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Month: February 2016

Taos Toolbox, a Two Week Master Class in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Taos Toolbox, a Two Week Master Class in Science Fiction and Fantasy

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My project this month was to put together a promo video for Taos Toolbox, which is run by my longtime friend, Walter Jon Williams, and Nancy Kress. It will run from July 10-23rd this year. I remember when Walter put the first session of this workshop together, and right from the start, it has helped authors turn rough draft manuscripts into traditionally published novels.

A non-exhaustive list of Toolbox novels includes:

Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon
Alan Smale’s Clash of Eagles Trilogy
Gail Strickland’s Night of Pan, the Oracle of Delphi Trilogy

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The February Magazine Rack

The February Magazine Rack

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Apex-Magazine-Issue-80-rack Asimovs-Science-Fiction-February-2016-rack Back-Issue-86-rack Clarkesworld-113-rack
Interzone-262-rack Uncanny-Magazine-Issue-8-rack Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-192-rack Weird-Fiction-Review-6-rack

The last two weeks have produced some tremendous new fiction and articles. We started our coverage of TwoMorrows Publishing’s altogether splendid comics magazine Back Issue with issue #86, containing their giant-sized look at Marvel Bronze Age Giant comics. For fans of classic magazine art, our man Doug Ellis dug into his massive collection to examine early interior illustrations from Kelly Freas and Richard Powers. For vintage magazine readers, we took a look at Galaxy magazine’s $6,500 Novel-Writing Sham from 1953, and Thomas M. Disch’s detailed review of the Best Science Fiction of 1979, from the February 1981 issue of F&SF. For those looking for Award recommendations, we surveyed the annual Locus Recommended Reading List, compiled by the editors of Locus magazine, and the always-reliable Rich Horton’s Hugo Recs. Finally, Fletcher Vredenburgh contributes his January Short Story Roundup, reviewing Swords and Sorcery 48, Grimdark Magazine #6, and Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #27.

Check out all the details on the magazines above by clicking on the each of the images. Our Late January Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

As we’ve mentioned before, all of these magazines are completely dependent on fans and readers to keep them alive. Many are marginal operations for whom a handful of subscriptions may mean the difference between life and death. Why not check one or two out, and try a sample issue? There are magazines here for every budget, from completely free to $35/issue. If you find something intriguing, I hope you’ll consider taking a chance on a subscription. I think you’ll find it’s money very well spent.

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Goth Chick News: Sean Young in a Darling New Indy Horror Pic

Goth Chick News: Sean Young in a Darling New Indy Horror Pic

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Darling poster-smallTwo years ago at Days of the Dead in Chicago, during a brief chat with Sean Young, the actress revealed she was just signed to do another indy horror flick following the then-recent-release of Jug Face (VOD).

Of course, she also shared that she was moving to New York and having a garage sale — did I want a second-hand, 1950’s patio set for $1,500, and could we all just boycott any new iteration of Blade Runner since Ridley Scott would not return her calls?

Though we do not know the eventual fate of the patio furniture, and the yet-to-be-titled Blade Runner project remains in pre-production, we now know the identity of that other indy horror film, and it looks pretty darn interesting.

Late last week, Screen Media Films released the official trailer and theatrical one-sheet for Mickey Keating’s new thriller, Darling, on VOD and in limited theaters April 1, 2016.

Keating’s psychological horror story, “Begins as a lonely young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) moves into an old, mysterious Manhattan mansion. Hired as a caretaker, it’s not long before she discovers the estate’s haunted reputation and troubling past. These stories slowly transform into a backdrop for her twisted and violent descent into madness…”

You’d think by this time, everyone would know it’s a bad idea to accept the caretaker job in a creepy old mansion, even if it’s located in the heart of the city rather than on a lonesome Colorado mountainside.

But go ahead, see for yourself…

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New Treasures: Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil

New Treasures: Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil

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Black Arts Andrew Prentice-smallOne thing about being part of the Black Gate community… you never lack for great book recs. This morning I was at Peadar Ó Guilín’s blog, Frozen Stories, and stumbled on this brief review.

I very much enjoyed Prentice and Weil’s Black Arts. It’s a YA fantasy about a thief in Elizabethan London. I know, I know, you think you’ve seen this movie before. But this has a delightful creepyness about it — just read the prologue in the Amazon free sample chapters. I also like how when the main character messes up, the consequences are often very severe. It brings out the peril, I find, oh yes.

The gorgeous cover on the UK edition (at right) didn’t hurt either. Black Arts is the opening volume of The Books of Pandemonium. Here’s the description.

Devils in the stones. All around us…

London, 1592 – a teeming warren of thieves and cut-throats. But when scrunty Jack the nipper cuts the wrong purse, he stumbles into a more dangerous London than he has ever imagined — a city where magic is real and deadly.

Moving through a shadow world of criminals and fanatics, spies and magicians, Jack is set on a path of revenge. But he is starting to see London for what it truly is.

