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News January 6, 2021

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine J/F 2021

Below is the content of the current issue, formatted to align with entries in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galactic 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

News January 4, 2021

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine J/F 2021

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [v157 #1 & 2, whole numbers 952 & 953, Jan/Feb 2021] ed. Janet Hutchings (Dell Magazines, $7.99, 192pp, digest, cover by Olga Popover?Shutterstock.com)
1 • Contents Page
2 • The Gloria Scott • Terrence Faherty • ss • illustrated by Jason C. Eckhardt
11 • The Dark Oblivion • Cornell Woolrich • ss
17 • No Legacy So Rich • Anna Scotti • ss
30 • The Jury Box • Steve Steinbock • rc
31 • Dangerous Encounter • Tom Tolnay • ss
37 Blog Bytes • Christopher Zgorski • cl
38 • Stranger Than Fiction • Dean Jobb • cl
39 • The Touffard Affair • Marcel Aymé • ss; in EQMM’s “Passport to Crime;” translated by Anne Bru
49 • Pink Squirrel • Nick Mamatas • ss
57 • The Five Orange Pips • Josh Pachter • ss
63 • The Changing Room • Sheila Kohler • ss
72 • Stray • Ken Linn • ss; in EQMM’s “Department of First Stories”
82 • The Interpreter and the Killer • Jeff Soloway • ss; in EQMM’s Black Mask
91 • That Poor Woman • Barb Goffman • ss
93 • Pick Up Sticks • Bill Pronzini • ss
105 • The Two Gentleman Guests • Susan Dunlap • ss
112 • Analogue • Rob Osler • ss; in EQMM’s “Department of First Stories”
119 • Bo Radley College Prep • Karen Harrington • ss
133 • The Lemonade Stand • Scott Loring Sanders • ss
153 • The Shadow of the New • Mike Adamson • ss
167 • Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation
168 • Curious Incidents • Steve Hockensmith • ss • illustrated by Mark Evan Walker
191 • Watson’s Plane • Ruth Berman • pm
192 • Masthead

EQMM Website

TDE Update December 26, 2020

The Digest Enthusiast No. 13

The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 is now available in print, kindle and Magzter editions—all in full color.

Interview
• Behind the scenes at Analog and Asimov’s with writer, poet, and managing editor Emily Hockaday.

Articles
• A brand new installment of Peter Enfantino’s popular series on Manhunt—1955 part one.

• Jack Seabrook investigates the mysterious true crime reports of Leo Marr for Mystery Book Magazine.

• Gary Lovisi reveals the highly collectible digest paperbacks from Falcon Books.

• Steve Carper uncovers the genre giants of Digest Fantasy & Science Fiction Classics.

• Vince Nowell, Sr. shines the spotlight on Robert A.W. Lowndes’ reign of digests.

Industry News
• Catch up on breaking news and cover previews from the digest world’s favorite editors, publishers, and writers.

Reviews
• Switchblade Magazine No. 12
• Sword & Sorcery Annual
• Marilyn Monroe’s Digest Cover Trading Cards
• Rock and a Hard Place No. 3

Robert Snashall's Gaslight Unrolling of the Stars

Fiction
• Richard Krauss “The Village of the Wraith” art by Rick McCollum
• Robert Snashall “Gaslight Unrolling of the Stars” art by Marc Myers
• Joe Wehrle, Jr. “A Young Guitarist’s Dream”

Plus
• Over 100 digest magazine covers in full color, first issue factoids, cartoons by Bob Vojtko, and more
• Cover by Brian Buniak, 160 pages, published in full color by Larque Press.

Print $20 from Lulu.com
Print $20 from amazon.com
Kindle $4.99 from amazon.com
Digital $4.99 from Magzter.com

Reviews December 19, 2020

The Sleazy Reader No. 9

With its emphasis on digest magazines, this issue of The Sleazy Reader (No. 9) is my favorite thus far. The digest-centric contents include an overview of Manhunt contemporaries like Trapped, Guilty, Hunted, Pursuit, etc.; a piece on Pontiac Publishing’s Sure Fire, Off Beat, and Two-Fisted Detective Stories; a review of Off Beat Jan. 1960; and “The Mad Dog of Digests” highlighting the crime fiction of Harlan Ellison. Plenty to make this issue a must-have for digest enthusiasts, but there’s much more.

Two pre-code crime comics: Crime Does Not Pay and Fight Against Crime are strapped in the hot seat for a brutal interrogation. Mafia mania gets a nod with pieces on the Americana line from Monarch Books, The Godfather Series (beyond Mario Puzo), and Belmont’s novels by Peter McCurtin. TSR transitions from the series Mafia Operation to the sleazy side of Joe Riggs and Peter Chambers via “Investigated Sleaze-Noir.”

