I’m honestly not sure where September went. It was just here a second ago, and then…. bam. It slipped out the back like a grounded teenager with the car keys.

Well, September may have been brief, but it was action packed. We published 108 blog entries, celebrating neglected fantasy of all kinds — old, new, and in between. We explained why humorous fantasy isn’t popular, examined the iconic beauty of Princess Leia, revealed the lost Sherlock Holmes story, and highlighted a great many new releases and vintage paperbacks. I’m still catching up on all the great stuff we covered, and it’s halfway through October already.

Our most popular article last month was Scott Taylor’s list of the Top 10 TSR Cover Paintings of All Time, a nostalgic look at the finest artwork from the Golden Age of roleplaying. If you played RPGs at all last century, Scott’s piece will bring back some great memories.

Second on the list was Part I of Patty Templeton’s Self-Publishing Checklist, an item-by-item catalog of the essential steps to getting your self-published novel into the hands of readers. Patty’s own book, There is no Lovely End, exploded onto the scene in July and has already become one of the hottest self-published horror titles of the year.

The third most popular article in September was 10 Acclaimed Historical Fantasy Novels You Need to Read, a list of the most exciting new releases in the hottest new sub-genre in fantasy. Compiled by our editorial staff, this list will point you to some of the best reading of the year.

Fourth was our Vintage Treasures article on Andre Norton’s classic The Beast Master, one of her most successful novels. And rounding out the Top Five was James Maliszewski’s fond look back at RPGs of the mid-80s, The Golden Age.

After the list of top articles for September, I’ve also broken out the most popular blog categories for the month.

The complete Top 50 Black Gate posts in September were:

1. Art of the Genre: The Top 10 TSR Cover Paintings of All Time
2. Self-Publishing Checklist: The Random No One Tells You, Part I
3. 10 Acclaimed Historical Fantasy Novels You Need to Read
4. Vintage Treasures: The Beast Master and Lord of Thunder by Andre Norton
5. The Golden Age
6. Self-Publishing Checklist: The Random No One Tells You, Part II
7. What Did That Say? Or, When is a Subtitle not a Subtitle?
8. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The “Lost” Holmes Story
9. Why Humorous Fantasy Isn’t Popular
10. Art of the Genre: The Art of Selling your Past

     

11. An Interview with Emmy Jackson, Author of Empty Cradle: The Untimely Death of Corey Sanderson
12. Walter Booth: Pioneer of British Science Fiction Film
13. Art of the Genre: Art of the Iconic Female #5: Princess Leia
14. Joe Abercrombie’s Half a King Hits Half the Mark
15. Living Outside Society’s Rules: Blackguards
16. The Swordfolk Among Us
17. What Would it Look Like to Pull a Watchmen on Planetary Romance? Part III
18. The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: Land of Unreason by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp
19. Hell to Pay: The Devil and Daniel Webster in Print and on Film
20. Vintage Treasures: Cemetery World by Clifford D. Simak

     

21. Kirby McCauley, September 11, 1941 — August 30, 2014
22. A Mining Colony, a Blind Date, and a Ghostly Alien Hand: A Review of Outpassage by Janet Morris & Chris Morris
23. The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in August
24. These Robots Are Revolting: Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 A.D.
25. Self-Publishing Checklist: The Random No One Tells You, Part III
26. Vintage Treasures: The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt
27. Dueling Rakes, Mysterious Women, and the Goblin Aristocracy: The Queen’s Necklace by Teresa Edgerton
28. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Doyle in The Resident Patient?
29. Future Treasures: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures edited by Sean Wallace
30. Vintage Treasures: Orlando Furioso, the First Big Fat Fantasy Ever?

     

31. New Treasures: Sword & Mythos, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles
32. Meet The Mad Mummy
33. Eugie Foster, December 30, 1971 – September 27, 2014
34. What Would it Look Like to Pull a Watchmen on Planetary Romance? Part IV – The Conclusion
35. Vintage Treasures: The Best of Murray Leinster, edited by Brian Davis
36. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Reggie Owens’ A Study in Scarlet
37. Art of the Genre: How Paizo Continues on Where Others Have Failed, a Review of Skull & Shackles Base Set
38. Is Size Important? Or, The Short Story Anthology Examined
39. Record of Lodoss War and Subtle Subversions
40. New Treasures: The Casebook of Sexton Blake, edited by David Stuart Davies

     

41. Alan Moore Completes 1 Million+ Word Historical Fantasy Novel, Jerusalem
42. Self-Published Book Review: Malarat by Jessica Rydill
43. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: An Index (So Far)
44. Goth Chick News: Chicago Comic Con 2014 – Hold Onto Your Spandex… (Part 2)
45. Vintage Treasures: Night Fear by Frank Belknap Long
46. Pillboxes: England’s Unused Defenses Against Hitler
47. The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in August
48. Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1966: A Retro Review
49. Blogging Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond, Part Six – The Female of the Species
50. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Great Profile (Barrymore) Plays the Great Profile

The top categories last month were:

1. New Treasures
2. Books
3. Blog Entry
4. Fiction
5. Reviews
6. Vintage Treasures
7. Editors Blog
8. Game Reviews
9. Art of the Genre
10. Interviews
11. News
12. Art
13. Future Treasures
14. BG staff
15. Comics

The Top 5o Black Gate blog posts in August are here and you can see all 108 posts we made in the month of September here.