Stephen H. Segal’s Weird Tales from Wildside Press managed to squeeze out three issues featuring fiction and poetry by Kathe Koja, Tim Pratt, Michael Bishop, Jeffrey Ford and film-making Eric Red, amongst others. Along with the obligatory interview with Neil Gaiman, the magazine also talked with Thomas Ligotti, Richard Corben and Simon Thalmann, and there were articles on J.G. Ballard, Edgar Allan Poe and a M.R. James stage show, along with the usual book reviews. The magazine won the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2009.
The sixth issue of New Genre edited by Adam Golaski included four original stories by Michael Filimowicz, Stephen Graham Jones, Eric Schaller and Matthew Pendleton, along with an essay by the editor.
From Piaizo Publishing, the attractively revived Planet Stories pulp featured special issues devoted to Henry Kuttner, A. Merritt, Piers Anthony and Manly Wade Wellman (“Who Fears the Devil?”), with new introductions from F. Paul Wilson, Tim Powers, Chris Roberson and Mike Resnick, respectively.
After fifteen years and almost 100 issues, Realms of Fantasy, edited by Shawna McCarthy, was axed by Sovereign Media after the April issue due to drastically falling newsstand sales. However, the title was quickly acquired by Warren Lapine’s new publishing company, Tir Na Nog Press, which assumed all the magazine’s liabilities and contracts.
Following the collapse of his DNA Publications in 2007, Lapine announced the launch of Tir Na Nog Press and a new SF imprint, Fantastic Books. However, a planned revival of the quarterly magazine Fantastic Stories was cancelled due to the acquisition of Realms of Fantasy, which returned with its August issue.
Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction was not so lucky, and the twice-yearly title ceased publication with its May issue. Patrick Swenson also announced that he would be ceasing publication of Talebones with issue #38, planning to move the magazine to an annual anthology format from 2011.
The eleventh and final copy of Kevin L. Donihe’s Bare Bones from Raw Dog Screaming Press included eighteen new stories and ten poems by Michael Kelly, Kurt Newton, Cody Goodfellow, Gary Fry, Steve Rasnic Tem, Gary McMahon, Paul Finch, Michael Arnzen and others. Editor Donihe announced that he was moving on to other editing projects as well as concentrating on his own writing.
The delayed fourth edition of Allen K’s Inhuman was a bumper issue featuring sixteen pulp-inspired stories (three reprints) and two poems, plus an article about Stephen King’s monsters by Bev Vincent and an interview with obscure author H.B. Gregory (Dark Sanctuary) by John Pelan. Contributors included Joseph Nassise, Bruce Boston, Steven Vernon, Joe R. Lansdale, Darren Speegle, Chet Williamson, Darrell Schweitzer, Robert Silverberg and Stephen Mark Rainey, while editor-in-chief Allen Koszowski contributed all the illustrations.
The summer issue of the excellent Illustration magazine contained an article about the career of pulp illustrator Rudolph Belarksi.
After thirty-three years, Fangoria’s sister SF publication Starlog announced that is was going to online publication after issue #374, while the UK’s Starburst suspended publication “for the foreseeable future” after its frequency began to slip.
Also facing an uncertain future was The Dark Side, with Allan Bryce’s horror magazine forced to cease publication temporarily due to “the current financial climate” after more than twenty years. A relaunch was planned in 2010.
Tim and Donna Lucas’ Video Watchdog: The Perfectionist’s Guide to Fantastic Video passed its 150th issue, while the Canadian Rue Morgue: Horror in Culture & Entertainment passed its ninetieth. The latter’s special Halloween issue celebrated Edgar Allan Poe’s 200th anniversary with commentary by Roger Corman, Clive Barker and others.
Stephen King’s “The Pop of King” column in Entertainment Weekly included the author’s wishlist for 2009, his favourite villains (Dracula was #1), his memories of Michael Jackson, how it was to work in front of a computer, and the poor distribution of a horror movie called Carriers.
The magazine’s August 7 issue included a special vampire section with an article by Charlaine Harris and short interviews with fellow authors Anne Rice, Laurell K. Hamilton, Melissa De La Cruz and P.C. Cast, while the first week of November edition contained an excerpt from King’s latest novel, Under the Dome.
