Archive of the Odd Issue #2: A Supernatural History

Archive of the Odd #2

by Cormack Baldwin (Editor), M. Maponi, Gabrielle Bleu

Archive of the Odd is a biannual zine of horror and supernatural stories told in unusual formats, including newspapers, emails, WikiHow articles, and abandoned flyers.

Stories include:

Avoiding Yesterday Best Look- M. Maponi (illustrated by Karolina Mochniej/Art from Cards)

Birdwatching Notebook Found on a Colorado Trailhead- Gabrielle Bleu (illustrated by Rieroo)

Channelsea- Sarah Jackson (Illustrated by Toeken)

Community Posting Board- Ellen Edwards (Illustrated by Alina Gottbrecht)

Field Notes on the Strawberry Sentinel- B. Myers (Illustrated by Will Taylor)

Notes on a New Cephalopod by Ephraim T. Foxxe-Grace, Naturalist- Nik Sylvan

Okami in the Bayview- Mary Salome (Illustrated by DS Oswald)

The Recovered Files of Threnody Lane Elementary- Daniel Simonson (Illustrated by Renée Elizabeth Clarke)

Seventh Page of the Heartwell Gazette- Kiya Nicoll (Illustrated by Alina Wahab)

Water Babies as Causal Factors in Female Family Annihilation- Angela R. Eder

Genres: Anthologies, Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy

114 pages, ebook

Published September 15, 2022

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m both annoyed that I didn’t know about Archive of the Odd until now, and excited I’ve discovered it and still have a couple more of these zines to read. All the stories collected here are told in unusual formats – really unusual. I’ve so often been disappointed when something described as ‘mixed media’ turned out to be a conventional narrative with a few emails or tweets thrown in. But these are truly original, and beautifully illustrated too. In ‘Avoiding Yesterday Best Look’, M Maponi crafts a sly tale of horror and consumerism through the medium of a WikiHow article. ‘Community Posting Board’ by Ellen Edwards has to be one of the most innovative – you can guess the format from the title, but it’s impressive how well this is made to work. Kiya Nicoll’s ‘Seventh Page of the Heartwell Gazette’ uses one page of a local newspaper over several dates to show how a mysterious newcomer unsettles a small town.

My favourite, though, was ‘Channelsea’ by Sarah Jackson, which uses the (relatively) conventional approach of found documents to tell the eerie story of an abandoned, potentially toxic island. I would happily read a whole book of this. Gabrielle Bleu’s ‘Birdwatching Notebook Found on a Colorado Trailhead’ builds tension and dread masterfully through nothing but bullet-pointed journal entries about which birds the narrator has spotted. Another standout is ‘The Recovered Files of Threnody Lane Elementary’ by Daniel Simonson, which vividly portrays a unique world via children’s art and other schoolwork.

They’re not all entirely successful: a couple of stories don’t quite manage to pull format and plot together, and while it looked great, I really struggled to read the handwriting in Nik Sylvan’s ‘Notes on a New Cephalopod by Ephraim T. Foxxe-Grace, Naturalist’. Overall, though, the standard is so high for something from such a tiny press; I just love the idea so much, I’m going to savour the other two (so far) issues and it’s a must-read if you love mixed-media fiction.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Archive of the Odd issue #2 expands the goodwill earned with issue #1. As usual, the stories are interesting and well written, and each of them is narrated through a different format. Newspaper pages, notes, birdwatching journals and more, making AotO really the best magazine for the found fiction genre.
The amount of polish this publication has is unparalleled in the world of indie magazines, and I strongly recommend giving it a try. Between my favorites, "Field notes on the strawberry sentinel" by B Myers and "Water babies as a causal factor in female family annihilation" by Angela R. Eder.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely exceptional collection of found fiction stories. A wide variety of different voices, formats, and themes, making each experience completely unique. Most of the stories leaned horror, which is great for me, but one of my favourites was actually the opener, which was absolutely the gentlest story in the collection. I gloried in how this issue focused in on cryptids and creatures.

My favourites, in order of appearance:
"Seventh Page of the Heartwell Gazette" by Kiya Nicoll - told in newspaper clippings over multiple weeks, showing how different aspects of community life progressed and intertwine
"Avoiding Yesterday Best Look" by M Maponi - a WikiHow-style article that demonstrates that you, too, can survive hauntings
"The Recovered Files of Threnody Lane Elementary" by Daniel Simonson - class notes and assignments, e-mails to and from parents, and even a pop quiz, all exploring a school where children are learning about some atypical (spooky as hell) subjects
"Community Posting Board" by Ellen Edwards - posters and notes left on a community board bely the escalation of something strange happening amongst the locals

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Teresa Ardrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delight. Love seeing fresh, experimental, weird stories finding their place.