Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Black Static #19 Magazine
    Black Static #19 Magazine
    Black Static #19 Magazine
    Ebook225 pages2 hours

    Black Static #19 Magazine

    By TTA Press

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Black Static is the successor to The Third Alternative magazine, which was founded in 1994. When TTA Press acquired Interzone in 2005 it was no longer necessary to publish science fiction and fantasy in The Third Alternative. Its replacement, Black Static, contains original fiction and illustrations plus horror/dark fantasy related news and reviews of books, movies and DVDs. It is not celebrity oriented. This is a typical Ebook edition with the text and illustrations of the print edition but some graphics and advertisements are not present.

    The title and strapline reference 'electronic voice phenomenon' (EVP), the noise found on recordings which some people interpret as the voices of ghosts. The film White Noise, starring Michael Keaton, could more accurately be called Black Static. What makes the title even more suitable is that 'Black Static' is also Paul Meloy's British Fantasy Award winning story from The Third Alternative.

    The Third Alternative was never afraid to push the envelope, and nothing has changed in that regard. Black Static has earned much praise for its style, bravery, editorial and fiction content. Its stories are innovative and daring, never afraid to shock or disturb, yet always entertain.

    The magazine publishes some of the finest Horror writers working today: Christopher Fowler, Afterlife creator/writer Stephen Volk, Lisa Tuttle, Nicholas Royle, Conrad Williams, Tony Richards, Scott Nicholson, Steve Rasnic Tem, Cody Goodfellow, Mélanie Fazi, Matthew Holness (creator and star of TV’s Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace), Michael Marshall Smith, Simon Clark, Graham Joyce, Gary McMahon, Alexander Glass, Joel Lane, to name just a few. Alongside these is a dazzling array of new talent such as Aliette de Bodard, Daniel Kaysen, Shannon Page, Roz Clarke, Ray Cluley, Sarah Totton, James Cooper, Nina Allan, Eric Gregory and many more.

    A unique fiction magazine requires unique presentation and Black Static delivers on this front too, thanks to the extraordinary original artwork of artist like David Gentry and Ben Baldwin along with a design that delights in breaking rules.
    Every issue contains a striking news feature called White Noise, compiled by Peter Tennant. Pete also supplies all the magazine's book reviews in his Case Notes column which runs to at least fourteen pages and includes interviews, sidebars and factoids. Tony Lee reviews the latest DVD/Blu-ray releases in his Blood Spectrum Column. Christopher Fowler, Stephen Volk and Mike O'Driscoll supply thought-provoking comment columns, and every issue gives away lots of free stuff.
    Black Static is published bimonthly, in alternate months to Interzone (we offer a discounted joint subscription to both print magazines). You can subscribe to the print version using the TTA Press website's shop.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTTA Press
    Release dateOct 16, 2011
    ISBN9781465715876
    Black Static #19 Magazine
    Author

    TTA Press

    TTA Press is the publisher of the magazines Interzone (science fiction/fantasy) and Black Static (horror/dark fantasy), the Crimewave anthology series, TTA Novellas, plus the occasional story collection and novel.

    Read more from Tta Press

    Related to Black Static #19 Magazine

    Titles in the series (59)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Haunted Generation

      Dec 3, 2020

      The Haunted Generation
      5 min read

    • Article

      Thomas Ligotti’s Horror Doesn’t Give You an Easy Out

      Sep 26, 2018

      “It’s peculiar to me… that everybody pays so much attention to living and so little to dying,” Gloria Beatty says in the third chapter of Horace McCoy’s 1935 novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? “Why are these high-powered scientists always screwing

      5 min read

    • Article

      Speaking Of Horror

      Sep 12, 2020

      Speaking Of Horror
      14 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Paul Tremblay

      Dec 3, 2020

      For the first time in weeks, I was swept along into that trance, that magic inner space where stories live. The post A Year in Reading: Paul Tremblay appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Leading Lights Of Horror

