Twenty years ago this week, an odd assortment of young men gathered in — I kid you not — a pagan temple beneath a crystal and incense shop on Edinburgh’s Morningside Road. Though the walls were covered in murals of gods and goddesses, these fellows weren’t here to worship; this was just the kind of venue you end up with if you’re plugged into the local Bohemian scene. No, they were here to found the Dawn Duellists Society, devoted to…
J.F. Lewis is the author of the Void City novels, about a vampire who runs a strip club and suffers from short-term memory problems. With Grudgebearer, the first volume of the Grudgebearer trilogy, Lewis turns to more classic second-world fantasy with a setting full of action, adventure, and carnivorous elves… Kholster is the first born of the practically immortal Aern, a race created by the Eldrennai as warrior-slaves to defend them from the magic-resistant reptilian Zaur. Unable to break an…
Sometimes it’s worth being a historical novelist just for the joy of the research: The shieldwall halted just out of arrow range. A tall Viking—a chieftain, judging by his red cloak and the eyepieces on his helmet—took his place in the middle of the Raven Sisters. Whirling a spear in each hand, he stamped and stepped to the rhythm of the war chant. “That would be Ivar the Boneless, king of Dublin,” said Jarl Vithserk. “I see him,” said Hardacanut,…
The world of hardboiled pulp is certainly male-dominated, but there have been female authors who have given the masters of the sub-genre a run for their money. Leigh Brackett is certainly the best known female hardboiled writer, if only for her screenplay adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (1945) for director Howard Hawks’s acclaimed film featuring Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe. Brackett also adapted Chandler’s The Long Goodbye (1973) for director Robert Altman’s deconstruction of the genre with Elliott…
Since its inception in the 19th Century, science fiction has inspired technological innovation and progress, utilizing creativity to prod the minds of scientists and engineers into designing wonders beyond the factories and smokestacks of the Dickensian world. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, the godfathers of SF, imagined submarines, airships, rockets, spacecraft, and even atomic energy, and their “science fantasy” stories inspired generations of scientists, inventors and engineers, not to mention countless artists and writers. In the early 20th Century, the…
This year’s C2E2 event, held the weekend of April 26th, was reportedly the largest Chicago has seen so far. And judging from the amount of trench coats and spandex Black Gate photog Chris Z and I observed during our annual pilgrimage, I have no doubt this was true. Trench coats and spandex, you ask? Considering this is primarily a comic convention where about one attendee in every four was parading their cosplay best, the spandex is probably self-explanatory, but it…
The potential GM, a curly-haired Scot of about my age, shakes his head. “I don’t know… ten year olds? I’ve had bad experiences GMing kids who don’t get it.” “They’re genre-savvy,” I said. “DeeM here runs D&D 4th edition and they’re both experienced players. D&D. Fate…” Kurtzhau senses my drift and chips in, “And I play Tom Clance—“ “Inappropriate computer games,” I interrupt. “They’ll be fine, honest… and it’s OK to swear in front of them.” So the GM heroically…
So it’s April, which is a lovely time of year here in L.A., with moderate temperatures in the mid-60s and 70s most days as the city gets ready for June Gloom to set in and cast a shadowy marine layer over everything for a month. I was hoping to relax in the splendor of Ryan Harvey’s satisfied silence at the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as Kandi’s casting as innocent bystander #3 for the next Michael…
Leaving the dark brick stairwells of the Lucien L’Allier métro last Sunday morning at 10, we found the rain was holding off: something not to be expected. Forecasts called for meteorological chaos in Montréal over the following days. Up to 24 degrees celsius, down to 2, thunderstorms, snow. But that was in the future. For the moment, Grace and I were looking for books to hold us through those unsettled days and more. Not that we were lacking for books…
I love these Wordsworth Tales of Mystery And The Supernatural volumes. They’ve compact, attractive, and inexpensive — they look great on the shelf, and they make quick reads. Plus, they’re just so darned collectible. My latest acquisition is already one of my favorites. We’ve paid a lot of attention to Supernatural Sleuths at Black Gate over the years, from William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki The Ghost Finder to Manly Wade Wellman’s John Thunstone and Silver John stories, and Paula Guran’s terrific recent anthology Weird Detectives — and…