Black Gate – Page 510 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Swing Into Action With Your Very Own Spider-Man Hoodie from USAJacket

Sunday, August 6, 2017 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Drew models a USAJacket Spider-Man Homecoming Red Hoodie-small

Drew models a Spider-Man Homecoming Red Hoodie 3-small

It’s a tough gig being an editor. It’s not enough to just keep a steady drumbeat of content — you also need to mix it up a bit. That’s one reason every article at Black Gate is tagged with at least one category…. makes it easier to tell at a glance when we’re over-saturated on New Releases, Magazines, and Reviews, and it’s time to commission a News piece, or something on Comics, maybe. Or Music, or RPGs.

Of course, some categories get less attention than others. Fashion, for example, is probably the most neglected category we have. Patty Templeton asked me to add it five years ago so she could do a brief feature on Crisiswear, and we’ve had maybe half a dozen reasons to use it since. Let’s just say that fashion is not my beat.

So I’m very pleased that, after producing some 4,000 blog posts here at Black Gate, today I’m writing my first fashion article. It’s because of a gift I ordered for my son’s 20th birthday: a Spider-Man Homecoming Red Hoodie from USAJacket, which Drew is so kindly modeling for us above. Once it arrived and I saw how it looked on him, I knew other members of the Black Gate community would be interested.

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A Glimpse of the Secret Pervert Republic: The Best American Noir of the Century, edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler

Sunday, August 6, 2017 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

The Best American Noir of the Century small

The Best American Noir of the Century back-small

I’ve recently been enjoying the massive 2011 anthology The Best American Noir of the Century, which isn’t science fiction or fantasy, but which does showcase a lot of highly regarded SF and fantasy writers, including Charles Beaumont, Cornell Woolrich, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, and others.

The first question I had when I set set eyes on this book was “Which century are they talking about?” Turns out it’s neither the 20th nor the 21st… it’s the last hundred years, give or take. The book includes 39 stories arranged chronologically by publication date, starting with Tod Robbins “Spurs,” which first appeared in Munsey’s Magazine in February 1923, and ending with Lorenzo Carcaterra’s “Missing the Morning Bus,” from Penzler’s 2007 anthology of poker stories, Dead Man’s Hand.

Penzler gives a nice overview of the history of noir fiction in his Foreword, but it’s Ellroy’s introduction, in which he claims that American noir describes “the demography of a Secret Pervert Republic” that I found especially entertaining. Here’s a few snippets.

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July/August Interzone Now on Sale

Saturday, August 5, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The July/August issue of Britain’s longest running science fiction and fantasy magazine has new fiction by Julie C. Day, Tim Casson, Michael Reid, Eliot Fintushel, Chris Barnham, and Andy Dudak, plus David Langford’s Ansible Link, film reviews by Nick Lowe; book reviews, and columns by Jonathan McCalmont and Nina Allan. Here’s Robert L Turner III, writing at Tangent Online.

Michael Reid’s “If Your Powers Fail you in a City Under Tin” is set in a future where magic has returned to the world after the God Beast tore a hole into this dimension. Jun, a portalist with control problems and a haunted past, starts to panic when his lover, Riel, disappears while fighting for the UN. As a week passes without word, Jun finally discovers how to control his abilities and makes an attempt to rescue Riel…

Eliot Fintushel creates a world in which people are partnered by genetic match in “Chubba Luna.” Sweeney, the protagonist, lives in a chaotic world where society has almost broken down and due to NPJ, Non-Punitive Justice, there are few consequences for any actions. He, Mo, Sheila Mo’s paired partner, and the Bartender gather together to argue, drink and decide what to do with their lives and partners…

“When I Close my Eyes” by Chris Barnham is the story of the first manned expedition to Titan. Darlo, one of the team, becomes trapped in an ice cave and has to make his way out while dealing with visions of his dead wife. When he discovers that there is life on the moon and that it seems to dislike his light he has to rely on faith in his hallucinations to save him. The story, an explorer facing a hostile environment is a common one, but Barnham does a good job of mixing the psychological elements to add depth to the piece…

Professor Turner’s complete review is here.

