During the fantasy boom of the 1970s and ’80s, the work of a young Chicagoan named David C. Smith consistently kept Sword-and-Sorcery readers enthralled with tales that heralded back to the pulp S&S adventures of old. Now after many years away from the field, he sits down with Black Gate to discuss that storied publishing age and his career as one of the genre’s shining lights.
Two of the most exciting Sword-and-Sorcery volumes to be released in recent memory are on the agenda this week. Both feature the work of longstanding masters in the field, and both feature some material that has been published before. So what makes these new volumes different? Enter our review sanctum sanctorum with Ryan Harvey and Howard Andrew Jones to find out.
If you’re a pen-and-paper RPGer who has never explored the wonders of online gaming, take a short trip into the eye of that storm with Black Gate‘s Mac Denier. Mac reviews the massively multiplayer online extravaganza Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, and gives you a taste of what to expect when your gaming universe goes digital.
James Enge’s tales of Morlock the Maker have earned praise from an ever-growing list of Black Gate readers and reviewers. A few weeks ago Black Gate’s Howard Jones had the pleasure to “sit down” with James and get some detailed answers about Morlock’s origins, his future, and some insight into Enge’s writing practices.
This time out, The Virginia Quarterly Review and the new online version of Subterranean Magazine are both caught in the eagle-eyed glare of Black Gate‘s resident short fiction critic, David Soyka.
Find out what’s hot and what’s not among their latest genre offerings — including stories from Jonathan Lethem, Joyce Carol Oates, John Scalzi, R. Andrew Heidel, Poppy Z. Brite, Joe R. Lansdale, and many others.
Though our Dutch is a little rusty, the Black Gate staff wants to give a well-deserved tip of the hat to Pure Fantasy magazine, and particularly co-founder Cornelis Alderlieste, who mailed us a copy of issue 7.
A blend of fiction, reviews, and news (we think), Pure Fantasy is one of the most visually impressive magazines we’ve seen in a long time. At 162 pages, perfect bound on high-quality paper, it’s equal in heft to Black Gate — and in terms of design and layout, it’s a notch or two better. Pure Fantasy is a work of art, with stunning production values and professional art throughout. Issue 7 (pictured at left) has cover art by Camille Kuo.
“Pure Fantasy [is] an idea and initiative that was developed with Black Gate in the back of our minds,” writes Cornelis. “Well, at least in my mind… I think you will find that both PF and BG have a lot in common, and I hope you don’t mind we snatched some of BG‘s basics. Keep up the good work, and most importantly keep inspiring people all over the world to create good fiction.”
If you’re looking for something new in European fantasy — or simply want to see just how professional the small press can be in the hands of a small group of talented and dedicated writers and editors — we urge you to support a fine new magazine and try Pure Fantasy. We guarantee you’ll be impressed.
Black Gate Contributing Editor Rich Horton presents his annual look back at the finest genre short fiction of last year, selected from a reading list of nearly 2000 stories appearing in well over a hundred magazines, e-zines and anthologies — from Aeon to Zoetrope.
Join one of the most accomplished reviewers in the field for a fond look back at 2006, and a preview of the contents of three major upcoming anthologies containing the very best it had to offer: Science Fiction: The Best of the Year 2007, Fantasy: The Best of the Year 2007, and the new Space Opera, showcasing the finest in modern space adventure.
Rich also unveils his choices for the Best Online SF/F of 2007, and finally his picks for Hugo nominations for short story, novelette, and novella.
Black Gate returns with a bang — and an extra 16 pages — with a jam-packed issue filled with the very best in adventure fantasy. Martha Wells graces our pages for the first time with a chilling tale of pursuit into a deadly wood in “Reflections,” the first in a series of new Giliead and Ilias stories. Morlock the Maker returns to investigate a deadly tome in a new adventure from fan favorite James Enge, and Iain Rowan’s Dao Shi the exorcist continues his escape from the forces of empire in “Welcome to the Underworld.”
Judith Berman brings us a mini-epic of dark necromancy, haunted ruins, centuries-spanning intrigue, and unquiet dead in “Awakening,” the sequel to “The Poison Well” (BG 7), and Mark Sumner kicks off a new series of chilling monster tales with “The Naturalist: Going to Applewash.”
All this plus Harry James Connolly, a Dabir & Asim story from Howard Andrew Jones, a lengthy feature on ’70s SF from Rich Horton, and much more. Subscribe Now to make sure you don’t miss out!
Ace correspondent David Soyka, high above the fiction landscape in the Black Gate chopper, checks in with a live report on which lanes are open and which to avoid. There’s routine traffic crawling on many of your regular morning routes, but on the Interzone and Fantasy expressways things seem to be moving splendidly.
Black Gate Short Fiction Reviews: Don’t leave home without ’em.
The prolific David Gemmell, who died July 28, 2006, left behind a profound contribution to heroic fantasy, starting with the novel Legend and continuing with Knights of Dark Renown, Dark Moon, the recent Troy series, and literally dozens of others.
Wayne MacLaurin and Steve Tompkins offer a fresh new look at a legacy that spans thirty novels over twenty-two years. This in-depth tribute offers new understanding for his fans, and plenty of enticement for those who have not yet read Gemmell’s work.