Hey everybody, M. here,
I was out of town for a bit and had some other stuff come up over the past few days so I just finally managed to get my hands on a copy of the latest issue of Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror. The Lammas Eve 2023 issue, which came out in print and e-book at the end of July, is one of the best looking issues of the magazine yet. I’m excited to say that it contains my story Something Missing right up there in the front of the magazine.
I think you could say this story is one of my more high-concept ones. It’s a story about a kid working in a restaurant in a small town suburb who develops an interest in the exegesis of biblical apocrypha, esoteric ritual, etc. through an online forum while he’s trying to figure out what to do with his life.
I guess on some level it’s about what drives people to believe things, the sense of belonging people get from niche online communities, the power and the perils of brute-force philosophizing, metaphysics happening whether anyone nails the interpretation or not, and I threw in some stuff about mirror universes as well. The story also let me dig into some of the thought from an era in the history of ideas I find particularly interesting — I think there’s a tremendous amount to be observed and understood about the nature of human belief, human behavior, and how belief systems are arrived at in the massive proliferation of early-Christian metaphysics and gnostic sects in the first few centuries AD. While it’s probably not usually the stuff of romantic horror comedy-dramas, I think it all came together nicely in this rather idiosyncratic and experimental story.
So grab yourself a copy if that sounds like your type of thing. It’s got all sorts of other new fiction from frequent contributors and new authors alike, and has a bunch of in-depth reviews of recent Mythos fiction as well.
Last but not least, check out that table of contents! Beginning with the Candlemas 2023 issue (which paid homage to the 100-year anniversary of Weird Tales, and which contains my weird science Cthulhu Mythos tale The Study of Worms), Lovecraftiana started adding in taglines done up in classic pulp style, and it is one of my favorite features of any fiction publication these days.
Quick note on misprinted bio
Real quick in case anyone noticed, it looks like in at least some editions of this magazine, my author bio was accidentally replaced with the bio of the author who had the first story in a previous issue. While it should be somewhat clear to anyone reading it that it’s a misprint (it features another author’s writing credits and a link to an Instagram that does not have my name in the URL), I just wanted to make a note here for anyone who is not already familiar with my work, and I suppose for contemporary archivists and/or future historians, that it is not my bio. You can always find my list of published stories here and check out interviews with me for more about who I am and what my deal is.
Should have more to come soon, time for me get my day started. Take care everyone!
-M.