Tag Archives: Black Gate

Illustrated Stark Featured on Black Gate

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John O’Neill of Black Gate did a great little write-up on the new Illustrated Stark project, which can be found here.

Be sure to check out our Aerbook store or the links below to pre-order!

Queen of the Martian Catacombs (Available 4/30/2019)

This 6″ x 9″ volume contains Queen of the Martian Catacombs, fully illustrated, with an introduction by Nathan Housley.

Cover Only JPG

The Enchantress of Venus (Available 5/31/2019)

This 6″ x 9″ volume contains The Enchantress of Venus, fully illustrated, with an introduction by Jeffro Johnson.

Enchantress Cover for ebook

Black Amazon of Mars (Available 6/28/2019)

This 6″ x 9″ volume contains Black Amazon of Mars, fully illustrated, with an introduction by Liana Kerzner.

Black Amazon of Mars Front Only

The Illustrated Stark: 70th Anniversary Edition Softcover Omnibus (Available 7/31/2019)

This collects all three fully illustrated stories in a single 6″ x 9″ volume. Note that it does NOT include the bonus content from the Hardcover Omnibus.

Black Gate Magazine Spotlights Cirsova in Their Summer Short Story Roundup

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Last we saw them, with Issue #1back in April, I wrote “If this is what the first issue looks like, I expect future ones will blow me away.” Having just plowed through the 108 pages of #2, count me blown away.

One of the ongoing conversations about writing these days is the place of narrative storytelling. Personally, I’m for more of it, and it’s clearly something editor P. Alexander favors as well. If you prefer stories like tone poems, or with deep introspection, this is probably not the publication for you. Action, adventure, and vivid scene-setting are the hallmarks of every story.

Read the whole thing here: https://www.blackgate.com/2016/08/16/summer-short-story-roundup-part-one/

Or better yet, back us on Kickstarter for issues 3 & 4!

Free Digital Review Copies of Cirsova #1

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Are You a Book Blogger*? Would You Like Free Review Copies of Cirsova Magazine?

I know for a fact that a lot of really cool book bloggers follow us on WordPress. There are probably a lot of other regular readers off-platform.

If you would like to receive free digital copies of Cirsova, leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog!  We’ll send a PDF to the email address associated with the account you commented with.

Let us know when you have a review up and we will link to you.

Out of 0ver 100 posts in April, Black Gate’s review of Cirsova #1 was their 13th most popular.  We’re worth talking about!  Just sayin’.

*:Gaming and other kinds of bloggers welcome, too!

Review of Cirsova #1 from Black Gate

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Fletcher Vredenburgh at Black Gate has a positively glowing review of the inaugural issue of Cirsova Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine.

Cirsova has built a stage for writers to tell stories with narrative force, audacious adventure, and outlandishly magnificent settings. If this is what the first issue looks like, I expect future ones will blow me away.

Check it out here!

And just a reminder – since I’ll be cutting the last round of checks to fill out the rest of this year’s issues over the next two weeks, now would be a great time to buy a copy of issue #1!

cirsova-cover-small1

What IS science fiction?

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Recently, Black Gate wrote a retro review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and it was a fair review of a beloved 30+ year old sci-fi flick, obligatory remarks about Shatner and Montalban’s hammy acting and all. One part stuck out for me though:

“But while it features all of Star Trek‘s usual array of SF trappings you could make the argument that at the heart of things Wrath is not really a science fiction story at all — which might be beside the point. It could probably have worked just as well with Khan the pirate being marooned on a remote island in the Caribbean or Khan the ex-con getting out of prison and seeking vengeance on the person who put him there. It’s all about the revenge, after all.”

It’s pointing out the obvious, what we all (or most people who’ve watched Trek) have known. How many Trek stories can this be said of? How many are naval engagements, colonial encounters, or even fairytale flights of fancy with some machine or superalien in the role of Mab & Oberon? So why point it out?

I wonder what constitutes a sci-fi story. About how many seminal works of science fiction could one say that it “is not really a science fiction story at all”?

While Lengeman may be making an innocuous point here, the “not sci-fi” or “not serious sci-fi” trope has long been an issue in fandom, whether it’s the ghettoization of retail shelves following the Fantasy market being broken off or alleged marginalization of women writers for not writing hard enough sci-fi. It’s not new. But really, why point out that Star Trek whatever is “not really a science fiction story” unless you are going to present a clear definition of what a sci-fi story is?

Sci-fi is more a combination of setting and aesthetic than story. In fact, I would go so far as to posit that there is no such thing as a “sci-fi story”.

Short Review up later today.