I’ve recently been enjoying the massive 2011 anthology The Best American Noir of the Century, which isn’t science fiction or fantasy, but which does showcase a lot of highly regarded SF and fantasy writers, including Charles Beaumont, Cornell Woolrich, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, and others. The first question I had when I set set eyes on this book was “Which century are they talking about?” Turns out it’s neither the 20th nor the 21st… it’s the last hundred years, give…
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Edgar Cantero is the author of The Supernatural Enhancements. His follow-up, Meddling Kids, continues in the horror-comedy vein with perhaps the most brilliant premises I’ve encountered this year: a group of young detectives, who foiled the plot of a small-time crook years ago, find themselves drawn back together as adults to pick up the threads of their original investigation… threads that lead to a much more insidious threat involving an interdimensional horror. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says, “For anyone who finds the triangle formed…
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The Wonder Woman movie has received considerable buzz for depicting an interesting lead female character who actually has a personality, is not dependent on some guy to come to her rescue and truly is the star attraction; it even has a female director. It’s enough to make you forgive the silly and at this point yawn inducing CGI pyrotechnics between good and evil ending that is apparently sacrosanct in these sort of flicks. Look, I enjoyed the movie, but for all its merits it’s still a sad commentary of…
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This is Part 1 of a Decadal Review of vintage science fiction magazines published in November 1969. The articles are: Amazing Stories, November 1969 Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1969 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1969 Worlds of If, November 1969 Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November 1969 Almost every year I go to a small sci-fi conference in Lawrence Kansas called The Campbell Conference. The people who run the Campbell Conference have a lot of sci-fi magazines and books;…
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By Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna This is an excerpt from Three Ghosts in a Black Pumpkin by Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna, presented by Black Gate magazine. It appears with the permission of Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2017 Erika M Szabo and Joe Bonadonna. Nikki, Jack and their three companions have reached the destination of their third and final quest….
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The first Worldcon, July 1939. Left to right: Jack Darrow, Jack Williamson, Julius Schwartz, unknown, and Conrad Rupert. Photo by Bill Dellenback While letters from and to Otto Binder made up the majority of the correspondence I acquired from the estate of Clifford Kornoelje (aka in science fiction circles as Jack Darrow), Binder wasn’t the only science fiction notable that Darrow corresponded with. One of his other correspondents was Julius Schwartz, remembered today for his roles in both the science…
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Martin Page demonstrating German Longsword at Compulsion Martin Page is a regular contributor to Black Gate and writes novels, such as the alternate history mash-up Swords versus Tanks and non-fiction books like Storyteller Tools, under the pen name, M. Harold Page. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and teaches Medieval German longsword at Edinburgh’s Dawn Duellists Society. Martin, what have you been working on? I’ve been taken a break from blogging while working on a space opera series. I’ll shortly return…
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Back in 1977, near the high water mark of an earlier age of apocalyptic expectations, Elvis Costello crooned a song about “Waiting for the End of the World.” It seemed to make sense in that era of turmoil and unrest at home and abroad, but the American landscape of the last year or so makes the turbulent 70’s seem like an age of cool, good humored rationality. (It wasn’t — trust me.) I, along with Little Orphan Annie and MacBeth,…
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Well, these were my books. You know, the ones that got me forever hooked on fantasy worlds and addicted to stories untethered from the things we know. I was eight, in the second grade, when I began reading them, and they were the first to begin teaching me that precious lifelong lesson: that though you might not trod in Faerie with your flesh-and-bone feet, there are many other pathways thither. It was this shared knowledge that made an eight-year-old American…
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When Black Gate photog Chris Z isn’t too busy surfing the net for combat kilts and more camera equipment (both for attracting gender-specific attention at our many trade shows), he is a veritable font of potential GCN subject matters. Granted, much of it is questionable at best or at worse, flat out rejected by the “big cheese” John O (re: Zombeavers which got us both reprimanded before I had even typed the first paragraph). Still, on occasion he hits pay…
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