You’ve heard of GQ, right? Gentleman’s Quarterly. Well it’s about to get elbowed into another dimension by an entirely different sort of lifestyle mag. One that’s as dark as crude oil, but has been refined down to two highly flammable passions – mystery fiction and the supernatural.
Occult Detective Quarterly has hit issue two and its publishers at Grey Dog Tales sent a copy over to Crime Fiction Lover HQ. Seeing as our last copy of GQ slipped down behind the sofa somewhere we decided to give it a flick and show you what’s inside. First of all, there’s a whole load of spooky, short format fiction. Writers like Steve Liskow, Tim Waggoner and Tricia Owens bring us stories like Death and the Dancing Bears, The Grabber Man and White Host in the City respectively.
Carnacki? Check.
The magazine kicks off spectacularly with The Arcana of the Alleys by Brandon Barrows, which features the occult detective Carnacki. Created in 1910 by William Hope Hodgson, Carnacki is analogous with Sherlock Holmes in that the character has fallen out of copyright and anybody can use him in their stories. And why not, he’s the occult detective most people want to read about.
With a full-colour cover illustrated by Alan M Clark, this 100-page perfect bound magazine also contains a few serious articles exploring the topic of supernatural detection. A feature on the DC Comics character John Constantine looms large but there’s also an interview with Dan Starkey and a feature about the tradition of the occult physician. It’s even got some comic strips featuring dog detectives, and a page of reviews.
Another reason to pick it up is the illustrations. Occult Detective Quarterly’s team have done well to bring together some art talent to support the stories they’re passionate about. The magazine signs off in style with an image by Mutartis Boswell, which you can check out below. Maybe it’ll be your next tattoo?
So, on closer inspection Occult Detective Quarterly isn’t all that similar to GQ after all, but more a supernatural-focused version of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. You can grab your copy on Amazon using the button below.
