Browsed by
Category: Books

Vintage Treasures: The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick

Vintage Treasures: The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick

Comments 4 comments
The Iron Dragon's Daughter-small The Iron Dragon's Daughter-trade The Iron Dragon's Daughter Fantasy Masterworks-small

Michael Swanwick’s third novel, Stations of the Tide (1991), was nominated for both the Hugo and Clarke Awards, and won the Nebula for Best Novel of the year. He followed it three years later with a very different book — a highly original fantasy in a bizarre, almost steampunkish setting, a place where elves use humans, trolls and dwarves as slave labor to construct the giant iron dragons used as war machines. When the children meet to plot the death of their supervisor, and a whispered voice leads young Jane to an old and broken junkyard dragon, she learns that escape is possible. But untold wonders and terrors both lie beyond the factory gates…

A human changeling child coming of age, in a world of violence and monsters, Jane toils unceasingly alongside trolls, dwarves, shifters and feys in the dank, stygian bowels of a steam dragon plant — helping to construct the massive black iron flying machines the elvan rulers use for waging war. Then one day, the cold, tantalizing voice of a rusting, discarded dragon speaks softly to Jane — whispering to her of freedom and vengeance… and the terrible wonders awaiting her far beyond the factory gates… Michael Swanwick ushers us into a remarkable realm of darkest fantasy, erotic dreams and industrial magicks — on a stunningly original and hair-raising ride toward the obliteration of another history and the end of all things.

The Iron Dragon’s Daughter was nominated for both the Clarke and World Fantasy Awards, and placed second in Locus magazine’s annual poll for Best Fantasy Novel of the Year (behind Peter S. Beagle’s The Innkeeper’s Song). It had one sequel, The Dragons of Babel, released over a decade later in 2008. The Iron Dragon’s Daughter was published in hardcover by AvoNova in January 1994, with a cover by Dorian Vallejo (above left), reprinted in trade paperback by Avon in September 1997 with a cover by J. K. Potter (middle), and released as #42 in the Millennium Fantasy Masterworks series in 2004 (above right, cover by Steve Stone). It is currently out of print.

Kickstarting a Belated Black Gate Story: The Imlen Bastard

Kickstarting a Belated Black Gate Story: The Imlen Bastard

Comments 0 Comment
"Aliosha Popovich" by Kate Baylay, from a collection of Russian Fairy Tales. Used by kind permission of the artist.
“Aliosha Popovich” by Kate Baylay, from a collection of Russian Fairy Tales. Used by kind permission of the artist.

Back in the age of print magazines, I made my first professional sale to a fellow named John O’Neill who published a gorgeous quarterly called Black Gate. We went through three deep revisions on that manuscript, a process we both enjoyed enough that, after I finally produced a version of “The War of the Wheat Berry Year” good enough for John to buy, he asked if I had anything else featuring that heroine. And I did. To our surprise, my novella “The Imlen Bastard” needed only a little polish to be ready for print. And so it took its place in the publication queue. Forthcoming from Black Gate, I said of it in my author bio all over the internet, for a few years.

Those years were hard on print magazines, and they weren’t much kinder to online fiction markets. “The War of the Wheat Berry Year” appeared in BG‘s last print issue. Ultimately, John stopped publishing fiction online before “The Imlen Bastard” could make its debut here.

But to me it’ll always be a Black Gate story.

So when I found an artist, Kate Baylay, whose work felt like my favorite old BG print covers — luscious, menacing, full of subtle story implications — I knew I’d found the right cover artist for “The Imlen Bastard.” Everything else I wanted to do with the self-publishing project that has grown up around the novella came together for me quickly after that. Best of all, Kate Baylay embraced the manuscript, and we’ve had so much fun going over the story together to find the most iconic moments for interior illustrations.

Then I enlisted superstar editor Betsy Mitchell — now retired from Del Rey after a career of editing people like Naomi Novik, Michael Chabon, William Gibson, and Octavia Butler — to give the novella an editorial boost. I figured, there’s a difference between standing as the longest piece in a magazine issue and standing alone as a book. I’m still kind of amazed that she took me on as a freelance client, when she’s in a position to work only on manuscripts she really enjoys. So that boded well.

At first, we all agreed that I’d launch a Kickstarter campaign over the summer, but then I got shortlisted for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. I held off on self-publishing for a few months so I’d know whether to say Finalist or Winner in my promotional material. After the award, I needed to readjust my hubris levels — a story that’s done me the kindness of coming to me to be written deserves the best promotion I can give it, and now I had to work up more brazenness than ever before on my stories’ behalf. Brazenness is harder than it looks. This month, with the thank-you notes for the award all written and sent out, and a trophy to feature in my Kickstarter video, it was finally time.

I clicked on the launch button at noon. You can find the campaign here.

…

Read More Read More

Take a Peek at The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History

Take a Peek at The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History

Comments 3 comments

The Art of Horror

Stephen Jones’s The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History, a gorgeous full-cover coffee table book, was published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in hardcover on September 1, 2015. It’s a beautiful retrospective of horror in theater, cinema, pulps, paintings, book illustrations and comics, and it’s the kind of book you really need to see to fully appreciate.

