New Stephen King Limited Edition Title Announced!

“Randall Flagg came to me when I wrote a poem called ‘The Dark Man’ when I was a junior or senior in college. It came to me out of nowhere, this guy in cowboy boots who moved around on the roads, mostly hitchhiking at night, always wore jeans and a denim jacket. I wrote the poem in the college restaurant on the back of a placemat, but that guy never left my mind.”
— Stephen King

The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem
by Stephen King

About the Book:
Stephen King first wrote about the Dark Man in college after he envisioned a faceless man in cowboy boots and jeans and a denim jacket forever walking the roads. Later this dark man would come to be known around the world as one of King’s greatest villains, Randall Flagg, but at the time King only had simple questions on his mind: where was this man going? What had he seen and done? What terrible things…?

i have ridden rails…

More than forty years after Stephen King first wrote his breathtaking poem “The Dark Man,” Glenn Chadbourne set out to answer those questions in this World’s First Edition hardcover featuring more than 70 full-page illustrations from the talented artist behind The Secretary of Dreams.

i have slept in glaring swamps…

This Cemetery Dance Publications hardcover is a true marriage of words and art, with Chadbourne pulling the images from King’s imagination and illustrating them in magnificent detail. This incredible blending of King’s words with Chadbourne’s art creates a unique page turning experience you can return to again and again, always finding new details hidden on every page. You’ll discover hidden layers and mysterious secrets for years to come.

i am a dark man…

So who is the Dark Man and why is he traveling the country? The answers are terrifying….

Three unique editions to choose from

To reserve your copy just click on the cover art below for more information.

NOTE: We have a very limited supply of these and the publisher sold out of both the limited and the lettered edition in minutes of announcing it. We are selling our handfull of allotted copies on a first come first serve basis. This is a pre-order and is not expected to ship until late July early August.

THE DARK MAN: AN ILLUSTRATED POEM by Stephen King (First Edition Hardcover in Custom Slipcase)

World’s First Edition, First Printing SLIPCASED trade hardcover featuring a different dust jacket and shrink-wrapped with a deluxe custom-made slipcase and a collectible Glenn Chadbourne bookmark featuring a Dark Man drawing that doesn’t appear in the book

THE DARK MAN: AN ILLUSTRATED POEM by Stephen King (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover in Custom Traycase)

Traycased Signed Limited Edition of only 500 copies printed in two colors on a specialty paper stock, bound in a fine material with two-color hot foil stamping, a different dust jacket, a color frontispiece, satin ribbon page marker, and embossed endpapers, signed by Stephen King and Glenn Chadbourne

THE DARK MAN: AN ILLUSTRATED POEM by Stephen King (Signed LETTERED Edition Hardcover in Custom Traycase)

Signed Lettered Edition of only 52 copies printed in two colors on a specialty paper stock and bound in two different fine materials with gilded page edges, a different dust jacket, a different color frontispiece, a satin ribbon page marker, imported endpapers, a hand-drawn Dark Man illustration by Glenn Chadbourne in every copy, all protected in a custom deluxe traycase, signed by Stephen King and Glenn Chadbourne

First Look At BOHEMIANS OF SESQUA VALLEY by W. H. Pugmire

Here is a sneak peek at BOHEMIANS OF SESQUA VALLEY by W. H. Pugmire (Signed Limited Edition Hardcover)

If you haven’t reserved your copy just click on any of the photos below for ordering information.

 

 

The haunted Sesqua Valley lies hidden in the Northwest, surrounded by forested hills.  A region of dream and madness, it seduces the lunatic soul with the dangerous and captivating marvels of the Outside.  Linked to the woodland of this valley is the shadowed forest of the Dreamlands, from which Nyarlathotep and his night-gaunts seep into the world of wakefulness so as to tempt and corrupt humankind.

