THE COMPLETE SLAYERS by Paul Cain

Centipede Press, a favorite here at Miskatonic Books just announced THE COMPLETE SLAYERS by Paul Cain (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover) We know that this isn’t mythos related but it is classic and we felt that many of our customers would love to add this edition to their libraries.

click any of the pictures below to reserve your copy.

 

Paul Cain was the hardest boiled of all the Black Mask writers. And other than Hammett and Chandler, the one who best epitomizes the hard, brittle style that represented the magazine. Short staccato sentences void of introspection, conjunctions, and all but the most necessary exposition. Stark, violent, and occasionally brutal storylines. And prose so provocative and compelling that the reader finds himself gulping it down whole instead of in the usual bite-size pieces.
This massive collection features the novel Fast One (in its original serial form) and the complete 13 “slayers”—brilliant works of noir fiction—written by Paul Cain for Black Mask and other crime pulps. For six of the “slayers,” this is the first time ever that they have been collected in book format, and also marks the first time that all of Cain’s fiction has been collected in book form.

 

This new edition includes a stunning biographical introduction by Max Allan Collins and Lynn F. Myers, Jr., which incorporates years of research into the life of Paul Cain, about whom little is known. Along with the stories, this edition features a cover gallery of old issues of Black Mask as well as old covers of the Fast One and Seven Slayers collections. This hardcover book is signed by Max Allan Collins, Lynn F. Myers, Jr., and Ron Lesser, the cover artist.

 

• Limited to 500 copies, each signed by Max Allan Collins, Lynn F. Myers, Jr., and Ron Lesser.
• Introduction by Max Allan Collins and Lynn F. Myers, Jr.
• Special gallery of old editions of Fast One and Seven Slayers and Black Mask magazine covers reprinted in color.
• The complete fiction of Paul Cain.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands, three-piece cloth construction, dustjacket.

BLACK HORSE AND OTHER STRANGE STORIES by Jason A Wyckoff (Limited Edition Hardcover)

Just announce from Tartarus Press, BLACK HORSE AND OTHER STRANGE STORIES by Jason A Wyckoff (Limited Edition Hardcover) Import

This new collection of sixteen tales uncovers the strangeness within everyday America, the fable in the familiar. ‘The Highwall Horror’ sees an office worker discover the portal to an alien cathedral in a cubicle wall; in ‘Panorama’ an artist’s agent examines his client’s deserted masterpiece; a young man follows a forgotten song to the haunted town that spawned it in ‘The Bells, Then the Birds’; a young mother escapes her wastrel husband only to become lost in a perilous swell of freedom in ‘The Mauve Blot’; and in ‘Black Horse’ an inherited steed brings uneasiness and worse to its new owner.

Black Horse and Other Strange Stories is Jason A. Wyckoff’s first venture into print. He explores the surreal and supernatural in an original, authentic, and always insightful new voice. Wyckoff was born in Columbus, Ohio, USA, where he still lives with his wife and their pets. He was awarded a Bachelor of Music Composition degree from The Ohio State University and then played indie-rock in dive bars for a decade or so.

You can reserve your copy by clicking on the cover art above or you can look at all our Tartarus Press titles in stock by clicking here:

Alien Invasion or Disgusting Orange Goo?

Dateline: Kivalina (Alaska)

Wednesday (3 August 2011) a viscous, gooey mystery appeared out of nowhere to a people symbiotic with the land and their environment.  Eskimo (Inupiat) people know their land like few others, and no one in memory had seen such a mess.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday (18 August 2011) discovered that these were eggs.  Millions?  Billions?  Trillons?  No one knows how many.

They don’t know what species the eggs (possibly a weird crustacean?) are or if they are toxic, and that worries many of the 374 residents of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community located at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef on Alaska’s northwest coast.

The orange mass has slowly dissipated – though if the eggs hatched, no one knows what walked or slithered from the egg sacs.

One asked, “But if they’re microscopic eggs, who’s to say they’re not still in the river?”

Scientists also don’t know why the unidentified eggs suddenly emerged on the shores of Kivalina last week. Villagers say they’ve never seen such a phenomenon before.

The eggs were found on at least one roof and in buckets set all over the village to collect rain water. City Councilwoman Frances Douglas said the gooey, slimy substance was widely spread in streaks along theWulikRiverand the lagoon, which is a half mile wide and six miles long. Orangey water was reported from as far away as the village of Buckland, 150 miles southeast of Kivalina.

