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Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast Presents: Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Conversation with Ryan Harvey

Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast Presents: Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Conversation with Ryan Harvey

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Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast Ryan Harvey

Dream Tower Media, the mad geniuses behind The Blue Lamp by Robert Zoltan (which Fletcher Vredenburgh called “marvelous… a full sound production, like a radio show”), have released Episode 2 of their new audio series, the Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast. The title is spot on, as this one-hour episode is a thoroughly entertaining and far-ranging discussion of the great Edgar Rice Burroughs, featuring Robert Zoltan and Black Gate‘s own Ryan Harvey.

Like The Blue Lamp, this is no typical podcast, but an imaginatively designed (and frequently hilarious) radio show set in the windswept Dream Tower (with a talking raven). But stellar production aside, the real star of the show is the always-interesting Ryan Harvey, whose deep knowledge and profound enthusiasm for his subject prove infectious. Even if you’re not an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, you will be by the end their discussion. Terrific stuff.

I was also pleased to hear that the Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast will be produced on a regular schedule. Robert tells us:

I made a real effort to create something unique and engaging, almost like a MST 3000 feel, that would be an ongoing serial. The third episode in February is going to be Orcs!: A Conversation with Historical Fantasy Author Scott Oden.

Great news! Check out all the episodes of the Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast here.

Black Gate Online Fiction: An Excerpt from Mad Shadows II by Joe Bonadonna

Black Gate Online Fiction: An Excerpt from Mad Shadows II by Joe Bonadonna

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Mad Shadows 2 cover by Erika M. Szabo-small MAD SHADOWS 2 BACK Cover-small

Joe Bonadonna’s Dorgo the Dowser novelette “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” part of Joe’s first swords and sorcery collection, Mad Shadows: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser, is one of the most popular pieces of fiction ever posted at Black Gate. Joe’s other contributions to the Black Gate Online Fiction library include an exclusive excerpt from Waters of Darkness, his supernatural pirate dark fantasy novel co-written with David C. Smith, and his recent story “Queen of Toads,” an old-fashioned pulp horror tale.

Black Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive excerpt from Part Three of Mad Shadows II — Dorgo the Dowser and The Order of the Serpent, published in trade paperback and digital formats this month.

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Coming Soon: The Jurassic Chronicles

Coming Soon: The Jurassic Chronicles

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The Jurassic Chronicles-smallThe next installment of Samuel Peralta’s Chronicles series is set to launch on January 29th — the theme of this one is dinosaurs.

Edited by Crystal Watanabe and featuring stories from: Piers Beckley, Zen DiPietro, Ed Gosney, Laxmi Hariharan, Phillip Harris, M.J. Kelley, Stant Litore, Terry Maggert, Emily Mah (yes, that’s me), Harry Manners, Anthony J Melchiorri, Seanan McGuire, and Dinosaur Knights author Victor Milan, it offers a broad range of stories from both established veterans and new up-and-comers.

If you haven’t taken note of these anthologies, you are missing out. They feature an impressive mix of indie, hybrid, and trad pubbed authors who write science fiction and fantasy.

And this one has dinosaurs. Need I say more???

Emily Mah is a writer and the owner of E.M. Tippetts Book Designs, a company that provides formatting, cover design, and editing services for independent authors and publishers. Her last post for Black Gate was an interview with German author Emily Bold.

Get The Complete Roslof Keep Campaign from Art of the Genre for 20% Off

Get The Complete Roslof Keep Campaign from Art of the Genre for 20% Off

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BG Contributing Editor R. Scott Taylor is a true jack-of-all-trades — writer, editor, publisher, novelist, art director, and one of the most consistently popular bloggers at Black Gate. Through his own publishing house, Art of the Genre, he’s produced two acclaimed anthologies, Tales of the Emerald Serpent and A Knight in the Silk Purse, and seven novels.

His most recent project is The Folio, a series of Kickstarter-funded old school adventure modules. The Complete Roslof Keep Campaign compiles Folios 1-6, as well as six supplemental mini-adventures and the Nameless Realms Races supplement, into a giant 134-page mega-adventure. This deluxe hardcover has been designed to fit on your shelves next to the classic 1980s ‘Orange Spine’ hardcover series by TSR — it even has an original cover by iconic artist Jeff Easley. The book comes packed with 2D & 3D color maps, iconic characters, character sheets, and much more. Here’s Scott with the deets.

I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life trying to go back in time to the incredible gaming days of my youth in the 1980s. With Roslof, I got to fulfill many aspects of that dream, including producing a replica ‘Orange Spine’ hardcover with an Jeff Easley original on the front. Getting to represent the old AD&D traditions and mechanics, while also using mechanics for the latest D&D 5E, I think I’ve done a great job of mixing old and new to create something unique in the gaming marketplace.

