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SPRING 2012Issue Number 20

www.DarkDiscoveries.com

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Publisher/Editor-in-ChiefJames R. Beach

Assistant EditorsChuck CarusoA. J. French

Art DirectorJason V Brock

Layout and DesignCyrus Wraith Walker

Web DesignJaSunni Productions, LLC

(www.JaSunni.com)------------------------------

ContributorsJames R. Beach

Ramsey CampbellChuck CarusoScott Connors

Aaron. J. FrenchMichael FurlongThomas LigottiKurt NewtonJohn Oliver

Stephen Mark RaineyBrian Sammons

Scott Aaron StineCyrus Wraith Walker

Contributing Artists/Photographers

Alan M. Clark (Cover)Allen Koszowski (pgs.24, 38, 42, 52)

Paul Freehafer (Courtesy of Rah Hoffman) (pg.43)

Cyrus Wraith Walker (pgs. 19, 30, 32, 53)

Special ThanksThomas Ligotti W. Paul Ganley

Hammer StudiosDiane O'BannonCentipede Press

PrintingIn U.S.A.

(with veg-based inks) _____________________

DARK DISCOVERIES (ISSN 1548-6842) is published (Qtrly) by James R. Beach and Dark Discoveries Publications, 142

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f i c t i o nA Poe Anthology by Thomas Ligotti

The End of Henry Switch Road by Stephen Mark Rainey

Lurid Limericks by Ramsey Campbell

The Wood Box by Kurt Newton

The Flower-Devil and The Shadows by Clark Ashton Smith

The Blemish by John W. Oliver

f e a t u r e sThomas Ligotti: Alchemist of Weird Fiction by Aaron J. French

The Foundations of Modern Horror: Dark Discoveries in Edgar Allan Poe by Chuck Caruso

Dan O'Bannon's The Resurrected: The Best Lovecraft Film Adaptation Ever? by R.B. James

A Darker Shade of Yellow: An Overview of Giallo Cinema (Part 2 of 2) by Scott Aaron Stine

Hammer Studios: Back from the Dead by Trever Nordgren

Klarkash-Ton: The Emporor of Dreams by Scott Connors

A Foundation of Weird Books: An Interview with W. Paul Ganley by James R. Beach

New Discoveries: Dark Reviews

Spring/20123

Welcome to the latest issue of Dark Discoveries magazine.

To start off, I want to touch on a personal note. Here we are in 2012. Last year frankly was tough both personally and professionally. But here we still remain. Print is starting to be replaced by the age of electronic media. More and more people aren’t buying print books, magazines, or newspapers anymore. They’re buying downloads on their new pads, players and phones.

Both the magazine and I have survived and rebounded. Not without some changes of course. No-body said the things of life would be perfect but we’re on a much healthier path now. I made some cut-backs and made other hard decisions with DD on how to not only continue it, but to improve and adapt to what the future holds. I’ve tried to learn from every mistake and problem we’ve ran into over the years and continue to work on myself to be a better collaborator, boss, and publisher. So we made it through the rough. Some publications didn’t make it. We made it.

Our outlook is to improve the operation of Dark Discoveries (and the magazine and DD books themselves) as well as my own work in progress that is my life. I have adapted and I have overcome by having this outlook. And I will continue to go forward with this thing called Dark Discoveries, a maga-zine that has taken on a life of its own.

We are here. We remain. We have a new issue, some new blood and a bit of a new direction on the digital frontier. Thank you again so much to everybody who’s been patient and hung in there over the years. Like any publication there have been ups and downs. You are part of the reason we have made it, and the reason for our success. When there were delayed you understood. When I needed a shoulder or an ear you were there. You spent your hard-earned dollars, spent your much-valued time, and your much-in-demand talents. You subscribed, advertised, contributed, and passed the word around. Words cannot express how much I and the whole Dark Discoveries team appreciate all of you (and you know who you are!). Without your help, encouragement and enthusiasm for DD I really wouldn’t be here talking to you now. DD would have probably dried up a long time ago and been done. But here we are 8 years later with issue #20. Who would have thought it? It’s all because of you!

