Black Gate

I often forget that, in addition to doing double duty as editor of two leading magazines (Lightspeed and Nightmare) and one of the most celebrated and successful anthologists in the industry (Cosmic Powers, What the #@&% Is That?, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy), John Joseph Adams also edits his own line of novels for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In his editorial in the most recent issue of Lightspeed, John brings up up to date on the exciting novels he’s bringing our way.

My latest novel acquisition for John Joseph Adams Books is Upon a Burning Throne and The Blind King’s Wrath, the first two books in a new epic fantasy series by Ashok K. Banker, about a group of siblings battling for control of a vast empire while a powerful demonlord pits them against each other… In July, we’ll be publishing two books: (1) Carrie Vaughn’s novel, Bannerless — a post-apocalyptic mystery in which an investigator must discover the truth behind a mysterious death in a world where small communities struggle to maintain a ravaged civilization decades after environmental and economic collapse; and (2) Sand by Hugh Howey, a reissue of his acclaimed indie-published novel.

In September, we’ll be publishing Retrograde by Peter Cawdron, a hard SF novel about an international colony of astronauts on Mars, who have been prepared for every eventuality of living on another planet except one: What happens when disaster strikes Earth?

In October, we’ll be publishing Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey, a short story collection including three stories set in the world of Hugh’s mega-hit Wool… In November, we’ll be publishing Molly Tanzer’s Creatures of Will and Temper — a Victorian-era urban fantasy inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which an épée-fencing enthusiast and her younger sister are drawn into a secret and dangerous London underworld of pleasure-seeking demons and bloodthirsty diabolists, with only her skill with a blade standing between them and certain death.

A bit further out, in Spring 2018, we’ll have The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp, about a magician with a talent for finding lost things who is forced into playing a high-stakes game with the gods of New Orleans for the heart and soul of the city.

This month’s Lightspeed offers original fantasy by Adam-Troy Castro and Kendra Fortmeyer, plus fantasy reprints by Greg Hrbek and Amal El-Mohtar, as well as original science fiction by Bruce McAllister and Susan Jane Bigelow, alongside SF reprints by Tobias S. Buckell and Seanan McGuire. The non-fiction includes author spotlights, Book Reviews by LaShawn Wanak, a review of The 100 TV show by Jenn Reese and Christopher East, and an interview with Steven Barnes by Christian A. Coleman.

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The May issue of The Dark has new fiction by A.M. Muffaz and Eliza Victoria, plus reprints by Samantha Henderson and Damien Angelica Walters. Charles Payseur at Quick Sip Reviews thinks highly of the Muffaz.

This is a story of sinking horror, of death and the proximity of death, of abuse that everyone agrees to look away from. The piece focuses on Tentzin, a man who delivers supplies to a house where the dead are prepared to be fed to griffons as part of the culture’s death rituals. The keeper of the house and preparer of the dead, Nurgu, lives there with his son, Dolgo, and his new wife, Tashi. New wife because she was delivered like a sack of salt to Nurgu following the death of his previous wife… It’s a creepy story that does a great job building up the world in order to reveal the shadow living at its heart. The action isn’t fast but there is a deep power to it and an uncomfortable silence left in its wake. A great read!

The May cover is by Vincent Chong. Here’s the Table of Contents for issue #24, cover-dated May 2017.

“The Bone Beaters” by A.M. Muffaz
“The Lark Ascending” by Samantha Henderson (from Tomorrow’s Cthulhu, 2016)
“Queen Midnight” by Eliza Victoria
“When We Taste of Death” by Damien Angelica Walters (from Exigencies, 2015)

The Dark is co-edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Sean Wallace, with assistance by Jack Fisher. It is published online and in digital formats, and includes two original stories and two reprints each issue. You can read issues free online, or help support the magazine by buying the ebook editions, available for the Kindle and Nook in Mobi and ePub format. Issues are around 50 pages, and priced at $2.99 through Amazon, B&N.com, Apple, Kobo, and other fine outlets — or subscribe for just $1.99 per issue. If you enjoy the magazine you can contribute to their new Patreon account here. You can also support The Dark by buying their books, reviewing stories, or even just leaving comments.

Read the May issue here, and see their complete back issue catalog here. We last covered The Dark with the March issue. See our May Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent Magazine coverage here.

Over on her website, Caroline M. Yoachim talks about her newest story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

I have a new story out in issue #225 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies (May, 2017). “Carnival Nine” is a story that I am particularly proud of, and I’m so happy it found a good home. A short excerpt:

One night, when I was winding down to sleep, I asked Papa, “How come I don’t get the same number of turns every day?”

