Valancourt Books discussion

Sean wrote: "I'm reading through Paperbacks from Hell, and there's so much in here that needs reprinting. But my number one choice right now is "Satan Sublets" -- I know nothing about it; it doe..."

Hehe.

Valancourt Books wrote: "Sean wrote: "I'm reading through Paperbacks from Hell, and there's so much in here that needs reprinting. But my number one choice right now is "Satan Sublets" -- I know nothing abo..."

Well that looks fun!

Char wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: "Sean wrote: "I'm reading through Paperbacks from Hell, and there's so much in here that needs reprinting. But my number one choice right now is "Satan Suble..."

HA! I just read the section including that book!!

Centipede's Stefan Grabiński volume is almost done, and translator is now looking for publishers who would be interested in doing more widely available editions of his work:
http://www.stefangrabinski.org/
So, you folks might wanna look into it.;)

Caleb.Lives wrote: "Centipede's Stefan Grabiński volume is almost done, and translator is now looking for publishers who would be interested in doing more widely available editions of his work:
http://..."

When will Centipede be selling it? Can we pre-order it?

They don't have a set release date for it, as of yet. That volume has been in development for AGES, so who knows.

Two short story collections by David R. Bunch:

Bunch!
https://www.amazon.com/Bunch-David-R/...

Moderan
https://www.amazon.com/Moderan-David-...

I was lucky to buy a cheap copy of Moderan from a used book store years ago. I think those who like science fiction short stories might like Moderan.

Wikipedia article on David R. Bunch:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_R...

Moderan coming.

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2016/12...

Robert Adam wrote: "Moderan coming.

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2016/12..."

Very good!

I've been out of town. Thanks for the recs! I'll take a look at them.

Valancourt Books wrote: "We heard back pretty quickly about Sarban. None of his work is available. Someone else must be putting together editions.

Since Tryon's books are available as ebooks, the rights are probably exclu..."

You just pretty much summed up my feelings on e-book only publishing as well. Sure, I understand that it's necessary in this day and age to produce digitally, as well as the expenses of paper publishing (and everything that goes with it), but it's annoying to have no alternatives - not terrible, just annoying. Still, I hope they sell well and find an audience...

I'm going to suggest a few things I've done already on Facebook and Twitter, at least for the sake of the commenters here who may not know about them. Since some them have been suggested already, I'll go with those that haven't yet been brought up.

First is British newscaster Gordon Honeycombe's 1969 horror/romantic fantasy NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND, which was filmed in 1972 as The Exorcism of Hugh. I don't know much about it, but from what I hear, being before the horror boom of the 70s and 80s, it's a sorely underappreciated piece.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

Next is a dark fantasy - Roderick MacLeish's PRINCE OMBRA (yes, I know, I've brought this up on more than one occasion). I have an old copy of it sitting on my shelf, though I haven't gotten to it yet. From what I hear, this is again an underrated classic. In a way, it has echoes of Moorcock's Eternal Champion - throughout history, evil has taken many forms, but they all share the same root identity of Prince Ombra, and in each of his incarnations, a hero has risen to challenge him. Now the job has fallen to a nine-year-old New England boy named Bentley Ellicott, who is desperately in need of curating his own inner powers if he is to stand up to the embodiment of evil. To be fair, this was reprinted back in 2002, but not only has that version gone out of print as well, but, probably due to its child protagonist, the text was severely edited ad marketed for young adult audiences, according to the reviews. I would love to see a new unabridged copy back in circulation.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

Finally, again, I've said it before, but since I believe you to be on good terms with him (please correct me if I'm wrong), I would strongly recommend the work of the illustrious Ramsey Campbell. His work is SORELY underrepresented in the states - most of his stuff prior to 2000 hasn't been reprinted since they debuted, and those that have were published by Samhain Publishing, which has since gone under, leading back to square one; PS Publishing only seems only to carry his most recent outings. I could think of no better place to carry the work of his first two decades than Valancourt, and that includes the former Samhain titles (even though Venture Press has released them as e-books this year, it would also be fortunate for you to acquire the paperback rights to THE PARASITE and MIDNIGHT SUN). However, if you were to ask for only one title to begin with, hopefully as a test for more titles in the future, I would go with his first novel, THE DOLL WHO ATE HIS MOTHER, not just because it was recommended as an important work by Stephen King in Danse Macabre, but because, to my knowledge, it was only reprinted once in 1985 with a revised text and hasn't been seen since, even by Samhain. It would be a stroke of good fortune for that novel to see the light of day again; no, it's not his strongest work, but at least it's a start. If anyone has a better suggestion, feel free to send it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

That's all for now. I apologize for saying so much; if I have any more recommendations, I'll try to be more concise.

