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Goth Chick News: The Haunted Mansion Gets the del Toro Treatment

Goth Chick News: The Haunted Mansion Gets the del Toro Treatment

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image002Among the laundry list of scary projects Guillermo del Toro currently has his name attached to (including the recently-released, love-never-dies horror flick Mama, a creepy version of Pinocchio, and the-house-is-haunted-get-the-heck-out Crimson Peak), is the somewhat exciting news of a reboot of The Haunted Mansion.

This would be Disney’s second attempt at adapting my all-time favorite Magic Kingdom attraction for the big screen; the first being that train wreck of a 2003 effort starring Eddie Murphy and let’s say no more about it.

Back in 2011, Del Toro was rumored to be writing a script, but little has been heard about it since. However, during an interview earlier this week with MySpill.com, del Toro confirmed that the new Haunted Mansion is happening.

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A Slew of Old D&D (and AD&D) Books Now Available Digitally

A Slew of Old D&D (and AD&D) Books Now Available Digitally

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Fiends Folio for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition
Fiend Folio for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition

Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast officially released the first wave of backlist products available in digital format. These books are available in PDF format through DriveThruRPG, and you can access all of the Wizards of the Coast titles there … or through their new website, DnDClassics.com.

The move to make their classic backlist titles available was originally announced back at their GenCon keynote (which I liveblogged back in August). The ultimate plan is to have every Dungeons & Dragons resource ever published available, but that’ll obviously take a while.

They appear to have started with collection of about 86 products, ranging from some core rulebooks, adventure modules, setting manuals, and so on. Even in just this first wave of products, we’ve got access to some truly classic material, such as the Basic Set Rulebook and the original Fiend Folio for Advanced D&D.

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Game Over? Atari’s U.S. Operations File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Game Over? Atari’s U.S. Operations File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

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atariAtari, one of the most storied game manufacturers in history, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, and has indicated it plans to to sell off its logo and most profitable videogame franchises.

Atari was incorporated on June 27, 1972 by videogame pioneer Nolan Bushnell and his partner Ted Dabney. Their first games included Pong, Asteroids, and Centipede. By the end of the 20th century, the company had fallen on hard times and essentially vanished. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired Atari’s assets, including the name.

At this point, following the Atari brand gets a little tortured. The company currently operating under the name Atari was founded as GT Interactive in 1993 (long-time gamers may remember GT Interactive as publishers of Doom II, Unreal, Heretic, and Imperium Galactica). They changed names to Infogrames in 1999, and in 2003 licensed the Atari name and logo and changed their name to Atari Inc.

Through all the changes, Atari remained a premiere publisher, especially for fantasy fans. It owns or manages more than 200 brands, and in the last decade alone published Neverwinter Nights (2002), The Temple of Elemental Evil (2003), Master of Orion 3 (2003), Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard (2005), Dungeons & Dragons Online (2006), Star Trek Online (2010), Daggerdale (2011), and The Witcher 2 (2011). Its most recent release of note is the PC version of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition.

The bankruptcy is intended to sever ties with its troubled French parent, Atari SA (previously called Infogrames), and secure additional funding to continue operations.

Atari US employs roughly 40 people and is seeking $5.25 million, primarily to develop games for digital and mobile platforms.

John R. Fultz’s Seven Kings on Sale Today

John R. Fultz’s Seven Kings on Sale Today

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seven-kingsJohn R. Fultz took the world by storm with his first novel, Seven Princes, published last January. In a starred review, Library Journal praised it as “A stand-out fantasy series from an author with an exceptional talent for characterization and world building,” and io9 labeled it “Epic with a capital EPIC.”

Seven Princes was just the down payment. The next installment arrives today. Seven Kings is the second of the Books of the Shaper, one of most hotly anticipated epic fantasy series on the market.

In the jungles of Khyrei, an escaped slave seeks vengeance and finds the key to a savage revolution.

In the drought-stricken Stormlands, the Twin Kings argue the destiny of their kingdom: one walks the path of knowledge, the other treads the road to war.

Beyond the haunted mountains King Vireon confronts a plague of demons bent on destroying his family.

With intrigue, sorcery, and war, Seven Kings continues the towering fantasy epic that began with Seven Princes.

John published three highly acclaimed short stories in the print incarnation of Black Gate: “Oblivion Is the Sweetest Wine” (BG 12), “Return of the Quill” (BG 13), and “The Vintages of Dream” (BG 15). He was this week’s featured writer in our Black Gate Online Fiction line with his sword & sorcery tale, “When the Glimmer Faire Came to the City of the Lonely Eye,” available free online here.

You can read last year’s announcement on Seven Princes here; and we were proud to offer readers the complete first chapter of Seven Kings right here last month.

