The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in January
Mark Rigney’s “The Find,” part of his perennially popular Tales of Gemen series, hit the top of the fiction charts this month. “The Find” is actually Part II of the series, which began with “The Trade,” which Tangent Online called a “Marvelous tale. Can’t wait for the next part.”
Next on the list was E.E. Knight’s sword & sorcery epic “The Terror of the Vale,” the second in the Blue Pilgrim sequence, following “That of the Pit.” Third was Martha Wells’ complete novel, the Nebula nominee The Death of the Necromancer. Making its debut on the list was Sword Sisters by Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe, the exciting new sword & sorcery novel from our friends at Rogue Blades Entertainment. It’s great to see RBE publishing novels again — and you can check it out right here.
Rounding out the Top Five was Joe Bonadonna’s fast-paced adventure “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum.” Also making the list were exciting stories by Dave Gross, Mike Allen, Vaughn Heppner, Jamie McEwan, Aaron Bradford Starr, Janet Morris and Chris Morris, Jason E. Thummel, David C. Smith, Ryan Harvey, Michael Shea, Harry Connolly, John C. Hocking, and Alex Kreis.
If you haven’t sampled the adventure fantasy stories offered through our new Black Gate Online Fiction line, you’re missing out. All last year we presented an original short story or novella from the best writers in the industry every week, all completely free. Here are the Top Twenty most-read stories in January:
- “The Find,” Part II of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
- “The Terror in the Vale,” by E.E. Knight
- The Death of the Necromancer, a complete novel by Martha Wells
- An excerpt from Sword Sisters, by Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe
- “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” by Joe Bonadonna
- An excerpt from Pathfinder Tales: King of Chaos, by Dave Gross
- An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto, by Mike Allen
- “Draugr Stonemaker,” by Vaughn Heppner
- “Falling Castles,” by Jamie McEwan
- “The Sealord’s Successor,” by Aaron Bradford Starr
- “The Sacred Band“ by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
- “The Duelist,” by Jason E. Thummel
- An excerpt from Dark Muse, by David C. Smith
- “The Sorrowless Thief,” by Ryan Harvey
- “That of the Pit,” by E.E. Knight
- “Tsathoggua,” by Michael Shea
- “The Whoremaster of Pald,” by Harry Connolly
- An excerpt from Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns, by Dave Gross
- “Vestments of Pestilence,” by John C. Hocking
- “The Renunciation of the Crimes of Gharad the Undying,” by Alex Kreis
The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including new stories by Howard Andrew Jones, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Peadar Ó Guilín, Judith Berman, David Evan Harris, John R. Fultz, Gregory Bierly, Vera Nazarian, C.S.E. Cooney, and many others, is here.
The Top fiction from December is here.
I’m thrilled there’s a place that showcases Sword and Sorcery (and adventure fiction in general) to an eager audience. To paraphrase Huey Lewis & the News, the heart of Sword and Sorcery is still beating. . .
Thanks Eric! I’m pleased to see both of your “Blue Pilgrim” tales solidly in the Top 20. Long may he rove through fields of adventure!
What Eric said. It’s a form that needs a home–and here it is!
Now, given that the middle third of any given trilogy is often seen as the weak link, why on earth has my particular Part II become so popular? Where are the readers of Part I? And Part III?
For that matter, where are my reading glasses?
> Now, given that the middle third of any given trilogy is often seen as the weak link, why on earth has my particular Part II become so popular?
I was going to ask you the same thing!
The only thing that makes sense about this is that it obeys the dictum, “Publishing never turns out the way you expected.”
[…] The top fiction from January is here. […]