Thanks for the recs! Feel free to post here whenever you want. Others will be interested as well.

Another recommendation before I forget about it - Ken Grimwood. He's best known as the author of the 1988 World Fantasy Award-winning time-loop novel REPLAY, which, to my knowledge, has never gone out of print since its publication. However, all of his other works have been sorely neglected, both before and after his untimely death. These include his acclaimed debut BREAKTHROUGH, the highly collectible ELISE, and others such as INTO THE DEEP, TWO PLUS TWO (published as Alan Cochran), and THE VOICE INSIDE.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Has anyone else read Grimwood? How is he? I definitely plan on picking up REPLAY at some point, and I'll bet there's a good number of people who'd love to get their hands on the others.

Oh, and since Ronald brought up R. A. Lafferty, if that's still open, why not his Nebula-nominated novel FOURTH MANSIONS, inspired by St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle?......Hmmmm.....it would seem that it's available from Borgo Press now, but since "Temporarily Out of Stock" on Amazon seems to indicate out-of-print, perhaps you could just keep your eye on it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Also, I just saw an interview on Diabolique where you say you're particularly looking to find rare books, not merely popular books produced in mass quantities that can still be found reasonably cheap, and I feel that I haven't been giving you anything rare enough. Sorry.

Gwen, In Green by Hugh Zachary sounds rather interesting.
In general, he appears to be author worth bringing back.

I just now saw the newsletter re the Fursey books. THANK YOU!!!!

I'll be taking them both on vacation. Booyah!

Oops. I got so excited I accidentally ordered two copies of The Return of Fursey. I emailed you.

Justin wrote: "Has anyone else read Grimwood? How is he? I definitely plan on picking up REPLAY at some point, and I'll bet there's a good number of people who'd love to get their hands on the others...."

Replay is my all-time favorite time travel novel. It has a sort of Groundhog Day theme where the main character keeps living his life over and over, trying to get it right. It's magnificent. I would love to read anything else that he wrote.

Nancy wrote: "Oops. I got so excited I accidentally ordered two copies of The Return of Fursey. I emailed you."

Hope you enjoy the books and have a nice vacation!! :)

Tom wrote: "Justin wrote: "Has anyone else read Grimwood? How is he? I definitely plan on picking up REPLAY at some point, and I'll bet there's a good number of people who'd love to get their hands on the othe..."

I'll have to look at Elise again. It's been years. His other books have such mixed reviews so I haven't checked them out yet.

Valancourt Books wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Oops. I got so excited I accidentally ordered two copies of The Return of Fursey. I emailed you."

Hope you enjoy the books and have a nice vacation!! :)"

I will, thanks -- we still have a month or so before we go, so perfect timing.

Now I have a question re this topic: any chance at all of bringing ghost stories by H.R. Wakefield back into print??

Nancy wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Oops. I got so excited I accidentally ordered two copies of The Return of Fursey. I emailed you."

Hope you enjoy the books and have a nice vacation!! :)"

I ..."

The stories would only be available if they're not in Ash-Tree's ebooks. I'll through their collections to see if there's anything left. We'd love to have a volume of his if so.

Well, thanks in advance for checking. It's appreciated (and not just by me!!)

I was thinking of Wakefield, myself! I love his stories, but haven't been able to get my hands on many. If Valancourt could get the rights to some, put me down for multiple copies (physical and .mobi!)!!

Valancourt Books wrote:

The stories (by Wakefield) would only be available if they're not in Ash-Tree's ebooks. I'll through their collections to see if there's anything left. We'd love to have a volume of his if so.

I seem to recall that Ash-Tree was pretty thorough in bringing together Wakefield’s output (including a volume of his previously uncollected pieces). I think most (all?) of those collections are still available as e-books. The hardbacks are all out of print.

Canavan wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote:


The stories (by Wakefield) would only be available if they're not in Ash-Tree's ebooks. I'll through their collections to see if there's anything left. W..."

That's just a shame for those of us who prefer holding real books in our hands. I mean,if that's the only way to read them, then so be it, but I'm not a huge fan of e-reading.

Is it possible to somehow secure rights to publish print editions of those collections, with ebook rights remaining with Ash-Tree Press?

As for recommendations, what about David Britton's Lord Horror novels?

Nancy wrote: "Canavan wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote:


The stories (by Wakefield) would only be available if they're not in Ash-Tree's ebooks. I'll through their collections to see if there's a..."
I prefer the physical copies, myself...

How about the rest of M. G. Lewis’ catalogue? Everyone reprints The Monk, but I haven’t read much else of his. However, The Monk is the BEST story I have ever read of the corruption of the human soul. I imagine there have to be some other gems worth reprinting. There is a catalogue listed but the only printings available are cringeworthy if any.

Neutrino wrote: "Is it possible to somehow secure rights to publish print editions of those collections, with ebook rights remaining with Ash-Tree Press?

As for recommendations, what about [author:David Britton|5..."

In most cases we wouldn't even try to go after something if there's an ebook available. The ebook publisher can lower the price to 99 cents making it too difficult to sell paperbacks. Limited edition hardcovers have a better chance. I am looking into Wakefield though!

Not familiar with David Britton but I'll take a look at it.

Thanks!

Valancourt Books wrote: "Neutrino wrote: "Is it possible to somehow secure rights to publish print editions of those collections, with ebook rights remaining with Ash-Tree Press?

As for recommendations, what about [autho..."

YAY to Wakefield!!!! (And a Valancourt version!)

Kimberly wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: "Neutrino wrote: "Is it possible to somehow secure rights to publish print editions of those collections, with ebook rights remaining with Ash-Tree Press?

As for recommend..."

The Third Grave was just signed and added to our 2018 list. Thanks for the recommendation, Kimberly!

Valancourt Books wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: "Neutrino wrote: "Is it possible to somehow secure rights to publish print editions of those collections, with ebook rights remaining with Ash-Tree Press?
..."

YES!!! Signing automatic preorder........

Great news, that. Case is criminally overlooked.

Valancourt Books wrote (in part):

In most cases we wouldn't even try to go after something if there's an ebook available. The ebook publisher can lower the price to 99 cents making it too difficult to sell paperbacks. Limited edition hardcovers have a better chance. I am looking into Wakefield though!

I picked up over the weekend my copy of Ash-Tree’s Reunion at Dawn and Other Uncollected Ghost Stories and re-familiarized myself with the introduction by Peter Ruber and the afterword by Barbara Roden. There doesn’t appear to be much cause for optimism.

From about 1995 to 1999, Ash-Tree reissued all five of Wakefield’s story collections. Literally days after the last of these was published Roden (A-T’s co-founder) was informed that a cache of Wakefield stories had been discovered in the files of Arkham House by Ruber (at the time in question, editor at AH). Wakefield had been sending these periodically to Arkham’s founder, August Derleth, up until the time of the former’s death in anticipation of Arkham publishing another Wakefield collection. Since Ash-Tree had just published the five aforementioned Wakefield books, Ruber asked if they would be interested in publishing the just-discovered cache. The 16 stories Ruber discovered (plus one other from a different source) made up Ash-Tree’s Reunion.

Roden does mention that Wakefield’s old letters to Derleth make reference to at least a few of his stories that have apparently never seen print. Whether they exist in some forgotten filing cabinet at Arkham’s or elsewhere is unknown. They may well be lost forever.

Thanks, Canavan. It doesn't sound too promising for anything unpublished. Maybe I'll hear something back about the paperbacks.

Nina wrote: "How about the rest of M. G. Lewis’ catalogue? Everyone reprints The Monk, but I haven’t read much else of his. However, The Monk is the BEST story I have ever read of the corruption of the human so..."

We have someone working on Romantic Tales but I don't think it will be ready for 2018. I'll let you know when I hear something about it. Thanks!

Here's a couple books to consider, both by the same author: Manly Wade Wellman, "the dean of fantasy writers" according to Karl Edward Wagner, best known for his contributions to Weird tales and for his stories set in the Appalachian Mountains. Both these books are out of print in both paper and digital, so the opportunity in one that shouldn't be passed up, if I may be so bold. They are:

-WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? (1963), which collects all the Silver John stories published at that time, released by Arkham House in an edition of 2,058 copies

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

-WORSE THINGS WAITING (1973), the World Fantasy Award winning collection that put Wellman back on the map again, a collection of some of his best stories from various periodicals, released by Carcosa in an edition of 2,867 copies

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

I know it might not be a 2018 release, but I would love to see you pick these up for the future, as Wellman is rather underprinted right now, and a small specialty publisher like yourself should probably get first dibs. Heck, maybe more of Wellman could get reprinted if they go over well.

That's all I have right now. I hope they're rare enough.

Justin wrote: "Here's a couple books to consider, both by the same author: Manly Wade Wellman, "the dean of fantasy writers" according to Karl Edward Wagner, best known for his contributions to Weird tales and fo..."

