The twenty-fifth issue of Spectral Realms opens strikingly with a grim poem by leading weird writer Nicole Cushing. It is followed by innovative work by such poets as John Shirley, Adam Bolivar, Ann K. Schwader, Frank Coffman, Geoffrey Reiter, Lori R. Lopez, Carl E. Reed, Wade German, and others.
David Barker continues his reimaginings of Lovecraft’s Fungi from Yuggoth sonnets; Charles Lovecraft contributes a sonnet series inspired by Lovecraft’s story “The Unnamable”; Adele Gardner renders a Poe story in verse in “The Lady Ligeia.” Prose poems by Liam Garriock, Maxwell I. Gold, Yucheng Tao, and Jay Sturner grace the issue, and the magazine’s international scope is highlighted by poems by Lu?e, Alper Ghuchlu, Adam Amberden, Arukoya Tomais, Stefan von Blon, and other writers from Europe and Asia.
Classic reprints from H. W. Ellsworth and Richard Hughes exemplify the tradition of the weird in nineteenth and early twentieth century verse. The issue concludes with Steven Withrow’s interview of Ann K. Schwader—part of a volume of interviews of contemporary weird poets that Withrow has now completed.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Poems
The Kings of Vertigo / Nicole Cushing
The Ghost Train / Ian Futter
Quietus / Manuel Pérez-Campos
I Scoff at Such Accusations / John Shirley
The Yawning Gap / Adam Bolivar
Vision of Dread / Liam Garriock
The Ghost / Dmitri Akers
upon reaching the burial chamber / Lee Clark Zumpe
Nightshift in the Fleshforge / Pixie Bruner
Apocalyptic Verses / Andrew White
Two Jesters / John C. Tibbetts
The Pilgrims / Ngo Binh Anh Khoa
All That Remains of the Sorcerer’s Tower / Alper Ghuchlu
The Grey Heaven / Simon MacCulloch
The Transplant / Scott J. Couturier
Twilight’s Last Screaming: A Pilgrim’s Distress / Carl E. Reed
Four Mythos Haiku / Chris Hyde
Strange Days / Ann K. Schwader
Through the Bulrushes / Frank Coffman
Two Ministers Consider the Witch Girl / Steven Withrow
The Mouth of Silence / James Machell
The Brand / Lu?e
There Were No More Words, Except Freedom / Maxwell I. Gold
Necromancer / Manuel Arenas
Ashes / Denise Dumars
Feeble Fires / David Barker
Imageia / Allan Rozinski
He Closes His Eyes / Geoffrey Reiter
should I endure / Lee Clark Zumpe
Oubliette / Iryna Hall
Withered Pages / DJ Tyrer
The Dream of Death / Yucheng Tao
The Horn of Cernunnos on a London Bus/ Steven Withrow
Embrace / Jack Ranieri
Barrowborn / Oliver Smith
The Way / A. J. Dalton
This Abbatoir Earth / Adam Amberden
The Patience of Ice / Greg Jones
Don’t Look / Diana Olney
The Part about Witches / Jay Hardy
The Unnamable / Charles Lovecraft
No More / Janice Klain
Forests of the Night / Steve Vertlieb
Revelations in the Deep / Manuel Pérez-Campos
The Torrent / John Shirley
Strange Rain / Lori R. Lopez
The Flies’ Choir / Flavia Pierret
Dark Country / Carl E. Reed
the fall of the curtain / Lee Clark Zumpe
The Lady Ligeia / Adele Gardner
The Outlaw’s Daughter / Simon MacCulloch
Draugr / Christian Dickinson
The Gates of Cyberland / Maxwell I. Gold
Premature Interment / Scott J. Couturier
The Spectacle of the Apocalypse / Arukoya Tomais
Holiday Gathering / Darrell Schweitzer
The Revelers /Joshua Green
Monsters in Real Life / F. J. Bergmann
Death-House / Benjamin Blake
A Changed Man / Jay Sturner
Mossy Skulls / Wade German
The Endling / Stefan von Blon
Lost in the Woods / DJ Tyrer
To Bast / Dmitri Akers
They Said I Should Find Myself / John Shirley
Image Problem / Nicholas De Marino
Her Jackdaw Servitor My Nemesis / Manuel Pérez-Campos
Classic Reprints
The Cholera-King / H. W. Ellsworth
Moon-Struck / Richard Hughes
Articles
“For Certain Chaos Gods in the Outer Darkness” / Steven Withrow
Notes on Contributors
