Spiral Tower Review: Skelos 2 Strikes a Harmonious Blend of the New and the Old


Skelos 2 Strikes a Harmonious Blend of the New and the Old
Skelos: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, Issue 2
Published by Skelos Press (2017)
959 words.

I have already provided a glowing review of Skelos 1 for Spiral Tower Reviews (available HERE). The question I had upon opening the covers of Issue 2 was: would it live up to the standard set by the first issue? The short version is it exceeded my expectations! Those wanting a longer review may read on.

Following an editorial by Mark Finn the issue opens with a trio of excellent stories that encapsulate the scope of Skelos. Angeline Hawkes provides "The Keeping of Eleanor May," a tale in which misguided, youthful love collides with a "haunted" house. In "Slayers at the Gate," meanwhile, Adrian Cole evokes the spirit of Robert E. Howard's classic Bran Mak Morn story "Worms of the Earth" in an alternative history story that sees the Roman invasion of Britain come up against the Cthulhu Mythos. Rounding off the trio is "Of Mist, and an Heirloom Sword" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, a light-hearted and humorous tall-tale in the vein of the 1001 Nights.

The excellence of these opening stories is matched by two found later in the issue, both by heralds of what has become known as the "New Edge of Sword & Sorcery": Howard Andrew Jones and Scott Oden. "The Black Lion" by Jones is a tale of his well-known duo Asim and Dabir, in which the titular lion indicates a curse, but not in the way the protagonists think. "Amarante: A Tale of Old Tharduin" by Oden is an early and blood-drenched preview of his now trademark orc-centric fiction to be found in the Grimnir trilogy, albeit in a fantastical rather than historical setting.

"Reverse the Charges" by Jess Nevins is possibly the finest example of "revisionist" Lovecraftian fiction I have read. It has become common within the sub-genre of cosmic horror to re-examine Lovecraft's tales from the perspective of the antagonists, not least the Deep Ones from "The Shadow over Innsmouth". While such retellings offer a much-needed corrective to Lovecraft's white, male attitudes, in my experience they occasionally do so at the cost of losing some of the outré nature of the originals. Not so Nevins's offering. Nevins's narrator, one Guilliot Abellard of New Orleans, explains how he became aware of the secret religion that inspired Lovecraft's Cthulhu, exposes the truth of the events fictionalized by Lovecraft in "The Call of Cthulhu", and ends with a re-constructed history of the Cthulhu cult as Abellard understands it. Particularly enthralling is the way Nevins intertwines and contrasts Abellard's pursuit of knowledge with Inspector DeGrasse's ruthless suppression of the cult. It is the re-constructed history that truly elevates this story though. While Nevins humanizes the Cthulhu cult, much of the nature of the cult's religion remains a mystery even to the Abellard. The Cthulhu cult thus appears as a real, living religion that has changed over time, yet the potential for Cthulhu's return remains something that can either inspire dread or excitement depending on one's perspective. My only criticism of the tale is that I don't understand why it is presented as a series of blog posts and computer files. I expected this format would be important to the narrative in some way, but, while it doesn't detract from the story, the reason for it is never made clear.

In "'The Shadow Kingdom' and the Origins of Gothic Horror in Robert E. Howard's Heroic Fantasy", Charles Hoffman provides an excellent overview of the ways in which Robert E. Howard utilized the gothic in his Sword & Sorcery tales. While previous studies have explored this element of Howard's horror stories, this is the first in-depth study of the influence of Gothic literature on Howard's fantasy. Howard's debut Kull of Valusia story "The Shadow Kingdom" provides the focus, although Hoffman also provides a thorough assessment of the gothic elements in Howard's Solomon Kane and Conan stories. It is clear that Poe and Hawthorne had the greatest gothic influence on Howard, although the latter made the tropes his own by placing them in unconventional settings. In this comprehensive article, Hoffman reminds us that we should not be constrained by genre-specific assumptions when examining Howard's fiction, just as Howard himself was not.

With its exploration of a medieval text through the lens of modern genre, I found Benjamin Garstad's "The Alexander Romance as Weird Fiction" incredibly intriguing. Garstad provides a succinct and accessible overview of the Alexander Romance text. He also demonstrates that a fascination with introducing supernatural and weird elements into historical tales did not begin with the pulps, or their gothic predecessors, even if a medieval text doesn't meet the definition of "Weird" we would apply today.

As with the previous issue, Skelos 2 is interspersed with illustrations and poetry, which serve to immerse the reader in the dark and weird atmosphere of the contents. And again, like the previous issue, this one closes with a useful selection of fiction and non-fiction reviews.

I have already said that this issue exceeded my expectations. Both fiction and non-fiction contributions were generally of an incredibly high standard. I have not had space here to do every contribution justice, and omission should not be taken as criticism. The only contribution I did not enjoy was Robert M. Price's Thongor pastiche "The Eleventh Scarlet Hell," which felt a bit flat. Compared to the previous issue, the balance between fiction and non-fiction felt like it had tipped slightly more towards the former, while more of that fiction fell with the Sword & Sorcery sub-genre than other varieties of weird fiction. Nevertheless, by providing a venue for veteran authors such as Adrian Cole and Jessica Amanda Salmonson alongside relative new-comers like Milton Davis and Arianne "Tex" Thompson, Skelos 2 successfully continues the journal's mission to publish traditional stories while also pushing the genre forwards.

About the Reviewer: Ricky Broome is an aspiring historian with a PhD in early medieval history. He lives in the UK with his partner, their three children, and two feline familiars, Lucifer and Loki. When not reading about things that happened a long time ago, he indulges in weird and fantastical fiction.

About Spiral Tower Reviews: The authors who maintain the pulp genres of sword and sorcery and cosmic horror merit support. Financial support is key but there are other ways the cash-strapped can show support: engaged reading and thoughtful analysis. Literary movements emerge through the interactions of editors, authors, publishers, and amateur literary journalists. Learn more about contributing your review here. We are happy to work with first time reviewers! No previous writing credits required!

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