Browsed by
Category: Blog Entry

Black Gate 14 Sneak Peek: “Devil on the Wind” by Michael Jasper & Jay Lake

Black Gate 14 Sneak Peek: “Devil on the Wind” by Michael Jasper & Jay Lake

Comments 0 Comment

devil_on_the_wind-277It was Lena’s fifth suicide. Such was the way of the Killaster Witches. But as ambitious as she was, Lena’s schemes for revenge might not be quite treacherous enough…

     After a few more steps, I realized Rego was no longer behind me.
     From the corner of my eye, I could see him. He was not alone.
     “Lena…” His voice was thick with fear. “Should’ve gone ‘round.”
     Dripping dirt, dust, and strips of leathered flesh, four corpses had risen from the dirt to surround Rego. His mount’s back was arched, its tail puffed up and thick. The skeletal hands clattered as they beat ragged chests and yellowed ribcages, inching closer to Rego. They glowed with the same sickly light as the cauldron beast. Even as I watched, more corpses pulled themselves from their shallow, unmarked graves.

Michael Jasper has three novels in print, and his collection Gunning for the Buddha is now available from Prime.  Jay Lake is the award-winning author of over 250 short stories and ten novels, including Green and Escapement.

“Devil on the Wind” appears in Black Gate 14.  You can read a more complete excerpt here.

Note: this story contains some adult themes.

The complete Black Gate 14 Sneak Peek is available here.

Art by John Kaufmann.

Black Gate Giveaway: Eberron Campaign Guide

Black Gate Giveaway: Eberron Campaign Guide

Comments 0 Comment

eberron-campaignLast month we announced we were giving away eight copies of the Eberron Campaign Guide, a 4th Edition D&D Supplement from Wizards of the Coast.

How do you win? By sending a two-sentence summary of a recent Eberron product to eberron@blackgate.com. The best eight — as selected by a capricious panel of barely-literate judges — will be published here, and the authors will be awarded the prizes.

That’s it. No forms to fill out.  No skill-testing questions. No money down. No fine print.  OK, maybe a little fine print, so sue us. It’s a contest, no one’s gonna believe it’s legit until they see some fine print.

It’s a mighty fine book, too.  Yes, that’s Edward Scissorhand’s dad on the front cover.  And his dogs Zipper and Papercut.  They bring a whole new level of menace to “running with scissors.” Ouchie ouchie.

Come on, this is the easiest contest we’ve ever run.  Maybe the easiest contest in the whole history of civilization.  I could even make it even easier by pointing you to a complete list of Eberron modules and sourcebooks to get you started, but that would be spoon feeding you, wouldn’t it?  Yes it would.

Time is running out to claim one of these fine D&D books, and perhaps to introduce yourself to the very cool Eberron setting. E-mail us at eberron@blackgate.com now.  Operators are standing by.

Short Fiction Beat: Quirkiness

Short Fiction Beat: Quirkiness

Comments 0 Comment

door99The latest issue of  webzine Flurb, is now online.  After an erratic start, this seems to be publishing on a regular schedule, with the next installment promised for September.  In addition to the current issue #9, you can access all the previous editions in what seems to be an exercise for co-founder/editors Rudy Rucker and Paul DiFillipo to ask their friends to submit stories.  Check out, for example, “Clod, Pebble” by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz. It’s about book signings. And what to choose, when all your choices seem bad ones, particularly if you’re not seeing things in the right light.

Given the company it keeps, you can expect Flurb to be a little quirky. Speaking of which, Small Beer Press has announced an upcoming edition of Lady Churchhill’s Rosebud Wristlet, though there’s nothing up yet on the website.

You know how it is with zines. They’re nothing if the first page isn’t an apology for being late. And, you know, we haven’t gotten that apology written yet, which is really holding things up.

What’s in that issue (number 25) of LCRW? Fiction and poetry and Advice from: Veronica Schanoes, Richard Parks, Dear Aunt Gwenda, Jeanine Hall Gailey, and more as well as not one but two translations. We may have more news on the translation front later this spring, keep an eye out. (Ouch.) The translations are from Edward Gauvin of French author Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s “A City of Museums” (which will be included in A Life on Paper, the first book by G.-O. C. in English which we will publish in May— galleys are going out now!) and a self-translation by award-winning Chinese author Haihong Zhao (which was brought to our attention by Michael Swanwick, yay!).

Goth Chick News: A Curiosity “From Hell”

Goth Chick News: A Curiosity “From Hell”

Comments 0 Comment
From The London Times, October 1, 1888
From The London Times, October 1, 1888

Between August 31st and November 9th, 1888, the first widely documented serial killer known as “Jack the Ripper” brutally murdered five prostitutes in the heinous poverty that was the Whitechapel area of London.

In 2010, a Google search on “Jack the Ripper” returns over 2 million entries, and Amazon lists 605 books and 64 movies, all focused on an unsolved mystery that is 122 years old and which frankly, by today’s standards would hold the headline spot on CNN for a week at most.

I had to literally ask myself why?

Meaning I’ve been right there fascinated along with everyone else.

I’m not sure when I first became aware of Jack and his bloody doings, but I do recall that taking the after dark “Jack the Ripper Tour” was high on my list of priorities when I packed off to London the first time. 

