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Win a copy of The Watcher at the Door: The Early Kuttner, Volume Two, from Haffner Press!

Win a copy of The Watcher at the Door: The Early Kuttner, Volume Two, from Haffner Press!

The Watcher at the Door-smallContests! We love contests. It’s because we love to give you things, just like Santa Claus.

In this case, it’s something you really, really want: the latest archival quality hardcover from Haffner Press, The Watcher at the Door: The Early Kuttner, Volume Two, a massive collection of 30 early weird fantasy tales by Henry Kuttner. Here in the Black Gate offices we’ve been awaiting this gorgeous book for a long, long time. We first gave you a sneak peek back in April 2015.

The Watcher at the Door is the second volume in a three-volume “Early Kuttner” set collecting many of Kuttner’s earliest stories, most of which have never been reprinted. The first volume, Terror in the House, was released way back in 2010.

We have two copies of this beautiful hardcover to gave away. How do you win one? Now pay attention, this is the fun part. You must submit the title of an imaginary weird fantasy story. The most compelling titles — as selected by a crack team of Black Gate judges — will be entered into the drawing. We’ll draw two names from that list, and the two winners will receive a free copy of The Watcher at the Door, complements of Haffner Press and Black Gate magazine. Here are the titles of some of the stories in this book, to give you a little inspiration:

“We Are the Dead,” Weird Tales, Apr ’37
“The Curse of the Crocodile,” Strange Stories, Aug ’39
“Corpse Castle,” Thrilling Mystery, Nov ’39
“When New York Vanished,” Startling Stories, Mar ’40
“The Room of Souls,” Strange Stories, Jun ’40

How hard is that? One submission per person, please. Winners will be contacted by e-mail, so use a real e-mail address maybe. All submissions must be sent to john@blackgate.com, with the subject line The Watcher at the Door, or something obvious like that so I don’t randomly delete it.

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Announcing the Winners of The Imlen Brat by Sarah Avery

Announcing the Winners of The Imlen Brat by Sarah Avery

The Imlen Brat-small

Woo hoo! We have winners!

Two weeks ago we invited you to enter a contest to win a copy of Sarah Avery’s brilliant new novella The Imlen Brat, a tale of mighty pirate kingdoms, weather wizards, quarrelsome ghosts, curses, and secret magics. To enter, all you had to do was send us an e-mail with a one-sentence review of your favorite fantasy novella.

We have two copies to give away. Our lucky winners were selected from the pool of eligible entries by the most reliable method known to modern science: D&D dice.

Our first winner is Phil Hansen, who writes about a World Fantasy Award nominee from 1990.

My favorite fantasy novella is Jonathan Carroll’s Black Cocktail, which starts off whimsical and descends into terror — unique and unlike anything else I’ve read.

Black Cocktail was published by Legend/Century and St. Martin’s Press in 1990. The cover is by Dave McKean.

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Last Chance to Win a Copy of Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat

Last Chance to Win a Copy of Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat

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Ten days ago we announced a contest to give away two copies of Sarah Avery’s new book The Imlet Brat. Sarah has been a blogger at Black Gate since the days when our server was a coal-powered gear box in Howard Andrew Jones’ barn, and we were writing breathless articles about hot new writers Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Sarah is also the author of “The War of the Wheat Berry Year” (from BG 15) and the acclaimed novella collection Tales from Rugosa Coven, which won the Mythopoeic Award in 2015.

There’s still an opportunity to win one of these beautiful books, but time is running out. To enter, just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “The Imlen Brat,” and a one-sentence review of your favorite fantasy novella.[In honor of Sarah’s legacy as one of our most popular writers, we’ll also gladly accept a one-sentence review of your favorite story from Black Gate magazine — including any of the tales in our Black Gate Online Fiction library.]

That’s all it takes! Two winners will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries, and we’ll reprint the winning entries when we announce the winners. All entries become the property of New Epoch Press. No purchase necessary. Must be 12 or older. Decisions of the judges (capricious as they may be) are final. Not valid where prohibited by law, or anywhere postage for a trade paperback is more than, like, 10 bucks. Eat your vegetables.

The Imlen Brat was published by Point Quay Press on October 30, 2016. It is 70 pages, priced at $9.99 in trade paperback and $2.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Kate Baylay. Copies are available at Amazon and other fine outlets. See more details here.

