Browsed by
Author: John ONeill

New Review of Black Gate 13

New Review of Black Gate 13

Comments 2 comments

black-gateissue-13-coverLuke Forney reviews the latest issue of Black Gate at his blog.

Black Gate kept my attention far better than any other fiction magazine… Almost all of the stories I found immediately wonderful, engaging, and very easy to lose oneself in. The quality was beyond impressive, and the extras (reviews sections) were brilliant.

Luke compares John C. Hocking to Robert E. Howard:

“The Face in the Sea” by John C. Hocking: This wonderful story tells of Viking-like people returning from a raid on their enemy’s stronghold to recover their princess, and one shaman’s all-out assault to stop them. A very well told story, reminiscent of Robert E. Howard. I’ll be looking for more by Hocking.

And was equally impressed by L. Blunt Jackson:

“Spider Friend” by L. Blunt Jackson: A brilliant fable-like tale, with an ending that I didn’t see coming, but that didn’t interrupt the wonderful style that Jackson worked throughout. One of the best “modern fables” I have read.

He also comments favorably on our non-fiction:

This issue also contained a number of comic strips, and two brilliant review sections. I have never seen a magazine have such a detailed, extensive reviews section that covered so many books. It was a wonderful surprise… The fiction reviews section was lovely, and covered far more than the large press magazines do.

He closes with a fine suggestion: 

Anyone who is a fan of adventure or fantasy should immediately check out Black Gate…  it contains a LOT of content (224 pages, full magazine size, not digest), good stories, interesting essays, wonderful departments, even an illustration for each story, which is a feature sadly missing in most other magazines. Grab issue 13 while you can, and keep your eyes peeled for the next issue!

You can read the complete review here.

Brent Knowles reviews Black Gate 13

Brent Knowles reviews Black Gate 13

Comments 1 comment

black-gateissue-13-cover-150Long-time reader and professional writer Brent Knowles recently posted a review of Black Gate 13:

I have every issue of Black Gate… a fantastic magazine. I subscribe to the print issue, but there is now a digital copy available too.

 Brent highlights several pieces, including “Naktong Flow” by Myke Cole:

A very strong and realistic, yet exotic, world, solidly anchors this story. Much like The Naturalist, which I’ll get to later, this is the kind of story that immerses you in a world first, a world that could only exist in this story, the only world in which this story could exist. Much of the ‘fun’ of reading a story like this is in being exposed to culture, that while based on our world is injected with such imagination and originality that it carries the story even if it is not that strong. And better yet, this story is strong, with an interesting protagonist. Great!

And “Spider Friend” by L. Blunt Jackson:

An unique fable, told competently, this is one of my favorite stories this time around. A man gains the blessings of spiders, but, as is so often the case is tempted to walk away from what is good in his life, for what he desires.

And the final installment of Mark Sumner’s novel The Naturalist:

 I have enjoyed the previous two parts to this story and the third is no different. This is a world I could imagine living in, it feels real, authentic, a variation of our own world with just enough of the marvelous/horrible to make this a tale of the fantastic. A very satisfying conclusion to a fabulous adventure. 

The complete review is here.

Thanks Brent! Stay tuned for issue 14, coming soon!

Spectrum 16: Now Fortified with Black Gate!

Spectrum 16: Now Fortified with Black Gate!

Comments 0 Comment

spectrum16spectrum-16b1Spectrum 16, edited by Cathy and Arnie Fenner, was published this month by Underwood Books.

I’ve been a fan of these books since the first, way back in 1994.  There are a lot of Best of… anthologies gathering the most acclaimed short fiction each year but, until Arnie and Cathy thought of it, no anthologies collecting the finest art. It was a stroke of genius, and that first volume was a hit. They’ve been at it ever since.

The books are full color and include lush layouts covering Advertising, Books, Comics, Concept Art, Sculpture, Editorial, Institutional, Unpublished — and even a lengthy Year in Review.  Spectrum 16 weighs in at 264 pages, and is just $39.95 for the hardcover (I bought mine for $26.37 from  Amazon.com). This year the Grand Master is Richard Corben.

Browsing these books is marvelous. Top-notch science fiction and fantasy often sets my imagination soaring, but not in the way that really great artwork can. The editors collect an astonishing array of diverse images from hundreds of gifted artists — pictures that are humorous, baffling, erotic, beautiful, disturbing, breath-taking, and everything in between. Depending on what your imagination is like, these books can be more diverting than a Stephen King novel.

This year is a special treat because the editors have seen fit to include Malcolm McClinton’s cover to Black Gate 13  in the Editorial section — in all its wrap-around glory. “Gladiatrix” was Malcolm’s first cover for Black Gate, and the first wrap-around image we’ve published since BG 3. It’s a knockout piece, and the response from readers was universally positive.

It’s a proud moment for us.  I’d like to congratulate Malcolm for being included — and also for a fabulous cover.

