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Galactic War, Haunted Farmhouses, and an Occupied Earth: September-October Print Magazines

Galactic War, Haunted Farmhouses, and an Occupied Earth: September-October Print Magazines

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September-October 2024 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog
Science Fiction & Fact, and the Summer issue of The Magazine of Fantasy
& Science Fiction. Cover art by Shutterstock, NASA, and Mondolithic Studios

The big news this month is the arrival of the new issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, after a nearly 8-month hiatus. In the pages of the new issue, publisher Gordon van Gelder reports that “Ongoing production problems have led us to skip the Spring issue and to switch to a quarterly schedule.” The new issue is cover-dated Summer 2024.

It’s a huge relief to have F&SF back on schedule — and the new issue looks terrific, with new fiction from Albert Chu, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Esther Friesner, Deborah L. Davitt, Phoenix Alexander, and lots more. The September-October issues of Asimov’s SF and Analog don’t disappoint either, with new stories from Naomi Kritzer, James Patrick Kelley, Robert Reed, Alice Towey, Stephanie Feldman, Anita Vijayakumar, Robert R. Chase, Susan Shwartz, Ray Nayler, Adam-Troy Castro, Wil McCarthy, Mar Vincent, Kedrick Brown, Tony Ballantyne, James Van Pelt, Mark W. Teidemann, and lots more.

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Southern Horror: Pigeons from Hell by Robert E Howard

Southern Horror: Pigeons from Hell by Robert E Howard

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“Voodoo!” he muttered. “I’d forgotten about that—I never could think of black magic in connection with the South. To me witchcraft was always associated with old crooked streets in waterfront towns, overhung by gabled roofs that were old when they were hanging witches in Salem; dark musty alleys where black cats and other things might steal at night. Witchcraft always meant the old towns of New England, to me—but all this is more terrible than any New England legend—these somber pines, old deserted houses, lost plantations, mysterious black people, old tales of madness and horror—God, what frightful, ancient terrors there are on this continent fools call ‘young’!”

This exclamation by Griswell, the protagonist of Robert E Howard’s racially fueled horror tale set among the piney woods of the Louisiana-Arkansas border region, always struck me as a bit of a “take that!” to the old gentleman of Providence, HP Lovecraft. I think Howard was on to something as “Pigeons from Hell,” published posthumously in 1938 is a riveting tale of well-earned revenge, voodoo, and the walking dead. Two young travelers from New England decide to spend the night in an abandoned plantation mansion. The balustrade is covered by a flock of pigeons. Its oak door sags on broken hinges, and the interior is dark and dusty. After they fall asleep, they are ensnared by events set in motion many years ago.

“Pigeons” opens with Griswell (no first name), waking up from a troubled sleep on the floor of a dilapidated plantation mansion. He had dreamt of a “vague, shadowy chamber” wherein “three silent shapes hung suspended in a row, and their stillness and their outlines woke chill horror in his soul.” In the corner crouched a “Presence of fear and lunacy.” As his eyes open, he spies something crouching at the top of a flight of stairs.

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Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery – Cover Artist Perspectives and Campaign

Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery – Cover Artist Perspectives and Campaign

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Black Gate has been tracking the inception and growth of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, starting with Micheal Harrington’s 2022 interview with Oliver Brackenbury (author, screenwriter, podcaster, and editor of NESS), through 2023 with NESS first two magazine releases (also Mele’s review of #1), and NESS’s first book “Beating Heart and Battle Axes (July of 2024).  Now, as of Sept 19th, NESS continues this epic trend of presenting contemporary adventure fiction in fun ways with their second crowdfunded book DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD & SORCERY. It is “double-edged” because, in the tradition of the Ace Double, it’s two novellas bound in one book with unique covers on either side. Both tales are Mongol-inspired Sword & Sorcery.

In this post, we share the campaign’s information and blend in perspectives from both cover artists.
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How Billy Graham’s Conan Art Got Him Fired from Fantastic Magazine

How Billy Graham’s Conan Art Got Him Fired from Fantastic Magazine

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Fantastic magazine, edited by Ted White. August 1972. Cover by Jeff Jones

I read Rich Horton’s Retro Review of the August 1972 issue of Fantastic magazine here at Black Gate, and I remember being excited by what I presumed was the first appearance of Conan in Fantastic, and then realizing just how awful the novelette was, which was made even more disappointing by the fact that this cover was the first time the great Jeff Jones, already known for terrific depictions of Howard’s Solomon Kane, tackled Conan.

Even in 1968, when I read Conan the Adventurer at the age of ten, I noticed that all the best Conan stories were by Howard, but it took me into my early teens to realize just how bad the non-Howard ones were. Yes, De Camp was a much better writer than Carter, but his work lacked the passion and pulp poetry necessary for the character, and something like “Beyond the Black River” (which my penpal Fritz Leiber thought was the best Conan story, along with “People of the Black Circle,” which Fritz liked for its sympathetic villain and capable proto-Indian heroine), was completely outside De Camp’s wheelhouse.

