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Weirdbook 2021 Annual: Zombies!

Weirdbook 2021 Annual: Zombies!

Weirdbook Annual: Zombies [October 2021] ed. Doug Draa (Wildside Press, Kindle $3.99, Hardcover $29.99, Paperback $15.00, 295p, 6” x 9”) Cover by Fotolia, three interior illustrations by Allen Koszowski, plus others
1 • Contents
3 • From the Editor’s Tower • Doug Draa • ed
4 • The Meddler • Matthew John • ss
15 • Necrophalic Sin • Ashley Dioses • pm
16 • Tiger Girls Vs. The Zombies • Lucy A. Snyder • ss
26 • When They Come Back • Avra Margariti • pm
27 • Dead Between the Eyes [Nick Nightmare] • Adrian Cole • ss
43 • The Crimson Star • Josh Maybrook • pm
44 • Alive Again • Franklyn Searight • ss
54 • Love in a Time of Zombies • Darrell Schweitzer • pm
55 • The Last Final Girl • Lori R. Lopez • pm
58 • The Night Hans Kroeger Came Back [Bajazid] • Kenneth Bykerk • ss
63 • The Marching Dead • Andrew Darlington • ss
72 • I Wished for Zombies • D.C. Lozar • ss
77 • I Put a Spell On You • Allan Rozinski • pm
78 • O Mary Don’t You Mourn • Mike Chinn • ss
88 • Evil Harvest • K.A. Opperman • pm
89 • To Die, to Sleep, No More • Erica Ruppert • ss
96 • Run, Monster, Run • Teasha Seitz • ss
103 • Another Night in Bayou Savvage • Chad Hensley • ss
106 • Kifaro • Dilman Dila • ss
118 • But I Love Him • Scott Wheelock • ss
120 • Who Wants to Live Forever? • Angela Yuriko Smith • ss
123 • The Dead are Always Hungry • Christopher Alex Ray • ss
133 • Zen Zombies • Ryan Aussie Smith • vi
134 • Cassius Max • KT Morley • ss
146 • A Nanotech Samsara • J.N. Cameron • ss

Weirdbook 2021 Annual: Zombies!

150 • The Zombie Master’s Store • Gregg Chamberlain • pm
154 • Pine in the Soul • John Linwood Grant • ss
167 • “Welcome Home” • Craig E. Sawyer • ss
171 • Papa Hanco • Ed Reyes • ss
175 • They Shall Eat Dust • Josh Reynolds • ss
185 • In Shadow Valley • Nick Swain • ss
199 • Devil’s Bargain • J.F. Le Roux • ss
204 • Right for You Now • Andrew Jennings • ss
216 • E’Zunguth, the Zombie God • Maxwell I. Gold • vi
217 • Lazy River • Kelly Piner • ss
223 • The New Human • Shayne K. Keen • ss
228 • This Little Piggy • EV Knight • ss
237 • Ofactory Spectra of the Dead • Robert Borski • pm
239 • Life Unworthy of Life • Stephanie Ellis • ss
249 • More Blood • Carson Ray • ss
259 • Something Wakes • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • pm
260 • The Creeping Cold • Kevin Rees • ss
269 • Mummy’s Curse • Colleen Anderson • pm
270 • The Body I Used to Be • Scott Edelman • ss
281 • Stirrings • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • pm
282 • Queen of Hearts • S.E. Lindberg • ss

Weirdbook on Wildside Press website

Contents formatted for inclusion in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

A Sorcerer of Atlantis by John Shirley

A Sorcerer of Atlantis by John Shirley

I had the pleasure of interviewing John Shirley for The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 about Weirdbook No. 42 the special John Shirley issue. His novella, “Swords of Atlantis,” is the cornerstone of the issue.

In need of a quick payday, Snoori convinces his companion, Brimm the Savant, that treasure awaits them on Poseidonia, one of the ten kingdoms of Atlantis. “It is circled with fields and orchards and stream jumping with curious but delicious fish. And there, in an old palace, waits the beauteous Cleito, a princess who has offered ten bushels of gold to any ten men who will become the Swords of her Heart: the champions who will destroy a minor demon set in place by an addle-pated old sorcerer—a sorcerer long dead.”

