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Future Treasures: Witch King by Martha Wells

Future Treasures: Witch King by Martha Wells

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Witch King by Martha Wells (Tor.com, May 30, 2023). Cover art by Cynthia Sheppard

Martha Wells was one of the most popular authors we published in Black Gate. Her terrific Ile-Rien tales (“Reflections,” Black Gate #10, “Holy Places,” BG #11, and “Houses of the Dead,” BG #12) were set in the same world as her nebula-nominated novel The Death of the Necromancer, and her popular Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy (The Wizard Hunters, The Ships of Air, and The Gate of Gods).

Of course, her career really took off with the appearance of Muderbot. The first two books in the series, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition, won back-to-back Hugo and Locus Awards; after that Martha graciously declined further nominations to give other nominees a chance. That didn’t stop the Hugo electorate from voting The Murderbot Diaries the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Series (the same year that Network Effect, the 5th volume, won the Hugo for Best Novel).

Martha’s upcoming Witch King, her first new fantasy novel in over a decade, arrives from Tor.com at the end of the month and, as you can imagine, it’s one of the most highly anticipated books of the year. Martha has promised us a guest post on the book in a few weeks, so stay tuned.

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The Queen of Quiet Horror: NOW IT’S DARK by Lynda E. Rucker

The Queen of Quiet Horror: NOW IT’S DARK by Lynda E. Rucker

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Now It’s Dark by Lynda E Rucker (Swan River Press, 2023)

There was a time, years ago, when the term “quiet horror” (as opposed to splatter or graphic horror) was used to describe a type of dark fiction where monsters are not lurking behind the street corner, inside an empty house or in a deserted wood, but deep inside our soul.

It’s a pity that the expression “quiet horror” sounds a bit out of fashion, because it applies perfectly to the present collection (her third) Now It’s Dark, by the talented and insightful Lynda E. Rucker.

Rucker is a wonderful writer that I’ve occasionally met and enjoyed before, e.g. in the outstanding anthology Aickman’s Heirs, to which she contributed with the very atmospheric “The Dying Season” (included also in this book), describing the crisis of a couple staying at a resort off season, when everything is empty, slightly depressing and a bit weird.

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Goth Chick News Reviews: Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural by Insha Fitzpatrick

Goth Chick News Reviews: Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural by Insha Fitzpatrick

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As you likely already know, I’m a superfan of Quirk Books. If you put this publisher’s name in the Black Gate search bar, you’re going to come up with a whole list of articles about previous works they’re responsible for; all of which live up to their name. One of their newest tomes fits perfectly into my recent run on vampire news, so please indulge me while I cover a couple of different topics along this this line.

First, in a previous blood-sucking discussion, I was getting excited about Nicolas Cage’s recent outing as Dracula, in the comedy/horror movie Renfield. Cage was pitching it as one of his dream roles, and the premise of a modern-day Renfield, tortured by an awful boss and in therapy over it, seemed like a perfect match up of talent with story. Yes, Cage is weird and over the top, but a vampire film with a sense of humor put me in the mind of What We Do in the Shadows, so I was looking forward to seeing it.

So, how was it?

Meh.

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New Treasures: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

New Treasures: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

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The Scourge Between Stars (Tor Nightfire, April 4, 2023). Cover by Chris McGrath

Tor’s new Nightfire horror imprint has really hit the ground running. Launched in April 2019, its first project was the audio-only horror anthology Come Join Us By the Fire in October 2019, and it hasn’t slowed down since — with books from T. Kingfisher, Brian Lumley, Lucy A. Snyder, Catriona Ward, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Cassandra Khaw, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and lots more.

Its latest title, The Scourge Between Stars, is a delicious-looking debut novel from Ness Brown, a deep-space horror tale that Ally Wilkes (All the White Spaces) calls “a stellar, perfectly-formed piece of space horror: a smart blend of Alien-esque monsters with generation-ship existential despair,” and Publishers Weekly praises as “Tense, gory, and genuinely creepy… sci-fi horror that holds its own with the classics of the genre.”

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Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part I

Total Pulp Victory: Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention 2023, Part I

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Some of the eye-popping pulps from the Bob Weinberg collection auctioned at Windy City

This weekend was the Windy City Pulp & Paper show, an annual gathering of about 600-800 pulp and vintage paperback enthusiasts in Lombard, Illinois. Founded by Doug Ellis and run by a dedicated and talented team, Windy City has gradually become my favorite convention. Back when Black Gate was a print magazine I used to get a table and sell back issues, but these days I spend my time more productively. Namely buying stuff, but also hanging out with friends and attending the auction.

And gawking at amazing sights. If you’re interested in rare and unusual items — such as mint-condition pulps, rare first editions, signed volumes, original art, and letters and esoterica from pulp writers such as Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, and countless others — Windy City is the place to be. It’s a chance to hang out with like-minded individuals, gossip, and (especially!) find incredible treasures.

Reader, I found some treasures.

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New Treasures: The Kirilli Matter, Book 9 of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

New Treasures: The Kirilli Matter, Book 9 of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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All 9 volumes of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
(WMG Publishing, 2013 – 2023). Covers by Dirk Berger and WMG Publishing

In the mid-90s Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote The Fey, a 5-volume fantasy series released by the hottest publisher in fantasy, Bantam Spectra (publisher of, among other things, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin). Jayme Lynn Blaschke interviewed Kristine for my old website SF Site in 1998, and she gave a great synopsis of her ambitions for the series.

