Black Gate – Page 1027 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

New Treasures: The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen

Thursday, August 29, 2013 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Mike Allen is scary talented.

After ten years of editing Black Gate magazine, I respect anyone who grapples with the logistical nightmare of producing a nationally-distributed print journal, and does it on a semi-regular schedule. Mike edits two and he makes it look easy: the acclaimed fantasy anthology series Clockwork Phoenix (four volumes so far) and the fabulous poetry journal Mythic Delirium.

Mike is also a very talented writer in his own right, with a Nebula nomination under his belt for his 2009 short story “The Button Bin” and his first collection of short fiction, The Button Bin And Other Horrors, forthcoming from Dagan Books. Long time BG readers will also remember his massive three-part Monstrous Post on Monsters, one of the most popular blog series we’ve run in the past few years.

See what I mean about talent? If Mike admitted he also plays bass for The Civil Wars on weekends, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Which is why we were so intrigued when we heard that Mike was working on his first dark fantasy novel. The book was edited by our own C.S.E. Cooney, who demonstrated an unerring ability to spot talent as Website Editor for Black Gate from 2010 to 2012 — and whose own rare writing gifts are on display in her recent books, How to Flirt in Faerieland & Other Wild Rhymes and Jack o’ the Hills.

I read Mike’s book in draft last year and was wowed. He has created a singular feat of the imagination, a world of shape-shifters, ghouls, and worse things, where two young women with a very unique form of magic may be the only hope against a sorceress of untold power.

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Gallowglas, Hester, Wagner & Coe: Four Authors Sound Off on the Writing Life of a Midlister

Thursday, August 29, 2013 Garrett Calcaterra Comments 12 comments

July 2013 was a month of firsts for me. A book of mine went out of print. A Kickstarter project I launched to fund an interactive e-book died a miserable, unnoticed death. I received my first ever fan art. And on the practical side, the sales numbers for my fantasy novel Dreamwielder got a great boost thanks to its selection as a Barnes & Noble Nook First Look pick, leading to my first ever proper royalty check — not a huge chunk of change, but enough to turn down freelance work and focus solely on my own writing for a few weeks. (Although I still ended up paying my health insurance bill late!)

It’s not exactly the glamorous lifestyle most people think of when they think of a published writer, even an “emerging” author like myself; but it’s one I’ve worked hard for, and one I’m proud of because I know I’ve finally joined the ranks of the SFF author community.

While authors like George R.R. Martin and Neil Gaiman dominate the fantasy bestsellers list and rake in the riches of TV and movie adaptations, the truth is most fantasy authors live a life closer to mine, a life of small successes, financial uncertainty, and near anonymity.

“One of the biggest misconceptions is that writers — all successful, published writers — are rich,” says David B. Coe, a fantasy author who has published over a dozen novels, including two new historical urban fantasy novels under the pseudonym D. B. Jackson. “For most of us, success in today’s market means continuing to be published by a reputable house.”

Coe broke into the fantasy world with his first novel, Children of Amarid, back in 1997, right when the publishing world was about to be turned on its head. “When I started out, I would get oohs and ahhs from people when I mentioned that I had a webpage,” Coe recalls. “Now there are domestic cats with better webpages than mine.”

Since then, the Internet and new technology like e-readers and print-on-demand have irreversibly changed the publishing landscape. Ebook sales skyrocketed. Self-publishing became an accepted alternative for authors to reach a mass audience. In order to adapt and stay competitive, big publishing houses merged with one another and tightened their belts. The days of big advances and promotional budgets for midlister authors is long gone.

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The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in July

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

bones-of-the-old-ones A bit of a shake-up at the top of the fiction charts this month, as our exclusive excerpt from Howard Andrew Jones’ second Dabir and Asim novel, The Bones of the Old Ones, reclaimed the top spot from Martha Wells’ Nebula nominee The Death of the Necromancer. Coming up close behind were Joe Bonadonna’s perennially popular sword & sorcery tale “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” and E.E. Knight’s thrilling Blue Pilgrim story, “The Terror in the Vale.”

