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Operatic Evil: The 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
We are now well into autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (according to John Keats) and what’s more, we are well into October, the month of shrieks and gore, according to Prime and...
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Recognizing Genius: Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H.P....
Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and and Clark Ashton Smith, 1922-1931, Volumes 1 and 2 (Hippocampus Press, July 14, 2020). Cover art by David C. Verba I’ve been reading...
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Writing Advice: Dynamic Dialogue (Red Sneaker Writers)
I started reading William Bernhardt’s Ben Kincaid books back in the mid-nineties. I seem to recall I went on a ‘lawyer’ kick and read him, Steve Martini, and Robert K. Tannenbaum. But years later,...
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Chess in Sword & Planet Fiction: The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Chessmen of Mars (Ace Books, December 1962). Cover by Roy Krenkel, Jr. Chess in Sword & Planet fiction: I learned the basic rules of chess in grade school and liked that it was a game that...
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A Surreal World: St Trinian’s: The Entire Appalling Business by Ronald Searle
St. Trinian’s: The Entire Appalling Business (Overlook/Rookery, March 13, 2008). Cover by Ronald Searle St Trinian’s was first created in a series of magazine cartoons in the 1940s and 1950s. Ronald...
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Goth Chick News: The Route to My Little Black Heart
I had to go check to discover the last time I mentioned Mr. Goth Chick here in my weekly posts was back in 2012. It isn’t that I avoid mentioning him. Instead, it has everything to do with the adage...
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A to Z Reviews: “The Curious Child & the Covetous Dragon,” by Sara L. Uckelman
Over the past several years, I’ve embarked on a series of year-long review cycles at Black Gate. In 2018, I reviewed a story-a-day to coincide with an author whose birthday it was. In 2022, I selected...
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Booyah! Quatro-Decadal Review, an Introduction to the World as it was in...
Some of the print SF magazines of November 1999: The 50th Anniversary issue ofThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, and the October-November doubleissue of Asimov’s Science Fiction....
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Everyone Knows This is Nowhere: The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and...
The Book of Elsewhere (Del Rey, July 23, 2024). Jacket design by Drusilla Adeline Can someone who has been alive for 80,000 years find wonder and meaning in every day life? Would such an immortal...
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Nine Things I Think I Think
Clearly, the Black Gate-verse wants to know some more Things I Think I Think, since it’s been three weeks since that last time I shared that. I mean, The Bob View is certainly nerd-centric and...
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I Rewatched Kindred: The Embraced So You Don’t Have To
This show is so old, there are hardly any images of a suitable size to share. Ah… the memories! Good afterevenmorn! On the 15th of this month, or thereabouts, a book of mine celebrated a publishing...
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I Read a Year of Robert E. Howard Pastiche So You Don’t Have To (But you...
Three installments in The Heroic Legends Series from Titan Books: Conan: The Shadow of Vengeance by Scott Oden (January 30, 2024), Solomon Kane: The Hound of God by Jonathan Maberry (November 28,...
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Goth Chick News: 13 Questions for Filmmaker Jake Jarvi
If you check in here often, you know the only thing we love more than a blended adult beverage is an independent film. This one, entitled Haunt Season, came to me by way of the local paper and...
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A to Z Reviews: “Zip,” by Steven Utley
“Zip” was one of the last short stories Steven Utley published during his lifetime, appearing in the July 2012 issue of Asimov’s. It is a story of three time travelers who find themselves in the...
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Alien Overlords, Part I
Battle in Space: The Armada Attacks (Allied Vaughn, 2021), Creature (Trans World Entertainment, 1985), and Femalien: Cosmic Crush (Full Moon Pictures, 2020) A new, 20-film marathon. The rules: Must...
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EC Comics is back
Cruel Universe #1 and Epitaphs from the Abyss #1. Covers by Greg Smallwood and Andrea Sorrentino EC Comics is back. In cooperation with Oni Press, the classic imprint that brought us Tales from the...
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What I’ve Been Watching: November 2024
Wow. It’s been a year since I did a What I’ve Been Watching. I did do those two Ten Things I Think I Think, covering Marvel movies, but that’s it. So, let’s talk about a few things I liked. WHAT WE DO...
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Chess in Sword & Planet Fiction, Part II: Dray Prescot and Gor
Dray Prescot 20: A Sword for Kregen (DAW, August 1979) and Players of Gor (DAW Books, March 1984). Covers by Richard Hescox and Ken Kelly My second exposure to Sword & Planet chess came in one of...
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G.W. Thomas on Science Fiction of the 30s by Damon Knight
Conan the Barbarian: Archie Style! From Everything Archie #111 (May 1984). Art by Stan Goldberg and Larry Lapick. G.W. Thomas has gradually become my favorite genre blogger. Not just because of his...
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Goth Chick News: My Weekend at “The Overlook” Hotel
I have always loved The Shining. Granted, I saw the movie first and fell in love. It was the idea of a hotel that comes to life in the desolate isolation of winter, preying on a fragile family unit –...
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