Black Gate – Page 572 – Adventures in Fantasy Literature

GeekDad Selects the Best Tabletop Games of 2016

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 John ONeill Comments 8 comments

2016 wasn’t all about novels, anthologies, and collections. No no no no. There were also some terrific board games released last year, many of which are worth celebrating.

How do we know? Because game blog GeekDad tells us so! Especially in their year-end wrap-up on the Best Tabletop Games of 2016. Dave Banks kicks it off with his thoughts on the new steampunk release Scythe, which he selects as his Best Game of 2016.

When you open the box, there’s a lot there. A big rulebook and lots and lots of bits and boards and… it’s a little overwhelming. But then you get a turn or two into Scythe and realize it’s elegantly simple. Yes, there are a lot of choices to make and many paths to victory, but Scythe delivers on all the hype that surrounded the game. And it has incredibly amazing artwork that shows a steampunk-edged alternative universe that is, literally, jaw droppingly gorgeous. But the gameplay is just as wonderful. And clever. And fun, which makes Scythe my game of the year.

Scythe was released by Stonemaier Games; it’s a Kickstarter-funded project that raised $1.3 million on a $33,000 goal.

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December Short Story Roundup

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 Fletcher Vredenburgh Comments 3 comments

I hope everybody had a pleasant holiday and is off to a good New Year. For my inaugaral post 0f 2017, I’ve got a bag full of short stories for you from Grimdark Magazine and 2016’s standout newcomer, Cirsova.

I’ve often dismissed grimdark as a marketing device. First, there’s always been cynical and gritty fantasy, and second, a lot of what’s billed as grimdark is not all that dark and grim. Leave it to Grimdark Magazine editor Adrian Collins to find one of the grimmest, most throughly miserable and unpleasant stories imaginable with which to open Issue #9.

“A Length of Cherrywood,” by Peter Orullian, is like a poisoned crossbow bolt to the brain. Jastail J’Vache is a slaver of women and has a serious mother issue. Following his loss at game played for unique stakes — bets are made with items connected to horrible personal deeds — J’Vache decides he must face the fount of darkness in his soul. Maybe I’m a wuss, but I can’t say I liked this one. The story does a stellar job of creating a vile protagonist and exploring his mutilated soul. The game played between J’Vache and several other equally twisted characters is blackly brilliant. Still, “Cherrywood” isn’t something I enjoyed reading. Let me warn you, it’s not for the meek. While there’s some violence, the real grimdarkness lies in the ways the characters treat each other. The story was previously published in Blackguards, edited by J.M Martin, in 2015.

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Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Horror Books of 2016

Monday, January 2, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Another reason I love the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog is that they don’t settle for one measly Best of the Year list. Oh no. They have three — Best Novels, Best Collections and Anthologies, and Best Horror. It’s almost as if they love lists as much as I do.

Their Best Horror of 2016, selected by their editors and captured by Sam Reader, includes books by Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Jason Arnopp, Joe Hill, Nick Mamatas, Christopher Buehlman, and many more. They don’t slouch on the evocative descriptions, either. Here’s their take on Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January).

By now, those who follow the horror articles here have heard of this book at least three times. If that’s not a recommendation enough, consider this a last appeal. A lyrical, dark, and haunting work, Mr. Splitfoot travels the darker sections of Appalachian New York, mixing fundamentalist cults, foreboding woods, ghost stories, and psychic phenomena fraudulent and otherwise to tell the story of two women bound by family and an event in the past. If that doesn’t sell it for you, then understand we’re not alone in our adulation: the book has drawn comparisons to Kelly Link and Aimee Bender, good company to be in if your aim is lyrical horror with strong elements of the weird.

And The Brotherhood of the Wheel, by R.S. Belcher (Tor Books, March).

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Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953: A Retro-Review

Monday, January 2, 2017 Matthew Wuertz Comments 1 comment

The August 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction has an intriguing cover titled “Dome Repairs on Mars” by Mel Hunter. But the cover is just the start of the fun…

“Mind Alone” by J. T. M’Intosh — Muriel Martin doesn’t know who she really is or that she came from the planet Murrane. She’d found out too much about the purpose of the war between Earth and Murrane, but instead of killing her, they wiped her memories and dropped her on Venus.

