News – Page 43 – Black Gate

A Magic Broken is Available Free Today at Amazon.com

Monday, December 24, 2012 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Merry Christmas from Amazon.com! For today only, the e-retail giant is offering Theo’s digital book A Magic Broken as a free download for Kindle readers.

In his review Donald S. Crankshaw wrote:

You may be familiar with Theo Beale as a blogger at Black Gate…. I was looking forward to seeing how his ideas translated into fiction. He’s given me a chance with A Magic Broken, an e-book novella equivalent to about 50 pages, written under the name Vox Day. It is connected to Theo’s novel, A Throne of Bones, but as I haven’t read the novel yet, I can’t say exactly how…

When I first discovered fantasy in the eighties, it seemed that elves and dwarves were staples of the genre — if it was fantasy, it had at least these two demi-human races. In the last twenty years, fantasy has moved away from that, but I must admit that I have a soft spot for them, especially dwarves. So I was happy to see the dwarf, Lodi, as one of the heroes of this story… The story follows Lodi and the human spy, Nicolas, as they go after the same prize — a kidnapped elven woman — for very different reasons…

One character who came across very well was the city of Malkan itself, where the story took place. Malkan is an independent city, built by dwarves, but mainly occupied by humans. The humans acknowledge no outside lord but money, and the merchants control the city more than the nobility, whom they raise and overthrow at will. As we see Nicolas and Lodi deal with slavers, prostitutes, and powerful merchants, we start to see life in the city at ground level. It’s a city where life is cheap, even for the powerful, and where secrets are plentiful. It’s the sort of city that’s teeming with stories, and it’s almost a shame that the characters are in such a hurry to leave.

Download A Magic Broken free here. But hurry — the offer is only good today.

2012 SFWA Grand Master Awarded to Gene Wolfe

Saturday, December 22, 2012 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America has named Gene Wolfe the 2012 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

The Grand Master Award is given not for a particular work but for “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.” It is given only to living writers.

Previous recipients include Fritz Leiber, Clifford D. Simak, A. E. van Vogt, Jack Vance, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Michael Moorcock.

Wolfe’s publications include The Book of the New Sun, Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Soldier of the Mist, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Wizard Knight. His recent works include Pirate Freedom (2007), An Evil Guest (2008), The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009), The Sorcerer’s House (2010), and Home Fires (2011). He has won two Nebulas, five World Fantasy Awards, six Locus Awards, and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2007.

Read C.S.E. Cooney’s lengthy interview with Gene, conducted over breakfast in November 2010, here.

The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013. Read the complete announcement at SFWA.org.

Prince of Thorns Available for $1.99 at Amazon.com

Saturday, December 22, 2012 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

For today only, Amazon.com is offering the Kindle version of Prince of Thorns, the opening volume of Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy, for just $1.99.

In a Black Gate blog post shortly before publication, Mark Lawrence wrote:

The book I’ve written, Prince of Thorns, has layers, rather like an onion (or an ogre). I hope it can be enjoyed as a violent swords and sorcery romp. Get your teeth into it though and there’s more there – it’s as much about our prince as it is about what he does. This is a damaged person and although the story is told in his words without a hint of excuse, there are lessons to be learned between the lines. It wasn’t until tonight though, desperately scratching at the subject in the effort to come up with something to say in this blog post I was invited to supply, that I discovered another layer, deeper still…

In Prince of Thorns the main character has suffered a personal disaster. It’s not the ‘evil threatens the village’ of classic fantasy. It’s not injured pride or a looming darkness in the east. He’s been screwed over, a tsunami has rolled through his life and left devastation. And the book is in large part his reaction to that. It’s about where he takes his anger and where it takes him.

It’s only through the lens of half a decade and more that I see I was writing out… not a version of my own experience, but a mapping of the emotions.

If you’re the kind of reader who has to think long and hard before parting with $1.99, by all means check out the generous excerpt we presented here last October.

The sequel, King of Thorns, was released in August 2012, and the final volume, Emperor of Thorns, is scheduled for August 2013. We have several of Mark Lawrence’s short stories in inventory, and the first, “Bulletproof,” will appear as part of our Black Gate Online Fiction line early next year.

