Black Gate – Page 1219 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Robert E. Howard: The Poet and the Girl with the Golden Hair and Eyes like the Deep Grey Sea

Friday, January 6, 2012 Barbara Barrett Comments 6 comments

History, reincarnation, bloody battles, a fierce and barbaric people, and great acts of courage! Robert E. Howard’s poem “An Echo From the Iron Harp” has all that and more.

It is a tale that echoes across centuries as the ghosts of the Cimbri and their battles with the Roman legions haunt a poet who dreams of a love from ages lost in time:

Shadows and echoes haunt my dreams
with dim and subtle pain,
With the faded fire of a lost desire,
like a ghost on a moonlit plain.
In the pallid mist of death-like sleep
she comes again to me:
I see the gleam of her golden hair
and her eyes like the deep grey sea.

But she’s more than this description. Howard has created many strong female characters, among them: Dark Agnes in Sword Woman; the “Queen of the Black Coast,” Bêlit; Valeria in “Red Nails”; and Red Sonya, the heroine of “Shadow of the Vulture.”

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Blogging Sax Rohmer’s The Hand of Fu Manchu, Part Nine – “The Black Chapel”

Friday, January 6, 2012 William Patrick Maynard Comments 0 Comment

“The Black Chapel” was the ninth and final installment of Sax Rohmer’s The Si-Fan Mysteries. The story was first published in Collier’s on June 2, 1917 and was later expanded to comprise Chapters 34 – 40 of the third Fu-Manchu novel, The Si-Fan Mysteries first published in 1917 by Cassell in the UK and by McBride & Nast in the US under the variant title, The Hand of Fu Manchu. The US book title marks the first time that the hyphen was dropped from the character’s name, although it was retained within the text.

“The Black Chapel” sees Nayland Smith, Dr. Petrie, and Petrie’s fiancée, Karamaneh (recently liberated from the Si-Fan’s slavery ring) paying a visit to Greywater Park, the ancestral estate that their old friend, Sir Lionel Barton has recently inherited. Rohmer seems determined to shape Greywater Park in the image of Redmoat, the medieval stronghold where Reverend J. D. Eltham (the veteran of the Boxer Uprising who figured in the first two books in the series) resided. As in his appearance in the first book, Sir Lionel is a brilliant, but eccentric Egyptologist based in part on both the real-life Sir Richard Burton and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger. The character’s larger than life qualities are best exemplified by his menagerie of wild cats and other exotic animals that fill his home alongside his equally exotic foreign servants. Upon their arrival, it is learned that Sir Lionel has fallen ill and is unable to meet with them until the morning. The trio settle in for a strange night in Sir Lionel’s highly unorthodox home when they are disturbed by an inexplicable knocking and a ghostly wailing just as Smith has finished relating Greywater Park’s colorful past in housing a Spanish priest who fled the Inquisition centuries before.

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Tolkien’s Nobel Snub

Thursday, January 5, 2012 Brian Murphy Comments 4 comments

tolkien-pipe The 1961 nominations for the Nobel prize in literature apparently included The Lord of the Rings, and it seems Tolkien was dismissed rather out of hand for the award, according to an article in the online edition of The Guardian today.

I’m not here to argue whether The Lord of the Rings deserved a Nobel that year. Not having read any of its competition (save for a fair bit of Robert Frost), it would be rather presumptive of me to do so. But I can’t help but notice that the reason for its rejection seems rather flimsy. Nobel jury member Anders Österling wrote in a brief commentary that “The prose of Tolkien – who was nominated by his friend and fellow fantasy author CS Lewis – ‘has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality’, according to The Guardian.

Tolkien’s prose—which ranged from the colloquial speech of the Hobbits to the high medieval style—is not to everyone’s liking, certainly. Obviously it was not up to par for the Nobel voting panel nor in particular to Österling (who comes across in the article as the Simon Cowell of 1960s literary academics with his scathing comments about Frost and Lawrence Durrell). But we now know that, as a master philologist, Tolkien chose his words with great care and alternated between prose styles for deliberate effect. As Tom Shippey demonstrated in J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, Tolkien incorporated a modern prose style into Middle-Earth when he chose to do so (for the speech of Saruman and Smaug, for example) as a critique of modernism and the doublespeak of modern politicians. These are contrasted against archaic constructions Tolkien employed to convey deep age and timelessness and a high seriousness to his tale, as in the speech of an Elrond or a crowned Aragorn.

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Goth Chick News – Build Your Own Zombie

Thursday, January 5, 2012 Sue Granquist Comments 2 comments

Though it doesn’t happen very often, occasionally I am left speechless.

Generally this occurs when watching an episode of True Blood during which there is an abundance of vampire and werewolf nudity. However, sometimes it happens for other reasons as well.

Case in point.

