Phil Baker – The Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley

Phil Baker – The Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley (Dedalus, October 31st, 2009)

Cover design: Jonathan Barker

Blurb
One of the giants of popular fiction, with total sales of around fifty million books, Dennis Wheatley held twentieth-century Britain spellbound. His Black Magic novels like The Devil Rides Out created an oddly seductive and luxurious vision of Satanism, but in reality he was as interested in politics as occultism. Wheatley was closely involved with the secret intelligence community, and this powerfully researched study shows just how directly this drove his work, from his unlikely warnings about the menace of Satanic Trade Unionism to his role in a British scheme to engineer a revival of Islam.

Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material, Phil Baker examines Wheatley’s key friendship with a fraudster named Eric Gordon Tombe, and uncovers the full story of his sensational 1922 murder. Baker also explores Wheatley’s relationships with occult figures such as Rollo Ahmed, Aleister Crowley, and the Reverend Montague Summers, the shady priest and demonologist who inspired the memorably evil character of Canon Copely-Syle, in To The Devil – A Daughter.

Like Sax Rohmer and John Buchan, Wheatley has now moved from being perceived as dated to positively vintage, and this groundbreaking biography offers a major reassessment of his significance and status.

Click on the cute Dedalus logo for more info …..

….. and then buy it for me for Christmas! :)

Gary Fry – The Gray Friar Christmas Chapbook 2007

Gary Fry (ed.) – The Gray Friar Christmas Chapbook 2007 (Gray Friar, 2008 [there was a printing delay])

 

Simon Strantzas

Nicholas Royle – Red Christmas
Gary McMahon – Loving Angels
Paul Finch – December
Simon Strantzas – The Uninvited Guest
Gary Fry – Just For You
Conrad Williams – Foreign Parts
John Llewellyn Probert – Last Christmas

 

As mentioned elsewhere, you get this as a free pdf whenever you order a title direct from Gray Friars Press and it’s well worth having, i can tell you. Mine came lacking a cover (grumble, moan, complain, etc), so (pilfer, steal, snatch, etc) i’ve swiped this from Simon Strantzas‘s blog.

Here, as far as i can make out, is the Gray Friars catalogue to date. I could be wrong but most (if not all?) are short story collections: as you can see, a respectable smattering of names familiar from Black Book Of Horror. Another plus, Gray Friars pride themselves on being “the true home of British horror” and they’re certainly having a good stab at living up to it.

Simon Bestwick – Pictures of the Dark
Paul Finch – Stains
Gary Fry – Mindful of Phantoms
Gary Fry – The Impelled & Other Head Trips
Gary McMahon – Dirty Prayers
Lisa Morton – The Castle of Los Angeles (forthcoming)
John Llewellyn Probert – The Catacombs of Fear
John Llewellyn Probert – The Faculty of Terror
Tony Richards – Passport to Purgatory
Stephen Volk – Dark Corners

Anthologies:
Gary Fry (ed.) – Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet (Paul Finch, Donald Pulker, Andrew Hook, Gary McMahon, Adam L. G. Nevill, Rhys Hughes, Simon Strantzas)
Gary Fry (ed.) – Poe’s Progeny

Novellas series:
Conrad Williams – Rain
Steve Vernon – Hard Roads
Nicholas Royle – The Appetite
Paul Finch – Groaning Shadows
Stephen Volk – Vardoger

Gary Fry – Poe’s Progeny

Gary Fry (ed.) – Poe’s Progeny (Gray Friars Press, Sept. 2005)

Michael Marshall Smith – Introduction

Mike O’Driscoll – The Hurting House
Mark Morris – The Places They Hide
Antony Mann – Save The Snutch
Melvin Cartagena – Bottom Feeders
Tim Lebbon – A Ripple In The Veil
Steve Savile – Idiot Hearts
Joel Lane – A Night On Fire
Greg Beatty – Dr Jackman’s Lens
Chico Kidd – Unfinished Business
Conrad Williams – Once Seen
Jon Hartless – Earth, Water, Oil
Nicholas Royle – Sitting Tenant
Kathy Sedia – Making Ivy
Dominick Cancilla – The Cubicle Wall
Stephen Volk – The Good Unknown
Gary Fry – The Strange Case Of Jack Myride And Company
Andrew Hook – The Pregnant Sky
Gene Stewart – Evidence
Rhys Hughes – The Jam Of Hypnos
Gary McMahon – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Adam L. G. Nevill – Where Angels Come In
John L. Probert – The Volkendorf Exhibition
Allen Ashley – Turbulent Times
Richard Gavin – The Pale Lover
Kevin L. Donihe – Living Room Zombies
Neil Ayres – The Scent Of Nostalgia
Robert Swartwood – Goodbye
Simon Clark – One Man Show
Donald R. Burleson – Papa Loaty
Ramsey Campbell – Just Behind You

