Something Wicked Anthology, Vol. One Read online

  Also by Inkless Media

  Something Wicked SF & Horror Magazine

  Issues 1 to 10

  Something Wicked SF Online Magazine

  All back issues available through

  www.SomethingWicked.co.za

  All rights reserved

  This collection and editorial © 2012 by Joe Vaz & Vianne Venter

  Cover art copyright © Vincent Sammy

  Cover design by Joe Vaz

  Proofed by Mark Sykes

  Chapter illustrations © 2012 by Vincent Sammy, Hendrik Gericke,

  Pierre Smit & Jesca Marisa

  Story illustrations copyright ©2012 by Pierre Smit, unless otherwise stated.

  All stories are copyrighted to their respective authors, and

  used here with their permission.

  Something Wicked Magazine

  www.SomethingWicked.co.za

  No portion of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or

  by any means, mechanical, electronic, or otherwise, without first obtaining

  the permission of the copyright holder.

  First published 2012

  by Inkless Media Publishing

  PO Box 15074, Vlaeberg, Cape Town, 8018

  www.SomethingWicked.co.za

  For more information, contact Something Wicked:

  [email protected]

  ISBN: 978-0-9870320-0-3

  Printed in South Africa

  For the many who have supported us over the years:

  artists, writers, editors - you know who you are.

  And to the incredibly exciting South African genre writers, you

  guys inspire us every day.

  Acknowledgement is made for permission to print the following material:

  “The Silver City & The Green Place” copyright © 2011 by Abi Godsell.

  Originally published in Something Wicked issue 11, July 2011. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “Unstitched Love” copyright © 2006 by Michael Bailey. Originally published

  in Something Weird Horror Anthology, compiled by Troy Kealley. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “Sky Painter” copyright © 2009 by Michael John Grist. Originally published

  online, reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Alpha & Omega” copyright © 2011 by Paul Marlowe. Originally published in

  Something Wicked issue 11, July 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Devil’s Advocate” copyright © 2008 by Ivor W. Hartmann. Originally

  published in StoryTime #11, October 2008. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Happiest Amongst Mortals” copyright © 2011 by Glen Damien Campbell,

  Originally published in Something Wicked issue 12, August 2011. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “No Longer Alone” copyright © 2011 by Brian Kirk. Originally published

  in Something Wicked issue 12, August 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “The Bayside Incident” copyright © 2011 by M. Scott Carter. Originally

  published in Something Wicked issue 12, August 2011. Reprinted by permission

  of the author.

  “Forge of The Soul” copyright © 2011 by Jason Kahn. Originally published in

  Something Wicked issue 13, September 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Cotton Avicenna B iv” copyright © 2011 by Paul Marlowe. Originally published

  in Something Wicked issue 13, September 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Groundswell of Love” copyright © 2011 by Scott Brendel. Originally published

  in Something Wicked issue 13, September 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Herman’s Bad Seed” copyright © 2011 by Damien Filer. Originally published

  in Something Wicked issue 13, September 2011. Reprinted by permission of

  the author.

  “The Treasons” copyright © 2011 by AA Garrison. Originally published in

  Something Wicked issue 14, October 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Jiang Shi” copyright © 2011 by William Mitchell. Originally published in

  Something Wicked issue 14, October 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Watcher in The Corner” copyright © 2011 by Michael Hodges. Originally

  published in Something Wicked issue 14, October 2011. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “Engaging The Idrl” copyright © 2007 by Davin Ireland. Originally published in

  Glorifying Terrorism, edited by Farah Mendlesohn and published by Rackstraw

  Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Into The Black Abyss” copyright © 2011 by Lynne Jamneck. Originally

  published in Something Wicked issue 15, November 2011. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “Scission” copyright © 2011 by Domenico Pisanti. Simultaneously published

  in Jungle Jim issues 5, 6 & 7, edited by Jenna Bass, and Something Wicked issue

  15, November 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Mindflow” copyright © 2011 by Cedar Sanderson. Originally published in

  Something Wicked issue 15, November 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “What is Evil, What is Not” copyright © 2011 by Sylvia Hiven. Originally

  published in Something Wicked issue 15, November 2011. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “God of Light” copyright © 2007 by Domyelle Rhyse. Originally published

  in Worlds of Wonder: A Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Reprinted by

  permission of the author.

  “Breathing Space” copyright © 2002 by Sheila Crosby. Originally published in

  Oceans of the Mind, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Six Feet Above” copyright © 2011 by Cate Gardner. Originally published in

  Something Wicked issue 16, December 2011. Reprinted by permission of the

  author.

  “Pulse” copyright © 2011 by Tom Jolly. Originally published in Something

  Wicked issue 16, December 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  CONTENTS

  Introduction by Joe Vaz & Vianne Venter

  The Silver City and The Green Place by Abi Godsell

  Unstitched Love by Michael Bailey

  Sky Painter by Michael John Grist

  Alpha & Omega by Paul Marlowe

  The Devil’s Advocate by Ivor W. Hartmann

  Happiest Amongst Mortals by Glen Damien Campbell

  No Longer Alone by Brian Kirk

  The Bayside Incident by M. Scott Carter

  Forge of The Soul by Jason Kahn

  Cotton Avicenna b IV by Paul Marlowe

  Groundswell of Love by Scott Brendel

  Herman’s Bad Seed by Damien Filer

  The Treasons by A.A. Garrison

  Jiang Shi by William Mitchell

  The Watcher in The Corner by Michael Hodges

  Engaging The Idrl by Davin Ireland

  Into The Black Abyss by Lynne Jamneck

  Scission by Domenico Pisanti

  Mindflow by Ceda
r Sanderson

  What is Evil, What is Not by Sylvia Hiven

  God of Light by Domyelle Rhyse

  Breathing Space by Sheila Crosby

  Pulse by Tom Jolly

  Six Feet Above by Cate Gardner

  Acknowledgments

  About the Contributors

  INTRODUCTION

  by Joe Vaz & Vianne Venter

  Welcome to Something Wicked Volume One.

