Justin Marriott [ed] – Pulp Horror: All Review’s Special

Justin Marriott [ed] – Pulp Horror: All Review’s Special (Paperback Fanatic, Jan. 2020)

Josh Kirby

Blurb:
130 reviews of vintage horror paperbacks, comics and pulps. 115 pages black-and-white, fully illustrated with many covers. Movie tie-ins, natures-run-amok, occult detectives, possessed teenagers, punk rock werewolves, Cthulhu mythos and much more.

Reviewers:
Ben Boulden, James Doig, Andreas Decker, Kev Demant, Jeff Popple, Jim O’Brien, Penny Tesarek, Tom Tesarek, Simon Ruleman, Justin Marriott

Available from:

Am*z*n.uk

Am*z*n

Paul Finch (ed.) – Terror Tales Of The Scottish Highlands

Out now from Gray Friar Press, the eighth volume in this consistently splendid series

Paul Finch (ed.) – Terror Tales Of The Scottish Highlands (Gray Friar, June 2015)

Cover illustration: Neil Williams

Ian Hunter – Skye’s Skary Places
Phantoms in the Mist
Helen Grant – The Dove
Prey of the Fin-Folk
Barbara Roden – Strone House
The Well of Heads
Tom Johnstone – Face Down In The Earth
The Vanishing
William Meikle – The Dreaming God Is Singing Where She Lies
The Curse of Scotland
Rosie Seymour – The Housekeeper
From Out The Hollow Hills
Peter Bell – The Executioner
Saurians of the Deep
John Whitbourn – You Must Be Cold
Glamis Castle
Sheila Hodgson – The Fellow Travellers
Daemonologie
Graeme Hurry – Shelleycoat
Evil Monsters
Craig Herbertson – The Other House, The Other Voice
The Mull Plane Mystery
DP Watt – Myself/Thyself
The Bauchan
Carl Barker – Broken Spectres
The Big Grey Man
Gary Fry – Jack Knife
Tristicloke the Wolf
Johnny Mains – The Foul Mass At Tongue House
The Drummer of Cortachy
Carole Johnstone – There You’ll Be

Blurb:
The Scottish Highlands, picturesque home to grand mountains and plunging glens. But also a land of bitterness, betrayal and blood-feud, where phantom pipers lament callous slaughters, evil spirits haunt crag and loch, and ancient monsters roam the fogbound moors …

The Black Wolf of Badenoch
The deformed horror at Glamis
The witch coven of Auldearn
The faceless giant of Ben Macdui
The shrieking voices on Skye
The feathered fiend of Glen Etive
The headless killer at Arisaig

And many more chilling tales by William Meikle, Helen Grant, Barbara Roden, Carole Johnstone, DP Watt and other award-winning masters and mistresses of the macabre.

Order your copy direct from Gray Friar Press

A Visual Guide To New English Library

Justin Marriott (ed.) – A Visual Guide To New English Library: Volume One (Nov. 2010) 

Blurb:
British Publisher New English Library are a legend amongst vintage paperback fans and collectors throughout the world.

Their cult output is celebrated in the first of an ongoing series of visual guides from the producers of The Paperback Fanatic magazine.

Volume one is crammed with full colour reproductions of rare covers. The glorious visuals are accompanied by insightful commentary and full bibliographical detail, including previously unrecorded information on pseudonyms.

more details on Vault Of Evil Forum:

Cynthia Asquith – Shudders

Cynthia Asquith (ed.) – Shudders: A Collection Of New Nightmare Tales (Hutchinson, 1929)

L.P Hartley – The Travelling Grave
Hilda Hughes – Those Whom The Gods Love
E.F Benson – The Hanging Of Alfred Wadham
Walter de la Mare – Crewe
Arthur Machen – The Cosy Room
Huge Walpole – The Snow
Elizabeth Bowen – The Cat Jumps
M.R James – Rats
Algernon Blackwood – The Stranger
C.H.B Kitchin – Dispossession
Shame Leslie – The Lord-In-Waiting
W.B Maxwell – The Last Man In
W.Somerset Maugham – The End Of The Flight
Mrs Belloc Lowndes – Her Judgment Day
Cynthia Asquith – The Playfellow

Mark Samuels – Glyphotech

Mark Samuels – Glyphotech (PS Showcase #4: September 2008) £10.00 [$15.00]

Cover Artist: Jason Van Hollander

Ramsey Campbell – Introduction

Glyphotech
Sentinels
Patient 704
Shallaballah
Ghorla
Cesare Thodol: Some Lines Written on a Wall
The Cannibal Kings of Horror
Destination Nihil by Edmund Bertrand
The Vanishing Point
Regina vs. Zoskia
A Gentleman from Mexico

Blurb:

The fourth in our series of PS Showcase mini-collections of short stories from some of genre fiction’s best up-and-coming writers.