      Jun 4, 2020

      The Horror Writers Association (HWA) 2019 Bram Stoker Awards for ‘superior achievements’ in the genre have been awarded as follows: Superior Achievement in a Novel, Coyote Rage, Owl Goingback; First Novel, The Bone Weaver’s Orchard, Sarah Read; Young

      1 min read

    • Article

      Exorcist Boy Identified

      Jan 27, 2022

      Exorcist Boy Identified
      3 min read

    • Article

      Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels

      Jun 19, 2019

      A list of books so scary you definitely won't keep them on your nightstand. The post Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Boss Encounter

      Dec 30, 2021

      Boss Encounter
      19 min read

    • Article

      Making The Cut

      Jan 30, 2022

      First, as always, congratulations to all those authors whose books made the longlists for this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. To write any book is an admirable achievement – to hardly mention having people pay actual money for it. But then to

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      May 4, 2022

      * With the Platinum Jubilee upon us, it’s time to look forward to the 70th anniversary of the Young Elizabethan, too. Founded in 1948 as Collins Magazine for Boys & Girls, it was renamed the Young Elizabethan to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation. In 1

      6 min read

    • Article

      Eyes On The Prize

      Jan 31, 2021

      Eyes On The Prize
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      Jan 12, 2022

      The Old Un’s Notes
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Sword Of Swords

      Nov 23, 2022

      (Birlinn, £22) THE perfect sword—the highest expression of the blacksmith’s art—is arguably a pattern-welded, 7th-century blade of iron and steel, buried three centuries later at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. After 1,000 years, the rusted blade

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Book At Christmastime

      Oct 20, 2021

      For those, young or old, who enjoy getting their teeth into life’s Big Questions, Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science by Elsie Burch Donald (Duckworth, £9.99) is full of fascinating titbits of scientific knowledge, from atoms to genetics and

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      Sep 21, 2022

      The Old Un’s Notes
      6 min read

    • Article

      Comics And Graphic Novels

      Mar 24, 2022

      Scott Montgomery Rebellion Publishing, 2022 Hb, pp336, £39.99, ISBN: 9781786185617 When I started reviewing comics for Fortean Times I made a couple of little personal rules – like not reviewing books about comics – but rules are meant to be broken,

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Black Static #19 Magazine

    4/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Black Static #19 Magazine - TTA Press

      BLACK STATIC

      19

      TTA Press

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      BLACK STATIC

      A MAGAZINE OF HORROR AND DARK FANTASY.

      Issue 19 (OCT–NOV 2010)

      Cover Art

      by Ben Baldwin

      PUBLISHED BY:

      TTA Press on Smashwords ISBN: 978-1-4657-1587-6

      First draft v5 Roy Gray

      Print edition ISSN 1753-0709 Published bimonthly by TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK (t: ++44 (0)1353 777931)

      Copyright - © 2010 Black Static and its contributors

      Worldwide Print Distribution:

      Pineapple Media (t: 02392 787970) Central Books (t: ++44 (0)20 8986 4854)

      * * * * *

      Fiction Editor - Andy Cox (andy@ttapress.com) News & Book Reviews Editor - Peter Tennant (whitenoise@ttapress.com) Contributing Editors - Tony Lee, Christopher Fowler, Stephen Volk, Mike O’Driscoll E-edition & Publicity - Roy Gray (roy@ttapress.com) Podcast - Pete Bullock (andy@ttapress.com) Twitter & Facebook - Marc-Anthony Taylor Website - ttapress.com Email - blackstatic@ttapress.com Forum - ttapress.com/forum Subscriptions - Not available on Smashwords. Submissions - Unsolicited submissions of short stories are always welcome. Please follow the contributors’ guidelines on the website.

