The most popular topic at Black Gate last month was the Gary Con gaming convention in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Gary Gygax’s home town. Part 1 of my convention report, in which I detailed the angry fallout among Pathfinder licensees to Paizo’s announcement of an impending Second Edition — including the “Pathfinder by the POUND!!” liquidation at the Frog God booth — was our most popular post for the month, by a pretty wide margin. Part 2 of my report, a 17-photo pictorial walkaround of the gorgeously well-stocked Goodman Games/Black Blade booth, came in at #3.

Gary Con wasn’t the only topic of interest in March, however. The second most-trafficked article for the month was Rich Horton’s commentary on the Hugo nominations, and our look at Unbound Worlds’ suggestions on where to start with Gothic Space Opera came in at #4. Rounding out the Top Five was Bob Byrne’s recap of his epic adventures with Gabe Dybing, Martin Page and his son Xander, and the new Conan RPG from Modiphius Entertainment.

Thomas Parker got into the spirit of our recent Ace Double reviews with “Doubling Down, or Just How Bad Are Ace Doubles, Anyway?” and that was good enough to win him the #6 slot for March. Joe Bonadonna claimed #7 with his review of Tempus With His Right-Side Companion Niko, by Janet Morris. Sean McLachlan picked up on the vintage paperback theme nicely with “STRANGE! WEIRD! EERIE! The Odd, Unusual, and Uncanny Biography of Lionel Fanthorpe,” placing at #8.

Closing out the Top Ten were Steven H Silver’s Birthday Review for P.C. Hodgell (a review of her short story “Knot and the Dragon”), and Part 1 of Fletcher Vredenburgh’s March Short Story Roundup.

The complete list of Top Articles for March follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular overall articles, online fiction, and blog categories for the month.

The Top 50 Black Gate posts in March were:

1. Old School Role Playing, and Pathfinder by the Pound: Gary Con 2018 Report, Part I
2. Hugo Nomination Thoughts, 2018
3. The 1001 Treasures of Black Blade Publishing and Goodman Games: Gary Con 2018 Report, Part II
4. Unbound Worlds on Where to Start with Gothic Space Opera
5. Modular: Conan’s Adventuring in an Age Undreamed of
6. Doubling Down, or Just How Bad Are Ace Doubles, Anyway?
7. The Origin Stories of Tempus, Niko and the Sacred Band: Tempus With His Right-Side Companion Niko, by Janet Morris
8. STRANGE! WEIRD! EERIE! The Odd, Unusual, and Uncanny Biography of Lionel Fanthorpe
9. Birthday Reviews: P.C. Hodgell’s “Knot and the Dragon”
10. March Short Story Roundup: Part 1

     

11. Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November 1969: A Retro-Review
12. Modular: My Favorite “Do It Yourself” Products for Roleplaying Games
13. Looking at the Density of Comic Book Page Layouts
14. Vintage Treasures: A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson
15. Tell Me A Story: When does the Disbelief Get Too Heavy to Suspend?
16. The Complete Carpenter: Prince of Darkness (1988)
    
17. In 500 Words or Less: Robots vs Fairies, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
18. Goth Chick News: Reality Really Does Bite… Apparently
19. Goth Chick News: Two Shots of Fireball, Some Blankets and a Candle; or Our Road Trip to the 2018 Halloween and Attractions Show
20. Heinlein Across the Waters

     

21. Peplum Populist: The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)
22. Birthday Reviews: Tad Williams’s “Go Ask Elric”
23. Future Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume Three edited by Neil Clarke
24. Nazis and Superheroes Warring in the Shadows: An Interview with Kay Kenyon
25. Chasing The Immortal
26. Big Adventure, Tiny Dungeons: SPI’s DeathMaze Mini-game
27. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in February
28. The Latchkey Revelation: An Interview with Nicole Kornher-Stace
29. Modular: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Announced – Never Say Never
30. Spotted in a Cairo Kiosk: Arabic Pulp Science Fiction!

