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Weird Frequencies: Strange Stories by Stranger Authors
Stare into the digital void with 13 short stories from Youtubers specializing in Pulp, Vintage and Indie literature. This anthology is packed with horror and adventure, crime and mystery, satire and drama. All with a touch of science fiction, and all bloody weird.
Wizard Jim from News from the Gelding
T. H. Brandt from Secret Fire Books
Andreea from Infinite Text
J. Swick from Pulp Mortem
Bryan Raines from Bad Taste Books
Erik Waag
Joseph Reads Books
Chris from Liminal Spaces
Virgil Seine from Literally Books
Richard Remple from Vintage SF
Ira D. Devario from SF Words of Wonder
The Outlaw Levi Wallace
Nick Anderson from The Book Graveyard
Wizard Jim from News from the Gelding
T. H. Brandt from Secret Fire Books
Andreea from Infinite Text
J. Swick from Pulp Mortem
Bryan Raines from Bad Taste Books
Erik Waag
Joseph Reads Books
Chris from Liminal Spaces
Virgil Seine from Literally Books
Richard Remple from Vintage SF
Ira D. Devario from SF Words of Wonder
The Outlaw Levi Wallace
Nick Anderson from The Book Graveyard
308 pages, Paperback
Published December 5, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 5, 2026
My thoughts on Weird Frequencies, edited by J. Swick:::::::::
An alien detective searches for clues looking to solve a case on a strange planet, a young woman makes a rare trek across an enormous gorge in order to seek a better life for her people, a man on an airplane reevaluates his life while meeting a mysterious stranger, a member of an alien warrior race discovers a space station covered in gigantic vines discovering the strangest of circumstances upon entering it, morticians in the future use robots and digital transference of lives in order to wage war on death, and a man loves digging a hole so much that it causes the biggest problems reality will ever face.
These are a few of the stories in this anthology edited, produced, and published by booktuber Pulp Mortem. Each story here is written by a beloved book reviewer on YouTube. It is filled with wonderfully realized stories that exceeded my expectations. When you get to know certain reviewers, you tend to wonder what kind of art they would create. A person obsessed with talking about creations should have the desire to create something themselves. Here is proof that this is true. These stories are well worth your time.
An alien detective searches for clues looking to solve a case on a strange planet, a young woman makes a rare trek across an enormous gorge in order to seek a better life for her people, a man on an airplane reevaluates his life while meeting a mysterious stranger, a member of an alien warrior race discovers a space station covered in gigantic vines discovering the strangest of circumstances upon entering it, morticians in the future use robots and digital transference of lives in order to wage war on death, and a man loves digging a hole so much that it causes the biggest problems reality will ever face.
These are a few of the stories in this anthology edited, produced, and published by booktuber Pulp Mortem. Each story here is written by a beloved book reviewer on YouTube. It is filled with wonderfully realized stories that exceeded my expectations. When you get to know certain reviewers, you tend to wonder what kind of art they would create. A person obsessed with talking about creations should have the desire to create something themselves. Here is proof that this is true. These stories are well worth your time.
November 5, 2026
Review soon.
December 24, 2025
This is a compilation of weird short stories written by a bunch of book-tubers that I follow. Almost all of these stories are excellent.
Some of my favorites were -
Beyond the Thick by J. Swick
Conjunction Junction by Chris from Liminal Spaces
Last Rites by Andreea at Infinite Text
La Fente Eye by Nick Anderson
They are all very good in their own way, including a very sweet comic that could have been fleshed out a bit more by Richard Remple. (The only thing I didn’t love in this book.)
I highly recommend picking this up if you like weird stories. I honestly can’t see a reason to not give this 5 stars. I’m even going to put it on my favorites pile and will probably read a few of the stories in this again.
Some of my favorites were -
Beyond the Thick by J. Swick
Conjunction Junction by Chris from Liminal Spaces
Last Rites by Andreea at Infinite Text
La Fente Eye by Nick Anderson
They are all very good in their own way, including a very sweet comic that could have been fleshed out a bit more by Richard Remple. (The only thing I didn’t love in this book.)
I highly recommend picking this up if you like weird stories. I honestly can’t see a reason to not give this 5 stars. I’m even going to put it on my favorites pile and will probably read a few of the stories in this again.
January 27, 2026
In Weird Frequencies, pulpy science fiction collides with BookTube personality in an anthology that feels more like a clandestine radio transmission than a traditional short story collection. The stories here are brimming with retro-futurist charm, grimy noir aesthetics, slipstream weirdness, and a disarming amount of heart. The through-line isn't narrative/theme consistency but vibe (the best kind)' a persistent sense that you're reading dispatches from alternate dimensions where genre boundaries have melted like celluloid in a projector fire.