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The Poison Apple: An Interview with Author Jennifer Brozek

Saturday, August 5, 2017 Elizabeth Crowens Comments 1 comment

Jennifer Brozek, photo by M. Dutta

Jennifer Brozek is a 2x Bram Stoker Award Nominee, most recently for Last Days of Salton Academy.

Your specialty seems to be YA.

Yes, it has turned into that, but that wasn’t always the case. In the past, I did a lot of tie-in fiction for Shadowrun (cyberpunk with magic) and Battletech, which was Young Adult, but Shadowrun was not. I’ve had the most acclaim for my YA work, and every YA novel I’ve written has been nominated or has actually won an award.

This seems to be a success formula for you.

I’ve discovered that and tend to write for age twelve to seventeen. Many adults like my work, too, and I think a lot of it is because I never talk down to teenagers. If they don’t understand something, they have Google. They can look up something they don’t understand.

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Hobo Fights: A Chat with Image Comics’ Rock Candy Mountain Creator Kyle Starks

Saturday, August 5, 2017 Derek Kunsken Comments 0 Comment

Image Comics is soon releasing the first trade paperback of Kyle Starks’ Rock Candy Mountain, collecting issues 1-4. The original solicitation runs as follows:

Eisner-nominated comic creator Kyle Starks would like to invite you to enter the magical world of hobos. The world’s toughest hobo is searching through post-WW2 America for the mythological Rock Candy Mountain, and he’s going to have to fight his way to get there. Lots of hobo fights. So many hobo fights. A new action-comedy series full of high action, epic stakes, magic, friendship, trains, punching, kicking, joking, a ton of hobo nonsense, and the Literal Devil. Yeah. The Literal Devil.

Who could turn down a description like that? I had a chance to catch up with Kyle for an e-mail interview about this fiesta of fisticuffs and the hobo code of honor.

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Future Treasures: The New Voices of Fantasy, edited by Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman

Friday, August 4, 2017 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Aside from the usual crop of Best of the Year books, I’ve been disappointed with this year’s reprint anthologies. So I’m intrigued and hopeful about The New Voices of Fantasy, a very promising reprint anthology with a Table of Contents that reads like a Who’s Who of the best new voices in the genre — including Amal El-Mohtar, Sofia Samatar, Sarah Pinsker, Max Gladstone, Hannu Rajaniemi, Maria Dahvana Headley, Ursula Vernon, and many others. Kirkus Reviews calls it “Stellar… proves not only that fantasy is alive and well, but that it will be for years to come.”

The contents include Alyssa Wong’s Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” Ursula Vernon’s Nebula Award winner “Jackalope Wives,” and Usman T. Malik’s British Fantasy Award Award winner “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn.” It also contains an original story by Eugene Fischer. Here’s the description.

What would you do if a tornado wanted you to be its Valentine? Or if a haunted spacesuit banged on your door? When is the ideal time to turn into a tiger? Would you post a supernatural portal on Craigslist?

In these nineteen stories, the enfants terribles of fantasy have arrived. The New Voices of Fantasy captures some of the fastest-rising talents of the last five years, including Sofia Samatar, Maria Dahvana Headley, Max Gladstone, Alyssa Wong, Usman T. Malik, Brooke Bolander, E. Lily Yu, Ben Loory, Ursula Vernon, and more. Their tales were hand-picked by the legendary Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn) and genre expert Jacob Weisman (The Treasury of the Fantastic).

So go ahead and join the Communist revolution of the honeybees. The new kids got your back.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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How Did That Get Published?

