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Black Gate (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
founded in 2000 and published by New Epoch Press. Using the slogan "Adventures in Fantasy Literature," Black Gate primarily features original short fiction up to novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
length.
In addition to fiction, Black Gate also features reviews of fantasy novels, graphic novels, and role playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
products. This is supplemented by columns and articles reflecting on fantasy literature's past as well as the occasional interview. Every issue contains the comic Knights of the Dinner Table: Java Joint by Kenzer & Company
Kenzer & Company
Kenzer & Company is a Waukegan based publisher of comic books, role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniature games....
of Knights of the Dinner Table
Knights of the Dinner Table
Knights of the Dinner Table is a comic book/strip created by Jolly R. Blackburn and published by Kenzer & Company. It primarily focuses on a group of role playing gamers and their actions at the gaming table, which often result in unfortunate, but humorous consequences in the game...
fame.
Much of the fiction is by lesser known or new authors, but noted contributors have included Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
, Mike Resnick
Mike Resnick
Michael Diamond Resnick , better known by his published name Mike Resnick, is an American science fiction author. He was executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe.-Biography:...
, Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint is a Canadian fantasy author and folk musician. He is also the chief book critic for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction....
and Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
. As a semi-regular feature, Black Gate reprints rare adventure stories from earlier decades or work from more recent years that the editors feel has been neglected. For instance, past issues have featured serialized Tumithak novels from Charles R. Tanner
Charles R. Tanner
Charles R. Tanner was an American science fiction and fantasy author who wrote in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Tanner's first short story was "The Color of Space," published in Science Wonder Stories in 1930...
.
Critical response
On its debut, Black Gate received strong reviews in LocusLocus (magazine)
Locus, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field", is published monthly in Oakland, California. It reports on the science fiction and fantasy publishing field, including comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genre. It is considered the news organ and trade...
and elsewhere, many citing the sheer size of the issues (usually 200+ pages) and the high production values. This has proved quite ambitious, though. Various production problems have led to publication less frequent than the intended quarterly schedule. Nevertheless, John O'Neill
John O'Neill (editor)
John O'Neill is an Ottawa born writer, founder, editor and publisher of Black Gate magazine, a quarterly fantasy magazine first published in 2000. O'Neill holds a doctorate in Chemical Engineering and continued to work in the high technology area...
has made a public commitment to readers and advertisers to get production back on track and more frequent publication of the recent issues tend to support that claim.
In 2008, Judith Berman
Judith Berman
Judith Berman is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She is a linguistic anthropologist by training and has published articles on Native American myth and translations. In particular those of the Pacific Northwest. She also has a form of synesthesia.Her science fiction and fantasy has...
's story "Awakening" in Black Gate #10 was a finalist for the Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
.
Editors
- John O'NeillJohn O'Neill (editor)John O'Neill is an Ottawa born writer, founder, editor and publisher of Black Gate magazine, a quarterly fantasy magazine first published in 2000. O'Neill holds a doctorate in Chemical Engineering and continued to work in the high technology area...
, 2000 to present - Howard Andrew Jones, 2006 to present