Valancourt Books discussion

We're working on volume 4 but it will not be out until next year at the earliest. :(

Oh! Halloween won't be the same!!

In my opinion, 3 authors that were important but criminally neglected are...
Karl Edward Wagner
Lucius Shepard
Thomas Tessier

Any books (especially in audio) would be highly welcomed!

Valancourt Books wrote: "We're working on volume 4 but it will not be out until next year at the earliest. :("

Something to look forward to next year anyway!

At least, that will give me the chance to read the too-long-on-my-reading-list House of Leaves this October. :-)

FYI...

We were finally able to secure the US rights to Roland Topor's THE TENANT. You can expect it sometime next year. It will be part of our International Series.

Thanks, all!

Valancourt Books wrote: "FYI...

We were finally able to secure the US rights to Roland Topor's THE TENANT. You can expect it sometime next year. It will be part of our International Series.

Thanks, all!"



that is EXCELLENT news!!!!!

How about Jocelyn Brooke? Gay English writer from the 40s/50s. some memoirs disguised as fiction (like "The Orchid Trilogy" or "The Dog at Clambercrown") and the odd slightly speculative novel ("The Image of a Drawm Sword" and "The Scapegoat"). A lot of his work is still in print here in the UK, but I'd like to see him reach a wider audience. :-)

Mat wrote: "How about Jocelyn Brooke? Gay English writer from the 40s/50s. some memoirs disguised as fiction (like "The Orchid Trilogy" or "The Dog at Clambercrown") and the odd slightly speculative novel ("Th..."

Bello re-issued several of Brooke’s works as ebooks two years ago, they’re available for Kindle and Kobo in the US.

Looking forward to THE TENANT!!

Nancy wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: "FYI...

We were finally able to secure the US rights to Roland Topor's THE TENANT. You can expect it sometime next year. It will be part of our International Series.

Than..."


YES!

Mat wrote: "How about Jocelyn Brooke? Gay English writer from the 40s/50s. some memoirs disguised as fiction (like "The Orchid Trilogy" or "The Dog at Clambercrown") and the odd slightly speculative novel ("Th..."

As Miss M said, he already is rather easy to find copies of. Also as an aside, "The Image of a Drawn Sword" is a trifle below expectations setup by the Guardian article going on about how great it is. XD

I will look at the Jocelyn Brooke just in case but it's rare the paperback rights are available if there is an ebook. Thanks for the recommendation and feel free to recommend more.

The work of Evelyn Scott really needs to be back in print. In particular - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

She was a genius, as far as I am concerned, and the lack of profile for her is mainly due to the fact that so much of her work was ahead of its time and one had one hardback print run back in the day. Anything of hers would be wonderful to see back in print.

Also - Barbara Comyns has been having a bit of a resurgence recently but her https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... is out of print and impossible to find

Another big one for me would be this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

He won the nobel for goodness sake! But it is impossible to find and has been out of print for a long time.

Thank you! I'll take a look at those.

I know I just made a similar post on your Twitter account, but I'm posting here for the approval of everyone else whether this would be a good suggestion.

Speaking of the International series (great that we're going to be getting THE TENANT at last), a recent look at Wikipedia informs me that the cult classic French-Italian 1960 modern Gothic film EYES WITHOUT A FACE (or LES YEUX SANS VISAGE), directed by Georges Franju, was actually based on a novel by Jean Redon. To my knowledge, it's never been translated into English before. Would you consider this neglected enough to put in your catalog, or is it a bit too obscure? I confess to not seeing the movie yet, but I've heard it being highly regarded by modern audiences today.

Great suggestion, thank you! I'll get a copy of the book and take a look at it. It appears the real author is unknown?

Another vote for Karl Edward Wagner, especially the Kane stories. Surprised no other publisher has picked them up after the super expensive collectors editions from Nightshade and Centipede. New paperbacks of them should sell.

Robert Adam wrote: "Another vote for Karl Edward Wagner, especially the Kane stories. Surprised no other publisher has picked them up after the super expensive collectors editions from Nightshade and Centipede. New pa..."

I agree!

Don't Take Away the Light by J.N. Williamson is in desperate need of reprinting. Though he received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 (the same year as Stephen King), Williamson is routinely dismissed these days as an imitative hack. I haven’t read his other works, but I can say that Don't Take Away the Light is beautifully written, deeply disturbing, and something close to a masterpiece of horror fiction. It really deserves rediscovery.

I'll take a look at it. Thanks, Christopher!

And have you considered the many long out-of-print thrillers of Lucille Fletcher, best known for her radio scripts “Sorry, Wrong Number” and “The Hitch-Hiker”? I’ve read several; they’re quite good.

