Black Gate – Page 1223 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

A (very) guilty pleasure: Dennis McKiernan’s The Iron Tower Trilogy

Thursday, July 7, 2011 Brian Murphy Comments 14 comments

the-dark-tide The publication of Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara in 1977 was a watershed moment in fantasy literature. The success of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings left fans clamoring for more epic, secondary world fantasy with maps, and with The Sword of Shannara Brooks delivered. Its publication began a trend of Tolkien-inspired fantasy that deeply marked (marred, others might say) the genre thereafter.

But the ensuing years haven’t been kind to Brooks. Lin Carter, editor of the acclaimed Ballantine Adult fantasy series, said of The Sword of Shannara ,” [it’s]the single most cold-blooded, complete rip-off of another book that I have ever read”. Despite the commercial success of Shannara and its sequels, its now widely considered to be the poster child for Biggest Tolkien Ripoff.

But, prevailing claims to the contrary, The Sword of Shannara is not even close to that moniker. The championship belt for most slavish LOTR imitation (that I have read, at least) hangs proudly about the waist of Dennis McKiernan’s The Iron Tower Trilogy. In comparison to The Dark Tide, Shadows of Doom, and The Darkest Day, Shannara is a veritable bastion of originality sprung whole and entire from the forehead of Zeus. The Iron Tower Trilogy is, in fact, The Lord of the Rings with the serial numbers filed off. Crudely. Anyone who possesses even a passing familiarity with Tolkien’s masterwork should stand aghast at the “similarities.”

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Goth Chick News: Old Dog, New “Twixt”

Thursday, July 7, 2011 Sue Granquist Comments 2 comments

The cool thing about Francis Ford Coppola (minus the “Ford” bit if you followed his work in the ‘80’s) is that, chances are he’s responsible for at least one movie in your top ten, regardless of your favorite genre.

From The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, to Peggy Sue Got Married and The Cotton Club, Coppola has never stuck to one movie “type,” but instead stretched his creativity into many corners for better or worse. Love them or hate them (or in some cases both), I’m betting Coppola movies can be found among your favorite quotes, your DVD collection or your Netflix queue.

But though he’s easily associated with making “an offer (you) can’t refuse,” Coppola is possibly least known for his forays into horror; though arguably this is his roots.

Beginning in 1963 with his first big budget film The Terror starring Jack Nicholson in one of his first roles and Boris Karloff in one of his last, Coppola followed up with Dementia 13 later that same year.

By his own admission, horror is where Francis Ford got a foothold in Hollywood.

However, it would be another thirty years before Coppola would return to the genre that gave him his break.

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The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities!

Thursday, July 7, 2011 Amal El-Mohtar Comments 3 comments

Rejoice and make merry!

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is available for purchase from today! Look at it!

I give you also a sample collage of the interior!

I have a story in this. I keep saying that and grinning because it is so unbelievable a thing. I am overjoyed about this for gazillions of reasons, most of which are variations on the following:

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Art of the Genre: Art of Anthologies

Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Scott Taylor Comments 3 comments

Stephen Hickman brings the Man-Kzin Wars to life as a beautiful anthology produced by Larry Niven

I’m not really sure if this can be classified at ‘art’, but certainly there is an art to the creation of anthologies. I mean, for all intents and purpose, Black Gate is an anthology, the scope and size of these new issues making it more a book than a magazine.

John O’Neill, our venerable editor, has done a fantastic job of giving his readers both the feel of an anthology while also being committed enough to each story as to provide wonderful art with it. That artistic contribution, in my opinion, is something that helps define what Black Gate is trying to do, and although the art direction in each issue’s very essence isn’t held to a single vision, the coherence of the product is still maintained in the highest quality.

Black Gate also weaves a thick quilt of characters within its pages, the repeated inclusion of certain authors allowing stories and characters to build, grow, and foster a relationship with a reader that many contemporary anthologies can’t produce. I’ve seen reviewers try to knock this, but in the end several have come around to indicate that John’s repeated choices are one of their favorite pieces of the magazine.

The art of the short story in its very nature is a simple entertainment, a microcosm of imagination that I fear is too often read like a teaser trailer found before your main attraction at the local Cineplex. In them we are often required to be told rather than shown a story, and I’m reminded of the musky depth of Don Lafontaine’s voice when I’m provided back story inside stories of already limited words… his signature opening ever echoing in my brain… ‘In a world where…’

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Tattoos and Fantasy! Proposal!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 C.S.E. Cooney Comments 2 comments

This one's mine. It's a frikkin JESTER! With wings! And a TAIL! It has a story. What's yours? (Art by Rebecca Huston.)

Dear Fantasy Writers,

Pretty soon I (and an Editing Wizard of my acquaintance) will be putting together a thing for Black Gate (possibly an article, possibly a short documentary-type-thingy for YouTube) about Fantasy writers and their tattoos. I know some folks view their ink and its significance as intensely personal. If this is the case with you, please ignore the rest of this message.

