By Myke Cole from Black Gate 13, copyright © 2009 by New Epoch Press. All rights Reserved. The men were bedding down. Soon, only the sentries stood, vague gray outlines in the dying firelight, rolling the bamboo shafts of their guns nervously between their palms. Their skin looked corpselike, leached of all color save the dull crimson of the cooking fire embers. Ch’oe invoked the Willow Goddess of Mercy. She was neither ancestor nor Buddhist sage, but she was kind…
Michael Moorcock turned sixty-nine yesterday, and it’s hard to believe that this prolific, vocal, daring, and sometimes vociferous (see Wizardry & Wild Romance for an idea of what I’m talking about) Grand Master of SF is a senior citizen. Best known, of course, for the brooding albino prince Elric and his soul-hungry sword Stormbringer, Moorcock’s restless energy hasn’t confined itself to one hero, genre, or way of telling a story. So whether it’s the other aspects of the Eternal Champion…
“Take Courage– now there’s a sport / An invitation to a state of rigor mort.” -sang Mordred in Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot. The virtue of courage is the one commonality all the great heroes share. They persevere, even to a bad end, as Sam Gamgee said to Frodo as strength and hope flagged. Whether it’s Conan throwing himself into a ring of enemies, determined to break free or die: With his back to the wall he faced the closing ring…
. . . writers who’ve had no personal experience with horses tend to think of them as a kind of sports car. It’s been thirty years since Poul Anderson wrote his essay on the need for realism in heroic fantasy, ‘On Thud and Blunder,’ which you can read in its entirety at the SFWA site, and I think it holds up well even though the genre — and the perception of it — has changed greatly. ‘On Thud and Blunder’…
A Review of Green Ronin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying Game By David Munger In October, Green Ronin Publishing plans to release a new pen-and-paper fantasy roleplaying product, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. Based on George R.R. Martin’s popular epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, it brings the densely populated world of Westeros to life, complete with the knightly combat and courtly intrigue that fans of the books have come to know and…
By James Enge Illustrated by Chuck Lukacs from Black Gate 12, copyright © 2008 by New Epoch Press. All rights Reserved. We continued across the marketplace until we came to a place that proclaimed itself, in a large banner, as CHARIS’ DISCOUNT EMPORIUM OF DELUXE WONDERS. A smaller and wordier sign said, No job too large or too small! Satisfaction guaranteed! Charis and his team of expert thaumaturges will not rest until — The rest was water-damaged and I couldn’t…
1. I finished proofing Black Gate 12 and will be dropping the pages with corrections in the mail around noon. You’d probably expect me to say this, but it’s my favorite issue yet. All but one of the entries is a fantasy adventure piece, which is about the perfect ratio. Those of you who want to see Black Gate as the home for exciting sword-and-sorcery and heroic fiction should rejoice. If you don’t want to see that, don’t hold it…
By Judith Berman Illustrated by Denis Rodier This is a Special Presentation of a complete work of fiction which originally appeared in Black Gate 10. It appears with the permission of Judith Berman and New Epoch Press, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part. All rights reserved. Copyright 2007 by New Epoch Press. The nightmare began when, thinking someone had called out, she opened her eyes and saw the leathery face of a corpse as close to…
By Iain Rowan Illustrated by Bernie Mireault from Black Gate 10, copyright © 2007 by New Epoch Press. All rights Reserved. Imagine this. You tremble in fear of your life. The greatest empire the world has ever seen wants you dead. Its enemies also want you dead. You are scurrying around your humble home trying to decide what of your life you can fit into a bag. Your favorite silken under-robe? You must take the small pot your son made,…
By James Enge Illustrated by Chuck Lukacs from Black Gate 10, copyright © 2007 by New Epoch Press. All rights Reserved. That night Morlock Ambrosius dreamed of silence as a pool lapping at his feet, in which he watched the world slowly dissolving in a golden glare. He woke up with the sun in his face and an uneasy feeling in his mind. He decided, as he sponged himself off at the basin of his rented room, that his dream…