      Note we have included some illustrations from the print edition which you can also see at http://ttapress.com/920/black-static-19-out-now/19/5/

      Published bimonthly by TTA Press

      If you want the print edition of Black Static in Europe or North America and your retailer doesn’t stock it please ask them to order it for you, or buy it from one of several online mail order distributors...or better yet subscribe direct with us!

      Subscriptions: Print edition subscriptions available online at ttapress.com/shop

      * * * * *

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This emagazine is licensed for your personal use/enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this magazine with others please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this magazine and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the contributors and editors

      * * * * *

      BLACK STATIC 19

      CONTENTS

      NEWS

      WHITE NOISE – compiled by Peter Tennant.

      COMMENT/COLUMNS

      INTERFERENCE - by Christopher Fowler

      NIGHT’S PLUTONIAN SHORE - by Mike O’Driscoll

      ELECTRIC DARKNESS - by Stephen Volk

      FICTION

      CHAIN REACTION by Steve Rasnic Tem

      ......art by Dave Senecal - senecal.deviantart.com

      BEACHCOMBING by Ray Cluley

      ......art by Richard Wagner - wagnerenon@aol. com (email)

      THE SLEEP MASK by Joel Lane

      THEY WILL NOT REST by Simon Clark

      ......art by Ben Baldwin - benbaldwin.co.uk

      THE WOUND DRESSER by Lavie Tidhar

      ......art by Daniele Serra - multigrade.it

      REVIEWS

      CASE NOTES - book reviews by Peter Tennant

      Anthology Special: Stephen Jones: ‘The Best of Best New Horror’ ‘Best New Horror 21’ ‘Zombie Apocalypse’* plus interview with Stephen. Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio ‘Stories’ Christopher Golden ‘Zombie’ Nancy Kilpatrick ‘Evolve’ Ian Whates ‘The Bitten Word’ Charles Black ‘The Sixth Black Book of Horror’ Gary Fry ‘Where The Heart Is’ Allyson Bird & Joel Lane ‘Never Again’ D.F. Lewis ‘Null Immortalis: Nemonymous Ten’ Ellen Datlow ‘The Best Horror of the Year 2’ and 'Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror'

      BLOOD SPECTRUM - DVD/Blu-ray reviews by Tony Lee

      ‘Black Lightning’ ‘The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk’ ‘Dogtooth’* ‘Inferno’* ‘The Listener’ ‘Tears For Sale’ ‘Bad Lieutenant’ ‘The Loved Ones’ ‘Grindhouse’ ‘Frozen’ ‘Suck’ ‘Zombies of Mass Destruction’plus‘Road Train’ ‘Splintered’ ‘The Sword With No Name’ ‘Blood Snow’ ‘Twelve’ ‘Big Tits Zombie’ ‘Life Blood’ ‘Night of the Demons’ ‘The Collector’ ‘The Experiment’ ‘The Tortured’ ‘Not Like Others’ ‘Saturday Nightmares’

      ENDNOTES- Live lnks etc.

      * * * * *

      EDITORIAL NOTES - Thanks to Les Edwards for allowing us to use his painting of Stephen Jones on the cover. Visiting Les’s website at lesedwards. com is highly recommended!

      Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 British Fantasy Awards:

      Best Novel: Conrad Williams

      Best Novella: Sarah Pinborough

      Best Short Fiction: Michael Marshall Smith

      Best Anthology: Best New Horror 20 (Stephen Jones)