Individual Story Reviews
Beyond the Thick by J. Swick
Swick opens his own anthology with confident style and a narrative that feels as if Raymond Chandler were let loose in a Ray Bradbury world. Plotting is lean and efficient; every loaded gun fires, every shadow matters. The “Eye” (it'll make more sense when you read it!) and its mysteries beg for expansion, but even in miniature this is a satisfying adventure in the golden-age tradition.
5/5
Darkness Shared by Joseph Gilbert
A sleight-of-hand story if there ever was one. You think you're watching a space-western meander toward a dusty resolution—AND THEN! the trapdoor opens. The horror element is perfectly timed and devastating in its simplicity. I felt the air knocked out of me in those final moments.
5/5
Mouth of the World by Bryan Raines
A grim parable of otherness draped in grotesque alien skin. Raines writes like he's exorcising something reflective of our reality, something that most people refuse to admit is the underlying truth of our own cruelty. It worked, even as it slowed the pulse in its final moments.
4/5
Conjunction Junction by Chris from Liminal Spaces
What starts in sadness drifts into revelation. Liminal is the right word here. Down to the underlying narrative structures of this story that I found myself constantly thinking of long after I read it. (It might be because of my frequent flights for work and all of the interesting people I meet along the way). This story lives in the in-between, unwilling to resolve completely, and it leaves the reader floating slightly unmoored.
5/5
The Next Cycle by Ira D. Devario
A short sharp shock (say that three times fast) of space horror. The conclusion that felt one paragraph short of full impact. Still, the terror is clean and effective, and there’s something satisfying in its brutal brevity.
4/5
The Ruins of Balor by T.H. Brandt
A pulp pastiche full of bombast and archetypes: the noble hero, the vile villain, the stakes that echo into myth. It's campy, yes, but knowingly so, and its nostalgia is sincere rather than saccharine. Think WW2 Thulian conspiracies and you get the jist.
4/5
Last Rites by Andrea at Infinite Text
An intellectual and emotional gut-punch. This one burrowed in deep and stayed there. What begins as a cerebral meditation on AI and digital mortality soon nosedives into something gothic and horrible. The duality of Ben and Sybil is haunting. This is speculative horror at its most prophetic. Also, what the heck, Andrea at Infinite Text! I demand to know what that ending was about. (You don't have to respond, this story just sticks with me)
5/5
La Fente Eye by Nick Anderson
Classic Lovecraftian dread meets glossy pulp aesthetic. While it ends too soon, there’s richness in the imagery particularly that infinity-shaped jewel, a symbol of recursion and madness. A tale that rewards rereading.
4/5
All Things Unto Themselves by Virgil Seine
An absolute standout. Seine crafts vivid prose with the propulsion of good pulp and the surreal elasticity of slipstream. The worldbuilding crackles with potential, and I found myself mourning the story’s brevity. This could easily anchor a novel or even a series.
5/5
It Was on Deck Three by Erik Wang
A rollicking adventure bursting with genre joy: space-western meets noir heist with just enough grit. The six-legged sidekick is a delight. There's nothing revolutionary here, and it doesn't need to be. Pure entertainment done well.
5/5
Faster Than Life by The Outlaw Levi Wallace
And here’s the crown jewel. A story about transgression and consequence, about the invisible toll of advancement. It’s weird in all the best ways lyrical prose, terrifying implications, and strangely elegiac. If you distilled Black Mirror through the ink of Ballard, you’d get something close to this.
5/5
Bobbi and the Spaceman by Richard Remple
Not a story so much as a vignette, a playful comic interlude. Too short to score, but undeniably charming. The perfect palate cleanser towards the end of the anthology.
The Dig by Wizard Jim
A descent into madness that earns its pacing and its final disorientation. “We are not meant to understand” feels like the secret motto of this whole book. Jim’s prose is crisp, even as the plot spirals into entropy.
4/5
Final Thoughts
Weird Frequencies is a mosaic of pulpy nostalgia and modern unease. It never pretends to be uniform, and that's its power. Each story hums on a slightly different frequency (pun intended) some harmonious, some discordant, but none of them forgettable. At its best, it evokes that sacred strangeness of stumbling upon a late-night radio broadcast full of stories not meant for the mainstream (ala old school twilight zone).
For fans of vintage science fiction with a taste for the uncanny and nostalgia, this is a transmission worth tuning into.
