Black Gate – Page 597 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Weird Frontier: California’s Strange Fiction

Wednesday, October 19, 2016 JaymGates Comments 0 Comment

Southern California exists on borrowed life. Four hundred miles of water, sucked from the Sierra Nevada into a river of steel and rebar and concrete. It plows through hot basins of Joshua trees, up barren hills dusted with scrub oaks, through sunblasted pumping stations that roil and hiss. It traces a line along the edge of Lancaster, California, springing tract homes and strip malls, green lawns and chlorine-wet children. It is a thing that does not belong, and like all such things, there is an old story at its heart.
~ Five Tales of the Aqueduct, By Spencer Ellsworth

I have a few distinct childhood memories: racing through my great-grandfather’s orange groves on his retired cowponies with my cousins; attending a funeral for the son of my grandfather’s clients, Mexican ranchers from Monterey, after the man was gunned down by an LA gang; the colors and scents of San Francisco’s Chinatown; learning how to avoid stumbling over cartel drug fields; the effigy hanging over Main Street, celebrating my hometown’s violent judicial past; visiting my uncle, who was employed as an electrical engineer on the Predators. A mélange of cultures and histories, the weird and illegal and far-future all mixed into that wild, weird empire-state known as California.

It’s no wonder that California is the land of science fiction and weird fantasy. There’s a little bit of everything there, all mixed together and blurring together, and where the lines cross, it can get weird. One of my favorite authors, Clark Ashton Smith, wrote about my hometown, referencing El Dorado moonshine and the Placerville Bank. He corresponded with H.P. Lovecraft, the masters of Eastern and Western Weird frequently mingling their tales and sharing characters and mythologies.

And that’s just one example. A small sample of founding SF authors from, inspired by, or living in California includes Bradbury, Le Guin, Dick, Vance, Gibson, Powers, and Heinlein. The state still inspires many authors and series, and Silicon Valley itself is like something out of a science fiction novel.

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Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek: Generations (1994)

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 William I. Lengeman III Comments 1 comment

I think the statute of limitations on spoilers has probably run out 22 years after this movie was released… but be advised that there’s a sort of big spoiler ahead.

I suppose I should also mention that I was a TOS guy back in the day and didn’t even get around to watching the other Star Trek series until about a decade ago. I ended up liking The Next Generation well enough, although oddly it always seemed to me that it might have been more dated than its predecessor. But that’s neither here nor there.

What I’m getting around to, perhaps awkwardly, is that even though I’m mostly a TOS fan, I thought that six TOS movies were enough and perhaps even a bit too much, and it was probably a good time to switch things up a bit. But not before some TOS crew members appear on the scene, early on in this movie.

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October/November 2016 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 John ONeill Comments 7 comments

The October/November double issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction is the annual “Slightly Spooky” Halloween special, “jam-packed with stories about ghosts, angels, demons, souls, curses, and a couple of aliens.” Here’s Sheila’s full description:

October/November is our traditional “slightly spooky” issue, and the 2016 edition is no exception. The magazine is jam-packed with stories about ghosts, angels, demons, souls, curses, and a couple of aliens. Alexander Jablokov’s bold new novella brings us a tale of death and danger, a woman with a rather unusual occupation, and “The Forgotten Taste of Honey.”

Sandra McDonald’s cheerful tone belies the horror that lurks for “The People in the Building”; the souls of the damned are captured in Susan Palwick’s poignant “Lucite”; death and another odd job play a part in Michael Libling’s amusing and irreverent tale of “Wretched the Romantic”; “Project Extropy” uncovers new mysteries in Dominica Phetteplace’s ongoing series; S. N. Dyer draws on history and folklore to explain what happens “When Grandfather Returns”; seeds of hurt and mistrust are sewn in Rich Larson’s “Water Scorpions”; new author Octavia Cade invites us to spend some time “Eating Science With Ghosts”; Will Ludwigsen examines the curse of “The Leaning Lincoln”; and Michael Blumlein’sheartfelt novella asks us to “Choose Poison, Choose Life.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column dabbles in some “Magical Thinking”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net prepares to “Welcome Our Robot Overlords!”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books takes on “Short Stories” in a column that features the Nebula Awards Showcase anthologies as well as The Fredric Brown Megapack and Harlan Ellison’sCan & Can’tankerous; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

The cover is fabulous, but I couldn’t find any info anywhere on the website on who painted it. It’s by Karla Ortiz (karlaortizart.com/illustration).

In her editorial, Sheila Williams talks about the annual tradition of the “slightly spooky” issue, saying that she saves the best creepy stories each year for Halloween. She also talks about some of her favorites over the years.

