From Weirdbook No. 34:
The champion of weird in this particular Weirdbook is likely Dan Teagarden, protagonist of “My Personal Dream” by James Ward Kirk. Teagarden smirks at the funeral of his abusive father but writhes in agony at the death of his mother, whom he loves beyond reason. Afterward, his dallies with whores and an elusive theologian offer only meaningless diversion from his descent into madness—one that twists his perception of his own demise into the ultimate bliss.
From Weirdbook No. 34:
Liam Hogan explores the less attractive side effects of a transformative medicine in “Beauty Treatment.” Things end kinda ugly, unless of course you like that sort of thing.
From Weirdbook No. 34:
In “Bum Fights and Blood Feuds” by Scott Harper, a trio of low-life punks cross paths with the wrong derelict. The gang perturbs him into a bum-fight at the bidding of their smartphone director, Branch. But this is one vagrant far more scrappy than he looks.
From Weirdbook No. 34:
“Blood of God” by D.J. Tyrer takes place on an Anglo-Russian survey platform off Russia’s arctic coast. When the survey team discovers an extra-heavy oil deposit things turn dire. Tyrer’s frigid, isolated setting conjures memories of The Thing. As the crew opens a sample deposit it transforms their mission from research to survival in this tension-packed monster meddler.
Opening Lines from “Thrill My Soul” by Greg Jenkins, Weirdbook #34 March 2017, reviewed in The Digest Enthusiast book six.
From Weirdbook No. 34:
“The Singing Tree” by Lawrence Buentello is a wonder-filled, satisfying fable about a beauty doomed to sorrow till she journeys to a magical tree and learns the secret of its cryptic song.
From Weirdbook No. 34:
You don’t have to imagine the discomfort of Abigail Haynes when lawman Jim Barton stops by her place unannounced and invites himself in for a drink, a smoke, and a little chat. James D. Mabe serves it straight up in “Touched.” Barton’s down home charm draws you in like a blue-green fly crawling up the wall on a hot summer day, at least a mile from the nearest neighbor. As he pours out his spiel poor Abigail is bound, barely able to wonder why he’s telling her about the hideous Throckmorton murder scene. Unfortunately for her, she soon learns how all the disparate pieces squirm together.
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
From Weirdbook No. 34:
Award-winning poet Frederick J. Mayer’s short story, “Zhar’s Outré House,” is a meld of poetry and narrative that delights in description over deed. For example: “The vivacious vixenish lead vocalist gave a fleeting foxy wink to her awaiting, appreciating, but inattentive friends situated in the darkly lit place’s menses red vinyl half-moon shaped booth. Dr. Anne du Voor, whose robust rotundity displayed how an obese form could show no excess fat; Dr. Koh Rei-mi’s, in her prime forties, physique could of been that of a young model for August Rodin and Lady Jones.”