  We’re pretty excited about this baby. Beautiful stories by talented writers, some you may have heard of, and some you will discover for the first time. Though we’ve been publishing short stories for six years, this is our first anthology collection, and we’re extremely proud of it.

  Some background.

  For those of you unfamiliar with our magazine, Something Wicked is South Africa’s only paying speculative fiction short story market. We publish science fiction, horror and, occasionally, some dark fantasy, but mostly we publish stories that excite us.

  When we stopped printing paper issues in 2010, I honestly thought it was the end for this little publication of ours. The price of printing had doubled in the four years since we’d begun and our sales/advertising revenue was just not cutting it anymore. And so it was with a heavy heart, and light wallet, that I decided to call it a day after only ten quarterly published issues. I pulled the plug. I could have gone digital, but we ran a survey at the time and less than 1% of our readers said they’d pay for a download over an actual print magazine.

  Cut to: A year later. The first officially available iPads hit the market; Amazon finally realised that the world is bigger than the U.S and made the Kindle available internationally. Suddenly, South Africans were walking around with iPhones, iPads and many were beginning to try out the Kindle. I decided to buy one myself and once I gave it a whirl I realised that digital content was actually looking rather good.

  So armed with that knowledge and a deep hunger to revive Something Wicked, I started subscribing to magazines through my Kindle. This could just work, I thought, and in July 2011 we relaunched Something Wicked as an online monthly. Four stories per month, free to read on the website, with a purchasable, downloadable e-book edition for every device, Kindles, Nooks, iPads, whatever.

  So what, you may be asking, is this book doing in your hand?

  This anthology collects all the stories published digitally in 2011.

  Due to the unrepentant deadlines of a monthly publication, we have decided to change our format and concentrate on annual anthologies. The online portion of the magazine will continue, but in a pared down version. We will publish a few stories that will preview the anthology, along with the usual reviews and interviews.

  Over the last six years I have read thousands of manuscripts, and although it can get pretty suicidally gruelling when you go through the worst of them, there is nothing better than picking one up from the slush pile that blows your mind. There is this rush of adrenalin as you realise nobody has ever published this before. My hands literally tremble as I rush to send off that acceptance email.

  It is my addiction to that rush that has kept Something Wicked going, from print to digital, and back to print again. We’re addicted to stories.

  So if you’ve just discovered us, thank you for picking up this book and we hope to have you become part of our ongoing family. And for those of you who have been loyal fans for the last six years, thank you for sticking with us through our multiple incarnations.

  Contained within are 24 stories by writers from all over the world, from the UK, Japan, Canada, America, Australia and of course South Africa, featuring an eclectic blend of science fiction, horror and the fantastical, which includes everything from a bloodthirsty teddy bear, an alien trapped in a child and a lunch date between God and the Devil, to orphaned zombie children, an unorthodox exorcism, an ancient evil in darkest Africa, and many more.

  If you like them, please drop by www.SomethingWicked.co.za and leave us a comment.

  Herein lies the past, present, future and more, so buckle your seatbelt.

  We hope you enjoy ride.

  - Joe Vaz

  “The Egyptians built the pyramids because they didn’t know it couldn’t be done.” – Unknown

  I’ll take an interesting story over a boring truth any day. The boring truth is that a magazine like Something Wicked should by rights never have made it past the bright-idea phase, and certainly shouldn’t still be going strong six years down the line. The publishing industry is in a massive state of flux. Between the print-versus-digital debate, rapidly changing market-place and DRM issues, even the big guns are dropping like flies. For indie publishers, printing costs are often prohibitive, distribution largely monopolised, and the bulk of the sale price still goes toward the bookstore’s rent. The spec fic, sci-fi and horror genres are still regarded as the strange and somewhat dim-witted half-brother of ‘real literature’, their market for the most part pretty niche. Anyone with a dram of common sense in their hip flask would keep walking, thank you very much, nothing to see here.

  Fortunately, there’s no surfeit of common sense in the Something Wicked office. And the stories are far more interesting. The stories are what get us up in the morning. First and foremost, we are fans of stories and indeed, fans of our writers. We’ve gotten to work with so many inspiring authors, from first-timers to best-sellers. We were the first publication to publish Abi Godsell (when she was just 15 years old) and Sarah Lotz, who won our debut short story competition.

  Sarah has gone on to have three different writing careers as a crime, horror and YA writer (as herself, half of SL Grey and half of Lily Herne, respectively) and Abi has just returned from James Gunn’s Science Fiction Writing Workshop at Kansas University. She was the only South African to attend, and won an award for her new draft of ‘The Silver City and The Green Place’, the opening story of this anthology. She also won the South African section of the Nova Short Story Competition in 2010 for her short ‘Taal’, an extended version of which we will be publishing in our second anthology next year.