     

31. Tales of the Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson
32. Vintage Treasures: Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany
33. Con Report: International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts 2018
34. Birthday Reviews: F.M. Busby’s “Tundra Moss”
35. Goth Chick News: My Vacation to Hell
36. Drawing Out What it Truly Means to be Human: The Best of Philip K. Dick
37. A Worthy Successor to an Award-Winning Tradition: Provenance by Ann Leckie
38. Vintage Treasures: Maske: Thaery by Jack Vance
39. Revenge of the Literary Living Dead: Zone One by Colson Whitehead
40. Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast: Clark Ashton Smith, Poet of The Fantastic

     

41. Birthday Reviews: Pamela Sargent’s “Broken Hoop”
42. In 500 Words or Less: All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault by James Alan Gardner
43. March/April 2018 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale
44. We Don’t Get No Respect
45. Birthday Reviews: Rosel George Brown’s “David’s Daddy”
46. New Treasures: The Song of All by Tina LeCount Myers
47. Experience a Darkly Gripping Vision of the Future with the San Angeles Trilogy by Gerald Brandt
48. Birthday Reviews: James Morrow’s “The Fate of Nations”
49. Birthday Reviews: Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Part of Us That Loves”
50. New Treasures: First-Person Singularities by Robert Silverberg

There were plenty of older articles popular last month as well. The 25 most popular blog posts written before March were:

1. AD&D Figurines: Youth In a Box?
2. Wordsmiths: Black Gate Interviews Jim Butcher at ConFusion 2018
3. The IX by Andrew P. Weston
4. Goth Chick News: Samuel L. Jackson Takes On Japanese OVA – Hold On To Your Butts…
5. The Top Black Gate Posts in January
6. Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
7. Death Knight Love Story: WMA meets WTF
8. The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History
9. “Are You Not Still Entertained?”: Gladiator’s 10-Year Oscar Anniversary
10. Exploring the Subterranean
11. The Return of the King (1980)
12. Solitaire Adventure with Victory Point Games
13. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 5: Teana: 10000 Years Later, Crimson Whale, and The Shamer’s Daughter
14. Adventures on Stage: Fantasy Literature’s Missing Link
15. Andrew Liptak on 18 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in February
16. Gods, Mortals, Sons, and Daughters: Storm Seed by Janet and Chris Morris
17. My Fantasia Festival, Days 5 to 7: Cold in July, The Fatal Encounter, and Huntresses
18. Tribulations Herculean and Tragic: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris
19. Battles with Blades and Bows, and Creatures Charming and Terrifying: Journeys, edited by Teresa Edgerton
20. Blowing the Doors Off the Barn: Expanding the Iron Fist Mythos
21. Adventures In Gaming: The Temple Of the Sea Gods
22. Tempus Takes Manhattan: Janet and Chris Morris’ Tempus Unbound
23. Return to Thieves World in Beyond Sanctuary: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
24. Living it Large: How Larger Than Life Characters Work
25. A City Eternal, Under Siege: City at the Edge of Time, by Janet & Chris Morris

The Top Black Gate Online Fiction features were:

1. An excerpt from The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
2. “Seven Against Hell” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
3. Tempus Unbound, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
4. An excerpt from Waters of Darkness by David C. Smith and Joe Bonadonna
5. An excerpt from Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
6. “Goat-Beard the Pirate, Part 2: Evil Angel,” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
7. An excerpt from Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder by Roy A. Mauritsen
8. An excerpt from Truck Stop Earth by Michael A. Armstrong
9. An excerpt from Mouth of the Dragon by Tom Barczak
10. “The Terror in the Vale” by E.E. Knight
11. An excerpt from A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden
12. “Tsathoggua” by Michael Shea
13. An excerpt from Black City Demon by Richard A. Knaak
14. “Stand at Duben-Geb” by Ryan Harvey
15. “The Sorrowless Thief” by Ryan Harvey
16. “The Quintessence of Absence” by Sean McLachlan
17. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum” by Joe Bonadonna
18. “The Poison Well” by Judith Berman
19. “Queen of Toads” by Joe Bonadonna
20. An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen
21. The first chapter of The Wreck of the Marissa by M Harold Page
22. “Nero Wolfe – Stamped for Murder” by Bob Byrne
23. An excerpt from The Power of the Sapphire Wand by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
24. “Seeker of Fortune” by David Evan Harris
25. An excerpt from “Night of Two Moons” by David B. Coe
26. “Niola’s Last Stand” by Vera Nazarian
27. “Disciple” by Emily Mah
28. An excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
29. “The Highwater Harbor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
30. An excerpt from “The Mudslinger” by David Evan Harris

The top categories last month were:

1. Editor’s Blog
2. Books
3. Blog Entry
4. Art of the Genre
5. Art
6. BG Staff
7. Black Gate Goes to Summer Movies
8. Comics
9. Conan
10. Contest
11. Convention Report
12. Discovering Robert E. Howard
13. Vintage Treasures
14. Essays
15. Magazines
16. Pulp
17. Reviews
18. Fiction
19. New Treasures
20. Game Reviews
21. Fashion
22. Music
23. Future Treasures
24. Reviews of Black Gate
25. Interviews

The Top 50 Black Gate blog posts in February are here, and you can see all 113 posts we made in the month of March here.