Prince of Thorns was published by Ace in August 2011. The 336-page hardcover edition is still in print, priced at $24.95. You can buy the Kindle version here.

Thanks to Awsnyde for the tip!

Ridiculous Sale on Stuff You Want at TwoMorrows Publishing

Tuesday, December 11, 2012 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

I was going to write a thoughtful and probing blog article on an urgent topic tonight. That’s all the detail I can give you, because the moment I sat down at my desk and saw the e-mail about the big sale at TwoMorrows Publishing, I forgot everything else.

Let’s review. TwoMorrows Publishing, publishers of the Jack Kirby Collector, Alter Ego, Back Issue!, Rough Stuff, Write Now!, and other fine comics publications, is selling much of their overstock at 70% off.

That includes over a dozen issues of Rough Stuff and Write Now! for two bucks each, and books including Comics Introspective: Peter Bagge (marked down from $16.95 to $5.09), the Wallace Wood Checklist (was $5.95, now $1.79), and Best of Write Now! (was $19.95, now $5.99).

The sale runs for exactly one week, until December 16. Some items are nearly sold out, so act fast.

As a special bonus, most print edition purchases come with a free digital edition. TwoMorrows Publishing does an excellent job with their PDF conversions, preserving the layout and the copious artwork on every page in crisp detail.

Check out the sale at www.twomorrows.com. Click on the banner at the top of the page to see the full clearance list. While you’re there, have a look at some of their other catalog items, including the Comic Book Artist Ultimate Bundle — every in-stock issue of the excellent Comic Book Artist magazine for just $54.00 — The Best of From The Tomb at 15% off, and much more.

DC Comics Announces Harlan Ellison’s 7 Against Chaos

Sunday, December 9, 2012 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

A few months ago, I wrote about Samurai 7, a terrific sword-and-science retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai (with killer robots).

It seems this classic tale still has some play in it, if DC Comics’ upcoming Harlan Ellison’s 7 Against Chaos is any indication. Ellison has partnered with artist Paul Chadwick — creator of Concrete, which Blastr calls “One of the most important independent comic series of all time” — to create an epic SF adventure with a familiar theme:

In a distant future, Earth is in grave danger: The fabric of reality itself in unraveling, leading to catastrophic natural disasters, displaced souls appearing from bygone eras, and sudden, shocking cases of spontaneous combustion. The only hope for Earth’s survival is a force of seven warriors, each with his or her special abilities. But can these alien Seven Samurai learn to get along in time to find the source of the gathering chaos and save all of reality?

Ellison, who announced he was dying two years ago (only to change his mind and say he was “feeling somewhat better“), has openly acknowledged his inspiration, saying:

This is 21 years of work finally come to fruition. It is The Magnificent Seven, The Seven Samurai in space, it is the dream fulfilled.

Harlan Ellison’s 7 Against Chaos will be released under DC’s regular brand (i.e. not as a part of the more adult Vertigo or Wildstorm lines) in Summer 2013. Get all the details at DC Comics.

Star Trek Into Darkness Poster Fuels Gary Mitchell Speculation

Monday, December 3, 2012 John ONeill Comments 16 comments

Just to review, Black Gate is a website with a laser-like focus on the best in new and neglected fantasy. If you want science fiction, there’s plenty of other places for that. Except maybe for Star Trek, because that has William Shatner and we’re big fans.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, I’d like to point you to the just-released poster for the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness, featuring a trenchcoat-clad badass standing on a mound of rubble that used to be Federation stuff, starting at other Federation stuff he could also knock over. Just to drive home the point, his profile forms part of a crumbling Federation emblem (click the image at right for a bigger version).

That’s one cool poster. It’s also done absolutely nothing to dampen ongoing speculation that the villain this time is none other than Gary Mitchell, Kirk’s friend and helmsman who became all glow-eyed and megalomanical after slamming into the edge of the galaxy at warp 3 in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Neither has the film’s official description:

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

For the record, I think this is a great choice. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was the second pilot and one of the show’s earliest episodes, and frankly one of its best. And if the poster and teaser description are any indication, the action this time won’t take place on a remote planetoid covered in giant styrofoam rocks, but a populated center where the stakes are a lot higher and the explosions a lot bigger. Finally, as reported some time ago, Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as the film’s villain, and I think he’d make a magnificent Gary Mitchell, both as a jovial lieutenant commander and as an all-powerful psychic loonie.

