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Win a Complete Autographed Set of John R. Fultz’s Books of the Shaper Trilogy!

Win a Complete Autographed Set of John R. Fultz’s Books of the Shaper Trilogy!

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seven-princesLast week we celebrated the arrival of Seven Sorcerers, the third and highly-anticipated final volume in John R. Fultz’s Books of the Shaper trilogy.

The trilogy opened with Seven Princes (January 2012), which Barnes & Noble called “flawless epic fantasy,” and Seven Kings (January 2013), which thebookbag.co.uk called “wonderful stuff… Tarantino and Tolkien have a literary love child and his name is John R. Fultz.” Seven Sorcerers brings the sequence to a close with thundering climax that does not disappoint.

Now you have a chance to win a complete autographed set of all three volumes, compliments of Orbit Books and John R. Fultz.

How do you enter? Simple — just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the title “Seven Sorcerers” before Friday, December 20, 2013, and we’ll enter you in the drawing. One lucky winner will win all three books.

Can’t wait for the contest? Try some of John’s exciting fiction right here at Black Gate, including “When the Glimmer Faire Came to the City of the Lonely Eye,” which appeared as part of the Black Gate Online Fiction line, or the three stories that appeared in our print version: “Oblivion Is the Sweetest Wine”(BG 12); “Return of the Quill” (BG 13); and “The Vintages of Dream” (BG 15). And you can read more about John’s philosophy of fantasy in his recent article, “One Man’s Trash…”

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. Terms and conditions subject to change. Sorry, US and Canada entrants only. Not valid where prohibited by law. Eat your vegetables. And good luck!

One Man’s Trash…

One Man’s Trash…

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Seven SorcerersWhen I was growing up, everybody tried to tell me what to read.

My parents wanted to me read “normal” books, not “trashy” books with Frank Frazetta covers featuring scantily-clad maidens, sword-wielding barbarians, or hideous monsters. My teachers wanted me to read Modern Literature — and they made sure I was exposed to as much as possible — although my favorites were Hamlet and Beowulf.

In college my instructors pushed Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver toward me and I read them, but only because I was required to. None of this depressing and introspective realism caught my fancy. I was made for more fantastic stuff. Oh, I read. Voraciously. From the time I was old enough to hold a book I read non-stop. It began with The Hobbit in third grade, and before I finished middle school I had finished The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I read what I loved, not what people THOUGHT I should read. I read fantasy. (With liberal doses of horror and sci-fi.)

I read Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter, Weird Tales magazine, and later Tanith Lee, Robert Silverberg, William Gibson, and Lord Dunsany. I read fantasy fiction with a dark edge, sword-and-sorcery, horror, and sci-fi. I even read my share of Stephen King, David Eddings, Piers Anthony, and John Norman. I didn’t give a damn what people thought I SHOULD be reading. Still don’t. I didn’t care that most of my literary heroes were from the pulp fiction era, and that their work was largely dismissed as “trash” when they were producing it. I read their works three or four generations after the fact, and I loved it.

Today I enjoy discovering new authors who take those pulp-inspired roots and do something entirely new with them–who breathe fresh life into classic concepts. I’ve found such writers in A.A. Attansio, R. Scott Bakker, and Guy Gavriel Kay, to name a few. If somebody recommends a book or an author to me, I’ll check it out. But it doesn’t take me all that long to figure out if it’s for me. If I like it, great! I’ll spread the word about that author and his/her work. I love to shout about the things I really dig. But if I don’t care for it, that simply means that a particular piece of fiction didn’t meet my personal taste. No harm done.

Because that’s all that really matters, when it comes to fiction. Personal taste.

…

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John R. Fultz’s Seven Sorcerers On Sale Today

John R. Fultz’s Seven Sorcerers On Sale Today

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Seven SorcerersWe’re celebrating a major publishing event at the Black Gate rooftop headquarters today: the arrival of Seven Sorcerers, the third novel in John R. Fultz’s Books of the Shaper series.

When Seven Princes, the first book in the series, arrived in January 2012, it marked the debut of a major new fantasy talent. Seven Kings cemented that reputation, and over the next two years, John graduated from promising new novelist to full-fledged literary star. The critical acclaim for the first two books has been stellar — Barnes & Noble called them “flawless epic fantasy,” Library Journal praised Seven Princes as “A stand-out fantasy series from an author with an exceptional talent for characterization and world building,” and io9 labeled the same novel “Epic with a capital EPIC.”

John’s talent is too big to be contained just in novels — on June 3, 2013, 01Publishing published his first collection The Revelations of Zang, gathering his baroque and fascinating sword & sorcery Zang Cycle, featuring the tale of a revolt against the nine Sorcerer Kings whose power displaced the gods themselves.