This was an absolute banger of a good time, and will be a book I can find myself recommending to ALOT of friends.
Individual Story Reviews
Beyond the Thick by J. Swick
Swick opens his own anthology with confident style and a narrative that feels as if Raymond Chandler were let loose in a Ray Bradbury world. Plotting is lean and efficient; every loaded gun fires, every shadow matters. The “Eye” (it'll make more sense when you read it!) and its mysteries beg for expansion, but even in miniature this is a satisfying adventure in the golden-age tradition.
5/5
Darkness Shared by Joseph Gilbert
A sleight-of-hand story if there ever was one. You think you're watching a space-western meander toward a dusty resolution—AND THEN! the trapdoor opens. The horror element is perfectly timed and devastating in its simplicity. I felt the air knocked out of me in those final moments.
5/5
Mouth of the World by Bryan Raines
A grim parable of otherness draped in grotesque alien skin. Raines writes like he's exorcising something reflective of our reality, something that most people refuse to admit is the underlying truth of our own cruelty. It worked, even as it slowed the pulse in its final moments.
4/5
Conjunction Junction by Chris from Liminal Spaces
What starts in sadness drifts into revelation. Liminal is the right word here. Down to the underlying narrative structures of this story that I found myself constantly thinking of long after I read it. (It might be because of my frequent flights for work and all of the interesting people I meet along the way). This story lives in the in-between, unwilling to resolve completely, and it leaves the reader floating slightly unmoored.
5/5
The Next Cycle by Ira D. Devario
A short sharp shock (say that three times fast) of space horror. The conclusion that felt one paragraph short of full impact. Still, the terror is clean and effective, and there’s something satisfying in its brutal brevity.
4/5
The Ruins of Balor by T.H. Brandt
A pulp pastiche full of bombast and archetypes: the noble hero, the vile villain, the stakes that echo into myth. It's campy, yes, but knowingly so, and its nostalgia is sincere rather than saccharine. Think WW2 Thulian conspiracies and you get the jist.
4/5
Last Rites by Andrea at Infinite Text
An intellectual and emotional gut-punch. This one burrowed in deep and stayed there. What begins as a cerebral meditation on AI and digital mortality soon nosedives into something gothic and horrible. The duality of Ben and Sybil is haunting. This is speculative horror at its most prophetic. Also, what the heck, Andrea at Infinite Text! I demand to know what that ending was about. (You don't have to respond, this story just sticks with me)
5/5
La Fente Eye by Nick Anderson
Classic Lovecraftian dread meets glossy pulp aesthetic. While it ends too soon, there’s richness in the imagery particularly that infinity-shaped jewel, a symbol of recursion and madness. A tale that rewards rereading.
4/5
All Things Unto Themselves by Virgil Seine
An absolute standout. Seine crafts vivid prose with the propulsion of good pulp and the surreal elasticity of slipstream. The worldbuilding crackles with potential, and I found myself mourning the story’s brevity. This could easily anchor a novel or even a series.
5/5
It Was on Deck Three by Erik Wang
A rollicking adventure bursting with genre joy: space-western meets noir heist with just enough grit. The six-legged sidekick is a delight. There's nothing revolutionary here, and it doesn't need to be. Pure entertainment done well.
5/5
Faster Than Life by The Outlaw Levi Wallace
And here’s the crown jewel. A story about transgression and consequence, about the invisible toll of advancement. It’s weird in all the best ways lyrical prose, terrifying implications, and strangely elegiac. If you distilled Black Mirror through the ink of Ballard, you’d get something close to this.
5/5
Bobbi and the Spaceman by Richard Remple
Not a story so much as a vignette, a playful comic interlude. Too short to score, but undeniably charming. The perfect palate cleanser towards the end of the anthology.
The Dig by Wizard Jim
A descent into madness that earns its pacing and its final disorientation. “We are not meant to understand” feels like the secret motto of this whole book. Jim’s prose is crisp, even as the plot spirals into entropy.
4/5
Final Thoughts
Weird Frequencies is a mosaic of pulpy nostalgia and modern unease. It never pretends to be uniform, and that's its power. Each story hums on a slightly different frequency (pun intended) some harmonious, some discordant, but none of them forgettable. At its best, it evokes that sacred strangeness of stumbling upon a late-night radio broadcast full of stories not meant for the mainstream (ala old school twilight zone).
For fans of vintage science fiction with a taste for the uncanny and nostalgia, this is a transmission worth tuning into.