      Best Collection: Robert Shearman

      Best Small Press: Telos Best Comic/Graphic Novel: Neil Gaiman & Andy Kubert

      Best Artist: Vincent Chong

      Best Non-Fiction: David Langford

      Best Magazine: Murky Depths

      Best Television: Doctor Who

      Best Film: Let the Right One In

      Best Newcomer: Kari Sperring

      Special Award: Robert Holdstock

      More details on the BFS website: britishfantasysociety. org

      * * * * *

      WHITE NOISE

      A MOMENT OF SYNCHRONICITY

      Return to Contents

      Two new presses are launching with anthologies that have the word ‘dark’ in the title, and both of them have Black Static contributors in the roster and cover illustrations by award winning artists. • Edited by Ross Warren, the anthology Dark Minds is the first release from Dark Minds Press. Contributors with a Black Static connection are Gary McMahon and Carole Johnstone, while other familiar names in the Table of Contents include Stephen Bacon and Benedict J. Jones. With a cover by award winning artist Vincent Chong, the book will be out in December, just in time for Christmas if you want to treat that special someone in your life to some horror goodness. For more details and to pre-order visit darkmindspress.com. • Dark Spires is the first print publication from Wizard’s Tower Press. Subtitled ‘Speculative Fiction from Hardy Country’, the anthology is edited by Colin Harvey and will feature stories that ‘are set in the South-West of England in the past, present and future, and feature among others sea wolves in 19th century Lyme Regis, invading alien angels on the North Somerset coast, and a quasi-immortal temporal vampire in Exeter.’ Black Static associates are Roz Clarke and Sarah Singleton, while those who are wise enough to also subscribe to Interzone might recognise the by-lines of editor Harvey, Gareth L. Powell, Liz Williams and Eugene Byrne, who contributes his first short story for a decade. The cover is by award winning artist Andy Bigwood and the anthology will be launched at Bristolcon on November 6th. More details can be found at wizardstowerpress.com.

      * * * * *

      ALL ABOUT US

      The Case Notes section of this issue is chock full of reviews of anthologies, and so we’ll be making October Anthology Month on the Case Notes blog, with a wealth of supporting material, so be sure to check the Black Static section of ttapress.com on a regular basis. • We’re also planning to repeat last year’s highly successful Advent Calendar exercise, only this time giving people a little more advance notice, so if you’re interested in taking part read Pete’s Case Notes blog entry for the 25th of September to find out how.

      * * * * *

      CHRISTMAS SPIRITS AT THE BEEB

      Last year at Christmas the BBC gave us an adaptation of Henry James’ classic novella ‘The Turn of the Screw’. This year they plan to screen ‘a thoroughly modern re-working’ of M.R. James’ story ‘Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, My Lad’. With a script by Neil Cross (cop series Luther), the adaptation will deal with ‘themes of ageing, hubris and the supernatural, adding a terrifying psychological twist in the tale’. Modernisation aside, this is a welcome reminder of times long past (i.e. the 70s) when A Ghost Story at Christmas was every bit as much a part of the seasonal tradition on television as The Morecambe and Wise Show, the Queen’s speech and yet another screening of The Great Escape.

      * * * * *

      FRIGHT RABBIT

      Every month the nice people who operate as The White Rabbit hold storytelling evenings at Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB under the generic title Are You Sitting Comfortably? The shows start at 7.30 pm, all of them have competitions and prizes, and the entry fee is a mere £5. You can get a lot more details by visiting thewhiterabbit.org.uk but we’d particularly draw your attention to the shows for Thursday the 14th of October (theme Noir) and Thursday the 16th of December (theme Horror). For the latter there’ll a prize for the most scarily dressed. And for those who might like to have their stories read aloud, the organisers are open to submissions for Horror until the 2nd of December. (submission details on their website)

      * * * * *

      THE RANDOM ROUND UP

      There are interesting times ahead for horror lovers over the next couple of months. The latter half of October will see the release of Dark Matter: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver in hardback from Orion and David Moody’s Autumn in hardback from Gollancz. Prime Books will attempt to quench our appetite for the living dead with yet another fat old anthology, Zombies: The Recent Dead edited by Paula Guran, while Black Dog will offer a monstrous alternative with Werewolves and Shapeshifters: Encounters with the Beast Within edited by John Skipp. In November, for those who missed them the first time around, Abaddon gift wrap three of their zombie novels in The Best of Tomes of the Dead and Prime package thirteen stories by Stephen Graham Jones in hardback as The Ones That Got Away. Graham Joyce returns to the bosom of genre with an eerie new novel, The Silent Land in hardback from Gollancz, while John Saul’s House of Reckoning hits the mass market in paperback from Ballantine. With its Abbey Road send up cover, Paul is Undead by Alan Goldsher, in which The Beatles get the zombie treatment, could be the cheekiest tale of the living dead yet to hit the bookshops. It’s due out from Galley on the 23rd. December has Dion Fortune’s The Demon Lover published in paperback by Red Wheel and Nocturne, ‘a haunting story of forbidden love’ by James Syrie released in hardback by Vanguard.