The August issue of Book and Magazine Collector published “August Derleth: A Centenary Tribute”, a fine overview of the author’s career (not just SF and horror) by David Whitehead with special emphasis on the individual value of different editions.
In January, England’s Guardian newspaper issued a special supplement listing the 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels Everyone Must Read. M. John Harrison was one of the members of the review panel which apparently could not bring itself to utter the word “horror”, although among the alphabetically-listed authors were Clive Barker (Weaveworld), Poppy Z. Brite (Lost Souls), Ramsey Campbell (The Influence), Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House), Henry James (The Turn of the Screw), Stephen King (The Shining), Michael Marshall Smith (Only Forward), Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Robert Louis Stevenson (The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde) and Bram Stoker (Dracula).
In 2009, Locus celebrated its forty-first anniversary and included a personal career overview by Frederik Pohl, along with interviews with Jonathan Lethem, Michael Swanwick, Graham Joyce, Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, John Clute, Cory Doctorow, Michael Dirda and Nina Kiriki Hoffman.
The May edition was a special devoted to the new “Urban Fantasy”, with contributions from Ginjer Buchanan, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, Mike Carey, T.A. Pratt and Diana Gill, amongst others.
The sudden death of Locus publisher, editor and founder Charles N. Brown in early July resulted in executive editor Liza Groen Trombi assuming the mantle of editor-in-chief with the September issue, which also featured numerous tributes to Brown.
The thirteenth issue of James R. Beach’s greatly improved Dark Discoveries was a tribute to Forrest J Ackerman. It also included fiction by Steve Rasnic Tem and interviews with Tem and Ray Bradbury. The following edition was devoted to The Twilight Zone, with fiction by William F. Nolan (based on a story by Charles Beaumont), Richard Matheson and others, an interview with George Clayton Johnson, plus numerous articles about the original series and its various spin-offs.
Keeping to its theme of special issues, Dark Discoveries #15 was all about H.P. Lovecraft and featured fiction from Brian Lumley, W.H. Pugmire, Cody Goodfellow and David A. Riley, interviews with Lumley and S.T. Joshi, and various related articles.
New editor Hildy Silverman got Space and Time: The Magazine of Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction back on a regular schedule with four issues featuring stories and poems by Norman Spinrad, Kurt Newton, John B. Rosenman, Mary A. Turzillo, Scott Edelman (a new zombie story), Scott E. Green, Mark McLaughlin, Dennis Danvers and C.J. Henderson, amongst others, and a two-part interview with Peter S. Beagle. As always, the magazine featured some fine black-and-white illustrations by David Grilla, Russell Morgan and Brad W. Foster. In an effort to maintain production costs, Silverman announced that the magazine had forged an alliance with Dark Quest Games.
David Longhorn’s much-improved Supernatural Tales put out two perfect-bound issues featuring original fiction by Joel Lane, Rosalie Parker, Gary Fry, Ray Russell, Tina Rath, William I.I. Read and Michael Chislett, amongst others, along with reviews by the editor.
The two issues of British magazine Midnight Street: Journeys Into Darkness featured fiction and poetry by Tony Richards, Joel Lane, Allen Ashley, Ian Hunter, Gary Couzens and others, along with interviews with Guy N. Smith and Gord Rollo, and the usual book reviews. Because of publishing delays, editor Trevor Denyer announced that #13 was the final print edition, and the title would in future be available as PDF downloads from the website and as an annual paperback anthology.
The two issues of the perfect-bound Irish magazine Albedo included fiction by Mike O’Driscoll and Robert Reed, interviews with Paul Di Filippo and Greg Egan, and various book reviews.
The four issues of David Lee Summer’s perfect-bound Tales of the Talisman contained bumper helpings of stories and poems, while the thirteenth issue of John O’Neill’s pulp-inspired periodical Black Gate: Adventures in Fantasy Literature featured the usual mixture of fiction and articles wrapped up in a stunning cover painting by Malcolm McClinton.
The seventh and only issue of Chris Roberts’ One Eye Grey published in 2009, The Last of the Chelsea Smilers, was a bumper edition containing thirteen original stories about London.
Issue #24 of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet from Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link’s Small Beer Press featured the expected slipstream fiction and poetry.