A city of devils.

Black Arts was published by David Fickling Books on March 1, 2012 in the UK. It is 496 pages in hardcover. The Fickling paperback edition will be released in the UK on May 5 2016, priced at £7.99. US readers can also order the earlier edition (with a different cover) through most online sellers.

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in January

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in January

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Photo by Andrew Porter
David G. Hartwell; Photo by Andrew Porter

The most widely read article at Black Gate last month was Andy Duncan’s obituary for Tor senior editor David G. Hartwell, the founder of the World Fantasy Convention and one of the most accomplished editors this field has ever seen.

In the last few weeks we’ve compiled several articles on David’s most popular books, including:

The Masterpieces of Fantasy
The Dark Descent and The World Treasury of Science Fiction
The Early Horror Paperbacks
Foundations of Fear and The Ascent of Wonder

Coming in a close second was M. Harold Page’s look back at some of the best classic adventure fantasy, “Some Vintage Genre Fiction Still Worth Reading (and Why),” followed by our terrifying giant bug report, “I Don’t Mean to Alarm Anyone, But We’ve Discovered Giant Insects on Monster Island.”

Rounding out the Top Five were M. Harold Page’s Vintage Treasures report on The Walking Drum by Louis L’Amour, and Fletcher Vredenburgh’s “Guides to Worlds Fantastic and Strange.”

The Top 10 articles for January also included Peter McLean’s look at writing modern noir fantasy, E.E. Knight’s review of the PC Game Endless Legend (which my son Drew can’t seem to stop playing), M. Harold Page’s examination of the writing lessons contained in Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum, Bob Byrne’s look at the R-Rated Nero Wolfe, and the first installment of our Hartwell tribute, a look at the Masterpieces of Fantasy volumes.

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

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Prime Announces Table of Contents for The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2016, edited by Paula Guran

Prime Announces Table of Contents for The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2016, edited by Paula Guran

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The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2016-smallMy favorite book last year was The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2015, edited by Paula Guran. Packed full of the best and most ambitious short SF and fantasy of the year, it was also a terrific bargain, collecting novellas by Patrick Rothfuss, Nancy Kress, Genevieve Valentine, K. J. Parker, James S. A. Corey, and others — including several that had been previously published only in expensive limited edition formats.

Prime and Paula Guran have announced the line-up for this year’s volume, and it looks even better, with widely acclaimed tales by Usman Malik, C.S.E. Cooney, Aliette de Bodard, Nnedi Okorafor, K. J. Parker, and many others — including two standalone Tor.com releases, Binti and The Last Witness, that would cost you more than the price of this book alone. Here’s the complete list:

“The Citadel of Weeping Pearls” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s SF, Oct/Nov 2015)
“The Bone Swans of Amandale” by C.S.E. Cooney (Bone Swans, Mythic Delirium Books)
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
The Last Witness by K. J. Parker (Tor.com)
“Johnny Rev” by Rachel Pollack (F&SF, July/Aug 2015)
“Inhuman Garbage,” Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s, March 2015)
“Gypsy,” Carter Scholz (F&SF, Nov/Dec 2015)
“The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn,” Usman Malik (Tor.com)
“What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear” by Bao Shu, translated by Ken Liu (F&SF, Mar/Apr 2015)

The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2016 will be published by Prime Books on August 2, 2016. It is 528 pages, priced at $19.95 in trade paperback and $6.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Julie Dillon.

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Future Treasures: The Ever-Expanding Universe Trilogy by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal

Future Treasures: The Ever-Expanding Universe Trilogy by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal

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Mothership-small A Stranger Thing-small The World Forgot-small

There isn’t a lot of zany comedy in science fiction and fantasy… and with the loss of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, it sometimes seems there’s a distinct lack of comedy, period. Maybe that’s why I was so intrigued by the Ever-Expanding Universe trilogy from the writing team of Martin Leicht and Isla Neal, which follows the misadventures of pregnant teen Elvie Nara, who discovers her baby is a pawn in the convoluted schemes of the alien Almiri as they attempt to repopulate their species. Comedy is a rare thing in SF, and comedy about motherhood (especially one that opens with the main character shipped off to a School for Expecting Teen Mothers) is doubly so.

Publishers Weekly praised the opening volume, Mothership, for its “fast-paced action, laugh-out-loud moments, and memorable characters… a whole lot of fun.” It was published last month by Saga Press, and the next two volumes follow in short order in February and March.

Mothership (336 pages, January 26, 2016)
A Stranger Thing (304 pages, February 23, 2016)
The World Forgot (288 pages, March 29, 2016)

All three books are mass market paperbacks, priced at $7.99 in paperback and $6.99 for the digital versions. Get more details and read an excerpt at the Saga Press website.

