Coming Soon — Black Gate 15!
Team Black Gate has been putting in a lot of overtime, and we’re just about ready to pull back the veil on our latest production. Black Gate 15 is another massive issue, with over 350 pages of fiction, reviews, and articles. It contains 22 stories — more than any issue in our history — totaling over 150,000 words of adventure fantasy.
Jonathan L. Howard returns to our pages with “The Shuttered Temple,” the sequel to “The Beautiful Corridor” from Black Gate 13, in which the resourceful thief Kyth must penetrate the secrets of a mysterious and very lethal temple. Howard Andrew Jones bring us another swashbucking tale of Arabian fantasy featuring Dabir & Asim, this time a lengthy excerpt from his blockbuster novel The Desert of Souls.
Harry Connolly returns after too long an absence with “Eating Venom,” in which a desperate soldier faces a basilisk’s poison — and the treachery it brings. John C. Hocking kicks off a terrific new sword & sorcery series with “A River Through Darkness & Light,” featuring a dedicated Archivist who leads a small band into a deadly desert tomb, and John Fultz shares the twisted fate of a thief who dares fantastic dangers to steal rare spirits indeed in “The Vintages of Dream.”
Plus fiction from Vaughn Heppner, Darrell Schweitzer, Jamie McEwan, Michael Livingston, Frederic S. Durbin, Chris Willrich, Fraser Ronald, Maria Snyder, Brian Dolton, and many others.
In our generous non-fiction section, Mike Resnick educates us on the best in black & white fantasy cinema, Bud Webster turns his attention to the brilliant Tom Reamy in his Who? column on 20th Century fantasy authors, Scott Taylor challenges ten famous fantasy artists to share their vision of a single character in Art Evolution, and Rich Horton looks at the finest fantasy anthologies of the last 25 years. Plus over 30 pages of book, game, and DVD reviews, edited by Bill Ward, Howard Andrew Jones, and Andrew Zimmerman Jones — and a brand new Knights of the Dinner Table strip.
Black Gate 15 will be on sale next month. We’ll have a detailed sneak peek, with tantalizing story excerpts and artwork, right here in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
Cover art by Donato Giancola.
i like the female conan!
That cover is gorgeous.
Seriously.
Wow. Wow, wow, WOW!
Impressive once again, Mr. John O’Neill! You’ve done marvelously. Cover? Spectacular! Contents of 350 pages, 22 stories, 150k words? Holy Cow! (Though at this rate I will never catch up on my issues reading!)
I am very very happy to begin my day with this news. Now to end it with a Packer Super Bowl victory! (That’s American football to you, Canadian!)
Holy smokes! I saw that cover and thought, ‘crap, why couldn’t I have gotten into this issue!?’, then I remember I AM IN THIS ISSUE! Sweet! Now I’ve just got to get a fiction story in and my life it complete 🙂
Hmm. I like the idea behind the cover, but it looks like Cate Blanchett’s head on a male athlete’s body. Could have at least gone with Linda Hamilton’s head cira T2 (and my wife still would have launched into a lecture about arm structure and proportion).
What’s between the covers, however, looks spot on.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jaym Gates, Rogue Blades (RBE). Rogue Blades (RBE) said: A 21-sword salute to brother publisher BLACK GATE for this massive tome of adventure fantasy soon to be available!… http://fb.me/GGkvhY7V […]
Oh, Sonya. My FAVORITE cover yet! I packed away the print very carefully and will get her framed when the time and the bank account allows. She makes me want to write. Well done, John! I can’t wait for new issue!
Thanks Glen! Although, she looks more like a female Fafhrd to me. 🙂
> That cover is gorgeous.
> Seriously.
Thanks John! Your story shall be the first one readers see when they open the issue. I think they go well together.
Hey Jason!
Who are these Packers everyone in Chicago seems obsessed with? And didn’t they hate them just two weeks ago?? I love America, but sometimes this country is so weird.
And why can’t you catch up on your BG reading? We give you a year between issues!! 🙂
>Now I’ve just got to get a fiction story in and my life it complete.
