Black Gate

Tangent Online continues to provide very timely and thoughtful reviews of the latest SF magazines while they’re still on the stands. Here’s a fine example: Michelle Ristuccia’s insightful commentary on James Alan Gardner’s cover story in the August Asimov’s, “The Mutants Men Don’t See.”

Ellie Lee fears that her son will accidentally kill himself in an attempt to activate a mutant gene that he might not even have in “The Mutants Men Don’t See” by James Alan Gardner. Gardner’s engaging urban fantasy inverts a trope or two to focus on an often invisible segment of the population, menopausal women. The title is an homage to the James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) novelette “The Women Men Don’t See” from the December 1973 issue of F&SF. Gardner’s story, because of its subject matter (menopause, and its being the end of the menstrual cycle), also recalls — though in a very different fashion — Connie Willis’s Hugo winning short story “Even the Queen” from the April 1992 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, which dealt with menstruation in a future where one young woman opted not to have the procedure that would eliminate her cycle, as most others of her age and part of a feminist movement have. “Even the Queen” and “The Mutants Men Don’t See” make interesting bookends, for both address issues surrounding a woman’s child-bearing years, the former at the beginning, the latter at the end. All three stories, though wildly different, also deal with the empowerment of women.

Read Michelle’s complete review here.

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August is the month to try new things — and that’s exactly what we did, by sampling two promising new magazines: The Lorelei Signal, edited by Carol Hightshoe, and Strange Aeons, edited by Rick Tillman. I do sometimes wonder if we’ll ever run out of new fantasy magazines to try… and so far, the answer has been no.

We also had a fascinating guest post from Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, editors of the World Fantasy Award-nominated Uncanny magazine, titled “Learning the Uncanny Arts: The Secrets of the Uncanny Magazine Covers.” And don’t fret, vintage magazine fans. Matthew Wuertz had you covered with the latest installment in his long-running project to re-read Galaxy magazine, starting with the first issue. This month Matthew took a look at the June 1953 issue, containing fiction by Philip K. Dick, Richard Wilson, Robert Sheckley, James H. Schmitz, and others.

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

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The editorial masterminds at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly have cracked open another rich vault of adventure fantasy tales, including stories by James Frederick William Rowe, Andrew Knighton, Cullen Groves — and Black Gate blogger Matthew Wuertz.

Here’s the editorial introduction to issue Q29 from the website:

Even as the summer heat beat us mercilessly, our will remains unbowed! We have ventured from the heat dome, through the wasteland, and we have again gathered the greatest tales of adventure to be found and brought them to you. Not only do we have a full cargo of stories and poems, we have a bonus story, AND we are leveling up to include story-specific artwork as well.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is one of the most reliable regular sources of new adventure fantasy. Here’s the complete fiction TOC, with fiction links.

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Earlier this week I summarized the results of the annual Locus Awards vote for Best Magazine, as reported in the July issue of Locus magazine. I was very proud to see that Black Gate came in at #8 (out of 27 magazines). I was also surprised to see that Tor.com had placed #2 on the list, beating out magazines like Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Analog. Locus readers tend to favor the fiction magazines over media sites and online blogs…. but then again, Tor.com has gradually become one of the top sites on the internet for genre fiction.

Witness the month of May and early June at Tor.com, which featured brand new fiction from Genevieve Valentine, Brian Hodge, Nisi Shawl, and many others. There’s plenty here for adventure fantasy fans, including “Orphan Pirates of the Spanish Main” by Dennis Danvers, an SF tale featuring Stan and Ollie, orphans who receive a mysterious postcard from their father, who disappeared decades ago into the deadly Abyss in New Mexico; P. Djeli Clark’s “A Dead Djinn in Cairo,” in which Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi, in an alternate 1912 Egypt, faces rampaging ghouls, saucy assassins, and clockwork angels in the ancient ruins beneath Cairo; and Theodora Goss’s “Red as Blood and White as Bone,” a dark fantasy about a kitchen girl who lets a ragged woman into the castle during a raging storm, certain she is more than what she appears to be.

Links and brief descriptions for May-June fiction at Tor.com are below.

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The July 2016 issue of Locus is numbered #666… so naturally it’s the horror issue, with lengthy interviews with Peter Straub and Joe Hill, and a photo story on “Stephen King and George R.R. Martin in Conversation.” The magazine is also packed with the usual reviews, news and features — including a photo spread on the Nebula Awards weekend, held here in Chicago.

But the big news for me was the detailed results of the annual Locus Awards. Amongst all the vote counts for Best Novel, Best Collection, and Best Editor, were the surprising results for Best Magazine. Surprising to me, anyway. 27 magazines were ranked by the readers of Locus; here’s the Top Ten.

1. Asimov’s SF
2. Tor.com
3. Fantasy & Science Fiction
4. Clarkesworld
5. File 770
6. Lightspeed
7. Analog
8. Black Gate
9. Uncanny
10. Strange Horizons

I was surprised and pleased to see Black Gate ranked above such excellent magazines as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Interzone, Nightmare, Shimmer, and Weird Tales. I want to thank everyone for their support — believe me, it means a lot.

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The complete July issue of Lightspeed is now yours to enjoy free online. This month brings new fantasy by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz and Kenneth Schneyer, and fantasy reprints by A. Merc Rustad and Spencer Ellsworth, plus original science fiction by Ted Kosmatka and Jilly Dreadful, along with SF reprints by Genevieve Valentine and Seth Fried.

In his editorial, editor John Joseph Adams shares some award good news, plus intriguing news about his new book line with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt:

We’re thrilled to report that Alyssa Wong’s story, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” from the Queers Destroy Horror! special issue of Nightmare (Oct. 2015), won the Nebula Award for best short story! Congrats to Alyssa and to all of the other winners. You can find a full list of the winners at SFWA.org/nebula-awards…

John Joseph Adams Books News

In my role as editor of John Joseph Adams Books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I just acquired two books in a new series by Molly Tanzer (author of Vermilion).

The first book is Creatures of Will and Temper, a Victorian-era urban fantasy inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which epee-fencing enthusiast Evadne Gray and her younger sister are drawn into a secret and dangerous London underworld of pleasure-seeking demons and bloodthirsty diabolists, with only Evadne’s skill with a blade standing between them and certain death.

Publication of book one will likely happen in late 2017. Can’t wait for you all to read it!

I’m especially intrigued by the Book News. We covered Molly Tanzer’s Vermilion here, and I’m very interested in seeing her latest. John has proved to be an editor with a very keen eye… What other wonders will he offer us through John Joseph Adams Books? I’m looking forward to finding out.

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