Johnny Marr of Murder Can Be Fun fame, traces the peaks and valleys of the greatest true crime magazine, True Detective, over its remarkable seventy-two-year reign. By the time the issue winds down, there’s still room for a piece on the banned books of New Zealand, and M.E. Knerr’s Mike Travis series. Whew, there’s something for nearly every genre book lover in this issue.

TDE Update December 18, 2020

Fate-ful Project Updates

The new Fate arrived this week.
Fate No. 736

Highlights of this issue include two articles on mermaids, a report on nature spirits, and a piece by dowser Marty Cain.

Get a copy on newsstands now, or order directly from fatemag.com

Status Updates
The print proof of Oddities and Other Grotesques by Roman Scott arrived this week from Marc Myers. The overall package looks great, but quite a few pages require some tweaks. Mostly image adjustments to make the artwork reproduce in its best light. A little time consuming, but I progressed about half way through the book by week’s end. More to do next week.

Alec Cizak sent a few ads for the next Pulp Modern. And Ran Scott completed another illustration. We’re making good progress, and hope to wrap things up before the end of the year.

The second print proof for The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 is in St. Paul on its way to Vancouver. Although next week is probably a lousy week to release a book, I’ll do it anyway ‘cause I’m an indie publisher and there are a few folks who’ve been patiently waiting. Watch for an update next week.

In the meantime, 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.

Reviews December 12, 2020

Fauci in review

This audio biography of Dr. Anthony S. Fauci by Michael Specter provides an excellent overview of the famed doctor’s career, along with excerpts from interviews recorded along the way. Covering more than three decades of work and discovery, from his childhood in Brooklyn to his pioneering research and advocacy for patients with AIDS, up to the current global pandemic with COVID-19.

In addition to its fact-based case for science, its also an illustration of the power of grounding yourself in facts. Faced with a tidal wave of emotion, and too often misinformed rage, Fauci kept his cool and his self-esteem intact by sticking to facts as the foundation for his even-handed, often generous, response to his critics and those intent on bullying. A casebook for going high, when your critics go low.

WIP Update
The proof copy of The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 arrived this week. The book will be manufactured by Lulu.com and was originally spec’ed on their 60 lb. interior stock. The proof looks good, but the color cover repros were not quite as crisp as I’d like. When I went back to upgrade to Lulu’s 80 lb. option, I found the selection no longer available since the book had already reached the proofing stage. This didn’t make sense to me, but there may be good reason(s) of which I’m unaware. I filled out a customer support request, but the response was an automated email that didn’t address my problem. I ended up “retiring” the project and opening a new one using 80# stock. A fresh print proof is in progress. Probably unnecessary, but I want to be sure everything looks good before the book’s release. The heavier stock is more expensive, so the price will be $20 for the print version. The release will likely be the week of the Christmas holiday. Watch for the announcement here.

Marc Myers finished reviewing the proof copy of his latest book Oddities and Other Grotesques by Roman Scott. Several pages are a bit dark, so he’s forwarded the proof to me. I’ll adjust the contrast/density to the pages that need it and upload a new interior file in the next week or two.

Ran Scott completed several more interior illustrations for the next Pulp Modern and sent some cover sketch ideas to editor Alec Cizak and I. We make the selection and now things are back in Ran’s capable hands. Still no hard date for release, but late Dec/early Jan seems realistic.

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.

Reviews December 6, 2020

Black Cat Mystery Magazine No. 7

I thoroughly enjoyed this special Private Eye edition of Black Cat Mystery Magazine, edited by Michael Bracken. Its authors include Robert Lopresti and Josh Pachter who have both contributed to past issues of The Digest Enthusiast. Others, like Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Bev Vincent, and John M. Floyd often appear in the pages of newsstand digests like Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. It was great to see a story from Gordon Linzner, who edited and published the indie SF zine Space & Time for decades. Another indie digest stalwart is Graham Powell, whose work has appeared in places like Needle and Plots with Guns. The prolific, award winner, O’Neil De Noux is onboard, along with Clarkesworld author E.E. King. The volume wraps with two longer yarns, the first by Robert Jeschonek of PulpHouse Fiction and Fiction River-fame, and concludes with a classic reprint from Manhunt by Fletcher Flora.

All told, a terrific read with special appeal for lovers of private detective stories.