You’d think so, Scott. But then I’ll be pressuring you for the sequel. You can’t win, really.
> it looks like Cate Blanchett’s head on a male athlete’s body
I think that’s rather the point of the cover, Jeff — it very definitely addresses all those dainty, sword-wielding maiden warriors in contemporary fantasy art.
It’s not a fantasy for a woman to be a capable warrior… but to simultaneously have the figure of a 98-pound supermodel?
>She makes me want to write. Well done, John! I can’t wait for new issue!
Thank you, C.S.E. It makes you want to write? I hope you’ll send us whatever story it inspires!
I think that’s rather the point of the cover, Jeff — it very definitely addresses all those dainty, sword-wielding maiden warriors in contemporary fantasy art.
Oh, I loathe those covers. I married a farm girl who put her much larger brother to shame when bucking bales, but if you covered her head, she didn’t look like a man.
This, looks amazing, John! Gorgeous cover, as always, intriguing set of stories, and another jumbo-sized issue!
Excelsior!
John R. Fultz
[…] Here’s the gorgeous cover and the link: http://www.blackgate.com/2011/02/06/coming-soon-black-gate-15/ […]
Thanks John! With your third story for us appearing in Black Gate 15, and another one in issue 16, pretty soon we’re just going to start putting your picture on the cover. 🙂
Cool. I’m glad to see another issue come out. And not just because I’m that much closer to seeing my own story in print. (Just a couple more issues to go.)
Donald – ah, but it shall surely be worth the wait!
“You’d think so, Scott. But then I’ll be pressuring you for the sequel. You can’t win, really.”
Promise? 🙂
A new plateau of awesome in BG covers!
“The Beautiful Corridor” was a great story. Hope the sequel is as exciting!
>Thanks John! With your third story for
>us appearing in Black Gate 15, and
>another one in issue 16, pretty soon
>we’re just going to start putting your
>picture on the cover.
Ha! Thanks, John. Nice to know “Glimmer Faire” is in line for BG#16. That story has also travelled a long road…
Definitely don’t put my picture on the cover, or the circulation might drop to zero. Heh
I’d love to see that Stephen Fabian cover we were talking about, though…
Rock on,
JRF
Thanks Eric!
Alex,
I think you’ll be much impressed with the sequel – I was. It’s quite a bit longer, the stakes are higher, and the temple Kyth must penetrate is sinister and conceals more than one very big surprise. And the art Kent Burles delivered for it is great! 🙂
Hi John,
We talked about a few Fabian covers for Black Gate. This is the one I really wanted:
http://www.stephenfabian.com/DesktopModules/Repository/MakeThumbnail.aspx?tabid=173&id=474&mid=609
But it was recently reprinted on a British Basil Copper omnibus from PS publishing (sigh).
Hey, John,
That is a gorgeous painting! Too bad you couldn’t snare it before PS did. Check out these Fabian masterworks for other BG cover consideration:
http://www.stephenfabian.com/DesktopModules/Repository/MakeThumbnail.aspx?tabid=173&id=306&mid=609
http://www.stephenfabian.com/DesktopModules/Repository/MakeThumbnail.aspx?tabid=173&id=70&mid=609
http://www.stephenfabian.com/DesktopModules/Repository/MakeThumbnail.aspx?tabid=173&id=410&mid=609
Hey John,
Nice picks! There are problems with most for BG covers though… the first one was recently used (I think), and the second is two close to the cover of BG 4:
http://www.blackgate.com/black-gate-magazine-issue-4-summer-2002/
That last one is a definite candidate though!
This is my top pick at the moment:
http://www.stephenfabian.com/DesktopModules/Repository/MakeThumbnail.aspx?tabid=173&id=221&mid=609
Oh, yeah, that is suh-weet! Either of these would be good. If you go with the third one I suggested you’d have to move the BG logo to the bottom, though. I love the green sea in the one you’re digging. Fabian!
[…] upcoming Black Gate 15 will excerpt the first two chapters of The Desert of Souls. But don’t wait — order your […]
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