The Books of David G. Hartwell: The Early Horror Paperbacks

The Books of David G. Hartwell: The Early Horror Paperbacks

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The Screaming Skull and Other Great American Ghost Stories-small Bodies of the Dead and Other Great American Ghost Stories

We lost David Hartwell on January 20th. This is our third article in a series that looks back at one of the most important editors in our industry.

When I think of David Hartwell, I think chiefly of his forte — the massive retrospective anthologies like Foundations of Fear and The Science Fiction Century that gave deep insight into the changing nature of our field. But David also produced a small number of mass market paperback anthologies, especially early in his career. The two I want to look at today are The Screaming Skull and Other Great American Ghost Stories (1994) and Bodies of the Dead and Other Great American Ghost Stories (1995), both published by Tor.

Mass market anthologies like this really don’t exist today, chiefly because modern audiences weren’t raised on short stories the way I was. But I’m very glad they did when I was a young reader haunting bookstore shelves in the 80s and 90s. Cheap enough to be a quick impulse buy, they were a great way to get introduced to a wide variety of authors — and a lot of fun to read, I might add.

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Future Treasures: The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Future Treasures: The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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The Tiger and the Wolf-smallAdrian Tchaikovsky is a British fantasy writer whose claim to fame is the ambitious 10-volume series Shadows of the Apt, published in the US by Pyr, which began with Empire in Black and Gold (2008). In his Black Gate review “Epic Musket Fights and Vampire-Like Magic,” M Harold Page called his 2015 novel Guns of the Dawn “a supremely good read with a satisfying ending.”

His newest novel, The Tiger and the Wolf, kicks off a brand new series, about a young girl coming of age in a dangerous world of shapeshifters on the brink of war. It will be published in the UK next week. No word on a US release date, but Amazon UK will ship the book to the US.

In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming

Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul, so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution.

Maniye’s father plots to rule the north and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger, and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near, but what spark will set the world ablaze?

The Tiger and the Wolf will be published in the UK by Tor-Macmillan on February 11. It is 590 pages, priced at £18 in hardcover and £11.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Neil Lang.

Goth Chick News: What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done? Miss Out on This News, That’s What…

Goth Chick News: What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done? Miss Out on This News, That’s What…

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Ghost Story-smallBack as a starving college student when I haunted the used book stores, I came across a dusty hardcover edition of Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, thus discovering the only book that ever scared the crap out of me.

Of course as a lifelong devotee of the horror genre, I had certainly read stories that gave me the creeps before then. But with Ghost Story I was introduced to a whole new threshold of terrifying. Why? Because Straub had the ability to turn a beautiful, sunny day in December, or an ordinary afternoon in a grocery store parking lot, into scenes more blood-curling than any in a crumbling graveyard on a moonlit night in October.

Since that initial introduction, Ghost Story is my go-to read every fall, getting me in the perfect mood for Halloween.

And I confess. It still scares the crap out of me.

Apparently I am far from alone in this as — if we forget about the film version (and please do) — the novel continues to appear on “best of” lists to this day, being widely considered one of the greatest horror novels of all time.

So I was particularly excited to learn that this week Berkley Books is releasing Ghost Story in a new trade paperback edition, as well as in eBook format for the very first time.

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Frank Kelly Freas Illustrates A. Bertram Chandler’s “The Far Traveller”

Frank Kelly Freas Illustrates A. Bertram Chandler’s “The Far Traveller”

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Frank Kelly Freas The Far Traveller-small Frank Kelly Freas The Far Traveller b&w-small

Analog August 1976-smallI thought I’d go back to Frank Kelly Freas today, and post one that most folks won’t be familiar with, at least as it looks in the original. This was an interior illustration by Freas for the August 1976 issue of Analog, illustrating A. Bertram Chandler’s “The Far Traveller” (click on the images above for full-size versions). This was one of the tales in Chandler’s Commander Grimes series. The Analog cover, by John Schoenherr, is at right.

