Black Gate – Page 727 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Vintage Treasures: The Ring of Truth by David J. Lake

Friday, November 13, 2015 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

I don’t know a darn thing about The Ring of Truth. I found it in a 14-book collection I bought on eBay around three bucks (the same set I found Croyd and Light a Last Candle in). It was published by DAW in 1984, has never been reprinted, and I’ve sure never seen it before. To tell the truth, I don’t know anything about the author, David J. Lake, either. According to the ISFDB, he produced nine novels between 1976 and 1988, most of them published only in Australia.

But that’s okay. Heck, I love a good literary mystery. Exploring the vintage paperbacks of this genre is an endless voyage of discovery. Who knows what undiscovered wonders, what secrets to the universe, lie hidden in these books? Nobody bug me for the next few hours while I find out.

Our cosmos, throughout its enormous length of galaxies, and down to its smallest molecules, obeys the same laws of physics and chemistry from one end to the other. But it is now suspected that somewhere in the vast reaches of space, there may well be other universes with completely different natural laws.

But even on these worlds, foreign beyond imagining, there may yet be great adventurers — alien Magellans and Columbuses whose thirst for exploration cannot be assuaged. Intelligent beings who would risk anything to know what lies over the horizon, beyond the parameters of the known world.

Travel now with Prince Kernin of Palur, just such an explorer in just such an alien universe, and discover wonders beyond imagining, in a world very different from our own, as he ventures to the ends of his earth and beyond to find the elusive Ring of Truth!

The Ring of Truth was published by DAW Books in June 1984. It is 192 pages, priced at $2.95. There is no digital edition. The cover is by Ken W. Kelly.

Goth Chick News: No Happy Ending for Ripley, But Hope for Prometheus Franchise

Thursday, November 12, 2015 Sue Granquist Comments 12 comments

Thankfully this all happened when I was deeply immersed in “the season,” so the enormous sadness was delayed in favor of scaring the snot out of the neighborhood youngsters.

But now the news has finally had a chance to sink in, and I am forced to seek comfort in well-blended adult beverages and berating the interns.

On October 29^th, writer / director Neill Blomkamp took to Twitter to shatter our hearts:

In the two weeks since, word is that the Alien sequel is even less than “holding” and more like entirely nuked.

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New Treasures: The Madness of Cthulhu, Volume Two, edited by S.T. Joshi

Thursday, November 12, 2015 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

In his Black Gate review of the first volume of The Madness of Cthulhu, G. Winston Hyatt wrote:

Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness serves as the inspiration for many of the authors in The Madness of Cthulhu… it’s masterful in concept and at times in execution. A fusion of Antarctic adventure, science fiction, and early-modern horror, it not only offers chilling passages with an escalating sense of dread and isolation, but also constructs a world horrifying in its implications about mankind…

The Madness of Cthulhu anthologizes a variety of interpretations of Lovecraft’s Mythos, taking readers beyond the dusty-tomes-and-unspeakable-things tropes and demonstrating the imaginative possibilities still present in HPL’s legacy.

Part of that review is quoted on the back of The Madness of Cthulhu, Volume Two, which is kind of cool. The second volume, which contains 14 brand new stories inspired by Lovecraft’s classic At the Mountains of Madness — including stories by Laird Barron, Alan Deam Foster, William F. Nolan, Brian Stableford, and Steve Rasnic Tem — was published by Titan Books on October 20, 2015. It is 297 pages, priced at $15.95, and $5.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by John Jude Palencar. Click on the image above for a bigger version.

Paul Di Filippo Asks if the Simak Renaissance is Finally Here

Thursday, November 12, 2015 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Last month I made some noise here at Black Gate about The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak — the long-awaited multi-volume project from Open Road Media. Six volumes have been announced so far, and three were released on October 20.

Over at Locus Online, Paul Di Filippo asks if this is finally the beginning of the Simak Renaissance.

