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Category: Editor’s Blog

The blog posts of Black Gate Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones and Editor John O’Neill

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 6 Arrives

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 6 Arrives

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hfq-bannerThe sixth issue of online fiction zine Heroic Fantasy Quarterly appeared September 30.  What are you still doing here? Jump over to HFQ and check it out!

Contents this issue include the short stories “The Sea Wasp” by Robert Rhodes and “Heart of Man” by David Pilling, as well as poems from Charles Saplak and Shennandoah Diaz.

There’s also an editorial, which includes this amusing update on our pal Adrian Simmons:

After stumbling upon a rare opportunity to level-up, Adrian Simmons will be taking off the next two quarters at HFQ in order take a Numerical Analysis of Data course, as well as a prep course for the Fundamentals of Engineering test. Thus begins a six-month process akin to the development of the classic AD&D bard. If he passes, he looks forward to the ability to charm monsters.

Looking forward to the details at the World Fantasy Convention, Adrian. Bring the harp.

Past issues of HFQ have included contributions from Black Gate stalwarts such as Contributing Editor Bill Ward, Vaughn Heppner (our man!) and Euan Harvey,  as well as Matthew Wuertz, James Lecky, Jeff Crook, and many others. You can find the treasures of the past at their hearty Archives.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is edited by the mighty crew of Adrian Simmons, David Farney, William Ledbetter, and James Lecky. Art this issue is by Mariusz Gandzel.

Rigor Amortis: Love and Zombies

Rigor Amortis: Love and Zombies

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rigoramortisRigor Amortis, a collection of zombie erotica and romance flash fiction edited by Jaym Gates and Erika Holt, was officially released October 1.

According to Jaym, who came by our booth and entertained us during slow moments at Dragon*con, Rigor Amortis started out as a joke on Twitter, and quickly snowballed into a  real book.  A bizarre and strange book, but still a book. Check out this description:

Horror and erotica. Zombies and romance. Rigor Amortis.
       Maybe a tender love story is your thing, a husband doting on his wife’s rotting corpse. Or perhaps a forbidden encounter in a secret café, serving up the latest in delectable zombie cuisine, or some dirty, dirty dancing in the old-time honky-tonk. Voodoo sex-slaves and vending machine body-parts? You’ll find those here, too.
       Whatever your flavor, these short tales of undead Romance, Revenge, Risk, and Raunch will leave you shambling, moaning, and clawing for more.

Contributors include Armand Rosamilia, Jennifer Brozek, Annette Dupree, Alex Masterson, Edward Morris, and dozens more. The sexy and disturbing cover is by Robert “Nix” Nixon.  Rigor Amortis is $14.95 (print) and $2.99 (e-Book) for 148 pages, and published by Absolute XPress.

More details are available on the website.  Show us a little zombie love, and support a quality small press.

Writing: Serial Characters and the Book Deal

Writing: Serial Characters and the Book Deal

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World Fantasy Award Nominee
World Fantasy Award Nominee.

A growing number of Black Gate authors have moved on to book deals, and some were published novelists before they appeared in the magazine.

Two of us, James Enge and myself,  landed book deals featuring recurring characters that had appeared in Black Gate short stories.

They were the Dabir & Asim stories for me (“Whispers from the Stone” and “Sight of Vengeance“) and the Morlock tales for James (six appearances in BG so far, starting with “Turn Up This Crooked Way” and “Payment Deferred,” and most recently the novella “Destroyer” in Black Gate 14).

Back before James got nominated for the World Fantasy Award in the Best Novel category (for his first novel, no less! — that’s Blood of Ambrose, if you don’t have a copy yet) the two of us got talking one day about the connections between magazine sales and book deals.

We decided to turn the thing into a public back-and-forth discussion about writing serial fantasy characters, starting with a look at the idea that short story successes lead naturally to selling books.

I’ve captured and condensed that conversation here for your enjoyment.

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New Treasures: The Secret History of Fantasy, edited by Peter S. Beagle

New Treasures: The Secret History of Fantasy, edited by Peter S. Beagle

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secret-history4This book has been sitting on my desk since I bought it from Jacob Weisman, publisher of Tachyon Publications, at Wiscon. My desk isn’t all that big, so every time my to-do list topples over, or I tell the kids to get rid of the copies of Titan Quest and, I dunno, maybe get some homework done for a change, there it is.

The problem with these anthologies is that they’re my weakness. They suck me in. I can resist the novels because, you know, I’m not ready for that kind of commitment. But the anthologies… they’re just harmless diversions, right? And when I sit down to finally get that Goth Chick post formatted for Sue, or clear out a few hundred ageing e-mail from the Black Gate in-box… well, one quick story first can’t hurt. And when the kids find me in the big green chair it’s two hundred pages later.

