From International Science Fiction No. 1 (Nov. 1967):
“Monster” pairs the team of Helmuth W. Mommers and Ernest Vleck for the second time in this edition of ISF, translated by Harry Warner, Jr. Told from the first-person viewpoint of an orphan, Oliver, who is different from all of the institution’s other children. Albino skin for one, but there’s more that is slowly revealed before and after he’s nearly drown by Butcher, a mean-spirited menial of the orphanage.
No one would ever want to bring Oliver home. Yet, one day someone does. As Butcher pushes the orphan through the halls toward his waiting adopters, Oliver’s senses warn him of imminent danger. He flees, eluding the massive manhunt that ensues. From hiding he learns the truth of his origins and why the military wants him dead.
In addition to his collaborations with Mommers, Ernst Vleck wrote the first Atlan novel “Spider Desert” which appeared in the first edition of the Ace double series Perry Rhodan/Atlan (September 1977).
From Weirdbook No. 34:
Frank Duffy builds a waking nightmare with a satisfying mix of specific detail and invention in “The Devil is Anonymous.” Its UK setting appears vivid and real. The relationship of its troubled couple and their technological life does too. But there is much unexplained, brushed aside by a narrative that throws the reader into a questionable reality of vitriol and mysterious circumstance. Who can you trust in this world of twisted corporate torment and virtual stalkers? The suspense and tension finally burst in a dark, bloody end that leaves you wanting more.
Contents
Doug Draa: From the Editor’s Tower
Franklyn Searight “Horror Around the Bend”
Frank Coffman “En Carpre Noctis” (verse)
Samson Stormcrow Hayes “A Tiny Cut”
Marlane Quade Cook “Posthumous”
Darrell Schweitzer “Pages from an Invisible Book”
Lorenzo Crescentini “That Name was Evoc” translated by Clara Nowlan
Julio Toro San Martin & Hank Simmons “The Cursed” (verse)
Jackie Bee “Misdiagnosed”
Frederick J. Mayer “Dog Drool”
Teege Braune “The Venusian Mantis”
Denny E. Marshall “Great Time Machine” (verse)
Ken Heuler “The Colors of the Gods”
Hannah Lackoff “Spawning Ground”
Lily Luchesi “Curse of the Dark Queen”
Rebecca House “Monika Unraveling”
Jason A. Zwiker “Crawling with Them”
James Machin “Seven Sisters”
Michael Washburn “The House in the Mountains”
Thomas Vaughn “Eyes Without a Face”
Richie Brown “Chartley Chowder”
Richard J. O’Brien “Dominion Over Abbadon”
Frank Schildiner “Divine Wind of the Dark”
Bekki Pate “Skrik”
Ed Burkley “The Ferryman’s Journal”
Mark A. Fitch “Demiurge”
Kyla Lee Ward “And in Her Eyes the City Drowned”
John R. Fultz “Clouds Like Memories, Words Like Stones”
Adrian Cole “Up the Lazy River”
Lucy Snyder “Bad Night” (verse)
Jessica Amanda Salmonson “Songs of the Quail” (verse)
Chad Hensley “Sylvan Simalcrum”
Russ Parkhurst “Mister Dorton’s Cats”
James P. Roberts “Miskatonic Etudes” (verse)
Kurt Newton “The Autumn People”
Weirdbook Vol. 2 No. 9, No. 39 July 2018
Publisher/Executive Editor: John Gregory Betancourt
Editor: Doug Draa
Consulting Editor: W. Paul Ganley
Cover: Vukkostic
Interior Artwork: Allen Koszowski
252 pages, 6” x 9”
$12.00 POD, $3.99 Kindle*
Wildside Press website
*Not available at the time moment, check back shortly
The second part of Brian Aldiss’ Hothouse saga appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction (April 1961).
