Red Room Issue 1: Magazine of Extreme Horror and Hardcore Dark Crime (Red Room Magazine) Paperback – October 5, 2017

I have to say, there are no magazines that have made me want to buy every issue as they come out. That might change.Red Room has content that would please any horror fan, ranging from thoughtful (The Middle Child by Meg Elison) to entertaining (The Flowery by David James Keaton) to really f***ing twisted (Sick Jokes by Josh Scott Wilson).Jack Ketchum kills it (heh, puns) with his story Megan's Law. I expected nothing less.There's no real weak point in this magazine and I'll cook and eat anyone who says otherwise.I can't wait for the next issue!

RED ROOM ISSUE 1: MAGAZINE OF EXTREME HORROR AND HARDCORE DARK CRIME contained a ton of variety not only in the stories featured, but also in their cool features such as: Barfly Bob's Highballs and Lowballs. This is an article which talks about some of the most disgusting adult beverages I've heard of. I mean, really, how many magazines have articles featuring 3 dick cocktails? Not too damn many!The stories here were also quite entertaining! My favorite probably being MEAT CUTE by Larry Hinks: an hilarious flash fiction piece which left me getting looks at the coffee shop because I was laughing out loud so damn hard. (Not that it wasn't bizarre or horrifying because it WAS, I'm just a sick person.)Jack Ketchum's MEGAN'S LAW came in a close second, with a last sentence that kicks you HARD right in the gut. In a weird development, I listened to the latest episode of The Horror Show with Brian Keene on Saturday morning, and there was a feature where Phoebe, (a show regular), interviewed a bunch of authors at the last Scares that Care convention. She asked all of them what their favorite short stories were and why. MEGAN'S LAW was mentioned in those interviews, so imagine my surprise when I neared the end of the magazine and there the story was. I can't remember which author chose this as their favorite story, but I can easily see why they did. Bravo to Jack Ketchum! (And a big FU to child molesters.)THE MIDDLE CHILD by Meg Ellison was a nice surprise. A sly commentary on the state of affairs in this country as regards reality television and what people will do to be even a small part of it. I think it also comments on the people watching this stuff, without whom there would be NO reality TV. I like to discover new authors through anthologies and magazines like this one, and Meg Ellison is one to watch, I think. (There's also an interview with her included at the end of the story.)SICK JOKES by Josh Scott Wilson was an innovative story in that I couldn't really tell where it was going for most of the time I was reading it. And then I agreed: Sick Jokes indeed!The Video Nasties feature by Duane Bradley talked about how difficult it was to get VHS versions of some films in the UK. I had no idea this type of censorship occurred over there during the VHS movie boom, so I found this article enlightening.Even though my days of enjoying bizarre and/or extreme horror are winding down, I thought this magazine was well put together, with beautiful artwork and stories that were chosen with care and quality in mind. Even a "quiet horror" fan such as myself admired the talents of the authors herein and will probably make an exception in my reading habits for the next issue.Highly recommended, especially for fans of extreme horror!You can get your own copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Room-Issue-Magazine-Hardcore/dp/1936964066/chashorcor-20*I received a free digital ARC of this magazine in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*

It's nice to see this genre of periodicals making a comeback.

Not that great of a read, needs work, maybe someday will be there.

