Search Results for: Magician's Skull

In Search of a new Weird Tales: An Interview with Joseph Goodman, Howard Andrew Jones, and the Talking Skull!

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Recently Goodman Games announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund the launch of Tales From the Magician’s Skull, a magazine of all-new swords & sorcery fiction in the classic pulp style. The first issue is a delight for Black Gate readers, with tales from popular BG contributors James Enge, John C. Hocking, Howard Andrew Jones, Chris Willrich, Bill Ward, and others. And best of all, Goodman has invited Howard Andrew Jones on board as editor, guaranteeing a top-notch product. The spectacular success of the…

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A Sword Has Two (New) Edges: A Review of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, Issue #2

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New Edge Sword & Sorcery issue #2, Winter 2023 (December 8, 2023). Cover by Gilead Artist The second issue of New Edge Sword and Sorcery has been getting far less attention than its debut, likely because it lacks a story by legendary writer Michael Moorcock, but that’s a shame, as it actually exceeds its predecessor in every demonstrable way. This is editor Oliver Brackenbury’s third time at bat (including the Zero Issue) and he’s clearly getting a feel for how…

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Bringing a Whetstone to an Old Blade: New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine #1

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New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, Fall 2023. Cover by Caterina Gerbasi Disclosure: I was a Backer for the first four issues of this new journal. As with the Zero issue, New Edge has absolutely fantastic, journal-level production values: heavy paper stock, trade or hard-cover binding, 8.5 x 11 stock, clean, professional layout, and absolutely terrific artwork. It looks great, feels great in the hand and has nothing amateurish about it. Whereas a counterpart magazine, Tales From the Magician’s Skull,…

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Bob’s Books – Shelfie #8 (McKiernan, Watt-Evans, Leiber, Bischoff, Rosenberg)

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It’s installment number seven in Bob’s Books Shelfie series. Links to the prior shelfie posts can be found at the end of this one; including some prior fantasy shelves. If you’re new to this column, I posted shelfies of over a thousand of my books, in the r/bookshelf subreddit. The mods got too annoying for me, and I quit the group. But with each shelfie I posted info on the books/authors show, so I’m bringing them over to Black Gate….

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Vintage Treasures: The Bard Series by Keith Taylor

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Bard, Volumes I-IV (Ace Books, 1981-97). Covers by Don Maitz In October 1975 an unknown author named Dennis More made his debut in Fantastic magazine with “Fugitives in Winter,” the rousing tale of Felimid mac Fal of Eire, a bard whose tools are his ancient harp Golden Singer, and his magic sword, Kincaid. Eight more tales of Felimid followed, in places like Fantastic, Weird Tales, and Andrew Offutt’s Swords Against Darkness. ‘Dennis More,’ as it turned out, was Australian writer…

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The Art and Act of Story-telling: Evenmere Tales and Other Stories by James Stoddard

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Evenmere Tales and Other Stories (Ransom House, October 23, 2023) James Stoddard, author of six novels including the delightful Evenmere trilogy (The High House, The False House, and Evenmere), has finally released a complete collection of his short stories. These stories at their best are first rate American fantasy. Even when they are not at their best, they are worth reading. Stoddard’s ambitions are extraordinary, and achieved often enough that he should be read, and read again. Stoddard’s complete collection…

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The Complete Version of John C. Hocking’s Conan: Black Starlight is Now Available

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Conan: Black Starlight (Titan Books, October 17, 2023) The name John C. Hocking is well known to long-time Black Gate readers. He published several terrific stories in the print version of the magazine, including two tales in his Brand the Viking series, and the opening stories in his popular Archivist series, “A River Through Darkness and Light” and “Vestments of Pestilence,” which was continued in Skelos and Weirdbook. He’s also launched a brand new series, the King’s Blade tales, in…

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Get Ready for a Fantasy Revolution: Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones

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Lord of a Shattered Land and The City of Marble and Blood (Baen, August 1 and October 3, 2023). Covers by Dave Seeley A few times in my life I’ve had an early look at a book that I knew was going to revolutionize fantasy. When I received an advance proof of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin in 1996. When Andy Heidel at Avon sent us an early copy of Neil Gaiman’s first novel. When Betsy Wollheim…

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A Solid Dose of Weird Adventure: Old Moon Quarterly #3

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Old Moon Quarterly is a magazine of weird sword-and-sorcery fantasy. In the tradition of Clark Ashton Smith, Tanith Lee and Karl Edward Wagner, it contains stories of strange vistas, eldritch beings, and the bloody dispute thereof by swordsmen and swordswomen both. Old Moon Quarterly emerged in 2022. This reviews the four stories inside the Winter 2023 issue (Vol III), which delivers solid doses of the weird adventure it promises. The Editor-in-Chief is Julian Barona, flanked by Assistant Editors Caitlyn Emily…

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A Tale of the Last Free Humans: Fletcher Vredenburgh on Jack Vance’s “The Dragon Masters”

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Various covers for Jack Vance’s novella “The Dragon Masters” over the years: the original appearance in the August 1962 Galaxy, the 1972 Ace Double, and the 1981 Ace paperback edition. Cover art by Jack Gaughan, Josh Kirby, and David B. Mattingly Over at Goodman Games Bill Ward, Howard Andrew Jones and a team of thousands have assembled a world-class fantasy blog around their magnificent magazine Tales From the Magician’s Skull. Recent articles include Bill Ward’s delightful survey of the Classic…

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