Black Cat Weekly #9

THE CAT’S MEOW

THE CAT’S MEOW

Welcome to Black Cat Weekly #9—just in time for Halloween! This is a fun issue, if I do say so myself. Not only are there some great spooky tales, but we have a major dark fantasy novel by A.R. Morlan, The Amulet. There is an interesting story behind The Amulet—it was meant to be her big breakthrough book, published during the horror boom of the late 1980s/early 1990s, but she so objected to the editorial changes (“meddling,” she called it) that she disowned the book as published by Bantam and actively campaigned for people not to read it. Bantam, in turn, disowned her, switched her next novel from a hardcover to a paperback, released it with no promotion, and never published another work by her. In fact, she never published another novel. I was privileged to publish the original (and better) version of The Amulet after she recovered the rights from Bantam, which is the text presented here.

Add an eerie Victorian ghost story by Amelia B. Edwards, a rare werewolf tale by the “King of the Pulps,” H. Bedford-Jones, and my own “Sympathy for Mummies” and you have a terrific set of tales for Halloween.

Unfortunately, because we have a short work week due to a wedding trip (not my wedding! I’ve been happily married for more years than I can count), there won’t be one of Frank Lovell Thomas’s “Carlton Clarke—Telepathic Detective” tales this issue. But Carlton will be back next time.

We do have our regular mystery features, a solve-it-yourself story by Hal Charles and Barb Goffman Presents story by Michael Nethercott. Plus a pair of mystery novels, as well as a short story from the classic hardboiled magazine, Manhunt.

Science fiction readers also have a pair of classic pulp tales—Stephen Marlowe’s “No-Risk Planet” and Kris Neville’s short novel, Peril of the Starmen.

Complete contents:

Science Fiction & Fantasy

“The Wolf Woman,”, by H. Bedford-Jones [short story]

“The New Pass,” by Amelia B. Edwards [short story]

“Sympathy for Mummies,” by John Gregory Betancourt [short story]

“No-Risk Planet,” by Stephen Marlowe [short story]

Peril of the Starmen, by Kris Neville [novel]

The Amulet, by A.R. Morlan [novel]

Mysteries

“Tie Score,” by Lee Mayers[short story]

“Lunch Is Served,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]

“Lamplighter by the Sea,” by Michael Nethercott [Barb Goffman Presents short story]

Judas Journey, by Lee Roberts [mystery novel]

Special Detective, by John Thomas McIntyre [novel, Ashton-Kirk series]

Enjoy!

—John Betancourt

Editor, Black Cat Weekly