Seeking passage to the island, Brimm and Snoori soon find themselves manacled in a ship’s bowels, shanghaied as galley slaves. The two irreverent heroes tax their wits and luck to escape one danger only to land in the midst of another. A rollicking, ricocheting adventure bordered by peril, magic, gold, and romance.

The story begged for a follow-up, so I asked John if it was part of a series. Below is his reply:

“While ‘Swords of Atlantis’ is self-contained, a complete tale (with several parts) in and of itself, it is indeed also designed to be the first half of a novel, and the beginning of a series of novels. The second half has been roughly outlined. I would like to write a series of stories about Brimm and Snoori. They are an amusing duo. I wanted to write something that, while not satire or parody, still had a sense of humor. While the novella has its horrific and traditionally fantastic core, I was looking for every possible way to make the story more entertaining, and having a sense of humor about the heroes is another facet. In this I’m a bit influenced by certain Jack Vance tales, perhaps especially the Cugel stories. I grew up loving the sword and sorcery fantasy stories of Robert E Howard and Fritz Leiber, and, when I was in my early teens, Moorcock’s Elric stories. I’ve always wanted to explore that genre in my own way and thus, here is “Swords of Atlantis.” Additionally, the Atlantis story has always held a certain fascination for me. I tried to ground the novella in a reasonably real-seeming setting, as it might have been in ancient times, centuries before Anno Domini.”

Approximately twleve months later, Hippocampus Press has published A Sorcerer of Atlantis with further adventures of Brimm and Snoori as well as the novella “A Prince in the Kingdom of Ghosts.”

For more background on the book see Doug Draa’s interview with John Shirley at BlackGate.com.

A Sorcerer of Atlantis by John Shirley

Weirdbook No.44

Weirdbook No.44

Weirdbook [Vol. 2 #14, #44, May 2021] ed. Doug Draa (Wildside Press, $13.00, 179p, 6” x 9”0 Cover by Fotolia, interior illustrations by Allen Koszowski
1 • Contents
2 • From the Editor’s Tower • Doug Draa • ed
3 • Let Me Be Your Swamp Snake [Nick Nightmare] • Adrian Cole • ss
16 • Warning • Darrell Schweitzer • pm
17 • A Whisper in the Death Pit • Kyla Lee Ward • ss
25 • Absent a Passion Play • Allan Rozinski • pm
26 • Deadest Man in Town • Franklyn Searight • ss
63 • Penumbra Over Millwall • Jan Edwards • ss
75 • Fragile • Lucy A. Snyder • pm
76 • Birth • M. Stern • ss
88 • Spectres Untold • Maxwell I. Gold • pm
91 • Belladonna’s Kiss • Ashley Dioses • pm
91 • Among the Fallen • Ann K. Schwader • pm
92 • Okiko’s Doll • Stefano Frigieri; translated by Amanda Blee • ss
102 • Heatseeker • Tim Curran • ss
121 • Witch’s Barrow • Chad Hensley • pm
122 • The Librarian • Sharon L. Cullars • ss
128 • The Third Obscenity • Frederick J. Mayer • pm
129 • Dream Warriors (1) Team Spirit • D.C. Lozar • ss
148 • Bang! • Chris Kuriata • ss
160 • Death and the Vampire • James Dorr • ss
162 • Mind Rot • Cindy O’Quinn • pm
163 • The Dust of Sages and Fools • John R. Fultz • ss
176 • Push Dagger • John C. Hocking • ss
179 • Song of the Goat • K.A. Opperman • pm

Weirdbook on Wildside Press’ website

Contents formatted for inclusion in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

