Stephen Jones – Mammoth Book of Zombies

Stephen Jones (ed.) – The Mammoth Book of Zombies (Robinson, Oct 1993)

Luis Rey

Introduction: The Dead That Walk – Stephen Jones

Clive Barker – Sex, Death and Starshine
Ramsey Campbell – Rising Generation
Manly Wade Wellman -The Song of the Slaves
R. Chetwynd-Hayes -The Ghouls
Edgar Allan Poe – The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Karl Edward Wagner – Sticks
Charles L. Grant – Quietly Now
Basil Copper – The Grey House
M. R. James – A Warning to the Curious
Nicholas Royle -The Crucian Pit
Brian Lumley -The Disapproval of Jeremy Cleave
H. P. Lovecraft – Herbert West: Reanimator
Lisa Tuttle – Treading the Maze
David Riley – Out of Corruption
Graham Masterton – The Taking of Mr. Bill
J. Sheridan Le Fanu – Schalken the Painter
David Sutton – Clinically Dead
Les Daniels – They’re Coming for You
Hugh B. Cave – Mission to Margal
Michael Marshall Smith – Later
Peter Tremayne – Marbh Bheo
Dennis Etchison – The Blood Kiss
Christopher Fowler – Night After Night of the Living Dead
Robert Bloch – The Dead Don’t Die!
Kim Newman – Patricia’s Profession
Joe R. Lansdale – On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks

thanks to H. P. Saucecraft & Allthingshorror for providing cover scans.

see also Vault’s Mammoth Book Of  Zombies thread.

Jeremy Novick & Mick Middles – Wham Bam Thank You Glam

Not a recent publication by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve taken a shine to Aurum, this book is so Vault and there can never be enough glampunk in the world – let’s give ’em a plug!

Jeremy Novick & Mick Middles – Wham Bam Thank You Glam: A Celebration of The ’70’s (Aurum, 1998).

blurb

Come On, Come On, Come
On, Come On, Come On,
Come On, Come On…
I SAID!

From A-line flares to Zebedee. from David Cassidy to the Austin Princess Vanden Plas. Wham Bam Thank You Glam is the first, the last, the everything you’ll ever need to remember those halcyon days of the 70s when men wore cheesecloth and women teetered on six-inch platforms.
This is more than just a celebration of Glam music (although there’s lots of that in here). this is a celebration of the whole glorious shebang – the clothes! the telly! the cars! the football! the sweeties: All recalled in fantastic dayglo shades of poptastic colour by some the real heroes of Glam.

All that Glitters is not gold – it could be Bacofoil – but it is exciting. The years between 1969 and 1976 (Punk year zero) were a riot of colour, humour, funny clothes, flash cars, weird sweeties and bizarre telly. People really did wear sea-green forty-inch flares and silver six-inch platforms while swigging a lime Crests and sitting in a bright yellow Ford Capri Mk I – and they weren’t all members of Mud or Paper Lace. The Glam years were strangely naive, yet widely debauched, the music was a brash over-played version of rock’n’roll with big drums and daft lyrics, the fashion tried to make bricklayers built like out­houses look like Quentin Crisp. Yes, it was a lot of fun, as our guides to the Glam years will testify within these pages.

– in the immortal words of that cool white bear:
‘It’s frothy, man!’

“Glam Music can be broken up into three distinct groups. The Chinnichap merchants, the Teenyboppers and the Geezers who just happened to be there …” – oversimplifying matters, perhaps – what about Bowie, Roxy, Marc, Mael bro’s, Iggy, Lou, Dolls and all the other space invaders from planet art? – but not a million miles wide of the truth.

