Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction No. 33 | October 2024


Book Description

dark horse /ˈdärk ˈˌhôrs/ noun 1. a candidate or competitor about whom little is known but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds. "a dark-horse candidate" Join us for a monthly tour of writers who give as good as they get. From hard science-fiction to stark, melancholic apocalypses; from Lovecraftian horror to zombies and horror comedy; from whimsical interludes to tales of unlikely compassion--whatever it is, if it's weird, it's here. So grab a seat before the starting gun fires, pour yourself a glass of strange wine, and get ready for the running of the dark horses. In this issue: ENDLESS STEPS THROUGH TIME Alice Baburek NO BARK, ALL BITE Avery Timmons NOT IN THIS WORLD Holden Michaels OUR DOLLS CRY REAL TEARS Simeon Care X-RAY RIDER (PART THREE) Wayne Kyle Spitzer QUEEN OF POP Otis Johnson SKELETON CREW Amy Grech SPILLED FRAGMENTS OF MOONLIGHT Sasha Janel McBrayer MONSTER MILES Steven Roisum THE AFTERNOON OF AN ASCENSION Michael Fowler




A Night in the Lonesome October


Book Description

"In the murky London gloom, a knife-wielding gentleman prowls the midnight streets with his faithful watchdog Snuff - gathering together the grisly ingredients they will need for an upcoming ancient and unearthly rite. And all manner of players, both human and undead, are preparing to participate."--Publisher.




Far Sector


Book Description

Acclaimed, award-winning author N.K. Jemisin (The Fifth Season, The City We Became) makes her comic book debut with bestselling artist Jamal Campbell (Naomi) as they thrust you into a stunning sci-fi murder mystery on the other side of the universe! For the past six months, newly chosen Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein has been protecting the City Enduring, a massive metropolis of 20 billion people. The city has maintained peace for over 500 years by stripping its citizens of their ability to feel. As a result, violent crime is virtually unheard of, and murder is nonexistent. But that’s all about to change in this new graphic novel that puts a unique spin on the legacy of the Green Lanterns! Far Sector collects Far Sector #1-12.




Untold Story


Book Description

She was the most famous woman in the world. She died tragically, too young, in a terrible accident. The world mourned. Monica Ali, the beloved author of Brick Lane, explores the extraordinary question: what if she hadn't died? Lydia lives in a nondescript town somewhere in the American Midwest. She's a nice, normal woman - if strikingly beautiful. She lives a nice, normal life: her friends are normal, her job is normal, her hobbies are normal. Her friends and boyfriend adore her. But her past is shrouded in mystery. Who is Lydia? Where does she come from? And why is her English accent so posh? Lydia is a woman with secrets. Extraordinary secrets. She might even be the most famous woman on the planet... a woman whose death the world mourned by millions. Who is she? *~*~* Praise for Untold Story*~*~* 'A beautiful, gripping accomplishment, a treat for the heart and the head, and will be a joy to readers who believe in the possibility that a book can transform your basic sense of life' Andrew O'Hagan 'A terrific, clever, multi-layered and subtle book (and let's not forget - hugely entertaining)' Joanne Harris 'Haunting and intensely readable, this is something between a thriller and a ghost story' Lady Antonia Fraser 'A startlingly intelligent, perceptive and entertaining piece of fiction. It's quite brilliant' Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror 'Thoughtful, compassionate... a suspenseful and gripping read' Suzi Feay, Financial Times 'Ali's third-person princess is a very convincing and sympathetic figure... extremely skilfully done' Tibor Fischer, Observer




