BG Staff – Page 90

Arabian Culture Myth as Fantasy: Tor.com interviews Howard Andrew Jones

Saturday, February 19, 2011 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

We ran out of bubbly grape juice by Friday morning, but that hasn’t stopped the non-stop celebration of Howard Andrew Jones month here at the Black Gate rooftop headquarters.

Today we’ve been clustered around computers reading the lengthy and far-ranging interview with Howard at Tor.com, which covers Howard’s literary inspirations, his research methods, and how long years toiling for Black Gate molded him into the literary titan he is today:

Are there other novels that inspired this series? Perhaps in unexpected ways?

Tthe books I’ve read the most times are probably Leiber’s collection of Lankhmar stories, Swords Against Death, and Zelazny’s Amber books… I can’t imagine that Leiber and Zelazny haven’t had a lasting influence upon me. I love the world building and pulp noir sensibilities of Leigh Brackett, queen of space opera, who was writing of Firefly-like characters twenty and thirty years before Han Solo every reached the silver screen.

How would you say your career as an editor at Black Gate has helped shape you as an author?

That’s an interesting question. I suppose it’s gotten me to think about the starts to stories even more than I was already. I see a lot more beginnings than I do endings, to be honest. That’s just the way it works when you’re reading submissions. The biggest impact, though, probably comes from the number of people I’ve had the privilege to meet thanks to Black Gate’s John O’Neill… I think my writing career would have had a much harder time getting launched without my work with the magazine and the Harold Lamb collections.

The complete interview (and an absolutely smashing photo of Howard in a paisley shirt) is here.

Howard Andrew Jones on John Scalzi’s Big Idea

Thursday, February 17, 2011 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Howard Andrew Jones month continues with no let up in pace. Tuesday Howard published a novel and a magazine review; yesterday he held his first book signing (in Terre Haute, Indiana) and conducted an interview with Black Gate‘s Bill Ward.

Today Howard is the subject of The Big Idea at John Scalzi’s blog:

Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russel’s brilliant portrayal of 8th century Baghdad (in issue 50 of The Sandman) brought that particular locale into sharp focus for me. Arts, mathematics, poetry, and science blossomed during the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate, while Europe wallowed in the the poverty, illiteracy, and disease of a Dark Age. Yet there were still plenty of blank spaces on middle-eastern maps, filled in by glorious storytelling. Men and women lived ordinary civilized lives, but they knew that the supernatural might lurk in the neighboring kingdom, or around any street corner…

The Desert of Souls came into being as an origin story, not just about how the characters met, but how Dabir and Asim came to depend upon one another. Two men are caught up in events bigger than themselves and in their journey they learn to work together so they have the strength to face a terrible evil. It takes place against the technicolor backdrop of the Arabian Nights, complete with lost cities and sweeping deserts, scheming sorcerers, implacable djinn, and secrets men were not meant to know. There’s romance and heartbreak, swashbuckling action, and hard won victories… In brief, it’s an adventure with the kind of elements I’ve always loved.

There’s no stopping him. Today Scalzi’s blog — tomorrow, the world.

You can read the complete post here.

Black Gate Interviews Howard Andrew Jones, Part One

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Bill Ward Comments 6 comments

howard-pic2 The great thing about interviewing Howard Andrew Jones is that it is impossible to run out of interesting things to talk about. That’s because Howard has been busy. Busy writing stories, busy preserving the legacy of an unsung founder of historical adventure, busy editing Black Gate Magazine. And, oh yeah, busy writing and selling novels — his first two, the Dabir and Asim origin story The Desert of Souls, and Plague of Shadows for Paizo’s new Pathfinder fiction line, are both due out this month!

In this first installment of a multi-part interview with Howard, he talks about his new Dabir and Asim novel and the relationship between historical and fantasy writing.