Matthew David Surridge on The Great Hugo Wars of 2015

Matthew David Surridge on The Great Hugo Wars of 2015

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Rabid Puppies logo-smallOver at culture site Splice Today BG blogger Matthew David Surridge, who declined a Hugo nomination last year for Best Fan Writer, looks back at his involvement in Puppygate.

It was difficult to keep up with everything that was happening; when a controversy strikes the literary world, writers are affected, meaning much will be written. And I was out of it. Appreciative reaction to my post continued to come in at Black Gate, but as what Martin called “Puppygate” sprawled on, I was watching from the sidelines. I saw calls for boycotts of publishers, I saw counter-calls to buy books from the same publishers, I saw reports that the number of people buying memberships to Worldcon had hit record numbers. I saw satires and arguments. I saw proposals to change the Hugo voting rules to limit the impact of future slates. I kept track of as much as I could, partly because it was fascinating to watch, and partly because I never knew if my name would come up. Mostly, it didn’t, which suited me fine. If for no other reason than that the culture-war overtones that Breitbart had highlighted in the Puppies became increasingly front and center…

In the end the Hugo voters opted for “No Award” over the Puppy nominees in almost every category. The Best Novel Award went to Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem, which made it onto the ballot when Marko Kloos, whose book Lines of Departure was on Beale’s slate, declined the nomination after learning about the Rabid Puppy actions. Beale, ironically, ended up urging his Puppies to vote for The Three Body Problem; the Rabid vote seems to have given it the margin of victory. Meanwhile, Best Fan Writer was won by the lone non-Puppy, Laura J. Mixon. Later, the final nomination data confirmed a rumour I’d heard that Mixon had gotten the nomination when I declined it.

See Matthew’s complete comments here.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 192 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 192 Now Available

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 192-smallThe February 4th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies features their 400th story — a damn impressive milestone. BCS has been showcasing the best authors in the business, and promoting and developing new fantasy writers, since 2008. It has become one of the most important periodicals in the business, and you owe it yourself to check it out.

Issue 192 has original short fiction from K.J. Parker and Tamara Vardomskaya, a podcast, and a reprint by the marvelous Rachel Swirsky. Scott Andrews has also changed up the cover art; this issue features “Plains of Another World” by Leon Tukker.

“Told By An Idiot” by K.J. Parker
I accepted that master Allardyce had the potential to write the greatest play ever; a play so good that if God were to summon Mankind before the bar of Heaven and demand to know one good reason why He shouldn’t send a second flood and drown the lot of us, all we’d have to do is hand Him the manuscript and there’d be no case to answer. I knew that, in order to write this play, master Allardyce needed to drink himself stupid, get beaten up twice a week, and generally mash himself down into a cheese, like the cider-makers do, before he could ferment and distil his very essence into words on a page. But I have a business to run, and I need crowd-pleasers. Master Allardyce’s monument-more-enduring-than-bronze would just have to wait until I retired. Accordingly, I gave him no peace.

“The Three Dancers of Gizari” by Tamara Vardomskaya
It dawned on me that he enjoyed watching me squirm; a proud competent woman but to him just Nahemiah’s commoner puppet. “Ten thousand!” I spat out the words intentionally in the heaviest Tavalland accent that the theater had eradicated in me twelve years before. “Ten thousand thalers for your measly sculpture that the Opera rejected!”

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Beautiful Galactic Women, Hive Dwellings, and Robot Goons: Rich Horton on Our Man in Space/Ultimatum in 2050 A.D.

Beautiful Galactic Women, Hive Dwellings, and Robot Goons: Rich Horton on Our Man in Space/Ultimatum in 2050 A.D.

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Our Man in Space-small Ultimatum in 2050 AD-small

Rich Horton continues his exploration of the Ace Double line at his website Strange at Ecbatan. His recently reviewed a pair of largely forgotten novels, Our Man in Space by Bruce Ronald, and Ultimatum in 2050 A.D. by Jack Sharkey, originally published in 1965 as Ace Double #M-117. In his opening comments, Rich highlights one of the more appealing aspects of later Ace Doubles — they remain inexpensive and easy to find.

Most of the previous Ace Double reviews I’ve done feature books I’ve chosen because I had at least some interest in one of the writers. This one was a lot more random — basically, it was inexpensive and it was available at a dealer’s table at a recent convention… I had never heard of Bruce Ronald, and while I know Jack Sharkey’s name well, from any number of stories in early 60s magazines, he’s never been a particular favorite of mine… Sharkey wrote four short novels, three of them (including Ultimatum in 2050 A. D.) serialized in Cele Goldsmith’s magazines, Amazing/Fantastic.

Our Man in Space is a very minor work of SF, but for much of its length it’s amusing enough… It’s about an actor, Bill Brown, who is hired as a spy for Earth, because of his acting skill and his resemblance to an Earth diplomat, Harry Gordon, who has been killed. Brown’s job is to impersonate Gordon, and to travel to Troll, where Harry Gordon has been hired by the officials of Troll to find out when overpopulation pressures will cause Earth to explode…

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