We did look at those two a few years ago but for whatever reason they were not available.

Valancourt Books wrote: "We did look at those two a few years ago but for whatever reason they were not available."

This is not something that was ever in print in English, aside from a single story in the July 1936 issue of Weird Tales, but would you possibly look into publishing the works of Bodo Wildberg ?

He was a german writer, who wrote many fantastical stories, concerning insanity and a lot of grissly death, but most of them are unavailable even in German. I have, however, recently read his "The Sixth Panther and Other stories", which I would definitely recommend as a very good collection. If you want, I could share some details about the stories, as written down for my recent video on it, as I don't want to spoil them for the people that might be interested ^^

I will see if I can get a scan of a few of his stories and check them out.

Valancourt Books wrote: "I will see if I can get a scan of a few of his stories and check them out."

It's available online via the German National Libary's website

https://portal.dnb.de/bookviewer/view...

I would also zoom in since the default size is a bit hard to make out, and also....well, fraktur XO

Valancourt Books wrote: "I will see if I can get a scan of a few of his stories and check them out."

Hi, Are you planing on putting the upcoming "The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories" in audiobook form for the vision challenged readers out there?

What about Gwen in Green by Hugh Zachary?

That's a great suggestion! I love that book.

mark wrote: "That's a great suggestion! I love that book."

I know, right?

Rob wrote: "What about Gwen in Green by Hugh Zachary?"

We tried but the estate isn't interested in it being reprinted. :-/

Midas68 wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: "I will see if I can get a scan of a few of his stories and check them out."

Hi, Are you planing on putting the upcoming "The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories" in au..."

Hi Midas68. There most likely will not be an audiobook as some of the stories we were unable to get audiobook rights with our contract. If we decide to do an incomplete collection for audio I'll let you know. Thanks!

Valancourt Books wrote: "Rob wrote: "What about Gwen in Green by Hugh Zachary?"

We tried but the estate isn't interested in it being reprinted. :-/"

What?!? That's crazy. With a quality outfit like Valancourt Books? Damn....now I'll never get to read it.

I have become aware of a rather choice rarity.

Ever heard of Furze Morrish's "Bridge over Dark Gods" ? It was published by Rider, the same small imprint that put out Gregory's "Dark Sanctuary" and it seems exceedingly rare, as well as extremely over the top and bizarre.

From the same publisher, we also have Warrington Dawson and his "The Guardian Demons". Dawson wrote a handful of fantasies in his day which are hard to find, and I myself am a proud owner of one of his rarer titles, "The Green Moustache: A Fantasy of Modernism", a story involving parisian fashion and a haunted Russia castle, with a cataclysmic finale. I haven't read Demons yet, but have heard quite intriguing things about it.

They both sound interesting. I'll take a look at them when the libraries open back up and are able to fill requests. Thanks! - R

Also something slightly less obscure, "Harvest in Poland" by Geoffrey Dennis: a novel about the spiritual degradation of Europe in the wind up to the Great War, it leads into a literal battle with the devil in the cellar of an old castle, and includes a near psychotic Polish countess and her self proclaimed martyr mentor, the "dwarf" Zwan creating an atmosphere that is truly remarkably bizarre for the unfortunate English guest.

I would love to get my hands on the very, very HTF vampire novel “The Shiny Narrow Grin” written by English author Jane Gaskell in 1964. I heard it described as follows, “Quadrophenia meets a Hammer horror film: it involves the adventures of Mod chick Terry, in swinging mid-sixties London, who meets a mysterious Boy who has a Secret (hint-- he doesn't drink wine).”

Very HTF indeed! Sad to consider, since she had some success with her Atlan series. I came across it on a fan website a few years ago (and was able to save it as a pdf), but would love to see this one reissued.

We've been working closely with an author for almost a decade trying to bring some of her books back into print. She's a recluse and won't respond to inquiries.

Valancourt Books wrote: "We've been working closely with an author for almost a decade trying to bring some of her books back into print. She's a recluse and won't respond to inquiries."

mark wrote: "Very HTF indeed! Sad to consider, since she had some success with her Atlan series. I came across it on a fan website a few years ago (and was able to save it as a pdf), but would love to see this ..."
(Sigh) What a bummer. Perhaps one day she will change her mind.

Not sure if this title meets your criteria, but I would also love to read, “Jessie and Morgiana”, 1929 by Alexander Stepanovich Grin. Unfortunately it is only available in Russian. The author's book, which gained a reputation as "Russian Poe" for its short stories and novels full of suspense and fantasy. A novel about the desire for happiness and justice, developed on the story of two sisters, the beautiful and popular Jessie and the ugly and bitter Morgiana. In 1972 it was adapted into a Czechoslovak Gothic horror/drama film directed by Juraj Herz.

