Joe Bonadonna had the top post at Black Gate in April, with his review of Andrew P. Weston’s Hell Hounds, the follow-up to his 2015 novel Hell Bound, and the second novel featuring the Daemon Grimm and his adventures in the Heroes in Hell universe created by Janet Morris.

Not to be intimidated, both Bob Byrne and Fletcher Vredenburgh placed two articles in the Top Ten last month. Bob’s feature on Arthurian Elements in the Conan Canon came in at #4, and his post on Tolkien’s Magic Sword Anglachel placed 9th. Fletcher claimed the sixth slot with his review of Andre Norton’s classic Witch World, and his look at Fred Saberhagen’s long-neglected novel The Broken Lands landed at #10.

There were a handful of folks in the Top Ten who weren’t named Joe, Bob, or Fletcher. Our feature on 40 Years of Gaming in Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar grabbed the #2 slot, and Ryans Harvey’s celebration of My 300th Black Gate Post soared to #3. James Wallace Harris asked if we are Fans of a Dying Art Form in our #5 piece, and our Vintage Treasure article comparing The Best Science Fiction of 1974 anthologies from Lester del Rey, Terry Carr, and Donald Wollheim was good for #7. Rounding out the list was our brief history of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine.

The complete list of Top Articles for April 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 April were:

1. In Hell — We Reap What You Sow: Hell Hounds by Andrew P. Weston
2. Danger in Every Dark Alley: 40 Years of Adventuring in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber’s Great Fantasy Metropolis
3. My 300th Black Gate Post: Why I Write About What I Write About
4. By Crom: Arthurian Elements in the Conan Canon
5. Are We Fans of a Dying Art Form? James Wallace Harris on Old Science Fiction Stories
6. Witch World by Andre Norton
7. Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction 1974, edited by Lester del Rey, Terry Carr, and Donald Wollheim
8. A Brief History of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine
9. Tolkien’s Magic Sword: Anglachel
10. Sorcery and Science: The Broken Lands by Fred Saberhagen

     

11. Video Game Review: Tunnels & Trolls Adventures
12. Birthday Reviews: Robert Bloch’s “The Fane of the Black Pharoah”
13. Too Wide Sargasso Sea: Hammer’s The Lost Continent (1968)
14. Tarzan Swing-By: Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928–29)
15. March Short Story Roundup: Part 2
16. Future Treasures: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Twelve, edited by Jonathan Strahan
17. Is That What You’re Wearing? Or, Books Have A Bigger Budget
18. A Spooky Trip Back to the Golden Age of Weird: The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, by Seabury Quinn
19. Goth Chick News: If You Sniffed Dracula, Would You Be Coughin’…? Or, Our Trip to the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo
20. Modular: Walk the Streets of Ancient Rome in Mythic Rome by Pete Nash

     

21. Roleplaying the Possibility Wars: Torg Eternity (Part One)
22. How Much Adventure Can Fit on One Planet? Find Out in Tarsus: World Beyond the Frontier
23. Beyond Fantasy Fiction, May and July, 1954: A Pair of Retro-Reviews
24. The Quatermass Experiment: The Shakespeare of Sci-Fi Television.
25. Dead and Looking Great: Night of the Living Dead Gets the Criterion Treatment
26. Backstory Cards: for Roleplayers, Writers, and Game-Runners
27. The Lonely Hardcover: The Golden Road, edited by Damon Knight
28. Constant Killing, Machiavellian Schemes, and Political Intrigue: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
29. When Folk Art Makes You Go “WTF?”
30. Fire Dance: An Interview with Ilana C. Myer

     

31. Demons and Monsters: The Black Mountains by Fred Saberhagen
32. Birthday Reviews: Keith R.A. DeCandido’s “A Vampire and a Vampire Hunter Walk into a Bar”
33. Birthday Reviews: James Patrick Kelly’s “Rat”
34. Birthday Reviews: Jim C. Hines’s “Spell of the Sparrow”
35. Aliens, the Apocalypse, and the CIA: Tribulation 99
36. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in March
37. Action Star of Hollywood’s Golden Age: Errol Flynn: The Life and Career, by Thomas McNulty
38. Win a Copy of The Annotated Watchmen by DC Comics
39. Future Treasures: Dragon Road, Book II of Drifting Lands by Joseph Brassey
40. The Secret Origin of Ultron

     