Three of Aaron Bradford Starr’s Gallery Hunter tales made the list this month, including the epic 35,000-word novella “The Sealord’s Successor,” which Tangent Online called “The real deal… It put me in mind of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser.”

Also making the list were exciting stories by Jamie McEwan, Judith Berman, Ryan Harvey, David C. Smith and Joe Bonadonna, Vera Nazarian, Jason E. Thummel, Gregory Bierly, Robert Rhodes, Emily Mah, Michael Penkas, Mary Catelli, and Vaughn Heppner.

If you haven’t sampled the adventure fantasy stories offered through our new Black Gate Online Fiction line, you’re missing out. Every week, we present an original short story or novella from the best writers in the industry, all completely free. Here are the Top Twenty most-read stories in July:

An excerpt from The Bones of the Old Ones, by Howard Andrew Jones
The Death of the Necromancer, a complete novel by Martha Wells
“The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” by Joe Bonadonna
“The Terror in the Vale,” by E.E. Knight
“The Sealord’s Successor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
“The Highwater Harbor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
“Falling Castles,” by Jamie McEwan
“The Poison Well,” by Judith Berman
“The Sorrowless Thief,” by Ryan Harvey
An excerpt from The Waters of Darkness, by David C. Smith and Joe Bonadonna

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Alana Joli Abbott Reviews Codex Born

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 Bill Ward Comments 3 comments

Codex Born
Jim C. Hines
Daw (320 pgs, $24.95, hardcover August 2013)

There aren’t many writers who can start with the concept of a literal fantasy woman, pulled from the pages of her book to fulfill her lover’s dreams, and turn her from a slave into a complex hero, struggling to understand her own identity and to create herself as a real person. Jim Hines is one of them.

Codex Born, the sequel to Libriomancer, is narrated by fantasy book lover and magician Isaac Vaino, but in many ways the book belongs to Lena Greenwood, a dryad drawn from a pulp SF novel and Isaac’s girlfriend. Libriomancer concluded with Isaac and Lena and Lena’s girlfriend (Isaac’s former therapist) Nidhi Shah agreeing that they’d embark on a shared relationship — both Isaac and Nidhi would be Lena’s lovers, which would allow Lena, product of her book, and thus destined to conform to her lovers’ desires, a chance to become her own person by existing in the conflicting space between Isaac and Nidhi. In Codex Born, that relationship starts to play out — both Nidhi and Isaac struggle with the dynamic, but keep on trying for Lena’s sake — and Lena continues to hope that she can find a way to preserve who she is, even if something happened to Isaac or Nidhi.

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Giant Season: A Review of Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan)

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 Sean Stiennon Comments 1 comment

I love anime, but I’d fallen out of the habit of watching it. The last series I finished was Claymore, nearly a year ago, and that disappointed me with paper-thin worldbuilding, slow animation, and one-note characters. Anime was beginning to look like a habit I’d dropped.

And then, based on a massive Internet buzz, I watched the first episode of Shingeki no Kyoujin, aka Attack on Titan. Within that short period — a mere twenty-two minutes, minus commercial interruptions — it became clear that I had stumbled across something great. I was moved, horrified, tantalized with the promise of soaring action to come, and, most importantly of all, captured by the mystery and terror of a bizarre world.

Take a moment to ravish your eyes on the glory of this opening song, which added a layer of fresh hair to my already-manly chest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2ju9FJNHJc

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Vintage Treasures: The Best of Jack Williamson

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 John ONeill Comments 14 comments

Jack Williamson is a true legend among science fiction fans.

My favorite story about Jack Williamson concerns his first published story, “The Metal Man,” published in the December 1928 issue of Amazing Stories, when he was just 20 years old. The editor, Hugo Gernsback, was notoriously slow in paying his authors… so slow, in fact, that Williamson discovered he had broken into the magazine when he first laid eyes on the issue in a magazine rack and recognized his hero on the cover.

