Matthew M Bartlett

Leeds, Massachusetts. The patrons of the Look Diner await their meals, drawn by something greater than hunger, something stronger than the need for shelter from the oppressive heat and humidity of summer. Waitresses hustle. Cooks sharpen knives and light burners, giving birth to blue blossoms of flame. Something is stirring in the greased air sliced by whirling ceiling fans. You and I, we have a corner booth. A front row seat.Abrecan Geist. In Leeds, Massachusetts, the name evokes dangerous magic, unspeakable blasphemies, black rites in the basement of Anne Gare's notorious book shop. Outsized rumors surround him. He lived a full three hundred fifty-eight years, dying in 1982 and taking to the casket the cadaver of what appeared to be a sixty-year-old man, and he could speak to birds. He and his coven, the Hilltown Ten, were responsible for the notorious priest murders and disappearances of the early 1980s. He could bend reality to suit his will. And in his later years, his dreams took over, warping reality even as he slept.Something is going to happen tonight, here, in the Look Diner in Leeds, Massachusetts. Something devilish. Something unnatural. All will play a part. You and I? Though we are but observers, we may not live through the night. But we will see something no one has ever seen before. It might be starting soon. Yes . . . the lights are flickering. The ceiling tiles are bulging like brown-stained bellies. The yolks of the eggs on my plate are filling with blood, and my water is boiling in my glass. Don't look away. Don't even blink.What does all this have to do with our favorite occultist, leader of the Hilltown Ten, dreamer, diarist, monster? Sit tight. Soon all will be revealed.

Prepare to delve into the darkest corners of the universe with Forbidden Futures: In this issue, JEFFREY THOMAS takes readers on a journey through unspeakable alternate universes in "The Probe," while ORRIN GREY trades in his face for a myriad of "Masks" and MATTHEW M. BARTLETT adopts the pick of "Sujn's Litter." TED WASHINGTON has a date with the "Harpy," and JOHN SHIRLEY counts the cost of seeing the world with "Slither Eyes." Meanwhile, CHRISTINE MORGAN lights a candle and cracks open the sky in "Waxen," and ZAK JARVIS redraws the boundaries of body horror in "Symbiot." In "Widdershins," EDWARD M. ERDELAC captures a guardian angel's last battle, while JESSICA MCHUGH'S "We'll Know The Reason When The World Parts Its Lips" shows how a nightmarish act of possession can look a lot like love. SCOTT R. JONES achieves the high score on Polybius in "Ready Flayer One," and CHRISTOPHER SLATSKY trips the dark fantastic in "They Delight In Extinction." NATHAN CARSON sells your soul to "King C," and UNCLE KRUST offers a "Guide To The Old Ones." Finally, read CODY GOODFELLOW'S editorial "Lovecraft Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry" to complete your descent into madness.

"Matthew M. Bartlett is an open channel to the darkness" -Michael T. Cisco, author of Unlanguage A hair product's occult properties give the unsuspecting consumer more than just luxurious locks. A rural museum's shocking exhibits explore the dark and deathly aspects of laughter. A house travels the skies by night to find the man who long ago hid from terror in its abandoned halls. An actor on a movie set recites a scripted incantation that summons unholy apocalypse. An unseemly birthday party novelty turns out to be a diabolical tool of revenge. A town's dark devotion to a dead child spells danger for unwary day trippers. A senior citizen van takes an unexpected detour to hell. Join Matthew M. Bartlett, author of Gateways to Abomination, as he takes you on a tour through witch-ridden Leeds, Massachusetts, through hex-haunted Hulse, Massachusetts, and beyond, to the darker precincts of existence, where the chance rotation of a radio dial leads to cosmic madness, where devils reign, where doom creeps, where fiends flourish...where night cowers. "Reading Bartlett is like watching the offspring of Fran ois Rabelais & Al Columbia frolic like demented wildlife, where people wear the faces of a Hannah H ch portrait while giggling macabre wisdom over obscene broadcasts from radio stations located deep within dark forests." -Christopher Slatsky, author of The Immeasurable Corpse of Nature

There's a side of the world those deemed "normal" don't see, save for glimpses in flashing moments of fear and confusion. These places exist just around the corner of our vision, beyond the ocean fog of memory and nightmare, where monstrous children cry for love and secrets are hidden in remote caves; where nature reclaims its own and a sweet taste in your mouth portends evil beyond imagining. Within these pages are twenty-one secrets hidden behind a veil only the most ancient of beings have dared to pass through, brought to you by some of the most talented and imaginative authors to come out of New England.In short, these stories are Wicked Weird.Featuring oddities and terrors from Matthew M. Bartlett, J. Edwin Buja, William D. Carl, Victoria Dalpe, Barry Lee Dejasu, Peter N. Dudar, Emma J. Gibbon, John Goodrich, Paul R. McNamee, F. R. Michaels, Kali Moulton, Errick A. Nunnally, Jason Parent, Steve Van Samson, Rob Smales, LL Soares, Wicker Stone, Morgan Sylvia, Jeffrey Thomas, K. H. Vaughan and Trisha J. Wooldridge

A supermarket meat manager carves a doorway to a parallel world of bloody horror. A fading magician encounters his former mentor performing a terrifying new act. A party-goer ducks out early and is pursued by a creature bent on cruel malevolence. Winged creatures of unknown origin terrorize a small town. A disgruntled employee works his dark magic on a new breed of middle managers. A radio stunt shatters the sanity of a DJ. And a father talks his young daughter through a cataclysmic apocalypse. The Stay Awake Men and Other Unstable Entities. Seven new tales of terror by Matthew M. Bartlett.

Pope Sevenius. The Segmented Man. Mister White Noise. Hurt Me Henry. These are just some of the monstrous characters you'll wish you hadn't met in the countdown to a catastrophic Christmas storm in Of Doomful Portent: An Advent Calendar of Grotesque Horrors

Test Patterns Teaser is a set of stories and poems culled from the main body of the Test Patterns anthology. The chapbook features both up-and-coming weird authors and well-established masters of the form.

Matthew M. Bartlett, author of Gateways to Abomination, is back with The Witch-Cult in Western Massachusetts. A cross between Roberto Bola o's Nazi Literature in the Americas and Gardinel's Real Estate by Orrin Grey and M.S. Corley, this slender volume consists of 13 bite-sized fictional biographies, each accompanied by a chilling illustration by the masterful Rich Disley.Meet Stanley Malanson, who had a curious rapport with felines. Meet Abrecan Geist, who endeavored to take revenge on a capricious God. Meet Minerva LaBrie, who abandoned Wicca in favor of a dark and blasphemous alternative. Meet Jebediah Blackstye, who crossed a line with his beloved familiar, a toad with revolting powers. These are but four of the practitioners of black magic who have made their homes in the cities and towns of Western Massachusetts. Read of sumptuous feasts gone to rot, of a corrupted priest who dared unleash his venomous platitudes over the common airwaves, of a powerful sorcerer born at the intersection of Blood and Stone. Open your hearts to the Witch-Cult in Western Massachusetts.