Pulphouse 13, August/September 2021
“The Man who Married his Wife’s Thigh” by Bonnie Elizabeth
“Walking the Dog” by J. Steven York
“New England’s God” by Lee Allred
“The Pearce Shootout” by Robert J. McCarter
“A Jury of Their Peers” by Jim Gotaas
“Till Death” by R.W. Wallace
“Knowledge Blooms” by Rob Vagle
Reviewed by Chuck Rothman
Issue 13 of Pulphouse is filled with high-quality stories. Only seven of them are both new and in the fantasy/SF genre and all are worth taking a look at.
The issue’s first original story is “The Man who Married his Wife’s Thigh” by Bonnie Elizabeth, the story of Eddie, who has a very odd request at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. His wife Lisa had been murdered by a serial killer and it had taken years to find her remains. All that was left was her thighbone but Eddie insists they perform the ceremony. Turns out Eddie is a necromancer and wants to bring Lisa back. But, of course, things don’t work out the way he wants. A version of “be careful what you wish for,” the sardonic fate of Eddie and Lisa show that maybe an obsession with love isn’t a good idea. I enjoyed the story a lot.
It’s easy to see where the idea of J. Steven York‘s “Walking the Dog” came from: an alien in the toilet calls to Myrtle the dog, saying, “Drink Me.” The alien is a liquid life form, and can influence Myrtle once it has been drunk. The story is amusing, as you begin to see what the alien might be able to do once Myrtle is under its control. Fun stuff.
“New England’s God” tells the story of Christopher Garrick, a former solder in the Revolutionary War. It’s several years later and he starts to talk about an old patriotic song that uses the title phrase. Garrick tells the story of its origin. He was originally a British soldier and was given the assignment to help recapture cannons from the rebels. When they come to seize them, though, the Colonials show the reason why they need them, something that turns out to be essential to a later battle. Lee Allred has produced an excellent bit of horror that cleverly dovetails into a famous literary story.
Robert J. McCarter’s “The Pearce Shootout” is a time travel story set in the old west. The narrator has been sent back to make some changes to the event that will be instrumental in helping make the future. The action involves Gayle Smythe, who is out to bring John Pearce, a mine owner, to justice for ignoring her husband’s warnings and allowing the cave-in that killed him. The story keeps repeating the incident until it finally works out. I found this the least engaging story in the issue.
“A Jury of Their Peers” by Jim Gotaas has the protagonist watching as the Daxili are wiping out the human race in order to save Earth. The twist in the story isn’t very well hidden, and I may have seen something with the same theme before.
“Till Death” is another fantasy mystery by R.W. Wallace about Robert and Clothilde, two ghosts who cannot leave the cemetery they’re buried in. This time, there’s a double funeral and they learn that the two ghosts—Bruno and Audrey—were a young married couple who died on their honeymoon. But when they finally arise from their graves, all they can do is shout: they detest each other. Robert has to find out why and to find out a solution so they won’t spend eternity in loud arguments. I liked the previous story in this series, and this one is just as much fun.
Rob Vagle finishes the original stories with “Knowledge Blooms,” where the Phoenix area is suddenly overrun by Little Free Libraries, which grow from the ground overnight. Their appearance brings on a renaissance of reading, except for a neighbor of Maya’s who doesn’t like the idea. The story is charming and will make any book lover smile.
Chuck Rothman’s novels Staroamer’s Fate and Syron’s Fate are available from Fantastic Books. His story “Her Old Man” is available in the Horror for the Throne anthology.