When John O’Neill invited me to write article about my collection of sword and sorcery stories, Mad Shadows: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser, for the Black Gate blog, I was naturally thrilled and honored. I was also somewhat uncertain. Where do I begin? What should I say? So I asked myself… why not first tell readers something about your book — the world of Tanyime, the kingdom of Rojahndria, the city of Valdar, and its main character — and…
Perseid Press recently announced the passing of author, editor, and publisher Janet E. Morris (JEM, August 2024). A group of us who have known and written for her and published by her, decided to honor her memory and her legacy with this group memorial. This ad-hoc remembrance has organically turned into a virtual shrine. This post initially has ~17 contributions, but collecting testimonials can be chaotic and more comments may be added. Janet and Chris Morris made a remarkable creative…
Monsters in Hell just released this May 2024 (Kindle and Paperback editions published by Perseid Press). Hell is a real place. Anyone who has broken a commandment winds up there. That’s pretty much everybody. Satan is the boss. You’re okay until you’re not. But never fear, all your friends are here. As well as everyone you’ve ever heard of. You are not alone and the party is in full swing. However, keep in mind: our Hell is unlike any other. Picking…
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (DreamWorks/Universal Pictures) A doomed ship and a doomed crew: The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Rated R – Bloody Violence. Bloody great film! I watched this film while recuperating from another back procedure in December. The movie stars Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworthy from Game of Thrones), and Corey Hawkins (Heath, from The Walking Dead.) This film is well acted by a superb cast, masterfully directed by André Øvredal, with an excellent script written by…
JRF has deep roots in the weird fiction community and especially Black Gate, and you can learn about those in this post. We recently reviewed his collections Darker than Weird and Worlds Beyond Worlds which were published after I interviewed the author in 2017 for my Weird Beauty interviews series (right before Black Gate began hosting them; see the listing of those interviews below). This reposts that interview and teases an updated one specific to Fultz’s Zang Cycle (to be…
Victor Frankenstein (20th Century Fox, 2015) I really enjoyed this movie. Victor Frankenstein (2015) is an intelligent, well-written, dramatic horror film, a true actor’s film, and so much more than an action-thriller. Daniel Radcliffe shows off the acting chops I knew he had, from both pre- and post-Harry Potter. James McAvoy is terrific, and once again, the wonderful Charles Dance shows what he can bring to the table. Jessica Brown Findlay adds heart, charm, beauty and class to this production….
We kicked off Talking Tolkien with Joe Bonadonna, and he’s back! After looking at religious themes in The Lord of the Rings the first time around, it’s philosophical ones in The Silmarillion. Joe does the heavy lifting – I’m just a pretty face. As with his first essay, he wades into pretty deep waters. Joe has guested for my ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ Pulp series, and I’m thrilled he wanted to Talk Tolkien. He even recruited two of…
Talking Tolkien is back and it’s Black Gater Joe Bonadonna, musing on religious themes in Lord of the Rings. Since Tolkien set out to compose a mythology for England, and was himself a devout Catholic, it’s no surprise that the topic of religion is certainly relevant to his work. Take it away, Joe… First, I want to say that I am most definitely not an expert on Tolkien’s writings and his history of Middle-earth. Certainly, the myriad fans of Tolkien’s…
The only thing more dangerous than the dead are the living After all the praise, complaints and criticism finally subsided, I decided to watch the last two seasons of The Walking Dead, having taken a long break from the series for my own personal reasons. This is a follow-up to my 2-part article on 9 Seasons in Hell: The Walking Dead, from 2019, BC — Before Covid: 9 Seasons of Hell on Earth, Part One and 9 Seasons of Hell…
In Hell, Everyone’s Pants are on Fire! Faux News and Big Lies might feel like a contemporary pain, but rest assured, dear reader! Your curse has been shared. Liars have been meddling with humanity throughout history. Here ye the accounts of their eternal demise journaled by the damnedest writers in perdition. Note, that each themed entry in the Heroes in Hell™ series can be read separately. Hell has many entry points. Going back some years ago to Doctors in Hell…