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!
RSS supporting our friends at Black Gate- Vintage Treasures: Weird Shadows From Beyond, edited by John CarnellWeird Shadows From Beyond (Avon Books, August 1969). Cover by Josh Kirby John Carnell edited the highly-regarded British SF magazines New Worlds (from 1946-64), Science Fantasy (1951-64), and Science Fiction Adventures (1958-63). In the US he’s probably best known an an anthologist, editor of the long-running New Writings in SF (21 volumes from 1964-72), and […]
- Viking Gods: Big battles on a small scaleIn many ways the early 1980s were the heyday of classic microgames, also called minigames, with the popularity of such games as Car Wars and Revolt on Antares, but those were far from the only games available. For instance, TSR Inc. made its fair share of microgames, including Viking Gods. Published in 1982, Viking Gods allowed players to take part in the ba […]
- Against the Darkmaster Brings Me HomeMy nostalgic roleplaying game (rpg) is Middle-Earth Role Playing (MERP). That’s not a good one to bring to a table of what I term “casual” gamers. Casual gamers are the kinds who say, “Tell me what dice to roll?” MERP requires a level of energy and investment that leaks away while the GM performs all the calculations and looks up all the results on various t […]
- Goth Chick News: First Up on the Show Circuit – Days of the DeadAs signs of life begin to emerge following the zombie apocalypse that was 2020, our thoughts naturally turn to the fate of the many trade shows and live events we normally cover for Black Gate. Earlier this year I posted a list of tentative in-person conventions which hopeful organizers were busy planning. Now this week I am nearly giddy to report that the f […]
- Meeting a Great Australian Fabulist, Angela Slatter: The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, Tartarus Press and All the Murmuring Bones, Titan BooksThe Tallow-Wife and Other Stories (Tartarus Press, February 24, 2021) and All the Murmuring Bones(Titan Books, March 9, 2021). Covers by Kathleen Jennings, and unknown Any new book by Angela Slatter is a reason to rejoice for any lover of good dark fantasy. Slatter is a very talented Australian writer, a born storyteller or, to be precise, a great fabulist, […]
- New Treasures: The Best of Walter Jon WilliamsThe Best of Walter Jon Williams (Subterranean Press, February 28, 2021). Cover by Lee Moyer Walter Jon Williams began his writing career in the early 80s designing games for Fantasy Games Unlimited, most notably the Age of Fighting Sail role playing game Privateers and Gentlemen (1983). He had more success with science fiction in the following years, and his […]
- Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Bard’s TalesRomeo and Juliet, 1936 William Shakespeare was the greatest playwright in history (fight me!), but his record as a screenwriter is, shall we say, uneven. There’s a long list of films adapted from or inspired by the works of the Bard of Avon, but most of them are considerably less memorable than their sources. However, sometimes a filmmaker steps up and meets […]
- The Lost Art of Narrative Music VideosA few weeks ago, actually probably a couple of months ago, now that I think about it, an artist I have been following for a while dropped a music video. Ordinarily, I’d not really mention it here, though I do think the artist in question is extraordinary and the song is a bop, as the kids say. It wasn’t the song that kept me watching, however. Most times wit […]
- Twilight: 2000‘s Polish Campaign: Part IIIThis is Part III of a detailed review of The Polish Campaign, a 6-part adventure sequence published by GDW in 1985 for their Twilight 2000 role playing game. The campaign covers Escape from Kalisz, The Free City of Krakow, Pirates of the Vistula, The Ruins of Warsaw, The Black Madonna, and Going Home. Part I, which looks at The Free City of Krakow and touche […]
- Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: 2020 Stay at Home – Day 31So, 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 Archie, living in the Brownstone with Nero Wolfe, Fritz Brenner, and Theodore Horstmann. I have […]
- Vintage Treasures: Weird Shadows From Beyond, edited by John Carnell