Star Trek Into Darkness is directed by J. J. Abrams, and written by Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof and Roberto Orci. It is the twelfth feature-length Star Trek film and the sequel to 2009’s Star Trek. It is set for release on May 17, 2013.

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition on Sale Tomorrow

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 John ONeill Comments 9 comments

Over ten years ago, at GenCon 1998, I came across a tiny booth in the Grand Hall manned by a very friendly group of software developers from Edmonton, Alberta. They were promoting an upcoming game called Baldur’s Gate and boy, did it look terrific. Traffic in the booth was slow and they seemed grateful for the company — so much so that when I finally left, they handed me part of their display, a giant mock-up of the retail box. To this day it occupies a place of pride in my office.

When Baldur’s Gate was released in November 1998, it quickly became one of the most acclaimed computer role playing games in history. It put those friendly Edmonton developers, an outfit named BioWare, on the road to stardom, and over the next decade they came to dominate the industry with titles like Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Baldur’s Gate, with its splendid story, characters, and revolutionary (for the time) Infinity game engine, still occupies a special place in the hearts of modern gamers. It was released for Windows 95/98 and doesn’t run well on modern machines — so for most of us, Baldur’s Gate is a distant memory, like those late nights playing Dungeon Master on an Amiga.

All that is about to change. A small start-up named Overhaul Games launched by two ex-Bioware employees, co-founder Trent Oster and lead programmer Cameron Tofer, has spent the last two years working on Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, a complete re-write of the original title for modern platforms. The new version boasts over 400 enhancements — including new high-res cinematics, an enhanced interface, improved multiplayer, core game improvements & bug fixes, higher level cap, over six hours of bonus quests & new adventures, new party members, and much more. It includes both the original game and the 1999 expansion pack, Tales of the Sword Coast.

Best of all, the game has been optimized for modern platforms, including the iPad and Android tablet. I for one can’t wait to sit down on the couch and play Baldur’s Gate on my iPad. You can see more details, including screenshots and a gorgeous trailer, at the Overhaul website.

The PC version of Baldur’s Gate is priced at $19.95; it will be available for download this Wednesday exclusively through the new Beamdog digital distribution platform. iPad and Mac OS editions will be sold through the Mac App Store in November; release date for the Android version is TBA.

Gygax Magazine: A New Gaming Magazine from TSR Games

Sunday, November 25, 2012 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

There’s been some buzz recently about Gygax Magazine, a new online tabletop gaming magazine set to launch in December.

Editor Jayson Elliot, in a post at ENWorld, revealed that the core team behind the magazine includes Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, James Carpio, and Jim Wampler. The first issue is scheduled for December. TSR, the original publishers of Dungeons and Dragons, was purchased by Wizards of the Coast in the 1997. According to Jayson the TSR trademark was abandoned about nine years ago, and they were able to register it last year. Their first project is Gygax, a gaming magazine, “because we wanted a way to bridge the traditions of the old guard with the awesome new games that are out today.”

Here’s what Tim Kask, founding editor of The Dragon magazine, had to say on his Facebook page:

Gygax is a gaming magazine for new and old players alike. We are looking forward to the games of tomorrow and today, while preserving the traditions and history that got us where we are now.

Our articles and features cover current independent and major publisher games such as Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, The One Ring, Shadowrun, Godlike, Labyrinth Lord, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Warhammer 40k Roleplay, Traveller, and others, as well as classic out-of-print games with a modern following, like AD&D, Top Secret, and Gamma World.

Our features include comics by Phil Foglio (What’s New With Phil and Dixie), Jim Wampler (Marvin the Mage), and Rich Burlew (Order of the Stick). Contributors include Jim Ward, Cory Doctorow, James Carpio, Ethan Gilsdorf, Dennis Sustare, and many more. Publishing quarterly in print as well as PDF and iPad editions, we hope each issue of Gygax will be an anticipated and treasured addition to any gamer’s library.

