Search Results for: Soyka

New Treasures: Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries. and Rogues, edited by J.M. Martin

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I first heard about the massive Blackguards anthology, which showcases tales of thieves, rogues and assassins, when Laura Resnick wrote a guest post for us last year, “Living Outside Society’s Rules,” talking about her short story “Friendship,” set in the world of her Silerian trilogy and taking place a few years before the first book, In Legend Born. I was intrigued… but since then I’ve learned that Blackguards contains stories set in over two dozen fantasy worlds, from writers like…

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Expanding Our Magazine Coverage at Black Gate

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I’ve slowly been expanding our coverage of fantasy magazines here at Black Gate. Despite how dramatically the industry has changed over the decades since I started reading it, I still consider magazines the heart of the field. Our coverage is not nearly as comprehensive as I’d like it to be, but we’re getting there. I thought I’d pause for a moment and take stock of those publications we currently cover, and see if there are any obvious holes. They are: Fantasy…

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Future Treasures: The Liar’s Key, by Mark Lawrence

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The Liar’s Key, the second book in Mark Lawrence’s new series The Red Queen’s War, will be published this June. The first volume, Prince of Fools, was released in June 2013; this new volume continues the story of the unusual fellowship between a rogue prince and a weary warrior. It is set in the same world as his previous trilogy The Broken Empire (Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns, and the 2014 David Gemmell Legend Award winner Emperor of Thorns). We published…

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Clarkesworld 97 now on Sale

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You know, we don’t pay enough attention to Clarkesworld. Clarkesworld, founded by Neil Clarke and edited by Sean Wallace, is one of the genre’s pioneering online magazines — and also one of its most successful. It has been published monthly for over eight years, since October 2006. Each issue is packed with fiction, interviews, and articles, and the cover art — like this month’s gorgeously gonzo piece from Sandeep Karunakaran — is consistently excellent. (Click the image at right for…

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Vintage Treasures: Two Decades of Interzone

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Interzone is the leading British science fiction magazine and has been for over 30 years. It was founded in 1982 and editor David Pringle remained at the helm for 193 issues, until he stepped down in 2004. Since then, it has been part of the TTA Press stable, with the capable Andy Cox as editor; their latest issue — Interzone 252, May–June 2014 — arrived earlier this month. In fact,the only thing not marvelous about Interzone is that it’s so hard to come…

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Congratulations to Black Gate on 3,000 Blog Posts!

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I feel like one of the service staff at a restaurant, waiting excitedly at the entrance for their 10,000th customer. Minus the cool food service uniform. Ryan Harvey’s article on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Oakdale Affair, which went live less than an hour ago, was our 3,000th post. Congratulations to Ryan — and indeed, to the entire Black Gate staff. The Black Gate blog was the brainchild of Howard Andrew Jones, who suggested I replace the outdated site he and…

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Merry Christmas from Black Gate

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The lights are dim at the Black Gate rooftop headquarters, and there’s a light dusting of snow on all the desks. I dropped by to pick up the leftover egg nog from the Christmas party and discovered a rare thing: a deserted office. Even Goth Chick’s minions seem to have slipped their chains. The only noise I hear comes from deep in the comic archives, where the tireless Mike Penkas is scribbling a Christmas Red Sonja post, muttering “For the love of…

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Librarians to the Rescue: Worldsoul by Liz Williams

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Worldsoul Liz Williams Prime (311 pp, $14.95 in paperback, August 2012) Reviewed by David Soyka The stereotypical image of your local librarian is that of a dowdy, matronly spinster who is constantly telling you to “shush” while your adolescent self is trying to do something vastly more interesting (usually involving a person with whom you are sexually attracted) than figure out the Dewey Decimal system. And, these days with whatever we need to find out only a Google away, who…

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Uncle Ray is Dead

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Ray Bradbury has died, chronologically at age 91, though he managed throughout his career to maintain the awe and wonder of a 12-year old. Here is a picture of him surrounded by one of the many anachronisms he loved,  something called printed books. And here’s something I wrote a while ago about his influence on me.

Cosmic Crimes Stories #2

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Okay, I don’t really know anything about Cosmic Crimes Stories. I’d never even heard about it until today. But I know it’s cool. And let’s be honest — that should be good enough for you. What is Cosmic Crimes Stories? I’m operating a little on faith here, since I’ve never actually seen a copy. But according to the website, it’s “a biannual digest of science fiction and fantasy crimes and criminals.” Um, what? A little more digging reveals that it’s a magazine…

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