Seven Kings was published by Orbit on January 15, 2013. It is 496 pages in trade paperback, available for $15.99 ($9.99 ePub and PDF). Learn more at the Orbit website.

Read the first chapter of Seven Kings here.

Pathfinder Online Reaches $1,000,000 Kickstarter Goal

Pathfinder Online Reaches $1,000,000 Kickstarter Goal

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PathFinder Online-smallPathfinder Online, a next-generation massively-multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) fantasy game jointly developed by Goblinworks and Paizo Publishing and funded through Kickstarter, reached its ambitious $1 million goal with scant hours to spare late this evening.

The project had until approximately 7:00 pm Central time to reach its stated goal or receive none of the pledged funding. It passed that goal with some four hours to spare, and ended its campaign with $1,091,194 in total pledges.

Pathfinder Online is a fantasy sandbox MMO developed by Goblinworks, based on the Pathfinder RPG from Paizo Publishing. One of its unique features is the developer’s promise to use democratic “Crowdforging” to prioritize feature development. Some of the other highlights include no classes, a skill system that avoids grinding, player structures, and meaningful trade.

The $1,091,194 haul makes Pathfinder Online one of the 10 largest video game projects in Kickstarter history. The campaign attained one stretch goal (adding Gnomes), but fell short of the $100,000 goal that would have added an additional WizKids Pathfinder Battles pre-painted plastic miniature.

One of the most intriguing perks for supporters was The Emerald Spire superdungeon, a book packed with additional content from a who’s who of modern RPG superstars, including Ed Greenwood, Erik Mona, Frank Mentzer, James L. Sutter, Keith Baker, Jordan Weisman, Mike Stackpole, Wolfgang Baur, Rick Baker, and many others.

For complete details see the Kickstarter page.

Locus Online on the Best SF & Fantasy Short Fiction of the 20th and 21st Centuries

Locus Online on the Best SF & Fantasy Short Fiction of the 20th and 21st Centuries

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The Nine Billion Names of GodTwo weeks ago, we reported that Locus Online, the web-based offshoot of the newspaper of the science fiction and fantasy field, had announced the results of their ambitious poll to determine the best science fiction and fantasy novels of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The complete poll had three additional categories: novella, novelette, and short story. Since all votes were write-ins, compiling the short fiction results took a while longer, but LO‘s diligent editor Mark R. Kelly finally published them Saturday, January 5th. Here are the Top 10 vote-getters in the short fiction categories:

20th Century Short Story

  1. Clarke, Arthur C.: “The Nine Billion Names of God” (1953)
  2. Le Guin, Ursula K.: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973)
  3. Ellison, Harlan: “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ said the Ticktockman” (1965)
  4. Ellison, Harlan: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)
  5. Clarke, Arthur C.: “The Star” (1955)
  6. Bradbury, Ray: “A Sound of Thunder” (1952)
  7. Heinlein, Robert A.: “All You Zombies–” (1959)
  8. Gibson, William: “Johnny Mnemonic” (1981)
  9. Tiptree, James, Jr.: “The Screwfly Solution” (1977)
  10. Jackson, Shirley: “The Lottery” (1948)

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Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Best Fantasy Releases of 2012: Jones, Fultz, Cole, Lawrence

Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Best Fantasy Releases of 2012: Jones, Fultz, Cole, Lawrence

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bones-of-the-old-ones-contest-win11The editors and staff of Black Gate are very proud to note that the Barnes & Noble Book Club’s annual list of The Best Fantasy Releases is thick with Black Gate authors, including Howard Andrew Jones, John R. Fultz, Myke Cole, and Mark Lawrence. Here’s reviewer Paul Goat Allen:

2012 was a surprisingly strong year for fantasy… In fact, several debut novels made my year’s best fantasy list: John R. Fultz’s Seven Princes, Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed, Myke Cole’s Control Point, and Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards.

Mark Lawrence’s sequel to his debut novel Prince of Thorns was absolutely breathtaking; John R. Fultz’s debut was flawless epic fantasy… The sheer diversity of fantasy releases this year was impressive. From the epic fantasy sagas of Fultz, Weeks, and Lawrence to the glorious sword-and-sorcery adventure of Howard Andrew Jones and Saladin Ahmed to the military-powered fantasy of Myke Cole and Joe Abercrombie, the releases of 2012 were as diverse as the realms in which they were set.

While we’re pleased to see Mr’s Jones, Fultz, Cole, and Lawrence get some well-deserved recognition, I can’t say we’re too surprised. Black Gate readers were treated to early work from all four authors — and we recently published generous excerpts from both Prince of Thorns and The Bones of the Old Ones.

And you can read an advance excerpt from the sure-fire candidate for next year’s list, John R. Fultz’s exciting Seven Kings, the sequel to Seven Princes, on sale January 15, 2013.