But if you are a published Fantasy writer, and have an image on your skin that you want to share, and a short paragraph about it, I’d love to see it!

I’d want a jpg of the image (high resolution) and, if at all possible, a voice clip of the story — from GarageBand or whatever. If not a voice clip, then a written paragraph would definitely suffice.

I’d also want a short bio about yourself and where we might find your published work. We’d link to it in the article-portion of this project. (I see it as both an article and documentary. It’s all still coming together in my own head.)

If participating in this Black Gate YouTubementary shenanigans interests you, I’d love to have your files by August 1st. This thing’ll probably be several months in the making, and we may not a.) get enough material or b.) get too much to use all of it — but whatever happens, I’d update all participants as we make progress.

So! Ideas? Hail and Well-Mets? Flagrant Compliments? “Absolutely want in!”s? Then write to me at claire(at)blackgate(dot) com

Thank you!

Diana Rowland’s My Life as A White Trash Zombie

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 Patty Templeton Comments 1 comment

My Life as A White Trash Zombie
Diana Rowland
DAW (320 pp., $7.99, July 2011)
Reviewed by Patty Templeton

Angel Crawford is a pill-popping, self-described loser who’s found naked on Old Bayou Road after an overdose, only when she wakes up in the hospital…something’s not quite right.

She never used to waft of rot.

If it wasn’t trouble enough that Angel is slowly starting to smell more and more like a pile of dead cats soaked in sewage on a hot summer day, well, she has a new job. Ok, so it’s not like Burger Bayou was taking her places, but really, who wants to work in a morgue? Angel never did, but a mysterious note informs her that if she doesn’t take the job and keep it for at least one month, she’ll go to jail. Sure, it’s delivering dead bodies and assisting in autopsies, but you don’t get paid for normal rehab. Angel takes the gig.

Soon after, fingers skull-deep during an autopsy, Angel realizes that she wants to eat brains. Justifiably, she flips. It doesn’t help when she finds another note on her windshield that reads If you crave it, eat it.

To make matters worse, somebody starts killing off all the zombies around town.

This is not your average zombie novel and it might piss off horror purists who like their monsters in predictable niches. Angel doesn’t shamble. She isn’t dull-witted. She’s not a gorehound. In fact, it’s questionable if she is even a monster. She’s a woman who’s had a lot of bad breaks in life, the most recent of which was being turned into a zombie who has to drink brain smoothies to keep from decomposing. Some folks might contend that Diana Rowland’s zombies aren’t zombies. They might be right. Angel is closer to a vampire than not, only instead of blood healing her, it’s dead people’s brains. What does it matter, as long as the story catches you?

Amidst the brain saws, busted heads and maggots, there’s the introspective story of Angel Crawford, high school drop-out and general ef-up, finally getting on a stable path. It’s not action-heavy. There are no zombie hordes. Only a woman fighting her way through everyday life, which includes a past filled with drugs, the wrong man, an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother. It’s a humorous, light-gore novel that you could probably get away with recommending to any of your friends that like both Jodi Picoult and C.S.I. Similarly, if you dig books from a zombie’s point of view, like Breathers or Warm Bodies, you’ve got a good chance of enjoying My Life as A White Trash Zombie.

I give it two out of three brains. And seriously, the cover is AWESOME. Now that’s a le freakin’ sexy zombie.

Martin Harry Greenberg (March 1, 1941 – June 25, 2011)

Monday, July 4, 2011 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Martin H. Greenberg, one of the most prolific creators in the history of the genre, died last week.

Dr. Martin H. Greenberg received a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Connecticut in 1969, and taught at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, from 1975 until 1996. In 1974 he edited his first anthology (with Patricia Warrick): Political Science Fiction, intended as a teaching guide.

It was to be the first of literally thousands of books he published over the next 36 years, the vast majority of them science fiction and fantasy anthologies.

Greenberg’s specialty was copyright searches and handling author royalties, and he was famously adept at both. He founded book packager Tekno Books, which typically produced 150 titles per year, totaling over 2,300 books.

Shortly after he entered the field Greenberg discovered he shared a name with another famed SF anthologist: Martin Greenberg, publisher of Gnome Press, who edited some of the most influential science fiction anthologies of the 1950s, including Travelers of Space and Journey to Infinity (both 1951). In his autobiography Isaac Asimov, who worked extensively with both men, said he suggested that he call himself “Martin H. Greenberg” or “Martin Harry Greenberg,” which he did.

Greenberg frequently partnered with other editors such as Joseph D. Olander, Andre Norton, Robert Silverberg, and especially Asimov, with whom he co-edited a total 127 anthologies, including the 25-volume Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories.

