Browsed by
Category: Fiction

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Six

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Six

In The Wake of Sister Blue Mark Rigney-medium

Linked below, you’ll find the sixth installment of a brand-new serialized novel, In the Wake Of Sister Blue. In this latest batch of adventures and misadventures, Karai meets Vashear, we tour the Sindarin market (where disaster awaits), and Maer bargains for the lives of Doss and Cullen with –– well, I’d better keep that a secret until you get there, eh? Chapter Seven will follow in two weeks’ time, by hook or by crook.

A number of you will already be familiar with my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“), and if you enjoyed those titles, I think you’ll also find much to like in this latest venture.

Bear in mind that this is a true serial. I haven’t written to the end; I couldn’t publish all at once even if I wished to do so. I do have the overall arc of the piece ever more firmly in mind, but as to how exactly I’ll write navigate the roads from here to there? I predict it’ll be one complication at a time –– minimum. I do promise this: I’ll dole out the breadcrumbs of story just as fast as I can tear them from the fictive loaf, and when we reach the end, we’ll get there simultaneously. Welcome to adventure, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

Tell your friends. Sharing and linking are the highest of compliments. Off we go –– and if you’re just discovering this portal, may I suggest you begin at the beginning?

Read the first installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read the sixth and latest installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read More Read More

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Five

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Five

In The Wake of Sister Blue Mark Rigney-medium

Linked below, you’ll find the fifth installment of a brand-new serialized novel, In the Wake Of Sister Blue. In this latest dice-roll of adventures and misadventures, Maer takes steps to learn self-defense, we re-visit the Spur, and we spend some quality time with my favorite villain, Mother Sand –– if villain she truly is. I do love a complex character…

Oh, and a bonus! We meet, at last, a Sindarin. Face-to-face. Yes, the hooks are baited for Chapter Six, to follow in two weeks’ time.

A number of you will already be familiar with my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“), and if you enjoyed those titles, I think you’ll also find much to like in this latest venture.

Bear in mind that this is a true serial. I haven’t written to the end; I couldn’t publish all at once even if I wished to do so. I do have the overall arc of the piece ever more firmly in mind, but as to how exactly I’ll write from Point A to Point Z? I predict it’ll be one complication at a time – minimum. I do promise this: I’ll dole out the breadcrumbs of story just as fast as I can tear them from the fictive loaf, and when we reach the end, we’ll get there simultaneously.

Welcome to adventure, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

Read More Read More

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Four

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Four

In The Wake of Sister Blue Mark Rigney-medium

Linked below, you’ll find the fourth installment of a brand-new serialized novel, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

A number of you will already be familiar with my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“), and if you enjoyed those titles, I think you’ll also find much to like in this latest venture. In this latest installment, Maer decides on her next steps while Vashear suffers through the aftermath of an extrication. As for Belner, whom we’d met before but not by name, well he’s nothing if not on the run. Things are heating up, with Chapter Five to follow in two weeks’ time.

Bear in mind that this is a true serial. I haven’t written to the end; I couldn’t publish all at once even if I wished to do so. I do have the overall arc of the piece in mind, but as to how we get there? I predict it’ll be one complication at a time – minimum. I do promise this: I’ll dole out the breadcrumbs of story just as fast as I can tear them from the fictive loaf, and when we reach the end, we’ll get there simultaneously.

Welcome to adventure, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

Tell your friends. Off we go — and if you’re just discovering this portal, don’t forget to begin at the beginning.

Read the first installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read the fourth and latest installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue HERE.

Read More Read More

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Three

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Three

Sister Blue TitleLinked below, you’ll find the third installment of a brand-new serialized novel, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

A number of you will already be familiar with my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“), and if you enjoyed those titles, I think you’ll also find much to like in this latest venture. In this sequence, we keep pace with Maer and Doss, but we also expand our horizons via Mother Coal and a visit to the capital city. Their entwined fates, and those of Vashear, all lead inexorably to the slam-bang opening of Chapter Four, which I’ll post in two weeks’ time.

As I’ve said before, bear in mind that this as an experiment, an experiment performed in the most chaotic of laboratory environments (which is to say, my basement). I haven’t written to the end. I’m not offering you something that’s already complete. Instead, I’ll be doling out the breadcrumbs of story just as fast as I can tear them from the fictive loaf, and when we reach the end, we’ll get there simultaneously.

Welcome to adventure, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

Tell your friends. Off we go — and if you’re just discovering this portal, don’t forget to begin at the beginning.

Read the first installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read the third installment here.

