Black Gate – Page 832 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Vintage Treasures: Ariosto by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Saturday, June 13, 2015 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Two weeks ago I wrote about Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s third novel, Hôtel Transylvania (1978), the opening novel in the celebrated Count Saint-Germain series, one of the first (and most successful) vampire romance sagas. It reminded me that, before Yarbro became a celebrated horror writer, she was well on her way to being one of the most acclaimed fantasists in America, with two of her earliest novels, The Palace (1979) and Ariosto (1980), nominated for the World Fantasy Award.

Ariosto was first published by Pocket Books, with a cover by Don Maitz (left). In addition to the World Fantasy, it was also nominated for the Balrog Award, and placed 11th in the Locus poll for best Best Fantasy Novel of the year. It was reprinted only once in the US, in a new paperback edition by Tor Books in January 1988 (right, cover by McPheeters), and has been out of print for nearly 30 years.

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Raya Golden on Building a Career as a Hugo Nominated Illustrator, Putting Up with Demanding Author Clients, and Her Talent for Gay Pinups

Saturday, June 13, 2015 Emily Mah Comments 3 comments

It is cover reveal day for my two upcoming novels, Restless Earth and Blessing Sky, and so these beautiful covers are being posted all around the internet. What better excuse to interview Raya Golden, the illustrator? Raya lives here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has been working as a professional artist for ten years.

Recently, she and I sat down to discuss a wide range of topics (hence the interview has a detailed guide below it that tells you where to click to hear about the topics that interest you.) First we discussed how to build a career as an artist; it isn’t easy. Then we got into the particulars of different kinds of art, from her Hugo Nominated work on George RR Martin’s Meathouse Man comic, to the graphic novel she is working on now. She was kind enough to explain the process of creating a graphic novel or comic step by step.

Then there are book covers, which present a plethora of challenges. She and I talked about everything from the design basics of an effective book cover to the challenges of portraying minority cultures. During this time I also explained the milieu and setting of these novels, which are essentially fantasy steampunk westerns.

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C.S.E. Cooney Gets a Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly

Saturday, June 13, 2015 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

C.S.E. Cooney, Black Gate‘s website editor emeritus, signed with Mythic Delirium Press for her first short fiction collection, Bone Swans, and it’s already gathering rave reviews in advance of its July release. Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying:

Cooney’s brilliantly executed collection of five stories is a delicious stew of science fiction, horror, and fantasy, marked by unforgettable characters who plumb the depths of pathos and triumph. In “Life on the Sun,” sacrifice and rebirth are explored in a fantastical desert where future tech and wizardry mingle, as a mystical pharaoh-like figure forces a young rebel fighter to stoically embrace her fate. Children bravely battle to survive an adult-free, post-apocalyptic Earth in “The Big Ba-Ha,” even though they know their demise — hungrily anticipated by the ghoulish creatures that now share their world — is inevitable… Cooney’s magical prose elicits laughter even as gruesome scenes induce shudders, and her expert pacing breathlessly buoys the reader to each story’s conclusion. All of these stories could easily serve as the foundation for novels while also working beautifully at their current length. These well-crafted narratives defiantly refuse to fade from memory long after the last word has been read.

Bone Swans will be released next month, but if you can’t wait you can read some of the stories in their original online appearances, including right here at Black Gate: “Life on the Sun,” (from Black Gate), “Martyr’s Gem” (from Giganotosaurus) and “How the Milkmaid Struck a Bargain with the Crooked One” (from Giganotosaurus).

Bone Swans will be published by Mythic Delirium Press on July 7th, 2015, with an introduction by Gene Wolfe. It is 224 pages, priced at $5.99 for the digital edition. Get more details on their website.

