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A to Z Review: “Bit by Bit,” by Karina Fabian
Karina Fabian published “Bit by Bit” in Daily Science Fiction in January, 2011 and it was subsequently reprinted in their massive first year’s collection, Not Just Rockets and Robots. A root canal is...
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Terry Pratchett – A Modern-Day Fantasy Voltaire
March marked my tenth year of blogging here at Black Gate! Here was my very first post, on March 10, 2014. I’ve taken a few breaks, but I have posted almost every Monday morning for a decade! And...
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The “AI Revolution” Problem
Image by Thomas Meier from Pixabay. Pixabay has a policy of disclosing AI images. This did not have the indicator that it was AI. Good afterevenmorn (whenever you’re reading this!) I’d like to talk...
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A Reckless and Unwarranted Speculation on the Origin of a Great Science...
Alice (James Tiptree Jr.) Sheldon For many writers, asking them the apparently innocent question, “where do you get your ideas?” is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. (Watch the Harlan Ellison...
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A to Z Reviews: “The Well-Oiled Machine,” by H.B. Fyfe
H.B. Fyfe published “The Well-Oiled Machine” in the December 1950 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and the story demonstrates a forward thinking that explores the use of computers...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Truth About Sherlock Holmes (Doyle on...
I have about 500 Holmes/Arthur Conan Doyle-related books on my shelves. No surprise, there are some pretty neat things. I’m going to do a couple posts over the next few weeks, looking at some things...
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A to Z Reviews: “The Scapegoat Factory,” by Ofir Touche Gafla
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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Glen Cook: The Garrett, PI Q&A – at Black Gate
Today we’ve got a real treat here at Black Gate. Glen Cook, best-selling author of The Black Company, as well as The Dread Empire, talks about his fantastic Garrett, PI, series. Glen is one of the...
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The Content Warning Debate
This is a trigger fish, apparently: Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay Good afterevenmorn! In an effort to try and get myself “out there,” so to speak, and figure out what marketing tricks I can use...
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A to Z Reviews: “Deal with the Devil,” by Carol Gyzander
Although the most famous iteration of the Beatles featured George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, the band had a variety of lineups prior to settling on the Fab Four. Many know...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Some Personalia About Sherlock Holmes...
So in our first series post, we had a LONG post on ACD’s 1923 essay – The Truth Behind Sherlock Holmes – for Collier’s The National Weekly. This week, it’s an earlier one he which wrote for The Strand....
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A to Z Reviews: “3 RMS, Good View,” by Karen Haber
Real estate prices in San Francisco are notoriously high, which leads Karen Haber’s character in “3 RMS, Good View” to seek out extreme living arrangements. Despite her better judgement, she rents an...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: A Gaudy Death (Doyle on Holmes)
This essay precedes the two prior ones in our series, having appeared in Tit-Bits in December of 1900. The aptly named Tit-Bits was a potpourri of ‘stuff’ which was published by George Newnes, who also...
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Don’t Quit
Goodafterevenmorn! You may recall that I once said that all writing advice is bunk (sort of). I hold that to be mostly true. Knowing this, I’m still going to offer some advice to anyone out there who...
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Frankly Frankenstein
My guess is that even people who’ve never read the novel or seen the Boris Karloff version likely recognize that “Frankenstein” signifies a human-made scientific creation that bites back. (Though they...
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A to Z Reviews: “Triolet,” by Jess Hyslop
Jess Hyslop’s “Triolet,” which appeared in the June 2013 issue of Interzone is another high concept story in which the reader is asked to suspend their disbelief by accepting Hyslop’s far-fetched...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Inferior Sleuth (Doyle on...
The late Nis Jessen’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’ may be my favorite illustrated Holmes. It’s wonderful. Welcome to week four of Doyle on Holmes. We started with The Truth Behind Sherlock Holmes. Then, it was...
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A to Z Reviews: “The Hat in the Hall,” by Jack Iams
Jack Iams published “The Hat in the Hall” in the August 1950 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and it is an example of a story that has dated poorly. Set in the aftermath of a...
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Back Among the Kencyrath: “The Gates of Tagmeth” by PC Hodgell
One of the earliest reviews I wrote for Blackgate was of P.C. Hodgell’s 1982 sword & sorcery classic, God Stalk. It’s the story of Jame, a relative innocent at large in the very Lankhmarian city...
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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Doyle’s Favorite SH Adventure (Doyle on...
And it’s another essay by Arthur Conan Doyle about his famous detective. This was also the last one he wrote, appearing in The Strand in March of 1927. The fifth and final short story collection, The...
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