Lawrence Watt-Evans utilized the Internet in novel fashion to bring the latest entry in his Ethshar series to readers. Black Gate‘s Rich Horton tells you all about how he did it, what it may hint about the future of publishing, and whether the book itself lives up to the previous volumes in Watt-Evans’ fantasy saga.
Black Gate 11 is now at the printers — and it promises to be our best issue yet, as Martha Wells, James Enge, Iain Rowan, and Mark Sumner all return with big new installments building on the action in Black Gate 10. Join us for the first meeting of Giliead & Ilias, as Morlock the Maker assists a small fraternity of warriors in desperate battle against the dreaded Boneless One, Dao Shi the exorcist comes face to face with an unkillable demon deep in the Underworld, and The Naturalist returns to civilization to warn of the approach of the terror from the interior.
That’s not all — Maria V. Snyder, Peadar Ó GuilÃÂn, William I. Lengeman III and many others offer exciting new stories. A dead wizard hires a thief to break into his tower and uncover a deadly secret, a man fights to save his son from a woman whose charms are literally irresistible, and a modern father is inducted into Valhalla after a particularly challenging roller coaster ride. All that plus four pages of Knights of the Dinner Table. It’s 224 pages of the best in modern adventure fantasy!
Follow the link to a sneak peek of Black Gate 11, with story excerpts, artwork, and even a look at “Neglected Stories from the SF Magazines” from Rich Horton. Subscribe Now so you don’t miss out!
Ever wonder where the masters of horror go shopping? Look no further — Black Gate correspondent Sue Granquist takes you on an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the premier event in the country for all of the new costumes, masks, animatronics and gadgets set to take horror films, haunted houses, and goth parties by storm.
As Robert E. Howard’s Conan was marauding through the pages of Weird Tales, a young authoress named Catherine Moore began crafting unique adventures of a S&S heroine in the same magazine. In doing so, she blazed a trail for female fantasists to follow for decades to come. Join Black Gate‘s Ryan Harvey for a look at Jirel of Joiry, the very first female Sword-and-Sorcery series character.
It’s a well-known tale in Sword-and-Sorcery circles: in 1954 the legendary fantasist Poul Anderson wrote one of the classics of the subgenre, a thrilling homage to the myths and Icelandic sagas of old titled The Broken Sword. Over fifteen years later Anderson heavily revised the book, and ever since readers have been debating which edition is better. Black Gate‘s Ryan Harvey leads us on a textual journey through both versions, giving you all the information you need to come to your own conclusions.
From the venerable Sunday New York Times Magazine to small online bastions such as Clarkesworld and Strange Horizons, short fantasy and science fiction is still out there in the marketplace of ideas, thrilling readers around the world. Join Black Gate‘s David Soyka on a trip through all the latest gems in the field, including the latest from a Pulitzer Prize winner and several nominees for the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards.
Black Gate‘s multi-part look at Dungeons & Dragons Online continues with a contemplation on the joys of intermediate play. Treacherous sewers, new wilderness areas filled with quests, and deciding whether or not to join a guild or adventure alone are just some of the topics covered.
“A far northern continent in its younger days before glaciers claimed it, when wizards and elder gods and wily thieves and greedy moneylenders crisscrossed its steamy jungles and ebony mountains and opulent cities.” That is how Ryan Harvey introduces us to Hyperborea, the second invented world of Clark Ashton Smith’s to be put under Black Gate‘s critical microscope. Join us on a journey to one of fantasy’s most delightfully strange milieus.
It’s into the small press maelstrom once again with Black Gate‘s David Soyka, as he considers two new offerings from the world of short genre fiction.
This month we look at the debut of an ambitious new print magazine titled Greatest Uncommon Denominator, as well as the third issue of the online publication Darker Matter. Both are crammed with lots of intriguing stories by authors such as Jason Stoddard, Bruce Boston, and Charlie Anders, and David points you to the best of the bunch.
Clark Ashton Smith ranks as one of the most uniquely talented fantasists of the twentieth century, having penned a bewildering array of bizarre, erotic, thrillingly imaginative stories for the legendary 1930s-era pulp Weird Tales. In this first of a series, Black Gate‘s Ryan Harvey introduces you a haunted medieval French forest teeming with monks and vampires, lovers and succubi, knights and gargoyles. It’s Smith’s lasciviously lush and monstrously macabre woodland known as Averoigne.