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March/April Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine now on Sale

March/April Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine now on Sale

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mar-apr-2012-fsf-coverI think I’m a little late with this one, as this issue has maybe been on sale for a few weeks. Tisk, tisk. That’s what one little game auction will do to you.

Well, time to catch up.  The March/April issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, for those of you who haven’t read it already, is packed full of great stuff, including a brand new novelette by the incredible Peter S. Beagle, and short stories from Robert Reed, Steven Utley, Richard Bowes, Geoffrey Landis, Robert Walton and Barry N. Malzberg, C.S. Friedman, and a lot more. Here’s the complete fiction TOC:

NOVELETS

  • “Electrica”  – Sean McMullen
  • “Twenty-Two and You”  – Michael Blumlein
  • “Greed”  – Albert E. Cowdrey
  • “Gnarly Times at Nana’ite Beach”  – KJ Kabza
  • “Olfert Dapper’s Day”  – Peter S. Beagle

SHORT STORIES

  • “Repairmen”  – Tim Sullivan
  • “One Year of Fame”  – Robert Reed
  • “The Tortoise Grows Elate”  – Steven Utley
  • “The Queen and the Cambion”  – Richard Bowes
  • “Demiurge”  – Geoffrey Landis
  • “The Man Who Murdered Mozart”  – Robert Walton and Barry N. Malzberg
  • “Perfect Day”  – C.S. Friedman

The amazing Lois Tilton has already reviewed the complete issue at Locus Online. Here’s what she says about Beagle’s contribution, “Olfert Dapper’s Day”:

Dr Dapper, of no real medical degree, is forced to flee to the New World when his various frauds are revealed to the authorities of Utrecht. In the wilderness, among the comfortless Puritans, he has no alternative but to pose as a medical practitioner. Yet despite himself, he finds wonders and miracles in the wilderness.

A fine and moving fantasy. The author’s voice is quite engaging and his protagonist undergoes a memorable metamorphosis.

The cover price is $7.50, for a thick 258 pages. Cover artist this issue is David A. Hardy. More details at the F&SF website, including the complete text of book and film reviews by Charles de Lint, Chris Moriarty, Paul Di Filippo, and Lucius Shepard. We last covered F&SF here with the January/February issue.

A Time Capsule from 1983

A Time Capsule from 1983

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space-gamer-66Last month I wrote a lengthy blog post about Sword & Sorcery, a lavish fantasy board game published by SPI over three decades ago. In the comments section the topic soon turned, as it often does with us old-time gamers, to TSR’s purchase of the bankrupt remnants of SPI in 1983. Christian Lindke, a long-time reader, had some particularly astute observations:

While it is easy to blame TSR for what they did to SPI — and they deserve a lot of blame — one should keep two things in mind. First, when they purchased SPI it was in dire financial straights and would likely not have survived. Second, they had hoped to keep SPI’s staff, but those staff members refused to work for TSR — for varied reasons — and left to form the Victory Games studio over at Avalon Hill… A massive resurgence of publishing of SPI games happened under Lorraine Williams. We would never have seen the SPI monster TSR World War II game, or Wellington’s Victory, Sniper (including BugHunters), let alone the 3rd edition of DragonQuest…

There is an excellent issue of Fire and Movement, printed by Steve Jackson Games, that goes over the purchase of SPI.

I asked Christian if he could track the issue down, and he did more than that. He wrote an extensive and excellent blog post on the topic, and in a good bit of investigative reporting he tracks down a series of articles in Steve Jackson’s Space Gamer magazine that reveal more extensive details.

But it was this bombshell at the bottom of Christian’s article that I personally found much more startling.
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New Treasures: Allen K’s Inhuman Magazine #5

New Treasures: Allen K’s Inhuman Magazine #5

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inhuman-magazine-5Allen Koszowski is almost supernaturally talented.

I first hired him more than a decade ago, when I was desperate to find an artist who could capture the eldritch horrors of Edmond Hamilton’s classic “The Monster-God of Mamurth,” a tale of ancient desert ruins and unlucky explorers from the August 1926 Weird Tales, which I reprinted in Black Gate 2. Allen’s work for Cemetery Dance, Whispers, and Weird Tales convinced me he was the guy.

He delivered three knockout pieces of art (see the first here). And the envelope they arrived in was stuffed with additional pieces which he offered for free. It was remarkably generous, and I was glad I was able to hire him again for Black Gate 3.

Since 2004 Allen has been publishing his own horror magazine, Allen K’s Inhuman Magazine. Every issue he assembles the top names in dark fantasy and horror, and he handles the art for each story personally.

