Skelos – The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy. A horror and fantasy journal featuring short fiction, essays, poetry, reviews, and art by both seasoned pros and talented newcomers! This was a Kickstarter project started by Jeffrey Shanks in 2016, with Chris Gruber and Mark Finn assisting but both stepped out of the project in the summer of 2021. Many backers have not received the last two issues and there have been many excuses. I know Chris Gruber and Mark Finn have tried to help out those that didn’t receive these issues. There were 499 backers pledging $19,318 to help the project come to life.

Contents

• 4 • Skull Session (Skelos, #1, Summer 2016) • essay by Mark Finn
• 5 • Skull Session (Skelos, #1, Summer 2016) • interior artwork by Gustave Doré
• 7 • The Dead Unicorn • short story by Scott A. Cupp [as by Scott Cupp]
• 9 • The Dead Unicorn • interior artwork by Mike Hunter
• 10 • The Drowned Dead Shape • short story by Keith Taylor
• 11 • The Drowned Dead Shape • interior artwork by Tomás Giorello
• 25 • Skelos #1, Summer 2016 • interior artwork by Mike Hunter
• 26 • Diary of a Sorceress • interior artwork by Georges Merle
• 27 • Diary of a Sorceress • poem by Ashley Dioses
• 28 • The Night Maere • short story by Scott Hannan
• 33 • Skelos #1, Summer 2016 • interior artwork by Mike Hunter
• 34 • Nameless Tribes: Robert E. Howard’s Anthropological World-Building in “Men of the Shadows” • essay by Jeffrey Shanks
• 35 • Book cover for “The Prehistoric World or Vanished Races” • interior artwork by uncredited
• 45 • The Nameless Tribe Drafts • short fiction by Robert E. Howard
• 45 • The Nameless Tribe Drafts • interior artwork by Mark Schultz
• 47 • Robert E. Howard • interior artwork by uncredited
• 48 • Midnight in the Ebon Rose Bower • interior artwork by Vasily Kotarbinsky
• 49 • Midnight in the Ebon Rose Bower • poem by K. A. Opperman
• 50 • One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things • novelette by Jason Ray Carney
• 51 • One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things • interior artwork by Arthur Rackham
• 75 • The Writer • poem by Jason Hardy
• 75 • The Writer • interior artwork by uncredited
• 76 • The Casualty of the Somme • poem by Frank Coffman
• 76 • The Casualty of the Somme • interior artwork by Pieter Claesz
• 78 • Grettir and the Draugr • short story by Jeffrey Shanks
• 78 • Grettir and the Draugr • interior artwork by Samuel Dillon
• 90 • From the Cosmos to the Test-Tube: Lovecraft, Machen, and the Sublime • essay by Karen Joan Koboutck
• 91 • H. P. Lovecraft • interior artwork by Mike Hunter
• 93 • Arthur Machen • interior artwork by uncredited
• 100 • By Crom! (Skelos #1, Summer 2016) • interior artwork by Rachel Kahn
• 101 • The Yellow Death • short story by David Hardy (III)
• 102 • The Yellow Death • interior artwork by Edward Matthew Ward
• 108 • Totem • poem by Pat Calhoun
• 108 • Totem • interior artwork by Jeffrey Shanks
• 109 • The Burning Messenger • (2015) • short story by Matt Sullivan
• 115 • The Burning Messenger • interior artwork by David Cullen
• 118 • A Sword-Edge Beauty as Keen as Blades: C. L. Moore and the Gender Dynamics of Sword and Sorcery • essay by Nicole Emmelhainz
• 119 • Cover for “Weird Tales, October 1934 • interior artwork by Margaret Brundage (variant of cover art for Weird Tales, October 1934 1934)
• 122 • The Black God’s Kiss • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore (variant of Black God’s Kiss)
• 122 • The Black God’s Kiss • (1934) • interior artwork by H. R. Hammond
• 126 • Dangerous Pearl • short story by Ethan Nahté?
• 127 • Dangerous Pearl • interior artwork by Gustave Doré [as by Gustav Doré]
• 136 • Surtur • poem by James McNew
• 136 • Surtur • interior artwork by John Charles Dollman
• 138 •  Review: Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Tales of Mythos Horror in the 1950s by Glynn Owen Barrass and Brian M. Sammons • review by Paul R. McNamee [as by Paul McNamee]
• 138 • Cover of “Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Tales of Mythos Horror in the 1950s” • (2015) • interior artwork by Victor Manuel Leza Moreno (variant of cover art for Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Tales of Mythos Horror in the 1950s) [as by Victor Leza]
• 139 • Review: Swords Against Cthulhu by Gavin Chappell • review by Deuce Richardson
• 140 • Cover of “Swords Against Cthulhu” • (2015) • interior artwork by Stephen Cooney (variant of cover art for Swords Against Cthulhu)
• 141 • Review: Hunting Monsters Is My Business: The Mordecai Slate Stories by John M. Whalen • review by Keith West
• 141 • Cover of “Hunting Monsters Is My Business: The Mordecai Slate Stories” • interior artwork by uncredited
• 143 • Review: Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos by Bobby Derie • review by Charles Hoffman
• 143 • Cover of “Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos” • (2014) • interior artwork by Gahan Wilson (variant of cover art for Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos)
• 145 • Review: J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and the Birth of Modern Fantasy by Deke Parsons • review by Josh Adkins
• 145 • J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and the Birth of Modern Fantasy • interior artwork by Shutterstock (variant of cover art for J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and the Birth of Modern Fantasy 2014)
• 147 • Review: J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and the Birth of Modern Fantasy by Deke Parsons • review by Brian Murphy (I)
• 150 • Review: A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the “Cthulhu Mythos” by John D. Haefele • review by Robert Derie [as by Bobbie Derie]
• 150 • Cover for “A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the “Cthulhu Mythos”” • (2014) • interior artwork by Leo Grin (variant of cover art for A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the “Cthulhu Mythos”)
• 151 • Review of “The Pulp Western: A Popular History of the Western Fiction Magazine in America” • essay by Todd Vick
• 152 • Cover of “The Pulp Western: A Popular History of the Western Fiction Magazine in America” • interior artwork by uncredited
• bc • Skelos #1, Summer 2016 • interior artwork by Samuel Dillon

Notes

Print on demand. Date from Amazon.com. Page numbers do not include covers.

First appearance of “The Nameless Tribe Drafts”
Edited by Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, and Jeffrey Shanks
A Signed / Numbered Limited Robert E. Howard Days edition was produced as the first edition.
It was limited to 30 copies and signed by the editors and many of the contributors that were at Robert E. Howard Days 2016.
The Howard Days edition preceded the regular edition.
The regular edition received several more rounds of copy editing, adjustments to images and layout, and the addition of advertisements and the names of Kickstarter Supporters, Benefactors, and Founding Patrons.
The page count difference between the two editions is primarily due to formatting changes.
“A Revelation Dream” by Kenneth Bykerk only appears in the 2016 Howard Days edition.