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Category: Editor’s Blog

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

Frank Frazetta enters Valhalla

Frank Frazetta enters Valhalla

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death-dealer2Frank Frazetta, the greatest fantasy artist of his generation, died today at age 82.

Frazetta got his start in comics in the early 1950s, working with legendary artists such as Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Al Capp, and Harvey Kurtzman on Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Li’l Abner, as well as many titles at EC Comics.

In 1964 Frazetta did his first movie poster for (of all things) Woody Allen’s first film, What’s New Pussycat?  This eventually led to cover paintings for some of the most popular paperbacks of the 60s and 70s, most notably the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, including Tarzan and John Carter of Mars.

For fantasy fans Frazetta is best remembered for his groundbreaking Sword & Sorcery images — such as “Death Dealer” (right), the cover to Lin Carter’s 1973 anthology Flashing Swords 2 — and most especially his colorful and visceral depictions of Conan, which revolutionized fantasy art.

Until Frazetta, Conan was primarily depicted as a white, clean-cut warrior in pseudo-roman garb, straight off the set of a Cecil B. DeMille film (see the covers of Robert E. Howard’s first Gnome Press editions from the 1950s, such as Conan the Barbarian).

But Frazetta swept away all who had come before, re-envisioning Conan as a muscular, dark-skinned titan, a true barbarian in spirit and appearance. Since Frazetta, in defining work by artists like Ken Kelly, Sanjulian, Barry Windsor Smith, Mark Schultz and Gary Gianni, Conan has been revealed as both heroic and fearful, a thick-sinewed, long-haired mongrel, a truly striking figure in all respects.

Frank Frazetta died at a hospital near his home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

For a sampling of some of his finest work, visit the unofficial Frazetta Fantasy Art Gallery.

Exploring Towers of Adventure

Exploring Towers of Adventure

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towers-of-adventureA while back I placed an order with one of my favorite online vendors, FRP Games, whose selection and discounts are both excellent. At the last minute I added an item to my cart that I hadn’t budgeted for: James Ward’s Towers of Adventure, a boxed set for Castles & Crusades from Troll Lord Games.

Not only had I not planned to buy it, I’d never even heard of it until I saw it in FRP’s product newsletter.  What can I say, I’m a sucker for marketing copy:

Towers of Adventure offers the Castle Keeper a marvelous set of interchangeable tower levels, rooms, monsters, NPCs, traps and treasures. This box set allows you to make literally millions of exciting towers for your players to explore. Treasures, tower inhabitants, and tower maps are at your fingers and so easy to use you can put together a complex adventure in five minutes or less.

It’s true!  This isn’t a typical adventure supplement, with a set of interlinked encounters and rooms carefully described for the game master. In fact, while the box contains designs for 15 wildly different towers — including a Zombie Tower, Vampire Tower, Cloud Giant Tower, and Lonely Wizard’s Tower — I couldn’t find a room description anywhere.

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Pyr Books Fall Winter 2010-2011 Season

Pyr Books Fall Winter 2010-2011 Season

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thewolfage1Editorial director Lou Anders has posted Pyr’s complete Fall Winter 2010-2011 catalog online.

There’s a lot of great stuff to look forward to, including James Enge’s third Morlock book, The Wolf Age:

Wuruyaaria: city of werewolves, whose raiders range over the dying northlands, capturing human beings for slaves or meat. Wuruyaaria: where a lone immortal maker wages a secret war against the Strange Gods of the Coranians. Wuruyaaria: a democracy where some are more equal than others, and a faction of outcast werewolves is determined to change the balance of power in a long, bloody election year.

Their plans are laid; the challenges known; the risks accepted. But all schemes will shatter in the clash between two threats few had foreseen and none had fully understood: a monster from the north on a mission to poison the world, and a stranger from the south named Morlock Ambrosius.

Morlock first appeared in Black Gate 8, in the story “Turn Up This Crooked Way.” 

Now he’s all grown up, and taking on Strange Gods in werewolf cities.  It makes us proud.

hornsofruinThere’s plenty more on the Pyr list to command your attention, including Tim Akers’ The Horns of Ruin, which sounds very intriguing indeed:

Eva Forge is the last paladin of a dead God. Morgan, God of battle and champion of the Fraterdom, was assassinated by his jealous brother, Amon… When a series of kidnappings and murders makes it clear that someone is trying to hasten the death of the Cult of Morgan, Eva must seek out unexpected allies and unwelcome answers in the city of Ash. But will she be able to save the city from a growing conspiracy, one that reaches back to her childhood, even back to the murder of her god? 

All this plus Pierre Pevel’s The Cardinal’s Blades, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Salute the Dark, and new novels from Paul McAuley, Mark Chadbourn, Mark Hodder, Jasper Kent, Sam Sykes, Joel Shepherd, James Barclay, and many more.

Check out all the details (and the fabulous cover art) here.

