Valancourt Books discussion

Canavan wrote: "Robert Adam said:
Centipede's book of Leman has been in the works for several years now. Has it been a decade?


John Pelan can be exceedingly slow where editing is concerned. I r..."


I appreciate a lot of his work but that's really unfortunate.

I was thinking the other day that an omnibus of Ben Hecht's two short, bizarre Decadent novels - Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath and its sequel, The Kingdom of Evil - would be absolutely divine. Both are, I believe, in the public domain by now, and neither have ever been published together (and the editions they have gotten have been dismal: Creation Books re-released the first book in an unimpressive little paperback right before they turned out to be a scam and imploded, and the older Dover edition for some reason omits Wallace Stevens' stunning Beardsleyesque artwork).

(Also, I forget if I've mentioned this one before, but Christopher Short's The Black Room really would seem to be ideal.)

Christopher wrote: "There's still room for a printed translation with good formatting, scholarly introduction, etc."

You will get all those things from a Stableford translation. Jean Sbogar and Other Stories was out last month, Outlaws and Sorrows comes next week and 4 more Nodier books are on the way. I can't say how many of them will be the contents you are looking for but they'll certainly be worth investigating.

Amelia wrote: "I was thinking the other day that an omnibus of Ben Hecht's two short, bizarre Decadent novels - Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath and its sequel, The Kingdom of Evil - would be absolutely divin..."

Ah, Fantazius Mallare is good but The Kingdom of Evil is absolutely brilliant, Hecht having graduated from chronicling the madness of a single individual to something on a much grander scale.

David wrote: "Ah, Fantazius Mallare is good but The Kingdom of Evil is absolutely brilliant, Hecht having graduated from chronicling the madness of a single individual to something on a much grander scale."

It's just brill, isn't it? And yet it's even lesser-known than Mallare, which isn't exactly a household name in itself.

Amelia wrote: "David wrote: "Ah, Fantazius Mallare is good but The Kingdom of Evil is absolutely brilliant, Hecht having graduated from chronicling the madness of a single individual to something on a much grande..."

For a long time, Mallare was the only one of the two in the public domain, plus I don't think many really know about Ben Hecht at all these days.

Lucius Shepard's Green Eyes and The Jaguar Hunter.

I'll also add my voice to the chorus signing for Michael Shea's Polyphemus.

Reprints of Melanie Tem's novels, Steve Rasnic Tem's Excavation, and William Hallahan's The Search for Joseph Tully would all be nice ... but as others have already mentioned: ebooks for these are available.

James wrote: "Lucius Shepard's Green Eyes and The Jaguar Hunter.

I'll also add my voice to the chorus signing for Michael Shea's Polyphemus.

Reprints of Melanie Tem's novels, Steve Rasnic Tem's Excavation, and..."

I agree with ya on Lucius. I think Shepard and Karl Edward Wagner were two very important writers in their genres that are criminally overlooked today. It maybe that they really only wrote shorter works, but those works were usually top of the line and you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of writers that could match their execution with the word.

I've seen increased discussion of Shepard but that may just be due to the second Best Of volume coming out (and extremely expensive bonus book of uncollected stories).

It looks like several recommendations from this thread are going to happen. I'll announce them once the contracts are signed.

Valancourt Books wrote: "It looks like several recommendations from this thread are going to happen. I'll announce them once the contracts are signed."

That's exciting and tantalizing news!

Valancourt Books wrote: "It looks like several recommendations from this thread are going to happen. I'll announce them once the contracts are signed."

Please consider doing Audio versions for those of us with visual challenges.

Definitely! We include them whenever the audiobook rights are available.

Vera Caspary: while there have been selected reprints, much of her work remains out of print and nearly impossible to find.

Our releases for next year are being announced on the 2022 Releases thread so we can keep this one strictly for recommendations.

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

Any news on William Henry Ireland’s “The Abbess?” Someone recommended it a few months ago on this thread. It’s one of the last ‘major’ original gothic novels that is no longer in print and would be right at home with the original Valancourt catalogue. Zittaw Press issued the last version in the early 2000s but it was very limited. Would love to see this get the proper Valancourt treatment.

Matthew wrote: "Any news on William Henry Ireland’s “The Abbess?” Someone recommended it a few months ago on this thread. It’s one of the last ‘major’ original gothic novels that is no longer in print and would be..."

On the same note, I would recommend the obscurer novels of William Child Green, especially his "The Prophecy of Duncannon, or the Dwarf and the Seer", which is a single volume gothic novel, I have actually recommended the British Library buy the copy currently for sale on Abebook for 500 $.

https://www.abebooks.com/first-editio...

