Weird Tales Magazine No. 368

Occult Detective Issue

By: Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Eric G. Dove, Kevin Kenerly, Andrea Emmes, Robin Miles, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Tim Campbell, Kevin J. Anderson, Robert Fass, Joel Froomkin, Frankie Corzo, Scott Aiello, Simon Vance, Hillary Huber

Additional narrators include Kyla Garcia, Marc Thompson, Heath Miller, and Zura Johnson.

Weird Tales magazine is known for launching a number of sub-genres of fiction—cosmic horror, swords & sorcery, dark fantasy, and others. It has also greatly added to existing genres like science fiction, horror, and—a personal favorite of editor Jonathan Maberry—weird mystery stories. Or, as they became known—occult detective tales. Here are all-original tales about people who peer into the shadows in order to solve a mystery. Sometimes successfully … and sometimes the darkness wins.

The stories range from nail-biting horror to very dark comedy, and there’s a generous mix of short stories, flash fiction (shorter works of about 1500 words), and poems. The lineup is killer, as you’ll discover, and the interpretations of what constitutes “occult fiction” is unique to each writer.

“The Eyrie” by Jonathan Maberry

“Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216” by James Aquilone

“Beneath the Scarred Pulpit” by Kenneth W. Cain

“Denizen of Deep Holler” by Jennifer Brody

“The Ephemera of Dreams” by Carina Bissett

“Forming Threads” by Jody Lynn Nye

“The Painted Unseen” by Taylor Grant

“Bull Runs” by Kevin J. Anderson

“Shimmer” by Keith Strunk

“Hold My Beer” by Jeff Strand

“La Silla Del Diablo” by Sofía Lapuente & Jarrod Shusterman

“The Three-Headed Problem” by Rachel Aukes

“Inception” by Brian Lumley

“Laurel Caverns” by Lisa Diane Kastner

“The Taxidermist” by Lyndsey Croal

“Within You, In Time” by Brian Keene and Steven L. Shrewsbury

“Sins Will Find You Out” by Cavan Scott

“Night’s Disease” by Colleen Anderson

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Second best issue after cosmic horror

Only complaint: Bronson Pinchot only narrated the opening and closing. Love that guy’s audiobook work. But every other narrator was great too, so it’s all good.

Love this genre. Didn’t know this was the name, but they cover it sufficiently in the issue.

Highly recommended if you like weird fiction and short fiction.

Most hit the Occult Detective Genre target

I consider anthologies worthwhile if I enjoy at least half and find at least one new author to try out.
By that metric, this was a good anthology of 17 standalone shorts, only a few of which connect to series.

On the upside, they’re clearly titled and separated in the Table of Contents, and both the author and narrator are identified at the start of each short. There’s no sex or romance (beyond MCs who are already in a relationship), and most tell their tales without F 💣.

On the downside, if they’re connected to a series, only one used the same series narrator and some are a cruel tease to series that aren’t in Audible. Author Jonathan Maberry only writes an intro (boo!) and narrator Bronson Pinchot only voices the intro and credits (double boo!).

The Eyrie - Not a story - Jonathan Maberry introduces us to the detective occult genre.
1) 27 min - Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216 by James Aquilone narrated by James Duff-
When the client tells Dead Jack, a zombie detective and sidekick Oswald the homunculus “never go into Room 216,” we all know what Jack’s going to do. The first two books of the Dead Jack series are on Audible and I recommend them.⭐️⭐️⭐️
2) 10 man - Beneath the Scarred Pulpit by Kenneth W. Cain, read by Kevin Ketterly -
nicely sinister, but it’s merely the opening scene⭐️⭐️
3) 55 min - Denizen of Deep Holler by Jennifer Brody, read by Andreas Emmes - “the decor screamed rich white guy” and the story was equally vanilla. Also, hard to get past the little girl-robo narration.
4) 3 min - The Ephemera of Dreams by Carina Bissett, read by Robin Miles -
“a tenor sax sets the mood…” outstanding short, like a sensual acid trip of noir ⭐️⭐️⭐️
5) 49 min - Forming Threads by Jody Lynn Nye, read by Sarah Christianson -
mostly mundane urban fantasy featuring a Native American healer and a dectective⭐️
6) 12 min - The Painted Unseen by Taylor Grant, read by Tim Campbell -
“Too soon?” Bourbon narration matched this darkly fun short ⭐️⭐️
7) 63 min - Bull Runs by Kevin J. Anderson, read by author- Like the first short, this is another zombie P.I., another short with snark, and another short that connects to a series: only this one is more Looney Toons (think punny and physical comedy). Dan Shamble investigates a mystery about a Minotaur’s upset stomach, giving the title multiple meanings😜. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
8) 12 min - Shimmer by Keith Strunk, read by Robert Fadt -
introduces characters via a street hustle. If only this was a prequel to a full length book. ⭐️⭐️
9) 32 min - Hold My Beer by Jeff Strand, read by Joel Froomkin (aka Joel Leslie), hahaha, this kind of bent humor is right up my alley … Wishlisting some of the author’s other books now. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
10) 38 min - La Silla del Diablo by Sofia Lapuente & Jarrod Shusterman, read by Frankie Corzo -
modern horror with the expected eyeballs and scalpels. ⭐️⭐️💣
11) 10 min - The Three-Headed Problem by Rachel Aukes, read by Scott Aiello - a short claiming to be from the Roy Stinson series, of which I’m not familiar and couldn’t find in Audible. Cerebrus lost his bone and Roy found it quickly. Not any meat on that bone. 💣
12) 36 min - Inception by Brian Lumley, read by Simon Vance - this is a repeat short, written in 1987 -
it’s one of multiple shorts in The Compleat Crow, and connects to the author’s Titus Crow series, a kind of Cthulhu-lite blending of psychic detectives and mysteries of the supernatural behemoth variety. Simon Vance narrates the series, but I found this short and the series too much about atmosphere and not enough about characters, plot or dialogue.
13) 33 min - Laurel Caverns by Lisa Diana Kastner, read by Hillary Huber -
predictable mystery led by headstrong MC.
14) 14 min- The Taxidermist by Lyndsey Croat, read by Zora Johnson - ooh, creepy. ⭐️
15) 39 min - Within You, inTime by Brian Keen & Steven L. Shrewsbury, read by Heath Miller -
meh, medieval research fails to break new ground. 💣
16) 42 min - Sins Will Find You Out by Cavan Scott, read by Mark Thompson - Refers to an unknown Brogen & Ashe series with Brogen, a black, former priest and Ashe, a female demon. Very shouty.⭐️
17) 4 min - Night’s Disease by Colleen Anderson, read by Kyla Garcia - a chupacabra turning

Great story

I really didn’t like this narrator. The story was good, but had to laugh about Winter begging her father for the right to have privacy for her “honeymoon “.

I’ve found a new genre of storytelling I enjoy.

I had never heard of the genre of storytelling called occult detective. It has the creep of horror with the mystery of noir detective all rolled into one. Damn you Audible for making me spend more money now

The variety of styles was awesome! One of my fave collections in a while!

I’ll keep this short and say I loved this collection. If you grew up loving Occult Detective fiction (Buffy, angel, etc) then you’ll love this