Dark Matter Magazine Special Halloween Issue October 2021 By Rob Carroll
“I wasn’t a pitiless monster. For every queen I cut down, the White Guard commissioned a statue built in her honor—half apology, half gratitude. Sorry we killed you. Thank you for dying. Now the king might marry a queen more faithful, more fruitful, more whatever-it-was-you-lacked that drew the White Sword to your heart.”—from Hailey Piper’s Queen of the Cloven Heart
While the issue also included poetry, short comics, and an interview, for me, the fiction and art features were the shining stars.
My favorite stories are as follows:
“Annihilate Mankind and Impress Your Friends: A Correspondence Course by Matt Andrew simply blew me away. This unsettling epistolary tale consists of letters from philosophical pessimist Dr. Blank teaching “a few party tricks based on simple human neuroscience” and a frightful “field application.”
Queen of the Cloven Heart by Hailey Piper follows a knight whose dastardly duty results in a dire dose of karma.
Fluff & Fold by Lituo Huang provides a biting tale of laundromat terror.
The Lady of the Dullahan by Anna Madden: In this horror/science fiction hybrid, an enforcement officer on the hunt for a criminal to meet his quota encounters something sinister.
Purple Spiders by Taylor Gianfrancisco is a ghoulish story from a ghost’s perspective.
Sam Heimer’s cover along with the interior art captures the fun and fear associated with Halloween. I also really enjoyed the “Die Chromatic” Art Feature by Meljen Art. For me, the standout pieces by Meljen Art included in the feature are “Wednesday Addams” and “Gorgon.” 9781087985978 Great collection - short stories, color illustrations, poetry, interviews, and comics. Solid Halloween construct here that was very enjoyable. 9781087985978 I wasn't aware of Dark Matter Magazine until I received a copy of the Halloween Special in my October package from Night Worms. While this is marketed as a magazine, the package is more like a book...and the whole layout of this thing is fantastic. I've ordered two more issues of Dark Matter simply because of how great the whole thing looks. The short stories combined with the art pages is a stunning thing to see. As with most short story collections, some of them are going to miss the mark, and that was certainly the case with a few here, but overall, this was a great read with some fantastic stories. A few favorites included Queen of the Cloven Heart by Hailey Piper, Jodie by Mark Joslyn, and The Last Science Fiction Story by Alan Vincent Michaels. 9781087985978 Short stories can be hit or miss, so I went into this collection from Dark Matter with a little trepidation, especially since I hadn't read anything else under their banner. This edition came as part of my Night Worms October 2021 package, and though a halloween issue I didn't jump in it until January.
I have to say I was pretty fucking impressed with the range of content and the quality of the stories. There were some really dark and well-crafted concepts, each augmented by some truly beautiful artwork.
I may need to look into subscribing to Dark Matter if this is any indication.... 9781087985978 Not going to rate, because that's hard to do with a magazine/collection of short stories, poems, and comics. However, Queen of the Cloven Heart by Hailey Piper was amazing and made me realize I need to read more from her soon! Caroline by Aeryn Rudel was also very good! The rest were okay or just couldn't hold my attention, but it was worth reading for those good stories. 9781087985978
Enjoy the spookiest time of the year with Dark Matter Magazine's first-ever Halloween Special Issue! The issue is jam-packed with 172 pages of Halloween-themed fiction, poetry, art, comics, and interviews.
FEATURING
Potato by Ken Altabef
Annihilate Mankind and Impress Your Friends: A Correspondence Course by Matt Andrew
A Place for the Dead and the Dying by P.T. Corwin
Purple Spiders by Taylor Gianfrancisco
Fluff & Fold by Lituo Huang
Jodie by Mark Joslyn
The Lady of the Dullahan by Anna Madden
The Last Science Fiction Story by Alan Vincent Michaels
Freehold by Josh Pearce
Queen of the Cloven Heart by Hailey Piper
The Master of the House by Michael Adam Robson
The Devil's Travel Agency by Alex Sobel
With a reprint story by Aeryn Rudel: Caroline
Poetry by James Hancock, Alan Vincent Michaels, Louis Rosenberg, Deborah Wong
And short comics by Sloane Leong, Matthew Wilding, and Justin Ryan
Art Feature by Meljen Art
Cover art and art feature by Sam Heimer
And an Artisan Feature on short horror fiction podcast, Tales to Terrify Dark Matter Magazine Special Halloween Issue October 2021
It was a great collection! I’m sorry it took me a year to read!!! 9781087985978 As with all anthologies each story or poem is hit or miss. I only enjoyed 2 or 3 featured in this collection. 9781087985978 [Read via paperback]. Good Halloween special - night worms variant of Dark Matter science fiction. A mix of short stories, poetry, artwork, and comics. The challenge of short stories, is well, they are short slices of life so don’t read expecting to have all the endings you want here. Favorite stories included - Freehold by Josh Pearce (my favorite of the book, but so frustrating that I didn’t understand everything and it ended when it was getting so good. So many unanswered questions!), The Devil’s Travel Agency by Alex Sobel, Jodie by Mark Joslyn, and Caroline by Aeryn Rudel. 9781087985978
read & download ò eBook or Kindle ePUB á Rob Carroll
