Below is the content of the current issue, formatted to align with entries in Phil Stephensen-Payne’sGalactic Central reference website.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine [v66 #1/2. January/February 2021] ed. Linda Landrigan, mng. ed. Emily Hockaday (Dell Magazines, $7.99, 192pp, digest, cover by Shutterstock.com) 3 • Contents Page 5 • Fatal Resolutions/The Lineup • Linda Landrigan • ed 6 • Hard Money • Kevin Egan • ss; illustration by Daniel Zalkus 17 • Scrambled Alleyn I • Mark Lagasse • pz 18 • A Helping Hand • R.T. Lawton • ss 28 • Fake News • Larry Light • ss 47 • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus • Rebecca Cantrell • ss 52 • Backwords • John H. Dirckx • ss 71 • Mysterious Photograph: It’s All Down From Here • Anon • cn; $25 given to best short-short to explain the photograph. 72 • There’s Nothing Funny About Murder • Michael Mallory • ss 91 • Reader, I Killed Him • Meredith Anthony • ss 96 • Ticking of the Big Clock • O’Neil De Noux • ss; illustration by Ron Chionna 122 • Booked & Printed • Laurel Flores Fantauzzo • rc 126 • The Underneath • Stephen Ross • ss 132 • Piper at the Back Door of Dawn • Dan Crawford • ss 138 • Dying Words Acrostic Puzzle • Arlene Fisher • pz 140 • Coming Clean • Leslie Budewitz • ss 152 • Mr. Jolly Gets His Jollies • Time Burke • ss; illustration by Kelly Denato 160 • Accusing Agnes • Marianne Wilski Strong • ss 170 • A Family Matter • Barb Goffman • ss 179 • The Masque of the Red Death • Edgar Allan Poe • AHMM’s “Mystery Classic.” 184 • Case Files: Moving in Bad Company (Part I) • Lee Lofland • cl 188 • The Story That Won: Don’t Call Me Peanut • Elaine Taylor • ss; winner of the September/October 2020 “Mysterious Photograph” contest. 189 • Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation • Peter Kanter • ms
New Releases Nostalgia Digest Autumn 2020 Contents Steve Darnall “Hello, Out There in Radioland!” Steve Darnall “Reflections of a Golden Age” (cover story) Dan McGuire “At This Theatre Next Week” Chapter Four Jordan Elliott “Man and Superman” (Clayton Collyer) Clair Schulz “Smilin’ Through” (Pegy Lynch) Walter Scannell “This Ladd for Hire” (Alan Ladd) Wayne Klatt “Pleasant Screams” (radio’s scary shows) Alex Udvary “Hollywood Madmen” (Clark & McCullogh) Stone Wallace “Prince of Players” (Raymond Massey) Mail Call Plus, the Radio Program Guide for Those Were the Days and WGN Radio Theatre
Nostalgia Digest Book 46 Chapter 4 Autumn 2020 Editor: Steve Darnall Cover: Mark Braun 5.5” x 8.5” 64 pages, b&w interior $4.50 on newsstands Four-issue subscription $17 Eight-issue subscription $30 Nostalgia Digest website
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Sep/Oct 2020 Contents Page Linda Landrigan: A Word of Thanks The Lineup Elliot F. Sweeney “Mrs. White Hart” art by Kimberly Cho Dan Crawford “Storage” Jane Pendjiky “Fruiting Bodies” Mysterious Photograph $25 fiction contest “The Handoff” Christopher Latragna “Call it Sad, Call it Funny” Sharon Jarvis “Who Killed What’s Her Name?” Laurel Flores Fantauzzo: Booked and Printed James Sallis “The Beauty of Sunsets” Wouter Boonstra “Archored” translated from the Dutch by Josh Pachter Steven Gore “Inflection” art by Daniel