The magazine hasn’t even launched yet and it’s already stirring controversy, with Gygax’s widow, Gail, stating publicly “Gygax Magazine… does not have the support of the Gygax Family Estate.” Stay tuned for further updates as they become available.

Dabir and Asim Discover England

Tuesday, November 20, 2012 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Our Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones posted the news on his blog on Friday, but I thought it was worth repeating here: new British publisher Head of Zeus has picked up The Chronicles of Sword and Sand (known around these parts as the adventures of Dabir and Asim) for British publication.

The first volume, The Desert of Souls, was published here in the US on February 15, 2011, and the exciting sequel, Bones of the Old Ones, is scheduled to arrive in less than three weeks. Head of Zeus will bring both into print overseas for the first time beginning in April of 2013.

The Desert of Souls was called “An Arabian Nights adventure as written by Robert E Howard” by Dave Drake, and Bones of the Old Ones received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. In a recent feature review, SF Signal called the second volume “A damn good tale that not only pays homage to the masters, but sets its own print on the genre.”

Bones of the Old Ones is the best fantasy I’ve read in years. It’s a rollicking adventure that follows Dabir and Asim on a daring quest across the landscape of 8th Century Arabia, packed with ancient secrets, underground lairs, dread pacts, mysterious sorcery, desperate heroism, and moments of laugh-out-loud humor. The cast is much larger than The Desert of Souls, and the stakes are higher, as Dabir and Asim race against time to prevent an ancient sorcerous cabal from plunging the world into eternal winter.

Goodreads is offering signed copies of The Bones of the Old Ones — and copies of The Desert of Souls — to three lucky winners this month; visit Goodreads to enter. The winners will be announced December 19th. And now that The Desert of Souls is available in trade paperback, Amazon.com is selling the hardcover for just 10 bucks — get them while they last.

The Bones of the Old Ones will be released in North America on December 11. We first reported on it back in August.

Kobold Quarterly Magazine Goes Down Fighting

Monday, November 19, 2012 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

The terrific gaming magazine Kobold Quarterly — which we featured here just two weeks ago — has ceased publication. The final issue is #23, Fall 2012.

Publisher and editor Wolfgang Baur posted this announcement on Friday:

It’s a fact that in every fantasy roleplaying game… a kobold’s life is short. They’re wily and quick, but they have few hit points. Sooner or later they go down — fighting. That day has come for Kobold Quarterly magazine. After five years of publication, Shelly and I are closing the doors on the little fanzine that could.

I always hoped that Kobold Quarterly would someday be my full-time gig, but it was not to be. My sincere thanks go out to everyone who contributed to the magazine, starting with our stalwart subscribers, advertisers, authors, and artists. Thanks also to those who bought only an issue or two; for us, every sale was crucial…

And now, as adventurers do, we will gather in the tavern to hoist mugs of ale and talk about the monsters we slew and the treasures we won. And then we will begin planning and scheming for the next adventure. Kobolds might be easy to knock down individually, you see, but they always come in big numbers. The kobold crew will keep serving you with free articles, the free Courier newsletter, Kobold Press adventures and sourcebooks, and other projects.

Subscribers are being offered the option of a 150% refund in Kobold Store credit, or a 100% refund via PayPal or paper check. Contributors are being assured that even though the magazine is folding, Kobold Press is still going strong, and articles scheduled to appear in future issues may be picked up for other Kobold Press publications such as the Pathfinder New Paths line, Midgard Adventures, and other new releases.

Kobold Press will continue to publish the free Kobold Courier e-newsletter, as well as big commercial releases such as the The New Paths PDFs, Player’s Guides for Midgard, and two top-secret projects in the works for 2013. Read more about the excellent Midgard in Wolfgang’s recent Black Gate post.

While we know that the only constant in the gaming industry is change, the loss of Kobold Quarterly is a real blow to the field. It was an excellent magazine that captured the spirit and excitement of the best of the early gaming magazines, and it will be missed.

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