OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE: MYTHOS SPECIAL #2 IS NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE!

You can buy either the paperback, or the Kindle version from Amazon. The usual link applies. https://mybook.to/ODMMY-02

Don't forget if you're in the UK, you also have the option of ordering the paperback directly from Cathaven Press. Simply email us at [email protected] for details.

As I warned in the last mailing, our prices have now risen. We simply couldn't afford to continue making so little money on every paperback sold. Since printing costs don't affect Kindle editions, the prices for those have not been increased.

I.A. Watson's Vinnie de Soth stories have always proved very popular when we've included them in OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE (ODM#0, ODM#6, ODM#8 & ODM Special #1: Mythos), and I'm always pleased to hear when a new collection of his adventures becomes available. Well the 4th collection, VINNIE DE SOTH AND THE GHOST TAXIS is now out from Chillwater Press, and is available at this link. https://mybook.to/IAW-Taxis

The title story was actually submitted to us, but excellent as I thought it was, it was simply too long at over 27,000 words for us to publish in the magazine. Ian ( no, he's not THAT Ian Watson, hence the I.A. Watson byline) sent us an interview with Vinnie de Soth, which we were at liberty to use as promotional material for ODM. We've never actually got around to using it, so I'm appending it to the bottom of this email, as a bonus for our subscribers.

WE'VE PUBLISHED A NEW BOOK!

MISCHIEF IN THE WOOD is a YA novel by Tina Rath, published by Cathaven Press. It’s best described as cosy horror, full of folklore and magic.

On a school trip to an ancient wood Rosie, Jason and Floralie meet a mysterious stranger. He calls himself Nick and says he isn’t mortal – a fairy or an elf perhaps? His magic has fled; to reclaim it he needs them to find something lost. Between them they have their own problems; Rosie’s father who lives in the garden shed and only communicates by e-mail, Jason’s mother who obsessively cleans her house and Floralie’s absent father, plus the In-crowd, a group of bullies who taunt and insult them at every turn. Floralie is keen to help Nick, and Jason and Rosie reluctantly agree to go on the quest, but like Tam Lin, Thomas the Rhymer and Childe Roland, they soon discover that it’s dangerous for humans to venture into Elfland. Get it here. https://mybook.to/RathMitW

I've wanted to publish something of Tina's ever since we started Cathaven Press, so I'm very happy that it has finally happened.

 Occult Detective Magazine #11 is in edits right now, due to be released this summer, and certainly lives up to our concept of exploring the myriad guises of the ‘occult detective’. For starters, ODM #11 will feature the brand new first novelette in Dave Jeffery’s latest venture – his ‘Clutterbuck & Postlethwaite Investigate’ series – about two quirky investigators in an even more quirky English town. This we immediately counterbalance with a dark, necromantic fantasy by John Guy Collick, set in his world of the Iron Sphere, and a most unusual contemporary tale of bones, music, and justice by Rowena McGowan.

 Jude Reid offers up her talented period character Miss Hilda Roxburgh, and Rhys Hughes provides one of his almost-surreal Nathan Gesture stories. And as it is sadly five years since we lost our co-founder Sam Gafford to a heart attack, we will also be remembering him with re-publication of his most haunting story ‘The Land of Lonesomeness’, set during WWI and most appropriately concerns the life of William Hope Hodgson, the creator of Carnacki the Ghost Finder. With further terrific tales by Brandon Barrows, Charles Spiteri, Thomas Hunt and a new Vinnie de Soth story by I.A. Watson.

In the non-fiction department, we have a fascinating, and amusing Cold Cases piece from Roy Bayfield, concerning an occult detective from the Victorian era whose stories had been totally forgotten, until Roy rediscovered them. We plan on eventually publishing a chapbook, reprinting the original stories. All I need to do is find the time to struggle with editing OCR from low quality scans of ancient periodicals. I've also talked to a couple of our authors about the possibility of new stories featuring this very obscure character. Who is it, you ask? I'm afraid you'll have to wait for ODM #11 to find out.

