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Category: Editor’s Blog

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

Classic Horror Games of the 1980s: Alma Mater

Classic Horror Games of the 1980s: Alma Mater

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alma-mater2Over at Grognardia, James Maliszewski has posted a retrospective review of one of my favorite RPG relics, Oracle Game’s Alma Mater, the role playing game of high school life in the 1970s.

And I do mean relic. I collect role playing games and, after nearly two decades of fruitless searching, I finally gave up and paid an outrageous sum for an unused copy on eBay a few years ago. It was the last significant RPG title from the era I didn’t own.

It was worth it.  Alma Mater was notorious when it was released in 1982, and it retained much of that notoriety through the years.  It was banned from Gencon by TSR, and well-known artist and editor Liz Danforth wrote a famously scathing editorial in Sorcerers Apprentice magazine attacking the game.

Today though, Alma Mater is chiefly remembered for its artwork, by old-school TSR artist Erol Otus (who did the classic cover for Deities & Demigods, and interior artwork for the AD&D Monster Manual, among many others).  The content of the game itself, as you’d doubtless expect, is fairly tame by modern standards, but the artwork can still raise eyebrows. You can see much of it collected at the Cyclopeatron blog.

I’ve never played the game. Not a lot of people did, as a matter of fact — it quickly vanished, despite (or perhaps because of) all the publicity. Hence its relatively scarcity today, and the delight it still brings to bloodless eBay vulture sellers, may they suffer a thousand deaths.

I’m not sure why more game companies didn’t stumble on this idea — it seems completely natural to me now.  Let’s be honest; not much scares me any more.  My senior biology teacher, Ms. Bray?  She still scares me.

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Graham McNeill’s Empire wins the David Gemmell Legend Award

Graham McNeill’s Empire wins the David Gemmell Legend Award

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graham-and-pigstickerGraham McNeill’s novel Empire: The Legend of Sigmar (Black Library) is this year’s winner of the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2009.

The list of nominees, including Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, and Robert Jordan, was announced April 7.

The David Gemmell Legend Award  is a fan-voted award administered by the DGLA. The Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel was first granted in 2009, to Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves.

As winner, McNeill received a replica of the mighty Snaga, the axe wielded by Druss in David Gemmell’s novel Legend.

I think George Mann, publisher of Black Library, captured my thoughts nicely when he said:

‘We are delighted for Graham – not only is this a wonderful acknowledgement of a fine writer, but it is an important victory for franchise fiction, which is often overlooked by the wider genre community.’

The Ravensheart Award, for best Fantasy Book Jacket/artist, went to Best Served Cold – art and design by Didier Graffet, Dave Senior and Laura Brett.

The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer/debut went to Pierre Pevel’s The Cardinal’s Blades.

Black Library editor Nick Kyme has a lengthy blog entry on the awards ceremony here.

Luke Reviews looks at Black Gate 14

Luke Reviews looks at Black Gate 14

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blackgate-issue-14-cover-150Luke Forney. who reviewed Black Gate 13 last year, digs into our latest issue with part one of a three-part review:

You would be hard-pressed to find a fantasy magazine out there better than Black Gate. It is a solid magazine with good content, and very much worth the entry fee. Issue 14… is a behemoth. Gigantic doesn’t begin to describe it.

Just as he was last issue, Luke is taken with the latest adventures of Brand the Viking in “The Bonestealer’s Mirror” by John C. Hocking:

Brand the Viking, along with his companions, stop to investigate a signal fire, only to find a town beset by a terrible creature that steals the bones from its victims’ bodies. Hocking proves, yet again, to be a top-notch storyteller worthy of the mantle of the next Robert E. Howard, yet he fills his tales with a sterling originality that would be done a gross disservice by labeling it anything other than purely Hocking. The plot, the characters, the setting: all are wonderful, and a joy to explore. The day a collection of Hocking’s Brand stories comes out is the day I wait in line to buy a copy.