So, maybe I peeked at this one a bit.  Probably when I should’ve been answering that e-mail you sent me in August. But you’d understand if you had a copy of The Secret History of Fantasy in your hot little hands like I do.

Peter Beagle, who’s been conducting something of a one-man revolution in short fantasy over the last decade himself, has compiled a terrific collection of modern fantasy — the oldest stories here, Robert Holdstock’s “Mythago Wood” and Stephen King’s “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut,” are from 1981 and 1984, respectively.  The book includes some of the most acclaimed fantasy tales in the intervening decades, including Steven Millhauser’s “The Barnum Museum,” Terry Bisson’s “Bears Discover Fire,” Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples,” Jeffrey Ford’s “The Empire of Ice Cream,” and stories from Michael Swanwick, Jonathan Lethem, Maureen F. McHugh, Gregory Maguire, T.C. Boyle, and more.

There’s also an intro from Beagle, as well as two long essays, “The Critics, The Monsters, and the Fantasists,” by Ursula K. Le Guin, and “The Making of the American Fantasy Genre,” by David G. Hartwell.  Taken together, it’s an impressive package.  And a highly distracting one — take my word for it.

Scheherazade’s Bequest 11 now Online

Scheherazade’s Bequest 11 now Online

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cabinet-2So I’ve discovered this cool thing called Scheherezade’s Bequest. It happened while reading C.S.E’s LiveJournal, when I should have been working.  Right next to a pic of a young woman kissing a horse is this entirely C.S.E-like comment:

OH, SEE!!! Scheherezade’s Bequest 11 is up at www.cabinetdesfees.com! And [info]cucumberseed‘s story is there, and [info]shvetufae‘s got a thing in it, and I wish I weren’t at work, so I could REEEEEAAAAAAD IT!!!

To conceal my curiosity about the horse (not to mention my obvious guilt at having less self-control than she during work hours), I asked C.S.E. to explain Scheherezade’s Bequest to me.

Because she knows everybody (and I mean everybody), C.S.E. passed my request along to co-editor Erzebet YellowBoy, who kindly explained that Scheherezade’s Bequest is the online component of the altogether splendid Fairy Tale Journal Cabinet des Fées, which explores the fairy tale in fiction and fact.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies Celebrates Two Years

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Celebrates Two Years

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bcs1The relentless Beneath Ceaseless Skies published their 52nd issue last week (Sept. 23, 2010).

I continue to be amazed at this magazine. Issues appear online every two weeks like clockwork — and if you do the math, issue 52 issue marks exactly two years since they published their first, back in early October 2008. 

Each issue contains two original works of literary adventure fantasy, and the magazine’s artwork and production values remain top-notch.  Over the past two years Editor-in-Chief Scott H. Andrews and Assistant Editor Kate Marshall have earned a stellar reputation for discovering and promoting new talent, and stories published in BCS have received acclaim from Locus, the Internet Review of Science Fiction, and various Best of the Year anthologies, among many others.

If you’re a regular reader of Black Gate, many of the authors appearing in BCS will be familiar to you — including Matthew David Surridge, Renee Stern, Holly Phillips, and Richard Parks. They’ve also published Brian Dolton, Chris Willrich, Catherine Mintz, Marie Brennan, Vylar Kaftan, Yoon Ha Lee, Saladin Ahmed, and many others.

Issue 52 includes “The Guilt Child” by Margaret Ronald, and “Invitation of the Queen” by Therese Arkenberg. Over at Torque Control, there’s a spirited discussion — and plenty of praise — for Margaret Ronald’s earlier “A Serpent in the Gears” (BCS #34), set in the same world as “The Guilt Child.” Cover art this issue is by Andreas Rocha.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is completely free, but they appreciate your support, and they’re well worth it. Their latest issue is here. Drop by and check them out.

C.S.E. Cooney’s The Big Bah-Ha Available October 2010

C.S.E. Cooney’s The Big Bah-Ha Available October 2010

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claire-254Our own C.S.E. Cooney has sent us some good news about her latest fiction extravagana:

The Big Bah-Ha is a novella by yours truly, coming out at Drollerie Press in October 2010!!! It is a post-apocalyptic katabasis story, complete with kiddie gangs, slingshot battles, strange clowns, Tall Ones, and one very dead (very brave) child protagonist.

No, I didn’t know what a “katabasis story” was either.  Thank God for Wikipedia, which tells me “Katabasis is a descent of some type. Katabasis may be a moving downhill, a sinking of winds, a military retreat, or a trip to the underworld.” Oooh, now I get it.