This was an absolute banger of a good time, and will be a book I can find myself recommending to ALOT of friends.
December 30, 2025
An excellent collection of strange and weird fiction! I definitely recommend it to those who feel that traditional fiction has become stagnant in its style and form.
March 16, 2026
All-Timer: The Dig
Great: Last Rites; All Things Unto Themselves
Very Good: Conjunction Junction; Faster Than Life
Good: Beyond the Thick
Okay: The Mouth of the World; The Next Cycle; Bobbi and the Spaceman
Poor: Darkness Shared; Runes of Balor; La Fente Eye; It was on Deck Three
Some fun premises turned out half-baked (Mouth of the World's looming eldritch action springboard undone by stilted prose and frustrating plot ambiguities or The Next Cycle's intriguing species conceit weighed down by pitiless, irksome characters), plain (Darkness Shared and It was on Deck Three needing more compelling hooks, a stronger prose pull) or just plain disappointing (Runes of Balor and La Fente Eye both unintentionally kitschy with hackneyed characterization and set piece tropes sans the indelible personality necessary for an author's unique facets to glint through the pastiche).
Bobbi and the Spaceman was unfortunately truncated and surface level in its delivery but had its heart in the right place. Beyond the Thick was an enjoyable extraterrestrial detective story with foggy outer world atmospherics and decent plot development/resolution.
There were, however, some gems in this trove: Conjunction Junction with its Murakami-esque, magically realistic calling cards and Faster Than Life's long-winded but unique spin on the "unknown known" costs of--in this case--faster than light travel catching up with a particular blue collar interstellar crew. Even more dazzling were Last Rite's grim technological feasibility, complicated characters, existential composition and Cronenbergian climax alongside All Things Unto Themselves, a wholly compelling science fiction character legend told through vertiginous, labyrinthine prose, enticingly large-scale space artifact set dressing, frenzied plot turns and a laconic, satisfactory denouement feeling all the more impressive considering the story's relative brevity.
But one jewel shone more blindingly than all the rest in this collection and our esteemed editor had the wisdom of saving the best for the very last: The Dig. A simple, enigmatic plot device regarding one man's sudden out-of-body, uncontrollable, life-altering impulse whose ultimate unearthing grants a fate for the man, his family, his town, his earth, his galaxy, his universe which is as crushingly inevitable in its trajectory as it is alluring cryptic and monolithically alien in its presentation, all rendered with the sort of focused authorial vision which invites the reader's mind to play around the edges of origin, intent and outcome. Marvelous.
All commentary aside, it was a treat to read many so many YouTube creators who I watch with admittedly varying levels of consistency putting their own creative muscles to the test in those genres which clearly mean so much to them. I look forward to more weird outings henceforth.
Great: Last Rites; All Things Unto Themselves
Very Good: Conjunction Junction; Faster Than Life
Good: Beyond the Thick
Okay: The Mouth of the World; The Next Cycle; Bobbi and the Spaceman
Poor: Darkness Shared; Runes of Balor; La Fente Eye; It was on Deck Three
Some fun premises turned out half-baked (Mouth of the World's looming eldritch action springboard undone by stilted prose and frustrating plot ambiguities or The Next Cycle's intriguing species conceit weighed down by pitiless, irksome characters), plain (Darkness Shared and It was on Deck Three needing more compelling hooks, a stronger prose pull) or just plain disappointing (Runes of Balor and La Fente Eye both unintentionally kitschy with hackneyed characterization and set piece tropes sans the indelible personality necessary for an author's unique facets to glint through the pastiche).
Bobbi and the Spaceman was unfortunately truncated and surface level in its delivery but had its heart in the right place. Beyond the Thick was an enjoyable extraterrestrial detective story with foggy outer world atmospherics and decent plot development/resolution.
There were, however, some gems in this trove: Conjunction Junction with its Murakami-esque, magically realistic calling cards and Faster Than Life's long-winded but unique spin on the "unknown known" costs of--in this case--faster than light travel catching up with a particular blue collar interstellar crew. Even more dazzling were Last Rite's grim technological feasibility, complicated characters, existential composition and Cronenbergian climax alongside All Things Unto Themselves, a wholly compelling science fiction character legend told through vertiginous, labyrinthine prose, enticingly large-scale space artifact set dressing, frenzied plot turns and a laconic, satisfactory denouement feeling all the more impressive considering the story's relative brevity.