As well as “The Word of Azrael” by Matthew David Surridge:

This tale of a man on a lifelong quest in search of the angel of death grasps the moody, mystical quality of both dream and myth, and weaves it throughout. The story carries you along without effort, and is certainly wonderful to read.

And Rich Horton’s lengthy non-fiction piece “Back to the Future: Modern Reprints of Classic Fantasy”:

A wonderful essay from a man entrenched in the genre, Horton explores host of publishers who are bringing back some unjustly forgotten classics. While most will be familiar with some of these, few will be familiar with all, and the essay brings up both authors and books that I will be keeping an eye out for. A wonderful essay.

You can find Part One of the complete review here.

Suddenly, I like Shelfari

Suddenly, I like Shelfari

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sample_shelfI’m not usually one for social networking.  I had to be dragged on to Facebook by Bill Ward, who got tired of Black Gate not having a Facebook page and finally just created one, and then made me an administrator. 

Now we have nearly 400 fans, plenty of new subscribers, and I spend countless hours every week mesmerized by posts about sick dogs, guacamole recipes, and other critical updates from hundreds of “friends,” most of whom I’ve never even met. All when I should be working to return the last of the fiction submissions to Black Gate from last summer, of course.  Thanks, Bill.

One thing about social networks is that they come in all shapes and sizes. One of the more interesting I stumbled upon last year was Shelfari, a social network for book lovers.  They had a pretty neat widget to add a virtual book shelf showing off the titles you’ve read (or want to read) on your blog. It even works with Bebo, Blogger, Facebook, LiveJournal, TypePad, and Vox, and I don’t even know what most of those are.

Not interesting enough to join, of course. I’m distracted enough by Facebook (you suck, Bill) and Season One of Friday Night Lights on DVD. But I liked the book widget.

Then I discovered that Shelfari members can post reviews. They can even, for example, say kind things about Black Gate 14, things like:

Another great issue of fantasy fiction. Outstanding stories in this issue are: “The Bonestealer’s Mirror” by John C Hocking, “The Word Of Azrael” by David Surridge, “Destroyer” by James Enge, and “The Price Of Two Blades” by Pete Butler. Highly recommended.

Several issues of Black Gate have been reviewed in fact, including BG 3, BG 4, BG 7, BG 10, and BG 12.

OK, at the moment all the reviews are written by a single guy, Little Timmy B, who’s just become my favorite subscriber (replacing Bill Ward, who’s still in the dog house.) But suddenly I can see a future where hundreds of readers are using social networking to rave about how great Black Gate is, instead of reporting what Jon Stewart is up to. (And in this future, we’ll all have jet packs.)

Suddenly, I like Shelfari.  And you should too.

Everett F Bleiler, April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010

Everett F Bleiler, April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010

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years-best-sf-1949aEverett F. Bleiler, one of the most accomplished early anthologists of science fiction and fantasy, passed away this week in Ithaca, NY.

Bleiler created the tradition of “Year’s Best Science Fiction” anthologies with his co-editor, T.E. Dikty, starting with The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1949. He continued the series until 1954, producing a series of volumes that are highly collectible — and still very readable — today. Since the mid-1950s, few years have passed without at least one anthologist following in Bleiler’s footsteps with a “Year’s Best Science Fiction” anthology.

He produced dozens of highly-regarded anthologies, collections, and nonfiction books on all aspects of science fiction and fantasy between 1948 and 1998, including the Checklist of Fantastic Literature (1948), Imagination Unlimited (with T. E. Dikty, 1952), A Treasury of Victorian Detective Stories (1979), and A Treasury of Victorian Ghost Stories (1981).

Two of his detailed retrospectives of early science fiction, Science-Fiction: The Early Years (1990) and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years (1998), were nominated for the Hugo Award.

Bleiler received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1988, the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1994, and the International Horror Guild Living Legend award in 2004.

On a personal note, I’ve spent many hours curled up with Bleiler’s volumes, especially his Best Science Fiction Stories and the massive The Gernsback Years, which details every science fiction story published in Gernsback’s Amazing Stories and Science Wonder.  The field has lost one of its finest editors and one of its leading scholars.

