I am way behind on posting about the excellent fanzine Occult Detective Quarterly from Sam Gafford‘s Ulthar Press. As someone who enjoys occult-detective stories, I contributed to the Kickstarter to get the first four issues.
Then, sadly, Sam passed away in 2019, which ended his press and the magazine with #5.
I have been slow in getting out a review because a couple of issues have gone missing at my place. So in the meantime, I’ll move on to the next set, and I’ll circle around to the earlier ones as soon as possible.
Thankfully, publishers Jilly Paddock and Dave Brzeski stepped in and picked it up for their press, Cathaven Press and the magazine would continue, now as Occult Detective Magazine with a new logo. John Linwood Grant would continue as editor, along with Dave.
At present, they have put out five more issues, a special, along with a free #0 promo issue, and a new edition of Rosemary Pardoe‘s The Angry Dead as part of an Occult Detective Magazine Presents series. I’ve already reviewed that volume. I have no idea when we might get an addition to that series. The latest issue, #10, just came out as I was doing this review, along with a Mythos Special. See below for what will come next.
The issues continue with the 6- by 9-inch size of #5, coming in at around 200 pages each.
Now story-wise, Occult Detective Magazine runs a wide gamut of occult detective tales. (The publisher’s website lists about a dozen different types of such characters, with examples.)
In some cases, we have one-off tales of characters who deal with an occult matter, which may not involve evil, or one-off tales where the main character does confront and stop supernatural evil, but we’ll never see that character again. And that’s fine, as it doesn’t limit the scope of the stories too far and isn’t just any weird-fiction story. We do get the return of some characters, though almost never in consecutive issues.
The issues are filled out with reviews and other non-fiction, as well as artwork. I’ll mention a few of the non-fiction pieces. Due to time constraints, I won’t mention every item and will probably skip the reviews.
Occult Detective Magazine #6 (Fall 2019) gives us 10 stories, a poem, and a memorial for Sam Gafford. We get the second Simon Wake story by Melanie Atherton Allen, “The Rending Veil,” where he gets two associates to help him fix a problem caused by two ghosts that allow a dangerous entity to enter the world. “The Way of All Flesh” by Matthew Willis has an isolated village dealing with several deaths they blame on a vampire, accusing a girl of causing it. A priest from a larger city comes to deal with the matter and reveals how he knows this to the girl, so they go to deal with more vampires. I hope we get more stories with these two.
In a story that reminds me a little of Manly Wade Wellman‘s, “Blindsider” by Cliff Biggers has a man with much knowledge helping another who is plagued by a supernatural entity known only as a “blindsider.” I’d like to see more of this one as well.
I know of I.A. Watson through his many Sherlock Holmes pastiches, but he has also written many stories with Vinne de Soth, the “jobbing occultist.” Here he works to free the ghost of a skeptic who doesn’t believe in ghosts. He has been cursed and de Soth must solve the problem so he can move on. Kelly Hudson‘s work, “The Empanatrix of Room 223” is about a man hired by Satan to find his bride, aided by a demon. They get into some serious action you’ll have to see for yourself.
Bryce Beattie‘s tale, “The Unsummoning of Urb Tc’Leth” has our hero helping a friend and sending a demon back to where he came from. From Sarah L. Edwards is “The Way Things Were,” one of her Bartred Family stories. Here Joe Bartred and an associate look for a certain magic item owned by a now-dead magician.
Occult Detective Magazine #7 (Spring 2020) gives us a dozen stories and several non-fiction pieces. “Uxmal” by Debra Blundell is set in the Mayan empire and gives us Chaan Ch’amak assisted by others who confront forces that are trying to break through into our world, which he does for the shadowy secret government of the Empire. Here they confront a deadly dwarf who has caused a black pyramid to appear overnight in a remote town. I would love to see more with these characters.
A different kind of occult detective is introduced in Paul St. John Mackintosh‘s “Ghost in the Machine,” which has an insurance adjustor who works on ghost claims.
We get the second story with Aaron Vlek‘s character Geoffrey Sykes Vermillion (from ODQ #4) in “The Case of the Signet Ring.” Here Vermillion and his associates have a strange case that crosses paths with Aleister Crowley. In “Beyond the Faded Shrine Gate” by Brandon Barrows, has his occult detective exorcist, Azuma Kuromori, from ODQ #5, as a young boy, showing us the experience he had with a being from the other side which probably lead him on his path.
