Black Gate – Page 485 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1953: A Retro-Review

Saturday, November 4, 2017 Matthew Wuertz Comments 6 comments

Galaxy Science Fiction December 1953-small

Galaxy Science Fiction December 1953-back-small

Featuring festive, seasonal artwork from Ed Emshwiller, the December 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction includes fiction from both Theodore Sturgeon and Isaac Asimov.

“The Dark Door” by Alan E. Nourse — Harry Scott hides in an apartment, waiting for them to find him. Who they are, he doesn’t know. But they aren’t men. He tried to learn about them only to become their target. He can’t go to the police. But if he can get back to the center where he works, he might find help. Unless the mysterious not-men get to him first.

I like the feel of this story. It’s not clear what’s happening, and as a reader, you aren’t certain if you can trust the main character’s point of view because it’s clear he’s unstable.

I’ve mentioned this in a past article, but Nourse wrote a novel titled The Bladerunner in 1974. And Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title “Blade Runner” for his 1982 film (which was based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). I mention this again because of the recent release of Blade Runner 2049. And if you haven’t seen that movie yet, what are you waiting for?

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The Future is Global Micro-Democracy: Malka Older’s The Centenal Cycle

Saturday, November 4, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Malka Older’s debut novel Infomocracy made a huge splash last year — The Huffington Post called it “one of the greatest literary debuts in recent history,” and it was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The Verge, Flavorwire, Kirkus, and Book Riot. In the SF community, it was a Locus Award Finalist for Best First Novel.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the sequel, Null States, is one of the most anticipated novels of the year. It arrived in hardcover in September, and has been widely praised. Here’s Liz Bourke at Tor.com.

This is a story about governance and governing, about power and systems, and the edges of both — the parts where they break, and warp, and potentially break down. Older’s gift is to make those systems fascinating and human: relevant, and easy to grasp. Well, one of her gifts: she has great skill with evoking place and its complicated histories… Null States is a complex, sprawling novel, but one that nonetheless has the tight control and pacing of a really good thriller…

Science fiction is frequently about power and revolution, seldom about the technical stuff that makes power possible — seldom about governing, as opposed to governments in crisis. Null States, like Infomocracy, feels refreshingly new and strange — wondrously strange, in fact — because of its focus on the nitty-gritty of how things get done, and how things can be done, and whether or not this is a stable system or one whose equilibrium has reached a tipping point of some kind.

Read Liz’s complete review here.

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A New Twilight Zone? Maybe — And I Have a Few Requests

Saturday, November 4, 2017 Ryan Harvey Comments 2 comments

The current landscape of television, with numerous platforms, shows where all the episodes can be released at once to create what are essentially eleven-hour movies, and the full reimagining of what a “season” entails, has made the anthology show a viable format once again. Naturally, this means we’re due for a revival of the most famous anthology program in the medium’s history: The Twilight Zone. A.k.a. “One of the Best TV Shows Ever.”

As of this week, it indeed looks like we’re on the way to a TZ revival, based on this news from The Hollywood Reporter. And it’s not just from anyone pulled randomly out of the PGA and DGA listings. It’s from Jordan Peele, whose directorial debut this earlier year, the smash horror hit Get Out, is just covered with Serling-esque fingerprints.

This is still tentative, and The Hollywood Reporter mentions it’s unclear if this is a series order or only an announcement of development for CBS’s All Access service. Jordan Peele’s production company, Monkeypaw, is behind the new show, with Marco Ramirez (Sons of Anarchy, Daredevil) assigned as head writer and showrunner. CBS so far hasn’t made an official comment on either Peele or Ramirez’s involvement, which tells me the deal is still in the process of getting hammered out. It could all evaporate, as a 2012 revival attempt with Bryan Singer did. But the timing on this — and the involvement of Jordan Peele — makes it sound like it may turn into reality. Or what passes for reality in a land of shadow and substance, things and ideas…

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Future Treasures: by Rachel Neumeier

Friday, November 3, 2017 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Rachel Neumeier is what we call in the biz “a fast-rising star.” Her Griffin Mage trilogy from Orbit proved very popular; she followed it up with the Black Dog series, beginning with Black Dog (2014). Her most recent work was the epic fantasy The Mountain of Kept Memory, published last year by Saga Press.