Zalkus Mark Lagasse: Scrambled Hitch (puzzle, solution on page 192) Arlene Fisher: Dying Words (acrostic puzzle, solution on page 192) Richard Freeborn “Family Harmony” John Paul Davies “Limited Edition” Dave Zeltserman “Past Due” art by Kevin Speidell Michael Nethercott “Old Echoes” Tom Larsen “Buscando Tupac” Bob Tippee “You Said This Was Business” Josh Pachter selects/introduces a Mystery Classic: “Thubway Tham’s Hoodoo Roll” by Johnston McCulley (Detective Story Magazine Nov. 12, 1921) Lee Lofland’s Case File: Excited Delirium The Story That Won (May/Jun) “Never a Dull Moment in the Kitchen” by Rosemary Herbert Coming in AHMM Nov/Dec 2020 Directory of Services/Indicia
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 65 No. 9 & 10 Sep/Oct 2020 Publisher: Peter Kanter Editor: Linda Landrigan Managing Editor: Jackie Sherbow Senior Director of Art & Production: Porter C. McKinnon Senior ADs: Victoria Green, Thomas Slosser Cover: Erika Steiskal 192 pages $7.99 on newsstands until Oct. 20, 2020 Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine website
Amazing Selects No. 3: Adrift in the Sea of Souls by David Gerrold Contents Page Adam-Troy Castro’s Introduction: The Sprung Chicken Steve Davidson’s Publisher’s Note: David Gerrold David Gerrold “Adrift in the Sea of Souls” David Gerrold “The White Piano” David Gerrold “Jacob in Manhattan” Author’s Afterword About the Author Art the Artist: M.D. Jackson
Amazing Selects No. 3 Publisher: Steve Davidson Cover and interior artwork M.D. Jackson 5.5” x 8.5” 170 pages Print $8.99 Kindle $8.99 Amazing Stories website
Also out is Mystery Weekly Magazine Sep. 2020, with stories by Nick LeGrand, Edward Lodi, Joseph S. Walker, Benjamin Mark, William Burton McCormick, Shea E. Butler, Stan Dryer, and Eric B. Rurark. Available in print $7.99 and Kindle $3.99
Digest Magazine Reviews John O’Neill gives an overview of the “Big 5” digests for Sep/Oct 2020 at Black Gate.
Robert Lopresti reviews Joseph S. Walker’s “Golden Lives” from Mystery Weekly Magazine Sep. 2020 at Little Big Crimes.
David Levinson reviews Worlds of If Oct. 1965 at Galactic Journey.
Kevin Tipple reviews Mystery Weekly Magazine April 2020 at Kevin’s Corner.
Digest Magazine Writers’ Updates Alan Dean Foster, whose “The Treasure of the Lugar Morto” appears in Analog Sep/Oct 2020, talks about writing at The Astounding Analog Companion.
Iris Hockaday, whose story “The Thunderstorm” appears in EQMM Jul/Aug 2020, reflects on “mystery” at Something is Going to Happen.
Jason Sandford on “The Eight-Thousanders” from Asimov’s Sep/Ocy 2020 at From Earth to the Stars.
Storytime Charlie Cancel’s “R/amitheasshole Posted by Tammy Whammy 2 Hours Ago” at Pulp Modern Flash.
Josh Pachter reads his “The Secret Lagoon” from EQMM Sep/Oct 2019 at Podomatic.
Zine Scene Jim Main’sBrain Freeze No. 5 was released this week. Its contributor list is too long to re-create here, but includes TDE illustrator Rick McCollum. The 52-page zine is available for $6.25 post paid from: Main Enterprises PO Box 93 New Milford, CT 06776
TDE Contributors’ Corner Jack Seabrook and Peter Enfantino review The Brave and the Bold No. 167, Batman No. 328, and Detective No. 495 at bare•bones e-zine.