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Into the Mystic: The Mask of the Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Fletcher Vredenburgh Comments 1 comment

I read a lot of fantasy — most of it older works — and yet Darrell Schweitzer’s mesmerizing The Mask of the Sorcerer (1995) had escaped my attention until fairly recently. Around the time I reviewed another of Schweitzer’s books, Echoes of the Goddess (2013), John Fultz told me that if I was looking for something really wild, Mask was where to go, so I bought it. And for two years it sat there on the virtual TBR stack. When John (who described it as “Harry Potter in Hell” and wrote an appreciation of Schweitzer here at Black Gate ten years ago) and others recently recommended it as a work of S&S horror, I finally picked it up. I have read some extraordinary novels this year, several of which I will positively reread in the years to come. The Mask of the Sorcerer (MotS) is one of those.

MotS is about the education of sixteen-year-old sorcerer, Sekenre. In a land inspired by ancient Egypt, he learns that magic and sorcery are two very different things:

Sorcery is not magic. Do not confuse the two. Magic comes from the gods. The magician is merely the instrument. Magic passes through him like breath through a reed pipe. Magic can heal. It can satisfy. It is like a candle in the darkness. Sorcery, however, resides in the sorcerer. It is like a blazing sun.

Sorcerers draw on deep forces, often by evil means. When one sorcerer kills another, the killer absorbs his victim’s soul and knowledge. There’s a cumulative effect to this, so one victory can yield the spirits of dozens of previously defeated opponents.

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New Treasures: High Stakes: A Wild Cards Novel, edited by George R.R. Martin & Melinda M. Snodgrass

Monday, October 17, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Wild Cards is one of the longest-running shared universes in existence, outlasting Robert Asprin’s Thieves World, Emma Bull and Will Shetterly’s Liavek, C. J. Cherryh’s Merovingen Nights, and many others (the only one with a comparable run I can think of is Janet and Chris Morris’ Heroes in Hell, which began in 1986). The first volume, Wild Cards, was published in 1987 by Bantam Books; there have been 23 novels and anthologies since then, from 31 authors and four different publishers. That’s a heck of a run.

The premise of the series is pretty appealing for anyone who likes superheroes or pulp fiction.

In the aftermath of World War II, an alien virus struck the earth, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called aces – those with superhuman mental & physical abilities. Others were termed jokers – cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. Some turned their talents to the service of humanity. Others used their powers for evil.

Wild Cards is their story.

It’s been in the news recently primarily because it’s the next big series licensed to television by George R.R. Martin, hot on the heels of his globe-spanning success with Game of Thrones. Universal Cable Productions (The Magicians, Mr. Robot) acquired the rights this summer, and brought on co-editor Melinda Snodgrass as executive producer.

The 23rd book (excuse me, “mosaic novel” — really an anthology with a fancy name) in the series is High Stakes, written by Melinda M. Snodgrass, John Jos. Miller, David Anthony Durham, Caroline Spector, Stephen Leigh, and Ian Tregillis, and edited by George R.R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass. It was released in hardcover by Tor on August 30.

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John Crowley’s Aegypt Cycle, Books One and Two

Monday, October 17, 2016 markrigney Comments 0 Comment

Elsewhere in the hallowed halls of Black Gate, you can find my musings on what I consider to be among the best and most endearing fantasy novels ever written, Little, Big. Perhaps its author, John Crowley, could have hung up his spurs after that one, certain that his honorifics were now firmly in place, his spot in the pantheon assured. But then, Little, Big was never a major financial success, never “popular,” and besides, Crowley is that rare jewel, a writer who is also a thinker, and he wasn’t done thinking.

Among the works that have followed is The Aegypt Cycle, beginning with The Solitudes and Love and Sleep, then extending into Demonomania and Endless Things. I read The Solitudes in early 2015, and, having finished, set it down with a pensive hmmm, the same restless yet satisfied noise made by those who encounter an attractive puzzle box more devious and brilliant than themselves.

At the risk of sounding like a bent brown puppet from The Dark Crystal, let me repeat that: Hmmm.

Little, Big is sufficiently mysterious for most mortals, the equivalent of a buffet so satisfying and sumptuous that one reaches the end and returns at once to the beginning, eager to begin again. (Which I, in fact, did; I read the damn thing twice in a row.)

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Milton F. Perry’s ‘Harry S. Truman, Sherlockian’

Monday, October 17, 2016 Bob Byrne Comments 0 Comment

It’s well known in Sherlock Holmes circles that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32^nd President of the United States of America (now THERE was somebody worthy of that office) was a great fan of the world’s first private consulting detective, even having written about Holmes more than once. The third of his three Vice Presidents, and his successor at the Oval Office, was Harry S. Truman. Truman was also a follower of Holmes and like FDR, was granted membership to The Baker Street Irregulars.

Milton F. Perry himself became an Irregular in 1990. As he mentions in this essay, he was the Curator of the Museum at the Harry S. Truman Library from 1958 until 1976. The position gave him enviable access to the former President. Perry wrote the following essay for the December, 1986 Baker Street Journal. Truman’s interest in Holmes is not as well-known and certainly deserves to be publicized. So, as a frightful election day looms, Come, the game is afoot! – Bob

“Mr. President,” I asked, “What did the dog do in the night time?”

Harry S Truman grinned and looked at his glass of bourbon and branch water. “Perry,” he said, “you ought to know better than test an old Holmesian like me, the only honorary member of the Baker Street Irregulars. You know damned well the dog did nothing in the night time!”

