Weirdbook #35

Weirdbook #35

by Douglas Draa (Editor)

The 35th issue of WEIRDBOOK presents more stories in the Weird Tales tradition! Here are horror and dark fantasy stories set in this world -- and beyond. Included this time are:

The Pullulations of the Tribe, by Adrian Cole

The Dead of Night, by Christian Riley

Mother of My Children, by Bruce L. Priddy

The Man Who Murders Happiness, by John R. Fultz

A Handful of Dust, by Tom English

Revolution à l’Orange, by Paul Lubaczewski

Fiends of the Southern Plains, by Patrick Tumblety
The Pyrrhic Crusade, by Stanley B. Webb

The Migration of Memories, by Charles Wilkinson

Maquettes, by Paul St John Mackintosh

In the Shadows, by J.S. Watts

“The Spot,” by C.R. Langille

Schism in the Sky, by Donald McCarthy

To Roam the Universe, Forgotten and Free, by Janet Harriett

Rejuvenate, by Lily Luchesi

Vigil Night, by Lorenzo Crescentini

Dead Clowns for Christmas, by L.J. Dopp

The Tale and the Teller, by Darrell Schweitzer

Plus poetry by K.A. Opperman, Frederick J. Mayer, James Matthew Byers, and Jessica Amanda Salmonson

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 20, 2017

Reviews

[S.E. Lindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weirdbook is highly recommended; a menu of high quality horror tales that span most genres.

Weirdbook is one of a few Weird Fiction magazines that persist. Weirdtales is likely the most famous, which emerged in the Pulp Era of the early Twentieth Century and comprised horror, dark fantasy, and Sword & Sorcery; Weirdtales exchanged hands over the decades and was carried/edited in the late 1980’s by John Betancourt and Darrell Schweitzer who both play a role in Weirdbook (Betancourt as Publisher & Executive Editor via Wildside Press, and Schweitzer as an anchoring author). In 1967 W. Paul Ganley edited Weirdbook magazine, its compelling run ceased in 1997 (Back issues available via Ganley’s ebay store). A century from its origins, Weird Fiction still has followers, but its identity is split across myriad markets/venues; in 2015, editor Doug Draa partnered with John Betancourt of Wildside Press to reboot the magazine with Weirdbook #31 (review link). 

Calling Weirdbook #35 a "magazine" seems to minimize this ~200page book which is more a quality anthology. It has 22 contributing authors (18 stories, and 4 sets of poetry) and there are no reviews/advertising/articles one expects in a magazine. Skelos comes to mind as a contemporary magazine (newly kickstarted) which has those non-story features (also worth subscribing to).
In any event, Weirdbook #35 is entertaining and a great value.  Douglas Draa continues to share myriad adventures by new & seasoned authors with milieus running the gamut of weird-dark fantasy. It promises that readers will experience some flavor of horror. Expect equal parts ghost stories, psychedelic trips, gory murders, thoughtful introspections, and battles with the unknown! My favorite is the last entry from Darrell Schweitzer’s The Take and the Teller, but I enjoyed most of these (I star/earmark the ones below that I can’t get out of my head and will reread).  I’m usually mired in Sword & Sorcery, and reading Weirdbook allows me to branch out. I encourage others to do the same. Get Weirdbook. Don’t trust my “stars/earmarks” but find your own amongst the menu.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.     The Pullulations of the Tribe by Adrian Cole, is gothic noir tale in which the sleuths must free hostages; more fun than horrific

2.     Dead of Night by Christopher Riley; very weird and satisfying horror on the high seas; contemporary milieu

3.     Mother of my Children by Bruce Priddy: short and weird dose of arachnids

4.     John Fultz's Man Who Murders Happiness is accurately titled, poignant, and disturbing

5.     * English's Handful of Dust a natural engaging story; could be described as ghost story, but it is more than that … I hate wasps BTW

6.     K.A Opperman's series of gothic poems re: “Carpathia” are a nice touch.

7.     Poetry “translated” by Fredrick J Mayer called Taken from the Tcho Tcho People’s Holy Codex is Elditchr/Lovecraftian verses that didn’t make much sense to me (but I’m no acolyte yet, more advanced students of the occult may understand)

8.     Revolution a' la Orange by Paul Lubaczewski has nice historical context (1672 Dutch republic and William III) but too many scene breaks

9.     Fiends of the Southern Plains by Patrick Tumblety reads as frontier family faced with night haunts that have more faith than the humans--very dark and satisfying.

10.  * Stanley B. Webb's Pyrrhic Crusade is unique Sword ‘n’ Sorcery; the pacing was jarring at first, but the tale came together really well and covers a lot of ground

11.  Charles Wilkinson's futuristic Migration of Memories is reminiscent of Philip Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) but a touch more realistic than trippy

12.  Maquettes by MacKintosh is WWII, Nordic sea horror. Fun variation.

13.  The Dinner Fly poem by James Matthew Byers could be paired with Priddy’s story above

14.  In the Shadows by JS Watts, offers a new perspective on being depressed (contemporary horror)

15.  * "Lagillle's The Spot starts as a well-done, but typical, zombie apocalypse.... but then shifts into a weird trippy horror. Great stuff.

