Browsed by
Category: BG Staff

Black Gate 14: Review Features

Black Gate 14: Review Features

Comments 1 comment

deader-stillBlack Gate 14 was the biggest issue in our history, with 158,000 words of fiction. We knew the Review Features had to be just as impressive, and the job of ensuring that fell to Contributing Editor Bill Ward.

To that end, Bill assembled a team of over a dozen of our top writers and reviewers.  The final result: a massive 32 pages of reviews, covering thirty of the finest fantasy books to cross our path in the last nine months:

Swords From the West, Harold Lamb (Bison Books)
Swords from the East, Harold Lamb (Bison Books)
Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)
This Crooked Way, James Enge (Pyr)
Summa Elvetica: The Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy, Theodore Beale (Marcher Lord Press)
The Vampire Tarot, Robert M. Place (St. Martin’s Press)
Drood, Dan Simmons (Little, Brown)
Treason’s Shore, Sherwood Smith (DAW)
Black Horses for the King, Anne McCaffrey (Magic Carpet)
Dark Road Rising, P.N. Elrod (Ace)
The Stepsister Scheme, Jim C. Hines (DAW)
Flesh and Fire, Laura Anne Gilman (Simon & Schuster)
Deader Still, Anton Strout (Ace)
Gamer Fantastic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Kerrie Hughes (DAW)
Intelligent Design, edited by Denise Little (DAW)

…

Read More Read More

She Likes Us…

She Likes Us…

Comments 2 comments

Lois Tilton has some nice words to say about content provider (or what used to be called a magazine) Blackgate in her year-end evaluation of sources for SF&F short fiction:

blackgate-issue-14-cover-150

Black Gate put out only a single issue this year but made up for it in the sheer mass of sword and sorcery and other adventure fantasy. The quality was high; I’m happy to see this zine has given up its excessive attachment to endless story series. My favorite was “The Word of Azrael” by Mathew David Surridge, possibly the ultimate sendup of sword and sorcery.

She also cited Interzone as her favorite SF magazine.  While I hardly begin to touch the depth of her coverage, I feel the same way.  I was also interested to see her comment that,

F&SF remains one of the most diverse publications in the field, with a mix ranging from mundane science fiction to horror. It provided more stories that ended up on this list than any other publication, but I wish there hadn’t also been so many silly stories of little merit…

That’s always been my impression and I wonder if Gordon van Gelder feels compelled for some reason to publish these “silly stories” as a kind of tribute to the pulp tradition of stories that were silly even by the standards of the era.  Of course, that’s part of the charm, I suppose.  Sort of like the whole “Crouching with Dragons” phenomenon in which you’re making a purposefully bad movie, but doing it really well.  On the other hand, seeing it one time is kind of amusing, but a regular diet makes you all the more desirous of something with higher nutrition.

Morlock Returns

Morlock Returns

Comments 3 comments

travellers-rest-coverIf you’ve been missing Morlock, you’re in luck, because he’s back.

James Enge’s iconic character has been getting a lot of well-deserved attention lately. If you missed out on the news, Enge’s first novel, Blood of Ambrose (starring Morlock) was nominated for a World Fantasy Award. His third novel, The Wolf Age (starring Morlock) recently received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly.

Now it turns out that The Wolf Age is Pyr’s one-hundredth title, an event certainly worth celebrating, and what better way to celebrate than with a new Morlock novelette?

I’ll let the official Pyr release from Jill Maxick take over from here:

In honor of this burgeoning Morlock fan base, and to commemorate The Wolf Age’s status as Pyr’s one-hundredth title, Pyr is issuing a free, exclusive, ePub novelette called “Travellers’ Rest.” Featuring a cover by artist Chuck Lukacs, “Travellers’ Rest” is an 8,500 word original novelette, written for Pyr, which takes place before the events of Blood of Ambrose. It is available on the Pyr website, as a free download in ePub format and will also be available via Kindle. (Two previously published Morlock short stories that take place many decades after the events of The Wolf Age — “A Book of Silences” and “Fire and Sleet” — are available on the Sample Chapters section of the Pyr website.)

