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Category: Editor’s Blog

The blog posts of Black Gate Managing Editor Howard Andrew Jones and Editor John O’Neill

New Treasures: The Book of Cthulhu, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

New Treasures: The Book of Cthulhu, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

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book-of-cthulhuIt’s been a few good years for Cthulhu fans, with a number of high-profile, acclaimed anthologies offering brand new tales of everyone’s favorite genocidal cosmic entity, including Ellen Datlow’s Lovecraft Unbound (2009), Darrell Schweitzer’s Cthulhu’s Reign (2010), S. T. Joshi’s Black Wings of Cthulhu (2010), and Future Lovecraft (2011) edited by Paula R. Stiles and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, among others.

However, if you’re new to the Cthulhu mythos, or just want to sample the best Lovecraftian horror of the last eight decades, your options are a little more limited. Paula Guran’s New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird (2011) offers an excellent cross-section of fiction from the last decade, with short stories by Neil Gaiman, John Langan, China Miéville, Michael Shea, Charles Stross, and many others. At 528 pages, it’s a veritable feast of modern cosmic horror, but since the oldest story dates from the year 2000, it doesn’t really count as a true survey of the very finest Cthulhu fiction.

That title, I think, goes to Ross E. Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu. It includes some of the most famous Cthulhu stories of all time, including T.E.D. Klein’s “Black Man With a Horn” (1980), Brian McNaughton’s “The Doom That Came to Innsmouth” (1999), and fiction by Charles R. Saunders, Ramsey Campbell, Bruce Sterling, Laird Barron, Kage Baker, Thomas Ligotti, Gene Wolfe, and many others.

Although Lockhart draws heavily from modern writers, there’s surprisingly little overlap with Guran’s volume — a scant four stories. You could probably get away with getting both, in fact. I’m glad I did.

Ross E. Lockhart is the managing editor of Night Shade Books. A second volume, The Book of Cthulhu 2 — reprinting stories by Fritz Leiber, Neil Gaiman, Laird Barron, Michael Chabon, and many others — is scheduled for release in October.

The Book of Cthulhu is 530 pages in a handsome trade paperback, with cover art by Obrotowy. It was released in August, 2011 by Night Shade Books, with a cover price of $15.99.

Harry Harrison, March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012

Harry Harrison, March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012

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harry-harrisonHarry Harrison, the prolific author of nearly 60 novels (including Deathworld; Bill, the Galactic Hero; The Hammer and the Cross; and eleven titles in The Stainless Steel Rat series) has died.

Harrison’s first publication was the short story, “Rock Diver,” in the February 1951 issue of Worlds Beyond. But he entered the field as an illustrator, working on some of the most fondly-remembered comics of the 50’s, including EC Comics’ science fiction titles Weird Fantasy and Weird Science. He also wrote a number of syndicated comic strips, creating Rick Random and becoming the main writer of the Flash Gordon newspaper strip in the 50s and 60s.

Harrison also made a name for himself as an important and influential editor, beginning with the September 1953 issue of Rocket Stories. He was the editor of many of the field’s leading magazines, including Amazing Stories (1967 – 1968), Science Fiction Adventures (1953 – 1954), Fantastic (1968), and SF Impulse (1966 – 1967). With Brian Aldiss, he edited Nebula Awards 2, two volumes of SF Horizons, three volumes of the Decade anthology series (1940, 1950, and 1960), and nine volumes of The Year’s Best Science Fiction (1967 – 1975).

But it was as an author that Harrison really made his mark. His first novel was Deathworld (1960), a book that was still in print and much discussed two decades later, when I was in high school. He wrote two more in what was eventually to become The Deathworld Trilogy. His 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! became the basis for the famous science fiction film Soylent Green (1973), starring Charlton Heston.

