missed Watership Down and It’s a Wonderful Life, but at least had the good sense to include Jumanji), but similar lists have been popping up all over the blogosphere.

Locus Online conducted a poll to determine the best novels and short fiction of the 20th and 21st centuries last month, with five categories: science fiction novel, fantasy novel, novella, novelette, and short story. Since all votes were write-ins counting has taken a while, but on Friday Mark Kelly announced the results for the novel categories. The complete poll includes the Top 50 winners; here are the Top 10 Best Fantasy Novels of the 20th and 21st Centuries:

20th Century Fantasy Novel

  1. Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Lord of the Rings (1955)
  2. Martin, George R. R. : A Game of Thrones (1996)
  3. Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Hobbit (1937)
  4. Le Guin, Ursula K. : A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
  5. Zelazny, Roger : Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
  6. Lewis, C. S. : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
  7. Mieville, China : Perdido Street Station (2000)
  8. Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)
  9. Crowley, John : Little, Big (1981)
  10. Adams, Richard : Watership Down (1972)

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Merry Christmas from Black Gate

Merry Christmas from Black Gate

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black-gate-christmas-treeThe lights are dim at the Black Gate rooftop headquarters, and there’s a light dusting of snow on all the desks. I dropped by to pick up the leftover egg nog from the Christmas party and discovered a rare thing: a deserted office. Even Goth Chick’s minions seem to have slipped their chains.

The only noise I hear comes from deep in the comic archives, where the tireless Mike Penkas is scribbling a Christmas Red Sonja post, muttering “For the love of God, there’s a giant spider right on the cover.” Not sure what that’s about, but I tiptoe away before I break his concentration.

It’s nice to see the place when it’s not bustling with activity. Everywhere I look there’s evidence of this year’s accomplishments. There’s the stack of scrolls Howard Andrew Jones used while researching The Bones of the Old Ones (Seriously, where did he find actual scrolls? That’s just showing off). There’s the whiteboard where Scott Taylor sketched out his Art of the Genre ideas, before accepting a big job and vanishing out to the west coast. Sarah Avery sits in that corner now, writing constantly and giving Skype interviews for Broad Universe. And there’s the scratching post Ryan Harvey built for his cat Cassie, in a vain attempt to get her to stop playing with the office Christmas ornaments.

And here’s the table where all the freelancers sit. They always seem to be having a lot more fun than the rest of us. They’re certainly louder, anyway. Here’s Emily Mah’s recording equipment, and Josh Reynolds’ occult detective collection. Beth Dawkins has only been here a few months, but she fit in quickly, clearing away a section of William Patrick Maynard’s vast pulp collection to make room for her paranormal romance paperbacks. Mark Rigney has made excellent use of John Fultz’s battered old writing desk, composing his own sword-and-sorcery epics, and David Soyka has vanished inside a fortress built of thousands of science fiction digests. Andrew Zimmerman Jones’ desk is clean, probably because he’s never there — he’s always on assignment at a convention these days.

The only staff member who doesn’t have a desk is the mysterious Matthew David Surridge — which I suppose is fitting. He’s been part of the team for years, but no one is 100% sure what he looks like. He’s a riot at office parties, though.

It’s been an incredible year for Black Gate. The traffic to our humble website has very nearly doubled in the last 12 months, and interest has never been higher. While we’re very proud of what we’ve done, there’s no doubt in our mind that we owe it all to you, our loyal readers. You’ve never been more supportive than you have in 2012 — with your comments, letters, and your continued interest in our endeavors large and small.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. On behalf of the vast and unruly collective that is Black Gate, I would like to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Continue being excellent — it’s what you’re good at.

Buy The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones for Just $1

Buy The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones for Just $1

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the-desert-of-souls‘Tis the season for great book deals.

Hot on the heels of the one-day $1.99 sale for the digital version of A Prince of Thorns, and the giveaway of Theo’s A Magic Broken (still available if you act fast) comes word that Head of Zeus, the British publisher of Howard Andrew Jones’ The Desert of Souls — the first installment of The Chronicles of Sand and Sword — is making the digital version of the novel available for just $1.