Richard Kellogg sent a press release for his new book: Barry Baskerville’s Christmas Mystery (Airship 27, 2020) by Richard Kellogg and lavishly illustrated by Gary Kato, is now available from Amazon.com. In the seventh entry of this series of mysteries for children, Barry uses all his skills of observation and deduction to identify a thief who has been stealing Christmas trees from the lawns of the residents of Watsonville. Young readers will learn about the methods used by Sherlock Holmes while improving their own problem-solving skills. Sherlockians will find the book a great holiday gift for their children and grandchildren.
Jack Seabrook’s The Hitchcock Project—Harold Swanton Part Seven: Bang! You’re Dead at bare•bones e-zine.
Readin’ and Writin’ Alec Cizak offers creative writing tips on plotting at ACTV.
Did a fair about of reading this week, but didn’t finish any one of the books or digests currently in play. More next week.
Finished retouching the pages of Head No. 1 for Marc Myer’s upcoming Roman Scott collection.
This week’s progress on TDE13: Steve Carper sent nearly a dozen cover scans for his upcoming article on digest SF novels. Jack Seabrook tapped Walker Martin for help securing the final images from Mystery Book Magazine No. 16, for Jack’s article on Leo Marr. And the color work on Bob Vojtko’s six gag cartoons was completed. Four will appear on one page I’ve dubbed “Zowie” in tribute to the Lopez digest magazine from the 1970s.
Our current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
Vintage Science Fiction Digest Galaxy Aug. 1977 Inside front cover by James R. Odbert Contents Page Calendar James Patrick Bean’s Editorial: Galaxy and the Galaxy Harbert Charles Petley “…and Earth So Far Away” art by Stephen Fabian Frederik Pohl: Postscript to Gateway Charles Sheffield “Perfectly Safe, Nothing to Worry About” Jerry Pournelle, PhD: A Step Farther Out (science fact) Frank Herbert “The Dosadi Experiment” Richard E. Geis: The Alien Viewpoint art by Tim Kirk Arsen Darnay “Pheromonal Fountain” Spider Robinson: Galaxy Bookshelf Jay Brandon “The All-Soul is Calling Quinlan” art by Stephen Fabian Directions (letter pages) Galaxy/If SF Mart (classified ads)
Galaxy Science Fiction Vol 38 No. 6 August 1977 Publisher: Arnold E. Abramson Editor: James Patrick Baen Art Director: Stephen Fabian Assistant Editor: Elaine Will Science Editor: J.E. Pournelle, PhD Contributing Editor: Spider Robinson Consulting Editor: Theodore Sturgeon Cover: Kelly Freas 5.25” x 7.75” 160 pages $1.25
“Chase Montgomery wasn’t just out of the closet—he was out of the house and leading one-man Gay Pride parades around our little two-stoplight Texas town until he disappeared on the first without saying goodbye.” “Chase Your Dreams” by Michael BrackenAlfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine June 2016
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 11 No. 12 Dec. 1966 Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Reader Contents Max Van Derveer “The Holiday Spirit” J.A. Mas “The Deadly Handyman” Lawrence Block “Some Things a Man Must Do” James N. Semple “Lull in Homicide” Dan J. Marlowe “The Annuity” Bob Bristow “The Message” Mike Brett “Crooks, Satchels, and Selma” Parley J. Cooper “The Servant Problem” Carl Henry Rathjen “Jump Job” Jack Webb “Day of the Tiger” Robert Edmond Alter “No Place Like Home” Wenzell Brown “The Blue Man” Richard O. Lewis “Shakedown” James McKimmey “The Magic Tree”
