Welcome to Black Cat Weekly #58.
This issue kicks off our Halloween celebrations with a holiday-inspired tale. An incomplete draft of “Had a Wife…” was found in Janet Fox’s papers following her death, and I completed it. I hope you enjoy it. Keeping up the fantasy theme, we have a powerful tale by Craig Laurance Gidney inspired by the music of Joni Mitchell (selected by our acquiring editor Cynthia Ward). Our other acquiring editors have been busy, too—Michael Bracken presents an original mystery by the talented Kaye George (in which an ancient cave painting holds a clue to a murder), and Barb Goffman presents a tale by Sherry Harris, in which Stew Davis finds himself walking a dusty road in Who Knows Where, Wyoming after his car is stolen..
On the mystery front, we have our ever-puzzle solve-it-yourself story from Hal Charles, plus a pair of historical novels—one by Frank C. Robertson (it’s a mystery-western) and one by John T. McIntyre (set near the turn of the 20th century in New York City)..
For our fantasy and science fiction readers, we have the first Darby O’Gill story (most famously filmed by Walt Disney), plus a pair of vintage pulp novellas by Fletcher Pratt and Murray Leinster. Fun stuff!.
Here’s the complete lineup:.
Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:
“Discovery,” by Kaye George [Michael Bracken Presents short story]
“Nothing to Sneeze At,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery]
“Last Chance Lost,” by Sherry Harris [Barb Goffman Presents short story]
The Boss of the Double E, by Frank C. Robertson [novel]
In the Dead of Night, by John T. McIntyre [novel].
Science Fiction & Fantasy:
“Maeve’s Quilt” by Craig Laurance Gidney [Cynthia Ward Presents short story]
“Had a Wife…” by Janet Fox and John Gregory Betancourt [short story]
“Darby O’Gill and the Good People,” by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh [short story]
“Potemkin Village,” by Fletcher Pratt [short novel]
“The Boomerang Circuit,” by Murray Leinster [short novel]