A Conversation with Howard Andrew Jones

Your Dabir and Asim stories are some of the most popular to be featured in Black Gate Magazine. For those readers perhaps still unfamiliar with them, what can one expect from a Dabir and Asim tale? More specifically, what is in store for readers that pick up Dabir’s and Asim’s first novel-length adventure, The Desert of Souls?

Mystery, adventure, swashbuckling swordplay, two brave friends standing against things man was not meant to know… to further sound like a radio announcer, there’s all this and more! I think my two favorite descriptions about their exploits come from John O’Neill and Kevin J. Anderson. O’Neill described their tales as “something like Sherlock Holmes crossed with the Arabian Nights, except Watson has a sword,” and Kevin J. Anderson wrote that the novel read “like a cross between Sindbad and Indiana Jones.” There’s a strong sense of the exotic, because I like to take readers to strange and colorful places, be it a haunted tower in the Baghdad night, or ancient ruins. I had a lot more room to spread out in the novel, so the readers are introduced to more figures from Dabir and Asim’s world, including the brilliant Sabirah, Dabir’s one true love, and the caliph himself.

…

The Desert of Souls Released Today

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Howard Andrew Jones’ novel arrives in bookstores today.

Copies arrived here in the Black Gate offices last week, and it is a beautiful, beautiful book. Here’s the jacket copy, just because I think it’s cool:

The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew Jones.

In 8th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled tablet he carries, but he is murdered before he can explain. Charged with solving the puzzle, the scholar Dabir soon realizes that the tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. When the tablet is stolen from his care, Dabir and Captain Asim are sent after it, and into a life and death chase through the ancient Middle East.

Stopping the thieves — a cunning Greek spy and a fire wizard of the Magi — requires a desperate journey into the desert, but first Dabir and Asim must find the lost ruins of Ubar and contend with a mythic, sorcerous being that has traded wisdom for the souls of men since the dawn of time. But against all these hazards there is one more that may be too great even for Dabir to overcome…

And here’s one of the blurbs, from author Dave Drake:

An Arabian Nights adventure as written by Robert E Howard. It is exciting, inventive, and most of all fun.

The Desert of Souls is available in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books.

Black Gate at Suvudu

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Black Gate is featured this week as part of Suvudu’s Magazine Mania series.

Suvudu is a division of Random House, and promotes a rich variety of science fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels, and gaming titles from Del Rey, Spectra, Pantheon Books, and Random House Children’s Books, all part of Random House.

They also do a fine job covering film news, independent bloggers, and books and comics of interest from many other publishers. Suvudu has previously highlighted Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fangoria, Electric Velocipede, and the extremely cool Kobold Quarterly in their Magazine Mania column, helping bring print magazines to the attention of new SF & fantasy readers. The articles are written by Matt Staggs.

We’re proud to be featured this week. Here’s part of Matt’s commentary:

While the web offers a lot of wonderful stuff for sci-fi, fantasy and horror fans, it’s important to remember that there are plenty of print magazines on your local bookstore shelves that deserve your attention. Some of them have been steadily supplying news and features to fandom for decades, while others are new publications bravely stepping into the breach. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring a few of these magazines for your consideration. Today’s magazine is Black Gate. Launched in 2000, Black Gate specializes in tales of swords, sorcery and high adventure.

The complete post is here, including a brief interview with me in which I yak on for a bit on why you should try Black Gate. I’d quote a bit of it here, but quoting an article that quotes yourself is a bit weird. Even for me.

C.S.E. Cooney’s Jack of the Hills is Available Today

Monday, February 14, 2011 John ONeill Comments 9 comments

Just to prove that Howard Andrew Jones isn’t the only Black Gate staff member with talent the size of a planet, we’re proud to announce that our website editor C.S.E. Cooney has published her book Jack of the Hills today through Papaveria Press.

Papaveria Press was founded by Erzebet YellowBoy. Along with The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Stace (also appearing today), Jack of the Hills is the first book in Erzebet’s new Wonder Tales line of elegant paperbacks.