Douglas estimated the volume of eggs she could see “in excess of a thousand gallons, easily.”

Stay tuned to find out what this may be – Natural, Lovecraftian, or Fortean?

(Update 19 August 2011): ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An orange-colored goo that streaked the shore of a remote Alaska village turned out to be fungal spores, not millions of microscopic eggs as indicated by preliminary analysis… Further tests with more advanced equipment showed the substance is consistent with spores from fungi that create “rust,” a plant disease that accounts for the color, said officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The gunk appeared Aug. 3 at the edge of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community at the tip of a barrier reef on Alaska’s northwest coast.

 

Just in and Shipping: Neil Gaiman, H. P. Lovecraft, George R. R. Martin, L. Sprague de Camp and more!

Here are a few items that just arrived and ready to ship. Many of these are in very short supply so if interested please reserve your copies soon.

 

A LITTLE GOLD BOOK OF GHASTLY STUFF by Neil Gaiman (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover)

One of only 500 signed and numbered hardcover copies.

Brand New, Beautiful and Unread, one of 500 copies which were sold out prior to issue.

Book is in new unread condition
Published by Borderlands Press

Contents:

1. Introduction – a few pages from Neil that tell a little bit about what you will find here.
2. Before You Read This – a poem
3. Featherquest – the author’s first published story from 1984, with the full text for the first time.
4. Jerusalem – story
5. Feminine Endings – story
6. Orange – story
7. Orphee – CD liner notes written for the late Kathy Acker.
8. Ghosts In The Machines – written at Halloween for the New York Times – “almost an op-ed piece”.
9. The Annotated Brothers Grimm: Grimmer Than You Thought – an introduction to a book.
10. Black House: A Novel – book review of the Stephen King and Peter Straub work.
11. Summerland – another book review.
12. View From The Cheap Seats – a piece about Neil’s evening at the Oscars when he was up for an award for writing the screenplay for Coraline.
13. Once Upon A Time – a piece on Fairy Tales written for the Guardian when Stardust the movie came out.
14. Dresden Dolls – a music piece about Amanda Palmer’s former duo and their recent reunion.
15. Introduction: Hothouse – an introduction to a Brian Aldiss novel.
16. Entitlement Issues (from Gaiman’s Blog) – a question from a fan regarding an author’s responsibility to his readers and Neil’s laugh-out-loud response.
17. Why Defend Freedom Of Icky Speech (from Gaiman’s Blog) – another Q&A, this one covers censorship.
18. Harvey Awards Speech 2004 – Neil’s speech about comics.
19. Nebula Awards Speech 2005 – Neil’s speech at the 40th anniversary of the Science Fiction Writer’s Association.
20. Conjunctions – another poem.

 

DREAMS AND FANCIES by H. P. Lovecraft (First Edition Hardcover)

 

Dreams and Fancies is a collection of letters and fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in 1962 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,030 copies and was the sixth collection of Lovecraft’s work to be released by Arkham House. The concept of the collection was to present letters by Lovecraft recounting dreams, and the stories which may have derived from those dreams.

 
Dreams and Fancies contains the following tales:

“Introduction”, by August Derleth
“Dreams and Fancies” (letters to: Reinhart Kleiner, Maurice W. Moe, Alfred Galpin, Bernard Austin Dwyer, Donald Wandrei, Clark Ashton Smith, Duane W. Rimel, R.H. Barlow, William Lumley, Willis Connover, Jr. and Virgil Finlay)
“Memory”
“The Statement of Randolph Carter”
“Celephais”
“The Doom That Came to Sarnath”
“Nyarlathotep”
“The Evil Clergyman”
“The Thing in the Moonlight”
“The Shadow Out of Time”

This is a first edition hardcover. Book is in near fine condition in a near fine dust jacket. Light toning due to age else fine.

