Books – Page 325 – Black Gate

New Treasures: Exordium of Tears by Andrew P. Weston

Tuesday, February 16, 2016 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

Andrew P. Weston is the author of Hell Bound, which Joe Bonadonna called “an epic and fast-paced adventure. Part Gothic, 19th century-style mystery, part sword and sorcery,” and The IX, which Fletcher Vredenburgh described as “about taking on endless waves of mindless energy-vampires with guns, mini-singularity bombs, and a host of other assorted death-dealing apparatuses. The IX is a whole bunch of fun… [it] has taken me back to some of the books I enjoyed in my youth.”

Now Weston has released the long-anticipated sequel to The IX, Exordium of Tears. It was published by Perseid Press this week.

Fight or Die…

Victorious in a star-flung battle against the inhuman Horde, Earth’s fabled 9th Legion of Rome; the U.S. 5th Company’s 2nd Mounted Rifles; and a Special Forces anti-terrorist team settle on Arden, their adopted planet, to raise families and live in peace.

But soon, state secrets are revealed: The greatest of the inhuman Horde didn’t join the battle, but yet lurk among Arden’s outer colonies, posing a grave threat.

Humanity’s Ardenese defenders send a flotilla of ships to far Exordium, the world where the Horde outbreak began, with orders to reclaim the outer colonies… Exordium… where the Horde awaits… where the cream of Arden’s fighting force must engage this adversary of unrivaled power…

As worlds are sundered, suns destroyed, and star systems obliterated, a universal conflict proves again that…

Death is only the beginning of the adventure.

Exordium of Tears was published by Perseid Press on February 14, 2016. It is 306 pages, priced at $9.98 in digital format at Amazon.com.

Future Treasures: Black City Saint by Richard A. Knaak

Monday, February 15, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Blending genres seems to be all the rage these days… but nobody does it like Richard A. Knaak. His latest is a historical urban fantasy gangster horror novel, which combines action, mystery and even romance — quite a trick. Brian Staveley, author of The Emperor’s Blades, says “Black City Saint is jam-packed with awesome – cursed Roman emperors, incorporeal dragons, paranormal detectives, a shapeshifter from the Feirie realm trapped inside a dog’s body, and one very tormented unsaintly Christian saint — all set in prohibition-era Chicago… a brilliant mash-up of Ghostbusters, The Da Vinci Code, and the ancient story of St. George and the Dragon.”

For more than sixteen hundred years, Nick Medea has followed and guarded the Gate that keeps the mortal realm and that of Feirie separate, seeking in vain absolution for the fatal errors he made when he slew the dragon. All that while, he has tried and failed to keep the woman he loves from dying over and over.

Yet in the fifty years since the Night the Dragon Breathed over the city of Chicago, the Gate has not only remained fixed, but open to the trespasses of the Wyld, the darkest of the Feiriefolk. Not only does that mean an evil resurrected from Nick’s own past, but the reincarnation of his lost Cleolinda, a reincarnation destined once more to die.

Nick must turn inward to that which he distrusts the most: the Dragon, the beast he slew when he was still only Saint George. He must turn to the monster residing in him, now a part of him… but ever seeking escape.

The gang war brewing between Prohibition bootleggers may be the least of his concerns. If Nick cannot prevent an old evil from opening the way between realms… then not only might Chicago face a fate worse than the Great Fire, but so will the rest of the mortal realm.

Black City Saint will be published by Pyr Books on March 1, 2016. It is 383 pages, priced at $18 in trade paperback and $11.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Jacqueline Nasso Cooke.

New Treasures: The Bloodsounder’s Arc Trilogy by Jeff Salyards

Sunday, February 14, 2016 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Every time a fantasy trilogy successfully wraps up, Black Gate throws a little fiesta. (Someone has to cherish these little publishing milestones. We think it should be us.)

Jeff Salyards’ Bloodsounder’s Arc trilogy began with Scourge of the Betrayer, his debut novel, back in January 2013. Veil of the Deserters was released in June 2014, and now the balloons and shrimp tacos are standing by for Tuesday’s release of Chains of the Heretic, the third and final volume. (We used to celebrate with cheeseburgers, but last year Tor started publishing Pathfinder trilogies, and I gained 30 pounds.)

