Penumbra No. 5 - Edited by S. T. Joshi (2024)

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Published by our friends at Hippocampus Press! Edited by S. T. Joshi. Cover art by George C. Cotronis. Cover design by Dan Sauer. 6x9 Paperback, 321 pages.

Hippocampus Press celebrates the first half-decade of its acclaimed annual magazine of weird fiction, criticism, and poetry with a blockbuster issue containing a dozen stories, a sheaf of cutting-edge critical essays, and ten poems long and short.

Among the fiction contributions are a gorgeous fantasy by Wade German in the manner of Clark Ashton Smith; Carla Ward’s pungent tale of supernatural revenge; weird tales by such veterans as John Shirley and Darrell Schweitzer; and evocative pieces by Katherine Kerestman and Debra K. Every. Among the articles, James Goho studies the provocative work of Joel Lane; Jason V Brock ponders the significance of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone; John C. Tibbetts presents an interview and analysis of the weird work of Brian Aldiss; and Geoffrey Reiter probes the religious significance of Bram Stoker’s last novel.

Verse by such distinguished poets as Frank Coffman, Maxwell I. Gold, Ngo Binh Anh Khoa, Ann K. Schwader, and others fill out a rich and varied issue.

Contents

Fiction
Contents
Fiction
Black Shells / Katherine Kerestman
Autumn / Anna Taborska
The Misting at Emerald Oaks / Joshua Green
The Enmity of Xubalba and Zardaak / Wade German
Angels Can Poison the Sacred Wine / Scott J. Couturier
Darling Daughter / Carla Ward
How to Speak to a Cyber God / Maxwell I. Gold
Garden Statuary / John Shirley
When Dawn Came at Last to Vandajhar / Darrell Schweitzer
Ghost Park by Moonlight / Carl E. Reed
Mirror Falls / Debra K. Every
The Man Who Keeps Halloween / John C. Tibbetts

Classic Reprints
The Tree-Man / Henry S. Whitehead

Nonfiction
Folktales and Myth in Joel Lane’s Where Furnaces Burn / James Goho
Come Figures, Shadows, and Reflections: The Timeless Appeal of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone / Jason V Brock
Monsters, Mazes, and Edward Lucas White / Lee Weinstein
Robert Nelson, Charles D. Hornig, and the Fantasy Fan: A Motley of Young Talents / Marcos Legaria
Eden in Mercia: Recovering Paradise in Bram Stoker’s The Lair of the White Worm / Geoffrey Reiter
Witch-Hunting Literature 101 / Katherine Kerestman
Brian Aldiss: “A Border-Jumping Effrontery” / John C. Tibbetts
Echoes of the Self: Fitz-James O’Brien’s Literary “Other” as Ontological Inquiry / John P. Irish

Poetry
Return of the Revenant / Carl E. Reed
Wind Tarot / Ann K. Schwader
Beach Shanty / Katherine Kerestman
A Union in Carcosa / Ngo Binh Anh Khoa
Cold, Colder thy Kiss / Oliver Smith
The Ogham Stone / Frank Coffman
Threnody for the Witch of Kings Cross / Manuel Pérez-Campos
Ave, Nightmare / Carl E. Reed
The Keeper of the Lighthouse at Land’s End / Kendall Evans
August’s Pumpkin / Scott J. Couturier