 

 

THE HORROR HALL OF FAME: The Stoker Winners by Thomas Ligotti, Robert Bloch, Joe Lansdale and More (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover)

 

This landmark anthology collects for the first-time ever the Bram Stoker Award-winning short stories and novellas from legendary authors such as George R.R. Martin, Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, Jack Ketchum, Joe R. Lansdale, David Morrell, Alan Rodgers, and many, many others! The Stoker Award is presented annually by the Horror Writers Association, and this

 

volume represents the very best fiction in the horror field! Featuring full color cover artwork by Alan M. Clark and black & white interior artwork for every story

 

by acclaimed artist Glenn Chadbourne

Limited Edition of 550 copies signed by the editor and bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale

Table of Contents:

• “Introduction” by Joe R. Lansdale
• “The Scent of Vinegar” by Robert Bloch
• “The Calling” b y David B. Silva
• “Chatting With Anubis” by Harlan Ellison
• “The Pear-Shaped Man” by George R.R. Martin
• “The Night They Missed the Horror Show” by Joe R. Lansdale
• “Lady Madonna” by Nancy Holder
• “The Box” by Jack Ketchum
• “Stephen” by Elizabeth Massie
• “The Red Tower” by Thomas Ligotti
• “The Boy Who Came Back From the Dead” by Alan Rodgers
• “The Night We Buried Road Dog” by Jack Cady
• “Metalica” by P.D. Cacek
• “Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity” by David Morrell

 

THE SOLITARY HUNTERS AND THE ABYSS by David H. Keller, M. D. (First Edition Hardcover)

 

David Henry Keller (December 23, 1880 – July 13, 1966), a practicing psychologist, utilized many pseudonyms, but published this work under his official name. The Solitary Hunters was originally published in Weird Tales Magazine in 1934, while The Abyss had never been published before.

 

 
First edition. Octavo. 265 pages. Two full page illustrations.

Publisher’s black cloth covers with the spine lettered in gilt. Illustrated dust jacket designed by J. V. Baltadonis. Book is in very good condition with bumps to top corners else fine. Dust Jacket is in near fine condition with some light rubbing else fine.

 

HEROES AND HOBGOBLINS by L. Sprague de Camp (Signed Limited Edition)

Heroes and Hobgoblins is a 1981 collection of poetry by science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, illustrated by Tim Kirk. It was published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc..

 
This is a signed limited edition hardcover. Book is signed by the author and illustrator Tim Kirk

Book is in fine condition in a fine dust jacket

 

 
Contents:

Foreword”
“Tehuantepec”
“The Olmec”
“Tintagel”
“Bourzi”
“A Night Club in Cairo”
“Meroê”
“The Jungle Vine”
“The Dome of the Rock”
“Nahr al-Kalb”
“New Year’s Eve in Baghdad”
“Jewels”
“The Home of the Gods”
“Patnâ”
“The Iron Pillar of Delhi”
“Disillusion”
“Wayfarers”
“Ruins”
“Tikal”
“Teotihuacán”
“The Little Lion of Font-de-Gaume”
“Carnac”
“The Megaliths of Avebury”
“The Great Pyramid”
“Babylon”
“Sirrush”
“Ziggurat”
“Faunas”
“The Elephant”
“The Indian Rhinoceros”
“The Hippopotamus”
“Tiger in the Rain”
“The Bats of Florence”
“Atavism”
and many more!

Two Rays and a Godzilla

A funny thing happened on the way to the movies … um, well that’s an old joke introduction, but in this case very true.

It goes back to the early 20th century when some boys – Hannes Bok, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and Forest J. Ackerman were off-and-on members of the Los Angeles Scientifiction Club. One day, a movie came along called King Kong. The boys had never seen anything like it, and they had seen plenty, and conjured up weird and wild in their own imaginations, but Merian C. Cooper’s creation given life by Willis O’Brien struck them to their core.

Well, Ray Bradbury could not be contained – not that he wasn’t already a ball of fanaticism – and began to write with a new freedom. Ray Harryhausen set out to master what he’d seen Willis do on screen. For a while these two men had separate careers, with Harryhausen eventually capturing the attention of Willis O’Brien and working on M

ighty Joe Young. Harryhausen went on the create a new style of stop-action animation creating his own jaw-dropping effects.

One day, Harryhausen and Bradbury were entertaining executives working on a new movie that would use Harryhausen’s animation. They were keen on getting Bradbury* to give them – probably free – advice. Bradbury took the script, paged through it, and was stunned.

It was his story.

He wrote The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and placed it in the Saturday Evening Post (23 June 1951) – then a veritable stalwart in American homes – and undoubtedly the script writers had purloined and expanded upon the story hoping not to be caught. The executives quickly made arrangements to pay Bradbury thus securing his story, his help, and getting extra publicity from his famous name.

The movie later helped the two Rays come full circle from their love of dinosaurs, horror, and science-fiction adventure, and in their own way paying a temporary homage to Kong as their monster began to crush, kill, and maim New York.