Harrison had an affinity for series work, and most of his 58 novels are part of a series including the Brion Brandd novels (2 titles), Tony Hawkin (2), To the Stars (3), The Hammer and the Cross (3), Stars and Stripes (3), Eden (3), Bill, the Galactic Hero (7), and The Stainless Steel Rat (11). Much of his short fiction also followed this pattern, including the nine “Matter Transmitter” stories.

Harrison’s career spanned nearly six decades. The monumental collection 50 in 50 (Tor, 2002) collects 50 stories written over 50 years. His last novel was The Stainless Steel Rat Returns, published by Tor in 2010.

According to The Official Harry Harrison Website, Harry Harrison died today at the age of 87. He was a vastly influential writer and editor during the formative years of the genre, and he will be much missed.

Mindjammer Press Publishes Sarah Newton’s Mindjammer

Mindjammer Press Publishes Sarah Newton’s Mindjammer

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mindjammer2I first encountered Sarah Newton in 2010, when Howard Andrew Jones mentioned how impressed he was with Mindjammer, a far future transhuman space opera setting she wrote for the Starblazer Adventures RPG. I picked up a copy of her massive Legends of Anglerre fantasy roleplaying game on the strength of his rec and wasn’t disappointed. It was a gorgeous and inventive game based on the popular FATE system and we reviewed it in detail in Black Gate 15. I was especially impressed with Sarah’s crisp prose and attention to detail.

We don’t let talent like that get away if we can help it, so we recruited Sarah as a BG contributor last year. Her detailed appreciation of a classic urban setting, Pavis – Gateway to Adventure: The Classic RPG City is Back! (parts One and Two) was one of the most popular gaming articles we’ve published on the website this year.

Now Sarah has published her first novel, Mindjammer, through the brand new Mindjammer Press. Mindjammer Press, a new roleplaying and fiction imprint, has announced plans to publish both the Mindjammer roleplaying game and a new line of associated fiction. Their publication schedule includes the upcoming second edition core book, Mindjammer: The Expansionary Era — with vastly expanded content, new and detailed background material, and all new artwork — in spring 2013. It will be followed by the Solenine campaign pack, based on the setting for the first novel, a new and revamped Black Zone campaign, and the second novel in the Mindjammer series, Transcendence. Here’s the description for the first novel:

IT IS THE SECOND AGE OF SPACE… In the seventeenth millennium, the New Commonality of Humankind is expanding, using newly-discovered faster-than-light travel to rediscover lost worlds colonised in the distant past. It’s a time of turmoil, of clashing cultures, as civilisations shudder and collapse before the might of a benevolent empire ten millennia old.

In the Solenine Cluster, things are going from bad to worse, as hyper-advanced technologies destabilise a world in chaos. Thaddeus Clay and his SCI Force special ops team are on the trail of the Transmigration Heresy. What they find is something beyond even their imagining – something which could tear the whole Commonality apart…

Mindjammer is receiving a lot of positive press from readers both inside and outside the gaming industry. Here’s what Stargazer’s World said about it:

What I also enjoyed tremendously was that Mindjammer is a science fiction story that really deserves the name. The technology described sounds plausible and the Commonality era feels “real.” And even though Mindjammer is highly entertaining it also makes the reader ponder a couple of philosophical questions like what makes us human and is there a way to cheat death? In my opinion good SF should not only entertain but make us ask questions. Mindjammer does that all the time…

Mindjammer is a very exiting and intelligently-written novel that should be on the reading list of every SF fan!

Mindjammer is available now in Kindle format for $3.99 and in print for $15.95, both from Amazon. Check it out.

