Search Results for: liptak

New Treasures: Apart in the Dark by Ania Ahlborn

It was Goth Chick who introduced me to the novels of Ania Ahlborn, with her advance review of The Neighbors (which she said “lies somewhere near the intersection of Blue Velvet and Basic Instinct due to its psychological suspense and ever-mounting terror”). Goth Chick interviewed Ania just a few months later, and teased a tale of childhood horror out of her involving a Ouija board and a couple of porcelain dolls (“These things, I swear… they’d change position in the night.”) When…

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The 2018 World Fantasy Awards Ballot

The 2018 World Fantasy Awards Ballot, containing a whole bunch of books I haven’t read yet, has just been announced. The ballot is compiled by the voting attendees of the World Fantasy Convention, all of whom clearly read a lot more than I do. Where do they find the time? Don’t they have blog posts to write, like normal people? At least I have my membership for the convention, so I’ll be there to watch all the excitement unfold. It’s still a…

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The Verge on 13 Enthralling Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Need to Check Out This June

Andrew Liptak at The Verge has dipped into the thundering production pipelines at America’s publishing houses for the month of June, and returned with a secret list of the 13 very best science fiction and fantasy books — including novels by Paul Tremblay, Yoon Ha Lee, Peter Watts, Katie Williams, Alex White, Rob Boffard, Melissa F. Olson, and Black Gate‘s own Todd McAuty. Many bothans died to bring us this information. Use it wisely. The Robots of Gotham by Todd McAulty (John Joseph…

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in March

The most popular topic at Black Gate last month was the Gary Con gaming convention in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Gary Gygax’s home town. Part 1 of my convention report, in which I detailed the angry fallout among Pathfinder licensees to Paizo’s announcement of an impending Second Edition — including the “Pathfinder by the POUND!!” liquidation at the Frog God booth — was our most popular post for the month, by a pretty wide margin. Part 2 of my report, a 17-photo pictorial…

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in February

January sure was popular with readers. The most popular article at Black Gate last month was… our summary of the most popular articles at Black Gate the previous month. If that patterns hold, this will be the most popular article on the blog in March. To guarantee that, I’ve put a big picture of Godzilla at the top. You’re welcome. Getting back to more regular fare, the second most popular post on the blog last month was Elizabeth Crowens’ epic interview…

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New Treasures: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

African fantasy and SF is experiencing a true renaissance, and while it’s tempting to give much of the credit to the astonishing worldwide success of Black Panther, in truth the trend has been building for years. Tomi Adeyemi’s West African-inspired debut is a full-blown publishing phenomenon all on its own, for example. Publisher Henry Holt Books made a pre-emptive 7-figure bid for it last year, making it one of the biggest debut YA books of all time. Entertainment Weekly labels it “A…

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The Return of OMNI Magazine

I was never quite sure what to make of OMNI magazine. OMNI first appeared in 1978. It was published by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and, while it didn’t publish pornography, it never quite became a real science fiction magazine, either. True, it published some of my favorite SF of the 80s, including the brilliant SF/horror tale “Sandkings” by George R.R. Martin, “Unaccompanied Sonata” by Orson Scott Card, and stories by Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Alfred Bester, Harlan Ellison, Bruce…

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The 2018 Philip K. Dick Nominees

The nominees for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award, given each year for distinguished science fiction originally published in paperback in the United States, have been announced. They are (links will take you to our previous coverage): The Book of Etta by Meg Elison (47North) Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (Orbit) After the Flare by Deji Bryce Olukotun (The Unnamed Press) The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt (Angry Robot) Revenger by Alastair Reynolds (Orbit) Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin…

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The Future is Global Micro-Democracy: Malka Older’s The Centenal Cycle

Malka Older’s debut novel Infomocracy made a huge splash last year — The Huffington Post called it “one of the greatest literary debuts in recent history,” and it was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The Verge, Flavorwire, Kirkus, and Book Riot. In the SF community, it was a Locus Award Finalist for Best First Novel. It’s no exaggeration to say that the sequel, Null States, is one of the most anticipated novels…

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The Verge on 14 SF, Fantasy, and Horror Books for August

Here at the end of the month, I’ve been amusing myself by comparing the books selected by each of the major genre sites for their monthly lists: August’s Must-Read Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (John DeNardo, Kirkus Reviews) — 19 books The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of August (Jeff Somers, the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog) — 25 books The Best Comics & Graphic Novels of August (Ross Johnson, the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog)…

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