The special pricing is available only until January 7th. On his website Howard also writes:

Head of Zeus has cooked up a pretty nifty series introduction for The Chronicles of Sand and Sword. I like it so much I wish I’d thought of it:

The Chronicles of Sand and Sword: Baghdad, AD 790. Caliph Harun al-Rashid presides over the greatest metropolis on Earth, ruler of an empire that stretches from China to Byzantium. His exploits will be recorded in Alf Layla or, as we know it, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

But The Thousand and One Nights are silent on the deeds and adventures that befell two of the Caliph’s subjects: the renowned scholar Dabir ibn Kahlil, and his shield and right hand, Asim el Abbas. For their story, we must turn to The Chronicle of Sand and Sword…

For complete details and links to sites with the discounted pricing (including Amazon.co.uk and Waterstone’s) visit the Head of Zeus website here.

A 4-Star Review of Black Gate 15

A 4-Star Review of Black Gate 15

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bg-15-cover2We got an early Christmas gift this year, courtesy of Goodreads, the social cataloging website dedicated to helping users find and comment on good books. With over 20 million readers each month, Goodreads is one of the most popular online destinations for dedicated readers.

All fifteen issues of Black Gate have been cataloged at Goodreads, and our latest issue has several outstanding reviews. This week, I came across a 4-star review from none other than publisher and editor Forrest Aguirre, author of Archangel Morpheus and Fossiloctopus, and co-editor of the prestigious Leviathan anthology series. Forrest writes:

My favorite piece of fiction in the volume was “The Shuttered Temple,” by Jonathan L. Howard (author of Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, among others). Kyth the Taker, a brilliant and rather glib thief, is the heroine here. This was a very clever story whose strongest point is less the adventure than the philosophical underpinnings that drive Kyth and Tonsett, her foil. Witty, funny, and thought provoking, I found this the best of this excellent volume.

I have to admit, though, that a piece of non-fiction overshadowed all the fiction in the volume. “Art Evolution,” by Scott Taylor, is an epic article that touched a soft spot in my heart and made me wax nostalgic for role-playing days of old. This was as thoroughly-researched an article on the subject of fantasy-art in role-playing as I’ve ever seen. Of course, I’m hard pressed to think of other articles that have even endeavored such an undertaking. From Jeff Dee to Matthew D. Wilson, Taylor traces the history of art in role-playing. It’s an incredible journey that is worth the price of the issue alone.

Copies are still available for only $18.95 each (or as part of a heavily discounted back issue bundle) at our online store. Also available in PDF for $8.95, and for the Kindle — with enhanced content and color art and images — at Amazon.com for just $9.95!

You can read the complete review at Goodreads here. The complete BG 15 table of contents is here.

A Magic Broken is Available Free Today at Amazon.com

A Magic Broken is Available Free Today at Amazon.com

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A Magic BrokenMerry Christmas from Amazon.com! For today only, the e-retail giant is offering Theo’s digital book A Magic Broken as a free download for Kindle readers.

In his review Donald S. Crankshaw wrote:

You may be familiar with Theo Beale as a blogger at Black Gate…. I was looking forward to seeing how his ideas translated into fiction. He’s given me a chance with A Magic Broken, an e-book novella equivalent to about 50 pages, written under the name Vox Day. It is connected to Theo’s novel, A Throne of Bones, but as I haven’t read the novel yet, I can’t say exactly how…

When I first discovered fantasy in the eighties, it seemed that elves and dwarves were staples of the genre — if it was fantasy, it had at least these two demi-human races. In the last twenty years, fantasy has moved away from that, but I must admit that I have a soft spot for them, especially dwarves. So I was happy to see the dwarf, Lodi, as one of the heroes of this story… The story follows Lodi and the human spy, Nicolas, as they go after the same prize — a kidnapped elven woman — for very different reasons…

One character who came across very well was the city of Malkan itself, where the story took place. Malkan is an independent city, built by dwarves, but mainly occupied by humans. The humans acknowledge no outside lord but money, and the merchants control the city more than the nobility, whom they raise and overthrow at will. As we see Nicolas and Lodi deal with slavers, prostitutes, and powerful merchants, we start to see life in the city at ground level. It’s a city where life is cheap, even for the powerful, and where secrets are plentiful. It’s the sort of city that’s teeming with stories, and it’s almost a shame that the characters are in such a hurry to leave.

Download A Magic Broken free here. But hurry — the offer is only good today.

Black Gate Online Fiction: Seven Kings by John R. Fultz

Black Gate Online Fiction: Seven Kings by John R. Fultz

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seven-kingsBlack Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive first look at Seven Kings, the latest volume in the Books of the Shaper series from John R. Fultz, the acclaimed author of several of the most popular tales in Black Gate magazine, including “The Vintages of Dream” in BG 15, and the novel Seven Princes.

Dragging the body into the undergrowth, he exchanged his footwear as he had planned. The new boots were tight yet warm on his aching feet. He lifted the bronze helmet with its welded mask from the dead man’s head and placed it on his own. Let one of their own demon faces be the last thing they see as they die. He took what else he could from the body (a few more bits of dried food) and rolled it into a stagnant pool. A viper glided through the black water and wrapped itself around the corpse. Tong caught a glimpse of himself in the surface of the water. A pale broad-chested devil with a leering face of black death, twin horns growing from his temples. His mouth was a fanged grin and his eyes were invisible behind narrow slits. He grinned beneath the mask and walked back to the trail, the bloody sabre in one hand, his knife in the other.

He stalked after them in resolute calm, ready to face the triumph of his death.

Barnes & Noble’s in-house magazine Explorations called Fultz’s first novel “flawless – and timeless – epic fantasy… Seven Princes is as good as it gets.” On his blog, Fultz shared additional details on the new installment:

I don’t want to say too much about the plot, but you will see much more of Khyrei and its poisonous crimson jungles than in the first book. Plus: More Giants…

Seven Kings will be published by Orbit on January 15, 2013. It is 496 pages in trade paperback available for $15.99 ($9.99 ePub and PDF). Learn more at the Orbit website.

Read the first chapter of Seven Kings here.

New Treasures: David C. Smith’s The Fall of the First World

New Treasures: David C. Smith’s The Fall of the First World

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the-fall-of-the-first-world-smallThursday I had the pleasure of attending a reading by the distinguished David C. Smith here in Chicago.

Dave’s accomplishments in the field of modern sword & sorcery are legendary. With Richard L. Tierney, he published the Bran Mak Morn novel, For the Witch of the Mists (1978), and six volumes in the Red Sonja series from 1981 to 1983. He wrote one other novel based on the works of Robert E. Howard: The Witch of the Indies (1977), featuring the pirate Black Terence Vulmea.

On his own, Dave produced the highly-regarded story cycle set on the imaginary island-continent Attluma, beginning with Oron (1978) and The Sorcerer’s Shadow (1978). All told, the Tales of Attluma include five novels and eighteen short stories and novelettes written between 1971–1984. In total, Dave has written twenty-one novels in a career spanning over three decades and still going strong — including the occult thriller Call of Shadows, released by Airship 27 in March of this year.

Dave entertained the audience with tales of the heady days of his early career, when young writers named Karl Edward Wagner, David Drake, Richard L. Tierney, and Charles R. Saunders were breathing new life into sword & sorcery — and when he shared an agent with Wagner, Frank Herbert, and an up-and-coming young horror writer named Stephen King.

But the highlight of the reading was the excerpt from The West is Dying, the first volume in The Fall of the First World, a fantasy trilogy originally published in paperback by Pinnacle Books in 1983. Unavailable for nearly thirty years, these exciting volumes are finally being returned to print by Borgo Press. A fantasy version of War and Peace, the saga follows the conflict between two great empires, bringing together legendary historical characters and Western myths including the tale of Helen of Troy. As a king offers his beautiful daughter as a prize, another pursues only endless war… and so the First World begins to collapse.

The West is Dying was published by Borgo Press on November 29, 2012. It is 422 pages in trade paperback priced at $19.99. The cover art is by Dusan Kostic. It is available directly from Borgo Press or through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other fine retailers.