News – Page 26 – Black Gate

Support The Collectors Book of Virgil Finlay Kickstarter

Thursday, July 3, 2014 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

I don’t often report on Kickstarter projects. But in this case, I’m making an exception — both due to the quality of the book and the people involved.

Bob Garcia’s American Fantasy Press is publishing The Collectors Book of Virgil Finlay, the first new Virgil Finlay art book in twenty years, featuring art from the extensive collections of Robert Weinberg, Doug Ellis, Glynn Crain, and Robert K. Wiener. The publishers have launched a Kickstarter Campaign to help defray some of the considerable costs in preparing and publishing the book. Here’s Donato Giancola, cover artist for Black Gate 15, on the artist:

Finlay’s dizzying compositions and incredible draftsmanship recall the dense compositions of Renaissance artists Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Durer, while at the same time embracing the modern aesthetics of abstraction. His black and white images are ground breaking, unforgettable, and reflective of a genius at play in the world of art.

From 1936-1971, Virgil Finlay illustrated an astounding amount of pulp fiction, including 19 Weird Tales covers and fabulous interior work for Amazing, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Fantastic Novels, Fantastic Universe, Galaxy, IF, and many others. See samples of his work in Bob’s last article for us here, and a few of his covers here, here, and here.

The Collectors Book of Virgil Finlay is scheduled for release at this year’s World Fantasy Convention. It will contain 35 full color paintings, the largest collection of his color work ever assembled in print, plus another 13 pages of additional color work, over 150 pages of black and white artwork, and commentary on the artist by two of the field’s foremost pulp art collectors: Robert Weinberg and Doug Ellis. It is an oversized 9″ x 12″ hardcover, 208 pages.

The Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to end on Virgil Finlay’s Centenary Birthday: July 23, 2014; after just 10 days, the project is already fully funded. Get more information or contribute at the Kickstarter page here.

Evidence of a Higher Power at Work: Pacific Rim 2 Gets a 2017 Release Date

Friday, June 27, 2014 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Philosophers and scientists search for God using logic and telescopes, while evidence of the divine at work in their daily lives escapes them. Me, I look for God in the Hollywood press. Certainly no truly loving deity would allow Pacific Rim, the best film of 2013, to wither away without a sequel.

And lo is my diligence and faith rewarded. BuzzFeed reports this morning that Pacific Rim 2 will arrive in theaters April 7, 2017. Here’s Director Guillermo del Toro:

The characters I love will return… Raleigh, Mako, Newt, Gottlieb and who knows, maybe even Hannibal Chau – but we are taking them into a fresh territory that will display amazing sights and battles. The first film set the stage and now we’re ready to have a blast.

Del Toro is currently wrapping up production on Crimson Peak and his upcoming TV series The Strain. Box Office Mojo reports the first Pacific Rim earned over $411 million (against a budget of $190 million), by far the biggest hit of Del Toro’s career, but a sequel was by no means a sure thing — especially considering the relatively anemic domestic box office ($101 million.)

This is the best news of the week — especially for my son Drew, who’s a huge Pacific Rim fan. If you haven’t seen the first film yet, I urge you to get the Blu Ray edition, cook up a big bucket of popcorn, and settle in for a joyous two hours of giant-robot-versus-mega-monster mayhem. (And be sure to turn the speakers WAY UP.) Read Ryan Harvey’s deliriously happy Black Gate review “Pacific Rim Loves You. Love It Back” here, and the complete BuzzFeed article here. (Thanks to Tor.com for the tip!)

Star Trek 3 Confirmed

Saturday, June 21, 2014 John ONeill Comments 10 comments

Paramount Pictures confirmed on Wednesday that the third film in the J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Trek reboot has been green-lit for a 2016 release.

I haven’t been the biggest fan of the new films. Sure, they are highly watchable blockbuster action pics — fast moving, splendidly acted, and with terrific effects. But to me they haven’t captured the spirit of the original show and the creators seem kinda oblivious to this fact, turning characters I’ve loved for 40 years into action-film superheroes, with Spock getting into prolonged fistfights with superhuman opponents and Kirk ascending confidently into the Captain’s chair of the Enterprise in his early 20s, less than 24 hours out of the academy. It’s been more like watching The Expendables filmed on a Star Trek set (which actually sounds sorta cool, now that I say it out loud.)

But that’s okay. The films have been popular and have kept the franchise in the public eye. And they’re by no means bad films — they’re just not the Star Trek I wanted. So I was pleased to hear that there would be a third. Especially since the ending of Star Trek Into Darkness strongly implied the next one would be closer in spirit to the original version, with the crew finally beginning their five-year mission of exploration.