Many others have also followed suit, including the original Godzilla (with Tokyo a stand -in for NYC).

Oh and one more little item. A certain 2008 movie with jerky camera action seems awfully similar to this previous movie-beastie …

_____

Original “20,000″ trailer with a lot of Cold War rhetoric mixed into it. Note the oblique reference to Bradbury’s story in typeface in part of the trailer.

Updated for the 21st centruy, and using CGI rather than Dynamation, it still follows a rather close format in methodically destroying New York and ating people.

*… of course one always has to take a Ray Bradbury anecdote with a grain of salt.

Just Arrived and Shipping

Just click on the cover art to get more information about reserving your copy of any of the books below.

We recently received the new two volume set of CENTURY’S BEST HORROR FICTION edited by John Pelan and published by Cemetery Dance Publications. This has been over a decade in the making and is one of the most anticipated books of the year. If you haven’t reserved your copy do so quickly as we don’t expect these to last long.

About the Books:
Cemetery Dance Publications commissioned a spectacular two-volume anthology project under the editorship of noted author and historian of the horror genre, John Pelan.

John selected one story published during each year of the 20th Century (1901-2000) as the most notable story of that year — all 100 stories were then collected in this amazing two volume set to be published as The Century’s Best Horror Fiction.

The ground rules were simple: Only one selection per author. Only one selection per year.

Two huge volumes, one hundred authors, one hundred classic stories, more than 700,000 words of fiction — history in the making!

Trade Edition hardcovers bound in full-cloth and Smyth sewn with a full color dust jacket — two deluxe volumes

Table of Contents
1901: Barry Pain — The Undying Thing
1902: W.W. Jacobs — The Monkey’s Paw
1903: H.G.Wells — The Valley of the Spiders
1904: Arthur Machen — The White People
1905: R. Murray Gilchrist — The Lover’s Ordeal
1906: Edward Lucas White — House of the Nightmare
1907: Algernon Blackwood — The Willows
1908: Perceval Landon — Thurnley Abbey
1909: Violet Hunt — The Coach
1910: Wm Hope Hodgson — The Whistling Room
1911: M.R. James — Casting the Runes
1912: E.F. Benson — Caterpillars
1913: Aleister Crowley — The Testament of Magdelan Blair
1914: M. P. Shiel — The Place of Pain
1915: Hanns Heinz Ewers — The Spider
1916: Lord Dunsany — Thirteen at Table
1917: Frederick Stuart Greene — The Black Pool
1918: H. De Vere Stacpoole — The Middle Bedroom
1919: Ulric Daubeny — The Sumach
1920: Maurice Level — In the Light of the Red Lamp
1921: Vincent O’Sullivan — Master of Fallen Years
1922: Walter de la Mare — Seaton’s Aunt
1923: George Allen England — The Thing From—”Outside”
1924: C.M. Eddy, Jr. — The Loved Dead
1925: John Metcalfe — The Smoking Leg
1926: H.P. Lovecraft — The Outsider
1927: Donald Wandrei — The Red Brain
1928: H.R. Wakefield — The Red Lodge
1929: Eleanor Scott — Celui-La
1930: Rosalie Muspratt — Spirit of Stonhenge
1931: Henry S. Whitehead — Cassius
1932: David H. Keller — The Thing in the Cellar
1933: C.L. Moore — Shambleau
1934: L.A. Lewis — The Tower of Moab
1935: Clark Ashton Smith — The Dark Eidolon
1936: Thorp McCluskey — The Crawling Horror
1937: Howard Wandrei — The Eerie Mr Murphy
1938: Robert E. Howard — Pigeons from Hell
1939: Robert Barbour Johnson — Far Below
1940: John Collier — Evening Primrose
1941: C.M. Kornbluth — The Words of Guru
1942: Jane Rice — The Idol of the Flies
1943: Anthony Boucher — They Bite
1944: Ray Bradbury — The Jar
1945: August Derleth — Carousel
1946: Manly Wade Wellman — Shonokin Town
1947: Theodore Sturgeon — Bianca’s Hands
1948: Shirley Jackson — The Lottery
1949: Nigel Kneale — The Pond
1950: Richard Matheson — Born of Man & Woman
1951: Russell Kirk — Uncle Isiah
1952: Eric Frank Russell — I Am Nothing
1953: Robert Sheckley — The Altar
1954: Everil Worrell — Call Not Their Names
1955: Robert Aickman — Ringing the Changes
1956: Richard Wilson — Lonely Road
1957: Clifford Simak — Founding Father
1958: Robert Bloch — That Hell-Bound Train
1959: Charles Beaumont — The Howling Man
1960: Fredric Brown — The House
1961: Ray Russell — Sardonicus
1962: Carl Jacobi — The Aquarium
1963: Robert Arthur — The Mirror of Cagliostro
1964: Charles Birkin — A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
1965: Jean Ray — The Shadowy Street
1966: Arthur Porges — The Mirror
1967: Norman Spinrad — Carcinoma Angels
1968: Anna Hunger — Come
1969: Steffan Aletti — The Last Work of Pietro Apono
1970: David A. Riley — The Lurkers in the Abyss
1971: Dorothy K. Haynes — The Derelict Track
1972: Gary Brandner — The Price of a Demon
1973: Eddy C. Bertin — Like Two White Spiders
1974: Karl Edward Wagner — Sticks
1975: David Drake — The Barrow Troll
1976: Dennis Etchison — It Only Comes Out at Night
1977: Barry N. Malzberg — The Man Who Loved the Midnight Lady
1978: Michael Bishop — Within the Walls of Tyre
1979: Ramsey Campbell — Mackintosh Willy
1980: Michael Shea — The Autopsy
1981: Stephen King — The Reach
1982: Fritz Leiber — Horrible Imagings
1983: David Schow — One for the Horrors
1984: Bob Leman — The Unhappy Pilgrimage of Clifford M.
1985: Michael Reaves — The Night People
1986: Tim Powers — Night Moves
1987: Ian Watson — Evil Water
1988: Joe R. Lansdale — The Night They Missed the Horror Show
1989: Joel Lane — The Earth Wire
1990: Elizabeth Massie — Stephen
1991: Thomas Ligotti — The Glamour
1992: Poppy Z. Brite — Calcutta Lord of Nerves
1993: Lucy Taylor — The Family Underwater
1994: Jack Ketchum — The Box
1995: Terry Lamsley — The Toddler
1996: Caitlín R. Kiernan — Tears Seven Times Salt
1997: Stephen Laws — The Crawl
1998: Brian Hodge — As Above, So Below
1999: Glen Hirshberg — Mr. Dark’s Carnival
2000: Tim Lebbon — Reconstructing Amy

We’ve also just receive some very collectable editions for your genre library.

a beautiful copy of SESQUA VALLEY AND OTHERS by W. H. Pugmire signed limited edition hardcover.

A very rare signed limited edition of Sesqua Valley and Other Haunts by W. H. Pugmire

This is one of only 250 signed and numbered hardcover limited editions.  Book is in fine condition in a fine dust jacket

Contents:

• O, Christmas Tree
• The Ones Who Bow Before Me
• Born In Strange Shadow
• Another Flesh
• Immortal Remains
• Selene
• The Darkest Star
• The Songs of Sesqua Valley
• The Heritage of Hunger
• The Imp of Aether
• The Million-Shadow One
• The Child of Dark Mania
• The Hands That Reek and Smoke
• The Host of Haunted Air
• The Woven Offspring
• The Place of Old Insanity
• The Zanies of Sorrow
• Beneath An Autumn Moon

THE INHABITANT OF THE LAKE & LESS WELCOME TENANTS by Ramsey Campbell (First Edition Hardcover)

The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by British author J. Ramsey Campbell, who dropped the initial from his name in subsequent publications. It was released in 1964 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,009 copies and was the author’s first book. The stories are part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Campbell had originally written his introduction to be included in the book The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces under the title “Cthulhu in Britain”. However, Arkham’s editor, August Derleth, decided to use it here.

The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants contains the following tales:

•     “A Word From the Author”
•     “The Room in the Castle”
•     “The Horror from the Bridge”
•     “The Insects from Shaggai”
•     “The Render of the Veils”
•     “The Inhabitant of the Lake”
•     “The Plain of Sound”
•     “The Return of the Witch”
•     “The Mine on Yuggoth”
•     “The Will of Stanley Brooke”
•     “The Moon-Lens”

References in popular culture

The band Iron Maiden’s song Still Life ( from the classic 1983 album Piece of Mind ) was inspired by the story The Inhabitant of the Lake. The lyrics deal with a man who sees spirits or beings in the lake and becomes obsessed with them. After many nightmares and visions of the images in the water, he eventually becomes insane and ultimately jumps into the pool with his female companion. The lyrics end with the ominous verse ” Oh,we’ll drown together. It, will be forever. Nightmares…forever calling me. Nightmares…now we rest in peace”, so the listener can safely assume the person has killed himself, as well the female.

