Black Gate – Page 490 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

The Late November Fantasy Magazine Rack

Wednesday, November 29, 2017 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

If you’re a magazine fan, November continues to be very, very good to you. The latest crop of magazines include brand new fiction by BG regulars John C. Hocking and John R. Fultz, plus Charlie Jane Anders, Ashok K. Banker, Bruce McAllister, Keith Taylor, Nick Mamatas and Tim Pratt, and many more. Here’s the complete list of magazines that won my attention in late November (links will bring you to magazine websites).

Albedo One — issue 47 is a bumper 88 pages, with stories by Teis Teng, Bruce McAllister, Karla Schmidt, and Michele Piccolino — plus the winners of the International Aeon Award Short Fiction Contest
Back Issue— issue #101 is 84 pages in full color, featuring an interview with the star of Flash Gordon, Sam J. Jones
Lightspeed — issue #90 has original fiction from Ashok K. Banker, Charlie Jane Anders, Kathleen Kayembe, and Max Wynne
Meeple Monthly — with coverage of the newest board games, featuring Blue Orange Games, Galakta Games, Greenbrier Games, Pandasaurus Games, and Renegade Game Studios
Apex Magazine — with new fiction from S.B. Divya, K.A. Teryna, and “The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft” by Nick Mamatas and Tim Pratt
Locus — interviews with David Marusek and Aliette de Bodard, a column by Cory Doctorow, obituaries and appreciations of Kit Reed, Julian May, and Yoji Kondo, and reviews of books by Victor LaValle, Jane Yolen, Tim Pratt, Sarah Gailey, and many others.
Outposts of Beyond — stories by Karen & Bill Otto, Pedro Iniguez, Vaughan Stanger, and editor Tyree Campbell
Skelos — issue #3 has contributions from two popular Black Gate authors, John C. Hocking and John R. Fultz, plus fiction from Keith Taylor, Chris Gruber, Ed Erdelac, Josh Rountree, and many others

Click any of the thumbnail images above for bigger images. Our early November Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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Off on Another Writing Retreat in Cairo

Wednesday, November 29, 2017 Sean McLachlan Comments 0 Comment

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The title of this post is a not-so-clever way to say I’m taking the month of December off from blogging. Back in February, I spent a few weeks in Egypt writing my neo-pulp detective novel The Case of the Purloined Pyramid, which recently won the Kindle Scout contest. It’s coming out soon and I’m using part of my advance to head on back to Cairo to write the next one, The Case of the Shifting Sarcophagus.

I’ll be seeing friends, hopefully making new ones, helping a colleague with his fascinating book proposal, and visiting some sights. Mostly I’ll be wandering around the old medieval neighborhood, where one of my heroes has his antiquities shop. Nothing like walking the actual streets to get the old brain pan bubbling!

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New Treasures: The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear

Wednesday, November 29, 2017 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Elizabeth Bear won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2005, and followed that in quick succession with two Hugo wins: in 2008 a Best Short Story nod for “Tideline,” and in 2009 a Best Novelette award for “Shoggoths in Bloom.”

Her biggest commercial hit so far has been her Eternal Sky trilogy (Range of Ghosts, Shattered Pillars, Steles of the Sky). Last month she returned to the world of Eternal Sky with a brand new trilogy, The Lotus Kingdoms, which kicked off with The Stone in the Skull, now available in hardcover from Tor.

The Stone in the Skull, the first volume in her new trilogy, takes readers over the dangerous mountain passes of the Steles of the Sky and south into the Lotus Kingdoms.

The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from a the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort.

They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire.

Tor.com usually offers up sample chapters of new Tor releases, and they didn’t disappoint us this time. Check out Chapter One here, and Chapter Two hidden in a completely different place here.

The Stone in the Skull was published by Tor Books on October 10, 2017. It is 368 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Richard Anderson.

Stories of Wild Childhood Adventure: The Wildwood Chronicles by Colin Meloy

Tuesday, November 28, 2017 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Colin Meloy is a talented guy. As the frontman for the rock band The Decemberists he’s sold over a million records around the world. His debut novel, Wildwood, became a New York Times bestseller, and grew into a bestselling trilogy that has been called “full of suspense and danger and frightening things the world has never seen,” (Lemony Snicket), and which Michael Chabon calls “Dark and whimsical, with a true and uncanny sense of otherworldliness… the heir to a great tradition of stories of wild childhood adventure.” Here’s the description for the first volume.

Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. That is, until her brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a dense, tangled forest on the edge of Portland.

So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much greater as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.

All three novels in the series are illustrated by Carson Ellis, the acclaimed illustrator of The Mysterious Benedict Society. Here’s a look at all three back covers.