We published three stories from John R. Fultz’s Zang Cycle in the print version of Black Gate: “Oblivion Is the Sweetest Wine,” that tale of Taizo the thief and his daring heist in spider-haunted Ghoth (BG 12); “Return of the Quill,” in which Artifice’s long-simmering plan to bring revolution to the city of Narr finally unfolds (BG 13); and the prequel story “The Vintages of Dream” (BG 15). Next, John took us back in time to Artifice’s first year as a member of the travelling Glimmer Faire in “When the Glimmer Faire Came to the City of the Lonely Eye,” which appeared as part of the Black Gate Online Fiction line here in January.

Somehow missed out on all the excitement? Read the excerpts and stories linked above or try the complete first chapter of Seven Kings for free. Get more details on Seven Sorcerers here.

Seven Sorcerers was published today by Orbit Books. It is 448 pages, priced at $17 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. Look for it in bookstores everywhere — and stay tuned to Black Gate for a special opportunity to win a signed copy!

Black Gate Online Fiction: “That of the Pit” by E.E. Knight

Black Gate Online Fiction: “That of the Pit” by E.E. Knight

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EE Knight-smallWe last saw E.E. Knight’s hero, The Blue Pilgrim, in the acclaimed “The Terror of the Vale” — one of the most popular stories we’ve ever published. He first appeared in Daniel Blackston’s 2004 heroic fantasy anthology Lords of Swords; here’s Todd McAulty’s review from Black Gate 8:

The real payoff in Lords of Swords comes from three long pieces by three different writers, any one of which could stand alongside the work of the masters mentioned above — and all of which deliver on the promise of the best adventure fantasy: strong characters, fast action in colorful settings, and genuine flair and wit…

Finally, we have what may be my favorite piece: “That of the Pit,” by Vampire Earth novelist E.E. Knight. The Blue Pilgrim is a rebel against the cruel rule of the Sayhrae, and a practitioner of The Way, an ancient devotion that gives him considerable martial prowess and subtle mental arts. But he is virtually alone in his battle, and when he’s captured he discovers the dark sorceries of the Sayhrae are not all masquerades. The climax of this tale is one of the most effective I’ve read in a long time.

We’ve long been fans of “That of the Pit” and we are pleased and delighted to be able to present the story to you in its entirety online for the first time, as part of our Black Gate Online Fiction library.

E.E. Knight is the author of the Vampire Earth series, which began with Way of the Wolf, and the six-volume Age of Fire books. He is a frequent blogger for Black Gate.

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by Vaughn Heppner,  Howard Andrew Jones, David C. Smith, David Evan Harris, Janet Morris and Chris Morris, John C. Hocking, Michael Shea, Peadar Ó Guilín, Aaron Bradford Starr, Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, C.S.E. Cooney, and many others, is here.

“That of the Pit” is a complete 6,300-word short story of heroic fantasy offered at no cost.

Read the complete story here.

Rejecting the Golden Age: Gareth L. Powell on Escaping Science Fiction’s Pulp Roots

Rejecting the Golden Age: Gareth L. Powell on Escaping Science Fiction’s Pulp Roots

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The Recollection Garath Powell-smallOver at SF Signal, author Gareth L. Powell has issued a call to stop recommending classic SF and fantasy, and start putting newer works in the hands of readers curious about our genres. His comments apparently arise from his experiences talking to a reading group who hadn’t read any SF written in the last 50 years.

The only way we’ll escape the legacy of our pulp roots is to promote the innovation, literary merit, and relevance of the best modern genre writing. Some fans will always cling to the ‘golden age’ works of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and I can understand why. They provide a magic door back to the simple pleasures of a simpler world – a world before global warming, oil shortages, terrorism, and economic uncertainty; relics of a world where the future was easily understood, and (largely) American, middle class and white in outlook, origin and ethnicity.

Part of me understands and sympathizes with that need for security. I still draw comfort and enjoyment from those old books. Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Philip K. Dick… These writers are the elder gods in my personal pantheon; but they are neither the beginning nor the end… being a fan’s a bit like being in a marriage. You have to accept that the person you’re with will mature and change, and you have to embrace that, and change with them in order to keep things fresh…

So, the next time a non-SF reader asks you what they should read, resist the temptation to throw them a copy of Foundation or Slan, and point them instead at something published in the last five years… Give them something modern, and they’re more likely to find characters, ideas and attitudes with which they can relate.

Powell is the author of Silversands, The Recollection, Ack-Ack Macaque and its new sequel, Hive Monkey — which he freely notes employs “the furniture of 1930s pulp literature – Zeppelins, Spitfires, cigar-smoking monkey pilots, evil android armies.”

