Table of contents - "Year's Best Weird Fiction" edited by Laird Barron

Weird fiction is thriving lately and with more gifted writers approaching the sub-genre it gains more coverage and audience with each passing year. It was a matter of time until a year’s best collection of weird short stories would be published and it happens starting this year, when the first edition of “Year’s Best Weird Fiction” will be released on August. And this first “Year’s Best Weird Fiction” collection already promises plenty of good things, it is edited by Laird Barron, one of the modern masters of speculative fiction, it is published by Undertow Publications, responsible for the excellent “Shadows & Tall Trees” magazine, and features some great names on its inaugural table of contents. All topped with a cover artwork made by Santiago Caruso, an authority of the visual side of the weird.

“Success” by Michael Blumlein (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2013)

“Like Feather, Like Bone” by Kristi DeMeester (Shimmer #17)

“A Terror” by Jeffrey Ford (Tor.com, July 2013)

“The Key to Your Heart Is Made of Brass” by John R. Fultz (Fungi #21)

“A Cavern of Redbrick” by Richard Gavin (Shadows & Tall Trees #5)

“The Krakatoan” by Maria Dahvana Headley (Nightmare Magazine, July 2013/“The Lowest Heaven” edited by Anne C. Perry & Jared Shurin)

“Bor Urus” by John Langan (“Shadow’s Edge” edited by Simon Strantzas)

“Furnace” by Livia Llewellyn (“The Grimscribe’s Puppets” edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)

“Eyes Exchange Bank” by Scott Nicolay (“The Grimscribe’s Puppets” edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.)

“A Quest of Dream” by W.H. Pugmire (“Bohemians of Sesqua Valley”)

“(he) Dreams of Lovecraftian Horror” by Joseph S. Pulver Sr. (Lovecraft eZine #28)

“Dr. Blood and the Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron” by A.C. Wise (Ideomancer Vol. 12 Issue 2)

“The Year of the Rat” by Chen Quifan (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2013)

“Fox into Lady” by Anne-Sylvie Salzman (“Darkscapes”)

“Olimpia’s Ghost” by Sofia Samatar (Phantom Drift #3)

"The Nineteenth Step" by Simon Strantzas (“Shadows Edge” edited by Simon Strantzas)

“The Girl in the Blue Coat” by Anna Taborska (“Exotic Gothic 5, Vol. 1” edited by Danel Olson)

“In Limbo” by Jeffrey Thomas (“Worship the Night”)

“Moonstruck” by Karin Tidbeck (Shadows & Tall Trees #5)

“Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks” by Paul Tremblay (Bourbon Penn #8)

“No Breather in the World But Thee” by Jeff VanderMeer (Nightmare Magazine, March 2013)

“Shall I Whisper to You of Moonlight, of Sorrow, of Pieces of Us?” by Damien Angelica Walters (Shock Totem #7)

Cover art - "The Lady" by K.V. Johansen & "The Shotgun Arcana" by R.S. Belcher

If it was possible I would love to have a room decorated with the artworks of Raymond Swanland. I affirmed my admiration of Raymond Swanland’s exceptional talent on plenty of occasions before and I’ll repeat it with every chance I get, although lately I find myself more often speechless and left in mute reverence before his wonderful art. As is the case with the latest two examples, the book covers of K.V. Johansen’s “The Lady” (Pyr Books) and R.S. Belcher’s “The Shotgun Arcana” (Tor Books). Both writers benefited from the artwork of Raymond Swanland on their book covers before, K.V. Johansen on “Blackdog” and “The Leopard”, the first novel in the “Marakand” series, R.S. Belcher on “The Six Gun Tarot”, the prequel novel of “The Shotgun Aracana”, so these two new ones are a welcomed continuation. Not only that, after all only a glimpse of these two covers makes my fingers twitchy with the desire to hold the books and look closer at their covers and makes my wish to dig within the pages of the said books stronger. I simply cannot offer much resistance to Raymond Swanland’s artworks.

Possessed by a ghost who feeds on death, the undying assassin Ahjvar the Leopard has been captured by the Lady of Marakand, enslaved by necromancy to be captain of her Red Masks. His shield-bearer Ghu, a former slave with an uncanny ability to free the captive dead, follows Ahjvar into the war-torn lands of the Duina Catairna to release him, even if that means destroying what is left of Ahj's tormented soul.

Deyandara, the last surviving heir of the Catairnan queen, rides into a land ravaged by disease and war, seeking the allies she abandoned months before, though they have no hope of standing against the army led by the invulnerable Red Masks of Marakand and the divine terror of the Lady.

