A Journal of Weird Fiction and Criticism
Edited by S. T. Joshi
ISBN 9781614984771 paperback
September 2025
251 pp
Cover by Daniel V. Sauer.
The sixth issue of Penumbra features a wealth of fiction by leading contemporary writers of weird fiction. Indian writer Aditya Dwarkesh offers a Ligottian tale of psychological aberration, while Australian Dmitri Akers provides a grim wartime story that veers into the supernatural. Other tales, long and short, by Manuel Arenas, Maureen O’Leary, Mark Howard Jones, and Joshua Green enliven the issue.
Among the articles, Mario Sánchez Gumiel contributes a profound analysis of the Spanish writer Pompeu Gener, whose work shows analogies with Lovecraft, Machen, and other leading weird writers. John C. Tibbetts supplies a broad overview of the weird work of English writer Saki (H. H. Munro), while John P. Irish continues his study of the work of Fitz-James O’Brien, comparing it with that of Poe and Dickens.
This issue incorporates reviews of contemporary weird volumes, including Katherine Kerestman’s sensitive review of Machen’s autobiographical writings, Karen Joan Kohoutek’s assessment of recent books relating to William Hope Hodgson, Kyla Lee Ward’s study of the weird stories of Leigh Blackmore, and Peter Cannon’s judgment on the correspondence of H. P. Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long. The popular column “Ramsey’s Rant,” by Ramsey Campbell, is also included.
Contents
Fiction
Eternal Circles / Dmitri Akers
Mourning Mireille / Manuel Arenas
The Igloo / Maureen O’Leary
The Third Horn of the Moon / Mark Howard Jones
A Schizophrenic’s Diary / Aditya Dwarkesh
The Worm Death / Joshua Green
Nonfiction
Saki’s Windows / John C. Tibbetts
The Writhing Plateau: Tentacular Cities, Dystopia, and the Weird in Pompeu Gener’s “La coronada villa tentacular” (1911) / Mario Sánchez Gumiel
Ramsey’s Rant: Musical Musings / Ramsey Campbell
The Three Versions of Ramsey Campbell’s “Made in Goatswood” / S. T. Joshi
From Boz to Bedeviled: Madness and Mystery in the Urban Gothic of Dickens, Poe, and O’Brien / John P. Irish
Classic Reprints
The Phantom Bus / W. Elwyn Backus
Poetry
House of U. / Adele Gardner
Dark Comets / Ann K. Schwader
A Curse Aroused / Scott J. Couturier
Setebos to Caliban / Wade German
Ruins of Carcosa / DJ Tyrer
The Wild Hunt / J. G. Maybrook
Lucidity Subsides / Lee Clark Zumpe
Dead Reckonings
“Infinity Round the Corner of Any Street” / Katherine Kerestman
“The Oppressiveness of the Incomprehensible”: The William Hope Hodgson Mythos / Karen Joan Kohoutek
Nightmare Logic / Kyla Lee Ward
Long vs. Lovecraft / Peter Cannon
Notes on Contributors
This product was added to our catalog on Monday 01 September, 2025.
