Ah, June. Not a bad month at all, now that I look back on it.

For one thing, M Harold Page pointed out how Osprey Publishing made a compelling argument for the true location of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, otherwise known as the Battle of Chalons, in “OMG They Found It! Osprey’s The Catalaunian Fields AD451.” That casual revelation was enough to catapult Martin’s article to the top of a crowded field, giving him our most popular blog post last month.

I finally had time to compile my lengthy notes on my favorite Chicago con, in “Total Pulp Victory: A Report on Windy City Pulp & Paper 2016, Part I,” our number 2 post for the month. It was followed by a guest blog post by Babylon 5 actress Claudia Christian and author Morgan Grant Buchanan on their first joint project, the ambitious Wolf’s Empire series.

Coming in at number 4 last month was our Vintage Treasures feature on H. Rider Haggard’s The People of the Mist, followed by Derek Kunsken’s look at “Rebirth: DC’s Corrective Reboot.”

Rounding out the Top Ten were Fletcher Vredenburgh’s review of L. Sprague de Camp’s classic S&S tale The Tritonian Ring, our report on a detailed feature on Perry Rhodan in the summer issue of SFX, my look at Asmodee’s Fantasy Empire game Hyperborea, and no less than two articles from William Patrick Maynard: the first installment of his exploration of Marvel’s classic Master of Kung Fu comic, and “The Fu Manchu That Almost Was.”

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

The Top 50 Black Gate posts in June were:

1. OMG They Found It! Osprey’s The Catalaunian Fields AD451.
2. Total Pulp Victory: A Report on Windy City Pulp & Paper 2016, Part I
3. Wolf’s Empire Genesis: Future Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day
4. Vintage Treasures: The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard
5. Rebirth: DC’s Corrective Reboot
6. Logical Swords & Sorcery: The Tritonian Ring by L. Sprague de Camp
7. Science Fiction’s Unsung Hero: SFX on Perry Rhodan
8. Build Your Very Own Fantasy Empire With Asmodee’s Hyperborea
9. Blogging Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu, Part One
10. The Fu Manchu That Almost Was

     

11. Raising Your Young Geek
12. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
13. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands Via Graphic Novel: Charles Cutting’s Kadath
14. The Magic of Hobbyland
15. Harry Potter and the Tyranny of Word Count
16. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Mysteries at Hallmark
17. Lyonesse: Suldrun’s Garden by Jack Vance
18. A Downed Pilot, a Mad Duke, and a Riddle in the Grove of Monsters: A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin
19. The Most Successful Anthology of 2015: Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan
20. On SF Conventions and Brexit

     

21. Vintage Treasures: Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R.A. Lafferty
22. Deities and Demigods of the Word Count: or, How to Write 500 Novels and Still not be Considered Prolific
23. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The MX Anthologies – All the Holmes You Need
24. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Author Pro-Tip from Fran Wilde
25. Using Feedback from Beta Readers and Editors: The Parable of Frankenstein’s Monster
26. The Further Adventures of Cija the Goddess: Jane Gaskell’s Atlan Saga, Part II
27. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Taught You: A Look at How Peter Straub Crafts His Opening Chapters
28. Zombie Plagues, Demon Hunters, and the Cyborg Tour de France: Catching Up With Tor.com
29. John DeNardo on The Must-Read Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror in June
30. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in May

     

31. Blogging The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer, Part Eight – “Andaman — Second!”
32. Space Stations With Secret Passages, and Snow White in Space: Rich Horton on Sanctuary in the Sky by John Brunner/The Secret Martians by John Sharkey
33. Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year #4, edited by Terry Carr
34. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Lt. Columbo
35. Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1953: A Retro-Review
36. Read the Best of Matthew David Surridge in Once Only Imagined: Collected Reviews, Vol II
37. Results of a Writing Retreat in Tangier, Morocco
38. DC’s Continuing Rebirth
39. Vintage Treasures: The Best of Clifford D. Simak, edited by Angus Wells
40. The Series Series: The Ever-Expanding Universe by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal

     

41. The Digest Enthusiast #4 Now Available
42. The Return of Dabir and Asim
43. Mighty Pirate Kingdoms, Weather Wizards, and Quarrelsome Ghosts: Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat
44. A Choose Your Own Adventure Board Game: Red Raven’s Above and Below
45. The Paranormal on British TV: The BBC’s The Ωmega Factor
46. Prowling and Howling Through the Moonlit Forests of Lycanthropia: Thomas McNulty’s Werewolves!
47. Tor.com is Buying Science Fiction Novellas
48. Amazing Stories, October 1962: A Retro-Review
49. Swastikas Over the Sahara: The Afrika Reich by Guy Saville
50. Sample Three New Pathfinder Tales Soundclips from Macmillan Audio!

There were plenty of older articles popular last month as well. The 25 most popular blog posts written before June were:

1. New Treasures: The Library of America Publishes Elmore Leonard
2. Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: A Review of The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris.
3. A Detailed Explanation
4. The IX by Andrew P. Weston
5. Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: The Skeleton Matters (Or, Why It’s Not OK to Skip Scenes in Your Third Act)
6. Coming Out
7. Tribulations Herculean and Tragic: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris
8. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 5: Teana: 10000 Years Later, Crimson Whale, and The Shamer’s Daughter
9. Vintage Treasures: The Silistra Quartet by Janet Morris
10. Return to Thieves World in Beyond Sanctuary: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
11. Caught Between Rebels and the Empire’s Blackest Magic: Beyond the Veil: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
12. Part Gothic, Part Sword and Sorcery, and Part Horror: Andrew P. Weston’s Hell Bound
13. Art of the Genre: Top 10 Fantasy Artists of the Past 100 Years
14. “Are You Not Still Entertained?”: Gladiator’s 10-Year Oscar Anniversary
15. Love in War and Realms Beyond Imagining: A Review of The Fish, the Fighters and the Song Girl by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
16. My Fantasia Festival, Days 5 to 7: Cold in July, The Fatal Encounter, and Huntresses
17. Kissing My Axe
18. The Return of the King (1980)
19. AD&D Figurines: Youth In a Box?
20. Goth Chick News: Samuel L. Jackson Takes On Japanese OVA – Hold On To Your Butts…
21. A Review of Warriors, edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
22. The Great Savage Sword Re-Read: Vol. 2
23. Nazi Film Review: Hitlerjunge Quex
24. Adventures on Stage: Fantasy Literature’s Missing Link
25. Blowing the Doors Off the Barn: Expanding the Iron Fist Mythos

The Top Black Gate Online Fiction features were:

1. An Excerpt from The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
2. “Seven Against Hell” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
3. Excerpt: “Sight of Vengeance,” by Howard Andrew Jones
4. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum” by Joe Bonadonna
5. Excerpt: “Whispers from the Stone,” by Howard Andrew Jones
6. “The Trade,” Part One of The Tales of Gemen, by Mark Rigney
7. “An Excerpt from Souldrifter” by Garrett Calcaterra
8. “The Pit Slave” by Vaughn Heppner
9. “The Weird of Ironspell” by John R. Fultz
10. “Awakening” by Judith Berman

The top categories last month were:

1. Fiction
2. Vintage Treasures
3. Art-of-the-genre
4. Books
5. Blog entry
6. Game reviews
7. Magazines
8. Comics
9. Art
10. Discovering Robert E. Howard
11. Conan
12. BG Staff
13. New Treasures
14. Pulp
15. Convention Report
16. Future Treasures
17. Black Gate Goes to Summer Movies
18. Contest
19. Series Fantasy
20. Reviews

The Top 5o Black Gate blog posts in May are here, and you can see all 98 posts we made in the month of June here.