Scott is offering the hardcover at 20% off until January 8th (by using the coupon code NEWYEARSALE) at his website. Check out the details and order your copy here.

The Very Opposite of a First Contact Novel: On Whetsday by Mark Sumner

The Very Opposite of a First Contact Novel: On Whetsday by Mark Sumner

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Mark Sumner produced some of the most acclaimed fiction ever published in Black Gate. The Internet Review of Science Fiction called his story “Leather Doll” (from BG 7) “Absolutely riveting…. A masterpiece of contemporary science fiction,” and Tangent Online called his serialized novel The Naturalist (in BG 10, 11, and 13) “Absorbing and thoroughly enjoyable… it recalls the “lost world” tales of H. Rider Haggard and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle… Fraught with danger and excitement, and full of the mystery and color of a grand adventure.”

His newest book is On Whetsday, a far-future tale of a planet where the last remaining humans live in peaceful co-existence with an enigmatic alien race. Sharon Shinn calls it “The very opposite of a first contact novel… but just as exciting.” It was originally serialized at Daily Kos, where Mark has been a writer for several years. Here’s the enticing first paragraph.

On Whetsday, Denny danced at the spaceport. It was a good place to dance, if you didn’t mind the heat that boiled off the acres of asphalt or the noise of the rising shuttles. You could meet a dozen races in single morning: lithe little skynx, scarlet klickiks, and sluggish chugs with their curtains of eyes brushing the ground. Most of the passing visitors had never seen a human, and fewer still understood what Denny was doing. Dancing was a rare thing among the races of the galaxy. But they understood enough to toss shiny credit chips or small bits of scrip into the box by his feet. They understood begging. Begging was universal.

You can read the complete first chapter at Daily Kos here.

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Romeo and Juliet with Undead, an Underworld, and a Juliet Who Kicks Butt: Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge

Romeo and Juliet with Undead, an Underworld, and a Juliet Who Kicks Butt: Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge

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bright-smoke-cold-fire-smallWhen I published her story “Apotheosis” in the final issue of Black Gate, Rosamund Hodge was a brand new writer, with only three published stories under her belt. Now she’s an acclaimed fantasy novelist, with two YA novels, Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound to her credit, and a highly anticipated new book. Can I pick ’em, or what?

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire was released in hardcover from Balzer + Bray in September; it is the opening novel in a duology based on Romeo and Juliet (with necromancers). School Library Journal writes: “Hodge creates a world ravaged by the Ruining, a fog that killed the living and allowed the dead to walk… [with] magic, an underworld, and a Juliet who kicks butt.”

When the mysterious fog of the Ruining crept over the world, the living died and the dead rose. Only the walled city of Viyara was left untouched.

The heirs of the city’s most powerful — and warring — families, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou, share a love deeper than duty, honor, even life itself. But the magic laid on the Juliet at birth compels her to punish the enemies of her clan — and Romeo has just killed her cousin Tybalt. Which means he must die.

Paris Catresou has always wanted to serve his family by guarding the Juliet. But when his ward tries to escape her fate, magic goes terribly wrong — killing her and leaving Paris bound to Romeo. If he wants to discover the truth of what happened, Paris must delve deep into the city, ally with his worst enemy… and perhaps turn against his own clan.

Mahyanai Runajo only wants to protect her city — but she’s the only one who believes it’s in peril. In her desperate hunt for information, she accidentally pulls Juliet from the mouth of death—and finds herself bound to the bitter, angry girl. Runajo quickly discovers Juliet might be the one person who can help her recover the secret to saving Viyara.

Both pairs will find friendship where they least expect it. Both will find that Viyara holds more secrets and dangers than anyone ever expected. And outside the walls, death is waiting…

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire was published by Balzer + Bray on September 27, 2016. It is 448 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover and $9.99 for the digital version. See all our coverage of the latest released from Black Gate writers here.

Announcing the Winners of The Imlen Brat by Sarah Avery

Announcing the Winners of The Imlen Brat by Sarah Avery

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The Imlen Brat-small

Woo hoo! We have winners!

Two weeks ago we invited you to enter a contest to win a copy of Sarah Avery’s brilliant new novella The Imlen Brat, a tale of mighty pirate kingdoms, weather wizards, quarrelsome ghosts, curses, and secret magics. To enter, all you had to do was send us an e-mail with a one-sentence review of your favorite fantasy novella.

We have two copies to give away. Our lucky winners were selected from the pool of eligible entries by the most reliable method known to modern science: D&D dice.

Our first winner is Phil Hansen, who writes about a World Fantasy Award nominee from 1990.

My favorite fantasy novella is Jonathan Carroll’s Black Cocktail, which starts off whimsical and descends into terror — unique and unlike anything else I’ve read.

