Black Cat Weekly #4

THE CAT’S MEOW, by the Editor

THE CAT’S MEOW, by the EditorWelcome to the fourth issue of Black Cat Weekly, which has an official release date of September 26, 2021.

This time we have 9 works of fiction—four mystery shorts and a mystery novel, and two science fiction shorts, a fantasy short, and a science fiction novel. One of the mysteries is even an award-winner—Barb Goffman selected Meg Opperman’s “Twilight Ladies” for her department. “Twilight Ladies” won a short story Derringer Award in 2015. If you missed its first appearance, you’re in for a treat. It’s terrific. I’m fortunate to be in a writing group with Meg, and I got to see it as it was being written—we all knew it was something special the moment we saw it.

We don’t have a Paul Di Filippo Presents story this time, but that’s only because I wheedled a tale out of Paul himself. He’s quite the writer, as “The Herple Is a Happy Beast, or, Neighbors Are Delicious!” shows. We still have a couple of stories he’s selected for the Paul Di Filippo Presents department in the publishing queue before his retirement becomes official. We hope to announce a new science fiction editor next week.

We also have the fourth (of twelve) Carlton Clarke story, featuring the telepathic detective, freshly digitized by our scanning team from its original 1908 newspaper appearance; a tale of Abraham Van Helsing (of Dracula fame) by one of my all-time favorite fantasists, Nina Kirki Hoffman; and classics by Lester del Rey, Bryce Walton, Edwin Balmer & William B. MacHarg; and a fun solve-it-yourself short from Hal Charles.

As for the novels, this issue developed a bit of an “old west” theme. Todhunter Ballard’s West of Quarantine is a western with mystery elements. (Ballard is best known as a western author, but he also wrote genre mysteries and appeared regularly in Black Mask magazine.) The New York Times said of West of Quarantine: “Grade A stuff and heartily recommended!” Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

Bill Pronzini once told me, when I asked why he didn’t write more science fiction, that mysteries can be set any time and any place, and he didn’t like to feel limited. Luckily, science fiction can also be set any time and any place—as John Boyd’s novel, Andromeda Gun, aptly demonstrates. It’s a different sort of first-contact story, as an alien sent to Earth finds itself co-habitating the body of an outlaw in the Old West.

We’ll be back next week with lots more great fiction. You won’t want to miss Black Cat Weekly #5!

—John Betancourt

Editor & publisher