In recent years Greenberg, working chiefly with editors Jean Rabe, John Helfers, Kerrie Hughes and others at Tekno Books, produced 10 original anthologies per year for DAW books, often referred to as “the DAW magazine.”

Black Gate contributor Mike Resnick, who edited 19 anthologies for or with Greenberg and sold him a total of 61 stories, shared this story of how their partnership started:

We’re eating lunch at the 1989 Boston worldcon, he asks what I’m working on, I say a Teddy Roosevelt alternate history novella, and as we’re getting up he says he’s off to sell our anthology. I say what anthology? He says Alternate Presidents, with Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 and a bunch of others. I say I didn’t know we were talking about one, and besides, this one’s unsaleable.

Three hours later he hunts me up: “We’ve sold it to Tor for a 5-figure advance, and you’re editing it.” I never doubted him again.

In 2009 Greenberg was the recipient of one of the first Solstice Awards presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in recognition of his contributions to the field.

For a complete list of his titles (caution: it’s a big list), see his entry at the SF Encyclopedia.

The 2011 Locus Award Winners

Monday, July 4, 2011 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

The 2011 Locus Awards were announced last weekend. The winners are:

Best Science Fiction Novel: Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)
Best Fantasy Novel: Kraken, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey)
Best First Novel: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
Best Young Adult Book: Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
Best Novella: The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
Best Novelette: “The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains”, Neil Gaiman (Stories)
Best Short Story: “The Thing About Cassandra”, Neil Gaiman (Songs of Love and Death)
Best Magazine: Asimov’s SF
Best Book Publisher: Tor
Best Anthology: Warriors, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Tor)
Best Collection: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories, Fritz Leiber (Night Shade)

You can find the complete list of winners and nominees at Locus Online.

The Locus Awards are presented to winners of Locus Magazine’s annual readers’ poll. The award was first given in 1971, for works published in 1970. According to Locus, the awards frequently draw more voters than the Hugo and Nebula Awards combined.

ScrumBrawl: Fantasy-Based Sports Goodness

Monday, July 4, 2011 Andrew Zimmerman Jones Comments 2 comments

scrumbrawl I’ve always been fascinated by the attempts of gaming companies to turn athletic sports into board games. Fascinated, but not quite intrigued enough to play one, until now.

Some of the most notable of these efforts seem to have historically come when a successful wargaming miniature company has reached its apex and is looking for a new product. (More on this below the fold.)

ScrumBrawl is a sports-based game that doesn’t fall into this category, not least because it is the introductory effort by newcomer VicTim Games. Instead of trying to leverage existing products and success, they’re using this game as their springboard into the marketplace and, I must say, it’s a good effort. It also uses cards instead of miniatures, which is part of the reason why the game goes for nearly half the price of some of the more established competitors.

Overall, the game is extremely enjoyable and easy to get into, with a minimal amount of fuss … and cost. If you can get over the lack of miniatures, and are looking for a quality game, this is a product you would do well to look into.

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The Centenary of Mervyn Peake

Sunday, July 3, 2011 Matthew David Surridge Comments 4 comments

July 9, 2011 will be the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Mervyn Peake, the author of three remarkable fantasy novels: Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. The books — published in 1946, 1950, and 1959 — form a series (along with the novella “Boy in Darkness,” which I have not read) following the early life of Titus Groan, Seventy-Seventh Earl of the immense castle called Gormenghast. Peake had intended to write a longer sequence of novels about Titus; he planned two more books, but the advent of Parkinson`s Disease made that impossible. A number of activities are being planned to commemorate Peake’s centenary, including the publication of a fourth Titus volume, Titus Awakes, written by Peake’s wife after his death in 1968.

The Titus novels are excellent books. Each seems to have a slightly different style, a different approach to Titus and his world. All of them are stylistically and imaginatively rich; although the explicitly fantastic is rare in the books, arguably nonexistent, there is in each of them an approach to world-building, a readiness to leave behind the rational, that I think makes them fantasy more than anything else — so long as you use “fantasy” in its broadest sense, agreeing that contemporary genre expectations have nothing to do with the variety implicit in the word.

Put it this way: Peake wrote before fantasy fiction had been defined as a form, but from where we stand now, his work is more easily assimilable to fantasy than to anything else. He’s been a strong influence on fantasists like Michael Moorcock; Lin Carter published his books as part of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. But like a lot of early fantasists, Peake is somewhat apart from the conventions of fantasy we now know. His books have little to do with medievalism or any historical culture, but neither do they seem to reflect the modern world (except in the last of them, and that’s a world as strange and distorted as a Terry Gilliam movie, a setting that, it has been said, prefigures the fantasy of steampunk). As an illustrator, Peake was working on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the Grimms’ Household Tales while writing Titus Groan; those may be useful places to start.

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