BG Staff – Page 74

Steamgothic

Saturday, August 25, 2012 Soyka Comments 1 comment

Steampunk is a literary subgenre that has also sprouted a lifestyle that encompasses fashion, music, and art based loosely on a philosophy of hands-on, do-it-yourselfness in an age of touchscreen virtual experience. To my knowledge, Sean McMullen’s “Steamgothic” is the first steampunk story that is also about the sensibility of the steampunk community. The narrator is an expert restorer of steam engines whose day job is to customize ultralight aircraft motors. He’s approached by a couple who have possession of an 1852 Aeronaute, a steam-powered aircraft which, had it actually flown, would predate the Wright Brothers by a half-century. He’s invited to participate in a restoration with the intent of proving this possibility. The initiative becomes the subject of a reality TV show called The Aeronauteers, and plenty of drama ensues, much of it more human than mechanically-related, with hidden motivations gradually revealed beyond postulating how if the Aeronaute had actually flown, would history have changed?

Recommended reading, even if you have only a slight interest in how the cogs actually turn. You can find it in the current Interzone.

William Patrick Maynard’s The Terror of Fu Manchu

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 Joe Bonadonna Comments 0 Comment

The Terror of Fu Manchu
William Patrick Maynard
Black Coat Press (248 pp, $20.95 in paperback, $6.99 eBook, April 2009)
Reviewed by Joe Bonadonna

Usually I don’t read stories and novels based on a character created by one author and then later written by another—not if I have already read the original author’s work. Back in the day, I read all the pastiches: Conan, Red Sonja, Bran Mak Morn, Cormac, Kull, Black Vulmea… and have enjoyed many of them. I’m even friends with a few of the writers (and a collaborator with one) who were lucky enough to have been chosen to carry on with Robert E. Howard’s characters. But nowadays there are just too many new characters, too many new stories and novels to read, and time and money seem to be in limited supply the older I get.

All that being said, let me tell you a little bit about William Patrick Maynard’s wonderful novel based on Sax Rohmer’s immortal character, The Terror of Fu Manchu, which was published in 2009 in a beautiful edition by Black Coat Press. I had already heard many great things about Maynard’s novel and was familiar with his writing from the stories he published through Airship27 Productions.

So I decided to read this novel and man, I’m glad that I did. It opened up a whole new world for me, and as a fellow writer, it taught me a few things, too.

Now, I have never read any of Rohmer’s original novels, though of course I’m very familiar with Fu Manchu by way of the Boris Karloff, Warner Oland, and Christopher Lee films. So I did a little digging around and sampled enough chapters of several of Sax Rohmer’s novels in order to familiarize myself with his writing, and to see how well Maynard’s style captures the essence of his work.

Doing that also added to my enjoyment as I immersed myself in Maynard’s version of the Chinese mastermind and one of literature’s greatest villains. However, this being the 21st century and not the early part of the 20th, I thought some of Rohmer’s writing to be a bit old-fashioned and a little slower-paced than we are accustomed to in this fast-moving age of cell phones, CGI, and all things high-tech. But Maynard breathes new life and a touch of modern sensibility in his novel, while remaining faithful to Rohmer’s original vision.

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Writing Business: Web Design

Monday, August 20, 2012 Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones Comments 3 comments

The other day, I shared a tactic I often use to keep myself on task when writing, the McCoy test. In honor of my favorite Star Fleet surgeon, I ask myself if I’m a writer, or a blank, the blank being whatever I’m doing instead of writing (sorting laundry, eating spinach, performing one-handed push-ups, bear wrasslin’). If I have to ask myself that question during my scheduled writing time, then I put down the spinach fork or the bear and get to work.

Well, I haven’t written or revised any of my fiction now for the last week. That admittedly drives me a little crazy, but I’m still a writer because part of the business of writing is business. It took me a long time to finally admit that a writer is a small business owner with a product. I discovered that I have to make the promotion of my work a central part of my job if I’m going to be able to afford spinach and bear wrasslin’ lessons.

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Michael Penkas Promoted to Black Gate Website Editor

Saturday, August 18, 2012 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

We are very pleased to announce that, effective August 15, Michael Penkas has been promoted to Black Gate Website editor.

Michael Penkas moved to Chicago in 2004 and since then has performed at various open mic events. He previously worked as a copy editor and general assistant for the long-running Twilight Tales book/reading series. His short stories have been published in Midnight Echo, One Buck Horror, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, and Shock Totem, among others.

Michael sold his first short story to Black Gate in 2011. His first blog post for us was a review of Brendan Detzner’s short story collection Scarce Resources in November of 2011; in the last few months he’s reviewed Matt Wagner’s Mage: The Hero Discovered, Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things, and Jonathan Carroll’s The Land of Laughs, among others.

Michael takes over from C.S.E. (Claire) Cooney, who was promoted to website editor in January of 2011. Claire’s relocation to Rhode Island — and the growing success of her recent books, including How to Flirt in Faerieland & Other Wild Rhymes — has left her less time for other activities. Claire brought enormous energy and drive to the role, and she attracted many new bloggers to our small community. She will be much missed, although she promises to continue to blog for us when time permits.