The results have been consistently excellent, but with Issue 5 Allen has outdone himself. This issue Centipede Press has taken over production, and the magazine looks better than ever. To showcase other artists Allen has added a gallery, highlighting the Lovecraft Mythos work of Randy Broecker, Bob Eggleton, Jill Bauman, David Carson, and others, although Allen still handles the cover and interiors. Click on the image at left to get a closer look at his cover art for this issue.

This issue features fiction by Michael Shea, Darrell Schweitzer, Tim Curran, Tim Waggoner, James S. Dorr, Christopher M. Cervasco, John Pelan, and many others. The magazine is huge — 208 pages! — and copiously illustrated. It is perfect bound for the criminally low price of just $6.95, which makes it the single best buy you’ll hear about all week.

My thanks to my buddy Chris Cervasco for tipping me off that the magazine was available. Like many beautiful and precious things, copies can be hard to come by. I bought mine from the excellent online seller The Overlook Connection, who still have most issues in stock. There’s also ordering information on Allen’s website.

Support an excellent magazine, and discover a terrific source of quality dark fantasy. It’s a win-win. Buy your copy today!

Apex #34 and Black Static #27

Apex #34 and Black Static #27

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apexmag03_12

This month’s Apex Magazine features ”A Member of the Wedding of Heaven and Hell” by Richard Bowes  and ”Copper, Iron, Blood” by Mari Ness; the classic reprint is “Lehr, Rex”  by Jay Lake, who is interviewed by Maggie Slater.

Julie Dillon provides the cover art: Julia Rios and editor Lynne M. Thomas penned nonfiction columns round out the issue.

429_large1Further details about this on-line publication can be found here.

The February-March Black Static features new horror fiction from Simon Bestwick (”The Churn”), Gord Sellar (”Empty of Words, thePage”), Jacob Ruby (”The Little Things”), V.H. Leslie (”Family Tree”) and Stephen Bacon (”Cuckoo Spit”).

Nonfiction by the usual suspects, Peter Tennant, Christopher Fowler, Tony Lee, and Mike Driscoll.
The editor is Andy Cox.

Black Static alternates monthly publication with sister SF and fantasy focused Interzone.

Interzone #238: It’s All the Cards

Interzone #238: It’s All the Cards

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interzone-238Ben Baldwin gets dibs as the cover artist for Interzone in 2012.  In his guest editorial, Baldwin explains his intention to foci “around the imagery and symbolism of some of the Major Arcana of the tarot deck.”  For the January-February issue, the subject  is The Moon.

This issue’s fiction includes “Fata Morgana” by Ray Cluley, “”Fearful Symmetry by Tyler Keevil, “God of the Gaps” by Carole Johnstone and “The Complex” by E.J. Swift along with the usual departments and columns.

Further details on this issue can be found on the Interzone web site.


Apex #33

Apex #33

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apexmag02_mediumThis month’s Apex Magazine features ”Bear in Contradicting Landscape” by David J. Schwarz and ”My Body, Her Canvas” by A.C. Wise; the classic reprint is “Useless Things”  by Maureen McHugh, who is interviewed by Maggie Slater. Donata Giancola provides the cover art and Alex Bledsoe and editor Lynne M. Thomas penned columns round out the issue.

Further details about this on-line publication can be found here.

Vote in the 2011 Locus Online Poll!

Vote in the 2011 Locus Online Poll!

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the-desert-of-souls-tpBalloting for the annual Locus Poll and Survey is now open!

The winners of the poll are given the prestigious Locus Awards each year. Categories include Best SF novel, Best Fantasy novel, Best First novel, Best Anthology, Best Magazine, Best Editor, Best Artist, and many others.

But the Locus Poll is more than just an awards ballot. Locus has been taking the pulse of the entire industry for the last 42 years, and the information collected — on buying habits, reading preferences, income, computing, and much more — is used by Locus magazine to form a picture of the evolving dynamic of the modern SF and fantasy reader.

Of more than passing interest of to Black Gate readers, I was very pleased to note that our Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones has been nominated for Best First novel for The Desert of Souls. And Black Gate magazine has been nominated for Best Magazine.

Voting is open to all, subscribers and non-subscribers, per the instructions:

In each category, you may vote for up to five works or nominees, ranking them 1 (first place) through 5 (fifth). Listed options in each category are based on our 2011 Recommended Reading List [this link will open a new window], with options in categories for editor, artist, magazine, and publisher including results of the past two years.

You are welcome to use the write-in boxes to vote for other titles and nominees in any category — if you do, please try to supply author, title, and place of appearance, where appropriate.

The ballot is here. The deadline is April 1, 2012. Make sure your voice is counted in the most important ballot and survey in the industry!

