Michel Parry (ed.) – Spaced Out

Michel Parry (ed.) – Spaced Out (Panther, 1977)

Brian Froud
With interior illustrations by Jim Pitts.

Michel Parry – Introduction :Spaced Out
Michael Moorcock – The Deep Fix
Fritz Leiber – All the Weed in the World
Fletcher Pratt – The Roger Bacon Formula
Carl Jacobi – Smoke of the Snake
Henry Slesar – Melodramine
Grania Davis – My Head’s in a Different Place, Now
R. A. Lafferty – Sky
David Gerrold – All of Them Were Empty

Blurb:
FAR OUT OF THIS WORLD
Highs of horror, raptures and nightmares await you within the pages of this book. Travel beyond the limits of earthbound reality … and discover worlds of fantasy and horror as bizarre and enthralling as those in Michel Parry’s previous trailblazing anthologies STRANGE ECSTASIES and DREAM TRIPS. The fifth dimension awaits you within.
ENTER

Vault Advent Calendar #5: A Tribute to Michel Parry

Starts today over on our forum

A tribute to Michel

We still have a few vacant slots so, should you wish to contribute, you can email dem at  whitechapelgothicAtgmail.com. ASAP! Please name message ‘Vault Advent Calendar’ or similar so as not to confuse my spam filter. Remember – it’s short proper horror supernatural fiction we’re after, not 2 million page novels.

Oh yeah. Seasons greetings and all that

bloody kisses

dem/ gloomy, etc.

Michel Parry (ed.) – The Waves of Terror

Michel Parry  (ed.) – The Waves of Fear (Gollancz, 1976)

Michel Parry – Introduction

William Hope Hodgson – From the Tideless Sea
Eugene Burdick – Log the Man Dead
William Clark Russell – The Phantom Death
Guy de Maupassant – At Sea
Joseph Conrad – The Brute
Ambrose Bierce – A Psychological Shipwreck
David A. Drake – From the Dark Waters
Robert E. Howard – Sea Curse
Irvin S. Cobb – Fishhead
H. P. Lovecraft – Dagon
Captain William Outerson – Fire in the Galley Stove
John Russell – The Slayer
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Sinking Ship
William Hope Hodgson – More News from the Homebird
John Masfield – The Devil and the Old Man

Thanks to Lord Froggy of The British Fantasy Society for providing the contents!

Basil Copper ‘A Life in books’ launch this saturday

sorry it’s such short notice. it’s looking like there will be a decent vault presence at this. i’m the guy rat-tail hair, wild staring eyes and broken arm and you are very welcome to say hi and get me incredibly drunk! see olde cock tavern thread on vault site for latest news/ arrangements for night so you’ll know how best to avoid us.

and thanks to Mark Samuels for tipping us off and typing this out!

BASIL COPPER BOOK LAUNCH

Hosted by the British Fantasy Society and PS Publishing, the bio/bibliography BASIL COPPER: A LIFE IN BOOKS Compiled and Edited by Stephen Jones will be launched on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd at THE UPSTAIRS BAR, YE OLDE COCK TAVERN, 22 FLEET STREET, LONDON EC4Y 1AA from 6:00pm onwards.

Among those signing copies will be BASIL COPPER, editor/co-designer STEPHEN JONES, artists RANDY BROECKER and LES EDWARDS, co-designer MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH and publisher PETER CROWTHER. Special Guests (subject to commitment) include legendary anthology editors HUGH LAMB, MICHEL PARRY and DAVID A. SUTTON.

Basil Copper became a full-time writer in 1970. His first story in the horror field, ‘The Spider’, was published in 1964 in THE FIFTH PAN BOOK OF HORROR STORIES, since when his short fiction has appeared in numerous collections and anthologies, and been extensively adapted for radio and television. Along with two non-fiction studies of the vampire and werewolf legends, his other books include the novels THE GREAT WHITE SPACE, THE CURSE OF THE FLEERS, NECROPOLIS, THE BLACK DEATH and THE HOUSE OF THE WOLF. Copper has also written more than fifty hardboiled thrillers about Los Angeles private detective Mike Faraday, and has continued the adventures of August Derleth’s Sherlock Holmes-like consulting detective Solar Pons in several volumes of short stories and the novel SOLAR PONS VERSUS THE DEVIL’S CLAW.

Concluding three years’ extensive research, multiple award-winning editor and writer Stephen Jones was given unprecedented and unrestricted access to the books and papers of renowned British macabre and crime writer Basil Copper.

The result is BASIL COPPER: A LIFE IN BOOKS, a unique and in-depth study of the author and his works. Not only does this volume contain the most comprehensive Working Bibliography ever compiled of Basil Copper’s productive output – including Macabre and Supernatural Novels and Collections, the “Solar Pons” series, the “Mike Faraday” series, Short Fiction and Novellas, Media Adaptations, Unpublished Works and much more, enhanced with commentary by the author himself – but it also features several rare and obscure articles covering everything from Arkham House creator August Derleth to a brief history of Count Dracula.