Since it was an interior, it was printed in black and white (which you can see above), but the original was in color. I assume Freas did that for the shading effects he’d get when it was reproduced in black and white, but perhaps one of my artist friends can chime in with their thoughts on that.

Art from the SF digests during that period holds a special place for me. This was the summer when, as a 12 year old, I discovered that SF digests were still being published. A few months earlier, I’d found my first SF digests (primarily F&SF from the 1950’s and early 1960’s) at a garage sale in a large barn. But in May 1976, I was spending the day at my dad’s office, and after lunch I went to the drugstore across the street.

There I found the June 1976 issues of both F&SF and Analog, and snapped them up in a heartbeat. After that, I bought them and the other couple of digests then being published religiously. I was fortunate enough many years ago to acquire the cover to that June 1976 Analog (which I’ll post at some point), but the cover for the June 1976 F&SF continues to elude me. But one day!

Announcing the Winner of an Autographed Copy of Brandon Sanderson’s The Bands of Mourning

Announcing the Winner of an Autographed Copy of Brandon Sanderson’s The Bands of Mourning

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The Bands of Mourning-smallBrandon Sanderson’s The Bands of Mourning, the latest novel in the Mistborn series, was published last week by Tor Books. To celebrate, Tor graciously made one autographed copy available to Black Gate, and we offered it to our readers in a contest.

All you had to do to enter was send us an e-mail with a one-sentence summary of why you’d like to read it. We were inundated with entries, and today we selected one winner at random, using the most reliable method of random number generation known to modern science — D&D dice.

As you can imagine, Black Gate readers were pretty creative in their responses. Here’s Andrew Meyer:

I think the evolution of the metallurgy magic mechanic into a industrial setting is fantastic.

Anna Raj took a romantic approach, with a run-on sentence:

My newly fiance is an avid Brandon Sanders reader, who cheats on me with mini dates of his books; going to the bathroom with the book tightly gripped inside his arms, going for midday coffee to the local bookstore sitting in the corner with another of his books and reading it over and over again as to where the pages are barely on the spine; I probably would be a part of ‘the band of the mourning’ when he comes across this book, but I love to see his smile.

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Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “The Black Stranger”

Discovering Robert E. Howard: Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward Re-Read “The Black Stranger”

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The Conquering Sword of Conan-smallHoward Andrew Jones and Bill Ward are wrapping up their re-read of The Conquering Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard, the third and final omnibus volume collecting the complete tales of Conan, with what Howard calls “my most pleasant surprise so far during the re-read,” the story “The Black Stranger.” It was never published during Robert E. Howard’s lifetime, appearing for the first time in Karl Edward Wagner’s anthology Echoes of Valor in 1987. Here’s Bill:

Like “Beyond the Black River” which precedes it, “The Black Stranger” is a tale set in the Pictish wilderness of Hyboria that sees a vulnerable outpost of civilization overrun by the wild men of the wood. But this time around the threat of the Picts — still an Amerindian analog — serve as more of a backdrop to the infighting and machinations of pirate captains, an exiled nobleman, and a cagey Conan. Again REH draws on the American frontier for inspiration, but it isn’t the dominant theme of the piece, which also manages to end on a far more up tempo note despite the carnage. Wild battles, double-crossing, pirate treasure, and a mysterious demonic stranger are all skillfully woven together into a complex but nonetheless fast-paced adventure that stands solidly alongside the better Conan stories.

Read the complete exchange here.

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Weird Fiction Review #6 Now on Sale

Weird Fiction Review #6 Now on Sale

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Weird Fiction Review 6-smallWeird Fiction Review #6 has a very clever cover. It’s an homage to Sgt. Pepper, of course, but it’s also more than that.

Click on the image at right for a bigger version to see what I mean. Jammed into that group photo are 69 “Giants of Weird Fiction.” How many can you recognize? Sure, you can pick out Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King. But can you spot Karl Edward Wagner? Forrest J. Ackerman? Salvadore Dali? Neil Gaiman? How about Gene Simmons?