Jack of the Hills is a collection of two celebrated tales, “Stone Shoes” and “Oubliette’s Egg.” It is 69 pages and available in print, epub and mobi editions.

Jack Yap once had his mouth sewn shut for talking too much. His brother Pudding has to wear stone shoes or he’ll just wander off. Will little obstacles like these keep the boys out of trouble? Not for the twinkling of an eye. There is magic in the hills, shapechangers and monsters, and Jack Yap has a hankering to meet them all and maybe kill a few. What he and Pudding find in the hills, however, changes both their lives, taking them out of the country and into the cruel and wonderful world, where witches and princesses await. Sometimes they are even the same person.

Here’s what Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Thomas the Rhymer, said about Jack of the Hills:

Stunningly delicious! Cruel, beautiful and irresistible are C.S.E. Cooney’s characters and prose. Just when you thought fantasy had devolved into endless repetition, ’Jack o’ the Hills’ blows us all over the next hill and into the kingdom beyond. C.S.E. Cooney is a rare and exciting new talent. Whatever she offers us next, I’ll waiting in line to read.

You can order your copy here.

BookPage Reviews The Desert of Souls

Sunday, February 13, 2011 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Howard Andrew Jones’ novel The Desert of Souls will be released Tuesday, Feb 15.

But the early reviews have begun to appear, and it’s obvious the excitement surrounding the book is already starting to build. Here’s an excerpt from the review at BookPage:

In the space of the first two sentences… Howard Andrew Jones has captured the reader. By the end of the first page — and in my case, the first paragraph — the crisp, evocative imagery has gripped one’s attention… that grip only tightens in the pages that follow.

The Desert of Souls has been described as Sherlock Holmes meets the Arabian Nights meets Robert E. Howard. The comparisons are apt, and in the case of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous duo, overt. The martially adept Captain Asim partners with the erudite Dabir, a scholar whose principle weapons are his piercing intelligence and keen observations… Fantastic adventure ensues. Though this is only the first book, the tandem of Asim and Dabir shows great promise to be worthy of the “great fictional duos” mantle worn by the likes of Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Bilbo and Gandalf, and even Kirk and Spock.

The rich tapestry of 8th-century Baghdad recalls some of Scheherazade’s most engaging tales, and the supernatural horrors faced by Asim and Dabir during the course of their adventures could just as easily have menaced the likes of Conan, Solomon Kane or Bran Mak Morn…. At its heart, Jones’ work is a great read — a page-turner in its purest form. As such, The Desert of Souls is a powerful place — it can wreck sleeping schedules, cause chores to be neglected and, best of all, make one yearn for the next installment.

The complete review by Michael Burgin is available here. You can pre-order The Desert of Souls at Amazon.com and other fine bookshops.

Kicking Off Howard Andrew Jones Month

Saturday, February 12, 2011 John ONeill Comments 13 comments

It’s the start of Howard Andrew Jones Month here at the Black Gate blog.

You have to do something pretty special to get a whole month, even if you’re Managing Editor of Black Gate. But publishing your first two novels — The Desert of Souls and Plague of Shadows — from two different publishers, not to mention writing an essay for John Scalzi’s “Big Idea,” holding your first book signing, conducting a sweepstakes, getting picked up by the Science Fiction Book Club, publishing an original online story, being the subject of a multi-part interview, writing the Afterword for Robert E. Howard’s Sword Woman, appearing in Black Gate 15 (twice), being a guest blogger, and writing regular columns here at Black Gate, all in the same month… yeah. That will do it.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be telling you more about the incredible Howard Andrew Jones, starting with the breathless reviews for his first novel The Desert of Souls, a classic Arabian Nights fantasy and “a page-turner in its purest form” (BookPage), on sale Feb 15. It’s the best novel I’ve read in many years, and you’re not going to want to miss it.

