When an unabashed work of fantasy gets shortlisted for a National Book Award, Black Gate‘s Rich Horton sits up and takes notice. The volume in question is titled Skin Hunger, Book One of a series called A Resurrection of Magic. Penned by talented writer Kathleen Duey, it’s filled with witches, magic, ove and loss. Horton judges it an intriguing page-turner that acts as a promising introduction to Duey’s fictional world.
Since 1999 Jenn Reese has made a name for herself writing fantasy tales at times whimsical, contemplative, and moving for markets as diverse as Strange Horizons, Flypaper, and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress book anthologies. Now we finally have a novel from her, one with plenty of romance and exotic, kung-fu crime fighting to keep you reading. Black Gate’s Rich Horton gives you the details.
Lawrence Watt-Evans utilized the Internet in novel fashion to bring the latest entry in his Ethshar series to readers. Black Gate‘s Rich Horton tells you all about how he did it, what it may hint about the future of publishing, and whether the book itself lives up to the previous volumes in Watt-Evans’ fantasy saga.
Black Gate Contributing Editor Rich Horton presents his annual look back at the finest genre short fiction of last year, selected from a reading list of nearly 2000 stories appearing in well over a hundred magazines, e-zines and anthologies — from Aeon to Zoetrope.
Join one of the most accomplished reviewers in the field for a fond look back at 2006, and a preview of the contents of three major upcoming anthologies containing the very best it had to offer: Science Fiction: The Best of the Year 2007, Fantasy: The Best of the Year 2007, and the new Space Opera, showcasing the finest in modern space adventure.
Rich also unveils his choices for the Best Online SF/F of 2007, and finally his picks for Hugo nominations for short story, novelette, and novella.
For years Rich Horton, Contributing Editor to Locus and Black Gate and one of the most accomplished reviewers in the genre, has been preparing exhaustive summaries of the Year in Short Fiction, complete with his choices for the Best of the Year in a wide variety of categories.
This year Black Gate is pleased to present Rich Horton’s Virtual Best of the Year: 2005, a retrospective of the very best the field had to offer in the last twelve months. From a reading list of over 100 different sources and 1750 stories — the collected output of the finest print and online magazines, collections and anthologies, from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine to Electric Velocipede to The New Yorker — Rich selects the fiction that really matters.
Join us for a fond look back at 2005 from one of the genre’s most respected critics.
The premiere issue of Black Gate magazine, on sale November 2000, will include new fiction, columns and artwork from some of the finest talents in the industry. We’re proud to present a sample of the contents here on the Black Gate website.
ArticleFrom the earliest days of this century, some of the most important works of fantasy have appeared in genre magazines — including the Conan tales of Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber’s classic tales of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, the Cthulhu tales of H. P. Lovecraft and many, many more. The crumbling pulps where those stories first appeared are now in the hands of collectors, and command outrageous prices. But over the decades these tales proved their worth by appearing in a number of wonderful fantasy anthologies — many highly collectible in their own right. Rich Horton takes us back almost 50 years with a look at the most important early anthologies in American Fantasy, in part one of his in-depth retrospective of the classic anthologies of the genre.
ReviewPaula Volsky is known for lush, intelligent fantasy, often patterned on historical events — including such popular novels as Illusion (set during a reworked French Revolution) and The White Tribunal. Her latest takes places in an alternate 19th Century Europe — a land of dark politics, decadent aristocracy, and high adventure. Reviewer Charlene Brusso takes a closer look, and likes what she sees. This book is “wicked good fun.”
FictionKarl Edward Wagner practically re-invented the dormant Sword & Sorcery genre in the 1970’s with a brilliant series of stories featuring Kane, an intelligent and resourceful rogue who strode the streets of the world’s earliest cities in the First Age of mankind. One of the finest Kane stories is “The Dark Muse,” a tale of sorcery, poetry and betrayal set amongst the long-forgotten ruins of a once-great empire. Black Gate is very proud to present this classic of dark fantasy, out of print for nearly two decades, with brand new art by fantasy master Bernie Mireault.
GamingThe latest Advanced Dungeons & Dragons accessory describes the numerous secret societies operating in the world of Faerûn, unmasking mysterious brotherhoods like the Night Masks, the Knights of the Shield, the Iron Throne, and the Shadow Thieves. It starts out with a three-year timeline that focuses on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of the various secret groups, and critical events like the schism dividing the Harpers, the rise of tyrannical Fzoul Chembryl, and the Manshoon Wars get additional attention in sidebars. Obsessed with the world of the Forgotten Realms? Plenty of surprises for you here.