The cover for this issue is by Leo Summers. Interior illustrations are by Dan Adkins (who also contributes the back cover) and Walker. The editorial recounts two recent cases of apparently fantastical occurrences in real life — with, in both cases, pretty straightforward mundane explanations. The letter column features letters from Leo A. Brodeur (a professor of French Literature at Laurentian University), discussing SF writers as “the poets of science”; and R. Martinkivi, praising the magazine.
The stories are:
Novelets
“A Bit of the Dark World,” by Fritz Leiber (12,500 words)
“A Silence of Wings,” by Daniel F. Galouye (10,500 words)
Yoon Ha Lee’s debut novel Ninefox Gambit was one of the most acclaimed SF novels of 2016, nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and its sequel, Raven Stratagem, is one of the most highly anticipated books of 2017. It arrives in paperback from Solaris next month,
Captain Kel Cheris is possessed by a long-dead traitor general. Together they must face the rivalries of the hexarchate and a potentially devastating invasion.
When the hexarchate’s gifted young captain Kel Cheris summoned the ghost of the long-dead General Shuos Jedao to help her put down a rebellion, she didn’t reckon on his breaking free of centuries of imprisonment – and possessing her.
Even worse, the enemy Hafn are invading, and Jedao takes over General Kel Khiruev’s fleet, which was tasked with stopping them. Only one of Khiruev’s subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, seems to be able to resist the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao.
Jedao claims to be interested in defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev or Brezan trust him? For that matter, will the hexarchate’s masters wipe out the entire fleet to destroy the rogue general?
Both novels are set in the world of the hexarchate, also the setting for over half a dozen of Lee’s short stories, most of which can be read online. Raven Stratagem will be published by Solaris on June 13, 2017. It is 400 pages, priced at $9.99 in paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Chris Moore. Read an excerpt at Tor.com, and see all out coverage of the best upcoming SF & Fantasy here.
Exclusive Preview: Archipelago by Charlotte Ashley, Andrew Leon Hudson & Kurt Hunt
As I’m sure you’ve figured out, I’m a huge fan of propping up and promoting other writers. Most of the time that has been spotlighting and reviewing new novels and short fiction, but today I present to you Archipelago, a serialized online adventure fantasy series jointly written by authors Charlotte Ashley, Andrew Leon Hudson and Kurt Hunt. This isn’t just serial fiction that you can read and enjoy – it’s collaborative and competitive, where the readers get the opportunity to influence the fictional world. Here’s an official blurb from the project’s Kickstarter page:
Four hundred years ago, when control of the world came to depend on naval power as never before, a courageous few set off on journeys of discovery and conquest that would alter the fates of nations in ways no-one could imagine.
But once they’d sailed the seven seas, what if they found another.
This week I have been given the opportunity to share an exclusive preview of the Archipelago project. Below is my interview with Charlotte Ashley, one of the authors behind the project, followed by her prologue, “The Ur-Ring,” which will be continued in a series of serialized episodes, alongside similarly-structured narratives by her fellow writers. Her prologue will be exclusively available here for the next week, after which it and the other prologues will be posted on their Patreon page (see below). It’s no exaggeration to say that this is one of the coolest projects I’ve looked at since I started writing for Black Gate, and I hope you enjoy the sneak peek below.
OK, yeah, Doctor of Archaeology but that gives me the long view. (Professor James Brandistock Ph.D. at your service, by the way, but you can call me “Jim”.)
Where was I?
Some people need killing.
It’s true! History turns out better when certain individuals are removed from it.
Case in point? His Royal Highness Prince George, galactic playboy and hereditary ruler of the Planetary Principality of Badland. Now he was a man who’d make your trigger finger tense even if you’d never fired a blaster.
I can tell you this because I was groundside during the ’34 Badland Revolution, avoiding looters and opportunists as I negotiated the streets of Fortunata — that’s the planetary capital.
The smug little f–ker popped up on every TV screen in every bar and cafe, and — I assume — every home. He called for calm, promised to see justice done and grievances met.
And he didn’t bother to keep the smirk off of his jowly face.
Prince George didn’t need to. His bullshit was just box-ticking in case the Empire was paying attention: “I reached out to them, Your Excellency, truly I did. Mass murder was a last resort. I wept when I gave the order…”
See, the real message — the reason for Prince George’s smirk — was the Devastator. They’d set up the TV camera so you had a good view of it through the Prince’s study window. The alien super weapon has its own pinnacle above the Citadel Rock — imagine a clenched fist making a thumbs up — so I guess the study was built with that view in mind. They’d also taped the speech at the right time of day so that harsh white sunlight flashed off the thing’s weird tubes and dishes as the gun crew swept it left and right, showing off its field of fire.
Look, Prince George was saying, I have a literal gun to the city’s head.
The Strange, the RPG of dimension-hopping weirdness by Bruce R. Cordell and Monte Cook, was published by Monte Cook Games in 2014. We all know that all the coolest role playing games eventually spawn a fiction line, and thus it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see Bruce R. Cordell’s Myth of the Maker: A Novel of The Strange arrive from Angry Robot last month. It seems a fine intro to the powerful and mythic worldbuilding that’s gone into the vast cosmic canvas of The Strange. Check it out.
Carter Morrison didn’t want to kill his friends, or himself, but he had a good reason. It was them, or the end of all life on the planet.
Their sacrifice saved the world. Not that anyone knew it. Until Katherine Manners stumbled over a melting man in a computer room clutching a message of doom from another world.