“Beside a Flowering Wall” by Fletcher Flora is reprinted from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine April 1968. A spinster is visited by the lost love of her life. “The wonder was that he had [once] loved her, for she had been a plain girl, as she was a plain woman, with an odd faded look as if she had been laundered too many times in boiling water.” The crime here was the loss of what might have been, until the opportunity to erase it forever arose.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 11 No. 5 May 1966 Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Reader (an excerpt) “. . . be King of the Grill, and a Mystery Reading Buff, adn acquire the resolute expression of the gentleman on the cover.” Contents Edward D. Hoch “The Rusty Rose” Robert G. Anderson “Child of the Night” Frank Sisk “The Sawbuck Machine” Robert W. Alexander “Over a Barrel” Ed Lacy “Five Minutes Ago” Carroll Mayers “The Conspirators” Robert Edmond Alter “The Shunned House” F.J. Smith “The Gun Merchant” Aubrey S. Newman “Community Service” Ione Ivey “So Tender These Petals” Dick Ellis “Beware the Righteous Man” Lawrence E. Orin “The Basement Room” Geoffrey Knighton “A Matter of Honor” Joseph Payne Brennan “The Intangible Threat” Fletcher Flora “The Happenstance Snatch” Each story includes an illustration by Marguerite Blair Deacon
Editor and Publisher: Richard E. Decker Managing Editor: G.F. Foster Associate Editors: Victoria S. Benham, Pat Hitchcock, Ernest Hutter Art Director: Marguerite Blair Deacon 160 pages, 50¢
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 11 No. 4 April 1966 Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Friends “Soon we will once again hear, from spring training camps, the crack of a baseball bat—hopefully, against a ball . . .” Contents Richard Hill Wilkinson “Night Clerk” C.B. Gilford “Don’t Call It Murder” Virginia Coffman “Spring Thaw” Lawrence A. Hayner “The Big Diamond Glittered” Cameron Wills “Personal” Helen Nielsen “The Master’s Touch” Steve Wyandotte “An Ill Wind” Jack Ritchie “Plan 19” Robert Specht “The Real Thing” Ed Lacy “The Listening Cone” Ree Montgomery “Cabin on the Old Dump Road” Robert Edmond Alter “Haunted Hill” Vera Henry “Between Trains” Dan J. Marlowe “Don’t Lose Your Cool” Richard Hardwick “The Private Eye of Irving Anvil” Each story includes an illustration by Marguerite Blair Deacon
Editor and Publisher: Richard E. Decker Managing Editor: G.F. Foster Associate Editors: Pat Hitchcock, Ernest Hutter, Victoria S. Benham Art Director: Marguerite Blair Deacon 164 pages, 50¢
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 9 No. 6 June 1964 Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Friends Contents Richard Deming “Medicine Woman” Jack Ritchie “Everybody Except Wilbur” Leo R. Ellis “Fresh Thuringer Today” Robert Edmond Alter “Echo of a Savage” Jay Folb “Hero of the Silver Screen” Frank Sisk “The Clean Platter” Carl Henry Rathjen “A Debt to Doc” Rog Phillips “Legacy of Office” Carroll Mayers “Until Death Us Do Part” Thomasina Weber “Judgment Day” Dick Ellis “Final Performance” Richard Hardwick “The Dangerous Age” Jan MacKenzie “Show Me First Your Penny” Steve O’Connell “Kill the Taste” Ed Dumonte “Summer Session Only” Each story includes an illustration by Marguerite Blair Deacon
Editor and Publisher: Richard E. Decker Managing Editor: G.F. Foster Associate Editors: Victoria S. Benham, Pat Hitchcock, Ned Benham Art Director: Marguerite Blair Deacon 164 pages, 50¢
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 9 No. 2 Feb. 1964 Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Readers Contents Henry Slesar “Second Verdict” Duane Yarnell “The Bent Frame” Arthur Porges “Blood Will Tell” Robert Edmond Alter “A Habit for the Voyage” Thomasina Weber “The Handiest Man Around” Wenzell Brown “The Lure” Hilda Cushing “She Loved Funerals” Clark Howard “Four and Twenty Blackbirds” Jonathan Craig “The Baby” Gene Pollock “The Time of His Life” Miranda Wallace “A Touch of Magic” Edward Wellen “Siege Perilous” Richard Deming “The Sensitive Juror” Carroll Mayers “The Big Grab” Bernice Balfour “The Vision of Mrs. Hardy”