For those of you without an e-reader, the HTML version is here.

What are you waiting for?

Black Gate Kuttner Contest: And the Winners Are…

Black Gate Kuttner Contest: And the Winners Are…

Comments 0 Comment

kuttnerBlack Gate magazine is very pleased to announce the winners of our Kuttner Contest:

Pawel Martin
Alexander G. Tozzi
G. W. Thomas

All three winners receive a copy of Terror in the House: The Early Kuttner, Volume One, compliments of publisher Haffner Press. Terror in the House is 712 pages in hardcover, and is edited by Stephen Haffner and illustrated by Harry V. Parkhurst. Congratulations to the winners!

To enter the contest required a one-sentence review of your favorite Henry Kuttner short story. Winners were chosen at random from all eligible entries.

The wide range of entries gave us a fine appreciation for just how well Henry Kuttner is still remembered over 50 years after his death, and these concise reviews of readers’ favorite Kuttner tales should help those less familiar with him understand the enduring quality of his fiction. Some of the best entires we received are collected below.

…

Read More Read More

And now a word (or several) about Ideomancer

And now a word (or several) about Ideomancer

Comments 2 comments
Leah Bobet of <i>Ideomancer</i>
Leah Bobet of Ideomancer

At Readercon 2009, I wended my way through the lobby crush until at last I came upon a clump of ladies who were more or less my friends. A few strangers, true. A few people I had adored only cyberspacially, true. However, everyone was cheerful and in the mood to be introduced.

Introductions were made.

One of the strangers was a tall, smiling, black-haired (with a bright blue streak, like a sailor’s vocabulary) lady who may or may not have been wearing at the time (if she wasn’t then, she certainly was later) a wicked cool corset. Her name was Leah Bobet, and she was the Editor-in-Chief of Ideomancer Magazine.

Upon learning my name, she grinned and said, “Oh! I think you’re in my slush pile.”

If slush could blush, this one certainly did. I mean, what do you say to that?

Except, “Uh… Uh-oh. Ha-ha. Well. Ahhhh, NICE TO MEETCHA!”

Or some stammering equivalent thereof.

Since then, I did make it out of the slush and into an issue of Ideomancer, and have pursued my acquaintance with the Lady Bobet through the usual social networking sites (LiveJournal chief among them) and what other writing conventions we happened to attend together.

bg1It gives me great pleasure, now, to invite Leah here to talk to us about Ideomancer and its exciting current issue.

Ladies and Gentlemen of Black Gate, I give you… Leah Bobet.

Ideomancer‘s one of the longest-running speculative fiction zines on the Internet. It’s been publishing regularly since 1999, and has gone through four publishers, been based in three countries, and had several different publication schedules. What hasn’t changed is the aesthetic: complex, literary speculative fiction from authors you might not have heard of right now, but will soon.

…

Read More Read More

The Four-Window Method

The Four-Window Method

Comments 2 comments

lion-of-cairoDuring the course of the past few days I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with a goodly number of writers. It’s been good for my soul to talk shop with knowledgeable peers. But one question that invariably cropped up concerned my method of writing. How did I prepare my drafts? And as I explained it, curious looks would blossom over the visages of my brother-and-sister scribes.

Apparently, my method is just a little odd.

…

Read More Read More

Wizard Trails: On the Making of the Black Gate Trailer

Wizard Trails: On the Making of the Black Gate Trailer

Comments 5 comments

Not so very many months ago, we posted Black Gate‘s first trailer ever.

We are still very proud of it. So proud, in fact, that we’re bringing it up again! Oh my gosh!

I figured, in the light of Harry Connolly’s posts about Walking the Trail(er), it would be interesting to interview the wizardly gentleman who aided and abetted (and conjured and conspired) in the making of Black Gate‘s own fabulous trailer.

So I wrote to Magill Foote and asked him some impertinent questions, and he was kind enough to answer them!

