I’m more than halfway through the new Black Gate, and I can honestly say that, if anything, it’s even better than Black Gate 10. I’m not just saying that — (anyone who knows me knows that I’m neither a shill nor much of a salesman) — the writing from the regulars is even stronger than it’s been in the past. Much as I liked previous entries from Enge and Wells and Rowan, their entries this time had me so spellbound I had to constantly remember that I was supposed to be proofreading, not just devouring prose. I’ve been equally impressed with work from newcomers, and it is all I can do to put time aside for other duties rather than continuing my read.

A lot of people may not realize that I haven’t seen this fiction — indeed, it may still be a bit before anything I’ve sent on to John appears between Black Gate pages. All this is stockpiled from before I came aboard, so I feel a little like the ultimate fan, getting to open the Christmas presents before the rest of you. Some have crowned me with unearned laurels, saying that the adventure fiction quotient was higher than ever before in BG 10 due to me. It’s just not true. I was hired on because of the direction John was growing Black Gate and I have surely helped with the magazine; I have not, however, changed that direction myself.

I’m starting to see some art trickle in for the contents of Black Gate 12, and it looks pretty exciting.

Lastly, we have some new advertisers. One of them, Dark City Games, has had products reviewed twice by us (one product in issue 10 and one in issue 11) and between those reviews, their full-page ad, and the web site, I’m going to break down and try some of these. First John, then Todd McAulty, then Andrew Zimmerman Jones have been raving about these cool games, and I’m just going to have to try them out for myself.

More soon,

Howard