Editor’s Blog – Page 90

Vintage Treasures: The Fuzzy Papers by H. Beam Piper

Sunday, February 3, 2013 John ONeill Comments 12 comments

The Fuzzy Papers was one of the first science fiction books I ever read, and it’s one of the small handful of books that made me an SF reader for life.

The Fuzzy Papers contains two novels by H. Beam Piper, Little Fuzzy (1962) and Fuzzy Sapiens (1964, also known as The Other Human Race), and was published by the Science Fiction Book Club in 1980. I joined the SFBC at the age of 12 at the urging of my friend John MacMaster, who turned me on to science fiction by loaning me book club editions from many of its finest writers, including Frank Herbert and Clifford D. Simak. The club specialized in low-cost reprints of popular SF and fantasy, ideal for a teen with little disposable income, and best of all, it occasionally produced magnificent omnibus editions of genre classics.

The Fuzzy Papers was a perfect example. Available exclusively through the club, it collects two long out-of-print paperbacks in a durable hardcover with a beautiful Michael Whelan cover, all for under 7 bucks. Not the kind of thing an impressionable teen could resist, and I didn’t even bother to try. I checked off my order form and put it back in the mail pronto, and impatiently waited for it to arrive.

I was not disappointed. Piper’s novels follow the adventures of down-on-his-luck space prospector Jack Holloway, who’s been exploring the planet Zarathrustra — a Class III uninhabited world run for profit by mining magnate Victor Grego. But everything changes when Holloway discovers the Fuzzies, curious little humanoids that almost seem to have the power to reason.

In fact, the more he interacts with them, the more Holloway is convinced they can reason — and if the Fuzzies are intelligent, that makes Zarathrustra a Class IV inhabited world, and Grego’s mining privileges would be gone for good. His company isn’t going to let that happen, no matter what the cost.

…

Jay Lake’s “The Hour and Manner of my Death”

Saturday, February 2, 2013 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

Fantasy novelist and Black Gate contributor Jay Lake was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2008, and since then he has followed the progress of the disease and his tireless efforts to combat it with brutal honesty on his blog.

His posts are frequently painful to read, but Jay’s characteristic humor and love of life always shine through. But this week the news turned darker, starting with Thursday’s post titled “The Hour and Manner of my Death.”

The new metastatic tumor sites uncovered during the surgery make things a lot more serious than they already were. And that is saying something. I have not given up seeking a cure… but it seems highly likely to me I will go terminal within the year, or at best, sometime in 2014. Even then, it will take time for me to die, possibly up to another year…

Obviously I do not know the precise hour and manner of my death. But I know it will likely come in the next year or so, and it will come due to organ failure and the related system breakdowns as my cancer advances. The bullet with my name on it has been inching towards me for almost five years. I can watch it spiral in the air as it lazes ever onward toward my as yet still beating heart.

For the past five years, Jay has staunchly avoided a fatalistic tone on his blog, so this change has understandably caused a tremor among his fans, including his friends here at Black Gate.

I first encountered Jay Lake in the BG submission pile over a decade ago. He impressed me immediately — not just for the quality of his fiction, which was exceptional, but for the exuberance of his cover letters and the sheer volume of submissions. Jay is one of the hardest-working authors I’ve ever met, and he never gave up. One of his early short stories featured a hero who builds a fully-automatic, self-loading ballista using nothing but fallen logs and rope. That resilience and never-say-die attitude reminds me of Jay to this day. I purchased two stories from him, the brilliant “Fat Jack and the Spider Clown” (BG 8), and the vividly original “Devil on the Wind” (BG 14, co-written with Michael Jasper). Even after his diagnosis, Jay’s output continued to impress, and his latest novel, Kalimpura, arrived January 29 from Tor Books.

We’re not sure we can get ever get used to the idea of a fantasy genre without Jay Lake in it. We hope we don’t have to.

You can read Jay’s complete post here and follow his daily updates here.

The Top 12 Black Gate Fiction Posts in December

Thursday, January 31, 2013 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

December was only our third month offering original online fiction, and once again I was very pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic response from you, our readers. Our Black Gate Online Fiction line has quickly become one of the most popular sections of the blog.