This book is like the Bible or something. For example, there’s a top interview with the much-missed Brian Connolly of the Sweet in which he answers all the big ones. Which bands did the glam rockers’ really look up to? How did Sweet get on with their rivals? Who were the biggest copycats? What did Bri think of the Damned covering Teenage Rampage and punk in general? Ex-Man City bruiser Mike Summerbee is a revelation with his look at Football, Beer And Lots Of Girls: George Best And The Roots Of Glam. Dee Dee Wilde recalls her years in the lingerie catalogue come to life that was Pans People – “For a young girl it was the best job in the world”. The Glam Telly featured includes Jason King, The Sweeney, On The Buses (!!!!!!!?) and Man About The House while a ‘What’s on at the movies’ feature wisely concentrates on good old fashioned Brit smut like Come Play With Me, the Confessions … and the racier Carry On‘s. In the A-Z of Glam who should we find under ‘R’ but Richard Allen (the cover of whose Glam is also given some prominence in the literary dept though, understandably, not as much as Pop Swap).

It’s not perfect. For example, I’ve not found any mention of Dana Gillespie as yet, and she was just about the glammest person going in 1974 as the gratuitous use of above pic ably demonstrates, although on the plus side, Kenny’s risible Do The Bump doesn’t trouble the all-time Glam Top 20 chart so you’re laughing really.

For more glampunk, see the Vault of Evil forum’s ghastly rock & roll section.

Alwyn W Turner – Crisis? What Crisis?

Alwyn W Turner – Crisis? What Crisis? (Aurum, 2008)

From our friend Alwyn W Turner of Trash Fiction and Cult Rock Posters (Aurum, 2006) fame:

Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970s (Aurum, 2008).

Meticulously researched, this confident, engaging and well-argued history of the 1970s features dozens of original interviews with contemporary politicians, rock stars, actors, designers, as well as drawing on the books, films, sitcoms and media of the time. This is not an insider’s account of the crises that wracked Britain in that decade. Rather it is the consumer’s version, a world seen through the eyes of the mass media, in which Tony Benn, Mary Whitehouse and environmentalists jostle for space with David Bowie, Hilda Ogden and skinheads.

Alwyn writes: “If you’ve got the stomach for possibly the worst single ever made, there’s a trailer for the book here:

Crisis? What Crisis? video”

Oh, that is exquisitely ghastly! Treat yourself!

Stephen Jones – Mammoth Book of Monsters

Stephen Jones (ed.) – The Mammoth Book of Monsters (Robinson, 2007)

Edward Miller

David J. Schow – Visitation
Ramsey Campbell – Down There
Scott Edleman – The Man He Had Been Before
Dennis Etchison – Calling All Monsters
R. Chetwynd Hayes – The Shadmock
Christopher Fowler – The Spider Kiss
Nancy Holder – Cafe Endless:Spring Rain
Thomas Ligotti – The Medusa
Gemma Files – In the Poor Girl Taken by Surprise
Sydney J. Bounds – Downmarket
Robert E. Howard – The Horror from the Mound
Jay Lake – Fat Man
Brian Lumley – The Thin People
Tanith Lee – The Hill
Joe R. Lansdale – Godzilla’s Twelve Step Program
Karl Edward Wagner – .220 Swift
Robert Silverberg – Our Lady of the Sauropods
Basil Copper – The Flabby Men
Robert Holdstock – The Silvering
Michael Marshall Smith – Someone Else’s Problem
Clive Barker – Rawhead Rex
Kim Newman – The Chill Clutch of the Unseen

Blurb:

Monsterrific stories by top names in horror writing

Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Ghouls . . . these and many other Creatures of the Night are featured in this bumper collection of stories by such authors as Clive Barker, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Tanith Lee, Michael Marshall Smith, Kim Newman, Joe R. Lansdale, Lisa Tuttle, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Basil Copper and many others. Here you’ll discover creatures both unnatural and man made, as the walking dead rise from their graves, immortal bloodsuckers seek human nourishment, deformed monstrosities pursue their victims across the countryside, and the ugliest of nightmares is revealed to have a soul. Drawn from the pages of legend and literature, these stories feature Things that slither, stagger, swoop, stomp and scamper. So bolt the doors, lock the windows and shiver in the shadows, because no-one is safe when the Monsters are loose .

