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

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

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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

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

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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

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in September

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hall-of-bones-frog-god-smallThe 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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Vampires, Frozen Worlds, and Gambling With the Devil: The Best of Fritz Leiber

Vampires, Frozen Worlds, and Gambling With the Devil: The Best of Fritz Leiber

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In my last post I reviewed The Best of Stanley Weinbaum, the first volume in Del Rey’s Classic Science Fiction Series. In this one I’ll review the second in the series, The Best of Fritz Leiber (1974). The introduction was done by the excellent sci-fi/fantasy author Poul Anderson (1926-2001). The cover was by Dean Ellis (1920-2009), though a later 1979 printing (see below) has a cover by Michael Herring (1947-).

Fritz Leiber is probably best known for his Fafhrd and Grey Mouser sword and sorcery tales. At least, that was my introduction to him. He also produced some of the most well-loved horror tales of the twentieth century, such as “Smoke Ghost” and “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes.” I’ve read some of his science fiction in The Book of Fritz Leiber (Daw, 1974) and Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (Night Shade Books, 2011), edited by Jonathan Strahan and Charles N. Brown. But it was interesting to read a book dedicated completely to Leiber’s science fiction (though there are one or two stories that I’m not sure fit this moniker).

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Try India’s Lord of the Rings: The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi

Try India’s Lord of the Rings: The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi

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It’s not often that something truly original and new crosses my desk — and when it does, it’s usually from a writer who ventures far from the well-trod paths of Western Fantasy, like Nnedi Okorafor, Ken Liu, or Nisi Shawl.

So I was very intrigued when I received a copy of The Oath of the Vayuputras, the closing volume of The Shiva Trilogy, which the Hindustan Times calls “India’s Lord of the Rings.” A massive, sprawling epic, The Shiva Trilogy is nothing less than a tale of ancient civilizations, gods, and a holy war for the very soul of India. It has become an international bestseller, with over 2.5 million copies in print.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 210 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 210 Now Available

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beneath-ceaseless-skies-210-smallIssue #210 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies is now available, completely free on their website. It is dated October 13 and features fiction by Stephanie Burgis and Martin Cahill, a podcast by Stephanie Burgis, and a reprint by Siobhan Carroll. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

“A Cup of Comfort” by Stephanie Burgis
“Of course I will come,” said the Dragon Queen. Her voice was muted beneath the layers of dark cloth that covered her, but a ripple of amusement sounded as she added, “I should hope my old friend has not forgotten my favorite blend, after all these decades. I shall be disappointed if there isn’t a fresh pot awaiting me.”

“A Glass Kiss for the Little Prince of Pain’” by Martin Cahill
His grip tightens. He looks up at me with an honesty reserved for saints and the soon to be executed. “If you do this, it’ll ruin you. Please, come back with me to the school, give up this alliance with the Empress, and together we can find a way to save the boy. Armila, please, this kind of murder, to one so young? You can’t come back from that kind of corruption.”

Audio Fiction Podcast

“A Cup of Comfort” by Stephanie Burgis (Duration: 28:08 — 19.32MB)
“Nonsense. You are my guest.” The dragon reached out with long, sharp, delicately curving claws and tipped the teapot.

From the Archives

“In the Gardens of the Night“ by Siobhan Carroll
If the General wants her dead, he must agree to my requests.

Read issue 210 online completely free here.

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New Treasures: Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom by David Neilsen

New Treasures: Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom by David Neilsen

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dr-fell-and-the-playground-of-doom-smallAh, Halloween. That gorgeous, short-lived season when publishers cram a year’s worth of spooky fiction into a single month.

If you pay attention for the next few weeks, you’ll see a delicious flood of horror for all ages in your local bookstore. New novels and collections by Stephen King, Laird Barron, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Robert Aickman, and many others.

There’s plenty for younger readers, too (after all, they tend to embrace the Halloween spirit even more than us old folks). One of the more intriguing releases for younger readers to cross my desk recently was Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom, by David Neilsen. It’s a Middle Grade horror story written by someone who does one-man performances based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft… who can resist that??

When the mysterious Dr. Fell moves into the abandoned house that had once been the neighborhood kids’ hangout, he immediately builds a playground to win them over. But as the ever-changing play space becomes bigger and more elaborate, the children and their parents fall deeper under the doctor’s spell.

