There’s plenty of great news for fantasy fans in May — including the successful launch of new top-tier magazine, Skelos, helmed by Jeffrey Shanks, Mark Finn, and Chris Gruber. We also wondered if Weird Tales was dead (it probably is), and started our coverage of Shock Totem — just in time for the magazine to go on hiatus. In the meantime, Rich Horton took a look at the January 1955 issue of Science Fiction Stories, containing short stories by Algis…
Fletcher Vredenburgh kicks off our coverage of two very promising new publications this month in his regular magazine column: Cirsova, a magazine of sword and sorcery and science fiction, and Pulp Literature, which attempts to re-capture the high adventure spirit of the great pulp mags — and largely succeeds. Here’s Fletcher. Two incredibly impressive magazines crossed my desk this past month: the very first issue of the brand new Cirsova, edited by P. Alexander, and Pulp Literature #10, edited by the…
The number one post at the Black Gate blog last month was Sean McLachlan’s report on the historically fascinating castles of Gondar, Ethiopia. Sean’s adventures in Ethiopia certainly captured the attention of our readers — he also had the #3 post, with his photo-essay on the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Coming in at #2 was the fifth chapter in William I. Lengeman III’s ongoing Star Trek re-watch, on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. I’ve been re-watching the early…
This month we started our coverage of Mike Resnick’s bi-monthly magazine Galaxy’s Edge with the March/April 2016 issue, packed with intriguing stories by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley, Larry Hodges, and many others… including Kary English and Robert B. Finegold’s tale of an assassin dispatched to kill the latest incarnation of the Goddess of Kindness. Michelle Ristuccia reviews the story at Tangent Online. In “Shattered Vessels” by Kary English and Robert B. Finegold, M. D., Shevirah’s purpose as an assassin falters when…
This is one section of a serialized novel presented by Black Gate magazine. It is offered at no cost and appears with the permission of Mark Rigney, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2016 by Mark Rigney. This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or current events is purely coincidental. This is Chapter Fifteen. To read Chapter Fourteen, click…
Not long ago I wrote about one of the last issues of Analog with John W. Campbell’s name on the masthead, along with a fairly early Ben Bova issue (November 1971 and October 1972). Here’s another issue from that period, officially Bova’s second. But Bova started work in November (I am told), so in all likelihood none of these stories were chosen by him. They must be among the last Campbell selections. (By the way, I earlier speculated that Kay…
This is one section of a serialized novel presented by Black Gate magazine. It is offered at no cost and appears with the permission of Mark Rigney, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2016 by Mark Rigney. This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or current events is purely coincidental. This is Chapter Fourteen. To read Chapter Thirteen, click…
I’m cheating a bit with these books, since technically they’re not all part of the same series. Also, the newest volume, The Edge of Worlds, won’t officially be released until April 5th — but Amazon and B&N.com both have copies in stock today, so let’s go with it. Martha Wells’ tales of Gilead and Ilias were some of the most popular stories we ever published in Black Gate, and her Books of the Raksura trilogy captivated readers around the world….
Being an avid Black Gate reader, you know that we devoted a lot of attention to the various works of Conan’s creator last year with our ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series. I was very much a latecomer to Conan, as well as Howard in general. I’ve made up a lot of ground on Solomon Kane, El Borak and others, but I’ve still got a slew of Tor paperbacks featuring the Cimmerian that I haven’t read yet, among other stuff. However,…
This is one section of a serialized novel presented by Black Gate magazine. It is offered at no cost and appears with the permission of Mark Rigney, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2016 by Mark Rigney. This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or current events is purely coincidental. This is Chapter Thirteen. To read Chapter Twelve, click…