C.S.E. Cooney reviews Black Gate 14

C.S.E. Cooney reviews Black Gate 14

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hangmans1Author C.S.E. Cooney has become the third reviewer to post her thoughts on our latest issue, which she read over several train rides:

It’s MASSIVE! It’s GLOSSY! It’s full of ILLUSTRATIONS! There are THREE POEMS in it!… After chortling my way through John O’Neill’s wry romp of an editorial, laughing though the letters, and reading Rich Horton’s essay on older fantasy fiction… I finally started on the actual fiction.

She seemed to particularly enjoy “The Hangman’s Daughter” by Chris Braak:

HURRAH for the FORMDIABLE girl-child protagonist with her laconic but fiercely interesting dad and the incredible world built around them… This story was, in a word (an old-fashioned hippie word), BITCHIN’.

Dan Brodribb’s “The Girl Who Feared Lightning”

My favorite bit in “The Girl Who Feared Lightning” was a short exchange between the protagonist and her boyfriend over the phone. It was very natural and easy, yet loaded with all sorts of things left unsaid. It’s always amazing to me how a few sentences of dialogue can define an entire relationship. And then, of course, there were the mummies.

And Robert J. Howe’s “The Natural History of Calamity”

Witty and well-plotted. I expended very little effort in reading – the story just swept me along. It took most of two train rides, and I was in a panic lest I’d have to get off the train before I’d FINISHED it. Another author I must GOOGLE. Kick-ass lady protag, too, I must say. And kick-ass without being INDOMITABLE, you know. She gets knocked around her fair share and is not NOBLE about it all the time. I’d like to meet her again. In, like, a novel. Please.

Claire’s complete (and highly entertaining) review is here.

Art by John Kaufmann for “The Hangman’s Daughter.”

Black Gate 14 now available in PDF

Black Gate 14 now available in PDF

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bg-14-cover3Black Gate 14 is now available in PDF format for just $4.95. 

Black Gate 14 is a landmark issue ­ and at 384 pages, it’s also the largest in our history. The print version retails for $15.95, but now you can order the complete magazine — including the wraparound cover — for the same price as all our PDFs: $4.95/copy, or as part of a 4-issue PDF subscription for just $17.95.

Existing subscribers can purchase the issue for just $2.95.

Here’s what  Grasping for the Wind has to say about our latest issue:

One of the best collections of fiction on the market – whether books, magazines, or online. The latest edition has just been released, and Black Gate 14 is massive, topping out at 384 pages …  this massive collection of fiction shows why, even with their irregular publishing schedule, Black Gate is one of the most popular magazines (print or online) available today.

The issue includes a Morlock novella from James Enge, and new fiction from John C. Hocking, Michael Jasper & Jay Lake, Pete Butler, Robert J Howe, Martin Owton, Chris Braak, Matthew David Surridge,  and much more — including an 8-page Knights of the Dinner Table strip!

The complete Table of Contents, with artwork and brief story excerpts, is here, and you can read the complete reviews from Grasping for the Wind and Locus Online here.

Order the magazine on our Subscription page here.

Cover art by the great Bruce Pennington.

Adventures in Pulp Awesomeness: The Clayton Astounding

Adventures in Pulp Awesomeness: The Clayton Astounding

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claytonOver at Dark Worlds, editor G.W. Thomas has completed the first of three planned reprints of the Clayton Astounding, the first incarnation of the grand old lady of science fiction.

Astounding changed its name to Analog in 1960 and continues to publish today, 80 years after its first issue hit the stands in January, 1930. In an era when most genre magazines last only a handfull of issues, that’s an incredible run.

During most of that time it’s been the single most important magazine in the field, discovering such names as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt, and literally hundreds of others.

The first volume of this new series, The Clayton Astounding: Vagabonds of Space is 212 pages in paperback, and is now available at Lulu for $13.99.

This volume collects the best Space Opera from the Clayton years. According to Thomas, future volumes will include Out of the Dreadful Depths (undersea tales), Planetoids of Peril (stories set on moons, planets, and asteroids) and possibily “a book of space invaders, robots and mechanical enemies.” Yeah baby.

Here’s the description from Lulu:

Before John W. Campbell’s “Golden Age” (beginning in 1938) editor Harry Bates created an SF Pulp that was meant to entertain with stories of adventure and action in outer space and on far planets. This magazine has become known as “The Clayton Astounding” to delineate it from later incarnations. The first volume, VAGABONDS OF SPACE, represents the best Space Opera from the magazine’s first run of 1930-1933. Features stories by Harl Vincent, Edmond Hamilton, Anthony Gilmore, Sewell Peaslee Wright, Nat Schachner, Edwin K. Sloat and Jack Williamson. Each author is introduced with commentary by G. W. Thomas.

Fiction from an era when “space opera” meant sword fights in space with weird metal sticks.  All I need to know. You had me at “adventure and action in outer space and on far planets.”

Looking forward to the next volumes.

Grasping for the Wind reviews Black Gate 14

Grasping for the Wind reviews Black Gate 14

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twobladesclrJohn Ottinger III at Grasping for the Wind has posted the first review of Black Gate 14.  Here’s what he says about our latest issue:

One of the best collections of fiction on the market – whether books, magazines, or online. The latest edition has just been released, and Black Gate 14 is massive, topping out at 384 pages …  this massive collection of fiction shows why, even with their irregular publishing schedule, Black Gate is one of the most popular magazines (print or online) available today.