Eagle eyed readers may have notice that I referred to OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE SPECIAL #1: MYTHOS earlier, rather than the usual OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE: MYTHOS SPECIAL #1. This is because the next in the series will be OCCULT DETECTIVE MAGAZINE: SPECIAL #3: FOLK-HORROR. I didn't see the sense in starting a new series numbering, and it was an easy change to make that didn't involve any altering of existing books.

We've yet to announce the open call for that one, and it may not happen until the new year, but authors should take note that we'll be looking for folk-horror stories, involving investigators of the supernatural. As with the Mythos specials, most will be reprint, with at least one completely new story.

For those who like the Mythos stuff, don't worry, there'll be more, probably in ODM Special #4.

Small Press publishers come, and go. Some of you may have already heard the shocking news that the latest to disappear is Dark Regions Press, who had been in business since 1985. They were the publishers of quite a few books by William Meikle, author of so many excellent occult detective stories. His three books of Carnacki tales are still currently looking for a new publisher, but he's just self-published new editions of his two Professor Challenger books. Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger is definitely Occult Detective adjacent, so I'm happy to share the links for the books here...

PROFESSOR CHALLENGER: ISLAND OF TERROR https://mybook.to/PO1L

PROFESSOR CHALLENGER: THE KEW GROWTHS https://mybook.to/GQhUh

Both are illustrated, and have covers by the fabulous M. Wayne Miller.

On the subject of small press publishers suddenly going out of business, I will make you a promise. We will never suddenly go quiet on everyone. We will keep people informed as to our status. We won't suddenly stop replying to emails, and messages – unless something major happens that puts all 3 of us (Jilly Paddock, John Linwood Grant, and Dave Brzeski) out of action at the same time.

Finally for this mailing, here's the full list of Universal links for all Cathaven Press publications.

Occult Detective Magazine #10 https://mybook.to/ODM-10

Occult Detective Magazine #9 https://mybook.to/ODM-09

Occult Detective Magazine #8 https://mybook.to/ODM-08

Occult Detective Magazine #7 https://mybook.to/ODM-07

Occult Detective Magazine #6 https://mybook.to/ODM-06

Occult Detective Magazine Special #2: Mythos https://mybook.to/ODMMY-02

Occult Detective Magazine Special #1: Mythos https://mybook.to/ODMMY-01

A Solemn Curfew, by Bev Allen https://mybook.to/Solemn

Warbird, by Jilly Paddock https://mybook.to/WARBIRD

The Angry Dead, by Rosemary Pardoe https://mybook.to/AngryDead

Mischief in the Wood, by Tina Rath https://mybook.to/RathMitW 

Occult Detective Magazine #0 is a promotional issue, which can be downloaded free, as a PDF, EPUB, or MOBI file.

Now, here's that promised Vinnie de Soth Interview.

 INTERVIEWER: So, Vinnie, your business card calls you a “Jobbing Occultist”?

VINNIE DE SOTH: Um, yes. I wanted it to say “Consulting Occultist”, because, you know, it sounds better than “Desperate guy working out of the back of a seedy Soho bookshop, please, please hire me because I need to pay my rent,” but the extra letters would have put the printing up a price bracket.

INTERVIEWER (distracted): Ah. I was wondering whether the tiny broken desk in a cluttered new age store was a life choice. Maybe it has some mystical significance?

VINNIE: I suppose I might still be working off a few karma curses from my mother. Or my brother. Or my sisters. Or my ex-fiancée. Or any of my other enemies. Mostly I’m just not that great about collecting fees for the work I do.

INTERVIEWER: But you are an occultist? Who presumably jobs.

VINNIE: Well, I’m also an alternative lifestyle consultant, feng shui advisor, astrology chart debugger, and emergency exorcist. Whatever brings the work in, really. My landlord can be pretty offensive otherwise. Well, his t-shirts are.