In the city of Marakand, former enemies ally and old friends seek one another's deaths as loyalists of the entombed gods Gurhan and Ilbialla raise a revolt, spearheaded by the Grasslander wizard Ivah, the shapeshifting Blackdog, and the bear-demon Mikki. The Lady's defenses are not easily breached, though, and the one enemy who might withstand her, the Northron wanderer Moth, bearer of the sword Lakkariss, has vanished.

R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets.

1870. A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has come through many nightmarish trials, but now an army of thirty-two outlaws, lunatics, serial killers, and cannibals are converging on the town, drawn by a grisly relic that dates back to the Donner Party...and the dawn of humanity.

Sheriff Jon Highfather and his deputies already have their hands full dealing with train robbers, a mysterious series of brutal murders, and the usual outbreaks of weirdness.  But with thirty-two of the most vicious killers on Earth riding into Golgotha in just a few day's time, the town and its people will be tested as never before - and some of them will never be the same.

The Shotgun Arcana is even more spectacularly ambitious and imaginative than The Six-Gun Tarot, and confirms R. S. Belcher's status as a rising star.

6 Years

6 years of blogging, 1022 posts, 159 reviews, 65 interviews. Sometimes it feels like I’ve started Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews only yesterday, other times like it happened such a long time ago. But I guess that is a general characteristic of time, or more exactly of its relativity, so that is nothing new. The certain thing is that the experience of these 6 years has been nothing but the best. The way I read changed dramatically and although I tend to be more demanding with the books I start in most cases their reading is more rewarding than before. I’ve experienced some amazing things because of this blog, things that otherwise would have been impossible, but above all, it gave me the opportunity to meet some wonderful people, who for certain made my life far richer than before. Sure, time again has something to do with the running of things around here, recently and more often I was not able to find the necessary space to elbow my reviews and interviews, my plans for this blog are still standing but are on hold for the time being due to the same reason, sometimes I feel drained or lazy and because of this the posts might not be as frequent as I would like them to be. Therefore I cannot predict what the future would bring, sometimes I wish I could, but one thing is clear, as long as I enjoy writing here on Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews this blog will exist. So let’ kick the 7^th year off.

Cover art - "Scourge of the Betrayer" by Jeff Salyards (French edition)

Marc Simonetti is not a secret anymore, his reputation spread worldwide over the past several years. It is only just for things to be this way, Marc Simonetti proved his great talent on plenty of occasions with his paintings, works that also embellished the covers of books signed by Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin or Patrick Rothfuss and published in France, Brazil or United States, just to give a few examples. Personally, I am always happy to see a new cover receiving life out of Marc Simonetti’s brushes, even more so when the book in question is one I enjoyed a fair bit. As it is the case with Jeff Salyards’ “Scourge of the Betrayer”, the first novel in the “Bloodsounder’s Arc” series. However, as much as I liked Jeff Salyards’ novel I couldn’t find equal excitement about its original cover, the artwork was merely all right for me. I cannot say the same about the French edition though, Marc Simonetti, once again responsible for a very attractive book cover, captured perfectly the atmosphere of “Scourge of the Betrayer”, the vicious flails, a solid presence but keeping something to themselves, as they do within the pages of the novel, the chronicle, written and reflected in blood and violence, and the teasing hints born out of the mirrored image. Dark and menacing, in my opinion this cover is the perfect match for Jeff Salyards’ “Scourge of the Betrayer”. And my interest in the upcoming second novel of the “Bloodsounder’s Arc” series, “Veil of the Deserters”, is now accompanied by my curiosity in how a cover for the French edition of Jeff Salyards’ sophomore book would look like.