Williamson was one of the earliest pulp writers and he had an impressive career right through the 30s. He survived the coming of Campbell and continued writing into the 40s, 50s, and much later.

Which brings me to my second favorite Jack Williamson story. In the late 90s, Williamson was still regularly publishing short stories in major magazines, including “The Firefly Tree” (Science Fiction Age, 1997), “The Hole in the World” (F&SF, 1997), and “Miss Million” (Amazing Stories, 1999). A buzz began to go around fandom that if Williamson appeared in the magazines in the year 2000, that would mean he had been published in professional SF magazines for eight straight decades — a feat unequaled and very likely to remain unequaled for a long time.

Fandom held its breath. Jack Williamson turned 92 years old in the year 2000. And he published no less than three short stories that year: “Agents of the Moon” (Science Fiction Age), “Eden Star” (Star Colonies, edited by Martin H. Greenberg), and finally “The Ultimate Earth” (Analog).

“The Ultimate Earth” was nominated — and won — the Hugo Award for best novella of the year. It also won the Nebula.

As for Williamson, he kept publishing stories. Two in 2001, three in 2002, one in 2003, and an incredible seven in 2004 (including a collaboration with Edmond Hamilton – don’t ask how that happened).

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Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1951: A Retro-Review

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 Matthew Wuertz Comments 5 comments

With this issue, Galaxy reached a crossroads. Caught by rising costs, H. L. Gold had to do something.

He noted on the Editor’s Page that he could take one of two actions. He could cut costs by lowering fiction pay rates or the quality of the paper stock. Or he could raise the price of the magazine. Pressed for time, he opted for the latter. Beginning with the May, 1951 publication, the price jumped from 25 cents to 35 cents.

For those who love statistics but hate math, that’s a 40% increase. But the way I see it: quality has a cost. Good call, Mr. Gold.

Now let’s turn to the fiction.

“Nice Girl with 5 Husbands” by Fritz Leiber – Tom Dorset is an artist, unknowingly displaced by the winds of time to a century in the future. He meets a girl named Lois who brings him back home to meet her family. Tom learns that not only is Lois married, but the relational structure of the family is unlike anything he’s ever heard of.

I found it interesting that the protagonist never put together that he was in the future until someone casually mentioned the date. The story seemed more of a quick picture of how the future could unfold, but I wanted something deeper by the end.

“Inside Earth” by Poul Anderson – Conru gives up his entire life, even his physical appearance, in order to appear like an Earthling. Valgolia rules the galaxy, including Earth, but its aim is more than controlling the planets. It wants equality throughout the planets, and such can only be achieved by forcing unity.

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A Shard in Horror’s Broken Mirror…

Monday, August 26, 2013 Nick Ozment Comments 3 comments

The Dad Who Turns Into a Supernaturally Driven Psycho Killer

Are you afraid of the dark? Are you afraid of ghosts? Hey, if you’re a family man, are you afraid a malevolent ghost is going to possess you and turn you into a psycho killer?

[Okay, before I get to all that, let me give a quick shout-out to those who have been following my ongoing blog of ARAK, Son of Thunder: I’ll have a new installment (covering the two-part story of issues 7 and 8) here for you next Monday. But this week I’d like to introduce the first in an occasional series examining aspects of the horror (primarily film) genre, which I’m going to call A Shard in Horror’s Broken Mirror. (Hey, how many “occasional series” does this guy have, anyway? Is he really, like, three different guys who take turns writing this blog under the same pen name?)]

The shard of horror I’m looking at today is an oft-recurring theme in many modern ghost thrillers: A character — usually, but certainly not always, the lead male — is manipulated or outright possessed by a supernatural agent (ghost, demon) and gradually becomes mentally cracked. This nearly always culminates in a final act where he is chasing his loved ones through a spooky locale with murderous intent.

Let me say at the outset that I’m generally not a big fan of this plot twist in most contemporary horror films. More on that later. First, though, a few words on where this narrative concept comes from.