FEAR ITSELF:THE HORROR FICTION OF STEPHEN KING with Stephen King, Peter Straub and more (Signed)!

A fascinating examination of King’s early novels (Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, The Stand, Firestarter, Cujo and The Dark Tower) and short stories. Contributors include Peter Straub, Burton Hatlan (King’s former English professor), Fritz Leiber, Alan Ryan, Deborah Notkin, Don Herron, and others.

This copy is inscribed, signed and dated to the owner of the book by both Stephen King and Chuck Miller  Date signed is 10/30/82

5000 copies of the first edition were printed and very few were inscribed by Stephen King. A true rarity!

This copy is in near fine condition in a near fine dust jacket.

Monsters Swimming Beneath the Frigid Waters of Icelandic Lake

Since 1345, a mysterious aquatic creature dubbed the Lagarfljót worm — or the Iceland worm monster — has been showing up unexpectedly in Lagarfljót Lake near Egilsstaðir. The Huffington Post reports that, according to lore, it is considered a bad omen when the worm appears.

Rare footage of what appears to be a giant serpent swimming through the icy water emerged earlier this month. See for yourself:

Iceland News has more on the local legend:

The story goes that the worm was once just a little heath worm which was put onto a golden ring, as that was rumoured to make the gold grow. When the owner of the ring came back later, she discovered with shock that the worm had grown enourmous, but the ring was still the same size as before. In frustration she threw both the worm and the ring into the lake, where the worm continued to grow bigger still.

 

 

You can read the entire article here Lake Monster

Arcane Wisdom Press Publishing Schedule Update

Here is a quick update on a few already announced title and a couple that will be announced over the next several weeks.

THE GHOST OF FEAR AND OTHERS: H. P. Lovecraft’s Favorite Horror Stories edited by S. T. Joshi Vol I (Signed Limited Hardcover)

This title is already at the printers and we are expecting it within the next several weeks.

H. P. Lovecraft was a voracious reader of supernatural and fantastic fiction, and he was continually on the hunt for powerful and stimulating works in these genres. Many of the stories he read directly influenced his own writings. This first volume of H. P. Lovecraft’s Favorite Horror Stories presents 16 stories that Lovecraft found to be of particular merit. Among them are the beautiful poetic fantasy “Idle Days on the Yann” by Lord Dunsany; Fiona Macleod’s grimly evocative “The Sin-Eater,” which influenced “The Rats in the Walls”; Arthur Machen’s grisly novelette “Novel of the White Powder,” which Lovecraft adapted for “Cool Air”; and M. P. Shiel’s “The House of Sounds,” which Lovecraft ranked among the greatest weird tales ever written. Also included are hard-to-find stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, E. F. Benson, Théophile Gautier, John Buchan, and others, as well as two stories from the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales (Seabury Quinn’s “The Phantom Farmhouse” and Arthur J. Burks’s “Bells of Oceana”). The volume contains an introduction by S. T. Joshi as well as notes on the individual stories, giving background on the authors as well as on Lovecraft’s appreciation of the tales and their possible influence on his work.

 

Contents:

• Introduction by S. T. Joshi
• Idle Days on the Yann by Lord Dunsany
• Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Man Who Went Too Far by E. F. Benson
• The Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling
• The Sin-Eater by Fiona Macleod
• The House of Sounds by M. P. Shiel
• The Phantom Farmhouse by Seabury Quinn
• One of Cleopatra’s Nights by Théophile Gautier
• The Stranger from Kurdistan by E. Hoffmann Price
• The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe
• Novel of the White Powder by Arthur Machen
• The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
• The Ghost of Fear by H. G. Wells
• Lukundoo by Edward Lucas White
• Bells of Oceana by Arthur J. Burks
• The Wind in the Portico by John Buchan

This is a signed limited edition hardcover of only 150 signed and numbered copies.

 

MEDUSA’S COIL AND OTHERS Volume II by H. P. Lovecraft edited by S. T. Joshi (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover)

 

Volume one The Crawling Chaos sold out quickly and this one is almost gone too. If you haven’t reserved your copy of this book yet do so soon by clicking the cover art above.