Black Cocktail was published by Legend/Century and St. Martin’s Press in 1990. The cover is by Dave McKean.

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Last Chance to Win a Copy of Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat

Last Chance to Win a Copy of Sarah Avery’s The Imlen Brat

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Ten days ago we announced a contest to give away two copies of Sarah Avery’s new book The Imlet Brat. Sarah has been a blogger at Black Gate since the days when our server was a coal-powered gear box in Howard Andrew Jones’ barn, and we were writing breathless articles about hot new writers Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Sarah is also the author of “The War of the Wheat Berry Year” (from BG 15) and the acclaimed novella collection Tales from Rugosa Coven, which won the Mythopoeic Award in 2015.

There’s still an opportunity to win one of these beautiful books, but time is running out. To enter, just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “The Imlen Brat,” and a one-sentence review of your favorite fantasy novella.[In honor of Sarah’s legacy as one of our most popular writers, we’ll also gladly accept a one-sentence review of your favorite story from Black Gate magazine — including any of the tales in our Black Gate Online Fiction library.]

That’s all it takes! Two winners will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries, and we’ll reprint the winning entries when we announce the winners. All entries become the property of New Epoch Press. No purchase necessary. Must be 12 or older. Decisions of the judges (capricious as they may be) are final. Not valid where prohibited by law, or anywhere postage for a trade paperback is more than, like, 10 bucks. Eat your vegetables.

The Imlen Brat was published by Point Quay Press on October 30, 2016. It is 70 pages, priced at $9.99 in trade paperback and $2.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Kate Baylay. Copies are available at Amazon and other fine outlets. See more details here.

Prime Books Reveals the Contents of The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy: 2017, edited by Rich Horton

Prime Books Reveals the Contents of The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy: 2017, edited by Rich Horton

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the-years-best-science-fiction-and-fantasy-2017-smallYesterday Prime Book publisher Sean Wallace announced the Table of Contents for the ninth (ninth!) volume of Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, one of the very best of the Year’s Best volumes. Rich said this about it:

I am excited as I am every year to be able to publicly share the contents of my Best of the Year anthology. Thrilled to share the riches of our field — honored that so many wonderful writers allow me to publish their stories.

The book will be available next summer from Prime Books. And without further ado, here’s the compete TOC, sorted alphabetically by original venue.

“Seven Ways of Looking at the Sun-Worshippers of Yul-Katan” by Maggie Clark, Analog
“All that Robot Shit” by Rich Larson, Asimov’s
“Project Empathy” by Dominica Phetteplace, Asimov’s
“Lazy Dog Out” by Suzanne Palmer, Asimov’s
“The Visitor from Taured” by Ian R. MacLeod, Asimov’s
“Openness” by Alexander Weinstein, Beloit Fiction Journal
“In Skander, for a Boy” by Chaz Brenchley, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“Laws of Night and Silk” by Seth Dickinson, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“Blood Grains Speak Through Memories” by Jason Sanford, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“Rager in Space” by Charlie Jane Anders, Bridging Infinity
“Ozymandias” by Karin Lowachee, Bridging Infinity

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At Long Last, the World Begins to Appreciate Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney

At Long Last, the World Begins to Appreciate Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney

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Claire Cooney, who writes under the name CSE Cooney, was Black Gate‘s first website editor, and we published two of her short stories, “Godmother Lizard” and “Life on the Sun,” as part of our Black Gate Online Fiction library. I was sitting next to Claire three weeks ago when she won the World Fantasy Award for her groundbreaking debut collection Bone Swans, and I watched in pleasant surprise as the crowd around us exploded in cheers. It seems that, at long last, the world is starting to appreciate what those of us in the BG community have long known: CSE Cooney is one of the genre’s most gifted writers.

Today The Westerly Sun published a fine feature on Claire, titled “World award is no fantasy for Westerly author Claire Cooney.” Here’s a snippet.

“I had no expectation of winning so I didn’t prepare any comments,” said Cooney, whose stories take readers on fantastical journeys through reimagined fairy tales and myths. “I just sat there saying ‘No way’ … until my friends started screaming.”

Cooney describes her writing as secondary world fantasy, similar in genre to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Her writing features flying carpets, strange clowns and pied pipers, she said, with strong female characters and people who turn into things. “Swords and sorcery,” said the writer who has been influenced by such fairy tales as the The Pied Piper and Rumpelstilskin…

The World Fantasy Award is one of the three big awards given in her fantasy genre, and Cooney faced stiff competition in a category that included a Pulitzer Prize finalist and two career retrospectives from well-established international writers.

Read the complete article, written by Nancy Burns-Fusaro, here, and read the Nebula-nominated title story “The Bone Swans of Amandale” online here.