Startling Stories No. 1

Startling Stories Vol. 34 No. 1, 2021 issue

Startling Stories [v34 #1, 2021 issue] ex. ed. John Betancourt, ed. Douglas Draa (Wildside Press, $19.99, 252pp, pulp)
1 • A Voice from the Ether • Douglas Draa • ed
• Contents Pages
2 • Cradle of the Deep • Mike Chinn • ss
20 • Invasion of the Deadly Brain from Alpha-IX • Scott Emerson • ss • illustration by Allen K.
27 • Evidence of the Mirror • Harb Kauderer • ss
36 • Mothership • Stephen Pershing • ss
50 • Timeline Murders • Janet Fox • pm
51 • Hazthrog’s Contempt • Maxwell I. Gold • ss
59 • New Life • Mark Slade • ss
65 • Red Dragon • Shadrick Beechem • ss
73 • Snack Time • Franklyn Searight • ss
88 • Amiri • Nicole Givens Kurtz • ss
93 • Sticks and Stones • John B. Rosenman • ss
98 • T. Gips and the Time Flies • Ahmed A. Khan • ss
100 • The Angry Planet • D.J. Turer • ss
107 • The Heart of a Hitman • Rie Sheridan Rose • ss
113 • The Kidnapped Prince • Cynthia Ward • ss
125 • The Outpost, Outside • Larry Hinkle • ss
130 • The Vaults of Ban-Erach. • Steve Dilks • ss
142 • Totality • Andre E. Harewood • ss
149 • Triplet Cross • Patrick S. Baker • ss
164 • Sea Bound-1 • Eddie D. Moore • ss
176 • The Blood Red Sky of Mars • Adrian Cole • ss
192 • Horizon • John Gregory Betancourt • nv
243 • Sunrise on Mercury • Robert Silverberg • ss Science Fiction Stories May 1957 as by Calvin M. Knox

Wildside Press Website
Print $19.99

Weirdbook No. 41

Weirdbook No. 41

Weirdbook Vol. 2 No. 11 Issue 41 June 2019
Contents
Doug Draa: From the Editor’s Tower

Stories
Adrian Cole “Tonight I Wear My Crimson Face”
Darrell Schweitzer “The House of the Witches”
Erica Ruppertabout “The Bones”
Steve Dilks “The Idols of Xan”
Marlane Quade Cook “Conjurings”
Glynn Owen Barrass “Matriarch Unbound”
Luke Walker “The Mouth at the Edge of the World”
Alistair Rey “An Autumn Settling”
K.G. Anderson “I Know How You’ll Die”
Jack Lee Taylor “Fair Shopping”
Marina Favila “Black Aggie”
Arasibo Campeche “The Chroma of Home”
Dean MacAllister “The Last Resort”
S. Subramanian “The Crypt Beneath the Manse”
C.M. Muller “A Winter Reunion”
Leonard Carpenter “The Stravinsky Code”
Matthew Masucci “She Talks to Me”
L.F. Falconer “Wings of Twilight”
Thomas C. Mavroudis “A Pantheon of Trash”
D.C. Lozar “Juliet’s Moon”
Jean Graham “The Gargoyle’s Wife”
Justin Boote “The Melting Man”
Sean McCoy “Dead Waves”
J.D. Brink “The Proposal”
Kevin Hayman “Dark Energy”
S. L. Edwards “Christmas at Castle Dracula”
M. Ravenberg “There Was Fire”
Sharon Cullars “Them”
C. I. Kemp “For Love of Lythea”

Poetry
K.A. Opperman “Beltane”
Scott J. Couturier “Twin Hungers”
Ashley Dioses “The Jackal”
Joshua Gage “Our Family Ghost”
Russ Parkhurst “Le Gargoyle”

Weirdbook Vol. 2 No. 11 Issue 41 June 2019
Publisher/Executive Editor: John Gregory Betancourt
Editor: Doug Draa
Consulting Editor: W. Paul Ganley
Cover: Iuliia Kovalova
Interior Artwork: Allen Koszowski
235 pages, 6” x 9”
POD $12.00 , Kindle*
Wildside Press website

*Not available at the time of this writing

Weirdbook Annual No. 2: Cthulhu

Weirdbook Annual No. 2: Cthulhu

Weirdbook Annual No. 2: Cthulhu
Contents
Doug Draa: From the Editor’s Tower

Stories
Robert M. Price
“The Shining Trapezohedron”
Lucy A. Snyder “A Noble Endeavor”
Cynthia Ward “Ancient Astronauts”
John R. Fultz “The Thing in the Pond”
Adrian Cole “Enter the Cobweb Queen”
Paul Dale Anderson “Tricks No Treats”
Christian Riley “Ronnie and the River”
Franklyn Searight “Cellar Dweller”
R.C. Mulhare “Yellow Labeled VHS Tape”
L.F. Falconer “Tuama”
Kenneth Bykerk “Mercy Holds No Measure”
Glynn Owen Barrass “Treacherous Memory”
Darrell Schweitzer “The Hutchison Boy”

