Archive of the Odd Issue #1: For Research Purposes Only

Archive of the Odd #1

by Cormack Baldwin (Editor), Simo Srinivas, Andy Tytler

Archive of the Odd is a biannual zine of horror and supernatural stories told in unusual formats.

Stories in Issue 1-

Azul- JR Santos, illustrations by Alina Gottbrecht
Click Me- Rachel Rodman, illustration by Hira Rashid
The Comments Section- Andy Tytler
Goblin Universe- Barrie Darke, illustration by Hekatos Mist
HALLWAY- RL Meza
House of Fitted Stones- Daniel Simonson, illustration by Rieroo/Morgan Versluys
Incident Report- Cormack Baldwin, illustration also by Cormack Baldwin
Kullen Product Support- EV Smith, illustration by Renée Elizabeth Clarke
Queen of the Underground- Maureen O'Leary, illustrations by Georgia Cook
The Securities & Exchange Commission v. The Undying Sea- Simo Srinivas, illustration by DS Oswald
A Series of Notes Found Scribbled Inside the Romance Novels in the 50p Section of My Local Oxfam- Georgia Cook, illustration by Alina Wahab
Skipping- Simon J. Plant, illustration by Beatrice Olive
Video Nasty- Jack Fennell, illustration by Toeken
Welcome- Alexis Ames & Kat Veldt

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Anthologies

216 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 15, 2022

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

(See also my review of Issue #2.) Again, some great ideas in here, with my personal standout being Daniel Simonson’s ‘The House of Fitted Stones’, in which ex-residents of a mysterious house reunite on an online messageboard, discussing their strange yet unforgettable experiences. With research as the theme, several contributions run along the same lines: they gradually reveal a portrait of a dystopian near-future society through the author’s chosen format. This could describe a few of the best stories – ‘The Securities & Exchange Commission v. The Undying Sea’ by Simo Srinivas (found documents), ‘The Comments Section’ by Andy Tytler (which plays out in the comments on an online advice column), and ‘Welcome’ by Alexis Ames and Kat Veldt (chats and emails within a marketing company, with a similar vibe to Several People Are Typing). I also liked the increasingly creepy letters in Barrie Darke’s ‘Goblin Universe’. A few other stories have good concepts but are lacking in execution. I assume things had been refined a bit by #2 because I found that to be a stronger, tighter collection, but this was still extremely fun.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like speculative, weird, horror and/or found fiction, Archive of the Odd #1 is truly a must read.
I cannot describe it if not of a labour of love - both from the authors and from the editor.

While writing this review, I'm struggling to put into words the amount of work that must have been behind the scenes. I could fill this review with compliments, at the risk of sounding biased. Truth is, I might be. I haven't found, thus far, a literary magazine with the same quality of content - and here I'm comparing AotD with well-estabilished mags with pro-paying rates and professional editorial teams.

Admittedly, weird fiction is not everyone's cup of tea, so your mileage may vary. But I'd strongly recommend this read if you are longing for something unusual, new, and stories and, as in the title, the odd.

[David Swisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a great idea to have this weird bizarre epistolary found fiction zine set up as you are a researcher combing through documents of cases. I was very excited for this.

Unfortunately, many of the stories just weren't executed well or were not stories I found to be interesting. There was one really excellent one in there though.