The Big Ba-Ha is a macabre post-apocalyptic fairy tale, a rollicking fantasy of a band of near-feral children who brave a plague-ridden landscape on a desperate quest. To rescue one of their own, they will ally with the monstrous and enigmatic Flabberghast — who arrived only after the world ended and eats the bones of the dead — and penetrate the mystery of Chuckle City, home to ravenous packs of balloon aminals, murderous Gacy boys, and the elusive Gray Harlequin. The Big Ba-Ha — it’s The Goonies meets The Road Warrior, perfectly suited for both ordinary children and gifted adults, and one of the most original fantasies I’ve read in a long time.

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Interzone #229 Arrives

Interzone #229 Arrives

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interzone229And by arrives, I mean I finally found a local bookstore — Barnes & Noble, in Champaign, Illinois — that carries it at a reasonable price ($7.50 US).

I like Interzone. This British science fiction magazine has had a long and illustrious history, and has published some terrific work. They’ve also had some really great covers, especially in the last few years. (Okay this issue, with the Lego Road Warriors look, maybe isn’t the best example.) If I could find a domestic distributor, I’d subscribe in a heartbeat.

Still, it’s worth the hunt every two months. The full-color interiors and top-notch design give the zine a distinct look and real appeal. My favorite features are frequently the non-fiction — including Nick Lowe’s Mutant Popcorn film column, Tony Lee’s Laser Fodder DVD articles, David Langford SF gossip column Ansible Link, and especially the book reviews, which provide an often tantalizing look at British SF and fantasy titles. 

Fiction this issue is by Jim Hawkins, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Toby Litt, Antony Mann, and Paul Evanby. There’s also an interview with Finch author Jeff VanderMeer, and an editorial.

Interzone is published by TTA Press, and edited by Andy Cox and Andy Hedgecock.  Their website is here.

Writing Against Resistance

Writing Against Resistance

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warofart1I think one of the reasons that there are so many books out there offering writing advice is that there are so many ways up the mountain. Different writers use different ways to battle their way up the height, sometimes changing their own approaches day to day or project to project. I wouldn’t be surprised if most serious writers have at least one or two of these books on their shelf, or in a box somewhere, its resting spot likely depending upon how useful the writer really found the information.

My current favorite is titled The War of Art, and it has held that position for almost two years, partly because I’ve been too busy to read many writing books, but mostly because it gave me everything I needed to fight my most recent battles. You may recognize its writer, Steven Pressfield, as the author of Gates of Fire, Tides of War, The Legend of Bagger Vance and sundry other works.

But it doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of Pressfield or read a line of his work if you’ve ever had trouble procrastinating with your writing or any other creative pursuit. Pressfield names your opponent in the battle between creation and NOT-creation “Resistance,” with a capital R, and in this short, concise book, tells you how to recognize it and move forward up that mountain.

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Adventure Tales #6 Arrives

Adventure Tales #6 Arrives

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adventure-6Wildside Press continues their excellent pulp reprint series with the sixth issue of Adventure Tales, presenting tales of classic fiction from Nelson S. Bond, Arthur O. Friel, Talbot Mundy, and Zorro creator Johnston McCulley, and poetry by Poul Anderson and Clark Ashton Smith, among others. The issue is cover-dated Winter 2010, but the publication date on the copy we received was September 13.

This is a special H. Bedford-Jones issue, with three complete stories from the pulp master. As usual the issue is handsomely illustrated, with finely detailed reproductions of the original accompanying artwork. It also includes a reprint of the complete first issue of George Scithers’ legendary Sword & Sorcery fanzine Amra, which is pretty darn cool, and I hope future issues of Adventure Tales  keep up this tradition.

John Betancourt’s editorial laments the loss of Scithers, one of the most accomplished editors in our field. Scithers was founding editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction and edited both Amazing and Weird Tales in a long and varied career. He was a typesetter and Assistant Editor at Wildside until his death at 80 (and perhaps the loss of George’s keen eye explains the rather unfortunate back cover credit to “Frits Leiber,” for the poem “The Gray Mouser: 1” )

Overall this is a very handsome package, typical for Wildside’s pulp reprints, and there were brief fisticuffs atop the Black Gate rooftop headquarters to determine who would take home our sole review copy.  John Fultz sucker-punched Bill Ward and had me in a headlock when Howard Andrew Jones unleashed an evil trained chicken who swooped in and scored the prize. Howard retreated to Indiana and, in his latest mocking transmission back to headquarters, claims to be already at work on a review.

Adventure Tales is 152 pages and is now available directly from Wildside for just $12.95.