Howard Andrew Jones is the Managing Editor of Black Gate magazine; his Dabir & Asim stories, “Sight of Vengeance” and “Whispers from the Stone,” appeared in Black Gate 10 and 12. John R. Fultz has published four stories in our pages; his epic sword & sorcery tale, “When the Glimmer Faire Came to the City of the Lonely Eye,” will be published this Sunday as part of our Black Gate Online Fiction line.

Myke Cole’s “Naktong Flow” appeared in Black Gate 13 and Mark Lawrence’s “Bulletproof” will be published as part of our Black Gate Online Fiction line late this Winter.

Paul Goat Allen’s complete list of The Best Fantasy Releases of 2012 is available here.

Winter 2013 Issue of Subterranean Magazine now Available

Winter 2013 Issue of Subterranean Magazine now Available

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subterranean-winter-2013I enjoy doing these magazine updates. They keep me on top of the latest and greatest in genre short fiction and I can pretend I’m doing work.

Subterranean‘s 25th issue continues with the new policy of posting the complete contents online all at once, rather than in a weekly rolling format. This is the special Walter Jon Williams issue, with a brand new novella and a classic reprint, “Surfacing” — which I read years ago in a Dozois Best of the Year anthology, and had something to do with communicating with big alien whales. It’s cool, you should check it out.

Here’s the complete table of contents:

  • “Raptors,” by Conrad Williams (11,500 word novelette)
  • “Hard Silver,” by Steven R. Boyett (12,000 word novelette)
  • “The Boolean Gate,” by Walter Jon Williams (32,000 word novella)
  • “Surfacing,” by Walter Jon Williams (21,000 word novella, reprint)

Subterranean Press recently announced the deluxe edition of Robin Hobb’s lengthy new novella, The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince, two collections by Harlan Ellison, and the on-sale date for the signed limited edition of Stephen King’s The Shining. Get all the news at their website.

Subterranean is edited by William Schafer and published quarterly. The Winter 2013 issue is completely free and available here; see their complete back issue catalog here. We last covered Subterranean magazine with their previous issue, Fall 2012.

Locus Online on the Best Fantasy Novels of the 20th and 21st Centuries

Locus Online on the Best Fantasy Novels of the 20th and 21st Centuries

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lord-of-the-rings‘Tis the season for Top Ten lists. David E. Harris kicked it off here this morning with his Arbitrary Top 10: Fantasy Films (which missed Watership Down and It’s a Wonderful Life, but at least had the good sense to include Jumanji), but similar lists have been popping up all over the blogosphere.

Locus Online conducted a poll to determine the best novels and short fiction of the 20th and 21st centuries last month, with five categories: science fiction novel, fantasy novel, novella, novelette, and short story. Since all votes were write-ins counting has taken a while, but on Friday Mark Kelly announced the results for the novel categories. The complete poll includes the Top 50 winners; here are the Top 10 Best Fantasy Novels of the 20th and 21st Centuries:

20th Century Fantasy Novel

  1. Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Lord of the Rings (1955)
  2. Martin, George R. R. : A Game of Thrones (1996)
  3. Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Hobbit (1937)
  4. Le Guin, Ursula K. : A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
  5. Zelazny, Roger : Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
  6. Lewis, C. S. : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
  7. Mieville, China : Perdido Street Station (2000)
  8. Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)
  9. Crowley, John : Little, Big (1981)
  10. Adams, Richard : Watership Down (1972)

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Buy The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones for Just $1

Buy The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones for Just $1

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the-desert-of-souls‘Tis the season for great book deals.

Hot on the heels of the one-day $1.99 sale for the digital version of A Prince of Thorns, and the giveaway of Theo’s A Magic Broken (still available if you act fast) comes word that Head of Zeus, the British publisher of Howard Andrew Jones’ The Desert of Souls — the first installment of The Chronicles of Sand and Sword — is making the digital version of the novel available for just $1.

The special pricing is available only until January 7th. On his website Howard also writes:

Head of Zeus has cooked up a pretty nifty series introduction for The Chronicles of Sand and Sword. I like it so much I wish I’d thought of it:

The Chronicles of Sand and Sword: Baghdad, AD 790. Caliph Harun al-Rashid presides over the greatest metropolis on Earth, ruler of an empire that stretches from China to Byzantium. His exploits will be recorded in Alf Layla or, as we know it, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

But The Thousand and One Nights are silent on the deeds and adventures that befell two of the Caliph’s subjects: the renowned scholar Dabir ibn Kahlil, and his shield and right hand, Asim el Abbas. For their story, we must turn to The Chronicle of Sand and Sword…

For complete details and links to sites with the discounted pricing (including Amazon.co.uk and Waterstone’s) visit the Head of Zeus website here.