D. F. Lewis – Cone Zero

From weirdmonger comes news of the forthcoming Cone Zero

On 14 April 2008, I finally contracted 14 stories and 14 different authors for the CONE ZERO book (Nemonymous 8) with about 90,000 words. The story titles do not carry a by-line and the authors’ names have been randomly listed on the back cover. The story titles will be correctly assigned to their authors within the next Nemonymous book – and on the internet after eight months have elapsed since Cone Zero’s publication.

CONE ZERO will cost £9 – inclusive of UK postage and of ‘Surface Mail’ only elsewhere. (Please enquire for other forms of payment or postage).

General Nemonymous page: wordonymous

Spoilers for all past authors’ names: Nemonymous

Past covers: weirdtongue

And advance orders for Cone Zero (ie before 4 Jul 2008) will be subject to special generous deals on the ‘staggeringly important’ ZENCORE! and other previous editions of ‘Nemonymous’. These deals are subject to application, by writing to the bfitzworth(at)yahoo.co.uk.

Also available from the same source, Des’s collaboration with his late father:

D. F. Lewis & Gordon Lewis – Only Connect: Ten Honestly Strange & Mostly Ghostly Tales (Cartref, 1998)

Cover photograph: D. F. Lewis

The Eyes Have It
A Trick Of Dusk
Pipe Dreams
Only Connect
Heavenly Contract
Horn Of Plenty
Betting On Heaven
A Touch Of A Switch Away
The Boots He Bore
Needless To Say

Blurb:

A bellyful of sadness, a song of hope,
if stories have threads, real lives don’t.

Eyes have eyes, spooks have spines,
souls are switched, with made-up minds.

Worlds within worlds, heaven in flight –
only connect, only go bump in the night.

Caroline Callaghan interviews D. F. Lewis in the current, seventh issue of the free horror, SF & fantasy pdf zine Pantechnicon.

The Burley Observer: Vault Newsdesk

Boring Site news: a double dose of Castor oil for yers!

READING IS FUN!

illustration: Chrissie Demant

1. The Burley Observer.

As any ‘news’ items were fast swamped under a tidal wave of anthology posts with the inevitable result that nobody got to suffer them, I figured it would be best to give them a stand-alone section, hence The Burley Observer. Events, new & forthcoming publications, works in progress, etc. Little, if anything, that’s not already appeared on here, but the ‘site’ seems to attract a slightly different audience to the board and perhaps it will become a useful promo tool. Items already added include Paperback Fanatic 7, 3rd Black Book Of Horror, The Thinking Mans Crumpet, Pantechnicon 7, details of the BFS meeting at Ye Olde Cock Inn, Fleet Street on Sat. 19th July, One Eyed Grey 5, Basil Copper: A Life in Books, Peter Normanton’s Mammoth Best Horror Comics, Robert Tinnell & Adrian Salmon’s delightful graphic novel The Faceless and Paul Gravett’s Mammoth Best Crime Comics.

If you’ve not already spontaneously combusted with excitement, those of you who’d like details of your own current & forthcoming books, magazines, WIP’s and what have you to be included, email me and we’ll see what we can come up with. This service, I should point out with as much tact as I am capable, is primarily, but not exclusively for regular contributors to the Vault of Evil forum and the friends and supporters of same. Leaving a solitary post or two on here or the board of the dreaded “Great site! I am the webmaster of blah, blah, blah and my great book/ site/ limerick will be the ultimate work on blah blah f**king blah ” variety is hardly in keeping with the spirit of whatever it is Vault is about, so I thank you in advance for reserving such for your MySp*ce and Face-Ache hourly bulletins.

2. New English Library

Hopefully of more interest: I’ve been working on the NEL section of the site on-off for a few months now, trying to select the best reviews by a variety of desperadoes from both this and the dead suddenlaunch board. It’s nowhere near ready to go ‘live’ yet and with Justin’s NEL horror overview set to continue in the next Paperback Fanatic, I’ll continue to keep it private until …. well, Halloween is always good for a launch and that leaves plenty of time to mess it up!