      * * * * *

      TEN YEARS ON THE EDGE

      Canadian publisher Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing will be hosting their tenth anniversary celebration event on 20th November this year, and any Black Static readers in the Calgary area are invited to join the party. Check edgewebsite.com at the end of the month for details of the venue and time.

      * * * * *

      THINGS TO DO AT HALLOWEEN

      If you’re in Liverpool on Friday the 29th of October, then it might be worth your while to pop into Liverpool One Waterstone’s at 12 College Lane, between the hours of 6 and 8 pm, where they’ll be hosting an event with the evocative title Twisted Tales. We’re not sure if they’ll play any tricks on you, but there’ll certainly be a treat – Ramsey Campbell, Conrad Williams, Nicholas Royle, and Tom Fletcher reading deliciously dark tales of the macabre, as well as signing copies of their own books. Tickets are £2, but that’s redeemable against any horror book purchased on the night. For more details check under Events at waterstones.com. • And if one evening of Halloween goodness simply isn’t enough, then you could check out the Halifax Ghost Story Festival, which runs from the 29th through to the 31st of October at Dean Clough arts and business complex in Halifax. The organisers have laid on an eventful three days of plays, screenings, talks and readings, with some events targeted at the young (and young at heart). Tartarus Press, Mark Morris, Nicholas Royle, Conrad Williams and Black Static columnist Stephen Volk will all be present on the Saturday, while for many the undoubted highlight will be the Sunday screening of three short films from the BBC’s M.R. James Ghost Story for Christmas series. If you’re tempted, then Halifax-ghost-story-festival.org.uk is the place to go to find out more. • Finally, if you’re hardcore and drink, eat, breathe horror films, then there’s Grimm Up North 2, Manchester’s premier horror and sci-fi festival, which kicks off at 7 pm on Thursday the 28th with a screening of Vincent Price classic The Last Man on Earth and continues with a line-up of eighteen films, culminating in a special Halloween after party on the Sunday. For full details visit grimmfest.com where you can also find out about some of the peripheral events going on, such as the Grimm Reading at The Cornerhouse on Sunday the 24th, which will feature Conrad Williams, the special screening of Metropolis on Monday the 25th and the Adaptations Seminar at The Dancehouse on Sunday the 31st with Ramsey Campbell, Christopher Priest and David Moody.

      * * * * *

      THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL OF HORROR

      Actually it’s the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, but they do have a strand called Hauntings which should be of interest to Black Static readers. The Festival runs 8th–17th of October, and hopefully this issue will reach you in time to be of some use. Among events scheduled are talks by Peter Ackroyd and Guillermo del Toro at the Town Hall on Friday the 8th. Classic Chills at the Parabola Arts Centre on Saturday the 9th has Nicholas Royle and others discussing and reading from their favourite tales. Back to the Town Hall on Tuesday the 12th for Frankenstein with Kim Newman and friends expounding on the enduring appeal of Mary Shelley’s seminal novel. Newman is back at the Town Hall on Wednesday the 13th for Vampires Bite Back with Tina Rath. Horror Stories at the Town Hall on Thursday the 14th has Ramsey Campbell, Sarah Pinborough and Lisa Tuttle discussing ‘why scaring ourselves to death makes us feel better’. On the afternoon of Sunday the 17th at the Garden Theatre there’s Writing Ghosts, with Susan Hill, Penelope Lively and others dissecting what makes a ghost story work. Finally, back at the Town Hall on Sunday the 17th Audrey Niffenegger will be one of those exploring the appeal of London’s Highgate Cemetery. There are also strands dedicated to Future Fictions and Dreamworks, so the science fiction and fantasy aficionados needn’t feel excluded, and discussion with or about a whole raft of authors who may be of interest (Roald Dahl, James Ellroy) even if they haven’t written any horror fiction. With 450 events chances are there’ll be something to float everyone’s boat, so for all the information you need and more information than you want go to cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature.