But one jewel shone more blindingly than all the rest in this collection and our esteemed editor had the wisdom of saving the best for the very last: The Dig. A simple, enigmatic plot device regarding one man's sudden out-of-body, uncontrollable, life-altering impulse whose ultimate unearthing grants a fate for the man, his family, his town, his earth, his galaxy, his universe which is as crushingly inevitable in its trajectory as it is alluring cryptic and monolithically alien in its presentation, all rendered with the sort of focused authorial vision which invites the reader's mind to play around the edges of origin, intent and outcome. Marvelous.
All commentary aside, it was a treat to read many so many YouTube creators who I watch with admittedly varying levels of consistency putting their own creative muscles to the test in those genres which clearly mean so much to them. I look forward to more weird outings henceforth.
May 8, 2026
Its a great read.
Some of the stories could have used a little more polish because the writting felt a little stilted, but by the authors own admission, some of them don't usually write.
I think practise and more feedback from beta readers will improve future work.
Anyhow, i felt that the book won me over.
Lots of love put into this, so even the more awkward ones have something of merit.
Some of the stories could have used a little more polish because the writting felt a little stilted, but by the authors own admission, some of them don't usually write.
I think practise and more feedback from beta readers will improve future work.
Anyhow, i felt that the book won me over.
Lots of love put into this, so even the more awkward ones have something of merit.
February 28, 2026
As someone who watches a few of the creators who worries for this book this was a nice surprise. First let me say the concept is amazing, having all these creators write stories similar to the ones the discuss in their videos is awesome. Second, the fact that these stories were edited, published, and printed in a physical book is amazing and shows that the printed medium is not dead! Finally, without over analyzing each single story, let me say anyone who is a fan of short fiction would enjoy this book! The tales are varied, smart, funny, scary, and all are well written. Some are the highlights and do outshine the others, but I can confidently say there is not a bad story in this collection. This is an easy recommendation for anyone who is interested in picking this up!
March 10, 2026
4.5 - This is an indie/self published book of stories written by various Booktubers who write Science Fiction and Weird Tales. Some of the Youtubers are self published authors, but for the most part it’s written by amateur writers, some of whom hadn’t written a story in years.
There were maybe one or two I thought dragged on a little too long, but all in all some of these were incredibly well written and dreamed up. One was actually too short for me, I think he could have stretched out one scene another 2 pages at least, but it was still good in the end. They plan on making one of these every year and I’m on board. I will buy every one they put out.
There were maybe one or two I thought dragged on a little too long, but all in all some of these were incredibly well written and dreamed up. One was actually too short for me, I think he could have stretched out one scene another 2 pages at least, but it was still good in the end. They plan on making one of these every year and I’m on board. I will buy every one they put out.
October 25, 2026
It makes sense that the authors are all collectors of pulp science fiction and vintage paperbacks. If you’ve ever read through an old DAW collection, or an actual copy of Weird Tales, you’ll know that even though the quality of the stories can be spotty, they are at least intriguing, entertaining, or silly.
Some of the stories will stuck with me:
• The cosmically horrific golden cube that devours the universe…and possibly brings salvation?
• The awakened tower of flesh that traverses a seemingly infinitely deep trench dividing a planet in half, separating classes of people.
• The spaceship powered by trauma.
• The alien detective solving a murder in a backwater village.
• The Indiana Jones pastiche.
• The one about…I think it was mutated plant people? On a space station? It was weird! Which fits the title of the book.
Some of the stories didn’t do it for me. But I liked more than I didn’t!
Some of the stories will stuck with me:
• The cosmically horrific golden cube that devours the universe…and possibly brings salvation?
• The awakened tower of flesh that traverses a seemingly infinitely deep trench dividing a planet in half, separating classes of people.
• The spaceship powered by trauma.
• The alien detective solving a murder in a backwater village.
• The Indiana Jones pastiche.
• The one about…I think it was mutated plant people? On a space station? It was weird! Which fits the title of the book.
Some of the stories didn’t do it for me. But I liked more than I didn’t!
April 25, 2026
Eye read 2026
7.28/10 some short stories from some nice people with youtube channels.
I don’t like spooky stories but their writing is interesting and their is a variety of tales here. It wasn’t something i had to really force myself to get thru which was nice.
7.28/10 some short stories from some nice people with youtube channels.
I don’t like spooky stories but their writing is interesting and their is a variety of tales here. It wasn’t something i had to really force myself to get thru which was nice.
September 29, 2026
There is some really cool stories in here. After the 4th time picking it up, I read it to the end. Bravo! a bunch of peeps getting together and writing cool stories and having fun. I love it! Highly recommend.
January 11, 2026
Very good scifi anthology.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews