Vastarien: Vol. 2, Issue 3

Vastarien #6

by Jon Padgett (Editor), Matt Cardin (Editor), Matt Thompson (Contributor)

Vastarien: A Literary Journal is a source of critical study and creative response to the corpus of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. The journal includes nonfiction, literary horror fiction, poetry, artwork and non-classifiable hybrid pieces.

Contents

Ascending Phases of First Contact
Matt Thompson

How to Make a Marionette
Patricia Lillie

H. P. Lovecraft and H. R. Giger: The Maestros and Their Muses
John A. DeLaughter

Recuerdos de patay (Images of the Dead)
Zeny May Dy Recidoro

The Flooded Cellar
Dan Stintzi

Over the Black Bridge: Expansion, Psychogeography, and the Living City in Andrei Bely’s Petersburg
Farah Rose Smith

Every Nowhere
Matthew B. Hare

Interview with T. E. D. Klein
Dejan Ognjanović

Maddening Manikins: The Atmospheric Machines of Poe and Ligotti
Sean Moreland

Radix Malorum
Sean Patrick Hazlett

Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy: Perceptual Crisis, Identity, and the Rented Flat
Jubel Brosseau

We Are Not Ourselves
Joanna Parypinski

Mapping Catharsis
P. A. Glazier

Pavement
Robert S. Wilson

how to watch a horror movie about grief when you’re grieving
Daryl Sznyter

The Filling
Annie Neugebauer

After I devoured the Beast
Charlotte Begg

Unravelling
David. F. Shultz

art by Carl Lavoie and Derek Pegritz (including cover art)

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2019

About the author

Jon Padgett is a professional–though lapsed–ventriloquist who lives in New Orleans. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Grimscribe Press, which publishes Vastarien: A Literary Journal , a source of critical study and creative response to the work of Thomas Ligotti. Padgett’s first short story collection, The Secret of Ventriloquism, was named the Best Fiction Book of the Year by Rue Morgue Magazine.

Padgett’s voice has also become synonymous with the works of Thomas Ligotti. Padgett has lent his voice to numerous Thomas Ligotti works, including the recently released Penguin Random House audio version of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe and various Cadabra Record releases, “The Bungalow House,” “The Red Tower,” “The Small People,” “Gas Station Carnivals,” “The Clown Puppet,” “Pictures of Apocalypse,” and “Mrs. Rinaldi’s Angel.” In addition to his work as a Ligotti narrator, Padgett has also narrated two Cadabra Records releases of his own work, “20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism” and “Origami Dreams.” With his ability to channel Ligotti’s prose and poetry via the spoken word, Padgett is a singular figure in the world of weird storytelling.

Reviews

[Alexander Pyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first taste of VASTARIEN and it certainly won't be my last!

I have a particular fondness for existential/weird horror and Padgett & Cardin's Journal does not disappoint in the slightest. The intermixing of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art in one volume is lovely and helps the reader not become too weighed down by any one form of prose/art.

Particular standouts were Matt Thompson's "Ascending Phases of First Contact", Patricia Lillie's "How To Make A Marionette", and Robert Wilson's "Pavement."

I also have to mention Dan Stintzi's "Flooded Cellar" as well, because even though the story didn't check all my boxes, his prose is lovely and always unsettles me in the best way.

I also really enjoyed John DeLaughter's essay on Lovecraft and Giger.

All around a great read!

[Ryan Croke · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite in the series so far. Pavement was a highlight; a universal experience and a beautiful metaphor.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic assortment of fact and fiction. Gets better each issue.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another issue in the ever blooming journal that Vastarien is . While the fiction and poetry contributions have maintained there quality, this is not an easy feat. With this issue I have found the non fiction pieces to be the stand out ones. In particular, with Maddening Manikins: The Atmospheric Machines of Poe and Ligotti by Sean Moreland was a personal favourite

[Des Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strikingly labyrinthine view of gestalt through homeless threads or seams or glimpses of the sun through the slit in window-blinds, blind but seeing, too. That dentist room earlier today above: “The room felt stale and suffocating, and my skull throbbed.” Automatic writing between waking and dream, the lump in scrambled egg like that earlier self on a perch. Steamwhistle, too. A fishing-line either a Dreamcatcher or Hawler. And old man’s suicide threaded, at one remove, to subway tracks. An old man like me. I’m nearly 74. Well, a year or two to go. My thread is taut, my worm shrunk. Lines to follow, like the line on the back cover of this book, edge to edge. Unravelling and ravelling mean the same thing. Look the words up.

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.

[Claus Appel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the weaker "Vastarien" issues for me. I liked "Every Nowhere" and "Radix Malorum".

"We Are Not Ourselves" and "Pavement" are also decent.

[Tom Bensley]

Vastarien always delivers. Just look at that cover art. Who do you think you are, resisting that?

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent as always. I love when these are published. Amazing variety of fiction and non, artwork, and poetry. I will be thinking twice about my next drive on the highway and trip to the dentist. Amazing work!