Much as I loved Heinlein’s work, I loved Simak’s more, in what was perhaps a different fashion. If you can imagine both men as uncles, then Heinlein was the loudly dressed, blustering uncle who blew into town once a year from Manhattan, trailing clouds of glory from his exotic exploits and dazzling you with his cosmopolitan ways; whereas Simak was your local bachelor uncle who lived modestly in a cabin and who could always be counted on to fix your bike or take you fishing or console you when your dog died. And he never mentioned that he had a Purple Heart medal tucked away in his sock drawer.

But precisely by having this unassuming nature, in both his personality and on the page, Simak did not generate as many headlines or partisans as did Heinlein. And since his death, it seems to me that his star has unjustifiably faded a bit. There was a laudable attempt a decade ago to get all his stories into print. But the project fell apart after only two (now highly collectible) volumes: Physician to the Universe and Eternity Lost & Other Stories.

Now comes Open Road Media with the stated intention of issuing all of his short fiction in fourteen books. Hooray! Maybe the Simak Renaissance is finally here!

See Paul’s complete article here.

Win a Copy of Ecko Endgame by Danie Ware from Titan Books

Thursday, November 12, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Danie Ware’s Ecko series is one of the most talked-about on the market. James Lovegrove calls it “The Matrix meets Game of Thrones,” and Lavie Tidhar noted the opening volume “explodes onto the page with the manic energy of Richard Morgan’s cyberpunk novels, before taking a surprise turn into Thomas Covenant territory.” Now Titan Books has offered us three copies of the latest book, Ecko Endgame, to give away to you, our readers. How do you make one of them yours? Just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “Ecko Endgame,” and we’ll enter you into the contest.

That’s it! That’s all it takes. Three winners will be drawn at random from all entries, and we’ll announce the winners here. No purchase necessary. Must be 12 or older. Decisions of the judges (capricious as they may be) are final. Not valid where prohibited by law, or anywhere postage for a hefty trade paperback is more than, like, 10 bucks (practically, that means US and Canada).

Ecko Endgame was published by Titan Books on November 10, 2015. It is 528 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback, and $3.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Amazing15.

The Best Of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Volume 1

Thursday, November 12, 2015 Adrian Simmons Comments 4 comments

It is hard to believe that David Farney and I started Heroic Fantasy Quarterly in the waning half of 2009. Six years ago; and internet years are like dog years so that’s, well, that’s a long time.

It’s also hard to believe that we’ve been talking about this best-of idea since 2013! We finally did it, though, and made hard choices from our first eight issues to bring out the best work, summoned the incredible skills of artist Justin Sweet, and even brought Black Gate‘s own John O’Neill in on it.

And now it is a real thing, available for pre-order and going live/shipping on Black Friday.

Our table of contents:

Introduction: “Over the Hills and Far Away…and Hiding Right Next to You” by John O’Neill

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Living in a Moroccan Medina

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Sean McLachlan Comments 1 comment

The Jemaa al-Casbah, the mosque in the Casbah, just uphill from my house, that broadcasts predawn sermons over a loudspeaker. — The Casbah mosque, just uphill from my house, broadcasts predawn sermons over a loudspeaker.

Hello again, Black Gate readers! You may have noticed that I dropped off the blog, and indeed the rest of the Internet, for all of October. You did notice, didn’t you? You didn’t? Well, I was gone. I spent the entire month on a writing retreat in Tangier, Morocco. I’ve written about visiting Tangier before on this blog, but this time I decided to dedicate a longer time in the city to some writing. My current project, The Last Hotel Room, is a novel set in contemporary Tangier, and I thought it a perfect opportunity to try out my own version of a writing retreat.

Through local contacts I was able to rent a house in the medina, the old historic quarter. My house was a traditional building of northern Morocco — two stories and a rooftop terrace surrounding an airshaft topped with glass. Sunlight and ventilation came courtesy of the airshaft, the only other windows being small ones in the downstairs kitchen and upstairs kitchenette. The interior was cleverly designed so that each room felt open to the sunlight from the airshaft while remaining out of view of the other rooms, providing openness and privacy at the same time.

