The Horror of … Pat Boone?

Pat Boone? The singer with the straight-lace reputation? Indeed.  Boone has long been one to let his hair down and get somewhat goofily-gory.  Perhaps his best known movie was the one he never wanted to make -

1959. Dell Comics.

Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Boone was recently (2 October 211) reminiscing on the George Noory Coast to Coast AM show about the movie.  He hated the idea.  His idol – like many signers – was Bing Crosby.  He wanted to do a beach movie, or some musical like State Fair.  20th Century Fox laid out the red carpet for him and twisted his agent’s arm even offering up to 20% of the profit to get him.  He said no, since he figured there would be no profit – Hollywood bookkeeping at the time did not allow for profit – and they finally said he could sing a few songs.  He relented, and had a number of near-misses of disaster on the set.

Pat Boone and Alice Cooper pal around at a golf tournament.

In one scene, they had to do rok climbing, and so they shuttled out to Needles, CA.  It was supposed to be an arctic scene compete with heavy wool coats and full packs.  Yet it was past 110 F (43 C) and the cast nearly succumbed.  (The director used blue filters to make it look cold.)  Next it was off to Carlsbad Caverns to film subterranean scenes.  Between scenes, Boone was tired and laid prostrate to catch some rest.  He found a rock overhang, snuggled under it, and started to doze off.  In a dream state he felt something nibbling at his ear, and he awoke with a start  bumping his head on the stone overhang.  Coming to his senses, he discovered that what had been eating him was a giant albino cave rat!  Shades of Lovecraft’s Rats in the Walls !

In recent years, Boone’s No More Mr. Nice Guy (1997 ) was an attempt to restart his career with a little camp, and a little seriousness with Boone covering some heavy metal songs.

Boone is well known, and frequently lampooned, for his deep spiritual convictions that he learned as a child.  Yet, his ground-breaking career worked neatly around and within those beliefs, and proof that whether one has any type of spiritual feelings (or none), horror fiction and horror fantasy can fit into that life.

There is no better time to explore horror – jump in and check out Miskatonic’s books-for-sale, or read more about horror’s antiquarian roots on the Misky blog.

Here is a campy tune of horror from Pat Boone.

 

Two New Karl Edward Wagner Titles Announced!

Two new titles in the Karl Edward Wagner series has been announced by Centipede Press.

For more information and to reserve your copy click on any of the cover art below.

 

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE by Karl Edward Wagner (Limited Hardcover Edition)

This standard hardcover edition of the stories of Karl Edward Wagner, the first of two volumes, collects the following stories: “The Last Wolf,” “Into Whose Hands,” “More Sinned Against,” “Shrapnel,” “Silted In,” “Lost Exits,” “Endless Night,” “An Awareness of Angels,” “But You’ll Never Follow Me,” “Cedar Lane,” “The Kind Men Like,” “The Slug,” “Did They Get You to Trade?,” “Little Lessons in Gardening,” “A Walk on the Wild Side,” “Passages,” “In the Middle of a Snow Dream,” “Gremlin,” “Prince of the Punks,” “The Picture of Jonathan Collins,” “Locked Away,” “I’ve Come to Talk with You Again,” “Final Cut,” “Brushed Away,” “Old Loves,” and “Lacunae.” The book features illustrations by J.K. Potter printed in black and white. The introduction has photographs of Karl Edward Wagner as well.

WHERE THE SUMMER ENDS by Karl Edward Wagner (Limited Edition Hardcover)

This standard hardcover edition of the stories of Karl Edward Wagner, the first of two volumes, collects the following stories: “In the Pines,” “Sticks,” “The Fourth Seal,” “Where the Summer Ends,” “.220 Swift,” “The River of Night’s Dreaming,” “Beyond Any Measure,” “Neither Brute Nor Human,” and “Blue Lady, Come Back.” It also features a fine afterword by Laird Barron. The book features illustrations by J.K. Potter printed in black and white. The introduction has photographs of Karl Edward Wagner as well.

Book is one of only 500 signed and numbered hardcover copies

H.P. Lovecraft’s Sonnet Cycle: Fungi from Yuggoth – XXXV. Evening Star

Here is a great reading of EVENING STAR by H. P. Lovecraft from his Sonnet Cycle: Fungi from Yuggoth.

Artwork by Hwango

Bruce Cabot: King Kong and Flying Saucers

Investigations by Linda Moulton Howe  and a forthcoming book entitled The Aztec Incident: A Recovery in Hart Canyon brings a convergence of espionage, King Kong, flying saucers, and more exposition of Cold War paranoia. Horror takes many forms, and today’s horror more and more deals with the dark side of governments.Anathema to Western democracy is the Orwellian fears that your neighbor and your government is watching.

The story is quite convoluted. In the first half of 1948, reports of strange happenings in Aztec, New Mexico began to seep out via word of mouth. Sociologists would have a field day, but ufologists believe that some alien craft landed there and the military pounced upon it with relish leaving a trail of brutal debriefings and terrified and threatened citizens. Folklorists might say that Cold War legends and fears set about a FOAF (friend of a friend) legend ablaze. Historians and reporters find it impossible to untwine the facts and horrors, but with a stroke of luck a Freedom of Information Act search uncovered a blacked out declassified document.

After much additional research, the name appears to be … Bruce Cabot.

Cabot (1904 – 1972) was an American film actor most remembered as Jack Driscoll in King Kong (1933). After his acting stint, Uncle Sam needed him, and so during World War II, Cabot was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces specializing in intelligence. Like many of that era – and today – Cabot loved his country and one day when he was at the Beverly Hills Country Club he was playing golf with wealthy Denver oil man, Silas Newton. Newton told his friend, Cabot, that this UFO out in Aztec was in fact real.

Newton had loose lips.  But he was not the only one passing along this story. It began to appear in a myriad of sources:  Kansas newspapers, a college lecture, and later in a 1950, sensational, Frank Scully private press book called Behind the Flying Saucers.  The USAF OSI (Office of Strategic Intelligence) began to investigate, but was getting nowhere.  They asked the FBI to assist, and this is where Cabot’s civilian report comes into play.  After hearing Newton mention the space craft near Los Alamos, he reported this to his local agency, thus why we have his document.

While no one can say what may have happened, or what began the legend, a number of odd coincidences came together and these are investigated in the forthcoming book by Scott Ramsey.  He declares in pre-release interviews that heavy-handed military types terrorized local citizens – a claim that seems to ring all true even today.  Like so many things, it doesn’t seem to matter if aliens crashed, the government’s quick to leap to stifle any potential leak about anything hinting at top secret, and immediately brings many layers of cover-up that intensifies citizenry’s desire to know what in the world is so important to suppress liberty?  That leads to anger, bitterness, and protests that create more government cover-ups.

From such things horror springs.

The document (about Aztec and not Roswell) stated:

March 22, 1950
To: Director, FBI
From Guy Hotel, SAC, Washington
Subject: Flying Saucers / Information Concerning

The following information was furnished to SA … {by Bruce Cabot}.

An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.

According to Mr. {Cabot the} informant, the saucers were found in new Mexico due to the fact that the government had a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it was believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of the saucers.

No further evaluation was attempted by SA {?} concerning the above.

[Numerous official dates, stamps, and scribbles on the document]

Bruce Cabot with the "Beauty that killed the Beast", Fay Wray

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.