Michael Penkas has been working hard behind the scenes for the past few months as Assistant Website Editor, bringing a new level of professionalism to the blog. We are pleased and very proud to have him officially take over the reins as our new Website Editor.

For a complete list of the folks responsible for Black Gate, visit our Staff Page.

James Enge’s A Guile of Dragons Arrives

Friday, August 17, 2012 John ONeill Comments 11 comments

The official on-sale date isn’t until August 24, but I’ve now received multiple reports that James Enge’s A Guile of Dragons has arrived in stores. It’s also available for purchase online. We can’t postpone the party any longer.

James Enge’s first published story “Turn Up This Crooked Way” — the tale that introduced Morlock the Maker to the world — was in Black Gate 8. Morlock appeared in virtually every issue of Black Gate for the next five years; his last appearance was the novella “Destroyer” in BG 14.

James’ first Morlock novel, Blood of Ambrose, was nominated for the World Fantasy Award in 2010. It was followed by This Crooked Way, which collected a dozen short stories, including all six published in Black Gate, and The Wolf Age. A Guile of Dragons is the fourth in the series, and the first new Morlock book in almost two years. As we reported back in February, it is Morlock’s origin story:

Before history began, the dwarves of Thrymhaiam fought against the dragons as the Longest War raged in the deep roads beneath the Northhold. Now the dragons have returned, allied with the dead kings of Cor and backed by the masked gods of Fate and Chaos.

The dwarves are cut off from the Graith of Guardians in the south. Their defenders are taken prisoner or corrupted by dragonspells. The weight of guarding the Northhold now rests on the crooked shoulders of a traitor’s son, Morlock syr Theorn (also called Ambrosius).

But his wounded mind has learned a dark secret in the hidden ways under the mountains. Regin and Fafnir were brothers, and the Longest War can never be over…

The gorgeous cover is by Steve Stone. Click on the image at right to see the complete wrap-around image in HD.

A Guile of Dragons is 320 pages in trade paperback, published by Pyr Books. It is $17.95, and has an official on-sale date of August 24. But if you find it for sale and whisk it home before then, we won’t tell anyone.

Mindjammer Press Publishes Sarah Newton’s Mindjammer

Monday, August 13, 2012 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

I first encountered Sarah Newton in 2010, when Howard Andrew Jones mentioned how impressed he was with Mindjammer, a far future transhuman space opera setting she wrote for the Starblazer Adventures RPG. I picked up a copy of her massive Legends of Anglerre fantasy roleplaying game on the strength of his rec and wasn’t disappointed. It was a gorgeous and inventive game based on the popular FATE system and we reviewed it in detail in Black Gate 15. I was especially impressed with Sarah’s crisp prose and attention to detail.

We don’t let talent like that get away if we can help it, so we recruited Sarah as a BG contributor last year. Her detailed appreciation of a classic urban setting, Pavis – Gateway to Adventure: The Classic RPG City is Back! (parts One and Two) was one of the most popular gaming articles we’ve published on the website this year.

Now Sarah has published her first novel, Mindjammer, through the brand new Mindjammer Press. Mindjammer Press, a new roleplaying and fiction imprint, has announced plans to publish both the Mindjammer roleplaying game and a new line of associated fiction. Their publication schedule includes the upcoming second edition core book, Mindjammer: The Expansionary Era — with vastly expanded content, new and detailed background material, and all new artwork — in spring 2013. It will be followed by the Solenine campaign pack, based on the setting for the first novel, a new and revamped Black Zone campaign, and the second novel in the Mindjammer series, Transcendence. Here’s the description for the first novel:

IT IS THE SECOND AGE OF SPACE… In the seventeenth millennium, the New Commonality of Humankind is expanding, using newly-discovered faster-than-light travel to rediscover lost worlds colonised in the distant past. It’s a time of turmoil, of clashing cultures, as civilisations shudder and collapse before the might of a benevolent empire ten millennia old.

In the Solenine Cluster, things are going from bad to worse, as hyper-advanced technologies destabilise a world in chaos. Thaddeus Clay and his SCI Force special ops team are on the trail of the Transmigration Heresy. What they find is something beyond even their imagining – something which could tear the whole Commonality apart…

Mindjammer is receiving a lot of positive press from readers both inside and outside the gaming industry. Here’s what Stargazer’s World said about it:

What I also enjoyed tremendously was that Mindjammer is a science fiction story that really deserves the name. The technology described sounds plausible and the Commonality era feels “real.” And even though Mindjammer is highly entertaining it also makes the reader ponder a couple of philosophical questions like what makes us human and is there a way to cheat death? In my opinion good SF should not only entertain but make us ask questions. Mindjammer does that all the time…

Mindjammer is a very exiting and intelligently-written novel that should be on the reading list of every SF fan!

Mindjammer is available now in Kindle format for $3.99 and in print for $15.95, both from Amazon. Check it out.

