Conan, and his creator Robert E. Howard, are perpetually popular topics at Black Gate. Our top blog post last month was M. Harold Page’s “Why isn’t Conan a Mary Sue?” followed by James McGlothlin’s review of two Howard biographies. Freelancers looking for topic suggestions: you can’t go wrong with Robert E. Howard! The third most popular article last month was our report on the best readings at the Wiscon science fiction convention in May, followed by Ryan Harvey’s review of the 1985…
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Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. Photo by Liz Duffy Adams June was a big month for interviews at Black Gate. Our top articles were interviews, and our roving reporter Joe Bonadonna placed two in the Top Ten — a lengthy conversation with Author T.C. Rypel (the Gonji series) at #2, and a free-wheeling conversation with two editors of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Adrian Simmons and David Farney, at #8. And the #1 article for the month was Elizabeth Crowens’s enchanting conversation with the…
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Four Thousand Year Old Bread from Ancient Egypt Sean McLachlan was the top draw at the Black Gate blog last month, with three posts in the Top Ten for May — including the #1 article, a mouth-watering report on 4,000 year-old bread found in a tomb in Ancient Egypt (with pics!) Sean’s adventure-filled report on braving scorpions and impassible tunnels at the Queens’ Pyramids at Giza came in at #7. While he was in Egypt, Sean also interviewed Egyptian Science Fiction writer Mohammad…
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The most popular topic at Black Gate last month was the new edition of the classic SF role playing game Traveller from Mongoose Publishing. And the most popular blogger was our roving games reporter M Harold Page, who covered the new edition in two posts that both made the Top Ten. Well done, Mr. Page! (However, we need to talk about those expense reports from that Altairian space bar. What exactly is a “Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster?”) Meanwhile, back here on…
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D&D publisher TSR generally gets a bad rap for their brief venture into science fiction in the 1980s. Much of their D&D related fiction — especially the Weis and Hickman DragonLance novels, which launched their entire publishing line — is still remembered fondly today. But does anybody remember Martin Caidin’s Buck Rogers novel, or Martin H. Greenberg’s Starfall anthology? Nope. Which is a shame. At one point — riding high on the success of the DragonLance books — TSR claimed…
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Kim Patrick Weiss, of Bavaria, Germany, writes: I tend to browse the Black Gate website every day, to check the news and, of course, read the new chapter of “The Weird of Ironspell” every Wednesday. When I read your article about Before the Golden Age by Isaac Asimov, two things immediately caught my interest: “…civilizations in grains of sand…” and “…humans in rags taking on entrenched alien conquerors…” and I knew I had to look into getting this book. …
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One of my favorite books — among a host of many favorites, of course, many many favorites, collected over decades of careful reading in a wide variety of genres, it’s hard to choose, depends on the time of day, naturally, and what we’re talking about, whether you want to include non-fiction, and it’s difficult to judge pleasure reading against, you know, literature like The Sound and the Fury, which was great until the part where I quit reading and pretty much gave up. That Quentin character…
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208 pages, $9.95 On Sale December 18, 2005 Edited by John O’Neill Published by New Epoch Press Cover Art by Dan Krall Interior Art by Mark Evans, Matt Hughes, Chuck Lukacs, Bernie Mireault, and Denis Rodier Buy this as a sample issue — only $9.95 postpaid! FICTION “The Whited Child” by Michael Canfield Bad Pete spoke for the Mountains, and did their will. Until the wolves came…. “Payment Deferred” by James Enge Morlock the Maker returns to confront a crafter of golems……
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208 pages, $9.95 On Sale October 15, 2003 Edited by John O’Neill Published by New Epoch Press Cover Art by Todd Lockwood Interior Art by Bernie Mireault, Chris Pepper, and Denis Rodier Buy this issue — only $9.95 plus shipping & handling! FICTION “Looking For Goats, Finding Monkeys” by Iain Rowan A tale of gold, ghosts and gullibility in Ancient China. “The Flowers on the Harp” by Anne Sheldon In which King Herken receives far more than he bargained for…
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208 pages, $9.95 On Sale February 2003 Edited by John O’Neill Published by New Epoch Press Cover Art by Chris Pepper (Illustrating “Two-Skins” by Shawn L. Johnson) Interior Art by Chris Pepper, Bernie Mireault, Denis Rodier, Greg Faillace, Chuck Lukacs, and Gregory Price ISSUE SOLD OUT! FICTION “The Mourning Trees” by Peadar O Guilin The deadly mourning trees were a remnant of a sorcerous war, and now one clutched Moya’s only son. “Stand at Llieva” by Joseph A. McCullough V In…
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