Wicked Karnival #5...Twisted Fairy Tales Edition

The Karnival is open once again! This "Twisted Fairy Tales" issue features fiction/interviews with spotlighters Jeff Strand and Nick Cato, an interview with horror master Jack Ketchum, and a short story by Killer Critique contest winner Bob Freeman. Jam-packed with fiction, interviews, articles, and art.

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Check out this review:

Just when you thought it was safe to leave your closet door closed, Wicked Karnival brings us this wonderful array of twisted fairy tales.In this issue, not only do we have the same intelligent (and damned entertaining) interviews with horror maetros Jeff Strand, Nick Cato, and Jack Ketchum, and three twistedly informative articles by Scott A. Johnson and Brett Blumfield (Did you know that the name Ouija comes from the French and German words for yes?), but now we really know exactly how disturbing we horror writers truly are.

I have often said that there is something amiss about the way a horror writer's mind works. How many of us have watched Disney's Fantasia and thought that Night on Bald Mountain was the best part? In Jeff Strand's The Three Little Pigs the simple story of three pigs and their dealings with a big bad wolf is turned into the kind of gorefest that would make any horror enthusiast proud. We are reminded that in no uncertain terms, being consumed by a wolf is a bad, bad thing. Having this as the first story leading into the next hundred pages of fractured fairy tale utopia is the perfect mood setter and leaves the reader hungry for more.And the hunger is satisfied.

Some of the shining stars are John Irvine with his delightfully disturbing Gran O'Hood and The Wolf, Liam Davies' brilliantly suspenseful The Perpetual Commuter and of course, this year's Killer Kritique winner Bob Freeman with Seeing Red, a werewolf version of Little Red Riding Hood, with Little Red as the antagonist, no less.

But those are just a few of the short stories that will keep readers awake at night. And let's not forget the 'not quite right' poetry by Karen L. Newman (Sex and the Single Vampire, Kelli Dunlap (Sally Had a Pocket Knife, Billy Bonny, and The Cannibal Has Come to Dine), and Brian Yount (Little Red Bloody Hood) just to name a few.

This issue is everything a horror mag should be and then some. With a nice mix of true suspense and gut splattering gore, Wicked Karnival makes Grim's Fairy tale seem like Dr. Seuss.But this review just covers the tip of the iceberg. Crack Wicked Carnival 5 open and see for yourself. You won't be disappointed. --Ophelia Cran