Now that the whole series is available, I’m looking forward to tucking into Bloodsounder’s Arc. Over at SF Signal Nick Sharps called the first volume “both Debut of the Year and Fantasy of the Year. It is also one of the finest debuts I have ever read.” At B&N.com, Paul Goat Allen said:

Scourge of the Betrayer is a literary appetizer that will undoubtedly captivate anyone who enjoys fantasy, be it epic fantasy, adventure fantasy, military fantasy, etc. If you’re a fan of Cook’s Black Company, or GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire, or of classic fantasy sagas like Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Moorcock’s Elric, this is a debut novel that is, like Jagger said, ‘what you need.’”

Sounds pretty promising to me. Chains of the Heretic will be published by Night Shade Books on February 16, 2016. It is 524 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Ryan Pancoast. Read an excerpt from Scourge of the Betrayer here.

Blogging The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer – Part One: “The Zayat Kiss”

Sunday, February 14, 2016 William Patrick Maynard Comments 0 Comment

NOTE: The following article was first published on March 7, 2010. Thank you to John O’Neill for agreeing to reprint these early articles, so they are archived at Black Gate which has been my home for over 5 years and 250 articles now. Thank you to Deuce Richardson without whom I never would have found my way. Minor editorial changes have been made in some cases to the original text.

Arthur Henry Ward was born in England in 1883. His father hoped his son would make his way through life as a respectable businessman, but young Arthur was determined to make a name for himself as an author.

He discovered immortality with the invention of two unlikely monikers that conjured an air of exotic intrigue when they debuted in print a century ago. The first was his chosen pen name, Sax Rohmer and the second was the name of the character at the heart of his first published novel, Dr. Fu-Manchu.

Over the years, the name lost its hyphen and became synonymous with the moustache artists and actors always depicted the character as wearing despite the fact that he was always described in print as clean-shaven. Dr. Fu-Manchu is a brilliant and honorable scientist who is opposed to British colonial interference in the East. Using a variety of fiendish inventions, insects, and assassins, he sets out to remove Western influence and silence those who know too much about the East.

Most intriguing in our post-9/11 world, the Devil Doctor chooses to fight his battles not in China, but on British soil using terror as his weapon. He is opposed in his efforts by stalwart British colonialist Nayland Smith and Smith’s bodyguard and Fu-Manchu’s chronicler, Dr. Petrie. Rohmer’s stories spanned five decades moving in real time with his characters aging alongside their author. For much of the first half of the last century, Dr. Fu-Manchu was the villain readers loved to hate.

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The Books of David G. Hartwell: Foundations of Fear and The Ascent of Wonder

Saturday, February 13, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

We lost David Hartwell on January 20th. This is our fourth article in a series that looks back at one of the most important publishers in our industry.

David Hartwell’s first anthology, The Battle of the Monsters and Other Stories, was published through tiny Gregg Press in 1976. He reached a bigger audience ten years later with his second, Christmas Ghosts (1987), co-edited with Kathryn Cramer. After that came his real breakout book, the massive The Dark Descent (1987), which Tor kept in print for a decade, and eventually reprinted in three paperback volumes.

David had found his forte: huge retrospective anthologies that put both his exceptional taste and his encyclopedic knowledge of the field on full display. Libraries snapped them up, they garnered him major awards, and they established him as one of the most respected editors in the field. He produced roughly a dozen of them in his career, each one a feast that readers can return to time and again.

Today I want to look at two of his best from the early 90s: Foundations of Fear (1992), the companion volume to The Dark Descent, which convincingly made the case for the thriving genre of 20th Century supernatural horror, especially at novella length; and The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994), a massive 990-page tome that aimed to be the definitive exploration of science fiction’s “visionary core,” co-edited by Kathryn Cramer.

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Future Treasures: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

Saturday, February 13, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

I’ve followed Matt Ruff’s career since his 1988 debut novel Fool on the Hill, a modern fairy tale set in the campus of Cornell University. His more recent novels include Set This House in Order, the tale of a man with hundreds of personalities who’s asked to assist a co-worker also afflicted with multiple personality disorder, and The Mirage, an alternative history of 9/11.

His latest novel blends historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror as it follows a black man on his journey across America. A journey in which he faces police harassment, discrimination… and the attentions of something far darker.

Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide — and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite — heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors — they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.

At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn — led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb — which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his — and the whole Turner clan’s — destruction.

A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism — the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.

Lovecraft Country will be published by Harper on February 16, 2016. It is 384 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $11.99 in digital format.

New Treasures: Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto

Friday, February 12, 2016 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

You know what I haven’t featured in far too long? A promising weird western.

