Spectral Realms No. 8: Winter 2018

This eighth issue of Spectral Realms features a diverse array of poetry from the pens of such acclaimed poets as Adam Bolivar, Ashley Dioses, K. A. Opperman, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Ann K. Schwader, John Shirley, and Richard L. Tierney. Wade German contributes a cycle of four evocative poems, “The Nightmares”; Manuel Pérez-Campos, with “The Vortex That Ate Poseidonis,” pays tribute to the memory of Clark Ashton Smith; Liam Garriock, a promising young writer from Scotland, contributes the moving prose-poems “The Spirit of the Place” and “Past, Present, and Future”; Charles Lovecraft pays homage to his namesake in “The King of Horrors, Howard Phillips Lovecraft”; in “The Final Masquerade,” Alan Gullette turns the King in Yellow mythos upside down; and Mary Krawczak Wilson channels Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth” in “Sea Creatures.”Among the classic reprints is a poem by Farnsworth Wright, longtime editor of Weird Tales, published in that immortal pulp magazine under a pseudonym; and Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s chilling “To a Young Murderess.” Frank Coffman contributes a long and incisive analysis, “Verse vs. Free Verse,” in which the virtues and failings of free verse are keenly dissected. Sunni K Brock reviews Christina Sng’s scintillating volume A Collection of Nightmares, and Leigh Blackmore assesses the many strengths of Michael Fantina’s Alchemy of Dreams.Once again, Spectral Realms #8 is a testament to the remarkable renaissance of weird poetry in our time.TABLE OF CONTENTS:Poems:Through Druid Oaks / Leigh Blackmore Belladonna / Abigail Wildes The Flitter-Bird and the Bloom of Doom / Richard L. Tierney Dr. Cat Tree / Jessica Amanda Salmonson The Nightmares / Wade German The Voice of the Mary Celeste / M. F. Webb A Longer Winter / Benjamin Blake Succubus Waltz / Joshua Gage A Witch’s Memoir / Ashley Dioses A Frenzy of Witches / David Barker The Girl and Her Wolf Dog / Christina Sng The Vortex That Ate Poseidonis / Manuel Pérez-Campos Fleeting Existence / J. T. Edwards Terrarium / Oliver Smith The Return / Ian Futter Gas Giant / F. J. Bergmann The Spirit of the Place / Liam Garriock Red / Mary Krawczak Wilson The Old Courthouse / Don Webb The Black Hunt / Adam Bolivar Forever the Covens Break Us / Claire Smith Lycanthrope Moon / Frank Coffman Look Beyond / Darrell Schweitzer Pumpkin, Oh Pumpkin! / Will Hart The World Turns / Kendall Evans Looking After Death / John Reinhart The King of Horrors, Howard Phillips Lovecraft / Charles Lovecraft The Scrying Mirror / Chelsea Arrington Desert Witch / Rob Matheny The Milk Hare / David Barker The Fetch / K. A. Opperman Nosferatu / David Schembri Hiding the Corpse / Shawn Ramsey The Final Masquerade / Alan Gullette A Modern Exorcism / Ian Futter The Vellum of the Damned / Joshua Gage Berserker / Benjamin Blake When We Fall / Christina Sng Mama Drool / Ross Balcom Germina Amoris / Oliver Smith The Ballad of A.M. / M. F. Webb Past, Present, and Future / Liam Garriock Odd Todd / Jessica Amanda Salmonson The Waning Hours of Woe / J. T. Edwards Sea Creatures / Mary Krawczak Wilson Stanzas of the Metaphysical Student Found in a Notebook / Manuel Pérez-Campos The Sudden Raving of a Quiet One / John Shirley Procession of the Expendable / David Barker The Stalking Horror / Frank Coffman Memoirs in the Dark / Christina Sng Facing the Demon / Ian Futter Volunteers / Ann K. Schwader Hollow of the Night / F. J. BergmannClassic ReprintsThe Death Angel / Farnsworth Wright To a Young Murderess / Arthur O’Shaughnessy ArticlesVerse vs. Free Verse / Frank Coffman ReviewsThe Exquisite Nightmares of Christina Sng / Sunni K. Brock Of Femmes Fatales and Lost Worlds / Leigh Blackmore Wraparound cover art: “Cave Dwellers” by Mutartis Boswell.