Black Static Issue 61

by Andy Cox (Editor), Georgina Bruce, Ralph Robert Moore

The November-December issue contains new dark fiction by Georgina Bruce, Ralph Robert Moore, Ruth EJ Booth, Carly Holmes, Andrew Humphrey, and Mel Kassel. The cover art is by Tara Bush, and interior illustrations by Joachim Luetke, Vince Haig, and George C. Cotronis. Regular features include Into the Woods by Ralph Robert Moore, Notes from the Borderland by Lynda E. Rucker, Case Notes by Peter Tennant (book reviews), Blood Spectrum by Gary Couzens (film reviews).

Cover Art: 'Lucretia' by Tara Bush

Fiction:

The Anniversary by Ruth EJ Booth

For Whom the Dogs Bark by Ralph Robert Moore
illustrated by Joachim Luetke

The Book of Dreems by Georgina Bruce
illustrated by Vince Haig

Do Not Google by Andrew Humphrey

A Small Life by Carly Holmes
illustrated by George C. Cotronis

Tancho by Mel Kassel

Columns:

Notes From the Borderland by Lynda E. Rucker
"DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?"

Into the Woods by Ralph Robert Moore
DOWN ON PAPER

Reviews:

Case Notes: Book Reviews by Peter Tennant

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
The Sea of Blood by Reggie Oliver; Written in Darkness by Mark Samuels; The Satyr & Other Tales by Stephen J. Clark; Horthólary by Michael Reynier; Earth, Air, Fire & Water by Brian Lumley; The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After by Shane Jiraiya Cummings; Zoopraxis by Richard Christian Matheson

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, MORE OR LESS
Hap and Leonard: Savage Season by Jussi Piironen; The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers/I.N.J. Culbard; Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, Volume 1 by M.R. James/Leah Moore/John Reppion

QUOTH THE NIGHTJAR
Jackdaws by Neil Campbell; The Numbers by Christopher Burns; Fury by D.B. Waters; Rounds by Wyl Menmuir; Paymon’s Trio by Colette de Curzon; The Automaton by David Wheldon

SHOCKING ALL OVER THE WORLD
The Last Night at Tremore Beach by Mikel Santiago; The Golem by Gustav Meyrink; The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango; The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson; A Small Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba; Kill the Next One by Federico Axat

Blood Spectrum: Film Reviews by Gary Couzens

George A. Romero: Between Night and Dawn; The Walking Dead: Season Seven; The Thing; Blood Feast/Scum of the Earth; Cult of Chucky; Not Quite Hollywood; Dark Age; Kadaicha/Innocent Prey; Out of the Shadows; Red Christmas; Cage Dive; The Bad Batch; Blood Simple; Willard/Ben; See No Evil; The Mummy; Vampir Cuadecuc; Don't Torture a Duckling; The Crunch…And Other Stories; Tag; Bushwick; Suntan; Eat Locals; Nails; Cabin 28; The Unraveling; Resurrection of Evil; Channel Zero: Candle Cove

Genres: Horror

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2017

Reviews

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as some more recent issues have been, Issue #61 of Black Static is still worth seeking out for fans of horror with a literary and psychological bent. It remains the best of the ongoing horror fiction magazines and serves as a template for other periodical publishers to follow and emulate. I was impressed by four of the six stories in this issue. The other two were creative exercises that seemed to lose their point in the telling. Both start out well, contain creative imagery, and then flounder before their confusing endings. At least that's how I saw it.
Onto the tales worth mentioning:
"The Anniversary" by Ruth EJ Booth is a brief (one-page) accounting of some twisted spousal abuse that is almost poetic in the telling. It accomplishes what good flash fiction does: give the reader just enough of the story to comprehend what is happening, and then hit them with the twist that leaves lingering chills.
The main character in "For Whom The Dogs Bark" by Ralph Robert Moore is aging, going blind, and certain that when darkness falls things in the neighborhood advance on his residence with dire intentions. Moore writes a convincing account of the end of days for a lonely senior citizen and gets into his character's high anxiety state. Readers will wonder what's real and what's imagined.
A man who's life seems to have no true purpose, a man who's running from a troubled past involving alcoholic binges, a man who's perhaps on the cusp of suicide is the main character in "A Small Life" by Carly Holmes. He finds renewal by joining a rowing team and seems on the road to recovery when some new and strange events disrupt his routine and threaten to return him to where he was. Some vague creature is lurking along the shoreline, tailing the rowers, and only he can see it. It's my favorite story this issue.
A witch is caught and held in an underwater trap in "Tancho" by Mel Kassel. Her physical presence seems to be the catalyst for breeding some rare species of koi fish that will make her captor a fortune. It's odd and creepy, with a satisfying ending.
The back end of the magazine is filled with reviews of book and film, this time enhanced by including some graphic novel adaptations of classic works as well as some interesting analysis of past genre film directors and their works.

[Des Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not start the review of the previous story with a question about Tench because I had any inkling then about this story and what it was about! (“Is it a Tench?” – a long-term crucial question for me, with several past links at that link, a question originating from John Cowper Powys’ “The Glastonbury Romance” (1933)).
I had, of course, not read this final story when I wrote the above review. I am as equally amazed as you also may be at this synchronicity. This TANCHO story, in itself, is a striking vision of a woman being ‘drowned’ by a man to act as some dialysis network to breed the most valuable koi fish of all, the tancho. The actual mad-scientist mechanics of this process and her eventual revenge upon this man is a perfect coda to the Bruce and Holmes stories, that it’s-you, not-me counterpoint to today’s sexual exploitation scandals. There are some beautiful as well as disturbing descriptions in the Kassel that everyone should read. An apotheosis of some complexity that we are all only now beginning to understand. Not pretending to be dogs, but fish. Put “Tancho”in Google, I dare you, I tchah you.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of my observations at the time of the review.

[YZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was into Mel Kessel's "Tancho."