With this collection of new original fiction, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire investigates his Lovecraftian locality as never before, with new novelettes that take the reader deep into the mysteries of an eldritch land.  Chief among they who haunt Sesqua Valley is its first-born beast, Simon Gregory Williams, who in this book is revealed as a creature of secret feelings and dark alchemy. BOHEMIANS OF SESQUA VALLEY is a showcase of Pugmire’s continual obsession with the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, to whom this book pay homage.

 

 

 

A collection of six novelettes of over 50,000 words

Contents:

• Introduction by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• In Memoriam: Robert Nelson
• One Card Unturned
• An Ecstasy of Fear
• Unhallowed Places
• This Splendor of the Goat
• A Quest of Dream
• The Strange Dark One

 

 

 

What can every Lovecraft fan not be without this year?

A 2012 LIMITED EDITION CTHULHU CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT by Alex McVey (Signed Limited Edition Resin Sculpture)!

To reserve yours or get more information just click the artwork below.

Miskatonic Books has commissioned renowned artist Alex McVey to create a unique, signed, limited edition Christmas ornament specially designed for the H. P. Lovecraft enthusiast.

This ornament is limited to only 250 signed and numbered sculptures. Each ornament is hand-cast, hand painted, and hand numbered by the artist. Each year we will be creating a new holiday sculpture and those purchasing this years ornament will have first chance at getting matching numbers on next years Lovecraft Christmas ornament.

• Limited edition resin sculpture ornament of only 250
• Hand-cast
• Hand painted
• Signed by the artist
• Comes with golden tie string.
• Approximately 4 inches tall and nearly an inch thick.

THE LIGHT IS THE DARKNESS by Laird Barron Trade Paperback

Reserve your copy of THE LIGHT IS THE DARKNESS by Laird Barron trade paperback and save 16% off the cover price!

We expect to be shipping this title in mid June.

Conrad Navarro is a champion of the Pageant, a gruesome modern day gladiatorial exhibition held in secret arenas across the globe. Indentured by a cabal of ultra-rich patrons, his world is one of blood and mayhem, an existence where savagery reigns supreme while mercy leads to annihilation.

Conrad’s sister has vanished while traveling in Mexico. Imogene, a decorated special agent for the FBI, was hot on the trail of a legendary scientist whose vile eugenics experiments landed him on an international most-wanted list. Imogene left behind a sequence of bizarre clues that indicate she uncovered evidence of a Byzantine occult conspiracy against civilization itself — a threat so vast and terrible, its ultimate fruition would herald an event more inimical to all terrestrial life than mere extinction.

Now, Conrad is on the hunt, searching for his missing sister while malign forces seek to manipulate and destroy him by turns. It is an odyssey that will send this man of war from the lush jungles of South America, to the debauched court of an Aegean Prince, to the blasted moonscape of the American desert as he becomes inexorably enmeshed within a web of primordial evil that stretches back unto prehistory. All the while struggling to maintain a vestige of humanity; for Conrad has gazed into an abyss where the light is the darkness, and he has begun the metamorphosis into something more than human

Hippocampus Press SALE! Up to 70% Off.

Today we are putting one of our favorite publishers titles on sale. Here you can find over 70 titles at 40% to 70% off cover price. And remember that all orders in the US no matter what size the order will cost only $5 in shipping. So stock up on some great genre fiction and nonfiction.

Click the Hippocampus icon below to see all the Hippocampus Press titles we have on sale at Miskatonic Books.

About Hippocampus Press:

Founded in 1999, Hippocampus Press specializes in classic horror and science fiction with an emphasis on the works of H. P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of the 1920s and 1930s. Working closely with the leading scholars in the field we offer unique, high-quality, affordable editions of these important works.

Hippocampus Press founder Derrick Hussey says, “I met S. T. Joshi in the mid-1990s and began to work for him as a volunteer typist on various projects. I soon joined the Esoteric Order of Dagon, an amateur press association devoted to H. P. Lovecraft. Joshi later remarked to me that if I cared to start a small press, he would give me permission to publish his annotated version of the Lovecraft essay ‘Supernatural Horror in Literature’. I fairly leapt at the chance and began the process of forming Hippocampus Press.”