Read the complete article at SF Signal here.

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in October

The Top 50 Black Gate Posts in October

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Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs-smallThe top article on the Black Gate blog last month was our look at Mike Resnick and Robert Garcia’s new anthology Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. (A few weeks later Robert Garcia wrote his first Saturday blog post for us, a fond look back at The Pulp Art of Virgil Finlay. Do we bring the heavy hitters, or what?)

Second on the list was E.E. Knight’s open letter to Amy Farrah Fowler, a character on The Big Bang Theory, on her controversial theory that Indiana Jones had no impact on the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Fight the good fight, Eric.

Third was Jon Sprunk’s look at his favorite fantasy films, followed by his article on the use of elves in fantasy lit. Way to hog the list, Jon. Rounding out the Top Five was James Maliszewski’s “Appendix T,” an attempt to craft a hypothetical Appendix N for the great Traveller RPG, listing roughly 20 works of classic science fiction that clearly influenced the game’s creators.

The complete Top 50 Black Gate posts in October were:

  1. New Treasures: Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs
  2. An Open Letter to Amy Farrah Fowler, Ph.D
  3. My Favorite Fantasy Movies
  4. To Elf or not to Elf: Races in Fantasy Lit
  5. Appendix T
  6. Richard Kadrey Talks with Black Gate about Dead Set
  7. In Defense of Fantasy Heroes
  8. Campbell’s Reheated Mythopoetic Soup
  9. Remembering Dave
  10. How Many Psychiatrists Does it Take to Change a Genre?

     

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“This is the Real Thing for S&S Fans”: Charles R. Rutledge on “Vestments of Pestilence”

“This is the Real Thing for S&S Fans”: Charles R. Rutledge on “Vestments of Pestilence”

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river-thru-dark-277Novelist and columnist Charles R. Rutledge weighed in on John C. Hocking’s newest Archivist tale last month, saying:

Do you like sword and sorcery? The real stuff, I mean, where sorcery is something dark and dangerous and people get hurt when they fight with sharp edged weapons? Something that’s a little exotic and makes you think of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber, but still is very much its own thing? Then boy have I got a story for you.

“Vestments of Pestilence” is a short story by John C. Hocking… There are some mystery elements, some humor, a lot of action, and considerable sorcery, all told in a smooth first person voice that has echoes of hard boiled heroes like Marlowe and Spade, but not the overblown snark that seems to be so popular in current urban fantasy…

The feel of the story is nice and dark but the story telling itself is very modern. I was aware as I read that the pace and the suspense were slowly being ratcheted up until I was racing through the last couple of scenes to see how things turned out. There’s also some marvelous characterization in the tale, and trust me, in a story of this length, that’s a hard thing to do… This is the real thing for S&S fans.

“Vestments of Pestilence” is the second Archivist tale we’ve published, following “A River Through Darkness and Light,” in Black Gate 15, which SF Site called “a strong blend of the old sword and sorcery action and mood, but with modern attention to character development.”

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by David C. Smith, David Evan Harris, Janet Morris and Chris Morris, John C. Hocking, Michael Shea, Peadar Ó Guilín, Aaron Bradford Starr, Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, E.E. Knight, C.S.E. Cooney, Howard Andrew Jones, and many others, is here.

“Vestments of Pestilence” was published here September 29. It is a complete 10,000-word novelette of sword & sorcery. Read the complete story here.

Read Charles’s complete review on his blog Singular Points. Art for “A River Through Darkness and Light” by Storn Cook.

The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in October

The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in October

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The Black Fire Concerto-smallOur exclusive excerpt from Mike Allen’s dark fantasy novel The Black Fire Concerto was our most popular work of fiction in October, its first month at the top of the charts. John R. Fultz called it “A post-apocalyptic melody played on strings of Terror and Sorcery,” and apparently word is getting around.

Joe Bonadonna’s “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” in the number 2 slot, has been steadily creeping up the charts since we posted it last December. It is without a doubt the most consistently popular work of fiction we have ever published.

Last month’s chart topper, Dave Gross’ Pathfinder Tales: King of Chaos, came in third, an entirely respectable showing; and John C. Hocking’s new story “Vestments of Pestilence” broke into the Top Ten for the first time, coming in 4th. Rounding out the Top Five was E.E. Knight’s perennial favorite “The Terror in the Vale,” first published in January.

Also making the list were exciting stories by Janet Morris and Chris Morris, David Evan Harris, Martha Wells, Peadar Ó Guilín, David C. Smith and Joe Bonadonna, David C. Smith, Howard Andrew Jones, Michael Shea, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Mark Rigney, Jamie McEwan, Aaron Bradford Starr, Alex Kreis, and Ryan Harvey.