Future Treasures: Dead Man’s Reach by D. B. Jackson

Saturday, June 13, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Black Gate readers may remember we published a popular short story by David B. Coe, “Night of Two Moons,” in Black Gate 4. In a fascinating article written for us last year, The Life and Times of a Midlist Author, David B. Coe wrote:

Writing now as D. B. Jackson, I am the author of The Thieftaker Chronicles, a historical urban fantasy series set in pre-Revolutionary Boston. The first two books, Thieftaker (Tor Books, 2012) and Thieves’ Quarry (Tor Books, 2013), have been received very well critically and did well enough commercially that Tor bought two more books from me. The first of these, the third in the series, is called A Plunder of Souls and it drops on July 8, 2014. (Please buy it. In fact, feel free to buy a few copies; they make great gifts and come in an attractive package complete with artwork by Chris McGrath. We now return to our regularly scheduled blog post…)

The fourth Thieftaker novel, Dead Man’s Reach, will be out next summer.

In addition, David (as D.B. Jackson) interviewed his main character Ethan Kaille, the Thieftaker, in a funny and very insightful post for us in July of 2013.

The fourth novel that David mentioned in his article last year, the highly anticipated Dead Man’s Reach, is finally due from Tor Books next month. It is a stand alone story, and can be enjoyed separately from the others in the series.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 174 and 175 Now Available

Friday, June 12, 2015 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

You know what happens if you neglect Scott H. Andrews for 15 days? He publishes two issues of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, making you look out of touch and behind the times.

So here we are playing catch-up, because Scott publishes magazines faster than I can write about them. Why doesn’t he publish one issue a year, like a normal person?

Let’s start with issue #175, ’cause it has monsters on the cover, and we know what that means (it means it’s awesome). The issue is cover-dated June 11, and contains two short stories, a podcast, and a reprint.

“On Freedom of Agency and the Finding of Lost Hearts” by Ken Scholes
“I’ll kill you in the morning,” I mumbled into the drool I’d made on his pillow.

“Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds” by Rose Lemberg
Behind us, a great hole in the ground gaped, but I wouldn’t have dared look into it even if grandmother hadn’t pulled me inside the tent.

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Report from the Field: Three Small Children Tell Us How to Warrior Right

Friday, June 12, 2015 mariebilodeau Comments 4 comments

That moment when you realize that the memes spoke truth... — That moment when you realize that the memes spoke truth…

Last week, I was surrounded by three young children that I did not in fact know, for reasons that are slightly unclear to me. I usually try to avoid these situations, much like I avoid being trapped in a snake pit. Anyhow, seeing that I was the adult in charge, I took it upon myself to get them to help me craft a perfect barbarian conqueror. Because kids have insight and their disorganized play terrifies me.

Me: Okay, kids. Let’s talk about barbarian conquerors.
Kid 1 (blonde boy, maybe 5 years old): What’s a barbarian warrior?
Me: Um, someone who comes and takes stuff from you and makes you do what you they want you to do.
Kid 2 (little girl, maybe 4, brown hair): Like my mom?
Me (looking around for adultier adult. No luck): What the he.. hey. Hey. Yes. Like your mom.
Kid 1: My mom likes special grape juice.

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New Treasures: Medicine For the Dead by Arianne ‘Tex’ Thompson

Friday, June 12, 2015 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

One of the more popular books I featured in my New Treasures coverage last year was the debut fantasy novel by Arianne ‘Tex’ Thompson, a delightful weird western titled One Night in Sixes. The border town of Sixes is quiet in the heat of the day, but at sunset wake the gunslingers and shapeshifters and ancient animal gods whose human faces never outlast the daylight. Appaloosa Elim had to enter Sixes to find his so-called ‘partner Sil Halfwick, who disappeared inside in the hope of making a name for himself among Sixes’ notorious black-market traders.

And now the story of Appaloosa Elim continues in Medicine For the Dead, Book Two of Children of the Drought, published by Solaris in March.

Two years ago, the crow-god Marhuk sent his grandson to Sixes. Two nights ago, a stranger picked up his gun and shot him. Two hours ago, the funeral party set out for the holy city of Atali’Krah, braving the wastelands to bring home the body of Dulei Marhuk.

Out in the wastes, one more corpse should hardly make a difference. But the blighted landscape has been ravaged by drought, twisted by violence, and warped by magic — and no-one is immune. Vuchak struggles to keep the party safe from monsters, marauders, and his own troubled mind. Weisei is being eaten alive by a strange illness. And fearful, guilt-wracked Elim hopes he’s only imagining the sounds coming from Dulei’s coffin.