Thanks, as ever, for your kind support.

Charles Black – 3rd Black Book Of Horror

Charles Black (ed.) – 3rd Black Book Of Horror (Mortbury Press, June 2008)

Cover: Paul Mudie

Rog Pile – The Scavenger
Gary McMahon – Takashi’s Last Symphony
David A. Riley – A Sense Of Movement
Joel Lane – Last Night
Paul Newman – Widows Weeds
Christine Mortimer – Out Of Her Head
Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis – Family Ties
Sean Parker – Death-Con 1
Mike Chinn – Like A Bird
John Mains – The Spoon
Franklin Marsh – The Lake
Craig Herbertson – Synchronicity
Paul Finch – In The Thicket
John Llewellyn Probert – John And Jenny And The Lump: A Cautionary Tale
Frank Nicholas – In An Old Overcoat
Julia Lufford – The Looker
Gary Fry – What We Cannot Recall

Ha! I see we have your attention! Available now, the latest volume in Charles’ BFS award nominated Black Books. Several of the contributors will be familiar to you from Vault (although not necessarily under names their mothers would recognise them by). Charles is a huge anthology fan with a particular fondness for Herbert Van Thal’s Pan Book Of Horror series and the Black Books are an attempt at taking up where Bertie left off. All involved are playing a blinder, not least cover artist Paul Mudie. “Top your work for #2!” they demanded. Paul obliged. Hope to be getting my copy soon, so you’ll probably get a review in about three years if my recent form is anything to go by. Don’t wait!

See also Vault’s 3rd Black Book of Horror thread.

The Thinking Man’s Crumpet: issue 1

Coral King (ed) – The Thinking Man’s Crumpet #1 (June, 2008)

Anna Stephens – Cassandra
Roswell Ivory – Origami
Caroline Callaghan – Transmat
Roswell Ivory – Lady Medusa
Bubo – Pollution Of Thought
Trudi Topham – Stiff
Virginia Powell – The Crowds Cheered
Emily Jones – Head

I’m hoping to get my hands on a copy v.soon, in the meantime ….

Coral writes:

Some background: TTMC was set up with two basic aims. Having been a member of the Vault of Evil for a while, I was inspired by the members’ various literary projects to create one of my own. However, my purpose was slightly different in that I decided to take submissions from female writers alone, to begin with. Thus my first aim was to provide a relaxed, encouraging atmosphere for women, who were perhaps wondering if writing was for them, to come forward and submit their work in an uncharged, “we’re all girls here” style arena. Ego-wise, I also hoped to be responsible for discovering the next Shirley Jackson or Poppy Z Brite. The other main issue that I have tried to address with this publication is that of “genre”. I do dislike that word. Rigidity by editors and publications over subject matter, and indeed word counts, formatting, style etc ad nauseum, can be intimidating for someone just starting out. By creating a magazine with no boundaries, where literally anything is considered, and may even be submitted by myspace message if so desired, I am hoping to coax out work that might otherwise remain unpublished, either because the author is unsure, or has perhaps been rejected as being “not what we’re looking for” by genre publications. I hope you will enjoy reading this superb collection of multi-genre stories, verse and flash fiction as much as I have! BLOGS coming soon: Should this publication be gender inclusive? Submissions for issue two required. Should submissions for artwork be opened? Should a section for non fiction, reviews, articles and such be included?

On a personal note, I do hope you’ll enjoy reading the top notch stories, verse and flash fiction in this first issue, and will be tempted to look out for number 2 this autumn. This labour of love was inspired by my chums at the Vault of Evil message board, and by Rog Pile, who also kindly donated some of his fantastic artwork to enhance the magazine. The lovely lady contributors have given their utmost to create a cosmopolitan mix of styles and genres. The next issue will include even more quality fiction.

Enjoy. Coral x.