Poetry
Deuce Richardson
“Dolmen of the Moon”
Andrew J. Wilson “Lovecraftian Limerick”
Ann K. Schwader “A Wizard’s Daughter”
DB Spitzer “The Shadow of Azathoth is Your Galaxy”
Mark A. Mihalko “Ascend”
Allan Rozinski “The Solace of the Farther Moon”
Charles Lovecraft “The Stars are Always Right”
K.A. Opperman “Daemonic Nathicana”
Ashley Dioses “Asenath”
“The Book of Eibon/Le Livre D’eibon” trans by Frederick J. Mayer

Weirdbook Annual No. 2: Cthulhu
Publisher/Executive Editor: John Gregory Betancourt
Editor: Doug Draa
Consulting Editor: W. Paul Ganley
Interior Artwork: Allen Koszowski
148 pages, 6” x 9”
$13.00 POD, Kindle (Cthulhu Mythos Megapack No. 3) 55¢
Wildside Press website

Weirdbook No. 40

Regularly $12.00, now $8.15. Grab it fast, who knows how long this price will last!

Weirdbook No. 40 Nov. 2018

Weirdbook Vol. 2 No. 10 Issue 40 November 2018
Contents
Doug Draa: From the Editor’s Tower

Stories
Adrian Cole “Iconoclasm”
Franklyn Searight “Have a Crappy Halloween”
Samson Stormcrow Hayes “Early Snow”
Glynn Owen Barrass “The Dollhouse”
Loren Rhoads “Elle a Vu un Loup”
Christian Riley “Bringing the Bodies Home”
Marlane Quade Cook “Restored”
David M. Hoenig “Nameless and Named”
Paul Lubaczewski “Playing A Starring Role”
Mike Chinn “And the Living is Easy”
Paul StJohn Mackintosh “The Prague Relic”
Matt Sullivan “The Circle”
John Linwood Grant “Sanctuary”
Matt Neil Hill “The Giving of Gifts”
Jack Lothian “The Santa Anna”
Kevin Henry “The Dread Fishermen”
Andrew Darlington “Blind Vision”
William Tea “The Thirteenth Step”
Clint Smith “This Godless Apprenticeship”
John W. Dennehy “Waiting”
Paul R. McNamee “Pouring Whiskey In My Soul”
Darrell Schweitzer “True Blue”
Rohit Sawant “The Treadmill”
W.D. Clifton “The Veiled Isle”

Poetry
Jessica Amanda Salmonson
“Gila King”
Frederick J. Mayer “Necro-Meretrix”
Frederick J. Mayer “Grinning Moon”
Russ Parkhurst “The Burning Man”
Russ Parkhurst “Silent Hours”
Maxwell I Gold “The Old White Crone”

Weirdbook Vol. 2 No. 10 Issue 40 November 2018
Publisher/Executive Editor: John Gregory Betancourt
Editor: Doug Draa
Consulting Editor: W. Paul Ganley
Cover: J. Florêncio
Interior Artwork: Allen Koszowski
256 pages, 6” x 9”
$12.00 POD, Kindle*
Wildside Press website

*Not available at the time of this writing

Rish Outfield’s Trick

Weirdbook No. 34 page 179From Weirdbook No. 34:

In “Trick” by Rish Outfield, a self-absorbed dad gets a handful on Halloween when he takes his daughter trick or treating.

I imagine poetry is even more challenging to write and sell than fiction. Weirdbook provides six poems in this issue, the short ones used to fill out the last page of a story, and the longer ones to provide a break between the fiction. This issue includes verses by Steve Dilks (2), Darrell Schweitzer, Ashley Dioses (2), and Lucy A. Snyder.

Editor Doug Draa has done excellent work curating a diverse mix of weird fiction and poetry
for Weirdbook No. 34. Highly recommended for fans of fantasy, horror, supernatural, and science fiction. Every story was entertaining and worth reading. My favorites were those by Adrian Cole and Sean Patrick Hazlett. And I’d rate James D. Mabe’s “Touched” as the best of the book by a shake—a tremble actually.

Greg Jenkins’ Thrill

Weirdbook No. 34 page 170From Weirdbook No. 34:

A short excerpt from Greg Jenkins’ “Thrill My Soul” provides both the tone and gist of his story: “Right away, I had a bad feeling about what I was in for. Anytime Death offers you his hand and says Come with me, chances are you’re not going to Disney World.”