 

Below are just a few of the fantastic publications from Hippocampus Press on sale at Miskatonic Books.

AN EPICURE IN THE TERRIBLE: A Centennial Anthology of Essays in Honor of H. P. Lovecraft (Trade Paperback) Edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi

When An Epicure in the Terrible first appeared in 1991, commemorating the centennial of H. P. Lovecraft’s birth, it was hailed as a significant contribution to Lovecraft studies. Its thirteen original essays, along with a lengthy biocritical introduction by S. T. Joshi, contained penetrating work by leading authorities in the field. Among them were Kenneth W. Faig, Jr.’s pioneering study of Lovecraft’s parents; Jason C. Eckhardt’s analysis of Lovecraft’s heritage as a New England Yankee; and Donald R. Burleson’s treatment of the key theme of “touching the glass,” epitomized by “The Outsider.”

Other essays in the book deal with such topics as the theme of isolation in Lovecraft’s fiction (Stefan Dziemianowicz); Lovecraft’s cosmic imagery (Steven J. Mariconda); Lovecraft’s progression from a macabre writer to a cosmic writer (David E. Schultz); and Lovecraft’s “artificial mythology” and its development (Robert M. Price). Essays by Peter Cannon, Robert H. Waugh, R. Boerem, Norman R. Gayford, and Barton L. St. Armand round out the volume.

This paperback edition presents these perspicacious essays to a new readership, and shows the richness and complexity of H. P. Lovecraft’s writing-writing that is destined to endure for centuries. Citations to Lovecraft’s work have been updated to reflect newer and more accurate editions that have appeared since 1991, and some of the essays have been revised in other particulars.

 

A WEIRD WRITER IN OUR MIDST edited by S. T. Joshi (Trade Paperback)

It is well known that H. P. Lovecraft was virtually ignored by the mainstream literary community in his time, being known only in the tiny worlds of amateur journalism and fantasy fandom. And yet, it is surprising how much comment on Lovecraft appeared in various venues, both obscure and prominent, in his own time and just shortly after his early death in 1937.

This volume gathers, for the first time, a wide array of early criticism of Lovecraft, including poignant obituaries by such friends as Walter J. Coates and Hyman Bradofsky; early attempts to analyze Lovecraft’s work by such writers as Rheinhart Kleiner and Frank Belknap Long; voluminous discussions of Lovecraft’s tales in the letter columns of Weird Tales and Astounding Stories; an abundant selection of criticism from the fan world of the 1930s and 1940s, including articles by August Derleth, P. Schuyler Miller, and Francis T. Laney; and reviews of the first Arkham House books of Lovecraft’s work by Will Cuppy, T. O. Mabbott, Vincent Starrett, William Rose Benét, and many others.

Compiled by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on Lovecraft’s life and work, this volume sheds unique light on the faint wisps of recognition that Lovecraft received during and just after his lifetime—recognition that would become universal and worldwide with the passing of decades.

REFLECTIONS IN A GLASS DARKLY: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Trade Paperback)

Reflections In a Glass Darkly is the first book on J. Sheridan Le Fanu to cover classic and new scholarship and criticism of Le Fanu. The volume will be a welcome and long-overdue source-book for fans, scholars and students of horror fiction, Anglo-Irish and Victorian literature, and the history of the weird tale.  Assembled by a Le Fanu “dream team” of three top editors of the scholarly online journal Le Fanu Studies, it is the only such book available. An introduction, notes, and an index are provided. As an added bonus, a variety of portraits of Le Fanu himself are reproduced, many for the first time.

 

 

TEMPTING PROVIDENCE by Jonathan Thomas (Trade Paperback)

Jonathan Thomas follows up the critical and popular success of his collection from 2008, Midnight Call and Other Stories, with this new and substantial volume of weird tales long and short. The title story is a marvelous evocation of Providence yesterday and today, with much for the ghost of H. P. Lovecraft to dislike in the way his city has evolved. Providence is the setting for several other tales—tales that introduce us to such anomalies as a Lord of the Animals who seems to have an inexplicable sympathy with our four-footed friends, and a man whose quest for an extremely rare psychedelic album leads to something much stranger . . . In these twelve stories, Thomas fulfills the promise of his earlier work and shows that he has become one of the leading figures in contemporary supernatural horror.