So for this issue we have something very special for you with our Weird Fiction & Film Special! This issue includes fiction and poetry by Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti, Clark Ashton Smith, Stephen Mark Rainey, Kurt Newton and John W. Oliver. Articles on Ligotti, Smith, Hammer Studios come-back, Dan O’Bannon’s Resurrected, and the second half of Scott Stine’s in-depth focus on Italian Giallo. There is artwork by Alan M. Clark and Allen Koszowski. And even an interview with small press legend W. Paul Ganley!

Updatesfrom the Dark Beach

-James R. BeachPublisher/

Editor-in-Chief

Today’s genre lines are blending more and more as time goes on. Many practitioners in the field are calling this “The New Weird”. It’s something that has changed over the years as far as titles (Horror, Dark Fantasy, Dark Fiction, HDF, etc. etc.), but the skin is still the same. That dark, disturbing, chill-ing, weird, unsettling fiction that we all know and love (I assume you do, as you are now holding this magazine in your hands) is still here. And much like Dark Discoveries itself, it is constantly evolving. And I for one will be along for the ride. And I hope you’ll join me too.

Lastly, as I noted above with the “new blood,” we've had a few changes recently with the Dark Discoveries staff. My right hand man, Jason V Brock, is moving on to run his own magazine, Nameless ( http://namelessmag.jasunni.com/). Jason has done an amazing job with completely revamping Dark Discoveries into a pro magazine. With his unique vision, artistic sensibilities, out of the box thinking, and outstanding writing and editing skills, he helped me more than I can put into words. He's an ex-tremely talented guy who also is a great director (with a documentary on Charles Beaumont out now, one on Forest Ackerman being final edited now and one on fantastic artists slated for the near future), a innovative publisher (with the landmark collections The Bleeding Edge and The Devil's Coattails) and an excellent musician to boot! Jason is helping my new design guy Paul Dudley (Cyrus Wraith Walker to many and who is also our submissions editor) with the transition now. Cyrus has come into his own designing books and video trailers and was looking forward to the challenge of laying out a magazine. And he's already showing he's got what it takes with this issue now. Jason’s talents will be missed, but with his guidance I have the utmost confidence in Cyrus who has continued to please many publishers and authors with his contributions to their work.

I will still be working with Jason on the Best of Dark Discoveries and will still be contributing to Dark Discoveries as Art Director and helping with some editing. He just has his hands full with his own publication (and other projects) now and I for one will really be looking forward to seeing what he does there. I'm sure it will be awesome! So please support Nameless as it's going to be another good pro market devoted to the dark side.

And also please welcome some new additions to the Dark Discoveries staff with me. First off, Paula Phillips has  joined us to read submissions recently and she's done an excellent job. Paula previously worked for Dark Recesses Press and we're happy to have her help. Chuck Caruso has also joined the team to help with some editing and writing for us. Chuck has had stories published in Cemetery Dance, Shroud and a few other places and also had a story in issue #11 of DD. He teaches literature at Maryl-hurst University in Portland. Lastly, Aaron J. French has also come on board to help with editing and writing. He's edited the anthologies Monk Punk and The Shadow of the Unkown as well as had stories in various publications like The Dream People, Black Ink Horror, Ruthless, M is For Monster, and more. 

o o o

Thomas Ligotti: Alchemist of Weird Fiction

by Aaron J. French

In his foreward to The Shadow at the Bottom of the World, published in 2005 by Cold Spring Press, Douglas A. Anderson wrote: “In the historical development of the artistic horror story, there are three major figures. The first is, of course, Edgar Allan Poe, the father of the modern psychological horror story. The next, chronologically, is H.P. Lovecraft, who brought cosmicism . . . to the weird tale. And now there is Thomas Ligotti, who has extended Lovecraft’s cosmicism by suggesting that an inescapable malignancy and nightmare adheres in all existence, manifesting itself in both the individual psyche and the physical cosmos.” Judging by that statement, Ligotti would seem the logical successor of Poe and Lovecraft.

I first learned of Ligotti when I read an unusual horror story entitled “ystery orm.” The story was by Brian McNaughton, a writer who won the 1998 World Fantasy Award for his collection The Throne of Bones, and it was dedicated to Ligotti. In “ystery orm” the protagonist becomes obsessed with a cult writer he calls Edward F. Tourmalign, whose writing he likens to “a poison that infiltrated the bloodstream and changed the structure of the brain.”

By the end of the story I realized that Tourmalign was really just Ligotti in pseudonymous form. I had to get my hands on something from that author, and surprisingly I found a copy of the abovementioned Cold Spring Press book at my local Borders. My ideas about horror fiction writing and what it could accomplish changed forever after that.