When I started working on The Fey, I described it to my editor as a Hundred Years’ War. Now, if you’ve read The Fey, you realize I haven’t gotten anywhere close to a hundred years. We’re in the first twenty years, and I’m starting in on book five. If this series sells well, I could probably go the full hundred years. It may take me twenty years to write, but I know the cycle is going to be long. We’re talking War of the Roses here. And there are a lot of stories in there, and they don’t necessarily have to be about the same characters.

Kristine followed the first five books in The Fey with a 2-volume sequel, The Black Throne, in 1999 and 2000. When the rights reverted back to her, she repacked the books in handsome new editions and re-released them through WMG, the publishing house she runs with her husband, the talented Dean Wesley Smith. As she predicted back in 1998, she is still writing the series 20 years later, and in fact she just released volume 9, The Kirilli Matter, last month.

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Bob’s Books – Shelfie #5: (REH, Moorcock, Kurtz)

Bob’s Books – Shelfie #5: (REH, Moorcock, Kurtz)

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It’s installment number five in Bob’s Shelfie series. This time, I’ll do a shelfie for my favorite fantasy author (Tolkien is second) – Robert E. Howard.

He is of course best known for his Conan the Cimmerian (the movies made it ‘the Barbarian’). They are terrific sword and sorcery stories. If you only know the movies, you should read some of the stories.

On the bottom left are the Del Rey volumes, covering most of his writing. Howard struggled to make a living as a pulpster in Cross Plains, TX, during the Depression. He wrote fantasy, weird menace, westerns, boxing,spicy, horror, historical – the guy was an extremely talented writer. And those Del Reys are superb collections – with some great intros from very knowledgeable folks.

He was an extremely prolific letter writer, and I’ve got several books of his –mostly with fellow Weird Tales contributor, HP Lovecraft.

I never got into graphic novels, but I really like the Marvel Omnibus’ of the color comic that started in the seventies. The three mini-memoirs from Roy Thomas, covering the first hundred-ish issues, are fantastic and great buys.

Up top are various pastiches by other authors. I used to have all the Tors, but don’t any more. Many are pretty poor. For me, L. Sprague de Camp did pretty well (though he was an ass toward REH) and John Maddox Roberts was the best of the Tors, along with Chris Hocking’s lone book (he wrote a second, which has had a long, torturous path to still not being out there – but is due out soon). I like Robert Jordan’s six books, though they all kind of feel the same by the end.

And those two plaques are awards I’ve received from the Robert E. Howard Foundation for my work in the REH world.

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Future Treasures: Fall of the Iron Gods, Book II of The Mechanists by Olivia Chadha

Future Treasures: Fall of the Iron Gods, Book II of The Mechanists by Olivia Chadha

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Rise of the Red Hand and Fall of the Iron Gods (Erewhon Books,
January 19, 2021, and April 30, 2024). Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio. Covers by Rashed AlAkroka

Liz Gorinsky is one of the most respected editors in science fiction and fantasy. In fact, when I finished my first novel The Robots of Gotham, Liz was the first person I brought it to (she didn’t buy it). Liz left Tor Books in 2018 to found an independent speculative fiction publishing company, Erewhon Books. Liz left Erewhon last year, but not before growing it into one of the most exciting new publishers of SF and fantasy.

One of their recent discoveries is Olivia Chadha, a Colorado author of literary novels (Balance of Fragile Things), comic books, and SF/Hopepunk. Her first SF novel was Rise of the Red Hand, the tale of a group of rebels in a climate ravaged future South Asia who discover an appalling government conspiracy, which Nerd Daily calls “a stunning read from beginning to end.” The sequel, Fall of the Iron Gods, is due next spring.

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New Treasures: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

New Treasures: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

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A Door in the Dark (Margaret K. McElderry Books, March 28, 2023). Cover by Bose Collins

I’m such a sucker for a great cover. And Bose Collins’ glorious cover artwork for Scott Reintgen’s new fantasy A Door in the Dark — featuring the tantalizing and mysterious grounds of Balmerick University — definitely got my attention.

A Door in the Dark is the opening novel in the Waxways series, a fantasy thriller that follows six young wizards fighting their way home after a portal spell malfunction leaves them stranded in the Dires, and stalked by a terrifying revenant. Kirkus Reviews calls is “Truly fantastic… [with] elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system,” and I like the sound of that.

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Vintage Treasures: The Flashing Swords! Original Anthologies, edited by Lin Carter

Vintage Treasures: The Flashing Swords! Original Anthologies, edited by Lin Carter

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Paperback editions of Flashing Swords! #1-5 (Dell Books, 1973-1981).
Covers by Frank Frazetta (1 & 2), Don Maitz (3 & 4), and Richard Corben

Lin Carter is best remembered these days as the editor in charge of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line, which was by any measure a monumental achievement, bringing back into print a truly impressive array of important fantasy books, many in serious danger of being forgotten. But Carter’s career extended beyond that. He was a very prolific author, with his best-known series being the Thongor books, with the hero a barbarian quite openly modeled on Conan.

With L. Sprague de Camp, he produced a great many “posthumous collaborations” with Robert E. Howard, featuring Conan — in stories either expanded from fragments Howard left, or new stories featuring Conan. Carter’s Callisto series is fairly derivative of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He also wrote pastiches of Lovecraft, of Dunsany, of Clark Ashton Smith. Carter was also an historian and critic of fantasy fiction, producing book length studies of Lovecraft and Tolkien, as well as Imaginary Worlds, an ambitious introduction to and history of fantasy.

And he was a prolific anthologist, putting out a number of reprint anthologies, a Year’s Best series devoted strictly to fantasy, and finally the subject of this article, the five original anthologies collectively called Flashing Swords.

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