Book Review: Weirdbook #42 (John Shirley issue) Doug Draa (Editor)

Weirdbook #42 (John Shirley issue)Doug Draa (Editor)

Paperback, 158 pages

Published February 24th 2020 by Wildside Press

I have a couple issues of the weird book over the 42 issues but this is the first one that I took the step of ordering. Before it was always at a convention or buying a copy from one of the authors published inside. This was a must order as soon as it was available. John Shirley is without a doubt my favorite authors who straddle the neutral zone between Sci-fi, horror, bizarro and high literature. You don't get special issues unless your genius is recognized and he had the Bram Stoker and International horror guild awards to prove it.

For me, any amount of praise seems under rating when you consider that Shirley has a Masterpieces in both horror (Wetbones) and Science Fiction (City Come a-Walkin) and arguments could be made for many other titles getting that praise. He is the man William Gibson called Patient Zero and Clive Barker called an adventurer.

So yeah Weirdbook gave him a whole issue and since he wrote it all it would easy to see this as another Shirley collection. No for a couple reasons it is different. First off his collections from Heatseeker, Living Shadows and the award-winning Black Butterflies are incredible.

This special issue has a complete short novel. None of his collections have that. This issue has several poems. The collections don't have that. Five short stories including two I absolutely loved. This is a big deal because since Shirley moved back close to his native Oregon he has been focused mostly on music. His band John Shirley and Screaming Geezers just opened for Blue Oyster Cult in Portland. Exciting as Shirley has contributed lyrics to BOC for years. The point is new Shirley fiction has not been coming out as often as us fans would like.

So how was it? The novel Sword of Atlantis has a Jack Vance. Fritz Leiber's dark fantasy feel, it is really well done but not my favorite style of story. The level of inventiveness on the page makes this novel stand-out.

The highlights for me were the super Lovecraftian style story Broken on the Wheel of Time. It will remind Shirley fans of his collection Lovecraft Alive. Shirley has found the Lovecraft vibe in a major way in the last couple of years. Again it is the inventive weird creative element that makes this story of alien invasion and time travel really work. Told from two different journals this story drips Lovecraft vibe.

There are also two excellent very short stories The Nodding Angel that is very powerful and a sorta Twilight zoney feeling one called "That Ambulance Again" which made me laugh a bit.

This is a must-own for Shirley fans, is it the best introduction to him, Black Butterflies might be a better place to start but read both. I kinda wish the book came with an interview or more information about John but I was super happy with it.