“Quit Messing Around and Subscribe”: James van Pelt Reviews Black Gate 11

Sunday, August 12, 2012 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

I was doing a search earlier today and stumbled on a review of Black Gate 11 by none other than the distinguished author James van Pelt. It was written in Sept 2007, though I missed it until now. Here’s what Jim says, in part:

In the last three days I’ve received my subscriber copies of my two favorite magazines, Talebones and Black Gate. As I was looking them over (lovingly), it suddenly occurred to me that both of these magazines should have kick-butt subscription numbers. They’re wonderful, issue after issue… Here’s what you’re missing in this month’s issue of Black Gate:

Really superior production values… This is a beautiful magazine

Great cover art… my little image doesn’t quite capture the impact of the magazine…

Top notch high and heroic fantasy. Where do you go for your fantasy kick of that sort? The contents of Black Gate leans toward the adventure fantasy side of the field, but there’s a lot of range in the magazine in approach, style and tone.

A serialized story from Mark Sumner, “The Naturalist: Part II.” I like serialized work. Do you remember when that was common in most of the magazines? I first really started paying attention to Sumner when he published an earlier story in Black Gate called “Leather Doll.”

Interesting, in depth reviews of the latest fantasy books. Unlike a lot of review venues, Black Gate gives me enough insight into the book to decide to buy it or not

Articles by Rich Horton, one of the towering authorities on short fiction in science fiction and fantasy. He can write about a 1954 issue of Galaxy magazine that makes me want to try to find it.

A column on gaming

A funny multi-page cartoon called “Knights of the Dinner Table: the Java Joint” that in this issue mentioned another favorite author of mine within the cartoon, Carrie Vaughn

A lively letter section

This is the second shout out this week for Mark Sumner’s “Leather Doll” (the first was in today’s Letters Column). Not bad for a story which appeared over eight years ago in Black Gate 7. You can read Jim’s complete review — as well as his comments about Talebones, another terrific small press magazine — here.

Black Gate 11 is still available on our back issue page. Buy the PDF for just $8.95, or the print version as part of our back issue sale — any two issues for just $25.

Apex Magazine #39

Saturday, August 11, 2012 Soyka Comments 1 comment

apexmag0812 August’s Apex Magazine features “Armless Maidens of the American West” by Genevieve Valentine (who is interviewed by Maggie Slater), “Murdered Sleep” by Kat Howard, “Waiting for Beauty” by Marie Brennan and “Undercity” by Nir Yaniv. Cover art by Ekaterina Zagustina. Nonfiction by Jim C. Hines and editor Lynne M. Thomas.

Apex is published on the first Tuesday of every month. While each issue is available free online from the magazine’s website, it can also be downloaded to your e-reader from there for $2.99. Individual issues are also available at Amazon, Nook, and Weightless.

Twelve-issue (one year) subscriptions can be ordered at Apex and Weightless for $19.95; Kindle subscriptions are available for $1.99 a month.

The Top 30 Black Gate Posts in June

Saturday, August 4, 2012 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

June was a terrific month for the Black Gate blog. Traffic has been steadily increasing for the past two years, and in June we reached a total of 2,300 blog posts. The top article for the month was “Selling Philip K Dick” from June 11, and the most popular link on the website was to the collected “New Treasures” columns.

The complete list of the Top 30 blog posts in June at Black Gate follows.

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Interzone 241

Saturday, July 28, 2012 Soyka Comments 0 Comment

482 The July-August issue of Interzone features new stories by Sean McMullen (”Steamgothic”), Aliette de Bodard (”Ship’s Brother”), David Ira Cleary (”One Day in Time City”), Gareth L. Powell (“Railroad Angel”), and the 2011 James White Award-winning story “Invocation of the Lurker” by C.J. Paget; cover artwork by Ben Baldwin; an interview with Juliet E. Mckenna by Elaine Gallagher; “Ansible Link” genre news and miscellanea by David Langford; “Mutant Popcorn” film reviews by Nick Lowe; “Laser Fodder” DVD/Blu-Ray reviews by Tony Lee; and book reviews by various contributors.

Interzone alternates monthly publication with sister dark horror-focused Black Static, published by the fine folks at TTA Press.

Here’s the opening of the lead novelette:

There is something special about things that change the world. I cannot say what it is, but I can feel it. I have stood before the Vostok capsule that carried the first man into space. Influence glowed from it, I knew where it was even with my eyes closed. In the Spurlock Museum I saw the strange, twisted, lumpy thing that was the first transistor. The significance that it radiated was like the heat from a fire. The Babbage Analytical Engine of 1871 had no such aura, yet the whole of Bletchley Park did. There was no doubt in my mind about which of them had really launched the age of computers.

The Wright Brothers’ Flyer had no feeling of significance for me. This made no sense. It was the first heavier than air machine to fly, it proved the principle, it changed the world, yet my strange intuition said otherwise. Then I saw the Aeronaute, and everything should have become clear to me.

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