Sorry the blog’s been quiet! Not because nothing’s been going on… just that it’s been going on in other forums. One day I’ll get around to updating the bibliography and other pages, but in the meantime they’re like a peek back. Hard to believe the first posts are nearly 10 years old, moved here when I switched to WordPress all the way back in 2008!
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- Future Treasures: Stormbreak, Book 3 of the Seafire Trilogy by Natalie C. Parker (Author)The Seafire trilogy (Razorbill, 2018-21). Covers by Billelis and Cliff Nielsen You know the rule about trilogies at Black Gate. Every time one wraps up, we bake a cake. Stormbreak, the third novel in Natalie C. Parker’s Seafire series, arrives early next month from Razorbill, and the interns are already warming up the oven. What’s […]
- Goth Chick News Reviews: The Room VR: A Dark Matter by Fireproof GamesA couple years back I did something I have always wanted to do: commission an ultimate gaming computer. As I work in the industry, I only had to ask a couple of my team members if they were interested in building a “sky’s the limit” device. A month and several written checks later, I had […]
- Riding the Horror Rollercoaster: Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies by John LanganCover by Matthew Jaffe Children of the Fang and Other GenealogiesBy John LanganWord Horde (390 pages, $19.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 in digital formats, August 18, 2020)Cover by Matthew Jaffe Word Horde, Ross E. Lockhart’s small press, has produced some of the most interesting horror books of the past few years. This is the fourth […]
- A Mutant Godling on a Ruined Earth: The Eyes Trilogy by Stuart GordonThe Eyes Trilogy by Stuart Gordon (DAW, 1973-75). Covers by Tim Kirk, Peter Manesis, and Michael Whelan DAW Books is one of the most prestigious and successful science fiction imprints in the industry, regularly publishing top-selling authors and titles. Fifty years ago…. well, it wasn’t any of those things. Donald A. Wollheim built his scrappy […]
- Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Wholesome Buccaneers (Pt. 1)After the grim years of World War II, a large part of the moviegoing public was looking for lighter fare in their entertainment, and Hollywood returned to making swashbucklers, many of them in the happy hues of Technicolor. Pirates were back on the menu, but as America headed into the conformist Fifties, the pirates on […]
- The Secret World of Greg KetterHit or Myth by Robert Asprin (Starblaze, 1983). Cover by Phil Foglio Greg Ketter, owner of Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis, is one of the best booksellers in the business, and he’s sold me many fine volumes over the years. Greg doesn’t talk about it much, but he’s also friends with many of the most famous […]
- New Treasures: The Eleventh Gate by Nancy KressNow here’s an attractive combo: a brand new space opera novel by multiple award-winner Nancy Kress, wrapped up in a gorgeous vision of deep space adventure by Bob Eggleton. You know this book would look damn handsome on your shelf. I’m not sure how this one managed to slip past me when it was first […]
- Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: 2020 Stay at Home – Days 14 and 15So, last year, as the Pandemic settled in like an unwanted relative who just came for a week and is still tying up the bathroom, I did a series of posts for the FB Page of the Nero Wolfe fan club, The Wolfe Pack. I speculated on what Stay at Home would be like for […]
- Alien Warfare, Gunwrights, and Cyborg Hobos: January/February Print SF MagazinesI haven’t had time to jump into my plaguemobile and navigate all the pandemic roadblocks and decontamination checkpoints to get to Barnes & Noble to pick up the latest print magazines. But according to what I’ve read online, I don’t have any choice… looks like these are can’t-miss issues. Here’s what Michelle Ristuccia at Tangent […]
- Bran Mak Morn: Social Justice WarriorWorms of the Earth by Robert E. Howard (Ace Books, 1979). Cover by Sanjulian “Worms of the Earth” was published in Weird Tales in November of 1932, and was thus described in the table of contents as “a grim shuddery tale of the days when Roman legions ruled in Britain–a powerful story of a gruesome […]
- Future Treasures: Stormbreak, Book 3 of the Seafire Trilogy by Natalie C. Parker (Author)