The three full-colour issues of Morpheus Tales included stories by Michael Laimo, Joe R. Lansdale (a reprint), Ian Hunter and many others, plus interviews with Christopher Golden, Gareth L. Powell, Ray Garton and Elastic Press’ Andrew Hook. The magazine also issued an Undead Special and a Fantasy Femmes Special in the same format.
The ninth issue of South Africa’s Something Wicked: Science Fiction & Horror Magazine edited by Joe Vaz featured the usual mixture of short fiction, reviews and columns, along with an interview with actress Eva Mendes. After this edition, the magazine shifted to online publication.
The ninth and tenth issues of Justin Marriott’s fascinating The Paperback Fanatic contained interviews with Peter Berresford Ellis (aka Peter Tremayne), Chris Lowder (aka Jack Hamilton Tweed) and Lovecraft cover artist John Holmes, plus articles on artist Richard Clifton-Dey, authors Gerald Suster and Barry Sadler (the ‘‘Casca’’ series), the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, Don Glut’s German Frankenstein series, and a lively and informative letters column.
The April issue of The New York Review of Science Fiction included an essay on the short fiction and poetry of Elizabeth Counselman, while Mike Barrett looked at Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s ghost stories in the June edition.
The British Fantasy Society (BFS) had a somewhat patchy year, with Lee Harris turning out three scrappy-looking issues of the society’s newsletter, Prism. Other than the occasional article and entertaining columns by Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris and Eric Brown, they mostly consisted of randomly assembled reviews, and the magazine was marred by sloppy design.
At least editor Stephen Theaker packed as much as he could into the two issues of the BFS’ Dark Horizons, including articles and poetry by Ian Hunter, Mike Chinn, Shaun Jeffrey and others, along with an appreciation of Charles L. Grant, an interview with Robert Holdstock and a fascinating article by Mike Barrett about forgotten Weird Tales contributors C. Hall Thompson and Clifford Ball.
With the second and third issues of the BFS’ New Horizons, editor Andrew Hook published original fiction by Allyson Bird, Ian Whates, Adam Nevill, Cyril Simsa and others, plus interviews with Ekaterina Sedia and artist Vincent Chong.
Commissioned by Guy Adams and published in hardcover format, The British Fantasy Society Yearbook 2009 was an impressive “sampler” of (mostly dark) original fiction by twenty-one authors connected with the society, including Mark Morris, Stephen Volk, Christopher Fowler, Tim Lebbon, Conrad Williams, Sarah Pinborough, Gary McMahon, Adam L.G. Nevill, Garry Kilworth, Nicholas Royle and Rob Shearman, along with an Introduction by Gail Z. Martin.
Produced by the Friends of Arthur Machen, the Machenalia newsletter edited by Gwilym Games featured numerous Machen-related articles and reviews, including further historical sightings of the “Angels” (and hound!) of Mons.
Stephen King: The Non-Fiction by Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks was the first significant look at the author’s non-fiction, reviewing more than 560 columns, articles, book reviews, criticism and even unpublished pieces. The huge volume also reprinted a difficult-to-find article by King. Cemetery Dance published the book as a special signed and slipcased hardcover limited to 2,000 numbered copies and in a fifty-two copy tray-cased edition ($500).
Published by Barnes & Noble/Fall River as an instant remainder edition, The Stephen King Illustrated Companion: Manuscripts, Correspondence, Drawings, and Memorabilia from the Master of Modern Horror contained numerous facsimile manuscripts, letters, illustrations and pull-out items compiled by Bev Vincent.
Not that we probably needed one, but Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak was yet another biography of the best-selling author. From McFarland & Company, Inside the Dark Tower Series: Art, Evil and Intertextuality in the Stephen King Novels was a critical examination by Patrick McAleer of the writer’s dark fantasy series.
From Wollstonecraft to Stoker: Essays on Gothic and Victorian Sensation Fiction edited by Marilyn Brock was also published by McFarland. It contained thirteen critical essays on such authors as Bram Stoker, J. Sheridan Le Fanu and Charles Dickens.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a reader’s guide to the novel by William Hughes, while The Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley was a biography of the once-best-selling British writer by Phil Baker.
