Black Gate

This flourishing sub-genre of undead detective fiction? I like it. Recent examples include Tim Waggoner’s zombie detective saga The Nekropolis Archives, Stefan Petrucha’s Dead Mann series, Stephen Blackmoore’s Eric Carter books, Chris F. Holm’s Dead Harvest, Simon Kurt Unsworth’s The Devil’s Detective (a detective in hell), and Ian Tregillis’s Something More Than Night (a detective in heaven).

Bavo Dhooge’s Styx promises an intriguing spin on the zombie detective. Rafael Styx is a corrupt Belgian cop who is gunned down in pursuit of a diabolical serial murder. In death he meets the famous nude painter Paul Delvaux, who gives him his first real clue… and Styx finds his cop instincts won’t let him rest. Returning as a zombie (with an inconvenient taste for human flesh), Styx takes up the case again. Even death won’t stop him from capturing his murderer.

…

Read More Read More

We don’t cover much hard science fiction at Black Gate. But we do cover our share of adventure SF… especially if it’s from writers we like, and if we hear good things about it.

Both of those things apply to L.E. Modesitt’s new novel Solar Express. I first heard about it from Arin Komins at Starfarer’s Despatch, who has excellent taste, and who tells us she’s “Really really loving the new Modesitt book, Solar Express. Very hard sf, near future. … And utterly wonderful commentary on politics.” So I got my hands on a copy, and I’m very much looking forward to relaxing with it this weekend.

You can’t militarize space. This one rule has led to decades of peaceful development of space programs worldwide. However, increasing resource scarcity and a changing climate on Earth’s surface is causing some interested parties to militarize, namely India, the North American Union, and the Sinese Federation.

The discovery of a strange artifact by Dr. Alayna Wong precipitates a crisis. What appears to be a hitherto undiscovered comet is soon revealed to be an alien structure on a cometary trajectory toward the sun. Now there is a race between countries to see who can study and control the artifact dubbed the “Solar Express” before it perhaps destroys itself.

Leading the way for the North American Union is Alayna’s friend, Captain Christopher Tavoian, one of the first shuttle pilots to be trained for combat in space. But, as the alien craft gets closer to its destination, it begins to alter the surface of the sun in strange new ways, ways that could lead Alayna to revolutionary discoveries-provided Chris can prevent war from breaking out as he navigates among the escalating tensions between nations.

Solar Express was published by Tor Books on November 3, 2015. It is 448 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover, and $14.99 for the digital edition.

Christopher Golden is one of the most popular horror writers on the market; Stephen King called his 2014 novel Snowblind “deeply scary.” His latest is a new twist of the legend of doppelgangers, and follows five people confronted with doubles. It’s available in hardcover from St. Martin’s Press.

When Tess Devlin runs into her ex-husband Nick on a Boston sidewalk, she’s furious at him for pretending he doesn’t know her. She calls his cell to have it out with him, only to discover that he’s in New Hampshire with his current girlfriend. But if Nick’s in New Hampshire… who did she encounter on the street?

Frank Lindbergh’s dreams have fallen apart. He wanted to get out of the grim neighborhood where he’d grown up and out of the shadow of his alcoholic father. Now both his parents are dead and he’s back in his childhood home, drinking too much himself. As he sets in motion his plans for the future, he’s assaulted by an intruder in his living room… an intruder who could be his twin.

In an elegant hotel, Tess will find mystery and terror in her own reflection. Outside a famed mansion on Beacon Hill, people are infected with a diabolical malice… while on the streets, an eyeless man, dressed in rags, searches for a woman who wears Tess’s face.

Dead Ringers was published by St. Martin’s Press on November 3, 2015. It is 310 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover, and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Ervin Serrano. See all our latest New Treasures here.

Click on the images for bigger versions.

Sylvia Spruck Wrigley’s short story “Alive, Alive Oh”, from the June 2013 issue of Lightspeed, was nominated for the Nebula Award. Her new novella Domnall and the Borrowed Child is the ninth title in Tor.com‘s novella series.

Domnall is a cranky old faerie, the only experienced scout left after the war with the sluagh. He remembers a time when his kind, the Scottish seelie fae, would dance fairy rings amongst the bluebells. Now the ruling council is too cowardly — and too afraid of humans — to do anything of the sort. But when a fae child falls ill, Domnall is the only one with the cunning and resources to get her the medicine she needs: Mother’s milk. But to get it, the old scout will face cunning humans, hungry wolves, and uncooperative sheep — and his fellow fae.

…

Read More Read More