December 2018 – Page 3 – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

Reviews December 11, 2018

Black Cat Mystery Magazine No. 1

An excerpt from my review of BCMM No. 1 from The Digest Enthusiast No. 7:

Editors John Gregory Betancourt and Carla Coupe welcome their readers to the first edition of BCMM from their “The Cat’s Perch” introduction. “We won’t shy away from intense, dark fiction that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Just as we won’t turn down the next amateur detective in the finest Agatha Christie tradition. Storytelling matters most.”

Black Cat Mystery Magazine’s debut includes an impressive list of contributors, many that will be familiar to readers of those bimonthly digests from Penny Publications.

Vault December 10, 2018

The Origins of Espionage

Writer Josh Pachter recalls the start-up of Espionage Magazine in “I Spy” from The Digest Enthusiast No. 7. Below is an excerpt from his article:

“Editor/Publisher Jackie Lewis and Associate Publisher Jeri Winston were already involved in the industry, putting out (so to speak) a number of magazines that, by comparison, made Penthouse look like Highlights for Children. If Playboy was soft-core porn and Penthouse was a little harder, Jackie and Jeri’s sex digests were fucking dirty. Perhaps in an attempt to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Lord, they famously asked their father, who had staked Bob [Guccione] to $5560 when Penthouse was in its infancy, to help them finance a non-porno publication that would feature spy stories and nonfiction articles about the world of espionage.”

Reviews December 9, 2018

Telzey Amberdon

Excerpt from Joe Wehrle, Jr.’s article on “The Telzey Amberdon Stories of James H. Schmitz” in The Digest Enthusiast No. 7:

James H. Schmitz wrote a number of stories about a future world where many things are possible, and particularly, over a period of ten years wrote a series concerning one Telzey Amberdon, an emerging telepath, “fifteen years old, genius level, brown as a berry and not at all bad looking in her sunbriefs.”

Jim Schmitz was born October 15, 1911, and lived until April 18, 1981. You may not be too familiar with his work as he wasn’t as prolific as many of his contemporaries, but he wrote dozens of exceptional stories and a handful of memorable novels.

Reviews December 8, 2018

Introducing D&O: The Magazine

Excerpt from the review of Down & Out: The Magazine No. 1 in The Digest Enthusiast No. 7.

Editor Rick Ollerman introduces his new magazine with the assertion, “Digest magazines aren’t what they used to be.” There are few crime fiction magazines on newsstands today. Even the influx of new titles, since the advent of Print on Demand, are often infrequent or published erratically. The Magazine intends to shake things up. How? The backing of a publisher like Down & Out Books should help. But The Magazine’s big idea is to leverage a character from a novel series in a brand new short story. In the debut edition, that’s Reed Farrel Coleman’s ex-cop, ex-PI, ex-retiree, Moe Prager.

In fact, every story in issue No. 1 features a series character, making it an ideal venue to reach new readers or delight series’ fans with short, between-novels, adventures. There’s nonfiction too. J. Kingston Pierce, who manages The Rap Sheet website, provides crime fiction news and reviews, and Ollerman introduces the issue’s only reprint in a column called, “A Few Cents a Word.”

Reviews December 7, 2018

William Ledbetter’s In a Wide Sky, Hidden

Stories from Fantasy & Science Fiction Jul/Aug 2017:

In deep space exploration, the journey is most definitely not the destination. I’ve seen the countless hours crossing vast distances dealt with in stasis, but William Ledbetter has a better idea. “In a Wide Sky, Hidden” deep space exploration is assigned to robots. That is until a strong-willed young astronaut launches a missing persons search across the galaxy. Regina, the explorer’s older sister is an artist of cosmic scale, whose final statement to the universe: “I have found a world of my own. It will be my masterpiece.” Ledbetter adds several futuristic inventions to enliven this bittersweet internal/external rescue mission.

Vault December 6, 2018

The Occult Digest

Excerpt from Tom Brinkmann’s article on The Occult Digest from The Digest Enthusiast book seven:

“The Occult Digest was an amazingly intense publication from 1920s Chicago that had two dynamic women editors who were also the publishers. The first, Effa E. Danelson, edited and published it from 1925–1939. The second, Marie Harlowe, edited and published it from late 1939 until it stopped publication in 1942.”

Tom Brinkmann writes about unusual, off-the-beaten-path magazines, digests, and tabloids. His Bad Mags website was active from June 2004–July 2017. His books, Bad Mags Volume 1 (2008) and Volume 2 (2009) are available from secondary outlets, including amazon.com

News December 5, 2018

The American Bystander No. 8

Apparently I didn’t get my change of address in quick enough, but the eighth issue of Michael Gerber’s excellent The American Bystander has arrived at last.