The Foundations of Modern Horror:

Dark Discoveries in Edgar Allan Poe

by Chuck Caruso

The End of Henry Switch Road

by Stephen Mark Rainey

No denying it was odd, probably, that flugelhorn music should swirl down the mountain every dawn and every sunset - as regular as the morning and evening Norfolk and Western, but over the years - the folks in Henry Valley had gotten used to it. Didn’t mean they necessarily liked it, but since it was Ben Dietrich playing that horn, not a soul in the valley would dream of complaining. According to those in the know, Mr. Dietrich came from a village in the Swiss Alps, where the ritual originated, and when he had moved to the little southwestern Virginia community, back in the early 60s, he brought the tradition with him. To everyone’s best recollection, in all those years - the horn had never its missed his twice-daily sounding.

Marybeth had lived in Henry Valley all her life, and this morning was the first time, ever, that the horn hadn’t greeted the dawn.Odd bird, Mr. Dietrich, but since it was his money that kept everyone in town fed, sheltered, and educated, most folks thought the

world of him. And even through these tough economic times, his businesses had prospered, so people admired him that much more. It was all kind of funny, since he reputedly didn’t give a whit for the local folk, but Mr. Dietrich was going to live where he by God wanted to live, and damned if it would be among the dirt poor and ignorant.

By that night, the horn was back. It sounded different, though, kind of thin and warbling, mournful and eerie rather than mellow and tranquil. Well, Mr. Dietrich was older than dirt, and maybe his lungs weren’t what they used to be. Or maybe, Marybeth thought, she just thought it sounded that way because of her anxiety over Jamie still being out. That girl knew she was supposed to be home by the time the horn blew. Already, the shadows beneath the trees were as black as tar, and as Marybeth watched, the last glimmers of gold vanished from the crest of Republican Hill. Well, it was inevitable the twelve-year-old would be late some time or another, but from the day she’d been old enough to go outside by herself, Jamie had been as punctual as the horn itself.

The back door opened and closed, and for second, Marybeth’s heart leaped, but it was just Phil, coming in from working on his latest batch. “She not back yet?” he asked.

“Nope.”As Phil settled on the couch in front of the television, Marybeth thought that with his ever-whitening beard and thinning hair, he

was looking more and more like a rail-thin Santa Claus. He lifted an unjolly finger and pointed to the kitchen. “Want to hand me a beer while you’re up?”

With a sigh, she went to the fridge and grabbed a Bud Light. Before handing it to him, she gave it a good shake.“That was mean!” he grumbled.“But you still love me.”“Not as much as I did a while ago.”She chuckled, realizing it sounded nervous. The phone rang then, and she hurried to answer it, knowing it had to be Jamie calling to

tell her that she was over at Suzy Prillaman’s or Kelli Robertson’s and would be home shortly. When Marybeth picked up the receiver, though, for a brief second, something about the hollowness on the other end seemed funny. Weird funny.

“Hello?”The voice was low and raspy, but familiar, laden with deep emotion. “I’m so sorry,” it said. “So sorry.” Then the line went dead.The next thing she felt was Phil’s hand on her shoulder. His voice was a million miles away. “What’s wrong, hon? Who was that?”

Spring/201219

HAMMER STUDIOS:

by Trever Nordgren

BACK FROM THE DEAD

What more can be said about one of the most famous Horror movie studios of all-time? How about that it’s back in business? The British film studio that pretty much single-handedly rescued horror movies from the dead in the 1950s (a time when the Universal Monsters had been long gone and Science Fiction pretty much ruled the screens), and imbued new blood into the genre - is back with a brand new movie The Woman in Black, starring Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. Technically Hammer has been officially back since 2007, with the free Myspace serial Beyond the Rave (2008), Let Me In (2010 - a remake of the Danish film Let The Right One In, The Resident (2011 - starring Hillary Swank) and Wake Wood (2011) released to modest success. But The Woman in Black is most surely their official coming out party with the film having just grossed $100,000,000 at the box office. Helmed by director James Watkins (Eden Lake) it’s the creepy story of a lawyer (Radcliffe) summoned to a village and haunted by a ghostly woman (the title character). With the worldwide success of the film, it’s evident that Hammer Studios has found their footing again.