INTERVIEWER: That’s an unusual career choice. What made you take up that kind of job?

VINNIE: Honestly? When I sort of walked out on my family there wasn’t a lot else I knew how to do. House De Soth has been doing the weird for more centuries than you’d believe. When there was a bit of a falling out and I needed to leave I had to find some kind of paying gig. It was this or burgers. Actually, a fast-food chain would probably pay more.

INTERVIEWER: This is a family business, then?

VINNIE: Er, no. My family, my ex-family that is, is more on the cause-the-arcane-problems side usually. I suppose I’m the white sheep of the de Soths. The rest are… not so white. But I will say this for growing up in a clan of murderous evil mages, you really get to practice your arcane survival skills.

INTERVIEWER: I can never tell when you’re being serious.

VINNIE: I don’t know why you have to be called “Interviewer”. Honestly, Annette, talking like this is difficult enough. Why can’t I just call you by name?

INTERVIEWER, WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE ANNETTE: It’s a professional thing. Like you not giving your hair and nail clippings to witches. Anyway, you owe me for nearly getting me killed by those punk vampires.

VINNIE: I know. Who still goes punk? Even if you were sucked dry in the 70s or early 80s, it’s time to move on.

INTERVIEWER: Can we just… not talk about the blood-drinking undead? Let’s try and keep this normal enough so I can sell the piece to one of those far-out alternate lifestyle online blogs. Nobody is going to believe you hunt vampires for a living.

VINNIE: Good, because I don’t. Not just vampires, anyway. Ghosts. Poltergeists. Werewolves and other skinshifters. Brain-eating Ghouls – the evil ones anyhow. Saaiitaii manifestations if they’re not too big or gross. Fairies.

INTERVIEWER: Vinnie…!

VINNIE: What? There are fairies. You just have to know not to take their bribes. They always turn to piles of leaves by morning. Even the ones made by credit card.

INTERVIEWER: Well apart from the, um, those things you just listed, what sort of services do you provide? More normal services.

VINNIE: Mostly small stuff. Curse removal. Karma readings. Online tarot fantasies. The odd bit of editing for ghost writing. Wart charming if I have to. But sometimes something a little more serious comes along and I have to get a bit more proactive.

INTERVIEWER: Like the thing with the vampires?

VINNIE: Kind of, yeah. Look, you survived. That’s generally a plus in these kind of encounters. You even got a story out of it.

INTERVIEWER: A story my editor dismissed as fiction. The only place I could get it in print was in a horror anthology. Look in a rag called Occult Detective Magazine. You’re in there.

VINNIE: That’s sort of nice. Great-granddad was in Heinrich Kremer’s Malleus Maleficarum. My sister thinks she’s in the Book of Revelations.

INTERVIEWER: There is one more thing I should maybe mention, Vinnie. And I’m really sorry about this. My editor wasn’t one hundred percent approving of your expense and fee vouchers for that vampire thing.

VINNIE (WINCING): What percentage of approving was he, Annette?

INTERVIEWER: Zero percent? I’m sorry, Vin. I mean, there you were saving the world and stuff, and you don’t even get to collect for the Tube fare. It’s not right.

VINNIE: Hey, you wanted to know what Vinnie de Soth is about? Now you get it.

INTERRUPTION FROM ALTO TUMOUR, OWNER OF THE OCCULT BOOKSHOP WHERE VINNIE WORKS: Hey, de Soth! There’s some guy out here says he needs help with a cursed dagger. Could you get it out of him before he bleeds on the carpet any more?

VINNIE: Ah. Sounds like I have to go. Sorry Annette – I mean, Interviewer. Coming, Alto! Does the guy with the cursed blade also have a wallet…?

Original concepts, characters, and situations copyright © 2020 reserved by Ian Watson. The right of Ian Watson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved.

That all for now – Dave Brzeski