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]