Something Wicked #7

It is a well-recognised phenomenon that different places produce different flavours of science fiction. Horror, with more of an emphasis on the personal experience, demonstrates this even more. While one story might not tell you too much, nine of them are enough to make you feel that you are getting to know the place. Something Wicked is the leading horror magazine in South Africa, and, while most of the names are unfamiliar to me, it is clear that they are able to attract some of the best genre writers in the country.

Tanya Olckers’s “Pepper” is a new arrival at a mental hospital. She is a bright, abused self-harmer, and her best friend at the institute tells her story. This means, of course, that our narrator is also someone with psychiatric problems. This might explain the supernatural ending, but the reader is not left with enough clues to decide one way or another. The ending aside, it is a powerfully written story that uncovers Pepper’s traumas as her life continues to unfold before us. It’s relatively short, as are several of the stories in this issue.

Justin Germishuys’s “Letter to A Friend” is precisely that. It’s an epistolary narrative that gradually reveals the nature of the writer. The letter writer (although I suspect not the author) is a slightly clumsy (albeit erudite) writer and is not greatly endowed with social skills. He lives with his wife in a house in a forest, but the passion died a long time ago. Occasionally strangers will pass through, but our host, much as he enjoys their company while they are visiting, lacks true empathy. The story doesn’t outstay its welcome, but it might have benefited from a little more expansion and clarification.

Paul Marlowe’s The Resident Member” is set in a gentlemen’s club in—what?—Edwardian times? Maybe Victorian. One of the members, Lichfield, tells the story. He and his stiff-upper-lipped friends are enjoying their meal when cutlery starts to float towards the ceiling. Is it poltergeist activity, or is it some form of magnetism? They seem certain that it has something to do with their comrade who has a room upstairs, and, as the staff is quite useless in a crisis, they set off to investigate. Luckily, they are familiar with spiritualism and can use it to discover the truth of the situation. It’s a wonderful pastiche, even if there is a hint of anachronism about some of the language Marlowe employs.

There are more disturbed youths in Doc Byron’s “Electrocuting the Clowns.” Melly is disturbed, and she also happens to have a massive collection of toy clowns that she has nailed to the wall of her bedroom. Our unreliable narrator, Orin, this time just wants to get into her pants, and if he helps her electrocute the clowns in a little electric chair, then she just might let him. There is, of course, a sound reason for electrocuting the clowns. Her ex-boyfriend, Colin, was a warlock (she says), and his spirit is trapped inside one of the dolls. The dolls seem to be moving slightly, but Orin can’t be sure that it’s not just the effect of his meds. This is a genuinely creepy and effective story, although the climax will be familiar to horror fans.

“The Final Guest” is the only out-and-out failure in this issue. Tauriq Moosa has skills as a writer, but he tries too hard. The impression here is that he has sweated over every line, polishing and refining it until it looks smooth and shiny. A plainer prose style would have been less obtrusive. The plot, unfortunately, can be described in two sentences. The first tells you that our narrator is looking after his dying wife in a house next to the sea. I won’t tell you the second. It is undeniably a horror story, but it will also annoy many readers with its surprise resolution.

Andrew Saloman’s “Newborn” tells of the survivors of a platoon fighting a corporate war on a terraformed Mars. We’ve seen stuff like this many times before, and Saloman doesn’t try too hard to convince us that we haven’t. One of the platoon members is called Kurtz, for example, and another is called Doc. The setup seems a bit forced, but once we step beyond that, it’s an enjoyable adventure. The three survivors have to try and take out a genetic superman.

Ian R. Faulkner’s “Shadows on The Wall” is a good story in search of a better title. Kelly and Grace are two friends who go to see a magic show. The magician calls for a volunteer, and Kelly steps up and is disappeared. The Magician then collapses with a heart attack, and Grace finds out from his assistant that he was using real magic. Kelly is trapped in another universe and has to be rescued. Unfortunately, the other universe is full of Lovecraftian terrors. The plot takes a couple of twists and turns before the end, and the story, despite shallow characterisation, is another one of the highlights of the issue.

Ivor W. Hartmann’s “Earth Rise” starts with a man waking in his coffin. Obviously we must then travel back and explore his life. Everyone will end up here, but what, exactly, was Thomas Church’s path? He was a scientist in an unnamed African country (possibly, but not necessarily, a future South Africa), trying to develop medical nanotech wonders for a military dictator. So far he has failed, but there is a ready supply of test victims who keep being marched in to die from the results. His conscience plagues him, but he has to protect his loved ones. Agents, however, have targeted him and want to steal what he has developed. And what has he developed? The story spirals out, and the beginning is not the end, and to say more would be a sin against the author.

Werner Pretorius (what a name!) has a globetrotting journalist as his hero in “I Will Come For You.” Every time when the journalist flies off, his wife leaves him a little. The man is still married, but only in his own mind. In the world at large, however, a strange, zombie-like condition is starting to affect people and spread across the globe. He keeps on working and is unable to see that his job will vanish with the fall of civilisation. Curiously, it is his very detachment that may be responsible for keeping him safe. Even after his wife throws him out, he is still willing to try and find her when he thinks that she is in trouble. He is like a robot that thinks it has a heart, and this offering is a strong finish to the issue.

There are also articles, reviews, and interviews to flesh out the contents, but it is the fiction that grabs the attention. If other issues are as strong as this, then Something Wicked is soon going to be much better known across the genre.