Matthew wrote: "Any news on William Henry Ireland’s “The Abbess?” Someone recommended it a few months ago on this thread. It’s one of the last ‘major’ original gothic novels that is no longer in print and would be..."

No news as of right now. I made a note of it but haven't looked into it further.

Speaking of old Gothics, I have one in mind from Charles Robert Maturin, author of the classic MELMOTH THE WANDERER. It's the last novel published before his early death - THE ALBIGENSES, a historical Gothic fantasy featuring werewolves. I believe I heard about in one of those "1,000 books you must read before you die" things. I think it's supposed to be a ridiculously rare book, to the point of only one complete copy kept in a library in Ireland (I think - I could be wrong). Maybe it's worth a look.

Maturin wrote a novel with werewolves?! Oh wow! That’s crazy. Thx for the info!

Carnosaur was recommended a few years ago on this thread. We just received confirmation we will be reprinting it next year. Other announcements are on this page: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

We're thrilled to report that one of the key horror fiction collections of the modern era, the long-unavailable IN A LONELY PLACE (1984) by Karl Edward Wagner will be one of our 2022 releases! This is one we've been after for years, so we're very excited!

Valancourt Books wrote: "We're thrilled to report that one of the key horror fiction collections of the modern era, the long-unavailable IN A LONELY PLACE (1984) by Karl Edward Wagner will be one of our 2022 releases! This..."
Excellent!!!

I've heard very interesting, but mixed, things about Thirteen Women (1932) by Tiffany Thayer. The art in the 1st edition is rather lovely from what I've seen.

Brett wrote: "I've heard very interesting, but mixed, things about Thirteen Women (1932) by Tiffany Thayer. The art in the 1st edition is rather lovely from what I've seen."

Tiffany Thayer was a weird man. His "The Greek" has himself write into the story as one of the characters, with a Greek descendant of Pericles overthrowing the US Goverment and becoming King, with several blank pages in the book left for the reader to write the names of people "whose death would be of use to the state".

And his "Dr. Arnoldi" is an utterly insane, grim, beyond-armageddon novel of what happens when human beings suddenly lose the ability to die...no matter what happens.

I'll take a look at it.

Oh, one I forgot to mention
"The Seven Black Chessmen" by John Huntingdon, which a friend described as " a sort of weird conspiracy novel" and concerning a "a death ray and much weirdness in the cellars of an old tower."

This damn thing is very hard to get a hold of XD

What I'm going to suggest now is pretty unlikely, but I felt I might as well ask anyway because there might be a loophole.

Is there any chance of releasing the works of the popular British horror author James Herbert (THE RATS, THE FOG, THE SURVIVOR, THE DARK, THE SPEAR, THE MAGIC COTTAGE, etc.)? See, technically, what comes up in Amazon searches (and elsewhere) are British paperbacks printed and published in England, distributed by Pan Macmillan; there just so happens to be some cross-traffic where the U.S. distributors get stock. I was wondering if there was a possibility of Valancourt becoming the official U.S. publisher of Mr. Herbert's works, printing specifically American editions as you've done for John Blackburn. However, I believe it's quite a long shot - after all, his works aren't technically unavailable, it's just that sometimes direct stock is limited and has to be gotten from second-hand sellers. There's also the fact that the ebooks, also from Pan Macmillan, can be purchased in America as well.

So is there any hope of picking up Mr. Herbert's works for American-made distribution? Or does Pan Macmillan have the exclusive rights to his catalog and probably will for the indefinite future?

They have distribution rights in the US so they are unavailable for us.

Valancourt Books wrote: "They have distribution rights in the US so they are unavailable for us."

Honestly, I figured that was the case, so I'm not surprised. It's no big deal.

Here's something else to consider. Having released THE CURSE OF THE WISE WOMAN already, would you be interested in picking up Lord Dunsany's other fantasy novel currently out of print, THE BLESSING OF PAN (1927)? Wildside Press used to have it, and when I asked them about it a few years ago, they seemed to indicate that another publisher was picking it up, but I've honestly not seen any activity since from anyone. I don't know how well WISE WOMAN sold, but if it was enough to warrant it, would another Dunsany be on the table in the future?

I read Joshi's introduction to the Penguin Dunsany collection and along with Blessing Of Pan, there's quite a few highlights he mentioned that don't currently have a publisher like Old Folk Of The Centuries, Story Of Mona Sheehy and If.

