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Howard Andrew Jones on John Scalzi’s Big Idea

Howard Andrew Jones on John Scalzi’s Big Idea

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62356_485436920976_596055976_7149232_4556461_nHoward Andrew Jones month continues with no let up in pace. Tuesday Howard published a novel and a magazine review; yesterday he held his first book signing (in Terre Haute, Indiana) and conducted an interview with Black Gate‘s Bill Ward.

Today Howard is the subject of The Big Idea at John Scalzi’s blog:

Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russel’s brilliant portrayal of 8th century Baghdad (in issue 50 of The Sandman) brought that particular locale into sharp focus for me. Arts, mathematics, poetry, and science blossomed during the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate, while Europe wallowed in the the poverty, illiteracy, and disease of a Dark Age. Yet there were still plenty of blank spaces on middle-eastern maps, filled in by glorious storytelling. Men and women lived ordinary civilized lives, but they knew that the supernatural might lurk in the neighboring kingdom, or around any street corner…

The Desert of Souls came into being as an origin story, not just about how the characters met, but how Dabir and Asim came to depend upon one another. Two men are caught up in events bigger than themselves and in their journey they learn to work together so they have the strength to face a terrible evil. It takes place against the technicolor backdrop of the Arabian Nights, complete with lost cities and sweeping deserts, scheming sorcerers, implacable djinn, and secrets men were not meant to know. There’s romance and heartbreak, swashbuckling action, and hard won victories… In brief, it’s an adventure with the kind of elements I’ve always loved.

There’s no stopping him.  Today Scalzi’s blog — tomorrow, the world.

You can read the complete post here.

Goth Chick News: Barnabas Collins Rises

Goth Chick News: Barnabas Collins Rises

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image0061Though I would normally start this post by ranting about the lack of originality in Hollywood and threaten to stick my thumbs in the Black Gate blender if yet one more remake crawls into a theater near me, I’m brought up short by news of a project with a serious pedigree.

Dark Shadows is slated to start production this Spring for an early 2012 release.

If you tell me you aren’t acquainted with Mr. Barnabas Collins I will first need to inquire how the weather here compares with your home in the Congo, and did you have a pleasant flight into civilization yesterday? I would then go on to tell you that Dark Shadows was a first-of-its-kind gothic soap opera dealing primarily with supernatural themes and if, like me, you were to discover it for the first time while watching contraband reruns at a 10-year-old’s birthday sleepover, it would have scared the crap out of you.

First impressions, no matter how traumatic, can stick with a person for a lifetime and Dark Shadows clearly stuck with a large segment of the population.

…

Read More Read More

This Just In: Borders Files for Chapter 11

This Just In: Borders Files for Chapter 11

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borders-booksJohn O’Neill has already written about this, but I just got the actual corporate balderdash letter. . . .

I received the email today through the Borders Rewards Program (I live next door to one of the stores, so I have to belong) in which Mike Edwards, the CEO of the Ann Arbor-based, MI chain, discusses the, ahem, “plans” for the future. Those plans are centered on a major announcement made earlier today:

[Fluff, fluff, ongoing mission, enlightenment, blah, blah, blah, but . . .] because of the ongoing impact of the difficulties of the U.S. economy, coupled with the rapidly changing bookselling environment, we must restructure Borders and reposition our business for long-tern success. We determined that the best path for Borders to have the ability to achieve this reorganization is through the Chapter 11 process, which we commenced February 16.

Edwards continues to state that the stores will remain open for business, the Rewards program remains in effect, gift cards will be honored, eBook libraries are perfectly safe. But, still, bankruptcy and all.

A Bloomberg article that can explain this better than I can.

But I’m not afraid for Borders . . . Howard A. Jones’s Desert of Souls will pull up sales! (Except that I bought my copy through Amazon. Uhm, sorry Borders. I see what you mean about “changing bookselling environment.” But I did get it a day before the street date!)

Borders Files for Bankruptcy

Borders Files for Bankruptcy

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borders-closing1Borders Group, owner of 659 bookstores across the United States, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

My lawyer buddies tell me this doesn’t actually mean they’ve filed ten previous chapters of bankruptcy, so apparently bankruptcy doesn’t proceed the way books do. Figures.

Borders said it will close about 200 of its most under-performing stores in the next several weeks. The list of stores that will close is here.

Today Borders is the country’s second-largest book retailer, just behind Barnes & Noble, with over 5,800 full-time and nearly14,000 part-time employees.

This follows the news that Barnes & Noble put itself up for sale last August, following a 45% slump in share price and a nearly 5% decline in year-over-year sales from store operations. It’s a tough time to be a brick-and-mortar book retailer.

Borders released a statement today saying:

It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending, our ongoing discussions with publishers and other vendor related parties, and the company’s lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor.

Alice reminds me it’s probably time to get off my butt and redeem about a hundred bucks in assorted Borders gift cards we’ve accumulated over the years, before they’re rendered useless. The cards are scattered around the house, currently pulling duty as attractive bookmarks. She’s probably right, although I’ll doubtless lose my place in several books as a result.  I need to think about it.

