Black Gate 01 - John O'Neill

Black Gate looks a lot more like an independent role playing game book than a magazine, being a large square bound paperback much as you would find in a games shop, and the dragon on the cover of issue 01 would not be out of place on one of those racks, either.

The opening editorial for this magazine professes a need for genre fiction to have a magazine culture as a vibrant heart, and also to be accessible to all ages, the aim of Black Gate. As such, the lengthy review section by Paul McAuley seems a little odd, unless for all ages means some bits for each and not all suitable for the lower end. I doubt younger readers are going to be grabbing Moorcock's King of the City (or M. John Harrison). A review may have been part of the deal to get the Moorcock excerpt in, who knows.

Further, the non-fiction content is extensive, and the rest of it is nothing like the aforementioned. A lengthy account by the author of the book series that was turned into the show News From the Edge, about a crazy tabloid newspaper that covers real weird stuff that actually happens - and I did see a few of these. A homage to old fashioned roleplaying, a gaming review column, which includes some books - including the Gotrex and Felix series, which had intrigued me, wondering if it fit into a Super Reader category or not. Even a comics section, both old and new, from historical to Hellboy.

There are kid's book reviews, and some other reviews of a more mundane sort - even SF, with Will Shetterly's Chimera novel.

There are even a couple of comic strips, both looking to be humorous spoofs, the Knights of the Dinner table making fun of gamers and game fiction, and an 'accountant to the gods.'

The editorial also stated they would cover a wide range of fantasy fiction, from comedy--and largely one of the reasons I am interested--to sword and sorcery. The first issue has Asian fantasy, urban fantasy, odd sf, sword and sorcery, and whatever you personally happen to call Moorcock's stories of the Eternal Champion depending on the incarnation - and the Dreamthief's daughter is an Elric/Von Bek crossover, so call it sword and sorcery or supernatural fantasy or some funky hybrid, whatever you like.

With this author lineup you'd expect the stories to be pretty decent, and indeed they are. Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories, are, of course, some of the best of the more modern sword and sorcery. The Parks story it appears was also selected for a Hartwell/Cramer Year's Best Fantasy, so it would seem that the intention was to put together an impressive and probably better than your run of the mill issue lineup as a selling point. All the stories are above average, anyway.

The magazine is rather lengthy, way over 200 pages, so while rather pricey, is basically a trade paperback, and longish. This oversize long format lets them do some interesting advertising - with book graphics and information on the side of the stories, in a manner a little like google might, just a lot more relevant. I think this works well, calling attention to the author's work in a pleasing way that isn't an eye-glazing academic bibliography.

Overall, buying print magazines from countries whose post office is so pathetic they can't handle surface mail anymore (the poor useless losers) is not suchg a great idea, pricewise. The blackgate editor's blog at livejournal was asking for interest in an electronic version, too - see http://bg-editor.livejournal.com/ If interested. A special backissue bundle deal made it more appealing to get a whole bunch at once, after noticing Rich Horton's roundup and realising I had looked at a couple of articles there before and really, that those were rather good. That is, you can find both the full sword and sorcery articles by the editors and others, and the first parts of some Horton articles, too.

If, as I have seen some people complain, they don't like magazines full of non-stories or clever writer tricks, then Black Gate it would appear may appeal more to the mainstream fantasy fan, at least after looking at the first issue. The non-fiction also talked about computer games, so they are basically looking at all fantasy media, it would seem, and pretty much treating them all the same, as far as I can tell.

No poor stories, huge amounts of other interesting stuff, illustrations, useful advertising. The only quibbles would be the odd typo (no more than your average multimedia conglomerate novel that I see nowadays, though, and they have don't have the small press excuse, either), and not being backed by a Murdoch or Packer or someone you aren't going to have glossy print quality, either, so black and white photo reproduction from the tv story won't be that great, for example. Wouldn't be at all, in other fiction mags though, that I have seen.

So, really, exactly what you would want in a given magazine. Five stars.

Black Gate 01 : Golden Bell Seven and the Marquis of Zeng - Richard Parks
Black Gate 01 : Wingless Angels - Charles de Lint
Black Gate 01 : Exo-Skeleton Town - Jeffrey Ford
Black Gate 01 : The Dark Muse - Karl Edward Wagner
Black Gate 01 : The Dreamthief's Daughter Book One - Michael Moorcock

In the immortal words of that famous bard Hui Luee and his cohort the Nus, "She got what she wanted.. She's heart and soul...She got it all."

3.5 out of 5


Be nice if the Fallen annoyed someone else.

3.5 out of 5


Buggy movie gear.

3.5 out of 5


Kane has a poet friend who Lovecraft probably would have got on really well with. When an arcane statuette comes into Kane's possession thanks to a gambling loan, his mate sees a chance for inspiration.

Eldritch trip undertaken, Kane must endeavour to keep the people still in the real world alive, both against human steel and floating demons.

4 out of 5


Von Bek finds the nazis interested in a black sword named Ravenbrand. Denying them the pleasure leads to imprisonment and torture, until he gets a little assistance. Nazi blood and souls for Arioch.

3.5 out of 5





5 out of 5