Stephen (ed.) - The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18

The three issues of Richard Chizmar and Robert Morrish’s Cemetery Dance Magazine included contributions from Eric Brown, Tony Richards, Tim Waggoner, Lisa Morton, Simon R. Green, Ed Gorman, Darren Speegle, Gene O’Neill, Peter Atkins, Stephen Mark Rainey, Scott Nicholson, and Michael A. Arnzen and Mark McLaughlin. Neil Gaiman and Tim Lebbon were among those interviewed, and there were the usual columns by Bev Vincent, Thomas F. Monteleone, Paula Guran, Michael Marano and John Pelan. Issue #56 of Cemetery Dance was billed as a “Glen Hirshberg Special” and included a new short story, a novel excerpt and a fun article by Hirshberg, along with an interview with the author and an extended review of his latest collection, American Morons .

Possibly the best-looking of the “publisher’s magazines”, William Schafer’s Subterranean featured fiction by Norman Partridge, Poppy Z. Brite, David Prill, David J. Schow, Jay Lake, Lewis Shiner, Orson Scott Card, Stephen Gallagher and Tad Williams, amongst others.

Another publisher to launch its own magazine title was Prime Books, an imprint of Wildside Press. Edited by Nick Mamatas and limited to 1,500 copies given away at World Fantasy convention 2006, the dull-looking “issue zero” of Phantom featured fiction from F. Brett Cox, Darren Speegle, Sarah Langan and Laird Barron, along with an interview with Stewart O’Nan.

Also now published by Wildside Press in association with Terminus Publishing Co, Weird Tales benefited from some excellent cover art by Rowena Morrell and Les Edwards. Fiction and verse was supplied by Parke Godwin, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, William F. Nolan, Gregory Frost, Tony Richards, Fitz-James O’Brien, Tanith Lee, Holly Phillips, Jay Lake, Brian Stableford, Richard Lupoff, Tina and Tony Rath, Robert Weinberg, George Barr, Jill Bauman, Darrell Schweitzer and Bruce Boston. Issue #341 featured an article celebrating Robert E. Howard’s centenary, while a John Shirley “special author feature” in #342 included an interview with the writer.

In December, Wildside publisher John Betancourt fired the entire editorial team of Weird Tales . Stephen H. Segal was brought in to handle day-to-day operations while the magazine looked for a new fiction editor. Betancourt also announced that the magazine would be getting a new logo and interior design in 2007.

Also from Wildside, the third issue of H. P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror finally made a much-belated appearance. It featured a “Spotlight on Brian Lumley” that included two stories (one original), an interview by Darrell Schweitzer and an overview of the author’s career by Stephen Jones. More decidedly non-Lovecraftian fiction was supplied by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Andrew J. Wilson, Lynne Jamneck and the late Earl Godwin, amongst others, along with review and opinion columns by editor Marvin Kaye, Craig Shaw Gardner, Peter Cannon and Ian McDowell.

Meanwhile, the second issue of the magazine was released as a “collector’s edition” trade paperback with extra fiction not included in the newsprint version.

Although Gordon Van Gelder’s The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction tended to rely on too many of the same names, there were still some very fine stories by Terry Bisson, Claudia O’Keefe, Gene Wolfe, Charles Coleman Finlay, Steven Utley, Laird Barron, Gardner Dozois, Christopher Rowe, Peter S. Beagle, Geoff Ryman, Carol Emshwiller, Scott Bradfield and Susanna Clarke, amongst others. Harlan Ellison set a challenge in the September issue with a story outline about Lady Luck that was picked up by Tananarive Due, Michael Kandel and Michael Libling. The same issue also reprinted a selection of letters between the late James Tiptree Jr (Alice B. Sheldon) and Ursula K. Le Guin.

As usual, regular FSF columnists included Charles de Lint, Elizabeth Hand, Kathi Maio, Michelle West, Paul Di Filippo, Robert K. J. Killheffer, James Sallis and Lucius Shepard, while the “Curiosities” page, recommending obscure books, featured contributions from Bud Webster, F. Gwynplaine Maclntyre, Gregory J. Coster, Michael Swanwick, Dennis Lien, Bud Webster, Thomas Marcinko, Paul Di Filippo and David Langford.

Fourteen months after going “on hiatus”, Amazing Stories was finally cancelled by Paizo Publishing after it was unable to increase circulation and attract media advertising. As a result, rights in the title reverted to Wizards of the Coast.

The third issue of Allen K’s Inhuman Magazine expanded the rota of artists working on the title and included new and reprint fiction from Michael Shea, Gerard Houarner, Melanie Tern, Tina L. Jens, Edward Bryant Jr., Kevin J. Anderson, Michael Resnick and others.

James R. Beach’s Dark Discoveries featured interviews with Elizabeth Massie, Douglas Winter, J. F. Gonzalez, Stephen Mark Rainey and Brian Knight, along with fiction from Gerard Houarner, Kealan Patrick Burke and Ken Goldman, plus a tribute to J. N. Williamson.

The four issues of Jason B. Sizemore’s impressive-looking magazine Apex Science Fiction & Horror Digest included fiction from Ben Bova, Robert Dunbar, Amy Grech, William F. Nolan, Michael Laimo, Tom Piccirilli and Lavie Tidhar, interviews with Neil Gaiman, Robert Rankin, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Poppy Z. Brite, Kage Baker, Michael Laimo, Tim Powers, Tom Piccirilli and Kelly Link, plus various articles and reviews.

Patrick and Honna Swenson’s Talebones: Fiction on the Dark Edge got a reprieve after the editors decided to close it down after almost eleven years due to financial difficulties and a dwindling subscriber base. Following an online plea, the magazine added 120 new subscribers, with more promised, and several extra pages of paid advertising. As a result, the title would survive for at least another year. The two issues published in 2006 contained stories and poetry by Charles Coleman Finlay, James Van Pelt, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Don D’Ammassa and Mark Rich. The editors decided to drop the interview section following Ken Rand’s talk with Louise Marley in issue #32.

Christopher M. Cevasco’s twice-yearly Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction featured fiction and poetry by Lisa Jensen, Adam Stemple, Jane Yolen, Darrell Schweitzer and Sarah Monette, amongst others.

Published bi-monthly by TTA Press, Interzone: Science Fiction & Fantasy included fiction by F. Gwynplaine Maclntyre, Richard Calder, Paul Di Filippo and Jay Lake, plus interviews with Terry Pratchett (twice!), Gerry Anderson, K. J. Bishop, Steven Erickson and Christopher Priest, along with all the regular news and review columns. Also from TTA, Crimewave Nine: Transgressions contained twelve new stories by Scott Nicholson, John Shirley and others.

Despite still advertising subscriptions, TTA Press’ previously announced horror magazine Black Static (formerly The 3rd Alternative ) failed once again to appear in 2006.

Edited by Trevor Denyer, Midnight Street: Journeys Into Darkness included fiction by Paul Finch, Gary Couzens, Rhys Hughes and Peter Tennant, along with interviews with authors Deborah LeBlanc, Ralph Robert Moore and “B” movie actress Lilith Stabs. Tony Richards was the featured author in issue #6, Gary Fry in #7, and L. H. Maynard and M. P. N. Sims were showcased in #8.

The fourth annual issue of Adam Golaski and Jeff Paris’ perfect-bound New Genre contained four stories by Jan Wildt, Paul A. Gilster, Christopher Harman and Don Tumasonis.

The December issue of Realms of Fantasy featured an exclusive interview with Laurell K. Hamilton, while the Winter issue of Joseph W. Dickerson’s Aberrant Dreams included fiction by, and an interview with, Gerald W. Page.