Thanks to the new "Gay to Z: A Queer Compendium" by Justin Elizabeth Sayre, I've found a few interesting new books I'd love to see back in print starting with "The Young and the Evil" by Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler. I've also just learned about Jay B. Laws who wrote two books, "Steam" and "Unfinished" which both sound great.

I know this one has been suggested before, but I thought John Metcalfe's The Feasting Dead was fantastic. I'd be thrilled to have The Smoking Leg and Other Stories or his other weird/horror/supernatural work back in print.

James wrote: "I know this one has been suggested before, but I thought John Metcalfe's The Feasting Dead was fantastic. I'd be thrilled to have The Smoking Leg and Other Stories or his other weird/horror/superna..."

I second this motion, Metcalfe is the only man whose fiction I have ever been able to compare to the work of Jean Ray.

While trying to get more ideas to recommend, I think I might have gotten quite a bit, so I'm only going to list part right now and post the rest later, so you aren't overwhelmed.

I'm not necessarily talking about any specific work in the names for this post - it's more general - though I will mention some titles if I feel they stand out more.

-If your Victorian/Edwardian selection is selling well enough, and if you were open to adding to it, may I suggest the possibility of R. D. Blackmore, "the Last Victorian"? With the exception of the perennially in-print LORNA DOONE, all of his works have been pretty much forgotten. As he was quite popular in his day, is there anything in his bibliography that you feel would warrant further attention?

-Here's a name to consider - Richard Connell. Everyone knows him best from the classic story "The Most Dangerous Game", and yet practically nothing else of his has been reprinted, as far as I know, and according to Wikipedia, he was one of the most popular short story writers of his day. Maybe a substantial collection of his stories, with "Game" included, would be worth rediscovery.

-Guy Endore is another name that's been all but forgotten, with only two of his works, to my knowledge, still in print - THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS (thankfully) from Pegasus Books, and BABOUK from Monthly Review Press. Yet he wrote other works including mysteries and biographical novels, and I'd love to know if any of them was worth bringing back into print.

-Another sorely neglected writer is Davis Grubb, author of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (which I absolutely loved); the only other work of his still in circulation is FOOLS' PARADE. I definitely would enjoy seeing his other novels come back to print, but, for what it's worth, he also wrote many supernatural and suspense stories which were collected in three compilations (one of them posthumous) and adapted by both Hitchcock and Serling for television - perhaps they're right up Valancourt's alley.

-One name that I've brought up long in the past is E. H. Visiak, whose supernatural sea stories have been compared to William Hope Hodgson, according to Wikipedia; MEDUSA (1929), in particular, has gotten significant praise and was even released by Centipede Press back in 2010. Other than that, he's been left to pasture, and I'm wondering if that book, plus his two others (THE HAUNTED ISLAND and THE SHADOW), would be made available in less expensive editions.

-Finally, I'd like to suggest an author from Lovecraft's legendary circle, Henry S. Whitehead, whose work popularized the perception of voodoo in the American horror consciousness. There's only one brief selection from Wildside Press still in circulation, containing only eight stories, and the UK's Wordsworth edition is now only in digital. I realize there might be rights issues, but if there's an opening, maybe his stories would make a good addition to Valancourt's catalog.


That's enough for now. I do have some more ideas, like I said, but the post would be even longer, so I'll leave it like that temporarily. I would hope that at least one of these authors qualifies for a Valancourt edition, and if so, I hope the rights are negotiable.

I would love to see books/collections by Margery Lawrence made available in print. This discovered blog post provides a brief bio and bibliography. http://enfolding.org/pan-a-clergymans...

James wrote: "I know this one has been suggested before, but I thought John Metcalfe's The Feasting Dead was fantastic. I'd be thrilled to have The Smoking Leg and Other Stories or his other weird/horror/superna..."

I'll take a look at it again. There was an ebook available on Amazon but it appears to have been taken down.

Saffron Moon wrote: "I would love to see books/collections by Margery Lawrence made available in print. This discovered blog post provides a brief bio and bibliography. http://enfolding.org/pan-a-clergy..."

If I'm remembering correctly, and it's possible I'm not, there is no longer someone associated with her literary rights to sign contracts. I'll look back through my notes within the next few days to see. I know we've reached out before.

Valancourt Books wrote: There was an ebook available on Amazon but it appears to have been taken down.

Here is an Amazon link to Nightmare Jack and Other Tales , an ebook published by Ash-Tree Press, that contains the story in question.

https://www.amazon.com/NIGHTMARE-JACK...

Vera Caspary, especially Evvie. So many copies of Laura around, but other amazing works out of print.

