by Alan Swyer Illustration by Mark Scicluna In the formative days of their relationship, Hallahan’s stories were a great part of his allure. First professionally, then personally, Colleen found him to be a captivating raconteur whose tales, anecdotes, and exploits provided an ongoing source of pleasure. Though at times she sensed a line of demarcation
Laura struggled to cling on to the slimy wet parapet of the railway bridge. Wind buffeted her hair and hit the back of her throat every time she opened her mouth to draw breath. “I’m surprised you don’t get blown away,” as her mother would say every time there was anything more than a mischievous
One of the most prolific and dizzyingly experimental writers working today, Joseph S. Pulver is a contemporary luminary of the weird fiction genre, whose influences stretch beyond the remit of usual stalwarts like HP Lovecraft and Robert W. Chambers – the latter, nonetheless, being a key reference point, as evidenced by Pulver’s recent release, The
I’ve a history of using this column to boast about my bouncing across the globe. Because huzzah for travel! That’s a thing I care about. Anyway a few weeks back I’ve been to Barcelona for the Primavera Sound festival and also spending a couple of days spent solely eating and drinking (and slowly ambling from
Molly Tanzer’s easy-to-love novel Vermilion has been a highlight of the literary year for many: first grabbing our attention thanks to a sumptuous cover illustration by Dalton Rose, but charming us further – the c-word is not incidental here – with its picaresque journey into an (alternate) Wild West, courtesy of young psychopomp Lou Merriwether. The debut
Audio Player 00:00 00:00 Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Welcome listeners, to a podcast dedicated to Schlock’s first, and arguably only, love – the one and only Howard Philip Lovecraft. Well, okay, maybe love is putting it a bit too strongly, but one has to agree
In my fury My nose to hers. When asked, “Do YOU Know the meaning of NO?” Her reply short and quick with a smile: “A starting point, you know.” Stopped me dead in my tracks, “What?” “You always said If you accept the first no You deserve it, So I just hammer till you crack.”
The brief was handed to me. Something which depicts Spring, but with a touch of blossoming, rebirth or metamorphosis somewhere in the background; lying there, its presence as subtle as possible. The first part was easy enough. Spring to me means fruit, and in Malta that means sweet, juicy strawberries. But how to best bring
Illustration by Daniela Attard The sun shone. Atop a two hundred-foot white cube stood three figures. One mile away, a three-person boat approached the cube. The heaviest passenger, wearing knee-high rain boots, grunted and rowed. There was no rain. A cluster of strings floated by the boat. The female passenger spun a parasol and laughed.
Welcome readers to Pop Culture Destruction, the Schlock Magazine column dealing with pop culture and other such matters of popular import. Wait, some of you might ask, where has this column been for all these months? I’ll be as honest as I can get in this here segment – I got tired of Pop Culture Destruction.