      * * * * *

      compiled by Peter Tennant • send your news to whitenoise@ttapress.com.

      * * * * *

      INTERFERENCE

      by Christopher Fowler

      Return to Contents

      OBEYING THE RULES

      News greets me that remakes of the Scream films are going to feature the new rules of horror movies. Presumably they won’t be much different to the old rules, although perhaps it’s time to add a few rules of our own:

      Don’t see any new films by Dario Argento, for they will surely make you sad.

      No films should start with four teenagers including a hottie, a jock and a fat stoner bickering in a car.

      Remember that most franchises are dead after the third instalment.

      Avoid movies with posters that feature a girl tied to a pipe.

      Sarah Michelle Gellar is not Barbara Steele.

      But the news also reminds me how much we writers love to be given rules to follow. One of the problems of writing good supernatural fiction is that the rules are amorphous and riddled with inconsistencies. It takes a writer like M.R. James to provide the genre with real substance. Rereading Elizabeth Jane Howard’s short story ‘Three Miles Up’ makes you realise how tricky this is to pull off. The tale is just about perfect, full of creeping – and peculiarly English – unease, which I respond to strongly and is probably why I have no love at all for H.P. Lovecraft’s woolly old monsters; there are subtler things to fear.

      ‘Three Miles Up’ is about a trip undertaken by two men on a barge, and features all of the supernatural tropes in microcosm. As the men head up the river, they collect a strange girl who seems deeply connected to her surroundings. Villages appear dead and dark, and normality drifts away until there is only the dread of what they’ll find further past the next bend.

      Only a handful of horror films have ever successfully replicated the purity of the classic supernatural story. While films like Dead of Night, The Orphanage, The Others and The Innocents all remain true to supernatural roots, others take a non-fantastical route to reach the same state of unease, reaching a level of terror from which there can be no return – Spoorloos, Funny Games, virtually everything by Kafka, J.G. Ballard’s book High Rise, Shutter Island, a whole raft of European films like Hierro and Calvaire – few of them come from Hollywood because Europe has such a strong tradition of telling psychologically dark tales and instinctively understands the rulebook. The Others even goes so far as to state the rules aloud.

      In the US, noir movies provide a similar rulebook – a girl, a gun, a car, a last shot of redemption that’s snatched away. There’s even a noir time travel movie called Retroactive, in which the girl, gun, car tropes are endlessly reworked to cover all possible outcomes.

      * * * * *

      TIGHT SPOTS

      One interesting new genre strand that has arisen in the last few years is the ‘precinct’ film, a story set in a carefully defined space. This has the benefit of being both claustrophobic and cost-effective. Haunted houses have always had defined spaces by their very nature. One of the most extreme examples is Burnt Offerings, in which the house itself actually grows younger while its occupants, including Bette Davis and Oliver Reed (!) wither away. Obviously a film like Paranormal Activity plays as a traditional haunted house story, but so do Bug and [Rec]. Most zombie films climax with a standoff on a confined space. And when it comes to haunted houses, you’d have to include The Exorcist and even Straw Dogs and Alien.

      Precinct films allow their confined sets to ramp up alarming events and make audiences sweat. The best examples of these have been the Cube movies, Fermat’s Room, Exam, The Killing Room, Pontypool, The

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1