Win a Copy of Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat

Win a Copy of Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat

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In early October I received a bundle from Sarah Avery. Inside were several copies of her beautiful new novella The Imlen Brat — a story I’d dearly wanted to publish in Black Gate, but was unable to before the print version of the magazine died.

It was enormously satisfying to finally see this book out in the world, and to hold a copy in my hands. And what a book! The gorgeous cover by Kate Baylay, and the delightful design and back cover blurb by Rich Horton, almost made it worth the wait (almost). And on top of it all, the dedication page touched my cold publisher’s heart.

To the whole Black Gate crew — writers, readers, artists, editors, all of you. You will always be this story’s first home.

Tucked in with the bundle was a note from Sarah, who generously offered two additional copies as to give away to Black Gate‘s readers. And that’s exactly what we’re here to do today.

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Last Chance to Get a Free Copy of Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith

Last Chance to Get a Free Copy of Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith

Mysterion-smallTwo weeks ago we told you that Enigmatic Mirror Press was offering free review copies of the new anthology Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith in digital format to Black Gate readers, in return for honest reviews (e.g., at Amazon, Goodreads, etc.) There’s still time to get in on the offer, but you have to act fast.

What is Mysterion? It’s a groundbreaking anthology of Christian fantasy, edited by Black Gate author Donald Crankshaw (“A Phoenix in Darkness“) and his wife Kristin Janz. It will be released this week, and contains original fiction from Beth Cato, Pauline J. Alama, Stephen Case, David Tallerman, and many others. Here’s the description:

The Christian faith is filled with mystery, from the Trinity and the Incarnation to the smaller mysteries found in some of the strange and unexplained passages of the Bible: Behemoth and Leviathan, nephilim and seraphim, heroes and giants and more. There is no reason for fiction engaging with Christianity to be more tidy and theologically precise than the faith itself.

Here you will find challenging fantasy, science fiction, and horror stories that wrestle with tough questions and refuse to provide easy answers or censored depictions of a broken world, characters whose deeds are as obscene as their words and people who meet bad ends — sometimes deserved and sometimes not. But there are also hope, grace, and redemption, though even they can burn like fire.

Join us as we rediscover the mysteries of the Christian faith.

If you’re willing to read the book and provide a review, just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “Mysterion,” and we’ll forward it along to the publisher. But we must receive your request before the publication date.

Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith will be published by Enigmatic Mirror Press on August 31, 2016. It is 324 pages, priced at $9.99 in digital format. See the complete Table of Contents here.

Get a Free Copy of Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith

Get a Free Copy of Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith

Mysterion-smallBlack Gate author Donald Crankshaw (“A Phoenix in Darkness“) and his wife Kristin Janz have produced a groundbreaking anthology of Christian fantasy, Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith. It will be released in two weeks from Enigmatic Mirror Press, and contains original fiction from Beth Cato, Pauline J. Alama, Stephen Case, David Tallerman, and many others. Here’s the description:

The Christian faith is filled with mystery, from the Trinity and the Incarnation to the smaller mysteries found in some of the strange and unexplained passages of the Bible: Behemoth and Leviathan, nephilim and seraphim, heroes and giants and more. There is no reason for fiction engaging with Christianity to be more tidy and theologically precise than the faith itself.

Here you will find challenging fantasy, science fiction, and horror stories that wrestle with tough questions and refuse to provide easy answers or censored depictions of a broken world, characters whose deeds are as obscene as their words and people who meet bad ends — sometimes deserved and sometimes not. But there are also hope, grace, and redemption, though even they can burn like fire.

Join us as we rediscover the mysteries of the Christian faith.

Enigmatic Mirror Press is offering 25 free review copies in digital format to Black Gate readers, in return for honest reviews (e.g., at Amazon, Goodreads, etc.) If you’re willing to read the book and provide a review, just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “Mysterion,” and we’ll forward the first 25 we receive along to the publisher.

Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith will be published by Enigmatic Mirror Press on August 31, 2016. It is 324 pages, priced at $9.99 in digital format. See the complete Table of Contents here.

Announcing the Winners of The Emperor’s Railroad by Guy Haley

Announcing the Winners of The Emperor’s Railroad by Guy Haley

The Emperor's Railroad-small2Woo hoo! We have three winners!

Two weeks ago we invited you to enter a contest to win an advance copy of Guy Haley’s new novella The Emperor’s Railroad, the opening installment of a terrific new adventure fantasy series, The Dreaming Cities. To enter, all you had to do was send us an e-mail with the subject “The Emperor’s Railroad.”

