Boy, we sure covered a wide range of topics in November.

They included a look at the tragic death of British SF author John Brunner, the triumphant return of one of the fathers of modern Sword & Sorcery, a high-resolution snapshot of a 1942 pulp magazine rack, bulletins from the World Fantasy Convention, and a detailed report from inside the prehistoric painted caves of Somaliland.

And that’s just a sample of the Top Ten most popular articles.

The #1 article of the month was an excerpt from Robert Silverber’s article in the March 1996 issue of Asimov’s SF magazine, on the tragic death of John Brunner, and a look at Brunner’s career following his ill-fated detour into historical fiction.

The second most popular blog post last month was Fletcher Vredenburgh’s review of Charles R. Saunders’s new Sword & Soul novel Abengoni: First Calling. Saunders reshaped sword & sorcery with his first novel Imaro in 1981, and Howard Andrew Jones calls him “one of the greatest sword-and-sorcery writers of the ’70s (and one that by all rights should be a household name).”

The #3 article for the month was a sample from the Shorpy Historic Picture Archive, with a gorgeous high-resolution pic of a 1942 magazine rack crammed with hundreds of pulp magazines, slicks, and comics — all in glorious color.

Number 4 on the list was our look at the horror catalog of the marvelous Valancourt Books. And rounding out the Top Five was James McGlothlin’s review of the new horror anthology Nightmare Carnival.

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

The complete Top 50 Black Gate posts in November were:

1. Robert Silverberg on the Tragic Death of John Brunner
2. Epic Fantasy from the Father of Sword & Soul: Abengoni: First Calling by Charles R. Saunders
3. See a 1942 Pulp Magazine Rack in All Its Glory
4. Bringing Neglected Classics Back Into Print: The Horror Catalog of Valancourt Books
5. Monsters, Lobster Women, and Creepy Cats: Explore the Dark Side of the Circus in Nightmare Carnival
6. 2014 World Fantasy Convention: Sunday — World Fantasy Award Winners Announced
7. Somalia’s Forgotten Past: The Prehistoric Painted Caves of Somaliland
8. Vintage Treasures: Gateway to Elsewhere by Murray Leinster / The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. van Vogt
9. Vintage Treasures: The Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick / Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton
10. Sofia Samatar Confronts the Elephant in the Room

     

11. Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear
12. Vintage Treasures: Weird Tales #1, edited by Lin Carter
13. Selling Short Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror Fiction, Part II
14. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Solar Pons
15. Finding Your Groove in NaNoWriMo: The Rhythm of Writing
16. Can You Really Role Play on a Board?: Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords
17. Somalia’s Forgotten Past: Medieval Empires on the Horn of Africa
18. “It Is Neither Allegory Nor Fable But A Story To Be Read For Its Own Sake”: E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, and Zimiamvia
19. The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: The Spawn of Cthulhu edited by Lin Carter
20. What Old Futures Can Teach Us About What SF and SciFi is Really For

     

21. In Praise Of Pavane
22. The Dungeons (and Dragons) of My Life, Part Two
23. Firefly Friday: Going Behind the Scenes
24. Vintage Treasures: The Worlds of A.E. Van Vogt
25. Amazing Stories, July 1962: A Retro-Review
26. When Stellar Empires Clash: GDW’s Dark Nebula and Imperium
27. The Original Science Fiction Stories, November 1958 and May 1960: A Retro-Review
28. Culture, Corporate and Otherwise
29. Michael Bishop on Tom Hanks’ Story in The New Yorker
30. 2014 World Fantasy Convention: Thursday

     

31. Review of Sinister: Is Bagul the New Bogeyman on the Block?
32. The Series Series: The Godless by Ben Peek
33. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Munchkin
34. Sax Rohmer at Towers of London
35. The End of the Story: Sorceress of the Witch World by Andre Norton
36. Tête-bêche: Can a 2-in-1 Book Revival Offer New Life for Genre Novellas?
37. A Modern Classic of Heroic Fantasy: The Sword of Demelza by J. E. Rogers
38. Amal El-Mohtar reviews “Witch, Beast, Saint” by C.S.E. Cooney
39. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Elementary is Back
40. Exploring the Naval Museum in Madrid, Spain

     

41. You Know My Methods, Or, How Do You Write?
42. Goth Chick News: Monster Energy Drinks Come from… SATAN??
43. World Fantasy Convention: Friday Autograph Sessions
44. Future Treasures: Covenant’s End by Ari Marmell
45. 2014 World Fantasy Convention: Saturday Wrap-Up
46. National Just Write Something Month
47. Modular: The Warlords of the Accordlands
48. Ancient Worlds: Killing Humbaba
49. Take Advantage of the Fantasy Flight Games Holiday Sale!
50. The Hardy Boys Meet M.R. James: The Supernatural Mysteries of John Bellairs

The top categories last month were:

1. New Treasures
2. Books
3. Fiction
4. Blog Entry
5. Vintage Treasures
6. Game Reviews
7. Editor’s Blog
8. Reviews
9. Art of the Genre
10. Magazines
11. Comics
12. News
13. Interviews
14. Art
15. Convention Report
16. BG Staff
17. Writing
18. Goth Chick
19. Movie
20. Pulp

The Top 5o Black Gate blog posts in October are here and you can see all 105 posts we made in the month of November here.