Canavan wrote: "Valancourt Books wrote: There was an ebook available on Amazon but it appears to have been taken down.

Here is an Amazon link to Nightmare Jack and Other Tales, an ebook published b..."

I have that one. I meant there was an ebook of the original Smoking Leg collection.

Although it's only been a few days, I'm going to drop the rest of what I had gathered now. I'll bet that a few of these are guaranteed passes, but like I said last time, I hope that at least one of them gets a release.

-This is a bit of a long shot, but I was wondering if Peter Benchley was worth reprinting. As far as I know, only two books of his are currently in print, and one of them - the infamous JAWS - is generally considered to be inferior to the blockbuster movie. Still, if he happened to improve with later titles, I would suggest THE DEEP (1976), about an underwater treasure hunt; THE ISLAND (1979), about a hidden enclave of pirates in the Bermuda Triangle; or BEAST (1991), about a killer giant squid. If anyone feels that these are good finds, that's great, but if the consensus is that Benchley isn't worth rediscovery, so be it.

-Since I know he's provided a quote of encouragement and promotion used on the website, maybe Michael Moorcock should be added to the catalog. While he is technically well taken care of through the likes of Gallery/Saga Press and Titan Books, there's still a good chunk of his work that hasn't been reprinted, at least stateside, particularly his standalone works. Three I would like to read myself are THE BLACK CORRIDOR (1968), about a man escaping Earth on a spaceship and possibly descending into madness [it was recommended by both Karl Edward Wagner and China Mieville]; BREAKFAST IN THE RUINS (1972), in which Karl Glogauer [the protagonist of the infamous BEHOLD THE MAN] reincarnates through multiple lives and eventually pursues a gay relationship with a mysterious Nigerian man; and MOTHER LONDON (1988), one of his more acclaimed literary titles, where three mental hospital patients experience the history of London over a nearly 50-year time period.

-Leonard Cline's THE DARK CHAMBER (1927), about a man who undergoes a special type of therapy to awaken hereditary memories and subsequently regresses to animalistic behavior, was highly praised by H. P. Lovecraft as a wonderful weird tale, and it was even in print briefly some time ago from Cold Harbor Press, but now it's been all but forgotten.

-I first heard of William Gerhardie's DOOM (1928) [alternatively titled JAZZ AND JASPER, EVA'S APPLES, or MY SINFUL EARTH] as a recommendation from steampunk legend James Blaylock - it's a black comedy with sci-fi elements that concerns both a Russian immigrant family and the bringing about of the apocalypse by a megalomaniac. I think the rights for this one may be tangled up with Faber & Faber, so I wouldn't expect to see it, but perhaps it's worth checking out to make sure.

-There are several titles by fantasy/horror legend A. Merritt that aren't definitively available (at least I think so), such as THE SHIP OF ISHTAR (1924), THE FACE IN THE ABYSS (1931), and DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE (1932).

-With the recent Tor Essentials release of some of his best short stories and even some love from Library of America, maybe the highly-esteemed R. A. Lafferty is worth taking on, particularly his Nebula-nominated FOURTH MANSIONS (1969), a romp concerning secret societies and the release of a deadly virus in the U.S.; it's been noted to have been inspired by the works of St. Teresa of Avila, particular her Interior Castle.

-David Lindsay has received acclaim from writers such as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Colin Wilson, and even Clive Barker, but I'm not sure if there are any definitive versions of two of his most famous works - A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS (1920), about a metaphysical journey to the strange planet Tormance [University of Nebraska Press attempted a commemorative edition in 2002, but its editing was disappointingly shoddy], and THE HAUNTED WOMAN (1922), where a woman is able to escape the present to the past via a mysterious staircase in an old house and begins a romance with the house's missing owner in the other time.

-The work of Czech author Karel Capek has been well attended to, particularly through Catbird Press, but one title that has alluded reprinting is KRAKATIT (1922), which predicted the atomic age with a scientist inventing a powerful new explosive and the personal aftermath; it was adapted into a film in 1948 by Otakar Vavra.

-A couple users have already mentioned Lucius Shepard. Another two novels of his that are unaccounted for are LIFE DURING WARTIME (1987), about psychic battles during a future Cental American war, and THE GOLDEN (1993), a vampire detective tale set in an ancient European castle.