Blurb:

Too often contemporary horror fiction denies, forgets or is even unaware of its roots in classic dark literature. The man legitimately called the father of the genre, Edgar Allan Poe, thrust terror into the soul of humanity, while his illegitimate descendants located it in the cosmos, across nations, in science, through history, in nature, in the city — in short, wherever people come together and invariably attempt to dull their imaginations. But experience is always too cruel.

These themes are of course relevant today.

This book aims to show how the ideas and techniques of the greats might be utilised to explore the modern world. Here you’ll find neither pastiche nor period prose, rather thoroughly contemporary visions whose aging, tell-tale heart still beats with dismaying memory of the past and irrepressible fear for the future…

30 original stories from some of the finest practitioners in the field, including a brand new tale from modern master Ramsey Campbell.

Gary Fry – Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet

Gary Fry (ed.) – Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet (Gray Friars, Dec. 2005)

Mike O’Driscoll – Introduction

Paul Finch – Hobhook
Donald Pulker – Forced Perspective
Andrew Hook – Live From The Hippodrome
Gary McMahon – Like A Stone
Adam L. G. Nevill – The Other Occupant
Rhys Hughes – The Hydrothermal Reich
Simon Strantzas – Fading Light

Blurb

Edgar Allan Poe suggested that the short story was the ideal vehicle for the dark tale, yet some of the finest ever written — to take just two examples, Algernon Blackwood’s ‘The Willows’ and H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Colour Out Of Space’ — are far longer. The novella, or novelette, is an enduringly popular form in the field of imaginative literature, yet few books celebrate it exclusively.

This collection seeks to show how the longer short story, or the very short novel, is ideally suited to the demands of creating an atmosphere, telling an involving tale, and developing compelling characters. The authors here are all masters of their craft: they know how to combine economy with broad visions of fear.

Let their chill melody seduce you; discordant imagery awaits; infectious rhythms will drive you wild with dread.

Six outstanding pieces from some of today’s bleakest prodigies. Let the music commence…

Daniel McGachey – They That Dwell In Dark Places

Out now from Dark Regions press!

Daniel McGachey – They That Dwell In Dark Places and other Ghost Stories (Dark Regions Press, 2009)

Cover painting, “Dr. Lawrence – An Informal Portrait”, by Julia Jeffrey. Cover design by Dav

Charles Black – Introduction: The Lurker In The Shadows

The Shadow In The Stacks
The Mound
The Beacon
“Shalt Thou Know My Name?”
The Wager
The Crimson Picture
Rags
The Travelling Companion
A Ravelled Tress
“And Still Those Screams Resound”
An Unwise Purchase by Dr. H. S. Grace
The Unmasking – ‘An Evening Of Revels And Revelations’
They That Dwell In Dark Places

Author’s Notes: Shedding Light On Dark Places
Author’s Bio

Blurb:
“This is a ghost story about ghost stories. It tells a tale about the telling of tales, and of the need, the absolute necessity, for stories that strike fear into men’s hearts; stories that delve into the unknown and the uncanny…”

… and in most of the thirteen stories in this collection, the telling of ghostly tales plays a vital part.

Here are stories told by firelight in isolated cottages, by lantern-light on
storm-lashed beaches, by gaslight in scholars’ studies and clubrooms, or by
twilight in libraries and in lonely asylum cells.

Here are stories of things that crawl stealthily across moonlit lawns; of legends it is better to remember, and of relics that are best left forgotten in the dark; of the malice of objects that are not as inanimate as they might seem, and of ancient tragedies re-enacted before helpless and horrified eyes…..