Only Jerry, Nancy, and Gail are immune to the lure of his extravagant wonderland. And they alone notice that when the injuries begin to pile up on the jungle gym, somehow Dr. Fell is able to heal each one with miraculous speed. Now the three children must find a way to uncover the doctor’s secret power without being captivated by his trickery.

“Recommended for school libraries that need to breathe life into their traditional mystery collections.” —School Library Journal

Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom was published by Crown Books for Young Readers on August 9, 2016. It is 240 pages, priced at $16.99 in hardcover and $10.99 for the digital version.

The Man Behind The Princess Bride

The Man Behind The Princess Bride

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goldman-11111“It’s an accepted fact that all writers are crazy; even the normal ones are weird.” Wm. Goldman

Anyone who has been reading my posts over the last few years already knows that The Princess Bride (TPB) is one of my favourite – if not my favourite – movies. Family and friends quote from it all the time. “Morons!” we’ll exclaim when faced with any, or, “Murdered by pirates is good,” we mutter as we walk away from someone who should be.

And I know there will be some who disagree with me, but I think TPB is one of the few examples where the movie is actually better than the book. And why not? They were both written by the same person, one who understands clearly what he’s doing:

Here is one of the main rules of adaptation: you cannot be literally faithful to the source material.
Here’s another that critics never get: you should not be literally faithful to the source material. It is in a different form, a form that does not have the camera.
Here is the most important rule of adaptation: you must be totally faithful to the intention of the source material.
— from Which Lie Did I Tell?

Which, by the way, is the perfect answer to people who complain when movies turn out to be different from books. It’s only when screenwriters fail in that last rule that they’ve done a bad job.

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Goth Chick News: Polish Up the Sword and Buff the Leather, Blade is (Maybe) Back

Goth Chick News: Polish Up the Sword and Buff the Leather, Blade is (Maybe) Back

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For years now fans have been waiting for something to come of all the rumors regarding the Wesley Snipes, day-walking, bad-ass known as Blade.

In case you haven’t been keeping track, we last left the story back in 2004 with Blade Trinity, where personally I first learned to appreciate Ryan Reynolds on many levels, not to mention Dominic Purcell. Add in a fairly good storyline, an awesome soundtrack and a strong female character in the form of Jessica Biel laying waste with her compound bow and what you get is a movie that stands up quite well, a dozen years later.

But a lot of water has flowed under that particular dam in the interim, and Marvel may have trouble committing to another movie with Snipes in the lead role.

According to Patton Oswalt, who played weapons master “Hedges,” Blade Trinity was a troubled production indeed and Wesley Snipes appeared to have had some sort of mental breakdown during the shoot in Vancouver. He refused to speak to director David S. Goyer and often would not come out of his trailer; he would only respond to the name ‘Blade,’ and if he communicated with anyone, it would be via post-it notes. Ryan Reynolds corroborated this while promoting the film; saying that Snipes would ignore the entire cast, but he once acknowledged Reynolds by saying “Keep your mouth shut. You’ll live longer.”

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Lovecraft’s Dreamlands Via Graphic Novel: Jason Thompson’s The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath & Other Stories

Lovecraft’s Dreamlands Via Graphic Novel: Jason Thompson’s The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath & Other Stories

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Thompson’s Dreamlands has an Orientalist feel but an alien one. (Click to enlarge.)

Jason Thompson sent me a copy of his The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath & Other Stories. It even came in a cool envelope, but I’ll get to that.

I’ve been on a bit of a Lovecraft quest.

HP Lovecraft is more than a Geek-only in-joke, there’s still something powerful about his works — or so I discovered reading “The Festival,” “Shadow over Innsmouth” and “Whisperer in the Dark” to my 8-year-old daughter. She experienced the stories as like Scoobie Doo, but when you pull off the bad guy’s mask his face is made of worms.

So, though the style is dated and thus heavy going in places, the structure is sound: he really nailed the whole “unfolding mystery leading to horrible revelation” trope. (I must therefore take back what I said before, I’m sure people do read HP Lovecraft for pleasure from time to time, much as we might also read Malory, because I am now one of them.)

Lovecraft’s power goes way beyond spinning a spooky yarn. He has a knack of being intriguingly vague with great certainty.

The intriguingly is the important part that people often miss.

As frustrated teenage writers discover, vague descriptions of random stuff you made up are not in themselves intriguing. What makes Lovecraft intriguing as well as certain is that he is referencing what feels like a fully realised and disquieting story world, his famous Cthulhu Mythos.

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