-Thorne Smith, best known for his comic Topper novels, isn't taken care of very well today. THE NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS (1931), in which a ray that can turn stone to flesh lets loose the Greco-Roman pantheon in 1930's New York City, was offered by Modern Library for a time but has since been removed from their database; TURNABOUT (also 1931), about a husband and wife switching bodies and the chaos that ensues, hasn't gotten a mainstream release since 1980, it seems. However, e-books for these and the rest of Smith's works are available from a publisher called Bauer Books, and while I can't find any information on them, I would assume that we can thus rule out releases from Valancourt or anyone else in the near future.

-T. F. Powys (brother of John Cowper Powys) isn't a name that immediately comes to mind, but he's considered a proponent of Christian fantasy in the ranks of C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams. While UNCLAY (1931) is available from New Directions, two others of his most highly regarded works remain in limbo - FABLES (1929), a short story collection, and MR. WESTON'S GOOD WINE (1927), his most famous novel, in which a wine merchant purported to be God comes to a Dorset village and changes the lives of the inhabitants. In the case of GOOD WINE, however, the U.K.'s Vintage imprint has a version which, while not technically stateside, may bar the rights from being picked up by anyone else.

-I've brought this up before, but there's a novel by journalist Roderick MacLeish (nephew of poet Archibald MacLeish) called PRINCE OMBRA (1982), where a young boy finds out that he's the latest incarnation of a hero figure in an eternal struggle with a satanic figure who himself has incarnated throughout history as terrible personalities (the most recent being Hitler). From what I hear, it's an adult-oriented work, technically, but when it was reprinted briefly in 2002, it was edited and directed towards children. I'd love to be able to read a brand new unabridged edition today.

-Edwin Lester Arnold, who wrote LIEUT. GULLIVAR JONES: HIS VACATION (1905, also known as GULLIVAR OF MARS), wrote other works to mixed reception, and his first novel - THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF PHRA THE PHOENICIAN (1891), about an ancient warrior who enters states of suspended animation and subsequently engages in several battles throughout history - may be worth notice, as it was included in the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library series (the successor to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series).

-Finally, I'd like to suggest Manly Wade Wellman's classic WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? (1963), an Arkham House release which collected all the stories of Appalachian balladeer Silver John up to that point. It was available from Paizo Inc.'s now-defunct Planet Stories line of books for a time but has now disappeared. If not this exact book, maybe we could see an all-new definitive collection of all the Silver John sketches and short stories ever published (unless the rights are far too expensive).


See? I told you I had a lot. I'm sorry there's so much text. I'll honestly try to keep my recommendations comparatively brief from now on. I also apologize if my descriptions aren't needed, as you are probably aware of many of them and don't need much more than names. I tend to get carried away.

The contract is not signed yet but it looks like Prince Ombra will happen. We've also been checking into Manly Wade Wellman. I'll look at the others.

Prince Ombra sounds fascinating, that's good news!

We really enjoyed it! Justin is the one who brought it to our attention.

Valancourt Books wrote: "We really enjoyed it! Justin is the one who brought it to our attention."

Glad to have done so!

Since I mentioned his brother in my last recommendation drop, I also wanted to bring up John Cowper Powys, who I mentioned in passing. Considered a literary heir to Thomas Hardy, two of his popular Wessex-style novels - WEYMOUTH SANDS (1934) and MAIDEN CASTLE (1936) - as well as his two popular Welsh historical novels - OWEN GLENDOWER (1941) and PORIUS (1951) - are no longer in the Overlook Press's catalog and are technically just waiting to be picked up by someone.

Unfortunately, setting aside that I just unloaded a lot of recommendations already, I know you like to have digital rights to go along with physicals, and the Powys Society (a charity which promotes the family's works) already has e-book editions of those works on the market, so I would assume that we're not likely to see these novels in paperback or hardcover formats for the foreseeable future. I mean, if you're able to get the physical rights and live well enough off of that, that's great, but I'll bet it would be an awful risk financially.

Another forgotten OOP title that seems well liked by those who have read it, but is difficult and expensive to find used is Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural by Mary Leader.

Saffron Moon wrote: "Another forgotten OOP title that seems well liked by those who have read it, but is difficult and expensive to find used is Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural by Mary Leader."

That might be worth it, actually, since it looks to have rather good reviews here on Goodreads, not to mention the cultural importance as it's reportedly the inspiration for the hit Fleetwood Mac song "Rhiannon", penned and sung by Stevie Nicks. I second this.

For that matter, it looks like she wrote only one other novel - SALEM'S CHILDREN (1979) - and that looks to be rather pricey as well. However, there are only a couple Goodreads reviews of it as I write this, and neither are recommending it, so I'll leave it to your discretion whether it's also worth checking out.