StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Two

by Bryce Beattie, Julie Frost, Jason Restrick

Brace yourself for the next exciting issue of StoryHack Action & Adventure. Taking cues from the greatest pulp magazines of a bygone era, StoryHack publishes all-new stories of bravery and derring-do in a wide variety of genres. There is something in here for everyone, and each story includes art.

Here's what you will find in this issue:

Predator/Prey Relationships by Julie Frost. When Ben’s ability to shift into a werewolf is stolen, he must play a most dangerous game to get it back.
The Temple of Baktaar by Jason Restrick. What deadly curses await when a pair of adventurers delve too deeply into an ancient, supposedly-abandoned temple?
The Gambler's Tale by Jon Mollison. Mike has a plan to not just beat the house, but bring it crashing down entirely. The mob has other ideas.
Crystal, Brass, and Copper by Matthew X. Gomez. When a robbery goes horribly wrong, can Bahar get any part of her old life back?
Junior Partner by Brian K. Lowe. With his superhero captured by dangerous foes, a sidekick must decide what he is made of.
The Crawlers beneath Avaris by David J. West. With city guards and assassins hot on his tail, Brutanis is forced into an underground maze. What he finds there may be worse than the trouble he’s fleeing.
High Ground by John M. Olsen. Captain Alexander Kemp’s space station Icarus suffers an attack in orbit as the government on Earth below collapses. Can their advanced tools and mental grit keep them alive as they respond to a series of escalating attacks?
The Chronicle of the Gorgon's Island by Keith West. A cursed prince and his right hand man are shipwrecked on an uncharted island with an unruly crew. Will the monster they find there kill them before they kill each other?
Kakerlacs by Alexandru Constantin. After a long stint with the Corps, Mike returns to his hometown in the California desert, only to get tangled up in a sinister plot involving cops and tweakers who are more than they seem.

StoryHack is a triumphant return to fast-paced storytelling in short form. Give it a try, you'll be glad you did.

Genres: Fantasy

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2018

About the author

I’m addicted to pulp-styled fiction. When I was a kid, some careless adult left a tape with several episodes of “The Shadow” lying around. After I listened to that, I was hooked. Pretty soon, audio just wasn't enough and I moved on to to the paperback stuff. At first it was just hardboiled detective fiction, but then I started reading old Conan stories and yarns about John Carter of Mars. Now I'm pretty hopeless. In fact, I'm so deep into pulp fiction that I write my own. I also write stuff for my kids.

In real life, I'm the entire IT department at a real estate investment and management company. I usually just tell people that I'm a programmer, because that's my favorite part (& the largest part) of my job. In a perfect world, however, I'd be a full-time writer.

Other stuff: I’m very religious (LDS). Politically, I am just about a Libertarian. I love my family (a wife, three little girls, and a son). I enjoy radio theater, swing dancing, jazz and blues music, firearms, writing, reading and I believe in being prepared, laughing often, and showing respect to people around me.

Now you know everything.

Reviews

[Paul McNamee · Rating 5 out of 5]

STORYHACK returns with nine stories of action adventure! Count 'em! Nine!

They run the breadth of pulp genres; horror, science fiction, sword-&-sorcery, crime, fantasy, steampunk, superheroes and more!

Personal favorites for me were;

David J. West's sword-&-sorcery "The Crawlers Beneath Avaris," a good old fashioned sewer romp with an exiled general who is on the run with a stolen book

Keith West's "The Chronicle of the Gorgon's Island," which--yes--features a gorgon and has a strong extrapolation from mythic fantasy. This is also another tale with West's ongoing characters, Rodrik and his cursed liege prince, Balthar. (See issue #0 for their first adventure.)

"The Temple of Baktaar" by Jason Restick. A jungle expedition leads to a cursed temple and horror. This tale is a WEIRD TALES throwback with strong vibes of Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft.

All nine stories are quality and worth your time.

Bryce Beattie continues to improve his editing chops with each issue. The story selection here was great. Also, not only do we get vibrant cover art, but each story gets its own black-and-white interior title art.

This is a fun magazine, pure and simple!

[Steve DuBois · Rating 4 out of 5]

DISCLOSURE: This periodical has purchased and published my work in the past.

Storyhack #2 continues the magazine’s upward trajectory. Internal design is a particular strong point; the story artwork is exceptional and the humorously captioned golden-age snippets that connect the stories have become a stylistic trademark.

The quality of the stories continues to impress; the best of the stories herein are as good as anything produced by the New Pulp movement. I personally was especially fond of:

THE TEMPLE OF BAKTAAR by JASON RESTRICK. Lovecraft homages are something of a New Pulp staple; this is a rare example of one in which the line-by-line writing approaches the original in quality.

CRYSTAL, BRASS AND COPPER by Matthew X. Gomez. A well-crafted and vividly characterized tale which blends Saladin Ahmed with Steampunk. The author is the co-editor of Broadswords and Blasters, another leading New Pulp journal.

THE CHRONICLE OF THE GORGON’S ISLAND by Keith West. An exceptionally inventive action tale in a setting inspired by Greek mythology. This would be solid action work on its own merits, but it gains an extra kick by the author’s willingness to extend mythological tropes in entertaining ways in order to advance the plot. Everybody must get stoned!

KAKERLACS by Alexandru Constantin. Military veteran is ready to move on from his meth-suffused hometown, only its residents won’t stop bugging him. Spicy, line-perfect action work, but with a layer of metaphor underneath; in an era when widespread opioid addiction is eating out rural communities from the inside, this story gains extra resonance.

[William Eckman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of short story anthologies and magazines over the last couple years, and this is one of the best. I didn't give any story below three stars, and more than half were in the 4-5 star range.

Stories include: rich people hunting werewolves, a Lovecraft-style lost temple in the Congo, a mafia-run gambling establishment, a steampunk/magic mix, a superhero and his sidekick fighting an alien invasion, a sword-and-sandal style action adventure, the isolated crew of a space station trying to figure out a revolution and/or military coup going on below them, a shipwrecked crew stuck on an island with a gorgon, and something weird going on in a declining small town.

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good story magazine on the market. While there were a few clunkers among the nine stories, the good ones were well worth the time and money spent. Three in particular... "Predator/ Prey Relationships," "Crystal, Brass, and Copper," and "High Ground" had a cinematic feel to them, and left me wanting a lot more. The art was rather a nice addition, too, and made me feel I was reading an old issue of Weird Tales. All in all, not a bad investment, and I will be looking forward to new issues.