Black Gate‘s David Soyka examines two new offerings from Apex SF & Horror Digest and Subterranean Magazine, in the process delineating the modern boundaries of horror. In tales by notables with names like Shepard, Creasey, Tuttle, Priest, Bisson, Tidhar, and Ford, there’s a wide swath cut between subtle creeping dread and rank gratuitous gore. Which is more effective in a literary sense? Or as pure visceral terror? Come inside to find out…if you dare.
The literary devices and themes that lie at the heart of Sword-and-Sorcery far predate the twentieth century. Join Black Gate‘s Joe McCullough on a quest back in time to visit some of the myths and legendry that led to the genre we know and love. In this first installment, McCullough takes a look at the battle-torn life of Hereward the Wake, who thrived during the time of William the Conqueror.
Fantasy readers well know Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane and Karl Edward Wagner’s immortal warrior Kane, but there is another Kane in fantasy. Michael Moorcock is most famous for his Elric novels, but back in the sixties he penned a Sword-and-Planet trilogy that owes much to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars, one featuring a hero named Michael Kane. This fall, Paizo Publishing re-released the first novel in the series as part of their Planet Stories imprint. But after four decades, does it hold up? Black Gate reviewer Ryan Harvey delves into this new edition to find out.
This week, Black Gate lets the author of the Vampire Earth and Age of Fire series of novels take you on a trip through literature and film to illuminate the importance of morality in the fantasy field. “We all need ideals,” says E. E. Knight, “gods and heroes to look up to who offer us answers and examples to the Big Questions about right and wrong, life and death.” From The Lord of the Rings to Blade Runner, from George Lucas to Carl Jung, Knight sees common moral threads coursing throughout all of the best fantasy. Intrigued?
It’s the capital of the fantasy publishing kingdom, the one con where everyone who is anyone comes together once a year to hobnob, sell, pitch, and perhaps even snag one of the most coveted accolades in the industry, the World Fantasy Award. Howard Jones and John O’Neill once again made the trek under the Black Gate banner, braving the wilds of New York to bring you back tales of pleasant panels, bustling bars, and delightful dealer’s rooms — all the things that make a con worthwhile.
Judith Merkle Riley writes tales of Middle Ages history and romance spiced with potent amounts of the occult and supernatural. Three Rivers Press has recently brought two classic entries in her Margaret of Asbury series back into print. If you’ve never sampled Riley’s fiction, read Black Gate‘s review by Amy Harlib to find out what you’ve been missing.
Two of the shining lights in the fantasy editing field are Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. Over the years they have brought out a staggering amount of quality fantasy fiction in both book and magazine form, and the many awards they’ve won stand as a testament to the quality of their selections.
Join Black Gate reviewer Mark Rigney as he delves into one of their latest anthologies, containing tales from writers as diverse as Jeffrey Ford, Paul Di Filippo, Peter S. Beagle, and Lucius Shepard.
Since 1999 Jenn Reese has made a name for herself writing fantasy tales at times whimsical, contemplative, and moving for markets as diverse as Strange Horizons, Flypaper, and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress book anthologies. Now we finally have a novel from her, one with plenty of romance and exotic, kung-fu crime fighting to keep you reading. Black Gate’s Rich Horton gives you the details.
A few weeks ago we presented an interview with the head of Paizo Publishing. Now Black Gate‘s Ryan Harvey reviews the newest release in their Planet Stories line of pulp reprints. It’s a volume of tales featuring C. L. Moore’s S&S heroine extraordinaire Jirel of Joiry, and it’s one of the most complete Jirel collections ever assembled — read on to find out why.
This week Black Gate turns its attention to the comics medium, as reviewer D. K. Latta investigates the latest earth-shattering miniseries to be presented in novel form by DC Comics. Is this outburst of existential mayhem (written by Greg Cox) truly something new, or does it follow in the timeworn footsteps of Crisis on Infinite Earths and its prodigious progeny of universe-altering storylines? D. K. has the answers inside.