I’ve collected a handful of full color images from the book to give you a small taste of the wonders that await you in this oversized, 260-page tome. Have a look below (click on the images for full-sized versions.)

…

Read More Read More

Future Treasures: Here & There by Joshua V. Scher

Future Treasures: Here & There by Joshua V. Scher

Comments 0 Comment

Here & There Joshua V Scher-smallJoshua V. Scher is a successful playwright with multiple stage productions to his credit. His TV credits include the original pilot Jigsaw. His film I’m OK is in post-production, and his play The Footage was developed by Pressman Film.

His debut novel Here & There, to be released early next month by 47North, is an intriguing thriller that looks at the emerging science of teleportation… and a strange accident that tears a family apart.

It was supposed to be a simple proof of concept. The physics were sound. Over one hundred teleportation experiments had already been successfully performed…

Debate rages over whether the Reidier Test’s disastrous outcome resulted from human error, government conspiracy, or sabotage. No one has actual knowledge of the truth. But hidden from the public eye, there exists a government report commissioned from criminal psychologist Dr. Hilary Kahn, chronicling the events that took place.

Dr. Kahn disappeared without a trace.

Now her son Danny has unearthed and revealed the report, fueling controversy over the details of Reidier’s quest to reforge the fabric of reality and hold his family together. Exposed with little chance of finding his mother, Danny goes underground to investigate. But nothing can prepare him for what he discovers.

In this thrilling saga, a paradigm-shattering feat may alter humanity’s future as quantum entanglement and teleportation collide.

Here & There will be published by 47North on November 1, 2015. It is 661 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback, and $5.99 for the digital version.

New Treasures: The House by Christina Lauren

New Treasures: The House by Christina Lauren

Comments 0 Comment

The House Christina Lauren-small“Christina Lauren” is the pseudonym for the famously successful writing team of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, who co-write both YA and adult fiction, and so far have produced an amazing eleven New York Times bestsellers, including Beautiful Bastard, Beautiful Stranger, and Dirty Rowdy Thing.

Their latest is the tale of a particularly nasty haunted house, one that seems determined to separate teens Delilah Blue and Gavin Timothy. Delilah was sent to boarding school seven years ago for beating up the bullies who attacked her friend Gavin. Now’s she back in Kansas and her reunion with Gavin has blossomed into romance. But their new relationship is threatened by a force uncomfortably close to home.

His shirt is black, jeans are black, and shaggy black hair falls into his eyes. And when Gavin looks up at Delilah, the dark eyes shadowed with bluish circles seem to flicker to life.

He lives in that house, the one at the edge of town. Spooky and maybe haunted. Something worse than haunted. And Gavin is trapped by its secrets.

Delilah and Gavin can’t resist each other. But staying together will exact a price beyond their imagining.

The House was published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on October 6, 2015. It is 384 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover, and $7.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Lizzy Bromley.

Sam Spade and the Pursuit of Empty Dreams

Sam Spade and the Pursuit of Empty Dreams

Comments 17 comments

NOTE: The following article was first published on February 21, 2010. Thank you to John O’Neill for agreeing to reprint these early articles, so they are archived at Black Gate which has been my home for over 5 years and 250 articles now. Thank you to Deuce Richardson without whom I never would have found my way. Minor editorial changes have been made in some cases to the original text.

First FalconFalcon pbkMuch of what has been written about Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon focuses on the novel as groundbreaking in its realistic portrayal of detective work. More in-depth literary studies tend to focus on the significance of Hammett’s shift in protagonist from the incorruptible and nameless Continental Op of his earlier work to the jaded self-portrait of the author as Sam Spade. In my view, this transition is primarily noteworthy in that Hammett’s protagonist changed from an idealized conception of the man he might have become had he remained a Pinkerton Operative (the Continental Op is based on Hammett’s boss during his stint with the Pinkerton Agency) to a more self-reflective portrayal of a man mired in moral conflict. Hammett’s own moral crisis would color his fiction from this point until he resolved his dilemma and settled into a life alternating his celebrity status with reclusiveness – a life whose one constant was Hammett’s complete lack of creative output for his remaining 27 years.

Many have speculated why Hammett’s creativity dried up when he and his muse and mistress Lillian Hellman had settled comfortably into something approaching unwedded bliss as the Nick and Nora Charles of the real world. My own opinion has been that once freed of the conflict of whether or not to walk a path of integrity or give in to the encroaching corruption that constantly assailed his world, Hammett had nothing further to draw upon for inspiration. Resolution was tantamount to becoming a spent force and Hammett was finished as a writer. The fact that he realized this dilemma was inescapable lies at the heart of both The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key in their pursuit of empty dreams incapable of satisfying the characters whose lust is so great they are willing to die for or kill in their futile quests.