Anyone desiring to review the magazine, also please contact me here: coralkingATlive.co.uk (substitute the ‘AT‘ with @ :anti-spam measure – demonik)

copies are available to order for the very reasonable sum of £2.50 plus .75p p+p; see the paypal button on the profile page at women writers

See also the Vault of Evil ‘The Thinking Man’s Crumpet’ thread. This is among our “better” ones, actually, as it covers the TMC project from its inception through to publication and TMC’s first review!

Paperback Fanatic 7

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #7 (June, 2008)

New English Library Horror Pulps! Witches, warlocks, demons and virgin sacrifices feature in the first part of this study of the lurid and shocking horror pulps from the UK’s stalwart pulp publishers of the 1970s!

Laurence James- huge overview of the legendary editor and author of The Angels from Hell biker quartet, the Confessions books, the Witches as James Darke, Deathlands and so much more.

Jeff Jones- checklist and critical assessment of the highly collected fantasy cover artist.

Fred Nolan- a behind the scenes look at the British publishing industry with the larger than life Fred Nolan.

Just arrived this morning and needed to share it before i’ve even thought of hacking out one of my risible non-reviews.

Ordering details and much, much more from Paperback Fanatic. Justin’s magazine has made the nominations for best magazine in the 2008 British Fantasy Awards and, no disrespect to the other candidates, many of whose publications I’ve yet to investigate, but I’d so love to see a Fanatic win!

Stephen Jones – Mammoth Vampire Stories By Women

Stephen Jones (ed.) – The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women (Robinson, 2001)

Ingrid Pitt – Introduction: My life Among The Undead

Anne Rice – The Master Of Rampling Gate
Poppy Z. Brite – Homewrecker
Mary A. Turzillo – When Gretchen Was Human
Tanya Huff – The Vengeful Spirit Of Lake Nepeakea
Nancy Kilpatrick – La Diente
Tina Rath – Miss Massingbird And The Vampire
Freda Warrington – The Raven Bound
Nancy A. Collins – Vampire King And The Goth Chicks
Storm Constantine – Just His Type
Elizabeth Hand – Prince Of Flowers
Louise Cooper – Services Rendered
Janet Berliner – Aftermath
Yvonne Navarro – One Among Millions
Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman – Luella Miller
Lisa Tuttle – Sangre
Chelsea Quinn Yarbo – A Question Of Patronage
Ingrid Pitt – Hisako San
Kathryn Ptacek – Butternut And Blood
Wendy Webb – Sleeping Cities
E. Nesbit – The Haunted House
Roberta Lannes – Turkish Delight
Tanith Lee – Venus Rising On Water
Gemma Files – Year Zero
Mary E. Braddon – Good Lady Ducayne
Melanie Tem – Lunch At Charon’s
Elizabeth Massie – Forever, Amen
Ellen Kushner – Night Laughter
Christa Faust – Bootleg
Gala Blau – Outfangtheif
Pat Cadigan – My Brother’s Keeper
Caitlin R. Keirnan – So Runs The World Away
Gwyneth Jones – A North Light
Connie Willis – Jack
Jane Yolen – Vampyr

Blurb

Collected here for the first time are 34 strange and erotic tales of vampires, created by some of supernatural fiction’s greatest mistresses of the macabre. From the classic stories of Edith Nesbit, Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, to modern incarnations by such acclaimed writers as Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy Kilpatrick, Tanith Lee, Caitlin R. Kiernan and Pat Cadigan, these blood-drinkers and soul-stealers range from the sexual to the sanguinary, from the tormented good to the unspeakably evil. Among these children of the night you will encounter Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Byronic vampire Saint-Germain, Nancy A. Collins’ undead heroine Sonja Blue, Tanya Huff’s vampiric detective Vicki Nelson and Freda Warrington’s age-old lovers Karl and Charlotte. Featuring the only vampire short story written by Anne Rice, the undisputed queen of vampire literature, and boasting an autobiographical introduction and original tale by Ingrid Pitt, the star of Hammer Films’ The Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula, this is one anthology from which every vampire fan will want to drink deeply.