C.S.E. Cooney’s Jack of the Hills is Available Today

C.S.E. Cooney’s Jack of the Hills is Available Today

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jack-of-the-hillsJust to prove that Howard Andrew Jones isn’t the only Black Gate staff member with talent the size of a planet,  we’re proud to announce that our website editor C.S.E. Cooney has published her book Jack of the Hills today through Papaveria Press.

Papaveria Press was founded by Erzebet YellowBoy. Along with The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Stace (also appearing today), Jack of the Hills is the first book in Erzebet’s new Wonder Tales line of elegant paperbacks.

Jack of the Hills is a collection of two celebrated tales, “Stone Shoes” and “Oubliette’s Egg.” It is 69 pages and available in print, epub and mobi editions.

Jack Yap once had his mouth sewn shut for talking too much. His brother Pudding has to wear stone shoes or he’ll just wander off. Will little obstacles like these keep the boys out of trouble? Not for the twinkling of an eye. There is magic in the hills, shapechangers and monsters, and Jack Yap has a hankering to meet them all and maybe kill a few. What he and Pudding find in the hills, however, changes both their lives, taking them out of the country and into the cruel and wonderful world, where witches and princesses await. Sometimes they are even the same person.

Here’s what Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Thomas the Rhymer, said about Jack of the Hills:

Stunningly delicious! Cruel, beautiful and irresistible are C.S.E. Cooney’s characters and prose. Just when you thought fantasy had devolved into endless repetition, ’Jack o’ the Hills’ blows us all over the next hill and into the kingdom beyond. C.S.E. Cooney is a rare and exciting new talent. Whatever she offers us next, I’ll waiting in line to read.

You can order your copy here.

Kicking Off Howard Andrew Jones Month

Kicking Off Howard Andrew Jones Month

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desertofsoulsIt’s the start of Howard Andrew Jones Month here at the Black Gate blog.

You have to do something pretty special to get a whole month, even if you’re Managing Editor of Black Gate. But publishing your first two novels — The Desert of Souls and  Plague of Shadows — from two different publishers, not to mention writing an essay for John Scalzi’s “Big Idea,” holding your first book signing, conducting a sweepstakes, getting picked up by the Science Fiction Book Club, publishing an original online story, being the subject of a multi-part interview, writing the Afterword for Robert E. Howard’s Sword Woman, appearing in Black Gate 15 (twice), being a guest blogger, and writing regular columns here at Black Gate, all in the same month… yeah. That will do it.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be telling you more about the incredible Howard Andrew Jones, starting with the breathless reviews for his first novel The Desert of Souls, a classic Arabian Nights fantasy and “a page-turner in its purest form” (BookPage), on sale Feb 15. It’s the best novel I’ve read in many years, and you’re not going to want to miss it.

Brian Jacques (1939 – 2011)

Brian Jacques (1939 – 2011)

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redwallBrian Jacques, author of the Redwall series of anthropomorphic fantasy novels and the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman books, and one of the most popular fantasy authors of the last several decades, died on Monday, February 5, 2011 in Liverpool. He was 71.

I first discovered Jacques in 1988. I had just left Canada to finish my Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, and the covers of his first two novels — Redwall (1986) and Mossflower (1988) — captivated me the moment I laid eyes on them in a campus bookstore. I even had a poster of Jacques’ fifth novel Salamandastron in my dorm room. His charming fantasies set in and around Redwall Abbey, a place of refuge in a dangerous world, featured valiant creatures and daring adventure.

But it wasn’t until I was running my first website a decade later that I discovered what a phenomenon Jacques had become. I was editor of SF Site, and talking to Bettina Seifert, publicist at Penguin/Philomel. Jacques was now appearing in hardcover, and she offered to send me all his books for review.

Tempting, but that seemed like a few too many titles to commit to. So instead I offered Bettina a compromise: why not just send me what was still in print?

She agreed — a little too quickly — and a week later a box of hardcovers landed on my doorstep. A very large and very heavy box.

mossflowerInside were Brian Jacques’ novels. All of them. Every single book he had ever written. They were all still in print, in beautiful hardcover editions.

Here’s what I wrote in my rather sheepish article in 1998:

Now, maybe this doesn’t mean a lot to you. But perhaps you’re not an established science fiction author who just watched your Hugo Award-winning novel from the early nineties go out of print. Or a mid-list author finishing a three-volume series, already getting letters from frustrated readers who can’t find the first two volumes. Unless your name is Stephen King or Robert Jordan, you get used to having your work go out of print. And no matter who you are, you don’t get used to having your small print-run paperbacks returned to print in hardcover by a major publisher, ten years after they first appeared.

Except for Brian Jacques, apparently.

Jacques enjoyed this popularity until his death.  He wrote 22 novels of Redwall, including last year’s The Sable Quean and the upcoming The Rogue Crew (scheduled for release on May 3, 2011).

