From the hand of renowned Marvin Kaye and numerous others, the venerable and beloved Weird Tales has returned.
My post is a bit late, but hopefully I can still be part of the congratulations celebration.
My first concern when I pick up a post-modern periodical. So many of these new magazines and web sites for horror are red print on black, or some other unreadable format. So I asked: Can my 57 year old eyes read this thing?
Yes!
The pages of my electronic format review copy was precisely formatted with a wonderfully readable font, and a wonderful contrast of black ink on soft white.
Thank you!
The illustrations are well chosen from a variety of authors, and issue 360 includes some wonderful Fabian illustrations. Poetry, too, is represented. In the case of issue 360: "Mummified" by Jill Bauman, "In Shadowy Innsmouth" by Darrell Schweitzer, "The Country of Fear" by Russell Brickey, and "Country Midnight" by Carole Buggé.
There is an example of a more radicalized story. "To Be a Star" by Parke Godwin is part-illustration and part narrative in a style that has a doodled on, antiquarian typescript (circa 1945), feel to it.
Notable and legendary names appear within the covers. And why wouldn't one want to hide under the covers with fear with the likes of "The Long Last Night" by Brian Lumley, "The Runners Beyond the Wall" by Darrell Schweitzer, and "The Empty City" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
I have to admit this. I am a sucker for flying saucers and aliens, so I b-lined right to page 85 and read "Alien Abduction" by M. E. Brines. I am not sorry. It takes a great flash fiction writer to pull off humor, genre homage, terror, and ethical philosophy all at once, but Brines does it with panache.
The greatest part of this issue is the wonderful Ray Bradbury tribute. We already miss him, and this reminds us why. A great treasure is now reprinted, a "lost" Martian Chronicle. This writer managed to track down one of the remaining issues of Fantasy and Science Fiction that had this, and now Weird Tales makes it available for the first time in about 3 generations.
This issue is phenomenal, and a blessing for horror fans. Buy it. If you only receive one hour of fun, then it is well worth the price, but I suggest you will have months of pleasure out of reading and re-reading. Maybe you should buy two copies, because likely you will read the cover off of issue 360.
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1 comment:
Always a good thing to see a classic mag still going strong. At least that allows more people like Lovecraft to have their works seen by more. Hopefully they reprint his most important works, although I know they're available for free somewhere.
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