Black Gate

Morlock the Maker — last seen in “Turn Up This Crooked Way” in Black Gate 8 — is lured into an ingenious trap by a master of golems. . . a peerless samurai encounters the greatest test of his life when he allows an old man to taunt him into battle. . . a young girl searches for a pet in a neighborhood haunted by deathwalkers and Avatar monsters. . . a bard strives to rally a tribe of Danes as they’re struck down one-by-one by an unseen monster. . . and a young scientist desperately races against time to rescue two inter-dimensional travelers trapped in a world of horrors.

This issue includes fiction from William John Watkins, James Enge, Murray Leinster, Michael Canfield, and many others. Rich Horton continues his popular series of genre retrospectives with a look at Retro-Hugos That Will Never Be, plus there are columns and reviews from Don Bassingthwaite, Steven Silver, and Todd McAulty.

All this and much more. Subscribe Now to make sure you don’t miss out, and we’ll include a copy of the acclaimed Lords of Swords for only $4.95, while quantities last!

Don’t miss it!

We are pleased to announce a special promotion with Pitch-Black Books: for a very limited time, subscribe to Black Gate and you can purchase a copy of the acclaimed new anthology Lords of Swords for only $4.95! That’s $10 off the already-low cover price of $14.95!

Lords of Swords is one of the most exciting collections of new adventure fantasy to appear in a very long time. This thick volume is packed with fiction from the genre’s rising stars — including Howard Andrew Jones, E. E. Knight, and John C. Hocking — as well as names synonymous with Heroic Fantasy, such Tanith Lee, Nancy Virginia Varian, Vera Nazarian, and many others. Here’s what Todd McAulty said about Lords of Swords:

Excellent. . .a handsomely produced volume of heroic fantasy. Almost every piece is strong, and a few are a good deal more than that. The real payoff comes from three long pieces by three very different writers, any one of which could stand alongside the work of the masters. . .If you’re a Black Gate reader, you will be excited to find a book that introduces you to some of the finest new practitioners of adventure fantasy. Lords of Swords is that book.

Quantities of this terrific book are unfortunately very short, and limited to what we have on hand — so act now! [Already a subscriber? We’ll send you a copy for the same low price of $4.95, plus shipping! Just follow the link to our subscription page.]

Subscribe Now!

Dao Shi the Chinese Exorcist, wily hero of Iain Rowan’s “Looking For Goats, Finding Monkeys” (Black Gate 6), returns in an epic tale of ghosts, magic and treachery, as he tangles with Imperial forces in his search for a demonic assassin. . .the legendary Morlock the Maker follows an enigmatic adversary into the depths of the dreaded winterwood. . .and a woman leads her shrinking tribe in a desperate race to safety, pursued by hordes of mindless monsters — and something far worse.

Black Gate 8 ships to subscribers and bookstores this week. “In just 7 issues, Black Gate, has established itself as the High Fantasy venue for the short form. . .[with] Best Of caliber work,” writes The Internet Review of Science Fiction.

This issue comes packed with novellas and short stories from Charles Coleman Finlay, Jay Lake, Sherry Decker, Justin Stanchfield, James Enge and many others. In addition Rich Horton offers a lengthy retrospective of the famed Ace Double series, plus there’s columns and reviews from Don Bassingthwaite, Todd McAulty, Howard Andrew Jones, and much more.

Don’t miss it!

Manvayar’s old master had been a secret necromancer, a man capable of enormous evil who had hidden his torturous art from everyone. Now Manvayer serves the High Temple’s inquisitors, ferreting out just such forbidden evil. But his first assignment may well prove to be his last, as he unknowingly stumbles into a deadly plot among the ruins of an ancient culture. . .a plot that conceals the machinations of an emerging necromancer of terrifying power.

Judith Berman’s “The Poison Well” originally appeared in Black Gate 7, and was praised as “a moody, brooding, intricate tale of necromancy, vanity, and vengeance [with] palpable suspense… an imaginative and ghostly tale” by SFReader.

“A mini-epic of magic, mystery, lust, and obsession… it blew me away,” said Eric M. Cherry at Twilight Tales.

Now we are proud to present it online, complete in its entirety with the original art by Denis Rodier.

If you enjoy it, be sure to read the lengthy two-part interview with Judith which explores the story’s background and genesis, at Twilight Tales Online.

Two investigators stumble across far more than they bargained for as they ferret out a deadly necromancer among the ruins of an ancient culture. . .a small band of condemned souls begins a thousand-mile journey across a landscape of horrors to escape hell. . .a young woman battles ghosts and worse to bury a cursed heirloom on a haunted island. . .and a young hero leads his ragged followers in an audacious daylight attack on the unsuspecting aliens who have ruled earth for millennia.

All that and a lot more awaits you in the latest big issue of Black Gate. “Each issue is fat enough to make up three or four issues of most of the other fiction semiprozines,” noted Gardner Dozois in his annual magazine summary, and this issue is no exception — it comes packed with novellas and short stories from Mark Sumner, Judith Berman, Don Bassingthwaite, Todd McAulty, Holly Phillips, and many others. There’s also a detailed and entertaining look back at one of the great pulp magazines, Planet Stories, from Rich Horton, plus columns and reviews from Claude Lalumiere, Lisa DuMond, and Don Bassingthwaite, and much more. And don’t miss our exclusive Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip!