At The Means At Hand, Max Maxwell writes about the intersection of crime and magic (in weird and horror writing). “It’s not such a stretch to see criminal conspiracies as the kinds of dark power that beat at the heart of horror novels. Not simply the violation of norms and laws, but the reveal that such power even exists and can consume you or be bent to your will. These powers gain strength from being hidden, from being unknown to all but a handful of practitioners. Revealing themselves too early, before power has been cemented, before the stars are right, that just leaves the underworld vulnerable. Better to be just a myth and to be free. There’s no such thing as organized crime, no Devil, no cosmic monsters or vampire next door in Salem’s Lot. Disbelief or the illusion of non-existence is a powerful bit of magic.”

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