We have three copies to give away. Our lucky winners were selected from the pool of eligible entries by the most reliable method known to modern science: D&D dice. The three winners are:

Stephen Milligan
Bill Smiley
M.Sault

Congratulations all! And thanks to Tor.com for making the contest possible. For more details on Tor.com‘s entire novella line, check out their online catalog:

New Releases
Coming Soon
Free Short Fiction — hundreds of free short stories and novelettes at Tor.com

The Emperor’s Railroad will be published by Tor.com on April 19, 2016. It is 177 pages, priced at $12.99 in trade paperback, and $2.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Chris McGrath.

Win a Copy of The Emperor’s Railroad, First Book of The Dreaming Cities by Guy Haley!

Win a Copy of The Emperor’s Railroad, First Book of The Dreaming Cities by Guy Haley!

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Two weeks ago we had a look at Tor.com‘s impressive catalog of recent fantasy titles, and gave away free copies of each of their March releases. Today, we’d like to do something just as exciting: give you a chance to win one of three advance copies of Guy Haley’s new novella The Emperor’s Railroad, the opening installment of a terrific new adventure fantasy series, The Dreaming Cities.

What’s it about? Zombies! City States! Prehistoric beasts! Mutants and machine relics! Check out this awesome description.

Global war devastated the environment, a zombie-like plague wiped out much of humanity, and civilization as we once understood it came to a standstill. But that was a thousand years ago, and the world is now a very different place.

Conflict between city states is constant, superstition is rife, and machine relics, mutant creatures and resurrected prehistoric beasts trouble the land. Watching over all are the silent Dreaming Cities. Homes of the angels, bastion outposts of heaven on Earth. Or so the church claims. Very few go in, and nobody ever comes out.

Until now…

How do you win a copy? Easy! Just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “The Emperor’s Railroad.” That’s all it takes! Three winners will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries, and each will receive one of our precious advance proofs.

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Your Favorite Novellas In One Sentence: Announcing the Winners of Tor.com‘s March Releases!

Your Favorite Novellas In One Sentence: Announcing the Winners of Tor.com‘s March Releases!

The Martian Way Isaac Asimov-smallLast week we invited the readers of Black Gate to submit a one-sentence review of their all-time favorite novellas.

Every qualifying entry was entered into our contest to win one of Tor.com‘s March novella releases: The Devil You Know by K. J. Parker, Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal, or Pieces of Hate by Tim Lebbon.

We received a huge number of entries, covering a vast number of novellas both famous and obscure — proof once again (as if we needed it) that you folks are the most widely-read fantasy fans on the planet. At the bottom of this article we announce our three winners.

But first, we’ve selected ten of the best entries to share with you here. The very first one we received was from Jeff Rogers, who kicked things off with an old school classic from a science fiction master, Isaac Asimov:

Hard to beat the classics: “The Martian Way” by Asimov stands out for its elevation of rational, evidence-based thought; its portrayal of can-do attitude mixed with engineering know-how; and its foreshadowing of The Expanse in setting!

Nice one, Jeff. I re-read “The Martian Way” just a few months ago, and you’re quite right… it put me in mind of The Expanse immediately.

Next up is Andrew Slater, who went really old school.

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Win One of Tor.com‘s March Releases!

Win One of Tor.com‘s March Releases!

The Devil You Know-small Forest of Memory-small Pieces of Hate-small

I love novellas. Tor.com loves novellas. We have so much in common, I sometimes wish we could run off together. (Of course, you know how these internet infatuations end up. I’m emotionally needy, and Tor.com is such a workaholic… it would all end in tears. But you know it’d be beautiful while it lasted.)

Our love may be doomed, but there’s no reason someone shouldn’t end up happy. And I think it should be you. To help make that happen, Black Gate and Tor.com have teamed up to give away copies of all three of their March releases:

The Devil You Know, K. J. Parker (126 pages, $10.99, March 1) — cover by Jon Foster (reveal, excerpt)
Forest of Memory, Mary Robinette Kowal (88 pages, $9.99, March 8) — cover by Victo Ngai (reveal, excerpt)
Pieces of Hate, Tim Lebbon (148 pages, $12.99, March 15) — cover by Gene Mollica (reveal, excerpt)

How do you make one of them yours? Nothing could be simpler! Just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “Tor.com contest,” and a one-sentence review of your all-time favorite novella.

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