The January–February issue contains new dark fiction by Scott Nicolay, Eric Schaller, Danny Rhodes, Eugenia M. Triantafyllou, Charles Wilkinson, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, and Ian Steadman. The cover art is by Joachim Luetke, with interior illustrations by Ben Baldwin, Richard Wagner, Vince Haig, and George C. Cotronis. Features: Into the Woods by Ralph Robert Moore (new regular column); Notes From the Borderland by Lynda E. Rucker (comment); Case Notes by Peter Tennant (book reviews, including an in-depth interview with Stephen Volk); Blood Spectrum by Gary Couzens (DVD/Blu-ray reviews).
This was my first exploration of the Black Static Magazine (issue 56) and I really liked the quality of the dark fiction on offer. I came for Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam’s story and stayed for the rest. I ended up reading ead all the short stories and the column but skipped the book and DVD reviews.
Scott Nicolay (The Green Eye) Eric Schaller (Smoke, Ash, And Whatever Comes After) Danny Rhodes (Border Country) Eugenia M. Triantafyllou (What We Are Moulded After) Charles Wilkinson (The Solidary Truth) Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (The Maneaters) Ian Steadman (Stanislav in Foxtown)
Like I said, good quality reads with a satisfying mix of creepy, weird and thought provoking stuff. I will try another one!
I have discovered over several years of real-time reviewing the fiction in Black Static that its editor always prints great gestalts of otherwise standalone stories. I guess he is spoilt for choice. One day I hope to home in on a gestalt of gestalts as a necessary transcendence of the human condition, the human imagination.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here. Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.