I'll second Wellman -- he's so much fun to read. I have been collecting the Nightshade books over the years and have them all except for The Selected Stories, Vol. 5: Owls Hoot in the Daytime and Other Omens, for which evidently I need to win the Lotto to be able to buy. It would be nice to see him back in print at a decent price.

I'll check out both of those. Thanks!

-R

A few works in Italian to suggest for consideration here:

Cancerqueen by Tomasso Landolfi.
Blackly humourous macabre tales. Out of print for years. Gets compared to Gogol, Kafka, Poe etc. I'm currently reading his Words in Commotion collection (put together by Italo Calvino, no less) and I'm finding those comparisions to ring true.

Guido Morselli - the dissolution of the human race
A dystopian science fiction where a man goes into a cave ( with the intention of either killing himself or escaping society, i can't remember) and comes out to find that humanity has disappeared. Morselli is an interestingly weird kind of gothic fantasist, in his other books, I'm told.

Robert Faulcon's Night Hunter series.

Thanks Ross and Jon. I'll take a look at those.

Can you please consider wresting away the works of Brian McNaughton from Wildside Press? A novel such as The House Across the Way is too terrific to be so obscure and hard-to-get.

Also, consider John Farris' All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By!

Nancy wrote: "Ross wrote: "I also condone more Jean Ray in print.

Here's a wild card :

How about a complete edition of Picnic at Hanging Rock *with* the previously removed missing chapter The Secret of Hanging..."

I recently found out that Penguin re-published Picnic at Hanging Rock in 2014:

https://www.amazon.com/Picnic-Hanging...

Comments:

1. I read an older edition. I gave it a 3 star review--my opinion of the book is not as high as others. I think that Uncanny Fiction is best expressed in the short form (e.g. the short stories of Robert Aickman, Daphne duMaurier).

2. I read the Foreword to the Penguin Edition through Amazon's Look Inside! feature. The Penguin edition does not have the "missing last chapter". However, Joan Lindsay did write one, which was rejected by the editors. (view spoiler)[The missing people entered a time warp--another dimension. Hints of this missing ending are in the novel, for example time anomalies such as the stopped watches. (hide spoiler)]

Anthony wrote: "Can you please consider wresting away the works of Brian McNaughton from Wildside Press? A novel such as The House Across the Way is too terrific to be so obscure and hard-to-get.

Al..."

I second John Farris's novel here.....but, unfortunately, there is a caveat that is quite well known to those in the loop. Pretty much the entirety of Farris's work is published in digital by Crossroads Press (save for THE FURY, which was picked up by Chicago Review Press for their Rediscovered Classics line), and I highly doubt that they will be willing to part with the rights.

It's a shame, because, considering the reviews over at Will Erickson's Too Much Horror Fiction, as well as Grady Hendrix's Summer of Sleaze at Tor.com, both ALL HEADS TURN and SON OF THE ENDLESS NIGHT would be wonderful additions to the new Paperbacks from Hell reprints you're going to be doing. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Speaking of Wildside Press, upon closer inspection, I found that R. A. Lafferty's FOURTH MANSIONS is actually no longer offered by the company, so you may actually have an opportunity there.

Those ebooks by Crossroads for Farris’ work are terrible.

Anthony wrote: "Those ebooks by Crossroads for Farris’ work are terrible."

As I don't read ebooks (presently), I can't really speak for the quality myself, though I was miffed a bit to find that the cover to CATACOMBS is basically a 3D figure taken off of DeviantArt (and not a very good one, in my opinion, at least compared to what I've seen). But they're going for cheap - not in a bad way, mind you, just below the average pricing of what big publishers usually charge for their ebooks, which SHOULD be considerably cheaper but treated with the same care and attention. You gotta start somewhere.

Anthony, they’re pretty bad. Someone told me the original print versions were just as bad but I don’t believe it.

Char wrote: "Anthony, they’re pretty bad. Someone told me the original print versions were just as bad but I don’t believe it."

Well, then, that makes it more of a shame that they're only in digital and from only one distributor, because that would mean you have to settle for sub-par work! But I don't want to harp on Crossroads too much. The "ebook only" thing annoys the heck out of me, but they gotta do what they gotta do. And they're not this giant company that can go to such great expenses to have the texts double-checked by only the best of the industry.

Still, I hope a couple of them make it into the new PFH series - again, mainly ALL HEADS TURN and SON OF THE ENDLESS NIGHT, due to how fired up Erickson and Hendrix were about them.

Not sure if this one has been mentioned on the thread yet, but I would LOVE to see Brenda Brown Canary's THE VOICE OF THE CLOWN back in print. I haven't read it yet, but have heard nothing but glowing things, and the cheapest I've ever found it online is like $70-100.