Comet Press’s latest venture, issue #1 of the magazine Red Room, is very much like a cocktail party: you meet a number of interesting people, some of whom you might’ve heard of before; you eat a few hors d’oeuvres, some of which you like more than others; and you go home after a couple hours, hoping you get invited again. Despite the title and description, Red Room isn’t terribly heavy or challenging, and yet it’s still a lot of fun.The horror stories range from the mildly amusing to the thought-provoking. Nick Manzolillo’s Phantom Video Stream makes it to the latter category, though it doesn’t go quite as far as one would like in a magazine of “extreme horror.” Are You Crazy? by Tim Waggoner uses the 2nd-person present perspective to bring the scares, which is a bit gimmicky, but works until it doesn’t. Larry Hinkle’s Meat Cute is a flash fiction piece that you might find funny. Josh Scott Wilson’s Sick Jokes lives up to its title and more, particularly if you’ve got a hard-on for the wealthy.Those of you who believe that there are more than two genders, as well as anyone who views The Handmaid’s Tale as a cautionary tale of America’s terrible slide into a repressive, misogynistic theocracy, will appreciate Randy Chandler’s interview with Meg Elison, who has a story in Red Room titled The Middle Child.For dark crime fans, there’s Tom Barlow’s disturbing, hilarious Selfie, which is arguably the best story in the magazine. David James Keaton’s The Flowery feels like a long wind-up to a slow pitch. Megan’s Law by Jack Ketchum is the story that stays with you long after you put the magazine down to get some fresh air.The interview with Gil Valle, the so-called Cannibal Cop, is a disquieting piece that tells a tale of injustice and biased journalism; if you’re not a little bit upset after reading it, there’s probably something wrong with you. Of course, if you’re reading Red Room, let alone reviews of Red Room, you’re likely a little bit off anyway. There’s also an excerpt of Valle’s first novel, A Gathering of Evil.Other non-fiction pieces include Duane Bradley’s article To Deprave & Corrupt, which one-sidedly describes the arrival of extreme horror in VHS form to England in the 1980’s, and efforts to suppress it. Ben Arzate reviews Ken Greenhall’s 1977 novel Hell Hound, which put the book on my must-read list right there and then. For movie reviews, Patrick King takes a closer look at the independent horror film A Dark Song (yup, gonna have to see that one). Barfly Bob’s Highballs and Lowballs describes drinks that you’d have to be nuts to want to be in the same bar with, let alone pour down your gullet. Brian J. McCarthy, who I assume is being paid by the comma, takes a satirical trip to Comet Press’s nonexistent west coast office in The Rogue Report, with bizarre results.Across the board, Red Room is a fine piece of work, a welcome addition to the horror/dark crime genre. I doubt it’s a coincidence that the bound fellow on the cover resembles Comet’s Randy Chandler, and if it is him, I pray they let him down for issue #2.

Don’t be gross just for the sake of being gross. Deliver a story as well. Did not impress me at all.

Comet Press present Red Room. This is the press’ first foray into magazine publishing and in my opinion they have hit a home run with some great stories, great interviews and solid non-fiction, too. There is some really tasty stuff in here, fiction-wise, particularly the stories from David James Keaton, Tom Barlow and Jack Ketchum which are the standouts for me.Opening with Nick Manzolillo’s The Phantom Video Stream, Red Room gets off to a great start. I enjoyed the Twilight Zone feel of this story-very cool and a great way to kick things off. A short non-fiction piece about video nasties is up next and it fits the magazine well. I well remember the furore created during the 80s. Mary Whitehouse was at the centre of most of it. She held views that a more permissive society was being created through such things as video nasties, Alice Cooper and even Chuck Berry! Had she still been alive today I wonder what she would make of the world we now live in?Anyway, I digress. More fiction, and Tim Waggoner rarely disappoints when it comes to writing. His tale has a wicked twist and is thoroughly entertaining as is often the case with Tim’s work. Larry Hinkle’s flash piece is the sort of story Jeffrey Dahmer would enjoy reading…I’ll leave it at that. Selfie by Tom Barlow is excellent and probably my favourite story in the magazine. It is a story that will make you wince and think twice about assuming someones identity…especially if it is the identity of your gay twin brother!Elsewhere, I loved David James Keaton’s The Flowery. It is a story of bikies and what lengths they will go to remove a tattoo. I’ll tell you this now, there are scenes in this featuring a jack hammer that will make you feel ill. A truly bonkers and bloody tale, I love it. I also dug the Jack Ketchum story. I’ve read it before, but still it is worth a re-read. No-one does urban psychological horror like Ketchum.This is a great debut issue for Comet Press, and if they keep the quality of content this high then the magazine will be a success. I have no hesitation in recommending this to fans of dark horror and crime.4/5 blood-soaked walls from the Grim Reader.