Here are stories of…
Strange books unearthed from the college library foundations, and the dreadful shadowy form that seeks their return…
The man with no sense of humour who plays a joke that has deadly results…
The legendary gambling club where something far more precious than money is at
stake… ….
The book of ghost stories whose contents prove more than usually absorbing for the unfortunate reader…
The solitary lighthouse in the middle of a treacherous sea, and the nightmare that awaits its keepers one stormy night, when someone comes knocking at the door…
The painter whose commission for an unseen sponsor produces horrifying portraits that capture more than a mere likeness of the subjects…
The old house with an alarming history, and the professor who is drawn to it in hope of fulfilling his overwhelming ambition to finally see a ghost…
And the gentlemen’s club where the patrons gather on Hallowe’en night to exchange ghoulish tales, and where a very special tale of horror must yet be told.

Here are stories of phantoms and demons; of those who are haunted by them, and those, like Dr. Lawrence, the antiquarian scholar, who seek them and face them. Here are stories of They that Dwell in Dark Places!

From The Workshop Of Filthy Creations #5

Rog Pile (ed.) – From The Workshop Of Filthy Creations #5 (October 2009)

Adrian Salmon

Rog Pile – Editorial
Franklin Marsh – Yukon
James Stanger – W.E.B.
D. F. Lewis – A Knight At The Opera
Noah Brown – A Surprise For Sarah
Rog Pile – Horror At The Sagebrush Hotel
P. F. Jeffery – Odalisque : The Grey Plain
Franklin Marsh – The Horror On Dreadstone Moor  (serrial finale)

Rog Pile – Crumpet On Board! The Thinking Man’s Crumpet Issue 1 Revisited!

Front cover and Horror At The Sagebrush Motel illustrations – Ade Salmon.  Other Illustrations – Rog Pile

DTP Stuff – Rog Pile;  Consultative Editor – Coral King

Dedicated to Charles Black. Particularly glad to see the classic Gregory Pendennis adventure, The Horror Of Dreadstone Moor, is finally available in its entirety, and that’s a tasty contributors list if past form is anything to go by. Details from Filthy Creations where you’ll also find work-in-progress versions of some of the stories.

Thanks to Franklin Marsh for supplying the contents list and cover scan.

Wordsworth Collection Of Irish Ghost Stories

Anonymous – The Wordsworth Collection Of Irish Ghost Stories (Wordsworth, 2005)

Sheridan Le Fanu – Green Tea
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Familiar
Sheridan Le Fanu – Mr Justice Harbottle
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Room In Le Dragon Volant
Sheridan Le Fanu – Carmilla
Sheridan Le Fanu – Madam Crowl’s Ghost
Sheridan Le Fanu – Squire Toby’s Will
Sheridan Le Fanu – Dickon The Devil
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Child That Went With The Fairies
Sheridan Le Fanu – The White Cat Of Drumguinnol
Sheridan Le Fanu – An Account Of Some Strange Disturbances In Aungiers Street
Sheridan Le Fanu – Ghost Stories Of Chapelizod
Sheridan Le Fanu – Wicked Captain Walshawe Of Wauling
Sheridan Le Fanu – Sir Dominick’s Bargain
Sheridan Le Fanu – Ultor de Lacy
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Vision Of Tom Chuff
Sheridan Le Fanu – Stories Of Lough Guir
Michael Banim – The Rival Dreamers
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Spectre Lovers
Thomas Crofton Croker – The Haunted Cellar
Thomas Crofton Croker – Legend Of Bottle Hill
Patrick Kennedy – The Ghost And The Game of Football
Jeremiah Curtin – The Blood-Drawing Ghost
Jeremiah Curtin – St. Martin’s Eve
William Maginn – A Vision Of Purgatory
Gerald Griffin – The Brown Man
Gerald Griffin – The Dilemma Of Phadrig
Shan F. Bullock – Th’ Ould Boy
Letitia Maclintock – Far Darrig In Donegal
Letitia Maclintock – Jamie Freel And The Young Lady
James Berry – The Adventures Of Foranan O’Fergus, The Physician
William Carleton – Moll Roe’s Marriage, or The Pudding Bewitched
William Carleton – The Three Wishes
Bram Stoker – The Judges House
Francis Marion Crawford – The Dead Smile
Oscar Wilde – The Canterville Ghost
Charlotte Riddell – Hertford O’Donnell’s Warning
Charlotte Riddell – The Last Squire Of Ennismore
Douglas Hyde – Teig O’Kane And The Corpse
Daniel Corkery – Eyes Of The Dead
A. E. Coppard – The Gollan
George Moore – A Play-House In The Waste
Rosa Mulholland – The Ghost At The Rath
Forrest Reid – Courage
Dorothy Macardl – The Prisoner
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Watcher
Sheridan Le Fanu – Passage In The Secret History Of An Irish Countess
Sheridan Le Fanu – Strange Event In The Life Of Shalken The Painter
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Fortunes Of Sir Robert Ardagh
Sheridan Le Fanu – The Dream
Sheridan Le Fanu – A Chapter In The History Of A Tyrone Family
Cecil Francis Alexander – The Legend Of Stumpie’s Brae
Traditional – Daniel Crowley And The Ghosts
Traditional – John Reardon And The Sister Ghosts
Anonymous – The Witch Hare
Traditional – Donald And His Neighbours
Patrick Kennedy – Hairy Rouchy
Thomas Crofton Crocker – The Legend Of Knockgrafton
Thomas Crofton Crocker – Daniel O’Rouke
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – About The Fairies
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – Satan As Sculptor
Hermine Kavenagh – Darby O’Gill And The Leprechaun
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Defeat Of The Widows
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Henpecked Giant
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Leprechaun
Thomas Crofton Crocker – Master And Man
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – How The Lakes Were Made
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – Taming The Pooka
D. R. McAnally, Jr. – The Sexton Of Cashel
Joseph Jacobs – The Fields Of Boliauns