Table of contents - “Best of Mystery & Horror #1” edited by Mircea Pricăjan

I find myself yet again owning a debt in reviews for some of the books I read recently and one such title for which I feel even sadder not being able to properly put my thoughts on the paper yet is A.R. Deleanu’s collections of stories, “Achluophobia, 10 Macabre Stories”. The main reason for feeling such sorrow because of this overdue review is that I don’t get many chances to read Romanian horror. Not because I am not willing to offer it my time and energy, but because its presence on the Romanian literature is scarce, to put it light. Considering once more the extremely rich vein of inspiration found within our folklore, mythology, history and modern society it is an issue that nudges me very often nowadays. However, there are reasons of optimism and signs of health for this genre, after all we’ve seen here published lately an excellent short novel with elements of supernatural and horror, “The Chocolate Testament” by Marian Coman, a gothic novel, “…and at the end remained the nightmare” by Oliviu Crâznic, a couple of themed anthologies such as “Beyond the Night: 12 Faces of the Gothic” edited by the same Oliviu Crâznic and “Zombies, The Book of Living Dead” edited by Mircea Pricăjan and the constant appearance of the online magazine, Revista de suspans (The Suspense Magazine), run also by Mircea Pricăjan, just to name those that come immediately into mind. Covering mystery, crime and horror it is always a delight to see Revista de suspans releasing a new issue, and I am not saying that because I assist this magazine at its editorial work, but because it offers a proper medium for the Romanian horror genre and writers. From the works published within the virtual pages of Revista de suspans comes a new exciting title, “Best of Mystery & Horror #1”, edited by Mircea Pricăjan and released by a bold new Romanian publisher, Herg Benet. Gathering 16 stories from the 105 published in the first 12 issues of Revista de suspans “Best of Mystery & Horror #1” brings forth some of the established and young voices of the Romanian genre literature tackling the suspense in its many forms. It is the perfect initiative, and again my opinion is not influenced by my collaboration with Mircea Pricăjan, for offering further hope to the Romanian horror genre. And I do have hope that this volume of best mystery and horror short fiction is the first of many.

Table of contents (in alphabetic order by author):

“Cuvânt înainte” (Foreword) by Mircea Pricăjan

“Credit restant” (Bad Debt) by Diana Alzner

“Răzbunarea mută” (The Mute Revenge) by Cezarina Anghilac

“A doua moarte a domnului Michael Conrad” (The Second Death of Mister Michael Conrad) by George Arion

“Proprietarul” (The Owner) by Raluca Băceanu

“Prin grele văluri de visare” (Through Heavy Shrouds of Dreaming) by Alexandru Dan

“Stingerea” (The Curfew) by Marian Dumitrașcu

“Păpușa” (The Doll) by Cătălina Fometici

“Ultimul zbor” (The Last Flight) by Teodora Gheorghe

“Un crâmpei de lumină” (A Scrap of Light) by Lena Kart

“Spaima” (The Dread) by Cristina Nemerovschi

“Omul cu șobolani sub piele” (The Man With Rats Under His Skin) by Alexandra Niculae

“Scurtă întâlnire” (Short Meeting) by Liviu Radu

“Vino la mine” (Come to Me) by Radu Romaniuc

“Arhanghelul” (The Archangel) by Paul Tudor

“Înainte să putrezească totul” (Before Everything Rots) by Felix Tzele

“Iluminare” (Illumination) by Ioana Vișan

Title spotlight - "Last Year, When We Were Young" by Andrew J. McKiernan

“Scenes from the Second Storey”, Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall’s anthology published by Morrigan Books in 2011, is one of the best collections of short stories I’ve read in the past several years. Born as a tribute for the music album “Scenes from the Second Storey” of the alternative rock band The God Machine the eponymous anthology featured some very strong stories from some very talented and powerful writers. Among them, Andrew J. McKiernan, who at the time of my reading of “Scenes from the Second Storey” was a mystery to me. However, his story, “The Desert Song”, a mix of post-apocalyptic setting, zombie/vampire fiction and spaghetti western to the best effect, opened my eyes to and made me very interested in Andrew J. McKiernan’s works. So, since then I was on scouting duty for more of his stories, enjoying each opportunity to read the discovered tales, “Calliope: A Steam Romance”, “All the Clowns in Clowntown”, “The Final Degustation of Doctor Ernest Blenheim” or “They Don’t Know That We Know What They Know”. And each new story I read was one more step taken by Andrew J. McKiernan in becoming one of my favorite writers. But as pleasant and rewarding as it is the search for new stories from favorite writers I find the benefits of a single author collections a bit more satisfying. As is the case with Andrew J. McKiernan’s debut collection, “Last Year, When We Were Young”. I was thrilled to see Andrew J. McKiernan’s stories gathered for the first time in a volume, not because I didn’t enjoy searching for them, but because as satisfying as the rewards offered by these tales were sometimes for me it was very frustrating to learn of one of his stories and not to be able to have access to it. Still, that does not remain the only reason for my delight, because after all, I am always happy when I can take a book by a favorite writer from the shelves of my personal library wherever I feel like doing so. And that is exactly where Andrew J. McKiernan’s collection of short stories is going when Satalyte Publishing is releasing “Last Year, When We Were Young” later this year.

The debut collection from multi-award nominated author Andrew J McKiernan brings together 14 of his previously published short stories and novelettes, plus two brand new tales unique to the collection.

Often defying conventions of genre and style, these stories range from fantasy and steampunk to science fiction and horror, but always with an edge sharper than a razor and darker than a night on Neptune.

