Chapter 3
516 Words
Welcome to Black Cat Weekly.
Black Cat WeeklyAs we near our 100th weekly issue, I have been looking back over our previous issues and realizing how much work it’s been! This project, in various forms, has actually been going on for quite a bit longer than 2 years (at first, we released all the content as separate ebook files...which proved unwieldy, and ultimately I decided to combine them all into a weekly magazine.) I’ve also been revisiting favorite covers (mine remains the Easter Cat) but there have been quite a few others I really enjoyed putting together. I enjoy working on the covers as much as the stories.
Here are a few of my favorites:
This issue’s “weird monster” cover is no exception. In addition to mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure stories, we do run the occasional horror story (especially around Halloween) as well as the Westerns (such as the Alan Le May tale in this issue), which makes Black Cat Weekly one of the few magazines that can really run any genre of cover and have it accutately reflect the magazine.
Black Cat WeeklyBut I admit to a special fondness for covers featuring black cats. Our current 16-year-old black cat is named Cleopatra. Our last one was Diablo...or “Dee” for short.
This time, we have five mysteries (including a terrific original by Adam Meyer, courtesy of Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken), modern tales by Dharma Kelleher (courtesy of Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman) and Jack Halliday, plus a fun pulp story by Frank Gruber, who was a prolific pulp writer and novelist. Gruber’s story tells of a dance-hall clip-joint and provides a window into a long-gone era. And of course, no issue is complete without a solve-it-yourself mystery.
On the more outre side, we have a sword-and-sorcery tale by Phyllis Ann Karr (set in her Frosterflower and Thorn universe), a dark fantasy by horror master Joseph Payne Brennan, a time-travel tale by Robert Abernathy, and classic science fiction by Philip Jose Farmer (“Daughter” is a followup to his classic tale, “Mother”) and John W. Campbell (the tale of grim survival on the moon, The Moon Is Hell.)
The Moon Is Hell.Here’s the complete lineup:
“Stacy’s Mom,” by Adam Meyer [Michael Bracken Presents short story]
“The Games g**g Rides Again,” Hal Charlies [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]
“Kissing Asphalt,” by Dharma Kelleher [Barb Goffman Presents short story]
“Great Caesar’s Ghost!” by Jack Halliday [short story]
“Clip-Joint Adventures,” by Frank Gruber [short story]
“The Bells of San Juan,” by Alan Le May [short story]
“Sorcery and Sacrilege,” by Phyllis Ann Karr [short story]
“The Midnight Bus,” by Joseph Payne Brennan [short story]
“Daughter,” by Philip Jose Farmer [short story]
“Stopwatch on the World,” by Robert Abernathy [novelet]
The Moon Is Hell, by John W. Campbell [novel]
The Moon Is HellUntil next time, happy reading!
—John Betancourt
Editor, Black Cat Weekly
Black Cat Weekly
- Writer