Her newest novel, Winter of Ice and Iron, is a dark fantasy in which a princess and a duke must protect their nations from a terrible threat. It arrives in hardcover and trade paperback from Saga Press later this month.

In a world subject to indifferent Gods and immanent spirits, where many-headed dragons ride midwinter storms across the land during the dark turn of the year, the ambitions of power-mad kings seldom present the greatest threat to peace and prosperity.

Even so, they don’t make comfortable neighbors.

When Kehera, princess of the peaceful land of Harivir, finds her country threatened by the ambition of the Mad King of Emmer to the north, she resolves to take any steps necessary to protect her people. But she never expected to find herself a pawn in a power struggle between enemies she hadn’t even known existed. Abducted and powerless, she must find a way to forge new alliances or see her homeland fall.

Innisth, infamous Wolf Duke of Pohorir, has long wished to break from his king and establish an independent kingdom of his own. When Kehera unexpected falls into his hands, he immediately sees how he might use her to achieve his ambition at last. But he never expected to care for her. Even as triumph seems within his grasp, he finds himself torn between grim ambition and the hope of winning something more.

As midwinter rushes down upon the world, Kehera and Innisth must find a way to work together, or they may both lose everything to a common enemy that is more dangerous than either of them had ever suspected.

Winter of Ice and Iron will be published by Saga Press on November 21, 2017. It is 560 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover, $17.99 in trade paperback, and $7.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Mark Simonetti.

See all of our latest coverage of the best in upcoming fantasy here.

The Best of the Dark: Fall Releases from Penguin Classics

Friday, November 3, 2017 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

October is over, but that doesn’t mean that all the good creepy reading is behind us. Penguin Classics released two fine collections on October 10th that should keep you busy at least through early December.

The first is The Best of Richard Matheson, a long-overdue collection from one of the greatest horror writers of the 20th Century. It’s a 432-page treasure trove from the man whom Stephen King said called “the author who influenced me most as a writer.” The author of I Am Legend and sixteen Twilight Zone episodes modernized horror by taking it out of Gothic castles and setting it in darkened streets and suburbs much closer to home. This volume gathers his greatest stories as chosen by Victor LaValle. It’s $17 in paperback ($11.99 digital).

Dark Tales collects classic and newly reprinted stories from the author of “The Lottery,” including the “The Possibility of Evil,” “The Summer People,” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” first published in 2014. Collecting 17 pieces published between 1950 and 2015, Dark Tales features stories in which a daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, and a concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. It’s 208 pages, priced at $16 in trade paperback ($11.99 digital).

Goth Chick News: In Hollywood, Dead Is Sometimes Better…

Thursday, November 2, 2017 Sue Granquist Comments 0 Comment

As we have observed for many years now, what’s old is new again: for movies, TV and most assuredly for Mr. Stephen King.

King is enjoying a massive renaissance that started with his first post-addiction novel Doctor Sleep in 2013 then juggernauted straight into his detective novels (The Bill Hodges Trilogy) and seems to have culminated in King now taking over both the big and small screens.

The elder statesman of horror is back with a serious vengeance.

In the wake of IT floating into theaters this summer, interest began swirling around reimaging almost all of King’s novels for the screen, but specifically around refreshing his 1983 novel Pet Sematary, previously adapted by Mary Lambert in 1989. We learned this week from Deadline that Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch, the writing/directing duo behind 2014’s fantasy-horror flick Starry Eyes, have been tapped to bring Pet Sematary back to life in theaters.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 237 Now Available

Thursday, November 2, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The latest issue of Scott Andrew’s Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been up for less that a week, but Charles Payseur at Quick Sip Reviews already has a detailed review. Charles is routinely a pretty positive guy, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have good insights. His thoughtful comments introducing this issue make a fine example.

