Black Gate 4: Summer 2002
A Chicago pub where the ghosts of Blues legends gather to swap tales and jam one final time…a post-apocalyptic cityscape where automated bombers still cruise overhead and the last rock band hears the sound of extinction…a wild west where a trio of demons test the wits of a lone bounty hunter…and the dungeons of Chateau Machecoul, where an aging knight comes face-to-face with a horror unlike anything he’s ever known.
These are just a few of the unique and exciting settings that await you in the big summer issue of Black Gate. This issue features the start of a major fantasy series from Hugo Award-winning author Bill Johnson and a new novelette from epic fantasy novelist David B. Coe, as well as fiction from Cory Doctorow, Tina Jens, Mark McLaughlin, and many others. And don’t miss the return of the hilarious Knights of the Dinner Table comic by Jolly R. Blackburn to the pages of Black Gate!
Critical acclaim for the first three issues of Black Gate continues to pour in. “These guys aren’t kidding around,” says Tangent Online of our third issue — “This heavy-duty volume, bigger than many trade paperbacks, is very classy.”
Zed runs a friendly, profitable business in Pald’s foreign quarter — kept that way by his seeming willingness to avoid conflict at all costs. But beneath this carefully constructed cowardly exterior beats the heart of a shrewd businessman, one who will go to any lengths to protect both his business and his employees. But he’ll need every resource at his disposal when he finds himself up against an unknown opponent who wants him dead… an opponent with very powerful allies, and deadly Lisk stitch magic at his fingertips.
What have the reviewers been calling Black Gate magazine? “Ambitious” (Interzone), “Wonderful” (RPGNet), “Spectacular” (Tangent Online), and “The Best Thing to happen to fantasy since Robert E. Howard faked his own death, moved to England, and took on a new identity as J.R.R. Tolkien” (The Wall Street Journal).
A trio of adventurers scheme to steal a deadly enchanted sword… a dwarven detective stumbles on an ingenious new scam in a very old casino… a deadly worm terrorizes the helpless inhabitants of an ancient sky city… and the Lord of the Underworld tracks a child murderer across a chilling landscape where spiders lurk in hidden lairs and ghosts are hunted for sport — all in the 
As our big Winter issue heads to press — with new fiction from Mike Resnick, Elaine Cunningham, Darrell Schweitzer, and much more — we continue to receive a wide array of comments and suggestions on the first two issues of Black Gate.