Friday, August 4, 2017 Violette Malan Comments 5 comments

OdysseyPope Last time out I talked about how the experience of reading has changed, from listening to the storytellers in the market square, to downloading a book onto your e-reader of choice. Publishing has also gone through some sea changes, though its practical history really only begins with Gutenberg. Before that, as I mentioned in the earlier post, there was more copying than publishing going on.

It wasn’t until professional printers were ubiquitous, however, that what we now think of as publishing really got started. Nowadays people tend to divide the publishing world into “traditional” publishing, with people like DAW, Ace, and Tor, etc. and “self-publishing” where you pay for your books to be printed, or for an e-book to be created (or do it yourself if you have the skills) or you take advantage of the kind of e-publishing that a business like Amazon offers. The point being that you take on all the risk and all the expense yourself.

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Goth Chick News: The Illuminati Are Coming for Us via Outback Steakhouse

Thursday, August 3, 2017 Sue Granquist Comments 2 comments

I have somewhat of a love / hate relationship with conspiracy theories. Love them for the creative ways some people manage to find patterns in chaos, and hate them because those same people hear hoof beats outside a window and immediately think it’s a zebra – no matter what.

Occam’s Razor… that’s all I’m saying.

But I must admit, I love this latest theory which has been burning up the Internet since late last week; that the Illuminati, or maybe Satan’s minions are working against humanity, or at least laundering money, through Outback Steakhouse.

It started with one observant Twitter user who, for whatever reason, mapped the Outback Steakhouses first in his vicinity, then in other major cities and noticed a somewhat disturbing pattern in the restaurants’ locations.

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Playing Child Friendly OneDice Fantasy on the Edge of the World

Thursday, August 3, 2017 M Harold Page Comments 1 comment

255 OneDice Fantasy — Vaguely renaissance setting that recalls Warhammer Fantasy RPG

Isle of Harris, Scottish Hebrides.

Still bleeding from the last trap, the wounded warrior positions himself against the wall on the hinge side of the door, leans out and turns the handle.

SLAM!

The door swings open with surprising force and whacks him like a fly swat.

And outside the window, the dark clouds sweep in from the Atlantic. Rain rattles on the glass.

Yes, we’re playing OneDice Fantasy on the Isle of Harris, practically the edge of the world. Step out the door and swim the wrong direction and the next stop is the USA. (Go take a look at where we stayed.)

Around the table are my wife and both kids — 13 and 8 –, plus the drummer from my old rock and roll band, his wife — a novice player — and their two kids, 11 and 8. It’s their son’s Fighter who just took several points of damage from an old school dungeon. His little sister, meanwhile, is having fun being an elf.

It’s more adults than I’ve ever GM’d at one go, and actually more people. However, the rules are easy to run so I’m surviving.

Skeletal ferryman aside, it’s not quite Nerd Outreach Beyond the Styx. Our hosts were already keen players of co-op games like Forbidden Island and Warhammer figures have already invaded the table in the lounge. That’s why I brought a selection of OneDice books with me on holiday… that and the chance to actually read them in depth.

The OneDice engine is like Fate, but more simulationist and using only 1D6…

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Urban Fantasies and Robot Westerns: The Novels of C. Robert Cargill

Thursday, August 3, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

In the wider world, C. Robert Cargill is probably best known for his Nebula-nominated script for the movie version of Doctor Strange, and for the uber-creepy Sinister (brrrr). But around these parts, he’s known for his pair of novels about the Austin wizard Colby: his debut Dreams and Shadows (2013) and the sequel Queen of the Dark Things (2014). In her Tor.com review, Emily Nordling said, “Dark, comedic, and unsettling, Dreams and Shadows is everything an urban fantasy sets out to be.” I bought both books last year and put them near the top of my to-be-read pile.

But now along comes his third novel, Sea of Rust, a robot western set in a post-apocalyptic landscape in which humans have been wiped out in a machine uprising. This doesn’t just one threaten to replace his previous two in my TBR pile; it’s likely it will move right to the top. It arrives in hardcover from Harper Voyager on September 5.

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