Though her past is erased, Muriel’s intelligence and curiosity remain. And given enough time, she’s formidable enough to discover those secrets again

This story was really good in a lot of ways. Except that I couldn’t quite buy the romantic tie-in. It seems to be a pattern in these older issues that if there’s a young woman and young man, they will inevitably have a romantic relationship, no matter how forced it might seem. There’s some degree of realism in that kind of premise, I suppose, but I’d also like to see characters who, for whatever reason, are fine with not dating anyone. And I think Muriel would have been a much stronger character if she was solely focused on her own agenda.

“We’re Civilized!” by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides — Humans arrive on Mars to claim it for their own. Captain Griswold, who tends to be of a conquering mindset, allows for the possibility of sentient life. If their scientist, Mr. Berkeley, can prove the existence of a civilization, Griswold is prepared to leave. After all, the last thing he wants is to become another villain in history. Well, maybe it’s not quite the last thing.

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: George Mann’s Holmes

Monday, January 2, 2017 Bob Byrne Comments 0 Comment

Last week I wrote about two Titan Books novels from James Lovegrove. I mentioned that there are two distinct lines of Holmes pastiches from Titan (actually, there are other books that don’t fall in either category, such as Kareem Abdul Jabaar’s Mycroft Holmes novel). The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes started as reprints and added new books into the mix and are generally more traditional stories.

The other features more elements of horror, steampunk and/or the supernatural and George Mann’s two novels are part of this line. He has also edited three anthologies for Titan, including a neat little book called The Associates of Sherlock Holmes.

Associates includes thirteen stories; all focusing on a character found in one of Doyle’s sixty original Holmes tales. It’s a neat idea and there are some interesting and creative stories in the mix. The aforementioned Lovegrove’s “Pure Swank” tells us the real story about Barker, Holmes’ ‘hated rival upon the Surrey shore,’ going back to when he was an Irregular.

Hugo Award winner Tim Pratt’s “Heavy Game of the Pacific Northwest” takes Colonel Sebastian Moran to the state of Washington in 1892 to hunt what seems to be Big Foot. It’s a good hunting story that paints quite a portrait of the amoral Moran.

Ian Edington’s “The Case of the Previous Tenant” brings the best of the official force, Surry’s Inspector Baynes, to London. A Viking sword and some borrowing from “The Devil’s Foot” make for a fun read.

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The Poison Apple: Interview with a Brooklyn Vampire

Sunday, January 1, 2017 Elizabeth Crowens Comments 2 comments

Steven Van Patten from That Metal Show

For our next “victim” of the new Black Gate column, The Poison Apple, I’d like to introduce Steven Van Patten. Steven is a member of the Horror Writer’s Association and when vampires are supposed to be sleeping, he works as a TV show stage manager. In the past he’s worked on shows such as MTV’s Total Request Live, The Dr. Oz Show, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. He straddles two extremes of a busy lifestyle but still manages to write about topics that are underexplored in the speculative fiction realm. He’s written the Brookwater’s Curse series, Rudy’s Night Out, a children’s vampire story, and Killer Genius: She Kills Because She Cares, which was nominated for the African-American Literary Show Award.

Crowens: What got you into vampires?

SVP: As a little kid and an only child, often I had to entertain myself. Back in the day, that included Chiller Theater and being inspired by movies with Christopher Lee. When Blacula was released, that stuck with me as a strong, dominant character but in a sea of stereotypical nonsense in a Blaxploitation flick. As I got older, I started getting annoyed as to what happened to the brothers in a horror movie — they were dead before the credits rolled and characters were underdeveloped.

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Interzone #267 Now on Sale

Sunday, January 1, 2017 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

The November–December issue of Britain’s longest running science fiction and fantasy magazine has reached bookstores here in Illinois, which means it’s probably available everywhere. This month has a terrific cover by 2016 cover artist Vincent Sammy (with an evocative title, “The Orion Crusades: Infection” — click the image at right for a bigger version) and new fiction by Harmony Neal, Ryan Row, Sarah Brooks, Rich Larson, Samantha Henderson, and David Cleden. There’s also a feature by Martin McGrath on the James White Award; David Langford’s Ansible Link, film reviews by Nick Lowe; DVD/Blu-ray reviews by Tony Lee; book reviews, an interview with Chris Becket, and columns by Jonathan McCalmont and Nina Allan.

