Few months back I found a handful of old Night Cry magazine issues, but I haven't read any of them. Night Cry was the digest-sized offshoot of Twilight Zone mag and didn't last too long; only 11 issues between '84 and '87 and this is issue #4. Lots of no-name authors mixed in there with bigger SF&F and horror folk. J.K. Potter, whose surreal collages adorned many a limited-edition horror work during that era, did all the artwork seen here. A nice snapshot of mid-'80s horror. You can pick up copies online for so-so prices; I scored mine for a buck apiece.
8 comments:
You lucky bleep. I'd love to pick up a bunch of these at that price. If some intelligent publisher opted to put out a limited-run collection of them at a semi-reasonable price I'd definitely consider forking out. That's probably easier to say knowing it'll never happen, though.
I remember buying that very issue at a convenience store in Pensacola, Florida when it came out. I bought three issues of that when they were being published, and I think I may have gotten all of them at that same store on different vacations. Then I scored a few more issues at a library sale, along with a ton of Twilight Zone issues for almost nothing. Great little 'zine, I wish it'd had a longer run.
I had rather bad luck with NIGHT CRY back in the day. As it had rather spotty distribution in my area ( unlike it's sister publication TWILIGHT ZONE, which I never had a problem finding/buying every month ) & when I did get an issue, it would invariably contain stories that were mediocre or that I just couldn't get into.
So, unfortunately, no fond memories of it from me. Though, like I said, I do have a full set of TZs in my collection & I enjoyed the hell out of it. Even during those months when the fiction was nothing to get excited about, it was usually covering cool films or contained some interesting reviews etc..
Jim
( aka BRK )
I have 5 or 6 of these from when they originally appeared. I moved from an apartment to a house two years ago, and at that time I finally parted w/ my Twilight Zone mag collection. I had the entire run, but held onto only about 10 copies or so. I kept the Night Cry's, though. Something nastier/edgier about them than TZ.
Jeff P.
I don't really recall Night Cry during its run, but I do recall TZ. TED Klein edited that mag while Alan Rodgers, who wrote a handful of horror novels (unlike, of course, Klein), edited NC. I've read Klein wasn't crazy about publishing actual real horror stories in TZ, so I'm assuming that's why NC was founded.
That's interesting, what you read about Klein. I discovered Joe Lansdale in the pages of TZ, which led me to his novels. But I think you're right, when I look back on it, there were fewer out & out horror stories in TZ. Especially odd, given that's what Klein wrote himself.
This is a great blog, Will. Wonderful memories get triggered here.
Jeff P.
Holy crap ! I can't believe I found this. I had this as a kid and couldn't remember the name of it except there was a story about an arcade and some stuff with Theodore Sturgeon. Go-go internet. Now then where can I get a copy?
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