Susan wrote: "Not sure if this title meets your criteria, but I would also love to read, “Jessie and Morgiana”, 1929 by Alexander Stepanovich Grin. Unfortunately it is only available in Russian. The author's boo..."

That sounds like a really interesting idea.

Also, I know at least two three Russian authors compared to poe, one being Leonid Andreyev, who does have a lot of his works available in English. The others are Pushkin and Gogol, if you're curious.

David wrote: "Susan wrote: "Not sure if this title meets your criteria, but I would also love to read, “Jessie and Morgiana”, 1929 by Alexander Stepanovich Grin. Unfortunately it is only available in Russian. Th..."
Thank you for the suggestions David. I’ve been wanting to read Gogol and Pushkin, but Andreyev was unknown to me. I will look into his works.

Susan wrote: "David wrote: "Susan wrote: "Not sure if this title meets your criteria, but I would also love to read, “Jessie and Morgiana”, 1929 by Alexander Stepanovich Grin. Unfortunately it is only available ..."

Andreyev is one of the most depressing bastards there is XD Like with this joyfull excursion:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6722/...

Also I havea book by Grin, and I can get a good handful of his others rather cheaply it seems.

I would be interested in anything by Grin but there's a supposedly very bad machine translation (?) of The Glittering World and it would be nice if there's a better version.

I know translations are generally a bigger ask but Lea Silhol is a french writer in the circle of Tanith Lee and only a couple of her short stories are in english.

Recently seen someone refer to Pilar Pedraza as the queen of spanish gothic horror or something like that and I've enjoyed digging around to see whatever I can. Absolutely no english translations so far but using webpage translations I'm increasingly intrigued by her biographies and interviews.

She's an academic, says that feminism is in everything she does, a great deal of classical mythology in her work, influences/favorite writers: Poe, Marquis de Sade, Mary Shelley, Maupassant, Gustav Meyrink, Potocki, Saki, Valle-Inclán, Joan Perucho, Norberto Luis Romero, Carmen de Burgos, Margueritte Duras, Jean Ray, Colette, Angela Carter and Romulo Gallegos.
Her books started coming out in the 80s and she's still going. I believe some of them are about the people who are rejected by death and have to live in some way on earth again?

http://escritoras.com/escritoras/Pila...
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilar_P...

Robert Adam wrote: "Recently seen someone refer to Pilar Pedraza as the queen of spanish gothic horror or something like that and I've enjoyed digging around to see whatever I can. Absolutely no english translations s..."
Now I am intrigued as well. Thanks for bringing her up. Yes, now I would also like to read something of hers, alas, if translated.

Our upcoming The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories includes her first English translation: 'Mater Tenebrarum'

A list of authors included:

Pilar Pedraza, 'Mater Tenebrarum' (Spain)
Flavius Ardelean, 'Down, in Their World' (Romania)
Anders Fager, 'Backstairs' (Sweden)
Tanya Tynjälä, 'The Collector' (Peru)
Frithjof Spalder, 'The White Cormorant' (Norway)
Jose María Latorre, 'Snapshots' (Spain)
Luigi Musolino, 'Uironda' (Italy)
Martin Steyn, 'Kira' (South Africa)
Attila Veres, 'The Time Remaining' (Hungary)
Lars Ahn, 'Donation' (Denmark)
Bernardo Esquinca, 'Señor Ligotti' (Mexico)
Cristina Fernández Cubas, 'The Angle of Horror' (Spain)
Christien Boomsma, 'The Bones in Her Eyes' (Netherlands)
Elisenda Solsona, 'Mechanisms' (Catalonia)
Michael Roch, 'The Illogical Investigations of Inspector André Despérine' (Martinique)
Solange Rodríguez Pappe, 'Tiny Women' (Ecuador)
Bathie Ngoye Thiam, 'The House of Leuk Dawour' (Senegal)
Marko Hautala, 'Pale Toes' (Finland)
Yvette Tan, 'All the Birds' (Philippines)
Ariane Gélinas, 'Twin Shadows' (Québec)
Flore Hazoumé, 'Menopause' (Ivory Coast)

Cold Front and Hollow Faces, Merciless Moons

Valancourt Books wrote: "Our upcoming The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories includes her first English translation: 'Mater Tenebrarum'

A list of authors included:

Pilar Pedraza, 'Mater Tenebrarum' (..."

Oh, I am so excited! I can’t wait!

That's terrific news, I must have missed her name when I looked at the contents recently because I didn't have it properly memorized.

Attila Veres is another I heard about from probably the same article that mentioned Pedraza, so that's also great too.