Let me make it up to you with the debut novel from Michelle Modesto, Revenge and the Wild, described as a “delightfully dark and fantastical Western.” You know you could use a quality weird western in your life.

The two-bit town of Rogue City is a lawless place, full of dark magic and saloon brawls, monsters and six-shooters. But it’s just perfect for seventeen-year-old Westie, the notorious adopted daughter of local inventor Nigel Butler.

Westie was only a child when she lost her arm and her family to cannibals on the wagon trail. Seven years later, Westie may seem fearsome with her foul-mouthed tough exterior and the powerful mechanical arm built for her by Nigel, but the memory of her past still haunts her. She’s determined to make the killers pay for their crimes — and there’s nothing to stop her except her own reckless ways.

But Westie’s search ceases when a wealthy family comes to town looking to invest in Nigel’s latest invention, a machine that can harvest magic from gold — which Rogue City desperately needs as the magic wards that surround the city start to fail. There’s only one problem: the investors look exactly like the family who murdered Westie’s kin. With the help of Nigel’s handsome but scarred young assistant, Alistair, Westie sets out to prove their guilt. But if she’s not careful, her desire for revenge could cost her the family she has now.

Revenge and the Wild was published by Balzer + Bray on February 2, 2016. It is 384 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover and $10.99 for the digital edition.

Win a Copy of The Final Programme, the First Volume in Michael Moorcock’s Cornelius Quartet

Friday, February 12, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Titan Books has been doing something pretty marvelous for modern fantasy fans: they’ve been gradually reprinting Michael Moorcock’s fabulous back catalog, which includes some of the most fondly remembered fantasy of the 20th Century.

They began with his early steampunk trilogy Nomad of the Time Streams (which opened with The Warlord of the Air), and continued with the complete Chronicles of Corum (see our cover gallery from last May). In 2016, they’ve turned their attention to the Cornelius Quartet, starring the hippest adventurer in fantasy, scientist and rock star Jerry Cornelius.

Black Gate has copies of The Final Programme to give away to three lucky readers, compliments of Titan Books. How do you make one of them yours? Just send an e-mail to john@blackgate.com with the subject “The Final Programme,” and a one-sentence review of your favorite Michael Moorcock tale.

That’s all it takes. Three winners will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries, and we’ll reprint some of the best reviews 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 (practically, that means US and Canada).

The Final Programme was published by Titan Books on February 2, 2016. It is 255 pages, priced at $9.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition.

I Need a Job

Friday, February 12, 2016 Violette Malan Comments 16 comments

Moon Paks Have you noticed how some characters come with their own jobs, and some need to find one? Some of them, like Sherlock Holmes, even invent their own jobs. There was no such thing as a “consulting detective” until Holmes became one. The job is the character, and the character is the job.

Or, to put it another way, sometimes the type of story you want to tell dictates what kind of job your protagonist needs.

And, sometimes, the type of job your character has dictates the story you’re going to tell about them. There are quite a few jobs that can bring a story with them, at least if you’re a genre writer. Detective. Queen. Knight. Wizard. Thief. Soldier. Then there are those whose story potential doesn’t seem quite so obvious. Servant. Miller. Potter. Cook. Farmer.

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Future Treasures: The Orion Plan by Mark Alpert

Thursday, February 11, 2016 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Sometimes, you just want a good tale of alien invasion.

Mark Alpert’s The Orion Plan, a novel of first contact with a sinister alien intelligence, might just be what I’m looking for. Alpert is the author of Extinction and The Furies, which Booklist called a “carefully constructed alternate history of witchcraft — and sorcery too… very clever.” The Orion Plan goes on sale next week from Thomas Dunne.

Scientists thought that Earth was safe from invasion. The distance between stars is so great that it seemed impossible for even the most advanced civilizations to send a large spaceship from one star system to another.

But now an alien species ― from a planet hundreds of light-years from Earth ― has found a way.

A small spherical probe lands in an empty corner of New York City. It soon drills into the ground underneath, drawing electricity from the power lines to jump-start its automated expansion and prepare for alien colonization. When the government proves slow to react, NASA scientist Dr. Sarah Pooley realizes she must lead the effort to stop the probe before it becomes too powerful. Meanwhile, the first people who encounter the alien device are discovering just how insidious this interstellar intruder can be.

The Orion Plan will be published by Thomas Dunne Books on February 16, 2016. It is 322 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Ervin Serrano.

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