Forbes Publishes List of World’s Top-Earning Authors

Forbes Publishes List of World’s Top-Earning Authors

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maximum-rideForbes magazine has released its annual list of the top-earning authors on the planet. The list is dominated by science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers, including Stephen King, Suzanne Collins, Dean Koontz, and George R.R. Martin. Here are the 10 authors on the list who write genre fiction, and their total earnings in 2011:

1. James Patterson (Maximum Ride); $94 million
2. Stephen King (11/22/63; Dark Tower) $39 million
5. Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), $25 million
7. Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb (In Death): $23 million
9. Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games); $20 million
10. Dean Koontz (Frankenstein, Odd Thomas);  $19 million
11. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter); $17 million
12. George R.R. Martin (The Game of Thrones); $15 million
13. Stephenie Meyer (Twilight); $14 million
15. Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians); $13 million

Virtually all of the authors on the list, including Stephen King, Jeff Kinney, Suzanne Collins, J.K. Rowling, and George R.R. Martin, made the list due at least in part to revenue from film adaptations of their work.

The notable exception is the top-selling author James Patterson, who earned nearly all his income from his massive book sales. Patterson published an astounding 14 new titles in 2011 alone.

You can find the complete list here.

“Quit Messing Around and Subscribe”: James van Pelt Reviews Black Gate 11

“Quit Messing Around and Subscribe”: James van Pelt Reviews Black Gate 11

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black-gate-11I was doing a search earlier today and stumbled on a review of Black Gate 11 by none other than the distinguished author James van Pelt. It was written in Sept 2007, though I missed it until now. Here’s what Jim says, in part:

In the last three days I’ve received my subscriber copies of my two favorite magazines, Talebones and Black Gate. As I was looking them over (lovingly), it suddenly occurred to me that both of these magazines should have kick-butt subscription numbers. They’re wonderful, issue after issue… Here’s what you’re missing in this month’s issue of Black Gate:

  • Really superior production values…  This is a beautiful magazine
  • Great cover art… my little image doesn’t quite capture the impact of the magazine…
  • Top notch high and heroic fantasy. Where do you go for your fantasy kick of that sort? The contents of Black Gate leans toward the adventure fantasy side of the field, but there’s a lot of range in the magazine in approach, style and tone.
  • A serialized story from Mark Sumner, “The Naturalist: Part II.” I like serialized work. Do you remember when that was common in most of the magazines? I first really started paying attention to Sumner when he published an earlier story in Black Gate called “Leather Doll.”
  • Interesting, in depth reviews of the latest fantasy books. Unlike a lot of review venues, Black Gate gives me enough insight into the book to decide to buy it or not
  • Articles by Rich Horton, one of the towering authorities on short fiction in science fiction and fantasy. He can write about a 1954 issue of Galaxy magazine that makes me want to try to find it.
  • A column on gaming
  • A funny multi-page cartoon called “Knights of the Dinner Table: the Java Joint” that in this issue mentioned another favorite author of mine within the cartoon, Carrie Vaughn
  • A lively letter section

This is the second shout out this week for Mark Sumner’s “Leather Doll” (the first was in today’s Letters Column). Not bad for a story which appeared over eight years ago in Black Gate 7. You can read Jim’s complete review — as well as his comments about Talebones, another terrific small press magazine — here.

Black Gate 11 is still available on our back issue page. Buy the PDF for just $8.95, or the print version as part of our back issue sale — any two issues for just $25.

This Week’s Bargain SF & Fantasy Books at Amazon.com

This Week’s Bargain SF & Fantasy Books at Amazon.com

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those-across-the-river2You. You’ve got some kind of high octane karma going.

Not feeling it? Check this out: two days ago the World Fantasy Convention announced Christopher Buehlman’s debut novel, Those Across the River, had been nominated for a World Fantasy Award. And guess what’s recently been remaindered at Amazon.com for just $9.98 in hardcover.

See what I mean? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. How about a copy of He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson, edited by Christopher Conlon and containing all new stories by Stephen King, Joe Hill, Nancy Collins, and Joe Lansdale, for just $2.08 (marked down from $25.99)? Or Col Buchanan’s epic fantasy, Farlander, in hardcover for $1.80 (originally $24.99)? Or the gorgeous full-color art anthology, Sci-Fi Art Now, edited by John Freeman, for just 12 bucks (was $29.99)? Or Omnitopia Dawn, the first volume of Diane Duane’s new Omnitopia series, for a measly $2.92 (original price: $24.95)?