Al Williamson, March 21, 1931 – June 13, 2010

Al Williamson, March 21, 1931 – June 13, 2010

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al-williamson2Al Williamson, one of the finest science fiction artists of all time, died yesterday in New York City.

Williamson began his career assisting Tarzan cartoonist Burne Hogarth in 1948. His first professional credit was a three-page crime story, “The Last Three Dimes,” in Wonder Comics #20 (Oct, 1948), co-penciled with Frank Frazetta. In 1952 Williamson began working for E.C.Comics, joining the legendary Wally Wood, Frazetta, and Roy Krenkel on Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Incredible Science Fiction, illustrating stories by Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury, among others.

By 1966 he was drawing Flash Gordon for King Features, which garnered him an award from the National Cartoonist Society. In 1967 he took the reins on another Alex Raymond creation, Secret Agent Corrigan, which he drew for over a decade. Art historians note that Williamson used his own face as the model for secret agent Phil Corrigan, which made him easy to recognize at conventions.

In the 1980s Williamson began his famed Star Wars comic adaptations, starting with The Empire Strikes Back for Marvel. Williamson was reportedly George Lucas’ first choice for the Star Wars newspaper strip, as Lucas was a fan of his EC Comics and Flash Gordon, and Williamson drew the daily and Sunday feature until 1983. He did additional work throughout the decade for Pacific Comics (Alien Worlds), Marvel (including Blade Runner and Epic Illustrated), and DC (Superman #400).

Since 1998 half a dozen retrospectives of his work have been published, including Al Williamson Adventures, The Al Williamson Sketchbook, The Al Williamson Reader, Vol. 1, and Al Williamson: Hidden Lands. Most of these had tiny print runs, and I had trouble tracking several of them down a few years ago.  If you want copies, I suggest acting quickly.

Science Fiction site io9 has a gallery of some of the best work of this incredible artist, and comics writer and artist Jimmy Palmiotti has written a eulogy here.

Read the first three chapters of The Way of Kings

Read the first three chapters of The Way of Kings

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way-of-kingsTor.com has put the first three chapters of Brandon Sanderson’s new epic fantasy novel, The Way of Kings, online for free.

Sanderson is the author of Warbreaker, the Mistborn trilogy (Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages), and the book that got him his own publicist, The Gathering Storm, the 12th and final novel in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, written from extensive notes Robert Jordan made before he died.

Charlene Brusso reviewed Warbreaker for the Black Gate blog here, calling Sanderson an “expert at spinning fantasy stories packed with memorable characters, crisply detailed settings, unique magic, and major helpings of intrigue.”

The Way of Kings is the first book of The Stormlight Archive series. Set in the world of Roshar, where mighty storms cause trees to pull in branches, grass to retract into the ground, and cities to be built only where there is shelter, the novel follows a large cast of characters, including medical apprentice Kaladin, reduced to slavery in a war that rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. 

The Way of Kings will be available August 31st, and weighs in at over 1000 pages. Looks like Sanderson served his apprenticeship under Jordan well.

If you haven’t already, you’ll need to register at Tor.com to read the 50-page excerpt.  Registration is free and fairly painless.

Play a science-fiction mini-game from Dark City Games

Play a science-fiction mini-game from Dark City Games

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at-empires-end-img

To promote their new science-fiction role-playing game At Empire’s End, Dark City Games has created S.O.S, a short solitaire SF role-playing game. We’re pleased to reprint the game in its entirety here on the Black Gate blog.

You can either read the text as choose-your-own-adventure style paragraphs, or grab some dice and play according to the short rules. Experienced role players, or those familiar with The Fantasy Trip, should be able to jump right into the action.

Without further ado, we present S.O.S, a Legends of Time and Space science-fiction role-playing adventure by George Dew.

You come out of hyperspace around the barren, rocky, waste-planet of Lemm. It orbits a distant star, and lacks an atmosphere. As a result, the inhospitable grey surface boasts temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero.

