It appears that even though they didn’t quite get the pre-orders they would have liked, Wheatland Press will publish Polyphony 7 sometime in July. A suitable time of year to report a resurrection.
Another resurrection is that The Prisoner remake is now available on DVD. Initial reviews were less than enthusiastic, so I don’t know if I’ll be seeing this any time soon.
Last week Tor.com ran a terrific article by Michael Moorcock about the origins of his (recently reprinted) Hawkmoon stories. In ‘The Genesis of Hawkmoon‘ Moorcock talks about method, motive, and how the big cultural changes of the sixties heavily influenced his work. Firstly, the man’s writing MO is legendary, and he wrote fantasy fiction with a journalistic mindset: fast with no revisions. The political elements of Hawkmoon, in which a far-future Britain is the ‘Dark Empire’ opposed by a German hero, was a direct protest of the lingering prejudice and division left over from WWII in England. Moorcock sees the books, and himself, as a product of the times — and the times they were a’ changing.
Finally, Moorcock expresses his quiet astonishment over the longevity of Hawkmoon and all the Eternal Champion stories, and remarks “Not bad, I guess, for twelve days hard work!”
No, Mr. Moorcock, not bad at all.
In spite of the fact that I spend a good portion of each day on the computer, surfing the net for the sheer fun of it never loses its appeal.
On these occasions, my favorite tactic is to put a word grouping in Google, and just follow wherever it leads.
Today that produced some truly intriguing results. And though you may think this is a lame blog topic, probably brought on because I’m hung over and didn’t have any other ideas, I say “NO!” I never touch the stuff on school nights (though if my posting day were Sunday instead of Thursday, you might have a point.)
Now that we’ve cleared that up, see if you don’t agree this is downright strange stuff.
I started out with the following in Google:
“strange celebrity horror movies”
With these key words I found a fascinating article on About.com called “The 15 Most Unlikely Horror Movie Stars” which was a find indeed, being that I’m a rabid fan of cheesy scream-fests. Though some of these weren’t news, a few were complete surprises which I quickly added to my Netflix list.
…
The Sorcerer’s Guild has announced that John C. Hocking’s “The Face in the Sea” (Black Gate 13) has won The Harper’s Pen Award for the best all-around Sword & Sorcery short story of 2009.
Award administator Jeff Crook puts it this way:
John’s story is a superb example of the genre, harkening back to the master himself – REH. It hit all the points I mentioned in my previous post: two strong hooks (story and adventure); well-crafted, believable historical fantasy setting; solid characters; monsters, mayhem and magic aplenty; a satisfying ending, and an entertaining storyteller’s voice.
The Award winner receives $200, a certificate, and an engraved handmade pen by Syzygy Pens.
You can read an excerpt from “The Face in the Sea” as part of our Black Gate 13 online preview.
The sequel to the story, “The Bonestealer’s Mirror,” appears in Black Gate 14, now shipping.
Congratulations to John Hocking on the Award! Congratulations in fact, to all the finalists, including stories from Asimov’s Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Dark Worlds, Electric Spec, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Rage of the Behemoth, and Silver Blade.
Jeff Crook is posting his notes on each of the finalists at The Sorcerer’s Guild over the next few days.
On behalf of John C. Hocking and Black Gate, we’re extremely honored to receive this award. We also hope that, if you enjoy his story, you’ll take some time to explore Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Electric Spec, Rage of the Behemoth, or one of the other fine publications on the ballot. And if you like what you see, we hope you’ll support some of our worthy competition.
Me, I’m going to start off with a subscription to Dark Worlds. It looks great.
Anticipating CTHULHU’S REIGN (Part 2)
“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”
–Revelations 9.6
“Who will survive and what will be left of them?”
–White Zombie, “Real Solution #9”
Ask 15 writers what the End of the World will be like, and you’ll get 15 different answers. That’s exactly what editor Darrell Schweitzer did when putting together his latest anthology. Horror and Strangeness were the only constants. Oh, and Cthulhu, of course…
Last week I introduced CTHULHU’S REIGN, a new anthology from DAW Books featuring 15 new tales sharing a common theme: Great Cthulhu has risen and reclaimed the world for the Old Ones. What happens next?
This H. P. Lovecraft-inspired collection is an essential read for horror fans, Lovecraft fans, and anyone interested in survivalist fiction. Although surviving in a universe warped and twisted by the Great Old Ones may not even be possible. As the saying goes: “Evolve or die.” But even death may be no escape from Cthulhu’s World.