Weird Fiction Review is an annual magazine edited by S.T. Joshi, and devoted to weird and supernatural fiction. This sixth issue contains original stories and essays by Laird Barron, Jonathan Thomas, Mollie Burleson, James Goho, Jason V Brock, and Michael Aronovitz; a lengthy interview with Clive Barker and a new interview with T.E.D. Klein; a 24-page full-color gallery of art by Christopher Conn Askew, an essay on Robert E. Howard-inspired art in the comics; a heavily illustrated essay on the artwork of L.B. Cole, and much more. It is priced at $35.

Here’s what Nick Ozment said about the last issue:

On the high $35 cover price: you can typically find the new(er) issues for substantially less than that. If you pre-order issue 5 on Amazon, they have it discounted to $26.60. And you can find copies of issue 4 for around $18. Not so for the first three issues: the cheapest issue 3 on Amazon will set you back $999.11!

Sounds like a sound investment to me.

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New Treasures: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

New Treasures: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

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Truthwitch-smallSusan Dennard is the author of the popular Something Strange and Deadly series from Harper. Last month she launched the Witchland series from Tor with the opening novel Truthwitch. The early reviews have been very strong, with Books of Wonder saying it’s “Full of magic, unbreakable friendships, and purpose… a lush and wonderful adventure tale.” And I have to admit, I love Scott Grimando’s cover.

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery,” a magical skill that sets them apart from others. In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble — as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires. Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her — but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Truthwitch was published by Tor Teen on January 5, 2016. It is 416 pages, priced at $18.99 in hardcover and $9.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Scott Grimando.

Post-Modern Pulp: Speaking With Indie Action Writer Jack Badelaire

Post-Modern Pulp: Speaking With Indie Action Writer Jack Badelaire

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COA_SmallToday we’re talking to Jack Badelaire, author of numerous action books in the tradition of the 70s “Men’s Adventure” genre. His best known work is his Commando series of WWII action novels. Jack reflects on indie publishing and the state of the genre.

Full Disclosure: Jack is a critique partner of mine. He’s also a fellow member of the secret commando group Sicko Slaughterers (“SS,” we really need a new acronym), which goes after terrorists and human traffickers. So far I’ve killed 1,487 sickos, while wimpy little Jack has only killed 1,059. He gets props for killing that ISIS commander in Raqqa with a blender, though.

Anyway, on with the interview.

The Men’s Adventure fiction of the 60s and 70s is obviously a huge influence on your work. You’ve mentioned that you think there’s a lot more going on in these books than many people think. Could you expand on that?

This genre of fiction was brewed up during an especially turbulent period of history. The Cold War, Vietnam, rejuvenated organized crime syndicates, the rise of international terrorist organizations, the War on Drugs… and those are just the chart-toppers.  These post-modern pulps of the period were a direct reflection of, if we want to get Freudian for a moment, society’s collective Id. The Executioner went out and slaughtered Mafiosi because we wished someone would, and Phoenix Force obliterated terrorists because we wished someone would. Even today, the modern successors to these stories feature ex-SEALs and former Delta Force operators hunting terrorists and organized crime syndicates, stories little different than those written thirty or forty years ago.

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Vintage Treasures: Science Fiction Carnival, edited by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds

Vintage Treasures: Science Fiction Carnival, edited by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds

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Science Fiction Carnival paperback-small Science Fiction Carnival paperback-back-small

In the early 50s, everyone was busy trying to prove how grown up science fiction was. That it wasn’t just kid’s stuff, pulp tales of alien invasions that only appealed to fourteen year-old boys. The earliest genre anthologies on the market — like Groff Conklin’s The Best of Science Fiction (1946) and Healy and McComas’ Adventures in Time and Space (1946) — strained to show the ambitious side of SF, its respect for science and the unique way it examined the future.

In 1953, Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds decided to take a very different approach, displaying instead the fun side of SF in their classic anthology Science Fiction Carnival. It collected stories showing “a sharply sardonic view of our future” from Murray Leinster, Richard Matheson, William Tenn, Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Eric Frank Russell, and many others.

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