Edited by John Pelan and Jerad Walters, and weighing in at an impressive 753 pages, Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle from Centipede Press was an illustrated hardcover collection of interviews and articles by and about the contributors to “The Unique Magazine”, including H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, E. Hoffman Price, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Manly Wade Wellman, August Derleth, Donald Wandrei, Jack Williamson, Hugh B. Cave, Seabury Quinn and many others. The volume also included an informative essay about Weird Tales cover artists by Robert Weinberg, illustrated with numerous colour reproductions.
Les nombreuses vies de Cthulhu (The Many Incarnations of Cthulhu) by Patrick Marcel was a highly illustrated French paperback that looked at the history of H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic mythology. The book also included two short Lovecraftian pastiches by Peter Canon and Kim Newman, plus a bibliography of Lovecraft’s work.
Edited by Benjamin Szumskyj, The Man Who Collected Psychos: Critical Essays on Robert Bloch from McFarland & Company contained twelve articles by S.T. Joshi, Darrell Schweitzer, Leigh Blackmore, John Howard, Randall D. Larson, Joel Lane and others, along with a Foreword by Robert Hood.
Harlan Ellison, Dean Koontz, William F. Nolan and Gahan Wilson were among those who contributed essays and appreciations to The Twilight and Other Zones: The Dark Worlds of Richard Matheson edited by Stanley Wiater, Matthew R. Bradley and Paul Stuve. The book also included a bibliography/ filmography of Matheson’s work.
Limited to just 250 hardcover copies and profusely illustrated (often in colour), Memory, Prophecy and Fantasy: The Works and Worlds of Clive Barker Volume One: Liverpool Lives was a meticulously researched biography of the author’s early years by Phil and Sarah Stokes.
Paperboy by Christopher Fowler was by turns a hilarious and also moving autobiography about growing up in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.
Practically pole-jumping on the bandwagon, George Beahm’s Twilight Tours: A Guide to the Real Forks from Underwood Books was a travel guide to the town and locations used in Stephenie Meyer’s ‘‘Twilight’’ series.
Published by the British Fantasy Society but sold only outside the membership, the clumsily-titled In Conversation: A Writer’s Perspective: Volume One: Horror was a hardcover containing original interviews with sixteen of “today’s leading practitioners of horror fiction”, including Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen Gallagher, Peter Crowther, Tim Lebbon, Ray Garton, Mark Morris, Graham Joyce and others.
However, editor James Cooper soon found himself in hot water when several blogs and websites accused him and the society of sexism, pointing out that the book did not contain a single interview with a female horror writer. Even the online versions of Guardian and Publishers Weekly picked up the story.
As a result, BFS Chairperson Guy Adams, who commissioned the volume, issued a grovelling apology to just about everyone, apparently speaking on behalf of every male working in the genre when he said that it was “disgustingly simple for a man not
to notice these things, a blindness to the importance of correct gender representation that I feel embarrassed to have fallen into . . . I can only apologise and hope that the discussion has made other editors and publishers realize that this kind of lazy sexism is unacceptable and to watch their own lists in future.”
Adams’ response appeased his vociferous group of detractors and Cooper’s proposed series of interview books was quickly cancelled.
Edited by Michael Knost, Writers Workshop of Horror from Woodland Press included twenty-four articles on writing horror fiction by Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Hand, Thomas F. Monteleone and others, along with interviews with Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, F. Paul Wilson and Tom Piccirilli.
Esoteria-Land: The Authentic, Eclectic, & Eccentric Nonfiction of Michael McCarty from BearManor Media collected twenty-six interviews, sixteen articles and various reviews, along with an Introduction by actress Linnea Quigley and an Afterword by The Amazing Kreskin (who also turned up in McCarty’s vampire novel Liquid Diet as a character).
From McFarland & Company, Metamorphoses of the Werewolf: A Literary Study from Antiquity Through the Renaissance by university professor Leslie A. Sconduto explored the context that created the traditional image of the werewolf as a savage beast.
For those who needed it, Jay Stevenson’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vampires supplied all the answers, while Zombies for Zombies was a humorous guide to being one of the walking dead by David P. Murphy.
M. Keith Booker’s Red, White, and Spooked: The Supernatural in American Culture was published by Greenwood Press/Praeger.
Available from Beccon Publications in both hardcover and trade paperback formats, Canary Fever was the fourth volume of John Clute’s collected literary reviews, the majority of them dating from between 2003 and 2008.
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