There on a perfectly damp and foggy evening I, along with a couple of dozen other tourists, followed a guide wearing a fairly cheesy black cape and top hat through some very fragrant Whitechapel alleyways.  And though this neighborhood is a mostly respectable industrialized area today, it doesn’t take much encouragement to imagine coming upon the mangled mess of Polly Nichols spread unceremoniously across the wet bricks.

OK, now that I’ve engaged your gag reflex and you’re thinking I should try going someplace nice like Vegas next time, I will tell you that at that moment I completely understood the term “morbid fascination.”

…

Read More Read More

Two Blasts from a 70 mm

Two Blasts from a 70 mm

Comments 3 comments

2001-space-station-docking

I spent a large chunk of the evenings this weekend watching two films in 70 mm prints on the large screens of grand old Los Angeles cinemas. The timing was right for the prodigious L.A. revival screening community to drag out the mega-sized celluloid for enjoyment in Gargantua-Vision: it was Oscar weekend and everybody was talking and joking about Avatar, even if they knew Hurt Locker was going to win Best Picture. Which it did. (I think District 9 should have won, but didn’t delude myself for a moment that this would happen. But Jeff Bridges, huh? Pretty cool. Kevin Flynn has an Oscar.)

…

Read More Read More

Short Fiction Beat: Nebula Nominees

Short Fiction Beat: Nebula Nominees

Comments 1 comment

imagesHere are the 2009 Nebula Award nominees for short fiction of varying lengths. As with previous award nominees I’ve reported, I’m again left out in right field. Haven’t read any of the short stories. I have read The Gambler, which I highly recommend, and Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest: Red Mask, Gentleman, Beast, which I’d also recommend checking out. The titles alone make me want to seek out the Bowes and Bishop.

As for the novellas, the late Kage Baker may be a sentimental favorite, but the only one I’ve read is Shambling Towards Hiroshima. Not his strongest work, but you can’t go wrong with anything by Morrow.

SHORT STORY

“Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed
“I Remember the Future,” Michael A. Burstein
“Non-Zero Probabilities,” N. K. Jemisin
“Spar,” Kij Johnson
“Going Deep”, James Patrick Kelly
“Bridesicle,” Will McIntosh

NOVELETTE

“The Gambler,” Paolo Bacigalupi
“Vinegar Peace, or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage,” Michael Bishop
“I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said,” Richard Bowes
“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast,” Eugie Foster
“Divining Light,” Ted Kosmatka
“A Memory of Wind,” Rachel Swirsky

NOVELLA

“The Women of Nell Gwynne’s,” Kage Baker
“Arkfall,” Carolyn Ives Gilman
“Act One,” Nancy Kress
“Shambling Towards Hiroshima,” James Morrow
“Sublimation Angels,” Jason Sanford
“The God Engines,” John Scalzi

Goth Chick News: The International Halloween, Costume and Party Show

Goth Chick News: The International Halloween, Costume and Party Show

Comments 3 comments

hcpChicago once again played host to the IHCPS, February 26-29, but to say the show as a whole was a disappointment is the understatement of the century.

This is the event around which my entire calendar revolves, and it usually requires a full ten-hour day to visit all of the exhibitors. I actually have a countdown clock on my computer ticking away the days to this most anticipated of events.

However, in their first year back after a two-year run in Vegas, this year’s show was less than 50% of the size of previous years. Gone was “The Dark Zone,” my most favorite area, which used to take up the entire upper floor of the convention center, and where Hollywood’s finest special effect magicians from the horror genre showcased their latest wares.

The exhibition hall itself was spread thinly across two rooms instead of three, and was heavily dominated by been-there-seen-that costumes and drug store decorations.

Even the “party” part of the IHCPS seemed to be missing. In the past, yet another hall was occupied by general party items, not Halloween themed. Though a little tame for my taste, I always found one or two cool things to share with you, as well as for my own future use. All in all the IHCPS consumed the entire convention center in prior years.

And sacrilege of sacrilege, this year my beloved “Dark Zone” space was occupied by…I can barely write it…a GOLF show. Oh the humanity!

…

Read More Read More

Forgive Me, Solomon Kane, For I Once Wrote a Screenplay about You

Forgive Me, Solomon Kane, For I Once Wrote a Screenplay about You

Comments 3 comments

croatoanThe movie Solomon Kane has gotten released in the U.K., and although it doesn’t have U.S. distribution yet, we will eventually see it on this side of the pond, either in theaters or on DVD. A Solomon Kane movie after so many years of patient waiting is a sword-and-sorcery/Robert E. Howard lover’s dream. But Al Harron at The Cimmerian, who has seen the movie in the U.K., doesn’t have a high opinion of the Howard-side of the results. Although he thinks the film “wasn’t that bad.” His detailed analysis is definitely worth reading, although the spoiler-wary should know that it contains many significant plot details.

I have a personal link to any Solomon Kane film project, and not just because Howard’s puritan adventurer is my favorite of his characters and also the one most suited for the silver screen. It’s mainly because I actually wrote a Solomon Kane screenplay in the mid-‘90s, when I was just out of college, working as an apprentice editor in Warner-Hollywood Studios, and flush with the desire to become a great screenwriter.

…

Read More Read More