This was my introduction to Harry Truman as a Sherlockian, a relationship I was able to develop from time to time during the years I was associated with him as Curator of the Museum at the Harry S Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, from 1958 until 1976. I was fortunate to have been able to discuss many things with him during those years, mostly in the uninterrupted privacy of his office.

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Future Treasures: Where the Time Goes by Jeffrey E. Barlough

Sunday, October 16, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Back in July, Fletcher Vredenburgh reviewed the opening novel in Jeffrey E. Barlough’s Western Lights series here at Black Gate.

I’m not exactly sure what made me buy Dark Sleeper… I’m thinking it was more the Jeff Barson painting of woolly mammoths pulling a coach across a dark, snow swept landscape. Whatever the reason, I’m happy I did, as the book turned out to be a very strange and often funny trip through a weird and fantastical post-apocalyptic alternate reality.

In Barlough’s fictional world the Ice Age never fully ended. With much of its north covered by ice and snow, medieval England sent its ships out around the world looking for new lands… With great cities such as Salthead and Foghampton (located around the same places as Seattle and San Francisco), the western colonies flourished and expanded. Then, in 1839, terror struck from the heavens… Something crashed into the Earth, and almost instantly, all life except in the western colonies, was obliterated and the Ice Age intensified. Now, one hundred and fifty years later, the “the sole place on earth where lights still shine at night is in the west.”…

For nearly twenty years now Barlough has been creating a truly unique series that has seems to have escaped too many readers’ attention… If you have the slightest affinity for the works of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, or the steampunk works of Tim Powers and James Blaylock, then I highly recommend Dark Sleeper.

The ninth novel in the series, Where the Time Goes, sees Dr. Hugh Callander return home to find the town of Dithering gripped by fear. Livestock are being lost, and townsfolk are mysteriously disappearing. Is it poachers, thieves or murderers? Or might the ancient tales of a ravenous beast in the nearby cavern of Eldritch’s Cupboard be true? Where the Time Goes arrives in trade paperback from Gresham & Doyle on October 31st.

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Caterers to the Damned, Zombie Gladiators, and Lovecraft’s Dreamlands: Catching Up With Tor.com Publishing

Sunday, October 16, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

One of the most exciting developments in publishing over the last year has been the blockbuster launch of Tor.com publishing. They’ve really shaken up the industry with a knockout line-up of original novellas — including the Nebula award-winning Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, Daniel Polansky’s Hugo-nominated The Builders, Emily Foster’s acclaimed epic fantasy The Drowning Eyes, and many more.

A big part of the reason I enjoy about the Tor.com novella line so much — beside the fact that they’re fun, easy reads — is that the publisher has shown a willingness to experiment with series fantasy. And so we have Guy Haley’s post-apocalyptic adventure The Emperor’s Railroad, set in a world of strange robots and gladiatorial combat with zombies; Paul Cornell’s Witches of Lychford, in which a trio of New England witches warily guard the boundary between two worlds, and a gateway to malevolent beings beyond imagination; Andy Remic’s Song For No Man’s Land trilogy, The Great War retold as an epic fantasy featuring a subterranean Iron Beast; Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour books, featuring the comedic misadventures of New York’s exclusive caterers-to-the-damned, and others.

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The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in September

Saturday, October 15, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

The most widely-read article last month — by a wide margin — was Bob Byrne’s look at classic role playing, “Why I Went Old School — or Swords & Wizardry vs. Pathfinder.” In fact, Bob’s piece is the most popular feature we’ve had at Black Gate all year (with the exception of our May announcement that we declined a Hugo nomination). He’s posted three recent updates to it so far, re-capping his group’s exploits in Matt Finch’s Hall of Bones adventure module, so check back if you haven’t recently.

Coming in at #2 was another gaming article, Carlos Hernandez’s “What No Man’s Sky Can Learn from SFF Worldbuilding.” Sometimes I wonder why we bother doing anything other than gaming pieces?

Rounding out the Top Five were our examination of Michael McDowell’s Blackwater serial novel from the 1980s, Thomas Parker’s fond look at the 1960s Batman, and Sean McLachlan’s writing confession, “When Researching Your Novel Scares You: Daily Life in the Third Reich.”

Violette Malan’s thoughtful look at one of the great 20th Century SF writers, “Andre Norton: Are Her Men Really Women?”, came in at number six, followed by Bob Byrne’s second gaming article for the month, “RPGing is Story Telling.” Next up was William Patrick Maynard’s review of his fellow Black Gate author, Josh Reynolds, who recently released two direct sequels to Philip Jose Farmer’s The Other Log of Phileas Fogg for Meteor House.

Bob continued to hog the Top 10 list, coming in at #9 with “The Master Plot Formula (per Lester Dent).” And Barbara Barrett wrapped up the list with her look back at a neglected fantasy classic from 1991, HBO’s Cast a Deadly Spell.

The complete list of Top Articles for September 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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