Damn, man.  You did something right in your previous life. Invented penicillin or the TV remote control or something. Sit back and enjoy the spoils.

Most books are discounted from 60% to 80%. As always, quantities on these bargain books are very limited. All are eligible for free domestic shipping on orders over $25. Many of last month’s discount titles are also still available; you can see them here.

KenzerCo Announces HackMaster Basic is now Free

KenzerCo Announces HackMaster Basic is now Free

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hackmaster-basic2Free stuff!

When I was working at Motorola in the late 90s, the lawyer whose office was just down the hall had his own game company. His name was David Kenzer, and his company was Kenzer & Company. Tuns out they published one of my favorite comics, Jolly Blackburn’s hilarious Knights of the Dinner Table. Once I made this discovery, Dave and I collaborated on a bunch of projects, one of which became Black Gate magazine.

One of the most successful products Dave and his team of geniuses ever produced was the HackMaster role playing game. Conceived as a clever parody of Dungeons & Dragons — and a fully functional RPG — it was published under a license from Wizards of the Coast and won the coveted Origins Award for Game of the Year 2001. It was a huge labor of love for all involved, and I was drafted to write the “HackMaster Smartass Smackdown Table” (HSST), a simple tool to help Game Masters discipline unruly players.

For the last ten years, HackMaster has been expanded with over fifty supplements — including the brilliant Annihilate the Giants (a parody of Gary Gygax’s classic adventure module Against the Giants), Little Keep on the Borderlands, and my favorite, the out-of-print The Temple of Existential Evil (new copies of which currently sell on Amazon for north of $500). HackMaster Basic, a 192-page single volume collection of the essential rules, was published in 2009 and helped introduce a whole new audience to the game.

I left Motorola in 2006, but kept in close touch with Dave. For the past few years, KenzerCo has been working in secret on a complete revamp of HackMaster, and the results have been at last unveiled with HackMaster Fifth Edition. The Hacklopedia of Beasts, a 384-page full color deluxe hardcover and one of the most visually gorgeous game books I’ve seen, arrived first. And now KenzerCo has announced The HackMaster Player’s Handbook, a 400-page leathered book that includes everything you need to play.

To celebrate the arrival of Fifth Edition, KenzerCo has announced that they’re making the PDF version of HackMaster Basic completely free. This book serves as a gateway to the dynamic thrill of the HackMaster game, and I highly recommend it.

Why not check it out? You can learn more, and get the free download, at the KenzerCo site here.

Enjoying Vintage Comics with The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics

Enjoying Vintage Comics with The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics

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toon-treasure-of-classic-childrens-comics2One of the great things about the 21st Century? Cheap comic reprints (I know, that’s top of your list too, right?)

Seriously. When I was growing up, if you wanted to know what happened in Amazing Spider-Man #65, you had to find someone five years older than you and pester the hell outta them until they told you. As comic archival systems went, it was crude and had little to recommend it.

Not today. Now you have an embarrassment of choices. Want the color reprints of Amazing Spider-Man? The cheap black-and-white? Hardcover or paperback? Digital or paper? Paper or plastic? Bah. All these choices make me grumpy. I miss nagging all the teenagers in my neighborhood. Yelling at them to get off my lawn isn’t the same.

And here’s the other thing. If you want to read premium reprints of superhero, sci-fi, or horror comics from the 50s through the 90s, life is grand. Just browse the graphic novel section at Barnes & Noble or Amazon and you’ll see what I mean — the choices are staggering. Marvel, DC, Gold Key, Charlton, EC… they’re all there, and in quantity.

But if you’re interested in children’s comics from the same era? Good luck.