There are also a number of short stories, most of them original to this volume, ranging from his very first published work back in 1938 to a brand-new “Mike Faraday” detective adventure, along with a complete television script based on M.R. James’ classic horror story ‘Count Magnus’.

With an in-depth look at the author’s life and career by acclaimed ghost story editor Richard Dalby, and Basil Copper’s inspirational Guest of Honour speech from the 1977 British Fantasy Convention, BASIL COPPER: A LIFE IN BOOKS is illustrated with numerous cover reproductions, artwork and unique personal photographs.

If you cannot make it to the signing, but still want to PRE-PURCHASE a personally-signed copy (or copies) please contact PS Publishing for details of how to place your order. Dealer’s enquiries welcome – trade discounts available.

ISBN 978-1-905834-98-3 (Jacketed hardcover) £25.00 / $50.00 (approx.) ISBN 978-1-905834-97-6 (Hardcover) £15.00 / $30.00 (approx.) 280pp

BFS BONUS!!! On the night, a number of specially-priced copies of the PS hardcover anthology DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHT will be available on a first-come basis. Edited by STEPHEN JONES, this third volume in the acclaimed new “Not at Night” series features work by BASIL COPPER, PAUL McAULEY, MARK SAMUELS, JAY RUSSELL, RANDY BROECKER, LES EDWARDS and many others (including Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Charles L. Grant and Hugh B. Cave).

Michel Parry & Christopher Lee – The Archives Of Evil

Michel Parry & Christopher Lee (eds.) – The Archives Of Evil  (W. H. Allen, 1977)

Introduction – Christopher Lee

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Adventure Of The Sussex Vampire
H. P. Lovecraft – The Lurking Fear
John Collier – Rope Enough
Jack London – Lost face
Theodore Sturgeon – It
Henry Slesar – The Rats Of Dr. Picard
W. F. Harvey – The Beast With Five Fingers
Ray Bradbury – Skeleton
H. R. Wakefield – The Seventeenth Hole At Duncaster
Saki – Gabriel-Ernest
M. R. James – The Ash Tree
Massimo Bontempelli – The Avenging Film

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Adventure Of The Sussex Vampire: when Ferguson’s second wife, a Peruvian, is twice discovered leaning over their new born, sucking blood from a wound in the infant’s neck, Holmes is called in to investigate what looks to be a classic case of vampirism. But, as he explains to the ever-bamboozled Watson: “What have we to do with walking corpses who can only be held in their graves by stakes driven through their hearts. It’s pure lunacy.” Jack London – Lost face: Subienkow watches the Nutalo injuns fiendishly torture and kill his friend Big Ivan knowing that it’s his turn next. With no hope of escape or rescue, the best he can hope for is a quick and relatively painless death. A neglected horror classic and the grimmest thing in here by some distance. John Collier – Rope Enough: Sceptic Henry Fraser is taught the Indian Rope Trick by a peasant whose life he’s inadvertently saved. Back in America, facing ruination and with a demanding and very jealous memsahib to maintain, he performs the trick for the first time with Mrs. Fraser as his assistant. At the top of the rope he discovers Paradise … and better still, a very willing beauty to entertain. Unfortunately, his wife appears at this inopportune moment, scimitar between her teeth and madness in her eyes. She slices off Henry’s limbs and drops the bloody chunks to earth but there’s no cause to worry, it’s all in the act and she’ll reassemble him below. Then a hunky Maharaja appears … Great fun, reminiscent of a Benny Hill sketch except with lashings of gore. Henry Slesar – The Rats Of Dr. Picard: Dr. Picard of the Fierstmyer Institute brings 45 lab rats home so he can conduct some extracurricular research. His wife Violet takes exception and, inspired by her Animal Rights activist friend Mrs. Springer, hatches a plot to release them. They’re very hungry … William Fryer Harvey – The Beast With Five Fingers: “Eustace watched it grimly, as it hung from the cornice with three fingers and flicked thumb and forefinger at him in an expression of scornful derision.” Shortly before his death, the blind Adrian Borlsover became prolific at automatic hand-writing, and the messages from the other side seemed to be directed at his cousin, Eustace. When Uncle Adrian died, the right hand used it’s skilled penmanship to fake a dying request from the old man – that it be severed from the corpse and sent to Eustace. The entity manipulating the hand – possibly a stray elemental or the spirit of someone Eustace has swindled – is not without a sense of fun and is even spotted sliding down the banister. But it also has a supremely vindictive streak and finally, stabbed, burnt, but refusing to lie down, it tires of toying with him … H. R. Wakefield – The Seventeenth Hole At Duncaster: A golf club on the Norfolk coast. The course has recently been extended at the expense of a strip of woodland, but members complain the hole is unplayable and a particularly foul stench periodically emanates from the vicinity. The secretary, Mr. Baxter, suffers nightmares in which he is gloatingly informed of who will be next to die at the 17th, and the voices are never wrong. After a woman is stripped and murdered by persons unknown at the blighted spot, he wisely obtains a transfer to London, where he later learns that ‘Blood Wood’ – as it is known locally – was once the haunt of Druids. Massimo Bontempelli – The Avenging Film: A super-sensitive actor in his first role, suffers all the sensations he’s portraying on the set. As the movie calls on him to act out hatred toward a love-rival, bereavement, starvation and suicide, it all gets rather much for him. Ray Bradbury – Skeleton: Mr. Harris has consulted him so many times about his aching bones that Dr. Burleigh has him figured as a hypochondriac. He isn’t. His skeleton really is in open revolt versus his body and will stop at nothing to be rid of all that flesh and innards. The late, great Sydney Bounds reworked this as The Flesh Is Weak but Bradbury’s original is peerless E.C. stuff.