This week (and next) I’m talking with some of the authors who wrote stories for CTHULHU’S REIGN about what inspired their tales of terror and madness.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBloid. Featuring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson.
A new U.S. Godzilla film is on the way! One that will do it right! Rejoice!
Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Now, where was I . . . something else about giant monsters. . . .
I avoid most CGI animated films that don’t have the name “Pixar” in front of them; last year’s Monsters vs Aliens was just another reminder that nobody else seems to even try to reach Pixar’s level of story quality and characterization. “Those Who Are Not Pixar” are quite content just to wink at the adults with pop-culture jokes and coast on celebrity voices. However, when I saw the trailers for How to Train Your Dragon, I was intrigued. The movie appeared to be mostly ironic fantasy—not a genre that does much for me, aside from an occasional Terry Pratchett novel—but it also seemed to have some genuine heroic sword-and-sorcery going on in it. Vikings and dragons . . . I thought there were some juicy possibilities.
Okay, so I was wrong.
Black Gate 14 is now shipping. Foreign and domestic subscriber copies went in the mail last week.
At 384 pages, Black Gate 14 is the largest issue in our history. Be sure you’re in a sturdy chair while reading.
It includes an 8-page Knights of the Dinner Table strip, nearly 25 full pages of art, and over 150,000 words of fiction – including a Morlock novella from James Enge, a new tale of Brand the Viking from John C. Hocking, and fiction from Michael Jasper & Jay Lake, Pete Butler, Robert J. Howe, Diana Sherman, Martin Owton, Mike Shultz, and many others.
Rich Horton returns with another detailed look at the rich history of the fantasy genre, this time focusing on publishers striving to keep the best of the past in print in “Back To The Future: Modern Reprints of Classic Fantasy.” And of course we include our regular review columns, calling out the finest new fantasy games and books, assembled and edited by Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward.
The complete Black Gate 14 preview is here.
The gorgeous wraparound cover is by Bruce Pennington, who also did the cover to Black Gate 12.
The issue is available for just $15.95, plus $2.50 shipping – or, until we come to our senses, you can include it as part of a 4-issue subscription for the criminally low price of $29.95. Our order page is here.
We’re hard at work converting the issue to PDF format, and will make a downloadable version of the issue available in early April for just $4.95 (only $2.95 for existing subscribers).
Over at Clarkesworld, stories by Gord Sellar and Matthew Kressel, plus an interview with Kij Johnson. This cool cover by Georgi Markov is called “Retro Robots.”
Kind of makes you miss magazines that you could hold in your hand and leave out on your coffee table to display.
A little over a year ago, my friend John C. Hocking called me to let me know that Steve Tompkins passed away. I was on a family mini-vacation at the time, and, oddly enough, I am again on a family mini-vacation shortly after the anniversary of his death.
I wanted to point all of you to the fine series of articles over on The Cimmerian in remembrance of Steve, but I also wanted to offer a word of explanation. Neither John nor myself could claim to be close friends with Steve, though we were occasional correspondents. I had the pleasure to meet him in person once, and we sometimes traded information and opinions, for we shared many of the same fiction preferences, but I did not know him that well.
So why, then, was Hocking so upset that he called me to let me know, and why was the passing of this acquaintance so moving that I think about him from time to time even when it’s not the anniversary of his death? Why are so many people still talking about a man that many of you may never have heard of?
It’s because Steve was a phenomenal scholar of fantasy and heroic fiction/sword-and-sorcery and probably the most well-read person I’ve ever met — and he was also, simply, a really nice guy.
You have only to visit his archived essays at The Cimmerian to see that talent, or his good natured spirit. You also can flip through the essays he drafted in many other places, not the least of which are some of the Del Rey Robert E. Howard volumes, including Kull – Exile of Atlantis. He was a genius.
The Sorcerer’s Guild announced this week that John C. Hocking’s “The Face in the Sea” (from Black Gate 13) has been nominated for the Harper’s Pen Award (formerly the Ham-Sized Fist Award).
The Harper’s Pen Award honors the best Heroic Fantasy or Sword and Sorcery short fiction. The award is sponsored by The Sorcerer’s Guild. The stated goal of the award is “to encourage authors to continue to explore heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery fiction, as well as to reward those who continue to publish it.”
The Finalists for 2009 are:
Special shout out to Black Gate Contributing Editor Bill Ward, for his nomination for “The Last of His Kind.”
There’s some fine publications on that list. If you like heroic fantasy, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to try a few of the links above and, if you like what you see, support one of our sister magazines. Me, I’m going off to read some more Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.
Congratulations to all the finalists! The winner will be announced next week.