Clarkesworld Issue #64

Clarkesworld Issue #64

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cw_64_3001The January issue of Clarkesworld is currently online. Featured fiction: “Scattered Along the River of Heaven” by Aliette de Bodard, “What Everyone Remembers” by Rahul Kanakia and “All the Painted Stars” by Gwendolyn Clare.  Non fiction by Christopher Bahn, Jeremey L. C. Jones and Neil Clarke.  The cover art is by Arthur Wang.

All of this is available online for free; there’s even an audio podcast version of all three stories read by Kate Baker. However, nothing is really free. The magazine is supported by “Clarkesworld Citizens” who donate $10 or more.

We last covered Clarkesworld with issue #63.

Tangent Online Recommended Reading List 2011

Tangent Online Recommended Reading List 2011

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Art for Jamie McEwan's "An Uprising of One," by Jim and Ruth Keegan (from Black Gate 15).
Art for Jamie McEwan's "An Uprising of One," by Jim and Ruth Keegan (from Black Gate 15).

Over at Tangent Online long-time editor and founder Dave Truesdale has posted his annual Recommended Reading list of the best short fiction of the year, compiled from selections made by eighteen Tangent reviewers.

Tangent Online reviews virtually every science fiction and fantasy short story published annually, combing the big print magazines (including Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, and Analog), semi-professional outlets (such as Cemetery Dance, Interzone, Black Static, Weird Tales, Postscripts, On Spec, Bull Spec, Redstone SF, Albedo One, and Murky Depths), the leading online periodicals (Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Clarkesworld, Tor.com, Strange Horizons, and Subterranean magazine) and the best anthologies published this year (Eclipse 4, Life on Mars, Like Water for Quarks, Triangulation: Last Contact, and Welcome to the Greenhouse). Just like Rich Horton, but requiring more caffeinated beverages.

This year’s list includes a total of four stories from Black Gate 15 — including two with their coveted three-star rating, their highest ranking:

  • “An Uprising of One” by Jamie McEwen (Two Stars)
  • “Into the Gathering Dark” by Darrell Schweitzer (Two Stars)
  • “Roundelay” by Paula R. Stiles (Three Stars)
  • “Purging Cocytus” by Michael Livingston (Three Stars)

Congratulations to Jamie, Darrell, Paul and Michael! The complete table of contents of Black Gate 15 is here, and you can still buy print copies through our online store for $18.95 (or as part of a bundle of two back issues for just $25). The PDF version is just $8.95.

The Kindle version, with enhanced content and color graphics, is also available through Amazon.com for just $9.99.

The complete 2011 Tangent Online Recommended Reading List  list can be found here. Last year’s list is here.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars, Part 3: The Warlord of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars, Part 3: The Warlord of Mars

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the-warlord-of-mars-1st-editionAlthough there are still eight more books to go in the Mars series, with The Warlord of Mars I can bring to a conclusion Phase #1 of the saga: this completes the “John Carter Trilogy,” and the books that follow it take different paths with new heroes. John Carter will not return to the protagonist role until the eighth book, Swords of Mars, published twenty-one years later.

At the end of the thrill-ride of The Gods of Mars, John Carter lost his love Dejah Thoris in the Chamber of the Sun within the Temple of Issus. A whole year must pass before the slow rotation of the chamber will allow Dejah Thoris to escape. She may not even be alive, since the last moments that John Carter witnessed, the jealous thern woman Phaidor was ready to stab Carter’s love. Did she kill Dejah Thoris? Or did the noble Thuvia take the blow instead?

Readers hung on through the middle of 1913 until Burroughs brought a conclusion to the John Carter epic at the end of the year and made his hero into The Warlord of Mars.

Our Saga: The adventures of Earthman John Carter, his progeny, and sundry other natives and visitors, on the planet Mars, known to its inhabitants as Barsoom. A dry and slowly dying world, Barsoom contains four different human civilizations, one non-human one, a scattering of science among swashbuckling, and a plethora of religions, mystery cities, and strange beasts. The series spans 1912 to 1964 with nine novels, one volume of linked novellas, and two unrelated novellas.

Today’s Installment: The Warlord of Mars (1913–14)

Previous Installments: A Princess of Mars (1912), The Gods of Mars (1913)

The Backstory

With a cliffhanger ending to The Gods of Mars, Burroughs was ready to roll with the conclusion. It was a ferociously busy time in his life: All-Story rejected his second Tarzan novel — one of the most comically blockheaded decisions in the history of magazine fiction; he quit his day job and became a full-time author; his third son John Coleman Burroughs was born; days later, his father George Tyler Burroughs died. In the middle of all this, ERB plunged back to working on Mars. He never developed an outline for the trilogy, and so he took the wrap-up of John Carter’s story as it came, daydreaming down on paper.

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