Black Gate

We are pleased to announce a special promotion with Pitch-Black Books: for a very limited time, subscribe to Black Gate and you can purchase a copy of the acclaimed new anthology Lords of Swords for only $4.95! That’s $10 off the already-low cover price of $14.95!

Lords of Swords is one of the most exciting collections of new adventure fantasy to appear in a very long time. This thick volume is packed with fiction from the genre’s rising stars — including Howard Andrew Jones, E. E. Knight, and John C. Hocking — as well as names synonymous with Heroic Fantasy, such Tanith Lee, Nancy Virginia Varian, Vera Nazarian, and many others. Here’s what Todd McAulty said about Lords of Swords:

Excellent. . .a handsomely produced volume of heroic fantasy. Almost every piece is strong, and a few are a good deal more than that. The real payoff comes from three long pieces by three very different writers, any one of which could stand alongside the work of the masters. . .If you’re a Black Gate reader, you will be excited to find a book that introduces you to some of the finest new practitioners of adventure fantasy. Lords of Swords is that book.

Quantities of this terrific book are unfortunately very short, and limited to what we have on hand — so act now! [Already a subscriber? We’ll send you a copy for the same low price of $4.95, plus shipping! Just follow the link to our subscription page.]

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Dao Shi the Chinese Exorcist, wily hero of Iain Rowan’s “Looking For Goats, Finding Monkeys” (Black Gate 6), returns in an epic tale of ghosts, magic and treachery, as he tangles with Imperial forces in his search for a demonic assassin. . .the legendary Morlock the Maker follows an enigmatic adversary into the depths of the dreaded winterwood. . .and a woman leads her shrinking tribe in a desperate race to safety, pursued by hordes of mindless monsters — and something far worse.

Black Gate 8 ships to subscribers and bookstores this week. “In just 7 issues, Black Gate, has established itself as the High Fantasy venue for the short form. . .[with] Best Of caliber work,” writes The Internet Review of Science Fiction.

This issue comes packed with novellas and short stories from Charles Coleman Finlay, Jay Lake, Sherry Decker, Justin Stanchfield, James Enge and many others. In addition Rich Horton offers a lengthy retrospective of the famed Ace Double series, plus there’s columns and reviews from Don Bassingthwaite, Todd McAulty, Howard Andrew Jones, and much more.

Don’t miss it!

Manvayar’s old master had been a secret necromancer, a man capable of enormous evil who had hidden his torturous art from everyone. Now Manvayer serves the High Temple’s inquisitors, ferreting out just such forbidden evil. But his first assignment may well prove to be his last, as he unknowingly stumbles into a deadly plot among the ruins of an ancient culture. . .a plot that conceals the machinations of an emerging necromancer of terrifying power.

Judith Berman’s “The Poison Well” originally appeared in Black Gate 7, and was praised as “a moody, brooding, intricate tale of necromancy, vanity, and vengeance [with] palpable suspense… an imaginative and ghostly tale” by SFReader.

“A mini-epic of magic, mystery, lust, and obsession… it blew me away,” said Eric M. Cherry at Twilight Tales.

Now we are proud to present it online, complete in its entirety with the original art by Denis Rodier.

If you enjoy it, be sure to read the lengthy two-part interview with Judith which explores the story’s background and genesis, at Twilight Tales Online.

Two investigators stumble across far more than they bargained for as they ferret out a deadly necromancer among the ruins of an ancient culture. . .a small band of condemned souls begins a thousand-mile journey across a landscape of horrors to escape hell. . .a young woman battles ghosts and worse to bury a cursed heirloom on a haunted island. . .and a young hero leads his ragged followers in an audacious daylight attack on the unsuspecting aliens who have ruled earth for millennia.

All that and a lot more awaits you in the latest big issue of Black Gate. “Each issue is fat enough to make up three or four issues of most of the other fiction semiprozines,” noted Gardner Dozois in his annual magazine summary, and this issue is no exception — it comes packed with novellas and short stories from Mark Sumner, Judith Berman, Don Bassingthwaite, Todd McAulty, Holly Phillips, and many others. There’s also a detailed and entertaining look back at one of the great pulp magazines, Planet Stories, from Rich Horton, plus columns and reviews from Claude Lalumiere, Lisa DuMond, and Don Bassingthwaite, and much more. And don’t miss our exclusive Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip!

An exorcist in Ancient China stumbles across far more than he bargained for…an escaped serf in a world of dangerous dimensional portals learns that fortune indeed favors the bold…an aging monarch receives the potentially lethal gift of a slave girl, the last living child of a dead Mage King…and a young man leads a ragtag band of soldiers to the surface to face the horrid invaders of Earth for the first time in millennia.

It’s all in the big fall issue of Black Gate. Have a look at our online sneak peek, featuring artwork, excerpts, and more. Our action-packed sixth issue contains new fiction from Mark W. Tiedemann, Rick Norwood, Iain Rowan, Karen Jordan Allen, and the novel-length pulp reprint “Tumithak in Shawn,” the sequel to last issue’s epic “Tumithak of the Corridors” by Charles R. Tanner.

All this plus the next hilarious installment of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic. Don’t miss it!

We’ve updated the Black Gate subscription form to make it even easier to order back issues or subscribe online!

Now you can choose from a variety of payment options — including Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal — as well as a handy new printer-friendly order form to mail in payments by check or money order. Don’t take a chance that your local bookstore runs out of Black Gate. Subscribe today!

All copies of Black Gate are mailed in a sturdy protective envelope, to ensure that they arrive at your door in pristine condition. Take advantage of our special Sample Issue offer — we’ll pay the postage!

A young woman and her barbarian protector stumble across an ancient horror in a ruined temple…a group of children are trapped by the lethal remnant of a sorcerous war…a young explorer undertakes a dangerous journey to Earth’s surface, untold centuries after an alien conquest…and the last survivor of a race of shape-shifters faces an unexpected fate in the bloody coliseum of Ancient Rome.

These and many more exciting stories await you in the big spring issue of Black Gate, on sale now. Have a look at our online sneak peek, featuring lengthy excerpts, artwork, and much more. This issue features fiction from Bram Stoker Award-winning author Brian A. Hopkins, a chilling new horror novella from Todd McAulty, and great new fiction from Don Bassingthwaite, Michael H. Payne, Jennifer Busick and many others. And don’t miss the hilarious exploits of the Knights of the Dinner Table by Jolly R. Blackburn!

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has released the 2002 Nebula Awards preliminary ballot, and we are very proud to announce that ElizaBeth Gilligan’s “Iron Joan,” from our Winter 2002 issue, has been nominated in the category of Best Short Story. The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of SFWA, and the Awards will be announced at the 2002 Nebula Awards Banquet to be held in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 19th.

ElizaBeth’s tale of a mysterious young woman’s arrival in a small town, and the effect she has on its inhabitants, was one of the most acclaimed pieces of fiction we’ve published, and we are very pleased to present “Iron Joan” online here in a Special Fiction Feature, complete in its entirety and with the original art by Chris Pepper. We hope you enjoy it.

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