There are a few intrepid publishers bucking the trend. Fantagraphics has one of the most ambitious publishing ventures in the history of comics with The Complete Peanuts, collecting all 17,897 daily and Sunday strips by Charles M. Schulz (18 hardcover volumes, so far). And let’s not forget Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips by Walt Kelly, or the extensive Disney comics of Carl Barks — especially his Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge — published by Gladstone and Boom! Studios over the years.

But these publishing projects assume you’re already a dedicated fan, and willing to shell out $30 (or more) per book for archival quality hardcovers. What if you just want to sample some of the best from the golden age of kid’s comics? For that, I heartily recommend Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly’s wonderful volume, The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics.

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Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch Announce Fiction River

Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch Announce Fiction River

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pulphouse-fantasyPulphouse publishers Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn have announced a new genre market, Fiction River:

Fiction River will be a bimonthly anthology series starting in April next year. Each anthology will be theme-focused and cross-genre containing all original fiction written by some of the top writers in fiction, including big names and names you might have never heard of.

Each anthology will be published in an electronic edition, a trade paper edition, and a very limited and numbered and signed hardback edition. (Signed by all authors and editors.) Readers will be able to buy each anthology individually or subscribe to the anthology series like a magazine.

As many of you know, Kris and I, in 1987, started Pulphouse Publishing with Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine. We published those anthologies every three months. Fiction River will be like Pulphouse and Orbit and Universe and other major original fiction anthology series of the past. It will focus on top quality short fiction of all types, in a themed-anthology format.

Pulphouse was one of the most respected fantasy and science fiction markets of the 80s and 90s. They published twelve thick issues of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine from 1988 through 1993, and 19 issues of a weekly fiction magazine, also called Pulphouse (which was never quite weekly). They were nominated for a Hugo three times, and won the World Fantasy Award in 1989. After closing down Pulphouse Kristine Kathryn Rusch was the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for six years (1991 to 1997), and Dean Wesley Smith edited the anthology series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

To fund the project Smith and Rusch announced a Kickstarter project. By August 7, with 20 days still to go, they have surpassed their original $6,000 goal, with nearly $9,300 pledged.

You can read more about Fiction River here.

New Treasures: Clockwork and Cthulhu

New Treasures: Clockwork and Cthulhu

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clockwork-cthulhu-smallI don’t know much about this little artifact; but the moment I laid eyes on it, I knew I had to blog about it. It combines two of my favorite things: Cthulhu and Clocks.

Okay, not really. Would you believe Cthulhu and role-playing games? How about Cthulhu and giant clockwork war machines that lumber across the land?

Clockwork and Cthulhu is a supplement for the 17th century alternate historical fantasy world Clockwork & Chivalry, one of the most innovative settings ever produced for RuneQuest 2. And yes, I realize that if you don’t play RPGs, that sentence will not parse no matter how hard you mess with it. Just go with it.

England has descended into civil war. The earth is tainted by alchemical magick. Giant clockwork war machines lumber across the land. In the remote countryside, witches terrorise entire villages, while in the hallowed halls of great universities, natural philosophers uncover the secrets of nature.

War, plague and religious division make people’s lives a constant misery. But even greater threats exist. Witches whisper of the old gods. Royalist alchemists pore over John Dee’s forbidden translation of the Necronomicon, dreaming of powers that will allow them to win the war. Parliamentarian engineers consult with creatures from beyond the crystal spheres and build blasphemous mechanisms, unholy monuments to their alien overlords. Vast inter-dimensional beings seek entry into the world, while their human servants, corrupted, crazed and enslaved, follow the eldritch agendas of their hidden masters.

Clockwork & Cthulhu brings the horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to the 17th century alternate historical fantasy world of Clockwork & Chivalry.

You have to admit that sounds cool. Don’t you wish you played role-playing games now?

Clockwork and Cthulhu was written and designed by Peter Cakebread and Ken Walton, authors of Clockwork & Chivalry. It is 156 pages, and sells for $29.99. It is published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment; you can find more information here.