Seeing the voodoo doll display on my desk along with the “I’m So Goth I Poop Bats” bumper sticker on my file cabinet, an insightful co-worker brought me the coolest “how to” book since that one that contained the instructions on how to bring a Golem to life.

Nicola Tedman, a special effects artist who worked on the Harry Potter films, has awaken her inner George A. Romero and focused her creative attention on the malleable, fuzzy softness of felt.

Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead is an oversized paperback which instructs the reader in the ultimate in anti-Martha Stewart craft making.

Inside, would be Zombie Masters will find remedial instructions for more than 15 zombie creatures, including a Romero-esque “Day of the Dead Zombie,” a “Dead Ducky” and my personal favorite the “Vampire Zombie.”

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Matthew David Surridge Reviews Shadow Prowler

Thursday, January 5, 2012 Bill Ward Comments 0 Comment

shadowprowler-cover Shadow Prowler
Alexey Pehov, translated by Andrew Bromfield
Tor (412 pp, $7.99, mass market edition February 2011)
Reviewed by Matthew David Surridge

Translation enriches a language, bringing in new styles, new influences, new approaches. The phrasing, the way of thinking, native to a given language can often still be found in a text translated into another tongue. Sometimes, even an ordinary story can gain a touch of originality in translation, a kick from unexpected turns of expression.

I don’t know for sure that this is the case with Alexy Pehov’s Shadow Prowler, not speaking Russian myself, but I wouldn’t be much surprised if it were. Pehov has written a fantasy trilogy, with elves and orcs and dwarves and wizards and a quest. Despite a few self-conscious deviations from the norm – elves have fangs, dwarves don’t grow beards – this first book, at least, feels fundamentally like a game of Dungeons & Dragons. The story is even structured around the exploration of an ancient burial ground, Hrad Spein, the Palaces of Bone, filled with traps, magic, and the undead; a quest, naturally, better undertaken by a small party of highly-skilled adventurers rather than a large army.

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Tachyon Announces Contents of The Sword & Sorcery Anthology

Thursday, January 5, 2012 John ONeill Comments 10 comments

Our friend Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications has announced the contents of his long-awaited new book, The Sword & Sorcery Anthology.

The 432-page trade paperback will contain classic tales of S&S from Robert E. Howard, George R.R. Martin, Fritz Leiber, C.L. Moore, Michael Moorcock, Jack Vance, Karl Edward Wagner, Poul Anderson, David Drake, and others — including an original tale from Nift the Lean author Michael Shea:

Terrifying barbarians, cunning mages, and daring heroes run rampant through these exceptional classics of the exciting sword & sorcery genre. From Robert E. Howard to Jane Yolen, this fast-paced anthology is a chronological gathering of influential, inventive, and entertaining fantasy adventure stories. In “Tower of the Elephant,” Conan takes up jewel thievery but, as is his wont, proves far better with his sword. “The Flamer Bringers” finds anti-hero Elric infiltrating a band of bloodthirsty mercenaries and outwitting a powerful sorcerer. “Become a Warrior” is the unexpected tale of a child who loses all she holds dear, only to gain unforeseen power and unlikely revenge. Further entries come from early sword & sorcery legends such as Jack Vance and Catherine Louise (who wrote as C. L.) Moore, the next wave of talents including Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock, and modern trendsetters like Karl Edward Wagner and David Drake. An original story from Michael Shea rounds out this essential anthology, which will particularly appeal to fans of action-oriented fantasy titles such as The Lord of the Rings and the Song of Fire and Ice series.

The Sword & Sorcery Anthology is edited by David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman. It will be released on June 1, 2012 by Tachyon Publications, and priced at $15.95. Read complete details here.

Zahir Magazine Ceases Publication

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

Sheryl Tempchin’s highly respected genre magazine Zahir has ceased publication with the 28th issue, October 2011.

Zahir has been published quarterly since Summer 2003. The magazine managed 20 print issues, before switching to electronic format with the January, 2010 issue.

Over the last eight years Zahir has published short stories by Sharon E. Woods, Sonya Taaffe, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Mark Rich, Francesca Forrest, and many others. The consistently excellent cover art was by Godfrey Blow, Phil Volk, Leslie Shiels, and many other noted artists.

The eight electronic issues have since been assembled into annual print anthologies gathering the complete contents of four issues every year — generous 300+ page-collections available through Amazon.com and Createspace.

Editor Tempchin published the following letter on the magazine’s website:

It is with regret that I must announce we will no longer be publishing new quarterly issues of Zahir. We will continue to have a web presence here, where the online issues from the past two years are available for you to read in the archives. We will also continue to offer our two print anthologies for sale, as well [as] the print issues from 2003 through 2009. If new things develop, we will keep you posted here.

Read the complete letter here, and visit the archives to read the online issues, or snap up print copies of back issues while they’re still available.