Departments
Frontispiece: “Mechanical Sex” by Tom Hachtman
Publisher’s Letter by Michael Gerber
News and Notes
Classifieds
Index to This Issue by Steve Young
Crossword: “Alternative Musicals” by Matera & Goldberg

Gallimaufry
J. Keohane, J. Zeller, D. Lancaster, B. McConnachie, P. Barr, R. McGee, L. Gardner, T. Chitty, L. Kenseth, J. F. Garner, D. & M. Reiss, A. Schmidt, M. Balmain, B. Katchor, E. Waite

Short Stuff
Evidence of Russian Medaling by Ron Hauge
American Bystanders #5 by Drew Friedman
Pursued by Wasps by John Jonik
An Oral History by Simon Rich
Alien Notes on the Voyager Space Probe Golden Record by Steve Young
After Breakfast by Emily Flake
All the Scenes in Meet Cute by Jonathan Zeller
#Whynotmetoo? by Laurie Rosenwald
Comparing Things to Jazz is Like… Jazz by Rob Kutner
New Offerings From Your Alumni Educational Travel by Chris Marcil & Sam Johnson

Features
Your Future Home by Tom Chitty
Comic Character Cursing Dictionary by Ed Subitzky
Piano Lessons by Brian McConnachie
A History of the Freline Notebook by Ostow & Reddy
Just Worried by M.K. Brown
Originalism…For Your Life! by Lars Kenseth
Enjoy Your Stay by Ryan Nyburg
Son of Twisted Cross by Sam Gross
Works by Dylan Brody
Welcome to Scarfolk by Richard Littler
Generation WHAAH?! by Dan Vebber

Marvy
Cover by Bill Lee
Quiet, Billy, There’s No Time For That by Randall Enos
Free Love With Jan & Stan by Persoff & Marshall
Dog Show by Ted Jouflas
The Basic Overview by Howard Cruse
Mom and Me by Rick Geary
My Extraordinary Dream by Michael Sloan
Trots & Bonnie by Shary Flenniken
Gertrude’s Follies by Tom Hachtman & Sam Gross
Kama Sutra for Cats by Seymour Chwast

Our Back Pages
What Am I Doing Here?: Nepal by Mike Reiss
P.S. Mueller Thinks Like This by P.S. Mueller
Chunk-Style Nuggets by Steve Young
Know Your Bystanders by Laurie Rosenwald

Editor/Publisher: Michael Gerber
Head Writer: Brian McConnachie
Senior Editor: Alan Goldberg
Deputy Editors: Michael Thornton, Ben Orlin
Cover: Barry Blitt
8.5” x 11” 98 pages
Subscribe: www.patreon.com/bystander
Website: www.americanbystander.org

Vault December 4, 2018

Space Science Fiction No. 1

Space Science Fiction Vol. 1 No. 1 May 1952
Contents
Lester del Ray: Editorial
Lester del Ray “Pursuit”
Jerry Sohl “The Ultroom Error”
Isaac Asimov “Youth”
George O. Smith: Science—Fiction and Fact
Henry Kuttner “The Ego Machine”
Coming Events
Bryce Walton “To Each His Star”
Calling All Fans

Publisher: John Raymond
Editor: Lester del Rey
Assoc. Editor: Ben Peters
Art Director: Milton Berwin
Cover: Orban
Interior Art: Orban, Schecterson, Harrison

Read Vince Nowell, Sr.’s article “When Things Go Wrong—The Lester del Rey/John Raymond Fiasco” in The Digest Enthusiast book seven.

Reviews December 3, 2018

Brenda Carre’s Gret

Stories from Pulp Literature No. 15 Summer 2017:

“Gret” by Brenda Carre sets the issue’s opening bar high. It’s the first chapter of a forthcoming novel of the same name, so beautifully written it overshadows any hesitation of reading an excerpt, so don’t miss out. Gret’s world is harsh and dangerous, filled with magic and intrigue. Carre’s skill with dialect in narration and dialogue transports you to Gret’s world at once. “I grabbed Isk’s meat knife and a bannock or two for my tattered pockets and I was out that windee and into the shore mist faster than a clam can fart.” A three-page interview with Carre follows her novel’s chapter.

Vault December 2, 2018

AHMM August 1958

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 3 No. 8 August 1958

Dear Readers: Alfred Hitchcock
Contents
Richard Hardwick “Suspicion is not Enough”
Helen Fislar Brooks “The Mink Coat”
Paul Tabori “An Interlude for Murder”
George Bush “Fate has Three Blinding Eyes”
Robert Edmond Alter “To Catch a Big One”
Bryce Walton “Good-Bye Sweet World”
Evan Hunter “Not a Laughing Matter”
Evans Harrington “Like a Legend of Evil”
Henry Slesar “Compliments to the Chef”
Borden Deal “The Followers”
Charles Mergendahl “Do-It-Yourself”
C.B. Gilford “The Dangerfield Saga”

Publisher: Richard E. Decker
Editorial Director: William Manners
Managing Editor: Marguerite Bostwick
Associate Editors: Pat O’Connell, Nadine King
Art Director: Meinrad Mayer

The graveyard pictured on the front cover also appeared in Vertigo, Hitchcock’s current film at the time of this issue’s release. See Peter Enfantino’s overview and synopses of Robert Edmond Alter’s stories for AHMM in The Digest Enthusiast book seven.