The Imaginary Realms of

Gilbert M. Stack

My first major break in publishing came when Linda Landrigan, editor of the prestigious Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, accepted my story, Pandora's Luck, for publication. Pandora's Luck is the story of Corey Callaghan, a bare knuckle boxer who refuses to throw a fight, his loyal trainer, Patrick Sullivan, and beautiful lady gambler, Pandora Parson, who is determined to recover her mother's wedding ring from fight-fixing William Stead.

The story was so much fun to write that I wrote another, and another, and another... Fortunately Ms. Landrigan keeps putting them in her magazine.

• Pandora's Luck, AHMM, July/August 2006, pp. 6-31.
• Pandora's Defense, AHMM, April 2007, pp. 88-112.
• Pandora's Journey, AHMM, July/August 2007, pp. 41-71.
• Pandora's Fort, AHMM, December 2007, pp. 92-123.
• Pandora's Ghost Town, AHMM, January/February 2008, pp. 203-236.
• Pandora's Demon, AHMM, July/August 2008, pp. 78-89.
• Pandora's Mistake, AHMM, March 2009, pp. 32-54.
• Pandora's Confession, AHMM,  October 2010, pp. 36-61.
• Pandora's Champion, AHMM,  July/August 2011, pp. 118-138.
• Pandora's Station, AHMM, January/February 2014, pp. 88-102. 
• Pandora's Clue, AHMM, September 2015, pp. 60-77.
• Pandora's Bluff, AHMM, October 2016, pp. 28-44.
• Pandora's Hoax, AHMM, November/December 2017, pp. 143-159.  

The second story I sold to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine would have fit in nicely with the old show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It's a crime story set on a university campus in which our heroes' colleagues begin to pressure him toward some most unethical activities...

The Christmas Club, AHMM, January/February 2007. 

While Pandora's Luck was my first professional publication, Guardian Spirit was actually my first professional sale. It was bought for three cents per word by Cyber Age Adventures, an online magazine which specialized in superhero fiction. I cannot adequately describe the thrill of getting that first email telling me that someone wanted to pay money for one of my stories.

Before Guardian Spirit could be published, Cyber Age Adventures reorganized from an online magazine into a print version, but still wanted to publish my story. Unfortunately, the magazine did not survive to publish its second issue. So I never got paid for the story or published, but I will always be grateful to Frank Fradella for the encouragement he gave me by accepting this story. (Frank is now producing a new online magazine called I, Hero, which looks really great.)

A year or two later, Frank Byrns, one of the Assistant Editors at Cyber Age Adventures, started his own super hero publication, A Thousand Faces, and asked to have Guardian Spirit and its two sequel stories for his magazine.

Guardian Spirit was published in issue #0 and can still be read online in A Thousand Faces archives.

The Glue Stick and Bills were published in issue #1 and #2 respectively. Frank's remodeling his online store right now, but I think these earlier issues will be available once he finishes. A Thousand Faces has a lot of great stories in it--including works by Nick Piers and Paul McManus.