Search Results for: janet e. morris

The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in October

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Our exclusive excerpt from Mike Allen’s dark fantasy novel The Black Fire Concerto was our most popular work of fiction in October, its first month at the top of the charts. John R. Fultz called it “A post-apocalyptic melody played on strings of Terror and Sorcery,” and apparently word is getting around. Joe Bonadonna’s “The Moonstones of Sor Lunarum,” in the number 2 slot, has been steadily creeping up the charts since we posted it last December. It is without a…

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Black Gate Online Fiction: “Draugr Stonemaker” by Vaughn Heppner

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The young warrior Lod, last seen here in “The Oracle of Gog” (Black Gate 15), “The Pit Slave,” and “The Serpent of Thep” returns in a fast-paced tale of giants in the earth… and a crypt that holds a terrible secret. “What’s that?” whispered Herrek. Lod almost missed it because he expected a giant to rise up out of the earth. Then he saw whiteness out of place with the bulrushes and the green grass. The whiteness was low, planted in the…

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The Art of Magic

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Growing up, Halloween was my favorite holiday. Christmas is great for the presents and Thanksgiving for the feast, but Halloween has a connection with the supernatural that always enthralled me. Ghosts, demons, undead, witches — these were (and are) my meat and mead. When it comes to fantasy stories, magic is what calls to me. In some stories, the magic is subtle. In others, it’s loud and proud. Here are some of my favorite uses of magic in fantasy. The…

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Black Gate Online Fiction: Dark Muse by David C. Smith

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Black Gate is very pleased to offer our readers an exclusive excerpt from Dark Muse, the new noir thriller from David C. Smith. Jack Mathis, a bright young book editor in Chicago, has found the next great American writer. Yet this anonymous genius is inspired to create in the darkest way imaginable: he picks his victims carefully, murders them gruesomely, then gives them new life in the best stories Jack has ever read. The writer knows all about Jack. All about…

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The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in September

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Dave Gross shot to the top of our fiction charts last month, with an exclusive excerpt from his new Pathfinder Tales novel King of Chaos. The halo affect also lifted his previous book in the series, Queen of Thorns, into an impressive 4th place. There were a few other new faces on the list. BG regular Peadar Ó Guilín debuts in 6th place with his fourth story for us, “The Dowry,” the tale of an artist caught with a wizard’s daughter who soon finds…

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“High Fantasy Adventure at its Best”: Tangent Online on “The Gentle Sleeper”

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Over at Tangent Online, reviewer Chuck Rothman shares his opinion of David Evan Harris’s adventure fantasy tale, “The Gentle Sleeper,” published here October 14: Arland is “The Gentle Sleeper,” an assassin who has what seems to be a very weak power, but who wields it skillfully. He’d gone to the castle of the tyrant Baron Weller who has taken his lover Marraine in order to torture her to give up plans for an attack. Weller is a smart and very…

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Black Gate Online Fiction: “The Gentle Sleeper” by David Evan Harris

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David Evan Harris, author of the acclaimed stories “The Mudslinger” and “Seeker of Fortune,” returns to our pages with the tale of a daring confrontation between the dread Baron Weller and a mysterious assassin known as Arland, “The Gentle Sleeper.” “You are Arland,” the Baron continued. “First Elder of the House of Elementals in the Kingdom of Corland.” “You are mistaken, my lord,” said Arland. “Marraine described you perfectly,” said the Baron. “From your height, to the tangled hair. She claimed…

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“An Absolute Joy to Read”: James Reasoner on “Vestments of Pestilence”

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James Reasoner, author of Draw: The Greatest Gunfights of the American West and The Civil War Battle Series, weighs in on John C. Hocking’s newest Archivist tale, published here September 29: “Vestments of Pestilence” is a new sword-and-sorcery story by John C. Hocking, author of Conan and the Emerald Lotus, and what an absolute joy it is to read… The Archivist and Lucella have returned to civilization only to find themselves immediately drawn into a clash between two members of the…

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The Devil in the Details: A Review of Lawyers in Hell

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Lawyers in Hell (Heroes in Hell, Volume 12) Created by Janet Morris, edited by Janet and Chris Morris, and written “with the diabolical assistance of the damnedest writers in perdition.” Perseid Press (456 pages, June 8, 2011, $19.95 in trade paperback) This is volume twelve in the most clever and interesting shared-universe series I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Lawyers in Hell actually precedes Rogues in Hell and Dreamers in Hell, both of which I previously reviewed here. And…

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The Top 20 Black Gate Fiction Posts in August

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There’s a few new faces on the Top Fiction list this month. Mark Rigney’s “The Keystone,” third and final chapter of his epic fantasy series The Tales of Gemen, broke into the Top Five. Tangent Online called it “Masterfully told… The tension never stops, starting with nightmares, followed by chases across half the world… Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop.” Both of the previous chapters made the list as well, including the opener “The Trade,” which Tangent Online called “Marvelous!” and “The Find,” which it described…

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