Aberations
Issue 1
Published 1991

Features fiction by: Jeff VanderMeer, Lori Ann White, Mark Rainey, David Addleman, Kiel Stuart, Nigel Sellars, Barry Harringon, Robert L. Fleck and W.C. Leadbeater; and poems by Jon L. Herron, Richard L. Levesque, K.L. Jones and Mark Fewell.

Favorite short story:  “The God of Byzantium,” by Mark Rainey.  Arcane gods, a thirst for revenge and a seedy adult bookstore make this graphic nightmare a memorable tale.  Rainey’s marvelously sleazy details left me wanting to cleanse my hands with antibacterial gel.

Favorite poem:  “Nekton Wish-Kisses by the Pale Moonlight,” by Richard L. Levesque.  A dark ode to serial killer Ed Gein, Levesque’s poem has some unconventional – but evocative – imagery.

The quality of the artwork is fair to fine.  One illustration that particularly caught my eye:  Artist Richard Dahlstrom’s on page 45 – very reminiscent of images routinely found in 1970s horror comic magazines like Eerie and Creepy.  The artist has a gallery and a website: www.dahlstromgalleries.com.