Whenever I get a new issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, my first inclination is to find out how the stories fit together. More than any other publication, BCS does an excellent job of pairing its stories. Perhaps because it does just two an issue, but there’s almost always something to link the tales, and this issue is no different. While the stories are thematically rather distant, and aesthetically fairly different as well (though each with perhaps a bit of a Western feel), they are linked by some key ideas. Metal, first and most. The first story deals with Iron, the second with Silver. And in each, these metals are used for magic, for a perceived justice, only to have that justice come into question, and the righteousness of the main characters comes into conflict with the harm that they do. These are stories of elections and revenge, voice and hunger. The pieces go together well, drawing a picture of desperate people and the complex idea of freedom.

Issue #237 contains new fiction from Marissa Lingen and Bennett North, an Audio Fiction Podcast by Natalia Theodoridou, and a reprint from Black Gate alum Rosamund Hodge.

Here’s Charles on “Forgive Us Our Trespasses” by Bennett North, which sounds right up my alley.

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New Treasures: Deadlands: Boneyard by Seanan McGuire

Thursday, November 2, 2017 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

I must admit that my first thought on laying eyes on Deadlands: Boneyard was, “What the heck is Seanan McGuire doing writing a gaming tie-in?”

After all (as the cover of Boneyard proudly boasts) McGuire is a New York Times bestselling author all on her own, for her zombie Newflesh series (published under the name Mira Grant). It’s not often you see bestselling writers dabbling with game books. But who knows? Maybe she’s always wanted to write a Weird Western. Maybe she loves the Deadlands setting. Or maybe she promised Jay Lake she’d do it. (The dedicated to Boneyard reads, “For Jay Lake. Didn’t I always promise you a midway?”, whatever that means.)

But whatever the reason, I’m glad to have it. It went right to the top of my Halloween reading pile this year.

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Happy Halloween! Here’s Some Nightmare Fuel

Wednesday, November 1, 2017 Sean McLachlan Comments 0 Comment

Traditional_Irish_halloween_Jack-o'-lantern

Happy Halloween! Well, it was yesterday or today or tomorrow depending on where you’re from. Anyway, it’s time to see something freaky. This is a traditional Irish Jack-o’-Lantern made from a turnip. Turnips and beets were the popular plants to make Jack-o’-Lanterns out of before pumpkins became available in European supermarkets.

This nineteenth century example is from the Museum of Country Life in Turlough Village, County Mayo, Ireland. The Irish say they got the tradition of Jack-o’-Lanterns because of the deeds of a certain blacksmith named Jack. He managed to trap the Devil through some means (stories vary from fooling him into turning into a coin or climbing a tree and then trapping him with a cross) and in return for freeing him, got the Devil to promise not to put him in Hell.

Once Jack died, Heaven refused to take him and Hell couldn’t take him either, so now he walks the Earth in a Purgatory of his own making. The Devil gave him a bit of a fire in a turnip to help him light his way at night. He’s been called Jack of the Lantern, or Jack-o’-Lantern, ever since.

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The First Three Laws of Robotics

Wednesday, November 1, 2017 Steve Carper Comments 3 comments

Sidney, the Screwloose Robot, illustration by
Julian S. Krupa (Fantastic Adventures, June 1941)

Who first came up with three laws of robotics? Want three guesses? Try. Isaac Asimov? No. John W. Campbell? No. William P. McGivern? Yes. William P. McGivern? That seems impossible, but there it is in black and white. “You must be industrious, you must be efficient, you must be useful. Those are the three laws that are to govern your behavior.”

McGivern was only 21 when in 1940 he became one of Ray Palmer’s house writers for Amazing and Fantastic Adventures. In-house writers, really, for he shared an office with David Wright O’Brien at the Ziff-Davis Chicago headquarters. Thirty-five of his stories appeared under various names in those two magazines in 1941, along with a picture that makes him look about twelve.

Buried deep in the June 1941 issue of Fantastic Adventures lay “Sidney, the Screwloose Robot,” part of the plague of farcical stories Palmer demanded and often titled. (Others from McGivern in 1941: “The Quandary of Quintus Quaggle,” “Al Addin and the Infra-Red Lamp,” and “Rewbarb’s Remarkable Radio”)

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