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The Mad Wizards at Planet X Games

The Mad Wizards at Planet X Games

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Rayguns & Robuts, issue 1 (Planet X Games, August 2022). Cover by Ed Bickford

“…system-agnostic universe filled with galactic space rangers and square-jawed heroes zipping across the phlogiston, with a jet pack strapped to their back and a raygun in hand…”

Back in 2022 I received the first issue of Rayguns & Robuts, by Planet X Games. This sci-fi zine is loaded with incredible content and art, and the design esthetic is second to none.

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A Decadal Review of 1989 Science Fiction Magazines: Wrap-up

A Decadal Review of 1989 Science Fiction Magazines: Wrap-up

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I reviewed five science fiction magazines from mid-2021 to early 2024. Here are my overall notes and rankings.

Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 30, 2022

Edited by Gardner Dozois
Cover by Wayne Barlowe
Ranking 1st out of 5

Megan Lindholm’s (AKA Robin Hobbs) “A Touch of Lavender” and Walter Jon William’s “No Spot of Ground” really elevate this issue.

Allen Steele’s “Ride to Live, Live to Ride” was solid, and two trying-to-get-in-on-the-‘cyberpunk’-wave stories, Robert Silverberg’s “Chiprunner” and Orson Scott Card’s “Dogwalker” had a certain off-base-but-appealing vibe. 

Ronald Anthony Cross’ “The Front Page” was the only story I didn’t really like, and it was short enough that it didn’t bother me.

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An Essential Purchase: The Weird Tales Boys by Stephen Jones

An Essential Purchase: The Weird Tales Boys by Stephen Jones

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The Weird Tales Boys (PS Publishing, September 2023). Cover by Les Edwards

How could I not purchase The Weird Tales Boys, by Stephen Jones? It focuses on the three authors whose work has most inspired me for decades: Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith.

In fact, I created a small business whose core product, the Hyperborea RPG, is inspired by the works of these three iconic giants of weird fiction, horror, fantasy, and sci-fi.

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A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Richard Deming’s Manville Moon

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Richard Deming’s Manville Moon

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

(Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)

 

Richard Deming’s career flourished during the end of the Pulps and the birth of the digests. He published short stories in five different decades. After serving in World War II, he was working for the Red Cross when he sold his first story, “The Juarez Knife,” to Popular Detective. He would write a total of sixteen more stories, as well as four novels, featuring his one-legged war veteran, Manville (‘Manny,’ ‘Mister’) Moon, mostly appearing in Black Mask, and Dime Detective.

He wrote three police procedural novels starring Matt Rudd, a vice cop in Southern California. Deming appeared in the final issue of Dime Detective, but had already transitioned to Manhhunt, the digest magazine that was the successor to the hardboiled Pulps.

Deming also wrote for television – an experience he did not speak of fondly.

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Quatro-Decadal Review: Weird Tales, November 1989, edited by John Betancourt, George H. Scithers, and Darrell Schweitzer

Quatro-Decadal Review: Weird Tales, November 1989, edited by John Betancourt, George H. Scithers, and Darrell Schweitzer

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Weird Tales, Fall 1989 (Terminus Publishing). Cover by J.K. Potter

There has been quite the gap in my reviews. I’ve been high-centered on Weird Tales. Many factors played a role in this — mostly that it is not a small magazine by any stretch. Then there is the fact that I read it in early 2023, got distracted by other things, and had to re-read it to write about it.

As readers of these reviews know, I don’t hold back re: spoilers for 35-year old stories. New readers, be warned!

Frequent readers will also recall that I often hypothesize on the thoughts and drives of the editors, but in this case I don’t have to hypothesize — my friends, we live in the future and I was able to get the straight dope right from The Grey Eminence himself: Darrell Schweitzer.

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Robot Avatars, Criminal Combines, and a Sisterhood of Space Pilots: July-August 2024 Print SF Magazines

Robot Avatars, Criminal Combines, and a Sisterhood of Space Pilots: July-August 2024 Print SF Magazines

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July-August 2024 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction & Fact.
Cover art by John Sumrow (for “Sisters of the Flare”) and Shutterstock

Might as well get the bad news out of the way up front. There’s still no new issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, but we hope for better news next month.

Unfortunately, that’s the same thing we said two months ago, and two months before that. We’re now 2/3rds of the way through 2024, and F&SF has published only a single issue. Magazine publishing is hard, especially these days, so if they can get back on track by the end of the year, all will certainly be forgiven. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, there’s plenty of great fiction in the print magazines we do have in hand, the July-August issues of Asimov’s SF and Analog, including new stories from Greg Egan, James Van Pelt, Susan Palwick, R. Garcia y Robertson, Leah Cypess, Genevieve Valentine, Stephen Case, Alex Irvine, Michael F. Flynn, Alice Towey, Thoraiya Dyer, and lots more.

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