Michel Parry – Reign Of Terror 4

Michel Parry (ed.) – Reign Of Terror: The 4th Corgi Book Of Victorian Horror Stories (Corgi, 1978)

Rudyard Kipling – The Strange Ride Of Morrowbie Jukes
Rosa Mulholland – The Haunted Organist
Grant Allen – The Beckoning Hand
Hume Nisbet – The Demon Spell
Mrs. Henry Wood – A Mysterious Visitor
Sir Gilbert Campbell – The Lady Isobel
James Platt – The Witches’ Sabbath
Agnes MacLeod – The Skeleton Hand

Michel Parry – Reign Of Terror 3

Michel Parry (ed) – Reign Of Terror: The 3rd Corgi Book Of Victorian Horror Stories (Corgi, 1977)

 

William Carleton – Wildgoose Lodge
J. S. Le Fanu – Sir Dominick’s Bargain
Henry James – The Romance Of Certain Old Clothes
Rhoda Broughton – Under The Cloak
George MacDonald – The Grey Wolf
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Body Snatcher
Hugh Conway – The Secret Of The Stradivarius
E. Lynn Linton – The Fate Of Madame Cabanel

Michel Parry – Reign Of Terror 2

Michel Parry (ed) – Reign Of Terror: The 2nd Corgi Book Of Victorian Horror Stories (Corgi, 1977)

 

Wilkie Collins – The Dream Woman
Charles Collins – The Compensation House
Lord Lytton – The House And The Brain
Hain Friswell – The Dead Man’s Story
John Berwick Harwood – Horror: A True Tale
Mary Elizabeth Braddon – The Cold Embrace
H. G. Bell – The Merchant Of Rotterdam
Erckmann-Chatrian – The Child Stealer

Michel Parry – Reign Of Terror 1

Michel Parry (ed) – Reign Of Terror: The 1st Corgi Book Of Victorian Horror Stories (Corgi, 1976)

Michel Parry Introduction – An Age In Horror

R. H. Barham – A Singular Passage In The Life Of The Late Henry Harris, Doctor In Divinity
James Grant – The Phantom Regiment
G. P. R. James – A Night In The Old Castle
William Mudford – The Forsaken Of God
Catherine Crowe – The Monk’s Story
Amelia B. Edwards – The North Mail
Elizabeth Gaskell – The Old Nurse’s Story
Charles Dickens – The Signalman

Michel Parry – Beware Of The Cat

Michel Parry (ed) – Beware Of The Cat  (Gollancz, 1972: Arrow, 1974)

Introduction – Michel Parry

Gulielmus Baldwin – Beware The Cat
Barry Pain – The Grey Cat
Stephen Vincent Benet – The King Of The Cats
Traditional – The Vampire Cat
Byron Liggett – The Cat Man
J. S. Le Fanu – The White Cat
Algernon Blackwood – Ancient Sorceries
Saki – Tobermoray
Theodore Sturgeon – Fluffy
Ramsey Campbell – Cat And Mouse
H. P. lovecraft – The Cats Of Ulthar
Ambrose Bierce – Eyes Of The Panther
Walter Wintle – The Black Cat
Ernest Hamilton – The Child Watcher

Byron Liggett – The Cat Man:  Author Gerald Foster buys a tiny island in the Pacific, taking half a dozen cats with him for company. The narrator, Captain Rogers, agrees to deliver his supplies and over the next three years watches appalled as the cat population increases into the hundreds. It is all Foster can do to feed them and, now they’ve rid Tuo Atoll of its rats, birds and insects, the situation is desperate. Rogers makes him a present of two fierce dogs but they’re easily overcome and eaten, so next he suggests poison. Foster won’t hear of such cruelty, reasoning that this situation is down to him, not the ferocious felines. Rogers decides he’s going to kill them with or without the recluse’s consent, but his sloop is smashed in a hurricane and its four months until he can return to perform the operation.

It’s obvious from the first how this will end but the sheer inevitability of it all adds to the horror of the thing

Ernest Hamilton – The Child Watcher: Her owner drowned Esther’s kittens at birth. Guess what Esther has in store for her owners’ new born baby?

Theodore Sturgeon – Fluffy: The cat wants to be rid of its owner, the obscenely wealthy, pampering but insufferable Mrs. Benedetto. Ransome, professional house-guest and casual blackmailer, unwittingly provides the perfect opportunity. Before he reveals his dastardly frame-up to Ransome, Fluffy explains why cats have never been arsed to take over the world.