We don’t know a lot about the new movie yet. We know it will be directed by Roberto Orci, screenwriter and producer of Star Trek Into Darkness, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and the Sleepy Hollow TV show, in his directorial debut. In a recent interview, Orci stated that he wants the film to be more original, and to stay in the classic Trek world, which at least sounds good. His co-writer J.D. Payne also dropped a few clues about the plot.

Star Trek 3 (no idea if that’s the final title) will be written by Patrick McKay, Roberto Orci, and John D. Payne, and produced by J.J. Abrams and David Ellison. It is scheduled for a 2016 release, just in time for the show’s 50th anniversary. (Thanks to Tor.com for the tip.)

Robert Hood’s Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead Wins the Ditmar Award

Friday, June 20, 2014 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

What the heck is the Ditmar Award?

The Ditmar Awarda are the Australian Hugo Awards, recognizing superior achievement in Australian science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They’ve been awarded every year since 1969. They’re named after Martin James Ditmar “Dick” Jenssen, an Australian fan who footed the bill for the awards way back when they were just getting off the ground. Awards are given for best novel, short story, fan writing, and other more boring categories.

All very interesting. But what’s more interesting is that a major international award just went to a fantasy novel with GIANT TENTACLES ON THE COVER. And a floating red eyeball.

This is watershed moment, people. Thousands of years from now, future civilizations will point to this moment and say, “Yep, right there, that was it.” There will be no need to explain further, because future people are cool and will understand immediately.

I do not have a copy of Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead. But I really, really want one. I want to know what all the cool future people are talking about, and those Australians with their funky awards. Plus. Giant tentacles.

…

Strange Chemistry Shuts Down

Friday, June 20, 2014 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Strange Chemistry, the innovative YA imprint of Angry Robot Books, has closed its doors. Here’s the announcement made earlier today by Caroline Lambe, Publicity Manager at Angry Robot:

Angry Robot Books has a history of innovation and we continue to go from strength to strength. We’re constantly trying out new concepts and new ideas, and we continue to publish popular and award-winning books. Our YA imprint Strange Chemistry and our crime/mystery imprint Exhibit A have – due mainly to market saturation – unfortunately been unable to carve out their own niches with as much success.

We have therefore made the difficult decision to discontinue Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A, effective immediately, and no further titles will be published from these two imprints.

Strange Chemistry launched in September 2012 with editor Amanda Rutter at the helm, and released 17 books in its first year. Last summer, they produced this splendid montage displaying all of their book covers, and we helped them celebrate their first birthday just last August.

Over the last two years, Strange Chemistry has published a marvelously diverse range of titles, including Martha Wells’s Emilie and the Hollow World, Jonathan L. Howard’s Katya’s World and its sequel Katya’s War, Broken by A. E. Rought, Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier, Pantomime by Laura Lam, and many others. The sudden shut down leaves nearly half a dozen previously announced titles in limbo, including Eliza Crewe’s Crushed, Rabble by Rosie Best, and A Curse of Ash and Iron by Christine Norris.

As disappointing as the news is, Angry Robot reports that their core SF and fantasy imprint is still very robust, and in fact they plan to increase output from two books a month to three. Read the complete announcement here.

Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence Wins the 2014 David Gemmell Legend Award

Saturday, June 14, 2014 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Mark Lawrence’s Emperor of Thorns, the final volume of The Broken Empire trilogy, has won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2013.

The David Gemmell Legend Award (DGLA) is a fan-voted award administered by the DGLA. This is its sixth year; it was first granted in 2009.

The DGLA also recognizes the top debut fantasy of the year and best cover art. This year, the Morningstar Award for Best Debut Novel went to Brian McLellan for Promise of Blood and Jason Chan received the Ravenheart Award for Best Cover Art for his cover for Emperor of Thorns.

The nominees for the 2014 Legend award also included The Daylight War by Peter V Brett, The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan, and War Master’s Gate by Adrian Tchaikovsky. See the complete list here.

The previous winners of the award were:

Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves (2009)
Graham McNeill’s Empire: The Legend of Sigmar (2010)
Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings (2011)
Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear (2012)
Brent Weeks’s The Blinding Knife (2013)

Complete details are available at the DGLA website.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Draws Pearls Before Swine

Saturday, June 7, 2014 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Bill Watterson, the legendary creator of Calvin and Hobbes, is one of the most famous cartoonists in the world. He’s also one of the most private. After he retired from comics in 1995, he vanished from public life. He made Time Magazine‘s list of Top 10 Most Reclusive Celebrities (at #7) a few years ago (and Time accompanied the piece with one of the only known photographs of him.) For years, fans have been wondering what his next project would be.