From the darkly hilarious "All the Clowns in Clowntown" to the heart-breakingly disturbing title story, the collection pulls no punches. Delving deep into what scares us most, McKiernan's tales are by turns heartfelt and gut-wrenching.

With an Introduction by Will Elliott, Last Year, When We Were Young is a collection of horror and dark fantasy from one of Australia's finest new authors that should not be missed.

Table of Contents (tentative):

“The Memory of Water”

“All the Clowns in Clowntown”

“White Lines, White Crosses”

“Love Death”

“The Dumbshow”

“Daivadana”

“The Message”

“Calliope: A Steam Romance”

“The Final Degustation of Doctor Ernest Blenheim”

“Torch Song”

“A Prayer for Lazarus” (new)

“The Haunting that Jack Built”

“They Don’t Know That We Know What They Know”

“The Desert Song”

“The Wanderer in the Darkness”

“Last Year, When We Were Young” (new)

“Death Signs Indecipherable” (“Moartea semnează indescifrabil”) by Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu

“Death Signs Indecipherable” (“Moartea semnează indescifrabil”)

by Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu

Publisher: Nemira

The review is based on a bought copy of the book

Mystery, noir and crime fiction have a permanent place within my heart and the reason for this fact cannot be owned exclusively on the value of the writers, but also on the more intimate and personal experience of my childhood and teenage years. Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc, Dashiell Hammett or Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu offered countless of adventurous hours spent in the company of detectives, investigators or, why not, gentlemen thieves. The aura of the mystery was sometimes augmented by the clandestine reading by hiding the books underneath physics or chemistry school-books while I was supposed to do my homework. I believe I love Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu just a bit more because her novels have ended more often under the homework book than those of other writers. And “Death Signs Indecipherable” (“Moartea semnează indescifrabil”) was the first such investigation that left the formulas and equations forgotten.

I was delighted when Nemira Publishing House decided to re-print Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu’s novels and even more thrilled when the collection of hardback editions of these books started with “Death Signs Indecipherable” (“Moartea semnează indescifrabil”). With a feeling of nostalgia and not only, I followed once again the police officer Ştefan Anghel on his long awaited holiday. In hope of finding the most needed rest Ştefan Anghel goes to an isolated mountain chalet, “Dor de munte”, but soon after he receives an unsigned letter proclaiming a soon to happen crime and when a murder and suicide take place his holiday is quickly forgotten. And Ştefan Anghel returns to what he does best, solving mysteries.

Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu is named the Romanian Agatha Christie, but in “Death Signs Indecipherable” (“Moartea semnează indescifrabil”) she twists one of Christie’s hallmarks into her own particular way. If in plenty of Agatha Christie’s novels the detective gathered the suspects into one room, explaining the course of the investigation and the guilty, Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu goes into reverse, she gathers the cast of characters of “Death Signs Indecipherable” (“Moartea semnează indescifrabil”) into one place at the beginning of the novel, isolating them further when the mountain chalet’s phone lines are cut off and a storm makes all the access roads impracticable. This approach sets into motion the wheels of a very interesting mechanism, a claustrophobic atmosphere, the presence of constant threat and the challenge thrown in the path of the detective. It catches the characters and readers alike in a web of tangled threads. If you like, it is a situation similar to the board game “Cluedo”, or the old Romanian version “Enigma”, if you prefer, three cards are placed face down in the middle of the table, the killer, the murder weapon and the location of the crime, remaining for the players to discover the identity of those cards through deductive reasoning. The difference is that in “Death Signs Indecipherable” the weapon and location are known, the murderer is discovered halfway through the novel by Ştefan Anghel, without accusing him or revealing his identity to the reader, only the motive of the crime remaining to be established.

If the first half of the novel is full of tension, with plenty of suspenseful and perilous moments, the second is an expression of a full scale police investigation, with inquiries into the victims’ past, discussions both inquisitive and misleading for the killer and a permanent surveillance of the murderer so he cannot slip through police’s fingers before his motives are discovered. This second part is perfectly described by Ştefan Anghel’s superior, colonel Tunsu:

“Try to remember from crime fiction the detective’s reasoning and not the rooftop chases”. (“Încercaţi să reţineţi din literatura poliţistă raţionamentele detectivului și nu goana pe acoperișuri.”)

Still, after witnessing the entire deduction process the readers are awarded with a heart-pounding action finale. It is a very nice way for Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu to draw the curtain over the story.

Ştefan Anghel might not be the charismatic and memorable detective in the style of Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes or Philip Marlowe but he gets the job done. And his story “Death Signs Indecipherable” is a testimony of Rodica Ojog-Brașoveanu’s unique place within crime fiction and not in the least as a comparison with other such writers.