This sort of architecture has an unusual acoustic effect. Noises next door and on the street just outside sound like they’re coming from inside the house. Your neighbor’s door opening sounds like your door opening. It’s a bit weird at first, but it never makes you nervous because your house is a fort. Doors are made of metal and secured with heavy bolts. The airshaft has a cage-like barrier to keep people from dropping in unannounced. My two windows were both well above street level and protected with iron bars.

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Future Treasures: Ash and Silver by Carol Berg

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The first two novels set on the world of Sanctuary were Flesh and Spirit (2007) and Breath and Bone (2008). Carol Berg returned to Sanctuary with Dust and Light last year, which BG writer D. B. Jackson called “A tale of magic and politics, of intrigue and betrayal.” Now she concludes the saga of a sorcerer whose past is veiled in shadows with Ash and Silver.

Ever since the Order of the Equites Cineré stole his memory, his name, and his heart, thinking about the past makes Greenshank’s head ache. After two years of rigorous training, he is almost ready to embrace the mission of the Order — to use selfless magic to heal the troubles of Navronne. But on his first assignment alone, the past comes racing back, threatening to drown him in conspiracy, grief, and murder.

He is Lucian de Remeni — a sorcerer whose magical bents for portraiture and history threaten the safety of the earth and the future of the war-riven kingdom of Navronne. He just can’t remember how or why.

Fighting to unravel the mysteries of his power, Lucian must trace threads of corruption that reach from the Pureblood Registry into the Order itself, the truth hidden two centuries in the past and beyond the boundaries of the world…

Ash and Silver will be published by Roc on December 1, 2015. It is 475 pages, priced at $16 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover art is by Gene Mollica.

Interfictions Issue 6 is Now Available

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The sixth issue of online-only Interfictions magazine, cover dated November 2015, is now available.

Interfictions began as an anthology series launched by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, with Christopher Barzak as co-editor of the second volume. In 2013 the magazine moved to the internet, becoming Interfictions Online. It publishes poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and hybrids forms.

The fiction this issue is guest-edited by Carmen Maria Machado and Sam J. Miller. In their Editorial, they describe the issue thusly:

Several of the issue’s pieces deal with family: in “A Primer on Separation,” Debbie Urbanski provides a heartbreaking how-to manual for navigating the gulf that opens up between parent and child, while Lisa Bradley’s “glass womb” reaches into the obscure and frightening territory between siblings. Shveta Thakrar tells a slipstream story of how our mothers’ gifts help us, and sometimes fail us, in “Shimmering, Warm and Bright.” In “Answering Crow’s Call” by Alina Rios, family history falls like a thunderclap.

Moving from personal history to spiritual heritage, “Psychopomp” by Indrapramit Das looks at life and death through the lens of Hindu philosophy in the shadow of a cosmic tsunami. In “Assemble”, theatre dybbuk, in collaboration with the Center for Jewish Culture, Leichtag Foundation, and the New School of Architecture and Design, create a unique theatre/dance/architecture piece inspired by the ancient ritual surrounding the harvest festival of Sukkot.

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Experience the Creepy and Compelling Rhythms of De Staat’s “Witch Doctor”

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

I don’t usually share music videos here (I think the last time was due to some fascinating musical detective work on Star Trek by the CBC). But in the case of De Staat’s new video “Witch Doctor,” I’m compelled to do so. After watching it four times, I feel like I’ve been indoctrinated into a secret cult.

It’s one of the most effective music videos I’ve seen in years (and apparently done on a shoestring budget). As Black Gate author Jeremy Tolbert says, ” I can’t seem to stop watching it… It has this creepy, Constantine vibe – an evil necromancer or black magician controlling a cult or something.”

Check it out. Just don’t blame us if you find yourself penniless in Budapest with a shaved head when it’s all over.

[Caution – one brief occurrence of adult language.]