Black Gate – Page 655 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

A Southern Tale of Spectral Revenge: Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell

Saturday, August 13, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Cold Moon Over Babylon Michael McDowell-1980-small

Cold Moon Over Babylon Michael McDowell-1980-back-small

Leave it to Valancourt Books to produce the first reprint of Michael McDowell’s spooky southern gothic Cold Moon Over Babylon. It was originally published in paperback by Avon in February 1980 (above left and middle, cover artist unknown).

Stephen King called McDowell “The finest writer of paperback originals in America.” McDowell’s other novels include the Blackwater series, The Amulet (1979), and Toplin (1985). I first discovered him with the Valancourt reprint of The Elementals (1981). I was standing in front of the Valancourt booth at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention, gazing in amazement at their incredible back catalog, and that was the book that forced me to open my wallet.

Last year Valancourt brought most of McDowell’s back catalog back into print as part of their 20th Century Classics line, starting with Cold Moon Over Babylon, now available in a handsome new trade paperback with a wonderfully spooky new cover by Mike Mignola.

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The Shannara Chronicles Will Be Back (Though Amber will Not…)

Saturday, August 13, 2016 Bob Byrne Comments 0 Comment

Back in January, I wrote about the then-in progress Shannara Chronicles miniseries on MTV. I was less than overwhelmed. Even though Terry Brooks was involved, and while it did some things nicely, it most certainly was not the Shannara project some of us have been waiting decades for. Granted, it was decent enough that I stuck through all ten episodes.

While the main storyline got closure in the final episode, others (which had nothing to do with The Elfstones of Shannara, the book the series was based on) were left wide open.

I missed this, but back in April, MTV signed on for a second season, though I haven’t come across any kind of timeline.

“This dream team delivered a beautiful, ground breaking show with compelling stories and character journeys which brought in new viewers. I can’t wait to see what season 2 brings,” said Mina Lefevre, Executive Vice President and Head of Scripted Development at MTV.

The show did extremely well in digital format, with over 16 million streams and becoming the most downloaded single-season show ever for MTV. Since it was aimed at the teens and twenties crowd, that’s a good sign.

I liked it enough that I will watch season two, where I’m sure we’ll get more pretty people and lots of the angst, which is the hallmark of the target age group.

Terry Brooks has said that the story is leaning towards The Wishsong of Shannara (which followed Elfstones), with some of Sword of Shannara mixed in.

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August 2016 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale

Friday, August 12, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Tangent Online continues to provide very timely and thoughtful reviews of the latest SF magazines while they’re still on the stands. Here’s a fine example: Michelle Ristuccia’s insightful commentary on James Alan Gardner’s cover story in the August Asimov’s, “The Mutants Men Don’t See.”

Ellie Lee fears that her son will accidentally kill himself in an attempt to activate a mutant gene that he might not even have in “The Mutants Men Don’t See” by James Alan Gardner. Gardner’s engaging urban fantasy inverts a trope or two to focus on an often invisible segment of the population, menopausal women. The title is an homage to the James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) novelette “The Women Men Don’t See” from the December 1973 issue of F&SF. Gardner’s story, because of its subject matter (menopause, and its being the end of the menstrual cycle), also recalls — though in a very different fashion — Connie Willis’s Hugo winning short story “Even the Queen” from the April 1992 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, which dealt with menstruation in a future where one young woman opted not to have the procedure that would eliminate her cycle, as most others of her age and part of a feminist movement have. “Even the Queen” and “The Mutants Men Don’t See” make interesting bookends, for both address issues surrounding a woman’s child-bearing years, the former at the beginning, the latter at the end. All three stories, though wildly different, also deal with the empowerment of women.

Read Michelle’s complete review here.

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Future Treasures: Storm King’s Thunder

Friday, August 12, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

In 2013 I wrote an article about introducing my kids to the classic Dungeons and Dragons adventure modules of my childhood — including The Temple of Homlet, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, and Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl. Last week we wrapped up the climatic Hall of the Fire Giant King with a white-knuckle battle, topping off three years of rousing adventure.

Being the old man that I am, I immediately began to grouse that they don’t make fast-paced, epic adventures like that any more. So I was surprised (and slightly mollified) to see that Wizards of the Coast is releasing a new giant-themed epic adventure for Fifth Edition D&D next month. Just in time for my young adventurers!

