Black Static Magazine – Issues 25 & 26; TTA Press; 2011; $5.50 US

Once again, the folks at TTA Press continue what appears to be an effortless stream of solid product.  Black Static IS the best regularly published magazine in the business; first in England, now across the pond. Issues 25 & 26 ratchet up the horror in classy fashion.  New fiction in #25 abounds from New stories by Ray Cluley, Gary McMahon, Mark Rigney, Carole Johnstone, Andrew Hook. Art  for each story given to us by Ben Baldwin, Mark Pexton, Rik Rawling, and Paul Milne.  The usual contributors include  Christopher Fowler,  Stephen Volk,  and Mike O’Driscoll. Peter Tennant reviews books in Case Notes and the coda to each issue,Tony Lee’s Blood Spectrum (DVD/Blu-ray reviews), where giveaways to most reviewed films are a typical gift to readers.

Issue #26 gives us new stories by Alison Littlewood, Christopher Fowler, Ray Cluley, Nathaniel Tapley, Barbara A. Barnett. Full color art by Ben Baldwin, Vincent Sammy, Rik Rawling, Dave Senecal.

If you truly want a magazine to give you everything a horror mag can possibly give, once again, please try Black Static.  The stories are almost always topnotch, pro-anthology level (which is the main reason we read) but the filler will never be filler here.  Each article and review rivals the best of the competition – and is sent out on a regular basis – practically unheard of in this economy.

Superlatives could flow on for paragraphs here but what’s the point? Reviewers are slammed with so many reading requests each month and try to run for cover from many of them in order to focus on the few gems.  Black Static is the one solid I can count on to keep my horror fix satisfied.  It’s that good.

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Feb 19, 2012

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