Magazine Review: BLACK STATIC Issue #64, July-August 2018

BLACK STATIC Issue #64 (July-August 2018) by Andy Cox (Editor), Simon Avery (Goodreads Author), Lynda E. Rucker (Goodreads Author), Ralph Robert Moore (Goodreads Author), Phoenix Alexander, Seán Padraic Birnie, Jack Westlake, Sam Thompson  

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

The July-August issue contains new horror fiction by Simon Avery, Phoenix Alexander, Seán Padraic Birnie, Tim Cooke, Sam Thompson, and Jack Westlake. The cover art is by Martin Hanford, and interior illustrations are by Richard Wagner. Regular features include Into the Woods by Ralph Robert Moore, Notes from the Borderland by Lynda E. Rucker, Case Notes by Peter Tennant (book reviews), Blood Spectrum by Gary Couzens (film reviews). 

Cover Art: Another Ghost by Martin Hanford 

Fiction: 

Something to Burn by Phoenix Alexander 

Out of the Blue by Seán Padraic Birnie 

illustrated by Richard Wagner 

The Asylum by Tim Cooke 

The Monstrosity in Love by Sam Thompson 

The Blockage by Jack Westlake 

Why We Don't Go Back by Simon Avery 

illustrated by Richard Wagner 

Columns: 

Notes From the Borderland by Lynda E. Rucker 

Into the Woods by Ralph Robert Moore 

Reviews: 

Case Notes: Book Reviews by Peter Tennant 

THREE FROM TELOS 

Small Ghosts by Paul Lewis, Terror Tales of Cornwall edited by Paul Finch, Kat of Green Tentacles by Sam Stone 

TWO FROM CEMETERY DANCE 

Walking Alone: Short Stories by Bentley Little, The Ones Who Are Waving by Glen Hirshberg

NEW WINE IN OLD SKIN 

New Fears edited by Mark Morris 

NICK AND THE NIGHTJARS 

Ornithology by Nicholas Royle, Bremen + The Unwish by Claire Dean, The Hook by Florence Sunnen, Living Together by Matt Thomas 

DOUBLE ACTS 

The Girl With the Peacock Harp + Tree Spirit & Other Strange Tales by Michael Eisele, Fragile Dreams + Behold the Void by Philip Fracassi, I Wish I Was Like You + Strange is the Night by S.P. Miskowski 

THREE NOVELLAS 

Little Ghosts by Mary Borsellino, Never Now Always by Desirina Boskovich, Perfect Darkness, Perfect Silence by Richard Farren Barber 

Blood Spectrum: Film Reviews by Gary Couzens 

The Old Dark House, Frankenstein the First, The Addiction, Filmworker, You Were Never Really Here, The Quiet Earth, Cargo, The rain, Mayhem, The Cured, The Lodgers, Xtro, The Endless, Rawhead Rex, Insidious: The Last Key, It Came From the Desert, Habit

My Three-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     If you want to read a quality horror fiction magazine, you can't go wrong with Black Static. This used to be a staple for me that I would check the magazine section at Barnes and Noble for on a regular basis. But, I'm come to learn that less is more. When I read this all the time, I didn't appreciate it as much. Too often, stories that fall into the literary horror category tend to have vague or incomplete endings, which I can appreciate but do not want a steady diet of. 

Here are the stories that worked for me this issue:

"Out Of The Blue" by Sean Padraic Birnie was suspenseful and mysterious. A newly married man's recently deceased father shows up at his door in the suit he was buried in. He responds to requests to walk and sit, but does not speak and ends up blending in like a piece of furniture. The story doesn't end so much as stop at a turning point, which leaves too much unanswered. 

"The Blockage" is an outstanding piece of building terror as a young woman moves into a new apartment and loses her cat immediately. Main character (and readers as well) become suspicious as to what exactly happened, especially when a lurking neighbor continues to offer assistance and asks strange questions. 

My favorite this issue is "Why We Don't Go Back" by Simon Avery, a longer piece about an abused single mom and a friendly male neighbor traveling with her young daughter to a remote village where her uncle is a local priest and offers them sanctuary and a chance to start anew. The village is creepy. The locals have secrets and a weird way of practicing religion.