…

Read More Read More

Invading Aliens and Self-Aware Submarines: The Human Zero, Edited by Sam Moskowitz & Roger Elwood

Invading Aliens and Self-Aware Submarines: The Human Zero, Edited by Sam Moskowitz & Roger Elwood

Comments 5 comments

The Human Zero-small

The Human Zero and Other Science Fiction Masterpieces
Edited by Sam Moskowitz & Roger Elwood
Tower Books (224 pages, $0.60, 1967)
Cover artist unknown

Most of the names in The Human Zero are well-known SF writers, with a few notable exceptions. Perhaps Chad Oliver is well-known to more avid SF fans than I, but I didn’t recognize the name. Then there’s the odd man out here — Erle Stanley Gardner. Who wrote a great deal of fiction in his day but is best known for introducing the character Perry Mason to the world.

Not much to see in this collection of eight stories, at least by my reckoning. Two of the stories managed an Okay rating and the rest of them didn’t cut it.

…

Read More Read More

Vintage Treasures: Soulstring by Midori Snyder

Vintage Treasures: Soulstring by Midori Snyder

Comments 0 Comment

Soulstring-smallMidori Snyder is the author of eight fantasy novels, including the Oran Trilogy (New Moon, Sadar’s Keep, and Beldan’s Fire), and The Innamorati, which won the Mythopoeic Award in 1999.

Her first novel was Soulstring, a fairytale fantasy based on the Scottish legend of Tam Lin. It was one of many American fantasy novels to draw on that source in the 80s and 90s, but it had the good fortune to have a great cover by Segrelles (click the image at right for a bigger version), and get solid notices. It launched her career, but sadly has remained out of print since its original paperback appearance in 1987.

Her power could ruin her family, the might de’Stains, whose magic has passed from firstborn son to firstborn son for thirteen generations.

Her power could defy her vicious father, who rules like a shadow over the land of Moravia… and whose only use for his daughter is that she produce a suitable heir.

Her power could defeat his evil enchantments, free her from his grasp and rock the walls of Moravia Castle itself…

If only she can learn how to use it.

Soulstring was published by Ace Books in November 1987. It is 182 pages, priced at $2.95. The cover is by Segrelles. It has never been reprinted, and there is no digital edition. Copies in good condition are available online starting at around $1.

See all our recent Vintage Treasures here

Cover Reveal: Dark Run by Mike Brooks

Cover Reveal: Dark Run by Mike Brooks

Comments 2 comments

Dark Run Mike Brooks-small

Saga Press had hands-down the most impressive launch of 2015, kicking off their new line of fantasy and SF titles with four popular launch titles early this year, including Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings and Genevieve Valentine’s Persona. I caught up with editor Navah Wolfe at the Nebula Awards this year, and she assured me I hadn’t seen anything yet.

That wasn’t hyperpole… Saga has released over two dozen books in 2015, and their 2016 line up promises to be even more stellar, with titles from Kat Howard, A. Lee Martinez, Genevieve Valentine, and Black Gate author Frederic S. Durbin, with a novel that editorial director Joe Monti calls “a lyrical fantasy — his first in seventeen years! — which made me think of Peter Beagle and Patricia McKillip.”

At Black Gate, we like to go where the action is. So I’ve been pestering the good folks at Saga for a peek at their upcoming titles, and earlier this month they delivered in style, with a look at some of their 2016 releases, and exclusive comments from the authors on the cover art. We’ll be sharing it all with you over the next few weeks, and we start with Mike Brooks’ debut novel, the space opera Dark Run, which Stephen Baxter calls “Great fun … Golden Age chic!” and about which SFFWorld said “If you’re looking for a Firefly-like tale… you won’t be disappointed with this one. A quick read, but an immensely entertaining one.” It goes on sale June 7, 2016.

…

Read More Read More

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Wrath of Fu Manchu, Part One

Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Wrath of Fu Manchu, Part One

Comments 5 comments

Wrathdaw_fu_manchuThe Wrath of Fu Manchu was a 50-page short story serialized in five installments in The Toronto Star weekly supplement from January 26 to February 23, 1952 under the unlikely title Green Devil Mask. It was given its current title when Rohmer scholar, Dr. Robert E. Briney made it the centerpiece of a posthumous hardcover collection of previously uncollected short fiction, The Wrath of Fu Manchu and Other New Stories first published in the U.K. in 1973 by Tom Stacey. A U.S. mass market paperback edition from DAW Books followed in 1976. It was subsequently reprinted in Allison & Busby’s Fu Manchu Omnibus – Volume 5 in 2001. Titan Books will reprint the original collection as a trade paperback in March 2016.

The story was initially published only in Canada due to a copyright loophole. Rohmer had recently sold the option to the television rights to the Fu Manchu characters and was prohibited from publishing new works about the characters in Britain or the United States until the courts resolved a dispute over whether the literary rights transferred with the agreement. This situation persisted for the next five years until the literary rights were eventually restored to the author. The character was an easy money-maker for Rohmer at a time when his bank account was suffering. Rohmer’s desire to fly under the radar with the Canadian publication of the story likely accounts for his original decision to avoid using the name Fu Manchu in the title of the story.

…

Read More Read More