…

Read More Read More

Apex Magazine 19 arrives, featuring C.S.E. Cooney

Apex Magazine 19 arrives, featuring C.S.E. Cooney

Comments 3 comments

apex19I’m very jealous of how punctual this magazine is. I suspect a pact with demonic forces.

The new issue of Apex has arrived, featuring fiction from our own marvelous C.S.E. Cooney, with her short story “Pale, and from a Sea-Wave Rising,” as well as less interesting people like Nick Wolven, with “Radishes,” and Erzebet YellowBoy, with the reprint “At the Core” (from Fantasy Magazine, 2006.)

The issue also includes two poems: “Flourless Devil’s Food” by Shweta Narayan, and “Cancelled Flight” by W.C. Roberts.

Apex Magazine 19 is sold online for $2.99; it’s also sold in a downloadable, pay-what-you-want edition through Smashwords, and in a Kindle edition (for 99 cents). Previous issues are available through their back issue page.

C.S.E.’s complete story is online. Here’s the first line:

Aquilo Vickery Makepeace, anatomy student, was looking for corpses when he found the undine.

I like it. We last profiled Apex with their November Arab/Muslim issue, the October issue and in August (also featuring C.S.E. Cooney).

Apex Magazine is edited by the ethereally beautiful Catherynne M. Valente. To join the Apex Army and donate, subscribe, or help spread the word, visit their online store.

Writing: Historical Fantasy and the Book Deal

Writing: Historical Fantasy and the Book Deal

Comments 5 comments

lion-of-cairo
Scott’s new book. Go buy it!
A few months ago James Enge and I sat down for a cyber conversation about serial characters and the book deal.  We both had a lot of fun, and the the exchange seemed of interest to Black Gate readers, so I asked my friend Scott Oden to join me  for a similar back-and-forth interview.

If you haven’t yet heard of Scott Oden, you’re missing a rising star in historical fiction. I learned of his work when our mutual friend, Robert E. Howard scholar Morgan Holmes, handed me a copy of Scott’s first book and urged me to read it. My “to-be-read” pile is as tottering as that of most readers, but I took Morgan at his word and was launched into an action-packed thrill ride at the side of Phoenecian mercenary leader Hasdrabal Barca in Men of Bronze. Oden’s skill with character, pacing, and description — not to mention his action chops — impressed me greatly. When I learned Scott was a fan of historical fiction writer Harold Lamb, I invited him to write an introduction for one of the Lamb historical collections I was editing.

As I’ve mentioned in previous writing posts, it was Scott who introduced me to his editor, the talented Pete Wolverton of Thomas Dunne Books, and Scott who introduced me to the agent we now share, the gifted Bob Mecoy. Scott wrote on this topic some months ago, after I took news of my own book deal public last November.

Scott’s new novel, a historical fantasy set in 11th century Cairo, hits bookstore shelves this Tuesday. I had the privilege of reading the book in manuscript, so I can tell you that it’s one of the best historical novels of the year.  Its impending release seemed like a fine excuse for a discussion about  historical fiction, middle-eastern protagonists, and, naturally, Harold Lamb. I lead off, then Scott follows. At the end of each exchange, we trade questions, and occasionally we interject responses.

…

Read More Read More

“The Word of Azrael” Selected for The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy

“The Word of Azrael” Selected for The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy

Comments 9 comments

yearsbest2011Matthew David Surridge’s novellete “The Word of Azrael” has been selected for The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.

Congratulations, Matthew!  “The Word of Azrael” has been praised in many places since it appeared in Black Gate 14. Here’s what Rich said in his Locus magazine review in the August issue:

Even better is Matthew [David] Surridge’s “The Word of Azrael.” It concerns Isrohim Vey, who sees the Angel of Death on a battlefield and as a result is spared — more a curse than a blessing — to search again for the Angel. His search almost takes the form of a catalog of sword & sorcery tropes, his many adventures told briefly but with style and an ironic edge. Surridge both celebrates and winks at the genre. It’s very entertaining, clever, and even thought-provoking.

…

Read More Read More