It turns out that it’s already been published — and, typical for Watterson, in a surprisingly understated fashion. Stephan Pastis, creator of the bestselling Pearls Before Swine comic, revealed on his blog this morning that Watterson has been co-writing and co-drawing the strip with him for much of the past week:

I emailed him the strip and thanked him for all his great work and the influence he’d had on me. And never expected to get a reply. And what do you know, he wrote back. Let me tell you. Just getting an email from Bill Watterson is one of the most mind-blowing, surreal experiences I have ever had. Bill Watterson really exists? And he sends email? And he’s communicating with me?

But he was. And he had a great sense of humor about the strip I had done, and was very funny, and oh yeah… He had a comic strip idea he wanted to run by me…

What followed was a series of back-and-forth emails where we discussed what the strips would be about, and how we would do them. He was confident. I was frightened. Frightened because it’s one thing to write a strip read by millions of people. But it’s another thing to propose an idea to Bill Watterson.

You can see the entire sequence drawn by Watterson here, and this morning’s article by Michael Cavna’s at The Washington Post that broke the story here.

An Open Letter to Dave Truesdale

Thursday, June 5, 2014 John ONeill Comments 110 comments

Dear Dave,

I wanted to applaud you for the exceptionally thorough review Tangent Online put together for Lightspeed #49, June 2014, the special “Women Destroy Science Fiction” issue. I was always deeply appreciative of TO‘s detailed reviews of Black Gate — starting with our print issues, and continuing without a hitch when we switched to publishing online — but we never enjoyed anything as elaborate as the 15,000-word round-robin review you assembled for this issue of Lightspeed.

Seriously, kudos. I’m certain it wasn’t easy to coordinate. I’m also glad you recognized just how important this issue of Lightspeed is. John Joseph Adams and guest Editor Christie Yant have assembled what is clearly a landmark issue of one of the most important publications in the genre. You and I have both seen the ridiculous claim that “women have destroyed science fiction”… watching a group of 109 talented women co-opt that phrase and make it their own is uplifting and frankly empowering to both sexes. I know you agree with me on that.

But I think you really put your foot in it with your closing comments, particularly where you say “science-fiction hasn’t a racist or sexist bone in its body… Not once have I personally seen a smidgeon of racism or sexism.”

I have to call bullshit on you, buddy. In those 18 months you were working for me as Managing Editor of Black Gate, from early 2001 to 2002, and while we were buying fiction together, we were blatantly, nakedly sexist — and I think you know it.

…

Jay Lake, June 6, 1964 – June 1, 2014

Sunday, June 1, 2014 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Jay Lake’s website, jlake.com, is reporting that Jay passed away this morning.

Jay’s first published story was “The Courtesy of Guests” in the Bruce Holland Rogers anthology Bones of the World in September 2001. I first encountered him in the Black Gate slush pile a few months later. His stories were wildly original, astonishingly varied, and frequently brilliant.

I purchased two, the enigmatic “Fat Jack and the Spider Clown” (BG 8), and the vividly original “Devil on the Wind” (BG 14, co-written with Michael Jasper). It was while working with Jay on the first that I discovered just how much hidden meaning there is in a Jay Lake story, and how carefully constructed they are.

Jay was diagnosed with colon cancer in April 2008 and he reported on the progress of the disease and his tireless efforts to combat it with brutal honesty on his blog. For years after his diagnosis Jay continued writing tirelessly, producing three major series: The City Imperishable (Trial of Flowers, Madness of Flowers, and the forthcoming Reign of Flowers, all from Night Shade), Mainspring (Mainspring, Escapement, Pinion, published by Tor), and three novels in the Green universe (Green, Endurance, and Kalimpura, all from Tor).

…

King Conan Gets a Movie Poster

Sunday, May 18, 2014 John ONeill Comments 10 comments

So here’s a fun thing. The King Conan movie poster at right, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as everyone’s favorite barbarian monarch, was spotted at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, and is now making the rounds on the Internet.

Before you get too excited, the existence of the poster does not actually imply the existence of a movie… or even a soon-to-be-movie. Apparently, this is a thing at Cannes: using promotional posters to generate excitement among possible investors.

Still, it warms my heart. And it sent me on a hunt for the latest news of the next Conan film, which everyone seems certain will be announced Real Soon Now. Last summer, producer Fredrick Malmberg provided some details on the plot, clarifying that “this takes place AFTER Conan has been king… if we do this right, we can do two more Conan movies right after.” Andrea Berloff took over script duties from Chris Morgan last October.

Schwarzenegger has expressed clear interest and has been tied to the film since word first leaked. In an interview last year, he shared his thoughts on the project:

The important thing with Conan is to make it into an A-movie, to treat it like a 300, or any of those great movies, rather than a B-action movie… The audience today, and the fans, are very sophisticated… They’ve seen it all. They demand something — when they see a Conan movie — that isn’t just a spectacle.

Opinion is divided on whether the final version will be called King Conan or The Legend of Conan. Whatever the case, we’ll keep you posted as things develop.

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