As their supplies dwindle and tensions mount, the desert exacts a terrible price from its pilgrims – one that will be paid with the blood of the living, and the peace of the dead.

Read the first pages at Thompson’s website. Medicine For the Dead was published by Solaris on March 24, 2015. It is 480 pages, priced at $7.99 in paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Tomasz Jedruszek.

The Future of Fantasy: The Best New Releases in June

Friday, June 12, 2015 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

The-Years-Best-Science-Fiction-Fantasy-2015-small

There are precisely 30 days in June, and we’ve compiled a list of the 30 most exciting and anticipated novels, collections and anthologies being released this month. You know what that means — if you want to keep up, you’ll need to read at least one book a day (and since we’re already a dozen days into June, you better get hopping… you’re behind already!)

Our June catalog of the best new fiction includes new releases from Stephen King, Garth Nix, Mark Lawrence, John R. Fultz, Terry Brooks, Jon Sprunk, and others, as well as some spiffy reprints from James Blaylock, Tanith Lee, Lev Grossman, Michael Moorcock, and others. But time’s a-wasting; let’s get started!

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Goth Chick News: The Pizza Delivery Box of Horror

Thursday, June 11, 2015 Sue Granquist Comments 3 comments

The last place in the world I expected to find something interesting to tell you about this week is on the website Business Insider.

Like the rest of the staff here at Black Gate, I have a day job. Because as BG boss John is fond of reminding us, it is the palatial offices or a salary – we can’t have both.

So when existing in the very separate, cube-dwelling portion of my career, I am obligated to read about topics that would never darken the stairwell of the underground bunker of Goth Chick News from riveting sources like the Wall Street Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business and yes, Business Insider.

So imagine my amazement when my two worlds collided.

Business Insider reports this week that Pizza Hut, coming to the earth-shattering conclusion that pizza and movie nights sort of go together, is releasing their new Blockbuster Box; a way to combine food with entertainment in one package.

Here’s how it works: You order your pizza and it comes in one of four themed boxes. There’s the horror-filled “Slice Night,” “Anchovy Armageddon” for sci-fi fans, “Hot & Ready” for the romance lovers, and the action-packed “Fully Loaded.” When you get your box, you pop out a hole in the front, insert the provided lens, scan a QR code on the box to load the movie, and then put your phone on a stand inside the box to blow it up on your wall.

Right off the bat you can guess at the issues with this concept, but then again – “Slice Night”? How could you not fall in love with that?

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“Help! I Want to Write a Novel But Don’t Have Any Ideas!!!”

Thursday, June 11, 2015 Comments 0 Comment

Pulp-O-Mizer_Cover_Image — Their problem, then, is how to Be Creative.

“How do I come up with an Idea for writing a novel?” comes up sooooo very often on the writing forums that… well, that I am writing this.

On the face of it, the question sounds silly; how can you aspire to write if you don’t have any ideas?

Actually, the questioner usually does have ideas. However, they are (1) expecting a Novel Idea to stand out because it has a choir of angels flying around it singing Vode An or (2) sense that their ideas are too vague to lend themselves to story building.

However, let’s assume the rare case #3, that the wannabe writer’s mind is actually blank. They love the idea of telling a story, think they would enjoy the process, but can’t think of what to write about.

Their problem, then, is how to Be Creative.

There are, of courses, lots of workshops on freeing your creativity. You can also buy all sorts of self help books. Most of them come down to, Stop Self Editing/ Switch off your internal editor.

There is truth in this. The book The Midnight Disease shows that there really is both an Internal Editor and an Internal Mad-as-a-Hatter-Creative. The idea is that you tell the Editor to shut up and just let the Creative splurge out whatever falls out of your brain. Only once you have a whiteboard/notebook/screen full of jottings do you unmuzzle the Editor and pick the ideas that have legs.

In this model of creativity, only this filtering process is what distinguishes professional creatives from people… well, in need of a different sort of professional help.

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