By Vaughn Heppner This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Vaughn Heppner and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 by New Epoch Press. The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed…
By Michael Shea This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Michael Shea and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 by New Epoch Press. Warning: This story involves mature themes. Reader discretion is advised. An elderly woman named Maureen, neatly dressed and manicured, sat on a bus-stop bench in San Francisco. She was watching the leisurely approach…
When I began writing Queen of Thorns, my favorite secondary characters were the bleachling gnome Fimbulthicket and the elven Calistrian inquisitor Kemeili. Before long, however, the elven paladin Oparal grew closest to my heart. That proved problematic because I was revealing her character through the eyes of my flawed protagonists, Radovan and Varian, each of whom has his own tilted worldview when it comes to elves, paladins, women, or all three. Thus, by the end of the novel I feared…
By Vaughn Heppner This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Vaughn Heppner and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 by New Epoch Press. …Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea. — Isaiah 27:1 1. Whistles…
By Aaron Bradford Starr This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Aaron Bradford Starr and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 by New Epoch Press. Art by Aaron Bradford Starr Our Luck Turns While not exactly fugitives from justice, Gloren, Yr Neh, and I have found ourselves fleeing from various legal entanglements better resolved in our absence…
By Robert Rhodes This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Robert Rhodes and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 by New Epoch Press. Her eyes… Piran’s blood ran cold, and his vision dimmed. He could not breathe, could not complete the arc of his sword. But the numbness passed like a chilling wave, and he cut down…
by Gregory Bierly This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Gregory Bierly and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2013 by New Epoch Press. Original art by Rachel Patterson. And last, emperor, understand the price of your dominion, of your mastery of my sea, knowledge of its secret currents and the hidden way of its storms. If a…
By C.S.E. Cooney This is a complete work of fiction presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of C.S.E. Cooney and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2012 by New Epoch Press. Part One: Lector I was eight when I met Jaks. He was running away from home and I was trying to catch a fish in one of Viceroy Eriphit’s reeking public ponds. “Um, excuse…
We still get e-mail about “Two-Skins,” Shawn L. Johnson’s cover story for Black Gate 5. The tale of a brave and very resourceful young man dragged in chains to the Emperor’s gladiatorial games captured the hearts of many of our readers, and it was obvious the author was destined for great things. Now we have the pleasure of seeing that promise unfold, with a generous excerpt from Shawn’s first novel, Oath of Six, the first in The Heart of Darkness series,…
When I was invited to write a guest post, I immediately turned to manga. To my knowledge, Black Gate has never had a post dedicated to Japanese comics before, and I think that absence needs to be rectified. The series I am about to recommend to you are as good, as dramatic, and as entertaining as any American comic book or even fantasy and science fiction novel. What follows is a list of some of my personal favorites, as well…