January 2018 – Page 2 – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

News January 21, 2018

Sean Azzopardi

London-based cartoonist Sean Azzopardi sent an assortment of his recent comics:

Rain on Glass (2014, A5-size, 24 pages) Dramatic moments in Sean’s early life.

Tracks (2015, A5-size, 20 pages) Comic conventions, concerts, and a trip to Italy.

After the Sessions (2917, A5-size, 28 pages) Over the course of a day, images return unbidden to therapist Karen Quinlan’s memory, brought on by the messy stories and everyday complaints of her clients. A key, or a beach, or a sunset. The things she thought were left behind. It’s here that Karen discovers that the things she thought were gone are still very much with her. Script by Douglas Nobel, art by Sean Azzopardi

50 (2017, A4-size, 48 pages) Recollections of moments leading up to Sean’s 50th. (Andy Oliver’s review of 50 on Broken Frontier.)

Phatcomics website
Phatcomics shop

Reviews January 20, 2018

Bryce Walton’s Polyoid

As featured in Marvel Science Stories May 1951:

You’d think Sam Forbes had won the lottery when he passes “the test” in Bryce Walton’s story “Polyoid.” He soon becomes a Blue Light Worker in the Great Computer, where all of the Plan’s most complex problems are solved by the integration of human minds and computer technology. Perfection for the futuristic society; temporary for the individual, whose mind, sooner or later, burns out under the load.

In addition to his numerous science fiction yarns, Bryce Walton (1918–1988) wrote scripts for Captain Video and His Video Rangers and three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His novels include Cave of Danger, Harpoon Gunner, Hurricane Reef and The Fire Trail.

News January 19, 2018

Switchblade #4

It’s always great to see the glint of Scotch Rutherford’s Switchblade, an anthology of noir. Under issue four’s red hot cover:

Lisa Douglass “Members Only” (verse)
Scotch Rutherford Editor’s Corner photo by Jack Valentine
Quick & Dirty Flash Fiction
Jeffrey B. Burton “The Duck Blind”
Henry Brock “Cigarettes”
Aaron Majewski “The Dark Gleaming Blade”
J.D. Graves “Oh Sugar”
Peter DiChellis “Eternal Love”
Sharp & Deadly Short Fiction
Pearce Hansen “Seen One, Seen ‘Em All”
Nick Manzolillo “Extreme Hunting”
Max Sheridan “The Heart Handshake”
Tais Teng “Doch das Messer sieht man nicht”
Diane Deverell “Organ Trade Off”
Mike Derochick “Sunrise at the Devil’s Pulpit”
Lisa Douglass “Tumblr Girls”
Keith Rawson “So Much Love”
A.B. Patterson “White Powder, Black Leather, Grey Badges”
Author Bios & Acknowledgements

Switchblade: An Anthology of Noir
Caledonia Press
Editor: Scotch Rutherford
Cover photo: Scotch Rutherford
5” x 8”, 130 pages
POD $6.99 Kindle $2.99 (free with print version)

Switchblade Magazine website

News January 18, 2018

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jan/Feb 2018

Contents
Happy Holidays art by Ally Hodges
The Lineup
Michael Nethercott “Sinners at Eight” art by Hank Blaustein
Marianne Wilski Strong “Louisa and the Lighthouse”
Peter Sellers “Christmas Help”
Mysterious Photograph $25 fiction contest “End Game”
John M. Floyd “Scavenger Hunt”
S. Frederic Liss “Coroners Don’t Change Faces” photo by Ron Chironna
Arlene Fisher Dying Words acrostic puzzle
Janice Law “The Crucial Game”
John H. Dirckx “Go for the Juggler”
David Edgerley Gates “A Multitude of Sins”
Robert C. Hahn Booked & Printed
James Lincoln Warren “The Chinese Dog Mystery” art by Ally Hodges
Robert Lopresti “Train Tracks”
Alex C. Renwick “Shallow Sand”
David Hagerty “Fair Trade”
Dorothy L. Sayers “Nebuchadnezzar” (Mystery Classic selected by B.K. Stevens)
The Story That Won (Sep/Oct) “Carried Away” by Bruce Harris
Statement of ownership, management, and circulation
Classified Marketplace

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Vol. 63 #1 & 2 Jan/Feb 2018
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Associate Editor: Jackie Sherbow
Senoir Director of Art & Production: Porter C. McKinnon
Senior AD: Victoria Green
Cover: Corey Brickley
192 pages
$7.99 on newsstands until Feb. 20, 2018
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine website

News January 17, 2018

Mystery Weekly Magazine Jan. 2018

Contents
Arthur Carey “One and Done”
Ricky Sprague “The International (Marketing) Incident”
Jeff Somers “Arthur Kill”
Carlos Orsi “The Adventure of the Dead Frog”
Tim Major “The Pale Shadow and the Conjuror”
Rhonda Howard “Smoke Test” (A You-Solve-It)
Solution to Dec. You-Solve-It “The Family Feud” by Rhonda Howard

Mystery Weekly Magazine Jan. 2018
Publisher: Chuck Carter
Editor: Kerry Carter
Cover: Peggy Burkosky
7.5” x 10” 70 pages
POD $4.99, Kindle $2.99 (99¢ with print version)
Mystery Weekly Magazine website

Vault January 16, 2018

“Ellery Queen Selects”

Although not labeled officially with the “Ellery Queen Selects” banner, Mercury Mystery #110 met all the series’ criteria: a short story collection edited by Queen, with his introduction.