This book is in the final stages of copy editing and then it will be at the printers. We expect to have it in hand within about six weeks.

Some of H. P. Lovecraft’s most fascinating work came from a time in his life that he was forced, by economic survival, to ghostwrite, collaborate and revise the work of others in the field. Here Lovecraft Scholar S. T. Joshi collects the best of these revisions and collaborations in a two volume set to be published this year from Arcane Wisdom Press. Medusa’s Coil and Others is the second of these two volumes. This edition is painstakingly annotated, and includes an introduction and bibliography by S. T. Joshi. The book is a must for the Lovecraft enthusiast and scholar alike. This limited edition hardcover will be strictly limited to only 150 hardcover copies. They will be signed by Lovecraftian scholar S. T. Joshi and will be hand numbered on a custom signature sheet, featuring artwork by Zach McCain. We expect to be shipping these in late January reserve your copy now of this unique collection.

Contents:

• Introduction by S. T. Joshi
• Medusa’s Coil (with Zealia Bishop)
• The Trap (with Henry S. Whitehead)
• The Man of Stone (with Hazel Heald)
• Winged Death (with Hazel Heald)
• The Horror in the Museum (with Hazel Heald)
• Out of the Aeons (with Hazel Heald)
• The Horror in the Burying-Ground (with Hazel Heald)
• The Slaying of the Monster (with R. H. Barlow)
• The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast (with R. H. Barlow)
• The Tree on the Hill (with Duane W. Rimel)
• The Battle That Ended the Century (with R. H. Barlow)
• “Till A’ the Seas” (with R. H. Barlow)
• Collapsing Cosmoses (with R. H. Barlow)
• The Challenge from Beyond (with C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long)
• The Disinterment (with Duane W. Rimel)
• The Diary of Alonzo Typer (with William Lumley)
• In the Walls of Eryx (with Kenneth Sterling)
• The Night Ocean (with R. H. Barlow)
• Appendix
• Notes to “Medusa’s Coil”
• Notes to “The Challenge from Beyond”
• The Sorcery of Aphlar (with Duane W. Rimel)
• The Diary of Alonzo Typer by William Lumley
• Notes
• Bibliography

 

Soon we will be announcing two new additions to our Modern Mythos Library:  THE COLOR OVER OCCAM by Jonathan Thomas. Cover art for this one is currently being completed and we should have the limited edition hardcover up within the next couple weeks.  And the first book in our new novella series in the Modern Mythos Library titled IRON CHAIN by Donald Tyson. Stay tuned for more on these awesome new Modern Mythos Library titles.

Lastly In the coming months we will also be announcing THE SONG OF THE SIREN by Edward Lucas White. This will be a collection of his best work edited and with long introduction by mythos scholar S. T. Joshi (title and cover art for this one may change)

 

Contents:

Introduction

• The House of the Nightmare
• The Flambeau Bracket
• Amina
• The Message on the Slate
• Lukundoo
• The Pig-skin Belt
• The Song of the Sirens
• The Picture Puzzle
• The Snout
• Sorcery Island
• Azrael
• The Ghoula
• Edward Lucas White on Dreams

Betty and Barney Hill

Hi, “Chrispy” here. Thanks to Larry for letting me, Chris Perridas, blog here on “Misky”. This one is a personal account of how a little boy first got dragged into horrific esoterica.

Interrupted Journey

When I was a little boy we were poor. How poor? We lived in a non-insulated, house where we stuffed rags to keep the cold out. The “bathroom” was outside. No hot water, not even a bathtub. We lived there from before I was born through the early 1970′s with almost no change other than what the city forced the landlord to do. The house was adjacent to a rail road repair yard, next to tracks (I still recall the constant clickety-clack), and directly above the flight path of the airport when most of the airplanes still had propellers. They usually were about 200 feet over us as they landed.

My mother worked a number of part-time cleaning jobs to help out and pay our meager rent (maybe it was $40, I can’t recall) and bills. As this was over 40 years ago, it probably is safe to speak of these things. She had to take me with her as she did not think I should stay home by myself. One of these places was at a dental office, and I recall playing with beads of mercury. Probably not a smart thing to do with what we know about mercury, but compared to all the hype of mercury vapors now, I don’t see that it affected me much. I ended up getting two college degrees.