Slices of Flesh


Book Description

Do you like your horror in small bite-sized chunks? If so, then SLICES OF FLESH from Dark Moon Books will activate your taste buds like zombies drawn to fresh brains. These flash fiction stories oozed from the brains of some of the best horror writers from around the world and will fit perfectly into your daily diet of "scary." SLICES OF FLESH includes the following short horror tales: Acceptance (Reesa Brown), Air Baby (Stephen Volk), All Paths Lead to Psychopath (Sephera Giron), Althea's Mistake (Jennifer Word), Angst (Fran Friel), The Bastard Called Hope (Jennifer Brozek), Big Bite (Rick Hautala), Blame the Neighbours (Kaaron Warren), Bloody (Lorelei Shannon), Blue (J. R. Parks), Bones, Bones (James S. Dorr), Bones Lie Quietly Now (Nate Kenyon), Breathe (Brad C. Hodson), Burial Ground (Simon Clark), Carb Friendly (David C. Hayes), Chains of Love (Del Howison), The Collector (Jacob Ruby), Costumes (J. F. Palma), Cur (Shelly Towne), Cutter (David Dunwoody), Dear Jimmy (D.L. Snell), Demon (Michael O'Neal), Devoured (Jeremy C. Shipp), Dryad (Laura Benedict), Dwindling (Kevin McClintock), Etched Deep (David Niall Wilson), Every Time a Bell Rings (Araminta Star Matthews), Ex Voto (Graham Masterton), Extinction (Janice Gable Bashman), Fallen Leaves (Michelle Mellon), fambly (Jeremy M. Zoss), For Worse (Steve Voelker), Chomps (Sierra Christman), The Fourth Wall (Jack Nealy), Fresh Air (Lon Prater), Grampa's Lucky Coin (Peter Timony), Heart Throb (Linda Addison), Hoodies (Paul Kane), How to Make a Monster (Adrian Ludens), I Am Not Afraid (Stan Swanson), I Am Not Going to Be That Guy (Lance Shoeman), If You Go Out in the Woods Tonight (Nancy Holder), In the Fullness of the Moon (Nancy Kilpatrick), Intertwining Tales (Timothy P. Remp), Into the Death Zone (Tim Lebbon), It's Just Business (Matthew Warner), Jumping In (Aaron Polson), Just One of the Gang (William F. Nolan), Kelly Wants to be Free (Wayne Simmons), Laid Down (Ramsey Campbell), Last Call (M. R. Sellars), Love Disappears (J. W. Schnarr), Magnum Opus (Lori Michelle), Monster (Max Booth III), MRM (Connie Corcoran-Wilson), Nothing (Douglas Smith), Overtime at the Beheading Factory (Tom Cardamone), Paper or Plastic (Roy Robbins), Perishables (Amy Grech), Picnic (R. B. Payne), Polaroids (Jack Ketchum), Predator and Prey (Fred Wiehe), The Prisoner of Andersonville (Eric J. Guignard), Puddles (Bryan Hall), The Real Deal (Anne C. Petty), Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears (Richard Thomas), The Rush (Lisa Morton), Sabbatical in the Methlands (Joe McKinney), The Shadow of a Doubt (C. W. LaSart), She. Her. You. (Kevin James Breaux), Snuffbox (Erin Eveland), Soul Of The Dog (Lee F. Jordan), Spit (Jeremy Wagner), Spot (Charles Gramlich), Stab (Lawrence Watt-Evans), Striped Pajamas (Marge Simon), Sumpahump (JG Faherty), Swallow (Simon Strantzas), Then, Just A Dream (Lawrence Santoro), Things Fall Apart (Christopher DiLeo), Today, I'm Marshall Mason (Charlie Fish), Touch (Marie O'Regan), Under Dale (Susan Palwick), Vade in Pacem (Monica J. O'Rourke), Van Helsing: His True Story (Jason V Brock), Wetback (David Tallerman), What I've Gots in My Pocketses (Chantal Boudreau), When The Dead Rise (Sandy DeLuca), Who Is Screaming (Stewart Carrick) and The Wrath of Benjo (Edward M. Erdelac).




