“Rejuvenating weird fiction in the 21st Century” Black Gate
Edited by John Linwood Grant & Dave Brzeski
Published by Cathaven Press, Peterborough, UK
WELCOME TO ODM, the only magazine dedicated to exploring, extending, and even re-interpreting, the ‘occult detective’ genre. From inquisitive Shinto priests, through terrified French police officers, to South African witch-sniffers and American cyber-adepts, we present weird and horror fiction at its darkest — and sometimes at its most entertaining.
So if you think we’re a magazine for weird literary fiction, you’re correct, and if you think we’re here to offer noir, classic supernatural, folk-horror or even pulp adventure, well, you’re right about those as well. We enjoy them all. If you want to see the sort of places we like to go, then why not read this month’s free story…
We also have a love of strange and dark artwork, and so each issue has a striking cover and includes specially commissioned black and white illustrations, some of which are specific to individual stories inside. You can see a few examples on this site.
“Occult Detective Magazine packs quite a punch. With over 200 (plus) pages of intrepid investigators peeking behind the veil between the worlds and holding back the outer darkness. All of the stories in this issue are very well written and highly entertaining.” Amazon, ODM #9
Feel free to browse around, or go straight to one of the pages which holds the specific information you require. You can also join in discussions about occult detective fiction in general, the magazine and related stuff – as well as get the latest updates – on our Facebook Group: occult detective magazine on facebook
NEWS
5th December 2024
This year saw the launch of the second of our Mythos Specials, a range which focuses on stories relating to the ‘Lovecraftian’ and ‘King in Yellow’ Mythos. We don’t often feature Mythos stories in the main magazine, so we selected some great new and reprint stories which reflect the range and diversity such tales can achieve, Mythos Special #1 went down a storm at the Innsmouth Literary Festival last year, and so Mythos Special #2 is now available.
We had hoped that our next regular issue would be out as well, but due to illness, Occult Detective Magazine #11 will be our Winter 2024/2025 issue, and is currently in edits.
Occult Detective Magazine #10
No less than four brand new substantial novelettes, along with the usual short stories and reviews. Without giving too much away, we have what we believe is one of our finest longer tales so far, a subtle and moving piece by Simon Avery which might well fit into any anthology of folk-horror stories. To complement this, we offer Joe Talon’s story of the popular Lorne Turner and a terrible past, John Paul Fitch’s very dark return of his ‘Anna and Turk’ characters, and a classic psychic investigation with a nasty core from Nancy Hansen, featuring Chandra Smoake.
As for our more ‘regular’ contents, we offer our usual wide-ranging selection of just what occult detectives, psychic investigators and those who dare to explore the abnatural can get up to. Naching Kassa brings us a first delightful tale of Lady Dahlia Battleroost and her less-than-normal butler, Robert Runté has an investigation at a distance in a time of viruses, and Mike Adamson digs deep into England’s Anglo-Saxon past.
Rhys Hughes, a master of wry humour, lets his investigator Nathan Gesture interpret chandeliers and tiramisu, Steven Philip Jones provides one of our rare werewolf stories but with a twist, and Michaele Jordan has a ‘powerless’ PI who nevertheless knows how to deal with the dirty side of magic. We also recommend our substantial non-fiction article by Maria DeBlassie, in which she looks at representation in this sub-genre.
Buy ODM #10 (print; e-format coming): https://mybook.to/ODM-10
ODM Mythos Special #1
Contains a new novelette by James Bennett, a twisting and twisted tale which is totally Mythosian but which involves protagonists you would certainly not find in HPL. Alongside this, we have a wide selection of reprints from recent years. Paula Ashe provides a dark, epistolary-style glimpse into cadaverous horror, whilst Will Murray gives us something closer to a Lovecraftian version of The Men in Black; Nick Mamatas has a very different and highly inventive take on the Mythos’s Mi-go, and Pete Rawlik offers smart, futuristic noir in his story of shoggoths and much more.
Denise Dumars explores moving, contemporary echoes of Lost Carcosa, and supernatural horror dwells in Michael Keyton’s story of a mirror with a dreadful secret. Added to this we have an unusual tale by DJ Tyrer set in the era of early post-war atomic tests in the Australian desert. For those who appreciate classic period settings, we have William Meikle’s recounting of a brush with cosmic horror for William Hope Hodgson’s archetypal occult detective, Thomas Carnacki, plus I.A. Watson’s story of another Miskatonic expedition which did not go well – accompanied by wry derring-do and Shub-Niggurath from Tim Mendees, and an appearance of that old ‘devil’ Aleister Crowley dealing with the result of dubious pacts, by Bob Freeman.
BUY MYTHOS SPECIAL #1 (print; e-format coming) https://mybook.to/ODMMY-01
A NOTE ON POLICY
Occult Detective Magazine operates on the basis of equality of opportunity. We buy and print stories based on merit. In order to provide the widest opportunities for writers and for our readers as well, we continue to seek out voices from a whole range of backgrounds, including writers of any ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, and location across the world. All are welcome. We print in English because this is the editors’ primary language, and likely to reach the widest audience.
We do not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism or other similar prejudices. We will not include or support ANY fiction with such elements, excepting in those rare cases where they exist as issues crucial to the experiences of characters in the story, and are handled sensitively. We only accept human-generated works.
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