Occult Detective Magazine #8 (Dec 2021) has over a dozen stories along with several non-fiction works.
D.G. Laderoute gives us a detective with precognitive abilities who works to find a serial killer preying on homeless kids. Rebecca Buchanan‘s tale is set in Haiti (always good for voodoo tales), with a judge’s assistant. We are introduced to the unusual “Committee of Mystery” in Robert Guffey’s tale of the same name. Living in South Florida, I am well aware of the Art Deco scene here, which is a central part of Christina L. White story of a woman becoming Art Deco. Uchechukwu Nwaka‘s work is set in Nigeria, with a spirit counselor who helps people with spirit possession.
We get a strange little tale from Rhys Hughes.
The third (so far?) of the Simon Wake stories by Melanie Allen is “The Voice on the Moor.” Here with his friends, he defeats some sinister bog sirens. I hope we get more of this character. We get another of Paul St. John Mackintosh’s stories of the “ghost adjustor” in “Ghost Trainspotting.” Another of Brandon Barrows’ Azuma Kuromori tales is “Angel Scales,” where he needs to deal with a possession case, this time an angel. He is again helped by the wizard he worked with in his first story.
From Andrew Neil McLeod we get “The Grey Men of Glamaig” where a couple of travelers have a supernatural encounter in the Highlands. Or does it all have a rational explanation? I.A. Watson’s Vinnie de Soth has to deal with a bunch of UFO believers in “Vinnie de Soth and the Saucer People.” But what they think are UFOs and aliens is something a little more earthbound. After all, in de Soth’s world, magic and fey and the like exist.
From Carsten Schmitt is a story that first appeared in German. Here our hero uses a drug, the title “tadukeh.” to help him solve the murder of an unknown man found in the river Sar. We get a goth necromancer in C.L. Raven‘s tale, where she must stop the dead from coming back. We get a different kind of haunted house tale from Jonathon Mast.
Occult Detective Magazine #9 (Winter 2022/23) again has over a dozen stories along with several non-fiction works. Several have characters from prior volumes. We get two stories with characters that last appeared in ODQ #5. Marion Pitman‘s “The Case of the Shattered Decanter” has Irene Rogers, a part-time psychic detective who helps a prominent actor who has been dealing with some strange events, which may be deadly. Loren Rhoads‘ “The Devil’s Debt” has Alondra DeCourval, who is a witch who helps out the LAPD. Here she is brought in to deal with something summoned by a now-dead man, in hopes she can find it.
A different tale is Sarah Lamparelli‘s “In the Ruined Places,” a strange tale of a Buffalo police detective who finds herself in the dark places of the city. We also get Mike Chinn‘s second tale of his Black Tarot character, last seen in ODQ #2, in “Lost in the Shuffle,” where he deals with an assistant DA with certain unsavory ties. I’d like to see more of this character. Has his encounter with Chinn’s Damian Paladin been written?
We get a story set in Eastern Europe that could be a Hammer film from Cordelia Harrison. Next is a story in the style of M.R. James by Simon Bucher-Jones. From S.L. Edwards is another in the Bartred Family stories (last seen in ODM #6) in “An Incident in a Haunted House” the parents of Joe Bartred deal with an old god, with fatal consequences. Dave Ring (or is that dave ring?) provides an urban fantasy work with some strange ideas. Valerie Trelawney is the heroine in Davide Mana‘s tale. I wonder if we’ll get more of her?
From Edward M. Erdelac is a return of his 1970s black, urban detective, John Conquer, last seen in ODQ #2 and 3, in “Conquer’s Golden Case.” It’s Tut mania in New York City, and John has to deal with stopping a different return. A Lovecraftian tale, “Three Is a Magic Number” by Emma Culla is set in Arkham and Miskatonic University, and also involves the Big N. We get a nice Royal Occultist tale from Josh Reynolds where he has to deal with a possessed tallboy. That’s a piece of furniture like a bureau.
So overall a great series of magazines. I’m not sure what is coming next. When I started this review they were working on #10, which has since come out. Then they started work on a special Lovecraftian issue. This has come out, with at least a second planned for early 2024. To get this out, I’ll review those in a future posting. Hopefully not too far out.
Also, I know that I.A. Watson has three volumes, with two more planned, of Vinnie de Soth stories I will be checking out soon. I’d like to see more of many other detectives we meet in these issues. If you like such stories, do check these out. And if these characters appear elsewhere (unless I already noted it), please let us know in the comments. I am not aware of all the other appearances in many cases.