Meeks


Book Description

No woman will have Ben without a proper bachelor's suit . . . and the tailor refuses to make him one. Back from war with a nameless enemy, Ben finds that his mother is dead and his family home has been reassigned by the state. As if that isn't enough, he must now find a wife, or he'll be made a civil servant and given a permanent spot in one of the city's oppressive factories. Meanwhile, Meeks, a foreigner who lives in the park and imagines he's a member of the police, is hunted by the overzealous Brothers of Mercy. Meeks' survival depends on his peculiar friendship with a police captain--but will that be enough to prevent his execution at the annual Independence Day celebration? A dark satire rendered with the slapstick humor of a Buster Keaton film, Julia Holmes' debut marries the existentialism of Fyodor Dostoevsky's """"Notes from Underground"""" to the strange charm of a Haruki Murakami novel. """"Meeks"""" portrays a world at once hilarious and disquieting, in which frustrated revolutionaries and hopeful youths suffer alongside the lost and the condemned, just for a chance at the permanent bliss of marriage and a slice of sugar-frosted Independence Day cake. Julia Holmes was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and grew up in the Middle East, Texas, and New York, where she is currently an assistant editor at """"Rolling Stone."""" She is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA program in fiction.




Supernatural Noir


Book Description

A hit man who kills with coincidence... A detective caught in a war between two worlds... A man whose terrible appetites hide an even darker secret . . . Dark Horse once again teams up with Hugo and Bram Stoker award-winning editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft Unbound) to bring you this masterful marriage of the darkness without and the darkness within. Supernatural Noir is an anthology of original tales of the dark fantastic from twenty modern masters of suspense, including Brian Evenson, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Nick Mamatas, Gregory Frost, Jeffrey Ford, and many more.




Pacific


Book Description

“A truly great writer” returns to the Midwest characters and setting of his landmark debut novel, The End of Vandalism (Esquire). When fourteen-year-old Micah Darling travels to Los Angeles to reunite with the mother who abandoned him seven years ago, he finds himself out of his league in a land of magical freedom. He does new drugs with new people, falls in love with an enchanting but troubled equestrienne named Charlotte, and gets thrown out of school over the activities of a club called the New Luddites. Back in the Midwest, an ethereal young woman comes to Stone City on a mission that will unsettle the lives of everyone she meets including Micah’s half-sister, Lyris, who still fights fears of abandonment after a childhood in foster care, and his father, Tiny, a petty thief. An investigation into the stranger’s identity uncovers a darkly disturbed life, as parallel narratives of the comic and tragic, the mysterious and everyday, unfold in both the country and the city. “Pacific is a terrific book, and a strange one, as strange as the world and the great literature that helps us make our way through it.” —The New York Times Book Review “On the surface, Pacific is a disarmingly plain tale about people managing loss. But look closer, and you’ll see it’s as deep as the ocean it’s named after.” —San Francisco Chronicle “If The End of Vandalism provided a world for readers to slow down and catch their breath, Pacific is determined to knock it out of them.” —New York Observer




My New Roots


Book Description

At long last, Sarah Britton, called the “queen bee of the health blogs” by Bon Appétit, reveals 100 gorgeous, all-new plant-based recipes in her debut cookbook, inspired by her wildly popular blog. Every month, half a million readers—vegetarians, vegans, paleo followers, and gluten-free gourmets alike—flock to Sarah’s adaptable and accessible recipes that make powerfully healthy ingredients simply irresistible. My New Roots is the ultimate guide to revitalizing one’s health and palate, one delicious recipe at a time: no fad diets or gimmicks here. Whether readers are newcomers to natural foods or are already devotees, they will discover how easy it is to eat healthfully and happily when whole foods and plants are at the center of every plate.




How to Know the Birds


Book Description

"In this elegant narrative, celebrated naturalist Ted Floyd guides you through a year of becoming a better birder. Choosing 200 top avian species to teach key lessons, Floyd introduces a new, holistic approach to bird watching and shows how to use the tools of the 21st century to appreciate the natural world we inhabit together whether city, country or suburbs." -- From book jacket.