Search Results for: osprey

Writerly Lessons from Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum

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I read Louis L’Amour’s medieval adventure novel The Walking Drum so you don’t have to (link). A thorough edit  would fix the expository intrusions (L’Amour keeps taking out his research and waving it around). However, this would not have fixed the structural problem (there was no structure). Even so, this literary failure is still a heroic one. The book not only displays the craft of a veteran adventure writer, it is also an object lesson in career strategy. As an author I…

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Vintage Treasures: The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour

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I read this book so you don’t have to. Perhaps this review will make you want to read it. Perhaps you shouldn’t. It’s complicated. The Walking Drum is the only medieval adventure written by Louis L’Amour, the mindbogglingly prolific author of a zillion Westerns. That alone makes it a retro must-read. A medieval romp by a horse-opera yarn-spinner who had also been a professional boxer and merchant seaman. How can we resist? In actuality, the book is… odd. It fulfills expectations, both positive and negative,…

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Three Classic Books for Medieval Worldbuilders and Armchair Time Travellers

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This time next week you’ll be contemplating a pile of Amazon gift vouchers and book tokens. How do know? You’re a Black Gate reader. Your muggle relatives can’t even guess your tastes. Your geeky friends know that your wishlist is too specific to second guess. So book tokens. I won’t try to guess your tastes either! However, if you are interested in the medieval world, or medieval-style worlds, some of the following old books from my research shelf might tempt you… A…

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in November

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The most popular article at Black Gate last month was M. Harold Page’s “An Adventurer’s Guide to the Middle Ages: Town Watch? Where?”, a look at the much-loved concept of a citizen’s militia in fantasy. It’s not hard to see why it was popular: The first thing that Conan — or Locke Lamora, or Grey Mouser, or Vimes, or a D&D party  — would notice about a real medieval city would be the almost total absence of an Ankh Morpork-style town watch….

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The Future of Fantasy: The Best New Releases in July

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We’re more than three quarters of the way through July, and I’ve barely scratched the surface on the 30 new books we covered in The Best New Releases in June. If I want to get caught up, I’ll have to cut back on late-night superhero movie marathons with my kids (and probably sleeping, and eating.) July’s crop of new fantasy releases includes some terrific work from C.S.E. Cooney. Peter V. Brett, Max Gladstone, Wesley Chu, Lou Anders, Melinda Snodgrass, Victor…

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in May

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M. Harold Page had a good month in May, with two of the Top Three articles. His detailed breakdown on choreographing dramatic combat, and mastering the conflicting demands of narrative and blow-by-blow description, “How To Write a Good Fight Scene,” was our #1 article. And just to show how easy it is, he also nabbed the #3 slot, with a look at the similarities between Edmond Hamilton’s pulp classic Return to the Stars and Ridley’s Scott SF masterpiece, in “Blade…

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Future Treasures: Frostgrave: Tales of the Frozen City edited by Joseph McCullough

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Joseph McCullough is the author of one of the most popular articles in Black Gate history, “The Demarcation of Sword and Sorcery,” which today is considered one of the defining texts on the genre. He’s published fiction in BG and elsewhere, and is currently Project Manager for Osprey Adventures. His latest project is the wargame Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, coming in July from Osprey. In support of the new game, Osprey is also publishing Frostgrave: Tales of…

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Fiction: Shieldwall: Barbarians (Chapter 1)

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I’ve been guest blogging over at Charles Stross‘s blog, a writer with so many rockets to his name  I joke about buying him a Tracy Island set. I did a three part piece In defence of Traditional (Eurocentric Quasi-Medieval) Fantasy which sparked some… lively discussion in the comments. I also talked about my writing process, and of course my YA Dark Age adventure,  Shieldwall: Barbarians! (UK, Amazon-free Epub), which I originally wrote for my son. Frankly, I’m a bit brain dead, so you’ll pardon…

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New Treasures: Werewolves: A Hunter’s Guide by Graeme Davis

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Graeme Davis is the co-author of the classic Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game, and he’s written adventures and supplements for most of the major RPG lines, including AD&D, Pathfinder, GURPS, Freeport, Vampire: The Masquerade, Colonial Gothic, and many others. He’s no stranger to Osprey’s Myths and Legends line either, with both Thor: The Viking God of Thunder and Theseus and the Minotaur to his credit. His latest book for Osprey, Werewolves: A Hunter’s Guide, reveals the shocking role that werewolves have played in some…

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What Really Happened at the First Siege of Orleans? And, Where Does Dark Age History Come From?

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When I was writing Shieldwall: Barbarians! I borrowed a trick from Bernard Cornwell and plunge my hero into the thick of all the epic battles. That’s how Prince Hengest and his Jutes ended up at the Siege of Orleans. No, not the Battle of New Orleans. And not the one with the Maid in it either. This one was much much earlier – AD451 – when Orleans was Aurelianum. There was however a hero in a dress, if that’s an…

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