The Top Twelve stories in December were:

“The Trade,” by Mark Rigney
“The Whoremaster of Pald,” by Harry Connolly
“An Excerpt from The Bones of the Old Ones, by Howard Andrew Jones
“The Poison Well,” by Judith Berman
“The Renunciation of the Crimes of Gharad the Undying,” by Alex Kreis
“The Moonstones of Sor Lunaru,” by Joe Bonadonna
“A Phoenix in Darkness,” by Donald S. Crankshaw
“Godmother Llizard,” by C.S.E. Cooney
“Awakening,” by Judith Berman
“The Duelist,” by Jason Thummel
“An Excerpt from Seven Kings, by John R. Fultz
“The Tea-Maker’s Task,” by Aaron Bradford Starr

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by E.E. Knight, Gregory Bierly, Dave Gross, and others, is here. The most popular Black Gate fiction in November is here.

Art for “The Whoremaster of Pald” by Chris Pepper.

We’ve got plenty more fiction in the coming months, so stay tuned!

Join Howard Andrew Jones on Ask Me Anything on Reddit

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Black Gate Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones has put out the word that he’ll be on Reddit tomorrow:

Hope you’ll join me at Reddit Thursday for a live interview, part of their Ask Me Anything series. You can ask me anything you’re curious about regarding this whole fantasy writing gig, so I hope you’ll drop by, and help spread the word!

Howard joined /r/Fantasy for an Ask Me Anything event a year ago, shortly after the release of his first novel, The Desert of Souls, where he was asked “How do you handle portrayals of sexism and racism when writing historical fantasy?”, “What RPGs do you play?”, and “How do you feel about piracy of your books?”

Click here for the official link.

No word on whether or not the chicken will be there.

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in December

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

December was the most active month the BG blog has ever seen, breaking every traffic record in our history. It’s good to have you folks hanging out with us, instead of risking your neck skiing or snowboarding or something. Exercise kills, and it especially has it in for long-time readers with weak vision and poor motor skills.

If you’re just joining us, you missed some great stuff last month. Theo took on the entire SF & fantasy establishment, Rich Horton proved there’s still life in old SF magazines, and tantalizing glimpses of the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness triggered some animated speculation on just who that sinister guy blowin’ up Federation stuff is. I compiled a Black Gate Christmas Gift List, Ryan Harvey continued his enormously popular series on Edgar Rice Burrough’s Mars books, and Howard Andrew Jones offered up a generous preview of his new novel The Bones of the Old Ones.

That’s just a sample — here’s the complete list of the Top 50 articles from last month.

Nathan Shumate Looks at Lousy Book Covers

Monday, January 28, 2013 John ONeill Comments 10 comments

It’s a lot easier to publish a book than it used to be.

So easy in fact that people are doing it themselves. They’re doing away with traditional print and distribution, all the hassle of finding an agent, publishing contracts, and 20th Century promotional models entirely.

Unfortunately, in the process many of them are also getting rid of things they probably shouldn’t. Things like book design, and cover art. And marketing.

Or even proof-reading. I mean, who needs that, right?

Sadly, the result is that some good books are getting buried under terrible cover art, or painfully sub-standard art design. Nathan Shumate has made it his mission to showcase daily examples at his blog, Lousy Book Covers. Today’s poster child, Dixon Heurass’s Goat Suckin’, is sub-titled “Hotter Than It Sounds” (as Nathan dryly observes, “It would have to be, wouldn’t it?”)

Check out the many additional examples at Nathan’s blog to see just how many different ways there are to screw up cover art, or totally obscure passable art with poor title placement and font color.

We last discussed Nathan Shumate on the publication of his delightful experiment in communal self-publishing, Space Eldritch (which has a thoroughly excellent cover, incidentally).

Harry Connolly: “Let Me Tell You About My Ambitions, and Why They Don’t Include Kickstarter”

Monday, January 28, 2013 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

We’ve had some excellent discussions here about cloud funding, starting with Scott Taylor’s “The Pillaging of Kickstarter” last March. There’s no question that cloud funding sites like Kickstarter are here to stay, but the question remains: how much do they really help writers?

Harry Connolly has written a thoughtful and insightful piece on his blog from the point of view of a successful author and self-published writer, titled “Let me tell you about my ambitions, and why they don’t include Kickstarter (right now).” Here’s a quote:

Along with the release of the sales numbers of my self-published novel has come a flood of requests that I turn to Kickstarter to fund The Twisted Path… Currently, I have no plans to do that, and I’m writing this post because I want to explain my reasoning…

I want to be a best-selling author… It’s not about making a whole bunch of money, it’s about having my books in the hands of lots of readers from all over the world.