Contents
Evelyn E. Smith “Softly While You’re Sleeping”
Harold Calin “The Hills of Lodan”
Anne McCaffrey “The Ship Who Sang” (Brainship)
Robert Graves “Dead Man’s Bottles”
Kit Reed “Judas Bomb”
Grendel Briarton “Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot: XXXVIII”
Isaac Asimov: Science: My Built-In Doubter
Nils Peterson “Cosmic Sex and You”
Richard Banks “Daddy’s People”
Doris Pitkin Buck “On Hearing Another Report of Little Green Men from . . .” (verse)
Brian W. Aldiss “Nomansland” (Hothouse No. 2)
Cover by Ed Emshwiller
Contents from Galactic Central
An excerpt from Joe Wehrle, Jr.’s review of the Hothouse series, from The Digest Enthusiast book six:
“In ‘Nomansland’ (April 1961), the second part of the saga, we’re shown even more richness and multiplicity of the plant world. Toy is now nominal leader of the group since Lily-yo and the other elders have “Gone Up” but Gren is beginning to assert himself as a rebel, unwilling to submit to a leader. Oldest of the males, it is tabu for any of the females to touch him except during the courtship season.”
Selected from a digest featured in The Digest Enthusiast book six:
“Do you remember the year the Acme Publishing Corporation published in installments Witchcraft for Beginners? I do, and very well too, because it was the year my brother disappeared.”
–“Witchcraft for Beginners” by F.C. Gozzini International Science Fiction Nov 1967
In September 1956, Brett Halliday teamed with publisher Leo Margulies to launch MSMM. “It is a project both Leo and I have held in our minds and hearts for many years,” writes Halliday in his introduction. “But we have waited patiently for the exact moment when the signs were right, when the many and varied elements essential to the production and distribution of a truly fine mystery magazine coincided to make the project feasible.”
“Michael” was changed to “Mike” with the seventh issue in April 1957. MSMM began as a monthly, but slipped to bi-monthly during its second year, and returned to monthly during 1958 for the balance of its impressive run. With 337 regular issues and three annuals (1971–1973), MSMM was by far one of the most successful digest magazines ever published. The final issue appeared in August 1985.
Its first editor was Sam Merwin, and he launched the title with a terrific first issue:
Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1 September 1956
Contents
Brett Halliday: Full Cycle—New Birth (introduction)
Brett Halliday “Bring Back a Corpse!” (Mike Shayne)
Craig Rice “The Quiet Life” (John J. Malone)
Robert Bloch “Water’s Edge”
Charles Irving “You Wash, and I’ll Dry”
Hal Ellson “Walk Away Fast”
Kenneth Fearing “Three Wives Too Many”
John E. Hasty “Unfinished Business”
Louis Trimble “A Pitch for Murder”
Carter Sprague “A Present for Peter”
Matthew Lee “Home Ground”
Norman Daniels “Rooftop”
MSMM Checklist from Galatic Central.
From International Science Fiction No. 1 (Nov. 1967):
Ilya Varshavsky’s second tale for ISF No. 1 is “Homunculus,” again translated by S. Ostrofsky. A four-page hunt for the robot, Homunculus, who has gone berserk and escaped the home of his creator to run amok in the city. When he’s finally confronted the twist is both unexpected and expectant.
Excerpt from the Edd Vick interview, conducted by D. Blake Werts, for The Digest Enthusiast book six:
“He [Manny Frishberg] and I are in the same writing group, Sound on Paper. We meet once a month to critique stories each of us has written in the meantime, be they novels or flash, or whatever—even nonfiction occasionally. A few years ago Manny and I started getting together once a week to write stories. In three years we wrote sixteen stories, and sold half of them. That includes two sales to Analog, the biggest magazine in the field.”
“Tenéré” by Manny Frishberg and Edd Vick, Analog May/Jun 2017, cover design by Victoria Green
“Ashfall” by Manny Frishberg and Edd Vick, Analog Jul/Aug 2015, cover by Tomislav Tikulin