“Myth and archetype, as well as the influence of masters of the Gothic tale, seep in from the groundwater in Jonathan Thomas’s world, but the landscape is wholly his own. The stories amuse, challenge, and unsettle.”—From Sherry Austin’s Foreword

“I found [‘Tempting Providence’] by Jonathan Thomas unexpectedly charming (if it’s permitted to describe a horror tale as charming), not least in its evocation of old Providence . . . It certainly brought back memories of my own wanderings around the city in the ’60s, the same ‘wistful daydreams’ his hero engages in, the sense that, if only HPL hadn’t died so young, he might still be renting rooms in one of the neighborhood houses and enjoying a sundae or an evening stroll.”—T. E. D. Klein

THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE by Thomas Ligotti (Trade Paperback)

“The Conspiracy against the Human Race sets out what is perhaps the most sustained challenge yet to the intellectual blackmail that would oblige us to be eternally grateful for a ‘gift’ we never invited.”
–From the Foreword by Ray Brassier

“The Conspiracy against the Human Race is renowned horror writer Thomas Ligotti’s first work of nonfiction. Through impressively wide-ranging discussions of and reflections on literary and philosophical works of a pessimistic bent, he shows that the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination. The worst and most plentiful horrors are instead to be found in reality. Mr. Ligotti’s calm, but often bloodcurdling turns of phrase, evoke the dreadfulness of the human condition. Those who cannot bear the truth will pretend this is another work of fiction, but in doing so they perpetuate the conspiracy of the book’s title.”
–David Benatar,
author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence; Department of Philosophy, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Thomas Ligotti is one of the foremost authors of supernatural horror literature. In this genre, he has been classed with Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. His works include Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Grimscribe, My Work Is Not Yet Done, and Teatro Grottesco. Ligotti lives in Florida.

Ray Brassier is a member of the philosophy faculty at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He is the author of Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction (Palgrave Macmillan 2007).
Contents

Foreword

• Introduction: Of Pessimism and Paradox
• The Nightmare of Being
• Who Goes There?
• Freaks of Salvation
• Sick to Death
• The Cult of Grinning Martyrs
• Autopsy on a Puppet: An Anatomy of the Supernatural
• Notes

Book is in new unread condition.

Miskatonic Books Sponsors Episode 100 of the H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast

Miskatonic Books is proud to announce that we are sponsoring another episode of the H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast. This is part 2 of  THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP, one of our favorites.

In honor of the fine work at the H. P. Lovecraft literary podcast from now until Valentines day you can get 10% off any purchase at Miskatonic Books by using the coupon code HPLP at checkout.

Enjoy the latest podcast by clicking the artwork below:

 

Book Collecting

… it is no modish thing,
The bookman’s tribute that I bring;
A talk of antiquaries grey,
Dust unto dust this many a day,
Gossip of texts and bindings old,
Of faded type, and tarnish’d gold!
-To the Viscountess Woleseley, Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

Keep me, I pray, in wisdom’s way
That I may truths eternal seek;
I need protecting care to-day,–
My purse is light, my flesh is weak.
So banish from my erring heart
All baleful appetites and hints
Of Satan’s fascinating art,
Of first editions, and of prints.
Direct me in some godly walk
Which leads away from bookish strife,
That I with pious deed and talk
May extra-illustrate my life.
-The Bibliomaniac’s Prayer, Eugene Field (1850 – 1895)

Field once described three kinds of book collectors: Those who collect from vanity; those who collect for the benefits of learning; those who collect through a veneration and love for books.
You’re reading this blog today probably because you love horror books, and especially old ones. You are in good company, because many do.