Happy Thanksgiving! Celebrate with an Uncanny Story

Happy Thanksgiving! Celebrate with an Uncanny Story

Comments 2 comments

It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States.  One of the better holidays ever invented, even if you’re a displaced Canadian like me.

american-fantastic-tales2In addition to eating, putting the finishing touches on BG 14, eating, writing my editorial, and eating, I’ll be stealing a few hours for leisure reading. Thanksgiving weekend usually involves at least a little travel (this year we’re celebrating in Madison, Wisconsin, three hours from our home in St. Charles, IL), so anything too long is out.  I need something I can finish in short bursts, in between sequential naps in a big green recliner.

Fortunately, a perfectly apropos choice landed on my doorstep last month, compliments of the Library of America. Peter Straub’s two-volume American Fantastic Tales, subtitled Terror and the Uncanny, is one of those genre-defining collections, a banquet of spooky fall reading that will likely last me months. And just like Thanksgiving, it’s unapologetically American in focus.

As we’ve already established, I’m a sucker for big retrospective collections.  This one reminds me of a favorite from my childhood, Anthony Boucher’s seminal two-volume A Treasury of Great Science Fiction. Gathering numerous tales of vintage SF and even a few complete novels (including Alfred Bester’s The Stars Our Destination and A.E. Van Vogt’s The Weapons Shops of Isher), it captivated me for weeks in the summer of 1977, most of which I spent reading in the trailer in our back yard. 

Straub doesn’t include any novels among his selections.  But like Boucher’s classic, American Fantastic Tales is huge — nearly 1,5oo pages of fiction, carefully selected to showcase the best horror tales in American history, from Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne to Joe Hill, Kelly Link, and Michael Chabon.

treasury-sfVolume One, From Poe to the Pulps, features Herman Melville, Robert W. Chambers, Edith Wharton, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch and many others.  Volume Two, From the 1940s to Now, includes John Cheever, Charles Beaumont, Vladimir Nabokov, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, John Crowley, Stephen King, Steven Millhauser, and over a dozen more.

While I sometimes wished for a few more editorial notes on the selections, overall I’m very impressed.   I’m sure this collection (also available in a handsome boxed set from Amazon) will be on more than a few Christmas wish lists.

I hope you find suitable treasures of your own to snuggle down with this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving, Black Gate readers.

Harry Connolly’s Child of Fire

Harry Connolly’s Child of Fire

Comments 2 comments

childoffireHarry James Connolly made his first fiction sale with “The Whoremaster of Pald,” way back in issue 2 of Black Gate. 

It was the most popular piece in the issue by a fair margin, and not just because the title grabbed readers’ attention (although, speaking as the person who picked it out of the submissions pile, the title definitely didn’t hurt).

Since then Harry has appeared frequently in our pages and his fourth story, “Eating Venom,” will be in BG 15.  But he hasn’t spent all his efforts on short fiction, as evidenced by the arrival of his first novel, Child of Fire.

Child of Fire is described as “a contemporary fantasy in the tone and style of a crime thriller,” and it’s received a lot of great press — including a mention on the Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2009 list. 

Here’s what bestselling author Jim Butcher says about it:

“Excellent reading… has a lot of things I love in a book: a truly dark and sinister world, delicious tension and suspense, violence so gritty you’ll get something in your eye just reading it, and a gorgeously flawed protagonist. Take this one to the checkout counter. Seriously.”

And here’s the publisher’s blurb:

Ray Lilly is just supposed to be the driver. Sure, he has a little magic, but it’s Annalise, his boss, who has the real power. Ray may not like driving her across the country so she can hunt and kill people who play with dangerous spells­especially summoning spells­but if he tries to quit he’ll move right to the top of her hit list.

Unfortunately, Annalise’s next kill goes wrong and she is critically injured. Ray must complete her assignment alone­he has to stop a man who’s sacrificing children to make his community thrive, and also find the inhuman supernatural power fueling his magic.

 I finally got my hands on a copy, and I can’t wait to dig in.
 
Progress Update: Black Gate 14

Progress Update: Black Gate 14

Comments 5 comments

Black Gate 14 goes to press this month.  It’s a big issue — including a Morlock novella from James Enge, the sequel to “The Face in the Sea” (BG 13) from John C. Hocking, and great new adventure fantasy from Martin Owton, Matthew Surridge, Pete Butler, Michael Jasper & Jay Lake, and many others.

Of course, that’s not all. Contributing Editor Rich Horton delivers another great retrospective piece, this one a detailed look at your best bets for quality reprints of Classic Fantasy, with spotlights on Baen Books, Paizo’s excellent Planet Stories, the SF & Fantasy Masterworks line from Orion/Gollancz, the Science Fiction Book Club, the esteemed Haffner Press, NESFA, and many more. 

We’ll also have our usual generous review features, as well as a very special Knights of the Dinner Table strip, as Eddie, Sara and Patty visit their first science fiction convention, and Eddie confronts Neil Gaiman for stealing all his ideas.