Read More Read More

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Two

In the Wake Of Sister Blue: Chapter Two

Sister Blue TitleAs I mentioned two weeks back, I’ve been contributing blog posts here at Black Gate since 2006, and it’s time for a change. Linked below, you’ll find the second installment of a brand-new serialized novel, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

A number of you will already be familiar with my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“), and if you enjoyed those titles, I think you’ll also find much to like in this latest venture. The pace picks up in this latest installment (Maer’s in serious trouble), with action aplenty and a wider world beckoning just around the corner.

Remember: this as an experiment, a kind of in-process tight-rope walking, sans safety net. I haven’t written to the end. I’m not offering you something that’s already complete. Instead, I’ll be doling out the breadcrumbs of story just as fast as I can tear them from the fictive loaf, and when we reach the end, we’ll get there simultaneously.

Welcome to adventure, In the Wake Of Sister Blue.

Tell your friends. Off we go — and if you’re just discovering this portal, don’t forget to begin at the beginning.

Read the first installment of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read the second installment here.

Read More Read More

Try the First Chapter of Swords Versus Tanks 1: “Armored Heroes Clash Across the Centuries!”

Try the First Chapter of Swords Versus Tanks 1: “Armored Heroes Clash Across the Centuries!”

SVT 256
…thirty five tons of grey-painted steel with a pair of 60mm howitzers projecting like abortive arms from sponson side-turrets.

Swords Versus Tanks 1: “Armored heroes clash across the centuries!” spent most of its first week in the Amazon US Top 20 Steampunk books. Now with book two out (Vikings battle Zeppelins while forbidden desires spark!), so I think book 1’s first chapter merits a showing on Black Gate.

Here goes…

Chapter 1

Sir Ranulph’s prowess won him an heroic death, but it was Albrecht’s artistic vision that granted him immortality.
— K Lucy, “Exhibition Review: Four Hundred Years of Sir Ranulph Dacre” (Kinghaven Times, 1890)

Kingdom of Westerland, Earldom of Dacre, Unicorn Hill, Autumn 1490

Sparks crackled over the great monolith. Ozone washed from its facets and wafted through the chill autumn air of Unicorn Hill.

In the stone’s long shadow, unicorns sniffed, scented power, and — driven by some genetic memory — edged closer. A white stallion snorted and lowered his spiralled horn to meet the challenge.

The monolith flickered out of existence. In its place appeared a window into the future. The hilltop was a place of russet-leaved trees and lush grass, but the world beyond the shimmering pane of not-stuff was one of grey tarmac, corrugated iron, and tanks.

Lots of tanks.

Read More Read More

Black Gate Online Fiction: In the Wake Of Sister Blue

Black Gate Online Fiction: In the Wake Of Sister Blue

In The Wake of Sister Blue Mark Rigney-smallHaving contributed blog posts here at Black Gate since 2006 (where does the time go?), it’s time for a change. Time at last to give up on non-fiction, essays, and opinionated screeds. Time to dive headlong into an experiment I’ve long been itching to try, a serialized novel.

According to Black Gate‘s traffic stats, which of course I study daily from the basement of BG‘s vast Indiana compound, my Tales Of Gemen (“The Trade,” “The Find,” and “The Keystone“) remain perennially popular. That’s flattering – reassuring, even – and I’m grateful for your readership. Indeed, I feel sufficiently encouraged that I’m ready to offer a brand-new fantasy world in hopes that at least some of you will follow me down what promises to be a truly long and winding road.

Think of this as an experiment in tight-rope walking. I haven’t written to the end. I’m not offering you something that’s already complete. Instead, I’ll be doling out the breadcrumbs of story just as fast as I can tear them from the fictive loaf, and when we reach the end, we’ll get there simultaneously.

So the journey begins, in what I expect will be bi-weekly installments. Remember, this is dangerous territory; there’s no safety net. There’s only the story, the one unfolding in my head, the one I promise to set down as best I know how, for you.

That adventure, In the Wake Of Sister Blue, begins today.

Tell your friends. Off we go.

Read the first chapter of In the Wake Of Sister Blue here.

Read More Read More

Black Gate Online Fiction: Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra

Black Gate Online Fiction: Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra

Souldrifter-small2Black Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive excerpt from Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra, Book Two of The Dreamwielder Chronicles.

“Arm the ballistas!” Giorgi commanded from the helm. “Ready the naphtha charges!”

The crew sprang into action around Taera, taking up their battle stations and readying their weapons… Giorgi had been forthright in admitting that naval battles never went to plan. That was doubly true with the Old World — they were bound to have their own tricks. Explosive weapons. Firewielders. Beastcharmers with whales or giant squids at their command. Stormbringers who could very well negate the Pyrthin stormbringers’ efforts and snuff out the wind altogether, leaving both fleets still in the water. If that happened, it would turn to hand-to-hand combat. The grappling hooks would come out and then the cutlasses.