Art of the Genre: The 5 Moods of Conan

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Scott Taylor Comments 0 Comment

A Whimsical Conan... certainly one of his moods!

In October I had a chance to head down to San Diego for World Fantasy Con. It was a good time, if not even in the same ballpark as great, and when I travelled back to L.A. I was filled with many a great topic to take on in 2012 for Art of the Genre.

I penned a list, jotting down ideas, but perhaps my favorite hadn’t come from my mind but that of Michael Stackpole as we lunched one afternoon with fellow author Nathan Long. Our lengthy discussion went to Conan, as any good fantasy discussion should at some point, as Mike had very recently penned the novel adaptation of the newest Conan reboot. [Note: My only regret here was that John R. Fultz wasn’t a part of this conversation]

I couldn’t help but ask a question that I know the bulk of Howard fans did, ‘What the hell happened?” Now, because of various journalistic integrity issues I can’t get into specifics, but will attest it was a fun and informative conversation.

The most intriguing thing inside the movie debate was Mike telling us that it [the movie] was originally intended to be a trilogy featuring Belit and the Black Coast. Mike, wonderful licensed adaptive writer that he is, had been charged with writing Belit’s back story for the books that had her and Conan freebooting and pirating the shipping lanes of Stygia.

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John R. Fultz’s Seven Princes on Sale Today

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 John ONeill Comments 17 comments

Here at the rooftop headquarters of Black Gate, overlooking the majestic Chicago skyline, we’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time: the day the first volume of John R. Fultz’s Books of the Shaper series finally hits bookstores.

Seven Princes is John’s first novel. He’s had three highly acclaimed short stories appear in Black Gate — including “Oblivion Is the Sweetest Wine” (BG 12), “Return of the Quill” (BG 13), and “The Vintages of Dream” (BG 15), — and has published short fiction in Weird Tales, Space & Time, Lightspeed, and the anthologies Way of the Wizard and Cthulhu’s Reign. Here’s the cover blurb:

It is an Age of Legends. Under the watchful eye of the Giants, the kingdoms of Men rose to power. Now, the Giant-King has slain the last of the Serpents and ushered in an era of untold peace and prosperity. Where a fire-blackened desert once stood, golden cities flourish in verdant fields.

It is an Age of Heroes. But the realms of Man face a new threat — an ancient sorcerer slaughters the rightful King of Yaskatha before the unbelieving eyes of his son, young Prince D’zan. With the Giant-King lost to a mysterious doom, it seems that no one has the power to stop the coming storm.

It is an Age of War. The fugitive Prince seeks allies across the realms of Men and Giants to liberate his father’s stolen kingdom. Six foreign Princes are tied to his fate. Only one thing is certain: War is coming.

SEVEN PRINCES. Some will seek glory. Some will seek vengeance. All will be legends.

For those lucky enough to be in San Francisco this Saturday, John will be doing his first signing at Borderlands Books. Bring your copy of Seven Princes and meet one of the rising stars of fantasy.

Read John’s interview with Seven Princes cover artist Richard Anderson right here at Black Gate.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars, Part 1: A Princess of Mars

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Ryan Harvey Comments 38 comments

princess-of-mars-a-c-mcclurg The year 2012 C.E. is the centenary of the Reader Revolution. Two novels published in pulp magazines that year, A Princess of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes, re-shaped popular fiction, helped change the United States into a nation of readers, and created the professional fiction writer. One man wrote both books: Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In celebration of this anniversary, and in anticipation of the upcoming Andrew Stanton film John Carter based on A Princess of Mars, I will tackle all eleven of ERB’s Martian/Barsoom novels in reviews for Black Gate. I also have something special in store for Tarzan of the Apes. This endeavor sounds a touch insane, but come on, but this is the centennial of the series! When else am I going to do it?

Let us turn back the calendar a hundred years to the beginning of all things…

Our Saga: The adventures of Earthman John Carter, his progeny, and sundry other natives and visitors, on the planet Mars. A dry and slowly dying world, the planet known to its inhabitants as “Barsoom” contains four different human civilizations, one non-human one, a scattering of science among swashbuckling, and a plethora of religions, mystery cities, and strange beasts. The series spans 1912 to 1964 with eleven books: nine novels, a book of linked novellas, and a volume collecting two unrelated novellas.

Today’s Installment: A Princess of Mars (1912)

The Backstory

In 1911, Edgar Rice Burroughs was thirty-five years old and selling pencil sharpeners out of an office in Chicago. His post-military service career was so far a series of undistinguished jobs that kept him and his family barely above poverty: an associate in a mining company in Idaho, a railroad policeman in Salt Lake City, a manager of a stenography department, an owner of a stationery store, and a partner in an advertising agency. No position lasted longer than two years.

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