Mercury Mystery 110 cover — Mercury Mystery 110, April 4, 1947

Mercury Mystery 110, Apr. 4, 1947 “Dr. Fell, Detective and Other Stories” by John Dickson Carr Adventures of Dr. Fell 
“The Proverbial Murder” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine July 1943)
“The Locked Room” (The Strand Magazine July 1940)
“The Wrong Problem,” (The [London] Evening Standard Aug. 14 1936)
“The Hangman Won’t Wait” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Sept. 1944; first broadcast on Suspense, CBS radio, Feb. 9, 1943)
“A Guest in the House” (The Strand Magazine Oct. 1940 as “The Incautious Burglar”)
Other Stories
“The Devil in the Summer House” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Sept. 1946; first broadcast by the BBC on Oct. 14, 1940. This is the shorter version without Dr. Fell which was broadcast on the CBS radio program Suspense on Nov. 3, 1942)
“Will You Walk Into My Parlor?” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Sept. 1945; first broadcast on the CBS radio program Suspense on Feb. 23, 1943)
“Strictly Diplomatic” (The Strand Magazine Dec. 1939)

News January 15, 2018

Asimov’s Science Fiction Jan/Feb 2018

Contents
Sheila Williams Editorial: A Few Words About Some Words
Robert Silverberg Reflections: Gog & Magog II by
James Patrick Kelly On the Net: Don’t Read the Comments
In Memoriam: Brian W. Aldiss (1925–2017)
James Gunn Thought Experiment: Space Opera and the Quest for Transcendence
James Gunn “The Seeds of Consciousness: 4107’s Story”
James Gunn “The Final Commandment: Trey’s Story”
G.O. Clark “Room With a View” (verse)
Rudy Rucker & Paul Di Filippo “In the Lost City of Leng”
Jane Yolen “Writing Away Coincidence”
Ian Creasey “The Equalizers”
Cixin Liu “Sea of Dreams” translation: John Chu
Matthew Hughes “Solicited Discordance”
Jessy Randall “Annie Jump Cannon Cataloged Stars” (verse)
Jessy Randall “Annie Jump Cannon Goes Home from the Lab” (verse)
Robert R. Chase “Assassin in the Clouds”
Statement of ownership, management and circulation
Jane Yolen “Balance” (verse)
Allen M. Steele “Barren Isle”
S. Qiouyi Lu “Mother Tongues”
Bruce Boston “Synesthesia” (verse)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch “The Rescue of the Renegat”
Josh Pearce “Objects in Space” (verse)
Paul Di Filippo On Books
Next Issue
Thirty-Second Annual Readers’ Award Ballot
Index: 2017
Classified Marketplace
Erwin S. Strauss SF Conventional Calendar

Asimov’s Science Fiction Vol. 42 #1 & 2, whole #504 & 505, Jan/Feb 2018
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Sheila Williams
Associate Editor: Emily Hockaday
Editorial Assistant: Deanna McLafferty
Senior Art Director: Victoria Green
Cover: Eldar Zakirov
208 pages, $7.99 on newsstands until Feb. 20, 2018
Asimov’s website

Vault January 14, 2018

Magazine of Horror #20 March 1968

Contents
“The Siren of the Snakes” by Arlton Eadie (Weird Tales June 1932)
“The Rack” by G. G. Ketcham
“A Cry from Beyond” by Victor Rousseau (Strange Tales Sep. 1931)
“Only Gone Before” by Emil Petaja
“The Voice” by Nell Kay (Ghost Stories July 1928)
“The Monsters” by Murray Leinster (Weird Tales Jan. 1933)

Magazine of Horror #20 cover — Magazine of Horror #20 March 1968 Cover by Virgil Finlay

Reviews January 13, 2018

Ad Gordon’s Two Little Bullets

The sixth story from Justice Amazing Detective Mysteries #2, July 1955:

A beautiful, brilliant nuclear physicist is selling secrets to the Russians, with her husband as unwitting courier. She’s also a co-conspirator to murder and adultery. Elsewhere, a slippery career criminal has just snatched $200Gs from a bookie syndicate. By pure coincidence the two plots collide in Ad Gordon’s “Two Little Bullets,” and miraculously justice prevails, with hapless hubby saved from certain death, $200Gs to the good.

The story’s implausible plot is improved by Gordon’s writing: “He was a mild-mannered man, thin and round-shouldered, and his eyes, hair and clothes were all a tired gray. Still, he managed a mild curse as he climbed the three flights of stone steps in the apartment house building. Outside, the rain pelted the Washington, D.C. pavements.”

Galactic Central lists only two stories for Ad Gordon, this one and an earlier effort, “Justice is Blind,” that appeared in Justice #1 in May 1955.

News January 12, 2018

The American Bystander #6 Fall 2017

Not-A-Digest Dept: The sixth issue of Michael Gerber’s all-star print humor quarterly is out. This issue features writers from Late Night with David Letterman, The New Yorker, SNL, The Onion, SPY and National Lampoon, as well as illustrations and cartoons from Merrill Markoe, Drew Friedman, Ed Subitzky, Roz Chast, M.K. Brown, Jim Siergey and 75 others. Full-color, large format (8.5×11) and 100 pages, The American Bystander is a worthy addition to any comedy fan’s library. Better yet, it’s an independent production.

The American Bystander website
Amazon.com