I hope you were right, Makarria, Taera thought as the enemy fleet loomed closer. The Old World armada was massive, easily outnumbering the Pyrthin fleet two vessels to one. And they weren’t backing down.

Garrett Calcaterra is author of the YA fantasy series The Dreamwielder Chronicles. His other full-length books include The Roads to Baldairn Motte and Umbral Visions, and his short fiction and non-fiction has appeared places such as Wet Ink, Pirates & Swashbucklers 1 & 2, Membrane SF, Arkham Tales, and here at Black Gate.

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by John Fultz, Jon Sprunk, Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe, E.E. Knight, Vaughn Heppner,  Howard Andrew Jones, David Evan Harris, John C. Hocking, Michael Shea, Aaron Bradford Starr, Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, C.S.E. Cooney, and many others, is here.

Souldrifter will be published by Diversion Publishing on September 29, 2015. It is 298 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $4.99 for the digital edition. Learn more here.

Read an exclusive excerpt from Souldrifter here.

Fiction: Shieldwall: Barbarians (Chapter 1)

Fiction: Shieldwall: Barbarians (Chapter 1)

Roman Cavalry Helmet
I originally wrote Shieldwall: Barbarians! for my son “Kurtzhau”. Why? Here he is at 10, utterly transfixed by the Sutton Hoo helmet.

I’ve been guest blogging over at Charles Stross‘s blog, a writer with so many rockets to his name  I joke about buying him a Tracy Island set. I did a three part piece In defence of Traditional (Eurocentric Quasi-Medieval) Fantasy which sparked some… lively discussion in the comments. I also talked about my writing process, and of course my YA Dark Age adventure,  Shieldwall: Barbarians! (UKAmazon-free Epub), which I originally wrote for my son. Frankly, I’m a bit brain dead, so you’ll pardon me if I hit you with the first chapter of my book…

Shieldwall: Barbarians!
by M Harold Page
Chapter 1

AD 451, south coast of Roman Britain

A spear whirred past the ear of Hengest, son of King Fredulf of the Jutes. It thwacked into the door of his father’s mead hall.

Warriors appeared out of the shadows and charged across the moonlit courtyard towards Hengest. They came on in silence except for the sound of laboured breathing and the clink of mail.

Hengest stepped behind one of the posts holding up the porch roof and yelled, “We’re under attack!”

More weapons sailed through the night air.

Read More Read More

Black Gate Online Fiction: The Testament of Tall Eagle by John R. Fultz

Black Gate Online Fiction: The Testament of Tall Eagle by John R. Fultz

The Testament of Tall Eagle-smallBlack Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive excerpt from The Testament of Tall Eagle by John R. Fultz, the new fantasy novel from the author of the Books of the Shaper trilogy.

A second mountain sat atop the first. Yet the second mountain was made of glowing gold, beaded with shimmering crystals set in weird designs. The second mountain had been carved into slim, pointed spires like tremendous teepees of gold. Giant domes of sparkling stone gleamed brighter than Mother Moon at her fullest… All these things thrilled me and stole my heaving breath, but it was the eagles that filled my heart with joy.

Between the golden spires a flock of eagles soared. They skirted the surrounding peaks, and sometimes I heard their shrill songs tearing through the sky. Here are the Lords of All Eagles, I thought. The Eagle Spirit himself must live here. These are his people…

I had no idea how huge these eagles were until one of them descended. The light of the golden mountain made it a massive shadow winging toward me. It did not cry out, but I felt the great beating of its wings. They made a wind that nearly knocked me backwards, where I would have fallen to my death. But I knew no fear in the face of that great bird, for it served the Eagle Spirit, and had it not called me here?

John’s Books of the Shaper trilogy includes Seven Princes,Seven Kings, and Seven Sorcerers (Orbit Books). His short story collection, The Revelations of Zang, is a series of interrelated tales born in the pages of Weird Tales and Black Gate. His website is www.johnrfultz.com.

The complete catalog of Black Gate Online Fiction, including stories by Jon Sprunk, Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe, E.E. Knight, Vaughn Heppner,  Howard Andrew Jones, David Evan Harris, John C. Hocking, Michael Shea, Aaron Bradford Starr, Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, C.S.E. Cooney, and many others, is here.

The Testament of Tall Eagle will be published by Ragnarok Publications on June 8, 2015. It is 400 pages and available in digital format for $4.99. Learn more at Ragnarok Publications.

Read the complete first chapter of The Testament of Tall Eagle here.