While we wait impatiently for the next episode of the popular BBC series Sherlock, the best way to pass the time seems to be to talk about the show with other fans. Bob Byrne proved this with the #1 post at Black Gate in July, his July 13th article “The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Sherlock Season 3 – What Happened?”, in which he observes the negative fan reaction to the third season:

Season three (finally) arrived. Hoo-boy. Not only did I see, I observed. And for the first time, I saw and observed a notable amount of unhappiness with the show. And with the second episode, it was certain that a shift had occurred among the fan base. It continued through the third (season finale) episode.

A significant number of folks grumbled about season three. Where there had been very little unhappiness with the first six episodes, an entire contingent of fans did not like season three and it impacted their overall attitude towards the show…

I will state categorically that the excitement for season four is not nearly as great and certainly isn’t as universal as it was for prior seasons. Now, a bit of that could be due to the loooong delay (season four has now been pushed to 2017).

The number two article at BG last month was our look at the July issue of Lightspeed, which reflects growing interest in this excellent magazine, followed by David B. Coe’s comments on the ongoing Hugo controversy, “Enough, Part One,”

Rounding out the Top Five were Keith David’s long awaited return to The Ballantine Adult Fantasy books, with his in-depth look at Lin Carter’s The Young Magicians, and the fifth installment in Bob Byrne’s series on Discovering Robert E. Howard: Bobby Derie on REH in the Comics.

The complete list of Top Articles for July follows. Below that, I’ve also broken out the most popular blog categories for the month.

The Top 50 Black Gate posts in July were:

1. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Sherlock Season 3 – What Happened?
2. July 2015 Lightspeed Magazine Now on Sale
3. Enough, Part I
4. The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: The Young Magicians, edited by Lin Carter
5. Discovering Robert E. Howard: Bobby Derie on REH in the Comics – Beyond Barbarians
6. The Stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax Mark a Milestone
7. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: By Crom – Are Conan Pastiches Official?
8. Art of the Genre: Bill Willingham Loved the Ladies, Even if TSR Wouldn’t Always Let Him Show Them…
9. White Supremacist Science Fiction: Reading The Turner Diaries
10. I Voted For the Hugos

     

11. Future Treasures: The Complete Kane by Karl Edward Wagner
12. Discovering Robert E. Howard: Frank Schildiner on Solomon Kane
13. See the Table of Contents for Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction, edited by Dominik Parisien
14. The Worst AD&D Spell Of All Time
15. Discovering Robert E. Howard: Damon Sasser on 2015 Howard Days
16. Discovering Robert E. Howard: Wally Conger on “Rogues in the House”
17. More Than Just an Inventive Cyberpunk Romp: Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One
18. Is That Your Sword, Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
19. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Pro Tip From Laura Anne Gilman
20. NK Jemisin Profiled at The Guardian

     

21. Vintage Treasures: The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins and 25 Other Ghost Stories
22. The 2015 Hugo Shortlist, Short Fiction: A Review
23. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Sidney Paget Draws the Great Detective
24. When is Reality Too Real? Or, Still Stuck in the Woods
25. Salamanca: Medieval Paintings and Preserved Arms in Spain’s Historic University Town
26. The Books of Tanith Lee: Companions on the Road
27. Building a World in a Vacant Lot: The Circus of Dr. Lao
28. Future Treasures: Covenant of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler
29. Adventures In Cards: Munchkin!
30. Vintage Treasures: Dinosaur Beach by Keith Laumer

     

31. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Pro Tip From Lawrence Watt-Evans
32. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 4: Therapy for a Vampire, Bridgend, Assassination Classroom, Ludo, and Who Killed Captain Alex?: Uganda’s First Action Movie
33. See the First Trailer for The Shannara Chronicles
34. Vintage Treasures: Over the Hills and Far Away by Lord Dunsany
35. Bill Ward on Poul Anderson’s “Thud and Blunder” — Thirty Years Later
36. The Omnibus Volumes of James H. Schmitz
37. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in June
38. The Omnibus Volumes of Murray Leinster
39. Every Kind of Story, All At Once: Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence
40. Ancient Worlds: Arachne and Hubris

     

41. Books for Writers: A Guide to Improvised Weaponry
42. Weirdbook Returns in October…
43. June Short Story Roundup
44. Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1952: A Retro-Review
45. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 1: Miss Hokusai and Ant-Man
46. Looking at The Dukes of Hazzard as a Fantasy Story
47. The Omnibus Volumes of Andre Norton, Part One
48. The Genre Game
49. Jakes’ Progress: On Wheels
50. Vintage Treasures: The Best of Frank Herbert

The top categories last month were:

1. New Treasures
2. Books
3. Fiction
4. Blog entry
5. Vintage Treasures
6. Magazines
7. Reviews
8. Essays
9. Pulp
10. Interviews
11. Series fantasy
12. Games Reviews
13. News
14. Art of the Genre
15. Convention Report
16. Music
17. Uncategorized
18. Goth Chick
19. Future Treasures
20. Reviews of Black Gate

The Top 5o Black Gate blog posts in June are here, and you can see all 138 posts we made in the month of July here.