Your sensors scan for traces of the distress signal, when suddenly, an alien contact flashes across your navigation screen. Do you want to hail it (001) or attack with initiative (002)?

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Letters to Black Gate

Letters to Black Gate

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btga41Kim Patrick Weiss, of Bavaria, Germany, writes:

I tend to browse the Black Gate website every day, to check the news and, of course, read the new chapter of “The Weird of Ironspell” every Wednesday. When I read your article about Before the Golden Age by Isaac Asimov, two things immediately caught my interest: “…civilizations in grains of sand…” and “…humans in rags taking on entrenched alien conquerors…” and I knew I had to look into getting this book.
      Well, a couple minutes after I finished reading the article, and with my imagination already running wild, I decided to pick up a used copy from Amazon. I was in luck, the 1974 hardcover version by Doubleday was available for only $20. The book arrived today and I already read “Submicroscopic” and “Awlo of Ulm”, the ones that seemed the most appealing, and I can’t say I regret buying the book right away instead of checking out that website you mentioned first. Your article opened my eyes to a wider variety of sci-fi stories and authors, and I just have to say thanks for that 🙂
       It’s also a very nice experience to find out about so many old classics that I never knew existed. Your magazine and website are a great source for new (well, new to me) books and authors and I’m sure there’s still a lot more to discover in the archives. So, thanks again for a great website and an awesome magazine, both of which I hope will stay around for a long, long time!

Glad you enjoyed it, Kim.  “Submicroscopic” and its sequel “Awlo of Ulm,” both by Capt. S. P. Meek, are in fact the stories I had in mind when I mentioned “civilizations in grains of sand.”  They first appeared in Amazing Stories in 1931, and they’re still great fun today.

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SF Site reviews Black Gate 14

SF Site reviews Black Gate 14

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bglgAuthor Sherwood Smith, who has reviewed virtually every issue of Black Gate, shares her thoughts on our latest issue in a feature review at SF Site:

This issue of Black Gate, clocking in at 384 pages, is more book than magazine…. A few stories are outstanding, and most of the rest are solid entertainment. Add in generous page count on reviews, and the issue is a strong one. Readers tempted to start subscribing ought to consider beginning with this issue, as the prices are going to go up. (Though so is the page count.)

She admits to being pleasantly surprised by “The Word of Azrael” by Matthew David Surridge:

When I read that this tale was “initially inspired by the old Conan paperbacks which preceded each story with a snippet of Conan’s bio,” I groaned…. Was I wrong! Within two pages, Surridge’s deft, ironic voice had disarmed me.  We begin on a battlefield where seven kings and their armies died. The warrior Isrohim Vey wakens alone, except for the Angel of Death… What follows seems to be a series of iceberg-tip stories, that is, the climactic moments of what could have been longer tales. Increasingly intriguing tales. The reader begins to perceive patterns weaving them together into a tapestry of solid gold.

She highlights several additional pieces, including “On a Pale Horse” by Sylvia Volk:

Salsabil regards her father’s mare as her sister, as they share the same name. This isn’t a problem until she takes her sister grazing, and discovers a single-horned stallion following them…. Drought brings the raiding Mutair down on Salsabil’s people. Though they do their best to fight back, they are being driven out of their own lands, many of them killed, but meanwhile the mysterious horned pale horse follows them… A lovely story with a flavor of Arabian Nights.

And “La Señora de Oro” by R L Roth:

A few years ago, my spouse inherited some letters written by one of his ancestors who was a silver miner just after the gold rush. Roth’s epistolary story, which takes place between March and September 1850, is an eerie match in tone and (early on) in details as Tom writes to his wife Annie, telling her about his search for the gold that is supposed to save his family from want. The story is fantasy-horror, the fantastic element serving as a metaphor for what happened to far too many gold rush miners… Hats off to Roth for a disturbingly well-wrought tale, pitch-perfect for the period.

The complete review is here.