Follow Carter Morrison, Catherine Manners, Elandine the Queen of Hazurrium, and Jason Cole — also known as the Betrayer — as they try to understand, survive, save, and in Jason’s case, break free of the fictional worlds that insulate Earth from the dangers of the Strange, where world-eating monstrosities called planetovores lurk.
This is by no means Cordell’s first foray into fiction… he’s authored at least half a dozen Forgotten Realms novels, including The Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy (2008-2010). Myth of the Maker was published by Angry Robot on April 4, 2017. It is 384 pages, priced at $9.99 in paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Matt Stawicki.
Keep Up With the Latest Releases from Black Gate Authors
One of the things readers frequently ask me for is updates on their favorite Black Gate authors. We published hundreds of writers in the decade-plus the magazine was alive, and at least as many in the 10 years that we’ve been running the blog… that’s a lot of talented authors to keep tabs on!
Nevertheless, we do our best. Here’s a quick snapshot of the current and upcoming releases from some of your favorite Black Gate writers.
ElizaBeth Gilligan (“Iron Joan,” BG 3) releases Sovereign Silk, the long-awaited third novel in her Silken Magic series, from DAW on June 6
Bob Byrne, our Monday morning blogger (and resident Sherlock expert), has a story in the Spring 2017 issue of the revived Black Mask magazine
Martha Wells (the Giliead and Ilias tales in BG) published All Systems Red, the first book in The Murderbot Diaries, through Tor.com on May 2
Ellen Klages (“A Taste of Summer,” BG3) had her second collection Wicked Wonders come out from Tachyon Publications on May 9
James Enge (the Morlock stories) released his latest Kindle volume Iris Descends on January 15.
Derek Kunsken’s debut SF novel The Quantum Magician (“Ocean’s Eleven meets Guardians of the Galaxy“) will be published by Solaris Books in October 2018
Howard Andrew Jones has a brand new Dabir & Asim tale, “The Black Lion,” in the latest issue of Skelos magazine
In his review of Swords of Steel II, the second volume in D.M. Ritzlin’s ambitious Sword & Sorcery anthology series, Fletcher Vredenburgh expressed his enthusiastic support for the project.
Metal and S&S have been fist in glove for many a year now. They have the same penchant for extremes — the big gestures not the subtle, small ones. The idea that heavy metal musicians could turn their love for S&S into prose makes perfect sense.
And that’s exactly what D. M. Ritzlin has encouraged, starting with last year’s Swords of Steel, an anthology of heroic fantasy written by members of heavy metal bands. While I gave it a mixed review, I was utterly sold on the idea. The authors’ ardor was undeniable, even overwhelming weaknesses in some of the stories. Each story was illustrated with a work of hand-drawn lo-fi art that harks back to sketches on the backs of D&D character sheets and murals painted on the sides of vans. Flaws be damned, I enjoyed the book and was happy to learn that a second volume was being planned.
Needless to say, we were very pleased to hear that a third volume had been announced. Swords of Steel III, with brand new tales of Sword & Sorcery from eight musicians, new illustrations, and an epic intro from the legendary Mark Shelton (Manilla Road), arrives next week from DMR Books.
I don’t know nearly as much about D.G. Compton as I thought I did.
Yeah, I have a few of his novels, mostly because I collect early Ace editions. Synthajoy, Chronocules, The Silent Multitude, and his 1970 Nebula nominee The Steel Crocodile, sure. I thought that was about it, until I recently stumbled on a few others.
Curious, I did a quick ISFDB search, and discovered D.G. Compton produced no less than 20 SF novels between 1965 and 1996. Holy cats! Not only am I missing the vast majority of his work, I don’t even have half of his Ace novels. Just to rub salt into the wound, I found out he’s also had successful careers as a crime writer (under the name Guy Compton) and a writer of Gothic romances (under the name Frances Lynch).
Here’s something you don’t see every day, some preserved bread from the Eleventh Dynasty (2134-1991 BC) from Thebes. I snapped this photo in the Cairo Museum during a recent writing retreat.
… and I’m afraid that’s all I have for you this week from Egypt. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m working as a ghostwriter and I have a heinous deadline for a novel due this Friday. I’m also finishing up a short nonfiction booklet and my own novel, the one I went to Cairo to write in the first place. A minor character knocked the plot sideways and added 10,000 words to it.
So if I don’t want to be eating this bread next week, I have to get back to writing. But here are some more pics because I love you.
Over on her website, Caroline M. Yoachim talks about her newest story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
I have a new story out in issue #225 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies (May, 2017). “Carnival Nine” is a story that I am particularly proud of, and I’m so happy it found a good home. A short excerpt:
One night, when I was winding down to sleep, I asked Papa, “How come I don’t get the same number of turns every day?”
“Sometimes the maker turns your key more, and sometimes less, but you can never have more than your mainspring will hold. You’re lucky, Zee, you have a good mainspring.” He sounded a little wistful when he said it. He never got as many turns as I did, and he used most of them to do boring grown-up things.
Rocket Stack Rank gives the story four out of five stars… read their (spoilery) review here.
Here’s the complete Table of Contents for issue 225.
The train took us to the maker’s bench, and we laid out our son’s body, chest open. Tonight the maker would give him a mainspring and wind him for the very first time. “Should we name him now, or after we’ve gotten to know him?” My parents had waited to name me until my second day, because they wanted to be sure the name would fit.