He reserves his highest praise for two novellas, including Pete Butler’s “The Price of Two Blades:”

Spectacular… a story of a pact made with old gods that costs a high and terrible price… Butler’s clever build of suspense and mystery, use of religious magic that costs a price, and multiple viewpoint telling of the story keep the reader glued to the action as it unfolds. This is undoubtedly one of the best stories of this issue, perhaps one of the best Black Gate has yet published.

And Robert J Howe’s “The Natural History of Calamity.” 

A piece of paranormal crime noir. Debbie is a karma detective, a person people hire when they feel that for some reason the universe is out of whack. When Will Charbonneau hires her to find out why his girlfriend left him for no apparent reason, it seems like a straightforward case. But then Debbie runs into an old boyfriend in the course of the case, and everything becomes a tangled mess. Surprise twists, a significant dose of self-deprecating humor, and a no-nonsense first person point of view make this story hard to walk away from. From the little teaser at the beginning, to the depth of character and clever use of karma as plot device, Howe’s story is a real pleaser from beginning to end. My favorite of the magazine and one I highly recommend.

Art by Malcolm McClinton for “The Price of Two Blades.”

The complete review is here. Thanks for the kind words, John!

The Best Sword & Sorcery Stories

The Best Sword & Sorcery Stories

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second-landhkmarOver at SF Signal, editor John DeNardo asked ten science fiction and fantasy writers and editors to pick the best sword and sorcery stories, and explain what makes them so good.

The writers include Black Gate authors James Enge and Martha Wells, as well as Steven Brust, Mercedes Lackey, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mark Chadbourn, P.C. Hodgell, Gail Z. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and Lou Anders.

Here’s what James Enge had to say, in part:

There’s no doubt in my mind that Fritz Leiber’s series about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are the uneven apex of the disreputable S&S mountain…. Leiber was a gifted storyteller and stylist who used the stories to explore what the world is, how it’s made, what the people there are like. Every story takes you someplace different and extends your knowledge — whether the heroes are fighting gods on Rime Isle, ghosts in the unnamed west, or rats or the Thieves’ Guild or advertisers in Lankhmar city, Leiber doesn’t do retreads. And Leiber understands, as few writers do, how horror and humor are two sides of the same coin; likewise love and grief.

It’s a fascinating list, and well worth reading. And you’re sure to find more than a few good recommendations, whether you’re new to S&S or an old sword-brother.

The complete article is here.

The David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2009

The David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2009

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gemmell2

The nominations for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2009 have been announced by the DGLA.  May we have the envelope please!

  • Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson (Tor US)
  • The Cardinal’s Blades, Pierre Pevel (Gollancz)
  • Empire: The Legend of Sigmar, Graham McNeill (The Black Library)
  • Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz & Orbit)
  • The Gathering Storm (Book 12 of The Wheel of Time), Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (Tor US)

The David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel was first granted in 2009, to Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves.

The DGLA also gives out The Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer, and The Ravenheart Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art.

The complete list of nominations is at the DGLA website, as part of a cool video set to music. I had to watch it six times, scribbling down notes, to make sure I got the list of nominees right (of course, then I found the convenient summary card. Figures.)  Now I can’t get that music out of my head.

In any event, congratulations to all the nominees!  Man, I have a lot of great reading to catch up on.

Gary Con II Report

Gary Con II Report

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gary_con2-logo1On Saturday I drove to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, for the second annual Gary Con, a friendly gathering in honor of Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and the father of role-playing games.

You can read the Tribute to Gary Gygax, written by the staff at Black Gate magazine and Paizo publisher Erik Mona after Gary’s death in 2008, if you’re not familiar with his work.

Chainmail re-enactment of T1: The Village of Hommlet at Garycon II
Chainmail re-enactment of T1: The Village of Hommlet at Garycon II. Click for bigger version.

Lake Geneva is the birthplace of D&D and, consequently, the entire RPG industry. It was here that TSR, the company Gary co-founded in 1973, was headquartered for over two decades, and where many of the creative minds who helped it grow from a fledgling hobby company to the most influential game publisher of the last 30 years still live today – people like Tim Kask, founding editor of Dragon magazine, Gamma World author James Ward, RPGA founder Frank Mentzer, Snit’s Revenge creator Tom Wham, and many others.

The stated goal of the con is to “harken back to the early days of gaming conventions where role-playing was in its infancy and the players shared a strong sense of camaraderie,” and in that respect Gary Con was an unqualified success.

Players gathered around dozens of tables enjoying highlights from TSR’s early catalog, including first edition AD&D, Metamorphosis Alpha, Dawn Patrol, Boot Hill, Dungeon, Chainmail, and more modern games that strive to capture that sense of old-school adventure, such as Hackmaster, Castles and Crusades, and even Gygax’s fondly remembered post-TSR effort, Dangerous Journeys.

Best of all, I saw many renowned game designers and early TSR employees mingling with the crowd, or acting as dungeon masters for classic Gygax modules such as Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, The Temple of Hommlet, and Castle Greyhawk.

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