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A Homecoming: Son of Mfumu by Milton J. Davis

Tuesday, November 28, 2017 Fletcher Vredenburgh Comments 4 comments

“…keep it old school. Don’t make it boring, pack it with action, don’t invert it, converge it, or subvert it. Have a hero even if he is a rascal. Have some gothic atmosphere and a touch of cosmicism. Give it technicolor and dream dust instead of shades of gray. Have the ending mean something.” -Morgan Holmes, on writing a classic S&S story.

Milton Davis’ five volume series about the mighty and wily Changa Diop is swords & sorcery cast from a classic mold, the dimensions of which were first set down ninety years ago by Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and C.L. Moore. Changa is a hero through and through. Even when he’s got one eye focused on making a profit, the other is on his own honor and courage. There are wonderful descriptions of a vibrant, exciting world designed perfectly as a stage for mighty adventures, but done so well it never impedes the action. Of action, there’s more than enough for any S&S fan, ranging from duels with pirates to epic battles with demonic conjurations. Heroes are bold and villains deadly. This is the root stuff of which good S&S is made.

Whenever you get bummed out about the current state of S&S, rest assured that there are authors hewing to something like Holmes’ cri-de-coeur. And they aren’t making copies of the tried and true, but crafting their own myths and legends, adding their rousing additions to this genre we love.

Starting with Changa’s Safari (2011), and continuing for four more books, Milton Davis has sent our titular hero to the ends of the earth in search of the means to avenge his father’s murder, and claim the throne of Kongo from the usurper and sorcerer, Usenge. Each comrade with whom he surrounds himself is skilled and memorable in his own way. Foremost, there is the blue-robed and silent swordsman known only as the Tuareg. Zakee is a young Yemeni prince rescued from a disastrous marriage, the irascible navigator Mikaili is an Ethiopian with plans to become an priest someday…just never today, and finally there is Panya, Yoruban sorceress and beloved of Changa.

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Amazing Science Fiction Stories, February 1960: A Retro-Review

Monday, November 27, 2017 Rich Horton Comments 3 comments

Here’s a pretty early Cele Goldsmith issue. The names on the TOC reflect that — a lot different than in the 1963-1965 era — only Ben Bova would be familiar from latter days, and he mostly did nonfiction.

The cover is by Edward Valigursky, another contributor who didn’t appear as much later on. (His last cover was for the May 1960 issue.) Interiors are by Leo Summers, Varga, and Virgil Finlay. The editorial, extremely brief, is as ever by Norman Lobsenz, and concerns suspended animation. S. E. Cotts’ book reviews cover Manly Wade Wellman’s The Dark Destroyers, which she enjoyed a great deal more than I did; The Outward Urge, by John Wyndham and Lucas Parkes, a fixup of four stories from Fantastic, which she didn’t like much at all; and John Brunner’s The World Swappers, which she thought quite good.

The lettercol has contributions from Chester F. Milburn, Mike Deckinger, Ronald Felty, Philip A. Harrell, Arthur B. Prag, and Tobey Reed.

The stories are:

Complete Novel

“Transient,” by Ward Moore (35,000 words)

Short Stories

“A Long Way Back,” by Ben Bova (6,000 words)
“Divvy Up,” by Milt Lesser (4,700 words)
“It’s a Good Trick If …,” by Kate Wilhelm (1,900 words)
“A Jar of Jelly Beans,” by Franklin Gregory (4,900 words)

To begin with the short novel. Ward Moore (1903-1978) published five novels, beginning with Greener Than You Think (1947). His most famous novel by far is Bring the Jubilee (1953), a very well-regarded alternate history in which the South wins the Civil War. He is also remembered for his last novel, Joyleg (1962), a collaboration with Avram Davidson, about a Revolutionary War veteran discovered to be still alive in the present time; and for a stunning post-Apocalyptic (or “during the Apocalypse”) story, “Lot,” along with its sequel, “Lot’s Daughter.” As a writer he started late and finished early, with the great bulk of his fiction appearing between 1947 and 1962 (though a few more stories appeared in the ’70s).

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Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year 1, edited by Terry Carr

Monday, November 27, 2017 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year 1 Terry Carr-small

The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year 1 Terry Carr-back-small

Some of the most rewarding books I’ve read in the past few years have been anthologies edited by Terry Carr. Even though he died 30 years ago, in April 1987, his books remain splendid reading for modern audiences, and I think it’s very possible Carr may have been the most gifted editor our field has ever seen. The sixteen volumes of The Best Science Fiction of the Year (1972-1987) he edited may well be the high water mark for Year’s Best anthologies.

In 1979 and 1980, Carr convinced Lester del Del at Del Rey Books to allow him to try an experiment. In effect, to see if the market would bear an additional Terry Carr Best SF, this one showcasing the best SF novellas of the year. It was a noble ambition, and a great idea, but that didn’t mean the market was ready for it. The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year died after two volumes, and Carr went back to the frustrating task of trying to fit as many novellas as he could into his slender Best SF paperbacks every year.

I’ve never read either of his Best Novellas books before. But, like his regular Best SF series, both volumes are packed with classic fiction that has stood the test of time, as well as genuine finds. I recently came across the first one in a collection I bought on eBay. I was expecting greatness, and I was not disappointed.

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Looting is Better With Friends: Dungeon Dwellers

Sunday, November 26, 2017 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

I’m still unpacking the boxes I brought home from the Fall 2017 Games Plus auction. There’s so many SF and fantasy board games being published these days that it’s impossible to keep up. But you know, I do my best.

A week after the auction, I dropped by Games Plus in Mount Prospect to grab a handful of new releases I had my eye on. There in the sale bin was Dungeon Dwellers, a “cooperative card game for 2 or more players” released in 2014. Now, I still have a stack of unopened auction games in my living room, slowly collecting dust and making my wife cranky. But I love dungeon games, and I especially love cooperative dungeon games. And the thing that especially makes me weak in the knees is a deep discount. Ten minutes later I left the store with Dungeon Dwellers, wrapped in a paper bag so I could stealthily sneak it into the house.

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Giving up the Ghost: All Hallows 43

Sunday, November 26, 2017 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

When I was at the 2016 World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio last year, I accomplished something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: buy the current issue of All Hallows, the acclaimed Canadian journal of spooky fiction. It’s been published since the mid-90s, and was nominated for the International Horror Guild Award in 2003, and the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Back issues are still available at their website, but I wanted to hold a copy in my hot little hands before handing over my shekels for international shipping.

Issue #43 was well worth the wait. Weighing in at 304 pages, it contains new fiction from Frances Hardinge, Rhys Hughes, J.J. Travis, Terry Grimwood, John Alfred Taylor, and many others. There’s also plenty of great articles and reviews. The editors are also the folks behind the highly regarded Ash Tree Press, and much of the material originally published in All Hallows has ended up reprinted in one of their attractive collections. The Ghost Story Society website has a fine description of their magazine:

All Hallows is the twice-yearly journal of The Ghost Story Society. This substantial publication, which is now 300 pages per issue, is edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden.

Each issue of the journal offers a mixture of items dealing with all aspects of the ghost story world. In addition to articles dealing with authors such as M. R. James, E. F. Benson, Amyas Northcote, Eleanor Scott, Elizabeth Jane Howard, H. G. Wells, August Derleth, Robert Aickman, Walter de la Mare, and other practitioners of the genre, there is a substantial review section dealing with new publications in the field; a News and Notes section covering new developments in the genre; a Film News and Notes section; articles about obscure and/or overlooked authors; Haunted Cinema, a regular feature looking at classic supernatural films; ‘Ramsey Campbell, Probably’; and letters and queries from our members.

All Hallows is also the Society’s major forum for new supernatural fiction, with an average of seven stories appearing in each issue. These are all new stories — not reprints of previously used material — by authors such as Simon Clark, A. F. Kidd, Terry Lams… Ellen Datlow, in her Introduction to The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 10, wrote that All Hallows ‘is a must for aficionados of the classic ghost story.’

All Hallows 43 is the Summer 2007 issue, which appears to be the most recent. So while it’s good to get so many questions answered, obtaining this issue opens up a deeper mystery. Namely, is the magazine still being published?

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in October

Saturday, November 25, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Sword and Sorcery dominated the stage at Black Gate last month. The most popular topic in October was the new S&S magazine from industry pioneers Joseph Goodman and Howard Andrew Jones, Tales From the Magician’s Skull, which showed up twice in the Top Ten, first with a far-ranging interview with Joseph and Howard (and their undead overlord, the Talking Skull), followed by a report on the blockbuster Kickstarter that funded the first two issues.

Gaming and game news were definitely popular as well. The #1 article for the month was M. Harold Page’s review of Starfinder Alien Archive, followed by our look at the top-sellers at the semi-annual Games Plus auction in Mount Prospect. Goth Chick came in third with her trip report on the Cedar Point HalloWeekends event, featuring Midnight Syndicate’s 20th anniversary concert. Rounding out the Top Five were Elizabeth Crowens’ interview with horror master Nancy Kilpatrick, and M. Harold Page’s advance peek at the Elite Dangerous Role Playing Game.

Coming in at #7 for the month was Fletcher Vredenburgh’s touching reminiscence of his long-time gaming circle, “The Past Remembered.” Ninth was our feature on the very first piece of Greyhawk fiction, Gygax’s 1974 article “The Expedition Into the Black Reservoir: A Dungeon Adventure at Greyhawk Castle.” And closing out the Top Ten was our look at the popular Corpse-Rat King novels by Lee Battersby

The complete list of Top Articles for October follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular overall articles, online fiction, and blog categories for the month.

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