""And, as always, the wake of the sun caused temporal havoc. A Razalian hour passed normally enough, then shrank to ten minutes, then sneezed out a good half-day, then stabilised at an hour and a bit. Bobbing on the top of planetary time like corks in a bucket, the three moons spread out and were still - this time like kids glued to a screen. For, as the sunlight disappeared and the minutes passed more confidently, Razalia shook off its desolation. Across its face, a million torches shone under the amethyst skies: Razalian faces, each its own sun." Small, unfinished, more like a blueprint for a world than the real thing, Razalia props up one end of the Arc of the Fifteen Planets. In some places, its landscape looks like the efforts of a water-colourist suddenly called away from his easel. The Razalians live with the gaps - those spaces of unfathomable white - in many of their ridges, valleys, forests. And then the white begins to move..."

The Mercury Annual

Thomas, Michael Wyndham

Literature & Fiction

Theaker's Paperback Library

Astute readers will recall that in the winter of 1934-1935, Robert Harrison Blake - whose last days are recorded in H.P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark" - wrote five weird tales. There has been some controversy over these stories, notably the question as to whether they were published under different titles or lost when Blake met his untimely demise. Some ten years ago, now, I acquired an old exercise book which belonged to a certain "Robert Blake" of Providence. The document has been reliably dated to the 1930s and appears to have taken sixty-odd years to make the journey from his hands in Rhode Island, New England to mine in Yorkshire, old England. Although it is impossible to verify the identity of the author...

Five Forgotten Stories

Hall, John

Genre Fiction

Arthur Conan Doyle's supernatural literature varied from Jamesian ghost stories to Lovecraftian cosmic horror and disturbing psychological thrillers, and included the introduction of a new type of monster, the reanimated Egyptian mummy. These five novelettes comprise his essential horror fiction. With introduction and notes by Rafe McGregor. Contains: "The Captain of the Pole-Star", "Lot No. 249", "A Pastoral Horror", "The Terror of Blue John Gap" and "The Parasite".

The Conan Doyle Weirdbook

DOYLE, ARTHUR CONAN

Theaker’s Quarterly Fiction #44 features five stories, arranged roughly in the chronological order of their settings: “A Lesson from the Undergrowth” by Charles Wilkinson, “Snow Crime” by Allen Ashley, “The Return of the Terrible Darkness” by Howard Phillips, “Black Sun” by Douglas Thompson, and “Milo on Fire” by Ross Gresham. The review section, written by Jacob Edwards, Stephen Theaker and Douglas J. Ogurek, features five books (Dodger, A Game of Groans, Martian Sands, Señor 105 and the Elements of Danger and Star Wars: Scoundrels), three films (The Host, Star Trek Into Darkness and World War Z), and two television programmes (Astronauts and Doctor Who: Shada). The editorial explains why the magazine won't be closing down just yet, and the cover is by Howard Watts.

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #44

Edwards, Jacob

Wilkinson, Charles

Theaker, Stephen

Ogurek, Douglas J.

Phillips, Howard

ASHLEY, ALLEN

Thompson, Douglas

Gresham, Ross

Six stories appear in issue 51 of Theaker's Quarterly Fiction: "Too Much Light Makes the Day Go Blind" by Marshall Moore, “One Slough and Crust of Sin” by Walt Brunston, "Water Imperial" by Charles Wilkinson, "The Assassin’s Lair" by Howard Phillips, "Whale on a Tilt" by Andrea M. Pawley and "Cybertronica" by Antonella Coriander. There are also fifteen reviews, by Stephen Theaker, Douglas J. Ogurek and Jacob Edwards, looking at the work of Lavie Tidhar, Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell, Henry Kuttner, David Ramirez, Joe Abercrombie, and Paul Magrs, as well as Space Battleship Yamato, Jupiter Ascending, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (twice), the Kindle Voyage, the Amazon Fire TV, season 9 of Supernatural, season 1 of The Leftovers, and season 1 of Constantine.

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #51

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #52

Stephen Theaker

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #54 features a new short story by Charles Wilkinson, "Septs", and an entire novella - complete in this issue - by Patrick Whittaker, former winner of the BFS Short Story Competition. "The Policeman and the Silence" concerns a murder investigation in the weird town of Kaza-Blanka. The issue also includes a tremendously exciting editorial where Stephen (a) apologises for this issue being late, (b) discusses the conundrum of a publisher who doesn't pay their reviewers slamming people who don't pay other types of writer, and (c) looks back at his reading in 2015. The issue also includes thirty-one reviews, by Douglas J. Ogurek, Jacob Edwards and Stephen. They look at the work of Charles Chilton, Felicia Day, Warren Ellis, Johann Peter Hebel, K.J. Parker, Terry Pratchett, H.G. Wells, Royce Prouty, Malcolm C. Lyons, Pu Songling, Sam Dyer, Leo, Garth Ennis and John McCrea, Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, CLAMP, Robbie Morrison and Brian Williamson, Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming, Alexandro Jodorowsky and Zoran Janjetov, and Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. Plus there are reviews of Ant-Man, Goosebumps, The Green Inferno, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2, Krampus, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (twice), The Visit, Trials Fusion Awesome Max Edition, Arrow Season 2, Doctor Who Season 9, and The Flash Season 1. The cover art is by Howard Watts.

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #54

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #57

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Greenwood, John

Fantasy

The Adventures of Roderick Langham

McGregor, Rafe

Short Stories & Anthologies

Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #62

Coriander, Antonella

Brunston, Walt

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