“Little deal coming up for you: you’re going to write a novelet [sic] called I think THE BOTTICELLI HORROR for…Fantastic…they’ve got the cover already…shows a gal busting out of a shell or something…a touch of horror and fantasy is effective; science fiction is not ruled out.” Thus, Biggle wrote this novelette to match a preexisting title and cover art—which probably helps to explain why it stands out in his oeuvre for its atypically deep horror elements.
Read MoreIf humor was Counselman’s goal, I would find anyone very unfortunate to have her appointed their guardian angel from the afterlife, as her humor was of the darkly ironic variety that turns people away from religion, the kind where success leads to suicide and great gifts are distributed in such a way as to make the received bewail their lot. Sweet little old Mary Elizabeth Counselman. One wonders what Christmas was like at her house…
Read MoreBest known for her Galactic Milieu and the Saga of Pliocene Exile series, Julian May launched her book career with a Weird tale titled "Dune Roller."
Read MoreRather than relying on a single plot device or trope, Jane Rice presents the reader with several at once: the Bad Seed, demonic summoning, and The Weird—the latter arriving in the form of some deeply Weird creatures squirming and swimming about in their own obscure dimension. Most other writers would have been content to deploy only one of these elements, and would likely have split the others across multiple stories in the hopes of selling them separately. Jane Rice, however, does not hold back.
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