Several people have suggested that I could get new readers with a Kickstarter campaign, but I don’t consider that realistic. Take a look at these guys: their campaign has been fantastically successful. At the time I write this, they’re over 11,000% of their goal. However, they have fewer than 8,500 backers.

That’s huge for a Kickstarter but Circle of Enemies sold more copies than that and it’s considered a failure.

Harry Connolly’s first publication “The Whoremaster of Pald” appeared in Black Gate 3; his Twenty Palaces novels include Child of Fire, Game of Cages, and Circle of Enemies, all published in paperback by Del Rey, and the self-published Twenty Palaces.

You can read the complete blog post here.

The Rumors Are True: JJ Abrams to Helm Next Star Wars

Saturday, January 26, 2013 John ONeill Comments 12 comments

Late last night, Walt Disney Studios announced that J.J. Abrams will direct the still-untitled Star Wars: Episode VII.

An announcement was expected following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in October and rumors have been swirling around Abrams for the last 48 hours.

In entertainment circles, this hook-up is akin to the marriage of Michael Jackson and Priscilla Presley, which made Jackson Elvis Presely’s son-in-law. Abrams, who directed 2009’s Star Trek, unites science fiction’s two largest film franchises under a single creative umbrella.

Abrams had an impressive television resume long before he became King of SF Film: his creations include Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe. He wrote and directed the Spielberg homage Super 8 and the action flick Mission: Impossible III, and co-wrote Armageddon. George Lucas said in a statement:

I’ve consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller. He’s an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn’t be in better hands.

According to Disney’s Michael Arndt, the Oscar-winning writer of Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3, and the upcoming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, will write the screenplay. It will arrive in theaters in 2015, and Disney has announced plans to release a new Star Wars film every two to three years after that. The Empire Strikes Back writer Lawrence Kasdan will script the second, and Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes) is on deck for the third.

Rumors abound on the plot of the next three films, including whether or not they will include Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. Recent reports in The Guardian and Reuters suggest they could center on Luke Skywalker’s attempts to found a Jedi academy on the planet Yavin 4.

Hasbro Announces It Will Cut 550 Jobs

Friday, January 25, 2013 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Hasbro, owner of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic the Gathering, announced plans today to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to reduce expenses.

Hasbro, known chiefly for its toy line, said fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations due to weaker than expected holiday demand. Hasbro expects revenue for the quarter to decline nearly 4% to $1.28 billion, badly missing earlier expectation for a 6% jump.

Hasbro’s brands include Monopoly, Nerf, G.I. Joe, and Transformers. The company didn’t break down the earnings disappointment so it’s difficult to lay the blame on any particular division, but it probably didn’t help that last year’s Battleship film, co-produced by Hasbro, was a significant flop. The next Transformers film isn’t due until 2014.

Hasbro employs 5,500 worldwide; a 10 percent cut would affect about 550 people. Since Hasbro doesn’t break out earnings for its Wizards of the Coast division, fans are in the dark about just how successful the division is — and whether or not it’s likely to be affected by the coming cuts.

Stay tuned to Black Gate for news, gossip, and unwarranted speculation as it develops.

George R.R. Martin: “A Writer Who Needs to Get Writing”

Friday, January 25, 2013 John ONeill Comments 12 comments

George R.R. Martin is profiled by The Huffington Post today in a piece titled “13 Writers Who Need To Get Writing.”

Martin is the poster child — his smiling face is at the top — but the article also pokes Philip Pullman (“We want him to write The Book of Dust, the latest companion book to the His Dark Materials series”), George Saunders (“His quirky, disturbing sci-fiesque suburban short stories have critics fighting over each other… write a goddamn novel already”), and The Night Circus author Erin Morgenstern (“Morgenstern says her next book is “a film noir-flavored Alice in Wonderland“… WE WANT TO READ IT NOW.”)

In other GRRM news “The Princess and the Queen,” a new novella set in the world of A Song and Ice and Fire, will appear in Martin and Gardner Dozois’s upcoming “massive crossgenre anthology” Dangerous Women. Here’s the scoop from Martin’s blog:

Mine own contribution… well, it’s some of that fake history I have been writing lo these many months, the true (mostly) story of the origins of the Dance of the Dragons. The stand-alone stories, not part of any series, feature some amazing work as well. For those who like to lose themselves in long stories, the Brandon Sanderson story, the Diana Gabaldon story, the Caroline Spector story, and my “Princess and Queen” are novellas. Huge mothers.

Read the complete details at Tor.com.

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