Take a stand against the giants in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game

Giants have emerged from their strongholds to threaten civilization as never before. Hill giants are stealing all the grain and livestock they can while stone giants have been scouring settlements that have been around forever. Fire giants are press-ganging the smallfolk into the desert, while frost giant longships have been pillaging along the Sword Coast. Even the elusive cloud giants have been witnessed, their wondrous floating cities appearing above Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate. Where is the storm giant King Hekaton, who is tasked with keeping order among the giants?

The humans, dwarves, elves, and other small folk of the Sword Coast will be crushed underfoot from the onslaught of these giant foes. The only chance at survival is for the small folk to work together to investigate this invasion and harness the power of rune magic, the giants’ weapon against their ancient enemy the dragons. The only way the people of Faerun can restore order is to use the giants’ own power against them.

To defeat giants, you need to be giant!

Storm King’s Thunder will be published by Wizards of the Coast on September 6, 2016. It is a 256-page adventure, suitable for characters level 1-11. It is priced at $49.95.

I Want to Believe: A Review of A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson & Jeff Rovin

Friday, August 12, 2016 Brandon Crilly Comments 2 comments

We have this long history of actors trying to make a name for themselves through other creative endeavors, and it seems to be getting popular. Actors jumping into the music industry, like Kiefer Sutherland, David Duchovney and Malin Akerman. Actors exploring the world of visual art (Anthony Hopkins is an avid painter, I learned recently). And there are a lot of actors who try their hand at writing. And I don’t mean cookbooks (no disrespect to Gwyneth Paltrow) but writing fiction, which takes a little more talent and skill.

As my inaugural post here at Black Gate I want to talk about Gillian Anderson, specifically her debut novel A Vision of Fire, which she co-wrote with NYT-bestselling author Jeff Rovin. As the blurbs on the back of the book jacket say (click the image above right to sample them), the idea of Agent Dana Scully writing speculative fiction is enough to get our attention, even if expectations aren’t particularly high. But luckily for us, it turns out Anderson knows what she’s doing.

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Goth Chick News: More Stranger Things – Yes Please!

Thursday, August 11, 2016 Sue Granquist Comments 2 comments

In a Goth Chick News first, I am hitting this same topic two weeks in a row. But from the comments last week, I’m pretty sure you won’t mind.

It appears many of us went face down into the new Netflix sci-fi / horror offering Stranger Things and did not come up for air until all eight episodes of season one had been well and truly binged. Sticky-fingered and woozy, some of you even did a convenience store run then came back for a second go to be sure you hadn’t missed anything.

The creators of our latest obsession, Matt and Ross Duffer (aka “The Duffer Brothers”) have made no secret of the fact that they’re hungry to create a season two and speaking with IGN last week (if by chance you haven’t binged, there’s mild spoilers there), they revealed that the next season will likely take place a year after the events of the finale, in order for them to tell the story the way they want to tell it.

And please Netflix, leave them alone and let them do their thing.

But what about that one-year gap, you ask? What will become of us after the third or fourth go through season one, when the air is thick with Aquanet and the withdraw symptoms make us believe we might be able to fit back into those leather pants?

Oh the humanity!

But fear not – the Duffers and Netflix have foreseen this horror and provided for it.

Now gather round…

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How to Write a Dungeon Crawl (in Actual Fiction and Not a Tabletop Game!)

Thursday, August 11, 2016 M Harold Page Comments 12 comments

dungeon map 2 — Extended dungeon crawls are rare in genre fiction.

It’s still a goto for roleplayers, you see the equivalent in movies, but extended dungeon crawls are rare in genre fiction.

Even when you go back to Dungeon and Dragons‘ literary roots, you don’t really find proper dungeon stories!

Conan generally offers up 1-2 room complexes, e.g. in Robert E. Howard’s classic tale “God in the Bowl.” Tolkien uses mega dungeons, but with narrative summary and — unless they are really just an underground battlefield — only limited denizens. Clark Ashton Smith’s Seven Geases is close to a dungeon in setting, but in form is a quest story that happens to be underground.

Dungeonland — What makes a dungeon fun to play through doesn’t automatically make it fun to read about.

