Diabolical Plots #136, June 2026

“The Sharp Cry of the Winterlarks” by Arden Baker

“The Monster’s Wife” by Stewart Moore

Reviewed by David Wesley Hill

The June issue of Diabolical Plots opens with a brief bit of flash fantasy, “The Sharp Cry of the Winterlarks” by Arden Baker, in which the “Hundred-Eared Emperor” Andraxal has carpeted the floor of his “Thousand-Eyed Keep” with the ensorcelled bodies of the titular birds, creating a sort of early warning system against assassins, a “construction that would scream when someone set foot upon it.” There’s not much more to the tale than this, except that the winterlarks are preparing to rise against their captor, perhaps with the help of the local owls. Will they succeed? Who knows. The story ends before the uprising begins. Strangely, when I Googled “larks,” I learned there are 98 lark species—Karoo Larks, Beesley’s Larks, Dusky larks, etc., etc.—but, according to Wikipedia, the Winterlark is not, apparently, a real bird. Well, the story is fantasy, after all.

Next up, also fantasy, is “The Monster’s Wife” by Stewart Moore, which takes place in London in 1588, on the eve of the Spanish invasion, when the Fleet Street printer, John Bateman, and his wife, Katie, are preparing to print a broadsheet depicting a monster that had washed ashore “after a flood of the River Tiber” in 1496. Then there is a knock on the door, and the monster’s husband appears, asking them not to print the broadsheet, which it considers slander against its dead wife. After some uneasy back and forth, the Batemans and the monster reach a tentative compromise in this well-researched tale with a profound sense of place and a delightful use of language. Highly recommended!