16.  Donald McCarthy's Schism in the Sky has a hermetic pastor encountering his god on an alien planet

17.  Janet Harriett's To Roam the Universe, Forgotten and Free is a heart wrenching, contemporary ghost story"

18.  Lily Luchesi's Rejuvenate is a short circus horror, which felt like a great outline for a larger novel

19.  * Crescentini's Vigil Night is dark fantasy at its finest; enough necromancy and madness for an entire army of knights

20.  Dead Clowns for Christmas by L.J. Dopp – mashing up the movies “Killer Clowns form Outerspace” and “Chuckie” yields something like this

21.  Jessica Amanda Salmonson offers Strange Jests four fable-like poems with fish/water themes

22.  * The Tale and the Teller , by Darrell Schweitzer read like a Lord Dunsany masterpiece. This one is worth the price of the book by itself.

The Tale and the Teller – Darrell Schweitzer, opens this way:

“Who is the teller and to whom is the story told? Listen: there are voices, and the wind, and the sighing of the sea. Listen.

If you make your way a hundred miles up the Merimnian coast, you come to the Cape of Mournful Remembrance, and, beyond that, pass into a curious country, where high tablelands reach to the edge of the sea, the drop off sharply, revealing black, granite cliffs.

Now white ruins protrude out of the earth like, old, broken teeth, but once a great city stood there, called Belshadihphon, a name which means “City of a Thousand Moons.” So it was: in the days of the Empire of the Thousand Moons, it was the capital of half the world. Yet there remain only ghosts, and wisps of wind; and, of nights, when the tide rushes into the caves that honeycomb the whole landscape, you can hear millions of souls crying out, all those who died in the wars that brought the place glory. Not for sorrow, not for vengeance. Just crying, wordlessly, faintly, like tide and wind. 

It was called the City of a Thousand Moons because, in the great times, the very gods appeared on brilliant nights, rising out of the sea in their luminous robes, wearing masks like full moons, drifting up the cliffs and onto the tabeland, to walk among the pillared palaces of the great city, some of them even, or so it is claimed in stories like this one, to give counsel to the emperor on his throne.

You can still see the moon-masks. They have turned to stone and lie across the beach and the tableland like so many scattered coins.

[L.F. Falconer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read every issue since the magazine's reboot with issue #31 and in my opinion, this one is the best issue yet, filled with quality, well-written macabre tales and odd poems. My top three favorites were "The Dead of Night," by Christian Riley; "Fiends of the Southern Plains," by Patrick Tumblety; and "The Migration of Memories," by Charles Wilkinson. This is no way means the other fifteen stories were any less "terrible" or entertaining--only that for me, these three stood out the brightest. Well done! I anxiously await future issues.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, there is a lot of good stuff to be had in Weirdbook -- fantasy, horror, poetry, even a bit of science fiction -- and all of it weird, of course! My favorite in this issue are Donald McCarthy's "Schism in the Sky" (a priest, convinced that God hates us, starts a church on a lifeless planet which then becomes occupied by the government as a test site for a bizarre new weapon), Janet Harriet's "To Roam the Universe, Forgotten and Free" (a woman who is killed in a car accident tried to embrace her death, but her grieving husband can't let go of her) and L.J. Dopp's "Dead Clowns for Christmas" (there's a trendy new toy that kids want for Christmas this year -- easily one of the most wonderfully demented stories I have ever read).

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of crisp and readable stuff, this anthology didn't take much time to be devoured by me. Amidst several dark and bleak tales, the following identified themselves as especially noticeable:
1. 'The Pullulations of the Tribe' by Adrian Cole: A Nick Nightmare story full of horror and twin-fisted hardboiled goodness.
2. 'The Man Who Murders Happiness' by John R. Fultz: Stunner.
3. 'A Handful of Dust' by Tom English: Creepy!
4. "The Spot" by C.R. Langille: Again, very-very creepy.
5. 'Schism in the Sky' by Donald McCarthy: Absolutely brilliant.
There were several poems as well. Since they are not my forte, I would refrain from commenting upon them.
Overall, if you are a lover of dark fiction, this one should make you happy.
Recommended.

[Darrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of great stories in here. Three stood out for me. "A Handful of Dust" by Tom English is terrifying because who wouldn't be afraid of a room full of yellowjackets. "The Spot" by C.R. Langille involves men tasked to watch a mysterious spot on the wall. My favorite in this issue is "Schism in the Sky" by Donald McCarthy which features unusual theology, a bomb that rewrites reality, and a rip in the sky. The last three words give it a surprise ending. Good stuff.