I hope to post a complete sneak peek, with artwork and story excerpts, in a few weeks. Stay tuned for further updates.  Here’s a look at the wrap-around cover to tide you over, from the marvelous Bruce Pennington:

bg14-small2

Bernie Mireault’s THE JAM: URBAN ADVENTURE

Bernie Mireault’s THE JAM: URBAN ADVENTURE

Comments 1 comment

the_jam_demoBefore he became a regular artist for Black Gate, Bernie Mireault was already something of a Renaissance man in the comics industry. He’s been a writer, artist, letterer, and highly acclaimed colorist, and worked with Matt Wagner (Grendel), Joe Matt, Mike Allred, and many others.  His comics include Dr. Robot, Bug-eyed Monster, The Blair Witch Chronicles, and his masterpiece, The Jam.

Our first meeting (that we know of) was in 1985, when Bernie  crashed at my home in Ottawa, Canada. I was living with my parents while I studied at the University of Ottawa, and Bernie and his fellow creators with Montreal-based Matrix Comics were attending a local comics con. Bernie had just published the first issue of Mackenzie Queen, a marvelous piece of satirical horror featuring an exiled demon with a taste for dripping meat, who learns to be satisfied with Corn Flakes (“at least they drip.”)  It was one of the first comics to make me laugh out loud. I’d been corresponding with Mark Shainblum at Matrix for months, and when I learned he was coming to town, I graciously offered my parent’s home as crash space (pretty sure I neglected to check with my parents first, which is part of what made it so gracious).  Mark brought Gabriel Morrissette and Bernie Mireault, and the rest is history.

mac-queen-2I say “first meeting that we know of” because Bernie and I were born in the exact same (and very small) place  — a Canadian Air Force base in Marville, France — only a few years apart in the early 60s.  Did we pass briefly as toddlers in the officer’s mess, and maybe compare our love for cartoons and comics while our fathers saluted each other over trays of french bread and beans?  Probably not.  But hey, man.  It’s possible.

We lost touch for a few years when I moved to the US to finish grad school (and meet a girl from California and get married, but that’s another story).  But I followed Bernie’s career closely.  It wasn’t hard — he was all over the place, from Wonder Woman to Mr. Monster to Tales of the Batman.  He even showed up — along with Matt Wagner — in Joe Matt’s autobiographical classic, Peep Show, as a minor character named only “Bernie.”  But I recognized him immediately. Who wouldn’t?

But enough of trying to describe how cool Bernie is.  To understand, you need to experience his work.  And now you can!

…

Read More Read More

Query the Query Shark

Query the Query Shark

Comments 3 comments

What do editors do when we’re not reading and rejecting manuscripts?query-shark

We stop by The Query Shark, of course. Got a novel you’re ready to submit to the tender mercies of the Manhattan Publishing Machine? The Query Shark will show you the many, many mistakes you can make in your cover letter – and why your cover letter can make all the difference.

Trust me, you don’t have time to make all these mistakes yourself. It’s far better to learn from other people’s mistakes first.

The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Comments 2 comments

My copy of The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction arrived from Amazon today, and I dropped everything to read it.  Probably not a good idea, since I had several conference calls and a sales meeting in a skyscraper somewhere in downtown Chicago.  But that’s why I bought a fast car.

very-best-of-fsfI’m a sucker for retrospective anthologies.  And F&SF is one of my favorite magazines — and has been since I first discovered tattered copies in the tiny library of Rockcliffe Air Force base in Ottawa, Canada, in the late 70s.  Editor Gordon van Gelder has assembled an imposing, 470-page collection spanning more than five decades, starting with Alfred Bester’s “Of Time and Third Avenue” (1951) and ending with Ted Chiang’s “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” (2007).

In between are stories famous (“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, “The Gunslinger” by Stephen King) and not-so-famous (“This Moment of the Storm” by Roger Zelazny, “Journey Into the Kingdom,” M. Rickett).  Gordon introduces them all in an informative and entertaining manner, occasionally providing glimpses into his editorial selection magic in the process. You can see the complete Table of Contents here.

Just as important, this is a truly handsome book — splendidly designed by the folks at Tachyon Press, with a fabulous cover by David Hardy.  It fits beautifully in my hands, and it even smells nice. 

I haven’t dipped far into the book yet.  But I was very nearly late for my meeting, and I don’t regret it one bit.  Check it out.

Disney buys Marvel Comics

Disney buys Marvel Comics

Comments 3 comments

Holy cow, Disney just agreed to buy Marvel Comics for $4 billion.

Not bad for a company facing bankruptcy just a few years ago.

Clearly the properties they’re most interested in were the movie franchises. Still, I wonder how it will affect comics over the next few years… Will we see more cross-overs? Will Thor face Donald Duck? Will Spider-man appear in the next Toy Story (as one of the executives in the article jokes)?

Certainly the biggest immediate impact will be in merchandizing – not just toys and such, but cross promotion. Likely we’ll see Peter Parker in line for the next Pixar movie, and people in Disney movies will be seen picking up Marvel comics – just as the hip characters in the Fox TV show The O.C were always seen reading D.C. titles

I don’t know how it will affect the comics I still read and care about (like the Brian Michael Bendis Ultimate Spider-man), but I fear it won’t be good.