If you haven’t sampled the adventure fantasy stories offered through our new Black Gate Online Fiction line, you’re missing out. For the past year we’ve presented an original short story or novella from the best writers in the industry every week, all completely free. Here are the Top Twenty most-read stories in October:

  1. An excerpt from The Black Fire Concerto, by Mike Allen
  2. “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” by Joe Bonadonna
  3. An excerpt from Pathfinder Tales: King of Chaos, by Dave Gross
  4. “Vestments of Pestilence,” by John C. Hocking
  5. “The Terror in the Vale,” by E.E. Knight
  6. “The Sacred Band” by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
  7. “The Gentle Sleeper” by David Evan Harris
  8. An excerpt from Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns, by Dave Gross
  9. The Death of the Necromancer, a complete novel by Martha Wells
  10. “The Dowry,” by Peadar Ó Guilín

     

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Read a Free Pathfinder Tales Story from Howard Andrew Jones

Read a Free Pathfinder Tales Story from Howard Andrew Jones

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Pathfinder Tales logoEvery time I call Howard, he’s writing. He’s typing while we’re talking. He denies it, but I can hear the keyboard in the background. I think he wrote his first novel while waiting in line at the DMV. The man is the hardest working writer in the business.

Two weeks ago I called up to ask if he remembered that Edison Marshall Hercules novel he mentioned to me a while back (he did — Earth Giant), and while we were talking he wrote an entire short story. “Bells for the Dead.” If I hadn’t distracted him, it probably would have turned into a novel. The man drives me crazy.

Anyway, the story is now online at Paizo, as part of their free Pathfinder Tales library — which already includes BG Contributing Editor Bill Ward’s story “The Box,” and an earlier tale from Howard, “The Walkers from the Crypt” (which he wrote while waiting for a red light to change).

“Bells For the Dead” features the gunslinging bounty hunter Lisette from Howard’s new novel Stalking the Beast, in a brand new adventure. It will be published in four parts at Paizo.com. Read the first installment here.

Interested in winning a free copy of Stalking the Beast? Enter our contest! Just tell us your favorite sword & sorcery tale in one paragraph or less, and win one of five copies, compliments of Paizo. Full details here.

Howard’s previous Pathfinder book was Plague of Shadows, released in 2011. His most recent novel was The Bones of the Old Ones.

Interested in more Pathfinder goodness? Black Gate can hook you up. Check out the latest right here — including the first chapters of Dave Gross’s novels King of Chaos and Queen of Thorns, and our review of Tim Pratt’s Liar’s Blade.

Black Gate Online Fiction: “Draugr Stonemaker” by Vaughn Heppner

Black Gate Online Fiction: “Draugr Stonemaker” by Vaughn Heppner

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oracle of gogThe young warrior Lod, last seen here in “The Oracle of Gog” (Black Gate 15), “The Pit Slave,” and “The Serpent of Thep” returns in a fast-paced tale of giants in the earth… and a crypt that holds a terrible secret.

“What’s that?” whispered Herrek.

Lod almost missed it because he expected a giant to rise up out of the earth. Then he saw whiteness out of place with the bulrushes and the green grass. The whiteness was low, planted in the soil. The horses clopped closer, enough to give them a full view of a skeleton stretched upon the ground. It wasn’t an ordinary skeleton, but near fifteen feet from skull to sole, the skeleton of a giant, a son of Jotnar!

Lod drew rein, and in a jingle of harnesses and a rattle of wood, the team and chariot came to a halt. The skeleton brought home the grim reality of these steppes. Here prowled Nephilim, those with supernatural powers.

“Stay alert,” said Herrek, jumping off the chariot.

SF Site called Lod “a cross between Conan and Elric of Melniboné,” and Louis West at Tangent Online called “The Pit Slave” “classic sword & fantasy.”

Vaughn Heppner has written Amazon best sellers such as Star Soldier, Invasion: Alaska, and People of the Ark. His new SF novel, Assault Troopers, is hitting the top of some Amazon SF categories and Alien Honor, the latest in his Doom Star universe, will be released on November 26.

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by David C. Smith, David Evan Harris, Janet Morris and Chris Morris, John C. Hocking, Michael Shea, Peadar Ó Guilín, Aaron Bradford Starr, Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, E.E. Knight, C.S.E. Cooney, Howard Andrew Jones, and many others, is here.

“Draugr Stonemaker” is a complete 8,400-word novelette of sword & sorcery offered at no cost.

Read the complete story here.