Kevin P Hallett, writing at Tangent Online, particularly liked “My Generations Shall Praise” by Samantha Henderson.

A death-row inmate gets an offer from a rich, but dying, cousin. The cousin wants to have her own mind, her memories and behaviors, mapped onto the inmate’s mind – effectively replacing the death-row inmate’s mind. In return, the rich cousin will set up a trust for the inmate’s daughter and future grandchild.

At first, the inmate sees no reason to ‘die’ any sooner. But after a few days to think it over, she decides that maybe she can hold onto a part of her mind. So she agrees and signs the contract.

With just days to live, the inmate has second thoughts. She puts herself in her cousin’s place and realizes she will use her daughter and future generations to live forever. She can keep breeding new vessels to transfer her mind into. As a death-row inmate she cannot escape the mind swap. Can she find another way to stop her cousin using her future generations?

And “You Make Pattaya” by Rich Larson.

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Kirkus Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Sunday, January 1, 2017 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

We continue our tour through the more reputable Best of the Year lists. Today’s stop: Kirkus Reviews, with their slideshow celebrating the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016.

This is a much more selective list than most (a scant 10 titles), but it’s still a nice mix of repeats from other lists, and fresh names. It includes books by Charlie Jane Anders, Cixin Liu, Malka Older, Michael Swanwick, Brian Staveley, Yoss, and N.K. Jemisin. It calls out excellent titles such as Peter Hamilton’s latest Commonwealth novel A Night Without Stars (Del Rey, September).

Hamilton’s latest (a relatively slender 704 pages) brings to a furious boil the two-book saga (The Abyss Beyond Dreams, 2014) describing human colony planet Bienvenido’s unremitting battle against the hostile alien Fallers. Read full book review

And Patricia A. McKillip’s Kingfisher (Ace, February)

A delicately wrought, twinkle-eyed fantasy from the accomplished author of The Bards of Bone Plain (2010, etc). Read full book review

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Modular: Why Salt and Sanctuary is Making Me Salty

Sunday, January 1, 2017 Josh Bycer Comments 0 Comment

Salt and Sanctuary is the latest PS4/Windows game from developer Ska Studios, who have made a name for themselves with their unique aesthetics. Staying true to their 2D roots, the game feels like a 2D Souls-like.

However, while the game may or may not have been intended to be compared to the Souls series (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, etc), the game misses the mark on what makes those games so amazing.

A Sea Journey

The game begins with you escorting a princess to an important meeting to bring about peace. Of course the ship gets attacked, and you find yourself washed up on the shore of a mysterious island with everything trying to kill you.

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Future Treasures: Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn

Saturday, December 31, 2016 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

At the World Science Fiction convention in Kansas City back in August, I had a delightful dinner with Carrie Vaughn and attended her reading. She read from her upcoming novel Martians Abroad, the tale of a young girl visiting Earth for the first time who becomes caught up in interplanetary intrigue.

I make it a point to attend as many readings as I can at conventions, and Worldcon was no exception. I lost count of how many fine readings I sat through, and most of them I’ve forgotten already. But Carrie’s book has stayed with me. It was without question the best reading of the convention, and Martians Abroad is the novel I’m most looking forward to in 2017.

Polly Newton has one single-minded dream, to be a starship pilot and travel the galaxy. Her mother, the Director of the Mars Colony, derails Polly’s plans when she sends Polly and her genius twin brother, Charles, to Galileo Academy on Earth.

Homesick and cut off from her plans for her future, Polly cannot seem to fit into life on Earth. Strange, unexplained, dangerous coincidences centered on their high-profile classmates begin piling up. Charles may be right ― there’s more going on than would appear, and the stakes are high. With the help of Charles, Polly is determined to find the truth, no matter the cost.

Carrie Vaughn is best known for her bestselling Kitty Norville series, but she’s also the author of the superhero novels After the Golden Age and Dreams of the Golden Age, fantasy novel Discord’s Apple, and the collection Amaryllis and Other Stories. Her post-apocalyptic murder mystery Bannerless is coming in July from John Joseph Adams Books. This is her science fiction debut.

Martians Abroad will be published by Tor Books on January 17, 2017. It is 288 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 in digital formats. Read the first chapter at Tor.com.