Blurb:

With a word of warning to those of nervous a disposition, Wordsworth presents this spellbinding collection of chilling Celtic tales of the macabre, all drawn from the rich and varied literary tradition of a culture long enchanted by things supernatural, ‘a land where ghosts and ghost-seers are so common’. Featuring the imaginative writing of such towering masters of the genre as Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Patrick Kennedy, Thomas Crofton Croker and George Moore, this volume of ghoulish masterpieces from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is an encapsulation of the arcane lore, magical landscape and fantastic creativity of the Irish. Don’t attempt to read these horrifying tales alone in an empty house. Your blood will run cold as the unreal becomes real and the impossible all too possible. Indelible images will possess your imagination and haunt your dreams. Make sure all the lights are on and the doors are bolted.

Thanks to mattofthespurs for suggesting this one!

Paul Magrs & Stuart Douglas -The Panda Book of Horror

Paul Magrs &  Stuart Douglas (eds.) -The Panda Book of Horror (Obverse, Dec. 2009)

Along for the ride this time are…

Ian Potter – Iris Wildthyme and the Unholy Ghost
Mark Michalowski – Framed
Phil Craggs – Just the Ticket
Simon Guerrier – The Party in Room Four
Blair Bidmead – Party Kill Accelerator!
Mark Morris – Apocalypse Slough
Paul Magrs – The Delightful Bag
Nicholas Nada – Iris Wildthyme’s Rainy Day Adventure
Eddie Robson – The Colour Scheme
Matt Kimpton – Shadow of the Times Before
Dale Smith – The Fag Hag from Hell
Jac Rayner and Orna Petit – The Niceness
Mark Clapham  – Channel 666

Blurb:

Ding Ding! All aboard! Room for a little ‘un at the back!

Iris, Panda and their transtemporal double decker Routemaster bus are just about ready to leave the terminus and set out on their most terrifying adventures yet!

Yes, The Panda Book of Horror will soon be on its way to the printers, with a publication date of 12 December 2009!

With cover art by Paul Magrs and a pretty damn nifty pastiche of the original Pan Books of Horror design by Cody Schell, we think you’ll enjoy The Panda Book of Horror…though perhaps enjoy  is the wrong word…

More details: Paul Magrs blog
Order from  Obverse Books

Thanks to the legendary Charles Black for putting me onto this one!

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

The third volume in Charles’ BFS award nominated Black Books (as i write we’re on number five).  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.

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