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Vintage Bits: Lordlings of Yore

Monday, August 26, 2013 John ONeill Comments 9 comments

There’s a lot of interest in retro-gaming today. Seriously, it’s a thing. There are fewer sales of big-budget shooters and a lot more people hunkered over tablets and cell phones, playing games that look like they were first compiled in 1995. I’ve seen my sons jump over more platforms and spill more monster guts in low resolution on their iPad recently than on their Xbox 360, let me tell you.

I appreciate the nod to the early days of the genre, but that ain’t true retro gaming. True retro games aren’t downloaded from the Internet. True retro games don’t even come in a box.

You really want retro gaming? You need to pull open a zip-lock bag, my friend. Respect.

I own a lot of computer games. A lot of them are old. Hell, most of them are old. The bulk of my collection comes from 1989 – 2003, when I still had time to occasionally insert a disk into my desktop machine and play Icewind Dale or Mechcommander a few hours a week.

Amiga games? I got ’em. Commodore 64? Couple hundred, easy. But we’re still talking the era of boxes here. You want real retro gaming, you need to go back even before my time, to when the first computer games were sold in zip-lock bags in small hobby shops, and almost exclusively for the Apple II.

I’ve collected a few of those fascinating relics over the years, but only a very few. I have Cranston Manor, Hi-Res Adventure #3, from an outfit called Sierra On-Line, Inc (1981). I have Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure, from Synergistic Software, from 1980 (purchased on eBay nearly 10 years ago for a ridiculous sum). But the rarest game — and certainly one of the most interesting — I possess is probably Lordlings of Yore, a marvelous fantasy strategy game I found on a used game shelf in a computer store in Champaign, Illinois in 1993.

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Black Gate Online Fiction: An Excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen

Sunday, August 25, 2013 John ONeill Comments 7 comments

Black Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive first look at The Black Fire Concerto, a dark fantasy novel by Mike Allen, the acclaimed editor and publisher of the anthology series Clockwork Phoenix and the poetry journal Mythic Delirium.

It was one of the twins who warned her just after dark that a man dressed head-to-toe in black had come through the village earlier that day asking after a piper and harpist and left quickly upon getting an affirmative.

Olyssa had seen the cultists coming up the street from the wharf. At least thirty, all armed with rifles. When she returned to their room on the second story she told Erzelle that there might well be more covering the other exits.

After that brief announcement she sat lotus-style on the floor between their cots with her rifle in her lap and began to chant as the rough voice outside taunted.

“Come out and know our mercy. Come out or you’ll wish you had been eaten.”

She held the rifle up with both hands as if presenting it for an offering. Its red runes glowed brighter and brighter, her chant unceasing. Huddled under a cot, Erzelle made out the words, uttered fast and sing-song: “Find my enemies. Find my enemies. Find my enemies.”

Glowing brighter still, the rifle shuddered and lifted into the air.

John R. Fultz tells us “The Black Fire Concerto is Horror. It’s Magic. It’s a post-apocalyptic melody played on strings of Terror and Sorcery.” And Tiffany Trent says “Mike Allen offers readers a gift of the most delicately layered dark fantasy presented carefully on a post-apocalyptic platter.” And Tanith Lee called The Black Fire Concerto, “A prize for the multitude of fans who relish strong Grand Guignol with their sword and sorcery.”

Mike’s short fiction has appeared in Solaris Rising 2, Best Horror of the Year, Volume 1, and Cthulhu’s Reign, among other places. He was a Nebula Award finalist in 2009 for his short story, “The Button Bin,” and his first collection of short fiction, The Button Bin And Other Horrors, is forthcoming from Dagan Books.

The Black Fire Concerto was published July 15 by Haunted Stars Publishing. It is a 202-page trade paperback available for $15.95 and $8.95 for the Kindle version. Listen to the first chapter here, and learn more at Haunted Stars.

Read an exclusive chapter from The Black Fire Concerto here.