Some Little Infamy

Sunday, February 6, 2011 JonathanLHoward Comments 6 comments

johannes-cabal I have been asked to write a few words on how the Johannes Cabal novels came to be published with a particular view to explaining some of the intricacies of the publishing trade. Because I am nothing if not didactic (“Didactic” means, among other things, to speak in a lecturely manner. I hope you’re taking notes – there will be a test afterwards), I have also added a few notes of advice at the end for folk who want to get into the professional novel writing gig.

There is no precise moment when Johannes Cabal leapt from my brow, side, or any other part of my anatomy. He was, as is often the way, formed by a slow aggregation of assorted ideas over quite a lengthy period that probably starts sometime in the mid to late 1980s. I had and, I must admit, still have a habit of inventing stories for my own amusement with no intention of writing them down. Usually the reason for not taking it too seriously is because I’m playing with other people’s characters, and the copyright situation discourages me from making the stories concrete; virtual fanfic, if you like.

Back in 1985 I saw a film that, as a Lovecraft fan, I was all set to hate. Instead, having seen Re-Animator I came out of the cinema enthused and excited by such a gonzo approach to Lovecraft’s work. Inevitably, I started playing around with ideas for a sequel. There used to be an old vicarage in Kearsley, southwest of Bolton on the road to Manchester, that caught my eye whenever I went by. It was a tall, severe, Victorian building with a large, circular window on its attic floor, glaring out from beneath the eaves. The window made me think of a Lovecraftian tale, and I imagined a rival to Herbert West living there. Unlike West, however, he used magic upon which he had imposed a scientific rigour. Herbert West comes to him to collaborate with predictably gory results.

I never got very far with this particular story because I found myself becoming more interested in the unnamed magic-using re-animator.

…

Coming Soon — Black Gate 15!

Sunday, February 6, 2011 John ONeill Comments 31 comments

Team Black Gate has been putting in a lot of overtime, and we’re just about ready to pull back the veil on our latest production. Black Gate 15 is another massive issue, with over 350 pages of fiction, reviews, and articles. It contains 22 stories — more than any issue in our history — totaling over 150,000 words of adventure fantasy.

Jonathan L. Howard returns to our pages with “The Shuttered Temple,” the sequel to “The Beautiful Corridor” from Black Gate 13, in which the resourceful thief Kyth must penetrate the secrets of a mysterious and very lethal temple. Howard Andrew Jones bring us another swashbucking tale of Arabian fantasy featuring Dabir & Asim, this time a lengthy excerpt from his blockbuster novel The Desert of Souls.

Harry Connolly returns after too long an absence with “Eating Venom,” in which a desperate soldier faces a basilisk’s poison — and the treachery it brings. John C. Hocking kicks off a terrific new sword & sorcery series with “A River Through Darkness & Light,” featuring a dedicated Archivist who leads a small band into a deadly desert tomb, and John Fultz shares the twisted fate of a thief who dares fantastic dangers to steal rare spirits indeed in “The Vintages of Dream.”

Plus fiction from Vaughn Heppner, Darrell Schweitzer, Jamie McEwan, Michael Livingston, Frederic S. Durbin, Chris Willrich, Fraser Ronald, Maria Snyder, Brian Dolton, and many others.

In our generous non-fiction section, Mike Resnick educates us on the best in black & white fantasy cinema, Bud Webster turns his attention to the brilliant Tom Reamy in his Who? column on 20th Century fantasy authors, Scott Taylor challenges ten famous fantasy artists to share their vision of a single character in Art Evolution, and Rich Horton looks at the finest fantasy anthologies of the last 25 years. Plus over 30 pages of book, game, and DVD reviews, edited by Bill Ward, Howard Andrew Jones, and Andrew Zimmerman Jones — and a brand new Knights of the Dinner Table strip.

Black Gate 15 will be on sale next month. We’ll have a detailed sneak peek, with tantalizing story excerpts and artwork, right here in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Cover art by Donato Giancola.

Black Gate

Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Browsed by
Category: BG Staff