He also published three novels in the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series, as well as two short story collections and several books for younger children.

Jacques had a vivid imagination and a unique storytelling gift, and I’m grateful he shared them with us.

First Jetpacks. And Now a Robot Orders a Scone

First Jetpacks. And Now a Robot Orders a Scone

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anybots22It’s been a good week for the future.

Just a few days after we announced the tardy arrival of jetpacks (finally!) here in the 21st Century, a robot was spotted ordering a scone in Mountain View, California.

Yes, a real robot. This future overlord of humanity was manufactured by Anybots, Inc. (also of Mountain View), and was caught on camera purchasing a pastry at Red Rock Coffee by Aaron96121, who posted this amusing 5-minute video on YouTube.

Anybot specializes in “telepresence robots,” that are controlled remotely and allow people to attend meetings around the world. They are mounted on a motorized base and can be controlled from any computer through a web browser.  They also have built-in video and voice capability, and reportedly retail for $15,000 – $30,000.

They’re also decent tippers, if the video can be believed. This particular robot was fetching a scone for its current master, an Anybot engineer, doubtless before returning to its normal routine of plotting the eventual overthrow of mankind.

As one astute commenter at YouTube posted, “I for one welcome our scone-eating robot overlords!”  Amen to that, brother. As long as I get a jetpack.

Coming Soon — Black Gate 15!

Coming Soon — Black Gate 15!

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bg15_320aTeam Black Gate has been putting in a lot of overtime, and we’re just about ready to pull back the veil on our latest production. Black Gate 15 is another massive issue, with over 350 pages of fiction, reviews, and articles.  It contains 22 stories — more than any issue in our history — totaling over 150,000 words of adventure fantasy.

Jonathan L. Howard returns to our pages with “The Shuttered Temple,” the sequel to “The Beautiful Corridor” from Black Gate 13, in which the resourceful thief Kyth must penetrate the secrets of a mysterious and very lethal temple.  Howard Andrew Jones bring us another swashbucking tale of Arabian fantasy featuring Dabir & Asim, this time a lengthy excerpt from his blockbuster novel The Desert of Souls.

Harry Connolly returns after too long an absence with “Eating Venom,” in which a desperate soldier faces a basilisk’s poison — and the treachery it brings. John C. Hocking kicks off a terrific  new sword & sorcery series with “A River Through Darkness & Light,” featuring a dedicated Archivist who leads a small band into a deadly desert tomb, and John Fultz shares the twisted fate of a thief who dares fantastic dangers to steal rare spirits indeed in “The Vintages of Dream.”

Plus fiction from Vaughn Heppner, Darrell Schweitzer, Jamie McEwan, Michael Livingston, Frederic S. Durbin, Chris Willrich, Fraser Ronald, Maria Snyder, Brian Dolton, and many others.

In our generous non-fiction section, Mike Resnick educates us on the best in black & white fantasy cinema, Bud Webster turns his attention to the brilliant Tom Reamy in his Who? column on 20th Century fantasy authors, Scott Taylor challenges ten famous fantasy artists to share their vision of a single character in Art Evolution, and Rich Horton looks at the finest fantasy anthologies of the last 25 years. Plus over 30 pages of book, game, and DVD reviews, edited by Bill Ward, Howard Andrew Jones, and Andrew Zimmerman Jones — and a brand new Knights of the Dinner Table strip.

Black Gate 15 will be on sale next month. We’ll have a detailed sneak peek, with tantalizing story excerpts and artwork, right here in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Cover art by Donato Giancola.

Short Fiction Roundup: This Just In

Short Fiction Roundup: This Just In

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interzone-286a1The new Interzone has a refreshing look after last year’s garish series of yellow and redish installments. Haven’t had a chance to more than glance at the contents, but any story called “Noam Chomsky and the Time Box” sounds like my sort of fare.  Here’s a synopsis:

If anyone needed more proof that the gadget driven marketing scam that was the American Empire is now completely dead, the utter failure to adequately create demand for the world’s first personal time machine should suffice as proof. Nintendo, Time Warner, and Apple computers have all backed off their various offers to buy out Time Box incorporated, and while last year it seemed impossible that the product might suffer the same fate as Betamax and electric cars, a year later it’s becoming obvious that people without a history or a future are uninterested in the kind of time travel the Box offers. The public seems content to leave history to the necrophiliacs and Civil War Buffs.

apex-21a1In addition to this Douglas Lain penned tale, there are stories by Michael R. Fletcher, Sue Burke and Sarah L. Edwards, as well as the 2010 James White Award winning “Flock, Shoal, Herd” by James Bloomer.

The latest issue of Apex Magazine features fiction from Cat Rambo, Forrest Aguirre and Nalo Hopkinson.  According to the publisher,

“This issue marks the second issue following our new distribution model. In short, we wanted to give a premium to those who subscribe digitally and/or purchase each issue by making the content available to them one month prior to its release on our website. This means that full text of the stories and poetry will be available the first Monday of March right here, along with sneak peeks of this issue’s contents.”