“Sometimes the maker turns your key more, and sometimes less, but you can never have more than your mainspring will hold. You’re lucky, Zee, you have a good mainspring.” He sounded a little wistful when he said it. He never got as many turns as I did, and he used most of them to do boring grown-up things.

Rocket Stack Rank gives the story four out of five stars… read their (spoilery) review here.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents for issue 225.

“Carnival Nine” by Caroline M. Yoachim

The train took us to the maker’s bench, and we laid out our son’s body, chest open. Tonight the maker would give him a mainspring and wind him for the very first time. “Should we name him now, or after we’ve gotten to know him?” My parents had waited to name me until my second day, because they wanted to be sure the name would fit.

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The longest story in the May Clarkesworld is Kelly Robson’s novelette “We Who Live in the Heart.” Here’s a snippet from Quick Sip Reviews.

The story centers [on] a character who has fled from human civilization belowground, a place where cooperation is king and time is heavily monitored and monitzed. The alternative, though, is to go up to the surface and try to live inside the body of whale-like creatures that seem about the only thing that can handle the extreme conditions. It’s a decision that the narrator was one of the first to make, to go out and try to create something in this waste, to survive where people didn’t think possible. And it’s a decision that Ricci is just making as the story opens, escaping a string of bad situations… We as humans are all different and the story does a lovely job of showing what that can mean, how people can still find value in each other and in their relative seclusion, forming loose bonds that perhaps don’t offer as much cohesion but don’t bind, either. That exist to be supportive and caring without suffocating. And I like how the story establishes that with the crew of Mama, how the main character comes to stand for this voice of freedom even as they do yearn for relationships and company… It’s a story with a great sense of wonder and fun, and it’s an amazing read!

The May Clarkesworld contains original fiction from Nick Wolven, Kelly Robson, E. Catherine Tobler, and Tang Fei, plus reprints from Kage Baker and James Tiptree Jr.

The cover, “Darkess,” is by Julie Dillon.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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Asimov’s Science Fiction is celebrating its 40th Anniversary Year in 2017, and in her editorial this issue Sheila Williams reflects on the many milestones and anniversaries she’s had during her 35 years with the magazine.

Alas, the magazines’ fifteenth anniversary was not a happy occasion. Isaac died on April 6, 1992, leaving all of us heartbroken. He’d told me several times before he died that one major reason he’d founded the magazine was to give new writers a welcoming place to break into science fiction. He also expressed his deeply held wish that the magazine continue long after his death. While the following year wasn’t a special anniversary year, it was a happier one. In March 1993, Rick Wilber and I announced the creation of what would become known as the Dell Magazine Award. This award, which goes to the best SF or fantasy story by a full-time college student, seeks to further Isaac’s legacy of supporting emerging authors. Later that year, I hit another important milestone — the birth of my first daughter, Irene.

I don’t remember if we held a twentieth anniversary celebration for the magazine in 1997, but I do remember that the magazine hit a grand slam at the Hugos. Asimov’s stories picked up the award in all three short fiction categories, and Gardner Dozois won one of his many Hugos for best editor. The twenty-fifth anniversary is another blur, partly because my second daughter, Juliet, was born in early July….

2017 is shaping up as a very good year, as well. As I write this, we are formulating plans for a fortieth anniversary celebration on April 13. It will be held in New York City at the Housing Works Bookstore Café on 126 Crosby Street. Although this issue doesn’t go on sale until April 25, I hope that many of you will have heard the word via social media and will have commemorated the occasion with us. Later in the year, Prime Books will be publishing Asimov’s Science Fiction: A Decade of Hugo & Nebula Award Winning Stories, 2005 to 2015 in conjunction with our anniversary year. In addition to many of the authors who appeared in our Thirtieth Anniversary Anthology, this book contains stories by Sarah Pinsker, David Levine, Karen Joy Fowler, Elizabeth Bear, Vylar Kaftan, Will McIntosh, and others. We hope to have a book signing in place in NYC to celebrate the launch of the book. Please keep up with us on social media to learn more about our plans.

Indeed, Derek Kunsken wrote about his adventurous trip to New York for Asimov’s fortieth anniversary celebration here.

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Anyone who says the online genre short fiction market isn’t thriving isn’t paying attention. We track 47 different fantasy magazines here at Black Gate, and one or two new ones pop up every quarter. This month the newcomer is Broadswords and Blasters, a modern pulp magazine edited by Matthew X. Gomez and Cameron Mount, with a issue that includes stories by BG alums Nick Ozment and Josh Reynolds. For pulp fans we have some special treats — including a look at the Adventure House Pulp Reprints (such as Thrilling Wonder and Startling Stories), and Rich Horton’s review of Jack Williamson’s The Reign of Wizardry, which first appeared in the March 1940 issue of Unknown.

Check out all the details on the magazines above by clicking on the each of the images. Our April Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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