Another place she cleaned was the little local library in our community, now long ago torn down. I had to sit quietly while she mopped and dusted. She let me remove the books as long as I put them back exactly where I took them. As I went week after week, I read a lot of books – for free. I loved books then, and I love books now.

I could read pretty quickly back then, and it was out of necessity as I had to return the book within an hour – about how much time it took her to mop, dust, and sweep.

One book I spied was called Interrupted Journey, which I thought might be about some adventure. I liked adventure stories in those days. I can no longer remember the year, but since the book came out in October 1966, it was likely the following summer of 1967 that I noticed it.

It scared me to death.

It told me things I never knew about.

I had never really thought much of New England (I lived in Kentucky). The book told me about a place called New Hampshire, about Civil Rights, and interracial marriage – all new to me at the age of almost 11. And while I was into everything space-based (clipping every new article about the brand new upcoming Apollo project) I was unfamiliar with UFO’s or flying saucers. Maybe I had seen an old movie, but in 1967 reruns and old movies were still just coming into their own.

I had never heard of alien abduction. At 11, I certainly didn’t know about kidnapping, aliens, medical rape, or for that matter much about sex at all.

Needless to say, my mind was blown. And I had no one to talk to about this as I had no close friends then.

What did I read in that John Fuller book? About a poor innocent couple driving home from a long trip. I could relate as I sometimes went to my grandma’s farm in the tiny place called White City. It was dark! They saw something, then that something grabbed them, and did all sorts of unspeakable things. And Fuller told what those things were.

Today, a quick Google and you will find out about every detail of their experience. Both are gone now. Skeptics have decided they were everything from kooks to sleep deprived. Believers have drawn maps of where their abductors came from. A new group of esoteric investigators believe that the truth is far more complicated. Some of what they experienced was disorientation and sleep deprivation, other parts lend credence that something very bad happened to these quiet, hard working people. The government certainly checked them out, and their highly skeptical. expert therapist simply stated that while he did not believe in flying saucer aliens, they did, and that was all that mattered.

They did everything in their power to keep their secret. They struggled with what today is called post-traumatic stress disorder. They got the best help available in the United States at that time. They wanted to get healthy, get past this event, and continue to work for their community and bring people peace in the midst of Civil Rights struggles.

Then a reporter slipped the news out, and a firestorm enveloped the couple threatening their jobs, their lives, and their hard-won reputation. This led to the book, and Betty’s lifelong crusade to vindicate themselves – even after Barney passed on. By almost all who knew them, they were just nice people who had a horrible thing happen. They died with no explanation of what happened, only various possible solutions of what occurred. The one that stuck was that they were accosted and examined like lab rats by some unknown extraterrestrial group. Then let go.

For a little boy in Kentucky, he has been searching for some answers for well on these nearly 45 years. A few have been figured, many others haven’t.

I can't recall if this was the edition I read, but if so, how could something so plain and innocent be so terrifying inside?

THE DUNWICH ROMANCE by Edward Lee Limited Edition Now Shipping

THE DUNWICH ROMANCE by Edward Lee    Is a signed limited edition hardcover of only 300 signed and numbered copies. Now in stock and shipping!

“To boil the seas. To smash the forests. To crush the cities.”

Wilbur Whateley has the power to do all these things.  Dunwich folk believe the backwoods cretin to be just another inbred hill-freak, but he’s actually the scion of deviant and unhallowed gods; his purpose on this earth is to fill it with a horror which will eradicate all mankind.  See, Wilbur is inclined to agree with his otherworldly father, that human beings are filthy, wretched, nearly brainless animals who do not deserve to live.

But he’s also half human, and as time goes by he finds himself longing for the one thing he’s not likely ever to possess: love.

Wilbur will find it, however, in the last week of his life–a love so pure, so honest, so incontestably sincere that it almost changes his mind about the unworthiness of mankind.

Almost.

“Yog-Sothoth be praised…”

Only hardcore horror scribe Edward Lee would dare sequelize Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror in a manner so explicit and so sublimely obscene.  Where Lovecraft revealed his horrors in between the lines, Lee puts them under a most perverse microscope to exploit every abominable, erotic, and lust-soused detail, and hook-drags the reader through a screaming black arcade of jerkwater sex, articulate gore, and unmitigated grotesquerie.

THE DUNWICH ROMANCE
A novel of unutterable horror and undiluted love.