What makes a dungeon fun to play through — a series of puzzles and tactical or diplomatic challenges — just doesn’t automatically make it fun to read about, or easy to write. And the physical drama that works on screen — Indiana Jones stuff with narrow escapes and trundling rocks — doesn’t generate enough wordcount, and can only be visceral for so long.

Even so, it can be done, and modern writers do it and — of course — I’ve been pulling apart good examples to see how and why they work…

Several modern writers have pulled off extended dungeons crawls or similar. Just to name a few random examples: Paul S Kemp’s exquisite Egil and Nix stories are actually about professional dungeoneers in a Sword and Sorcery world. The climax to Michael J Sullivan’s wonderful Riyria Chronicles entails an underground adventure. And Kenneth Oppel’s wonderful Steampunk YA Skybreaker takes us exploring a drifting mega-zeppelin.

Taking them and others together, and without spoilers, here’s what makes a literary dungeon adventure work.

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John DeNardo on the Best Books of August

Thursday, August 11, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Over at Kirkus Reviews, the tireless John DeNardo checks in with his regular monthly report on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You’ll Want to Read. This month’s list includes Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal, An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows, Behind the Throne by K. B. Wagers, Early Days: More Tales from the Pulp Era edited by Robert Silverberg, Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton — and the latest novel by Drew Magary, The Hike. Here’s John’s take on The Hike.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Ben, a suburban family man, sets out for a walk but finds himself on an impossible journey in a fantastical world populated by strange demons, man-eating giants, colossal insects and magic.

WHY YOU MIGHT LIKE IT: Magary’s surreal fantasy novel integrates folk tales and video games into something quirky and fun.

See the complete list here.

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The Groundbreaking SF Anthologies of Athena Andreadis

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

It takes no small courage to break into this industry editing genre anthologies these days, but that’s exactly what Athena Andreadis has done. Her first book, The Other Half of the Sky — co-edited by Kay Holt — features tales of hard SF with female protagonists. It was released by Candlemark & Gleam in 2013, and proclaimed by Locus as “One of the best SF anthologies of the year.” It contains new fiction by Black Gate fan favorite Martha Wells, plus Aliette de Bodard, Ken Liu, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Melissa Scott, Nisi Shawl, Joan Slonczewski, Cat Rambo, Jack McDevitt, and many more.

Athena followed up with To Shape the Dark in May of this year, featuring 15 brand new tales of daring women scientists by BG author Constance Cooper (“The Wily Thing”), plus Aliette de Bodard, Shariann Lewitt, Vandana Singh, Melissa Scott, Jack McDevitt, Gwyneth Jones, and may others. Publishers Weekly calls it “Extraordinary… [these] imaginative stories feature diverse cultures, intriguing settings, and intelligent plots… will remind readers why they love science fiction.” And the flagship magazine of Hard SF, Analog, said, “Resurrected dinosaurs, philosophical cetaceans, alien invasion, parallel worlds. There’s not a bad story in this bunch… you can’t afford to miss this one.”

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Images of Captain Scott’s Final Expedition

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 Sean McLachlan Comments 0 Comment

Herbert George Ponting - the Terra Nova held up in the Pack

One of Ponting’s iconic images from the expedition is the Terra Nova stuck in ice.
The crew had to cut away the ice immediately around the ship every day so that
it wouldn’t crush the ship, a fate suffered by several other Polar expeditions.

When I’m in London I love to catch the shows at the big galleries, but I also like to check out the auction houses. Although I can’t afford to buy anything, places like Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams often have free exhibitions of great art that, because it’s in private hands, you’ve never seen before and will probably never see again.

They sometimes have more traditional exhibitions of art that isn’t for sale. One such show this season is Visions of the Great White South at Bonhams. This brings together photography and paintings made on Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica from 1910 to 1913. While Scott and his forward team made it to the South Pole, they were narrowly beaten by Roald Amundsen and his Norwegian team. As they tried to return to base camp, the men were caught in a blizzard and Scott and the entire forward team perished.

While the expedition could be considered a failure, it accomplished some important scientific research as well as some magnificent artistic achievements. With the expedition were two artists. Dr. Edward Wilson was a physician, naturalist, and painter who sadly died with Scott. Herbert Ponting was a photographer. Both made some gripping images of the Antarctic that form the centerpieces of the show.

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