Published by Wildside Press
Print $13 Kindle $3.99

News December 4, 2020

New Release Dec. 4, 2020

New Release:

Nostaglia Digest Winter 2021
The remarkable life of OLIVIA de HAVILLAND, Hollywood legend
The screen partnership of NELSON EDDY and JEANETTE MacDONALD
How THE SHADOW became one of radio’s great heroes
From Teddy Bears to Barbie dolls: The world’s most famous Christmas gifts
The career of DANNY THOMAS, and a promise he kept
Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark and other radio actors who became movie stars
A complete listing for Steve Darnall’s Those Were The Days!
FLOYD GIBBONS, the globe-trotting reporter who became a radio star
PLUS: Memories of mimeograph machines; the way televisions used to be; more!
Ordering Information

Status Report
Finished up The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 and ordered a print proof from Lulu.com this week. Hopefully, the proof will show up next week and everything will align with the targeted Dec. 18th release. Meanwhile, prep on the Kindle and Magzter versions kept me busy.

Here’s a cover preview of the issue, with a painting by Brian Buniak.

In other updates, Ran Scott continued his work creating artwork for Pulp Modern Vol. 2 No. 6.

No news from Marc Myers on the print proof from Lulu.com on his Roman Scott collection–with a little luck he can release it next week.

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.

Reviews December 2, 2020

bare•bones No. 3 in Review

This issue delivered an enjoyable mix of pop culture fervor. Matthrew W. Bradley’ delves into Bradbury’s Elliott Family, while Don D’Ammassa tackles a basket full of overlooked vampire novels. The cover story by W.D. Gagliani offers a definitive examination of the original Planet of the Apes film series and their paperbacked companion novels. It’s supplemented nicely by Craig Miller’s eye-witness report on the filming of supporting footage for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and b•b’s co-editor John Scoleri’s summary of scenes scripted but cut from the final films.

That other b•b co-editor Peter Enfantino Digs into Crime Digests singling out a particularly star-studded issue of Manhunt (Aug. 1956) and Mike Shayne (Aug. 1965), while S. Craig Zahler braves Sleaze Alley to unearth a few brazen treasures worth reading about, if not actually reading the books themselves. J. Charles Burwell’s fond review of a trio of novels by H.A. DeRosso is both insightful and captivating. Jack Seabrook interviews supercollector Walker Martin, a conversation loaded with candor and exuberance. And to wrap-up the issue, David J. Schow recounts personal anecdotes about early monster movies and scary stuff with his usual glib aplomb.

If you haven’t yet caught bare•bones fever, this edition is an excellent jumping-on point.

News November 27, 2020

New Releases Nov. 27, 2020

Switchblade No. 13
The world’s only no-limit outlaw noir magazine is back for a thirteenth round. The one you thought you’d never see. With Fiction, Flash and Poetry from Robert Ragan, David Harry Moss, Gene Breaznell, Serena Jayne, Jay Rohr, Brian Beatty, Elliot F. Sweeney, Stanton McCaffery, Danny Sophabmisay, Andrew Bourelle, George Garnet, David Rachels, and Alec Cizak. Featured interview with author Serena Jayne.
5” x 8” digest, 183 pages
Editor: Scotch Rutherford
Print $7.99 Kindle $2.99

New from Hard Case Crime is Shills Can’t Cash Chips, first published in 1961 by William Morrow. It’s book No. 22 in the Cool and Lam series.

Shills Can't Cash Chips by Erle Stanley Gardner

From the world-famous creator of PERRY MASON, Erle Stanley Gardner—at his death the best-selling American writer of all time—comes another baffling case for the Cool & Lam detective agency. Return to the 1960s as a simple insurance investigation into a car accident puts Bertha Cool and Donald Lam on the trail of murder – and Donald hip-deep in danger when he poses as an ex-con to infiltrate a criminal gang. It’s Gardner’s twistiest caper ever, and a fitting conclusion to Hard Case Crime’s revival of this classic (and long unavailable) detective series.
5” x 8” 240 pages
Print $10.99 Kindle $7.99

“A high-spirited romp you’ll be sorry to see end.” -Kirkus Reviews

“Just the ticket for fans of retro crime fiction.” -Publishers Weekly

“For those who like their crime fiction to be high-octane, this novel is a stunner.” -Daily Mail

Project Updates
Editor Marc Myers has ordered a proof copy of the new hardcover collection of comix and zines by the late Roman Scott: Oddities and Other Grotesques. With a little luck the 168-page volume will be available from Lulu.com in December.

The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 is about 99% complete and I hope to upload the files to Lulu.com early next week and get a print proof underway. I’m hoping the release date will be Dec. 18.

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.