41. Goth Chick News: Enjoy This… Whatever the Hell It Is
42. Vintage Treasures: Copernick’s Rebellion by Leo A. Frankowski
43. Vintage Treasures: Study War No More, edited by Joe Haldeman
44. Temporal Surges and Shapeshifting Invaders: Rich Horton on Threshold of Eternity by John Brunner and The War of Two Worlds by Poul Anderson
45. Birthday Reviews: Adrian Rogoz’s “The Altar of the Random Gods”
46. Birthday Reviews: A.E. Van Vogt’s “War of Nerves”
47. Peplum Populist: The Maciste Films of Italian Silent Cinema (2015)
48. In 500 Words or Less: Soledad by D.L. Young
49. The Robots of Mahlon Blaine
50. Birthday Reviews: Samuel R. Delany’s “High Weir”

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

1. Exploring the Subterranean
2. Announcing the 2018 Hugo Award Finalists
3. Goth Chick News: Samuel L. Jackson Takes On Japanese OVA – Hold On To Your Butts…
4. AD&D Figurines: Youth In a Box?
5. Heroic Fantasy with the Sharp Edge of Reality: The Sacred Band by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
6. “Are You Not Still Entertained?”: Gladiator’s 10-Year Oscar Anniversary
7. The Return of the King (1980)
8. Blowing the Doors Off the Barn: Expanding the Iron Fist Mythos
9. Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco
10. Eccentric in Retrospect: Helen Simpson’s The Woman on the Beast
11. Fantasia Diary 2015, Day 5: Teana: 10000 Years Later, Crimson Whale, and The Shamer’s Daughter
12. Part Gothic, Part Sword and Sorcery, and Part Horror: Andrew P. Weston’s Hell Bound
13. Solitaire Adventure with Victory Point Games
14. Tribulations Herculean and Tragic: Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris
15. My Fantasia Festival, Days 5 to 7: Cold in July, The Fatal Encounter, and Huntresses
16. Adventures on Stage: Fantasy Literature’s Missing Link
17. Haunt the House: The Music and Art of Will Houlihan
18. Living it Large: How Larger Than Life Characters Work
19. Adventures In Gaming: The Temple Of the Sea Gods
20. Return to Thieves World in Beyond Sanctuary: The Revised and Expanded Author’s Cut by Janet Morris
21. Battles with Blades and Bows, and Creatures Charming and Terrifying: Journeys, edited by Teresa Edgerton
22. The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History
23. Gods, Mortals, Sons, and Daughters: Storm Seed by Janet and Chris Morris
24. Reading Alan Moore’s Halo Jones for the First Time
25. Tempus Takes Manhattan: Janet and Chris Morris’ Tempus Unbound

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. An excerpt from Tempus Unbound, by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
4. An excerpt from Pirates in Hell, edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
5. An excerpt from Waters of Darkness by David C. Smith and Joe Bonadonna
6. An excerpt from Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder by Roy A. Mauritsen
7. “Goat-Beard the Pirate, Part 2: Evil Angel,” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
8. An excerpt from Truck Stop Earth by Michael A. Armstrong
9. An excerpt from Mouth of the Dragon by Tom Barczak
10. “The Terror in the Vale” by E.E. Knight
11. Fiction Excerpt: “Tumithak of the Corridors” by Charles R. Tanner
12. An excerpt from A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden
13. “Awakening” by Judith Berman
14. “Stand at Duben-Geb” by Ryan Harvey
15. “Tsathoggua” by Michael Shea
16. An excerpt from Black City Demon by Richard A. Knaak
17. “The Sorrowless Thief” by Ryan Harvey
18. “The Quintessence of Absence” by Sean McLachlan
19. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum” by Joe Bonadonna
20. “The Poison Well” by Judith Berman
21. “Queen of Toads” by Joe Bonadonna
22. An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen
23. The first chapter of The Wreck of the Marissa by M Harold Page
24. “Nero Wolfe – Stamped for Murder” by Bob Byrne
25. An excerpt from The Power of the Sapphire Wand by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna
26. “Seeker of Fortune” by David Evan Harris
27. An excerpt from “Night of Two Moons” by David B. Coe
28. “Niola’s Last Stand” by Vera Nazarian
29. “Disciple” by Emily Mah
30. An excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna

The top categories last month were:

1. Editor’s Blog
2. Books
3. Art of the Genre
4. Blog Entry
5. Vintage Treasures
6. Art
7. Comics
8. BG Staff
9. Conan
10. Black Gate Goes to Summer Movies
11. Convention Report
12. Contest
13. Games: Role Playing Games
14. Discovering Robert E. Howard
15. Reviews
16. Pulp
17. Magazines
18. Game Reviews
19. Essays
20. Future Treasures
21. Series Fantasy
22. Music
23. Reviews of Black Gate
24. New Treasures
25. News

The Top 50 Black Gate blog posts in March are here, and you can see all 102 posts we made in the month of April here.