However, at some point you will have to make some decisions based on (1) how much money you have, (2) how much space you have, (3) what is your primary purpose to collect.

Field himself fell into a common trap. “{His} mania exhibited itself first in an affectation for old books; it mattered not what the book itself was—so long as it bore an ancient date upon its title-page or in its colophon I pined to possess it. … In a month’s time I had got together a large number of these old tomes, many of them folios, and nearly all badly worm-eaten, and sadly shaken. “

However, he realized soon enough that he was collecting without a purpose. He felt that because he had old books, it made him somehow a good person, or gave him some odd and desirable quality. In a sense it may have, but he wasn’t doing it to preserve history, or share with those less fortunate, or to write a history. He was doing it just to be doing it.

Some books you collect because they have sentimental memories. Some books you collect because you are fascinated by the subject matter. But if you are going to be an investor in books, you need to go into it with a reason and purpose.

Like investing in stocks, or coins, or stamps, once you get past the fun part of collecting and become a serious investor, you must choose wisely after lengthy discussions with a trusted advisor. You must preserve your investment with special treatment.

Hopefully Miskatonic Books will have choices you wish to add to your collection. Feel free to contact us at …  miskatonicbooks@me.com

H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast #94 Sponsored by Miskatonic Books!

We are very please to sponsor this outstanding episode of the H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast. In this episode Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer will be discussing THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM.

Click the graphic below to listen to this awesome episode and get your 10% off coupon code for anything at Miskatonic books.

Miskatonic Books Gets a New Home and Facelift

Fellow lover of weird fiction,

For the past several months we’ve been busy building our new site at www.miskatonicbooks.com to better service all our customers who love weird tales, ghost, mythos and dark fantasy.

We have only scratched the surface of our inventory and will be adding hundreds of more books from your favorite genre authors and publishers daily so check back often.  Check out our featured author page here FEATURED AUTHORS

Like our old bookstore, our new site will cater to Lovecraftian fiction and weird tales in general. You’ll find our new site is easier to navigate, quicker checkout, and faster page loads.  You’ll also get $5 media rate shipping on any size order that ships in the US and 5% back in points to be used on future purchases for anything at www.miskatonicbooks.com

If you’ve ordered a book through our store at Horror-Mall your order is still valid and there is no reason to reorder on the new site. All orders placed through Horror-Mall will be filled as usual.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at miskatonicbooks@me.com

Please click the banner below to check out our new site and be sure to subscribe to this blog to stay up to date on all the new titles at www.miskatonicbooks.com and our own publications through our Arcane Wisdom imprint.

Thanks so much for your continued support!

CTHULHU CULT: A Novel of Obsession Book Trailer

To reserve your copy of this title just click the cover art below for ordering information.

This is #1 in our new Modern Mythos Series. Each title is hand picked and edited by Lovecrafian Scholar S. T. Joshi and award winning publisher Larry L. Roberts. These titles will be the best modern fiction in the Lovecraftian Mythos and will undoubtedly become one of the most collected series in the genre.

Synopsis:

Having fled town under a cloud of salacious scandal, Shelby Tyree has returned, a mysterious woman at his side and a strange new devotion to horror writer H.P. Lovecraft in his head. His childhood friends Rick and Conrad scarcely recognize Shelby, who has been transformed from a rakish dilettante into a zealous guru devoted to his own pseudo-religion. They take it upon themselves to discover what Shelby is really up to. Why has he founded his own church, devoted to a presumably fictional demonic alien? Is it possible Shelby’s lost his grip on reality or is somehow under the spell of this mysterious woman? Or is it possible that Shelby has uncovered some secret truths that man was not meant to know? “The Cthulhu Cult is a brilliant and scintillating novel of Lovecraftian terror. It grips the reader from the first page and develops a tremendous cumulative power.

Anyone who has the least interest in H. P. Lovecraft‘s work will find The Cthulhu Cult a must-read.” –S. T. Joshi

One of only 150 signed and numbered hardcover copies.