Black Cat Weekly #103

Our 103rd issue is just one shy of our second anniversary issue, but we still have a whale of an issue for you. Regular readers will notice a new category (“Adventure”) below, which will appear occasionally to fit stories I like that aren’t necessarily mysteries, science fiction, or fantasy. (Well…this one may be fantasy, depending on how you feel about fish!) It’s from a pulp magazine called Mammoth Adventure, a companion to Amazing Stories and Fantastic when they were published by Ziff-Davis. It’s fun.

Working our way through the table of contents, we have a pair of original mysteries by O’Neil De Noux and Shannon Taft, thanks to our hardworking Acquiring Editors, Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman. James Holding has a crime story, and Golden Age British mystery author J.J. Connington adds a terrific novel.

For adventure (and nature) lovers, something’s fishy in “Only a Sucker Bites,” a whopper of a story about lake pike.

On the fantasy end of things, we have a tale of astral projection from Adrian Cole, a vintage zombi (or jumbee) story by Henry S. Whitehead first published in Weird Tales, and a pair of vintage science fiction stories by Arthur Leo Zagat and George O. Smith.

Here’s the complete lineup:

Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:

“A Dirty, Dimly Lit Place,” by O’Neil De Noux [Michael Bracken Presents short story]
“Too Many Suspects,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]
“The End of the Road,” by Shannon Taft [Barb Goffman Presents short story]
“Reason Enough,” by James Holding [short story]
Murder in the Maze, by J. J. Connington [novel]

Adventure:

“Only a Sucker Bites,” by J. C. Stanley [short story]

Science Fiction & Fantasy:

“A Smell of Burning,” by Adrian Cole [short story]
“Jumbee,” by Henry S. Whitehead [short story]
“Lost in Time,” by Arthur Leo Zagat [novella]
Dynasty of the Lost, by George O. Smith [novel]