Occult Detective Magazine #9

Once again we explore the concept of the ‘occult detective’ in its widest sense, with tales across many periods and settings. So within this issue we have an M.R. James-adjacent period tale of a school curse by SIMON BUCHER-JONES, and CORDELIA HARRISON’s historical and haunting tragedy (with a rather singular investigator) set in Eastern Europe, balanced by two bleak contemporary stories from ADAM GALLARDO and SARAH LAMPARELLI. Then we offer an unusual piece of Lovecraftian weird fiction by EMMA CULLA, whilst MIKE CHINN provides an episode in the career of the mysterious Black Tarot, who engineers arcane justice in the 1930s (set in the same world as his Damian Paladin adventures). Valerie Trelawney looks into a psychic affliction in DAVIDE MANA’s ‘The Case of the Inkmaker’s Daughter’, and DAVE RING takes us elsewhere entirely with an original urban fantasy of wards, psychic webs and betrayals.

As with weird fiction magazines of old, we also like to welcome returning characters. This time we have a delightfully varied clutch on offer – a case for the genteel but sharp Irene Rogers, by MARION PITMAN (last seen in ODM #5) and a return to S.L. EDWARDS’ world of the dogged Bartred family (ODM #6 and our promotional issue ODM #0). LOREN RHOADS brings us another story of witch Alondra DeCourval (ODM #5); ED ERDELAC is back with another tale of his 1970s Black conjure-detective, John Conquer (ODM #3) and JOSHUA M. REYNOLDS offers a new tale of the suave Royal Occultist from his own long-running series (last with us in ODM #0).

Finally we have a tale from the late MICHAEL KELLAR, who previously contributed a non-fiction piece in ODM #6. ‘The Big Sleep, Disrupted’ would have been his first, but I’m sure not his last, piece of fiction for ODM, had he not tragically passed away last year.