In the introduction to this collection Ramsey Campbell states that the two modern masters of urban weirdness are Thomas Ligotti and Mark Samuels. Inside this book you will find weird things indeed, not least the likes of:

The fungus-riddled mannequin in the lunatic asylum
The reconstruction company that works with life and death
The legal nightmare where the sane are guilty
A horror writing convention taken over by black magic cannibals
The Punch and Judy show broadcast live after death
The strange fate of the reincarnation of H.P. Lovecraft

Black Book of Horror, Best New Horror‘s 17, 18 and 19, Summer Chills and now a bootleg Word document – it’s like i’ve been collecting Glyphotech in installments. Anyway, yesterdays unforgettable encounter with the beyond cantankerous horror legend Edmund Bertrand in The Cannibal Kings Of Horror has reminded me that i’ve been meaning to splash out on Glyphotech ever since I read the ghoulish Death Lines for the noughties, Sentinels, way back in the previous Best New Horror, so some other poor sod will be due more Postal Order fun and games shortly! Delighted to see that the collection reprints an original from the admirably sociopath Mr. Bertrand and am looking forward to a return match with Regina vs. Zoskia from Charles’ first Black Book as the final, terrible revelation made a deeply unpleasant impression at the time.

As with previous PS Showcase editions, the print run is limited to 300 copies: order direct from P.S. Publishing.

Mr. Samuels reads an extract from his Lovecraft lives! chiller, A Gentleman From Mexico, HERE

John Llewellyn Probert – The Catacombs of Fear

Something nasty is lurking below the offices of Gray Friar Press …..

John Llewellyn Probert – The Catacombs of Fear (Gray Friar, 2009)

Introduction

Prologue
The Neighbourhood Watch
Catacombs Interlude No. 1
At First Sight
Catacombs Interlude No.2
The Markovski Quartet
Catacombs Interlude No.3
Mors Gratia Artis
Catacombs Interlude No.4
A Dance to the Music of Insanity
Finale

Strolling Shadowy Corridors: A Guided Tour of The Catacombs of Fear

Blurb:

House of God or House of Horrors?

The dinner party gate-crashed by the undead…

The beautiful girl whose looks are maintained by acts of violence…

The crippled ballerina desperate for new legs…

The television producer who discovers that murder improves his ratings…

The hideous deaths in an old country house that lead to something far worse…

The Reverend Patrick Clements arrives at Chilminster Cathedral to take up his new post, only to find his introductory tour taking rather longer than anticipated. As the sun sets and the evening draws on Patrick meets staff and parishioners, and learns far more of the macabre history of the community he is destined to become a part of than any mortal man should hear. But these stories are only the beginning of what has been planned for him.

John Llewellyn Probert’s follow up to his award-winning The Faculty of Terror provides five macabre tales bound together by a framework story, the climax of which will take its readers into the very depths of hell.

And back again.

Perhaps.

see also the Catacombs Of Fear thread on the Vault Forum

Thinking Man’s Crumpet #2

Thanks to Caroline who is keeping us up to date with developments at TTMC enterprises:

I suspect Vaulters might be interested in this though – we have a particularly sexy line-up for issue 2!

Line up for the forthcoming Issue 2.

Submissions for issue two are now closed, although you may submit at any time for consideration in further issues.

The line up is as follows:

The fiction and verse –
BAD INTENTIONS by Anna Stephens.
HALLUCINATION by Roswell Ivory.
2AM by Sharon Washington.
DELICIOUS by Sam Crosby

Non fiction –
Interview with CHARLES BLACK by Caroline Callaghan.

Men’s section –
SKELETON IN THE CLOSET by A. J. Kirby
WE ARE THREE by Tim Jeffreys

While there is the possibility of last minute additions, the above are the definite inclusions to date.

Issue 2 is due out in January 2009, and details of how to obtain a copy will be posted here in the near future.

Cheers,

Coral and Caroline
www.freewebs.com/thettmcmagazine

Back and up for trouble!

READING IS FUN!

Note almost supernaturally gratuitous use of Bettie Page-style photo. Another devious demonik ploy to grab your "attention"!

illustration: Chrissie Demant

*yawn* is it time to do some more work on WordPress already? It only seems like six months since I sat down and made myself comfy  …

Actually, i’ve not been putting my feet up much at all really! i’ve been kept busy on the Vault forum which leaves me with no time to keep things ticking over on here!

Well, that’s about to change! I need a break from those fiends for a while, so i’ve made an attempt to update all these lapsed wordpress blogs. Don’t tell anyone i’m here!

You’ve maybe noticed that the majority of new books covered on here belong to the Robinson’s Mammoth series. Well, among those recently published under that imprint is one of my very favourite books of 2008. I speak, of course, of Peter Haining’s posthumous Mammoth Book Of True Hauntings which I recommend to fans of ‘real’ ghost stories and ‘News of the Screws’ press clippings as an ideal Christmas present for yourself (because if you read books, you probably haven’t any friends to buy it for you)! Also – Wordsworth Editions. This small team has been responsible for reissuing many rare gems in their superlative Mystery & The Supernatural series at ridiculously low prices. You really should get into them in a big way!

Anyhow; i’ve added news of the BFS Christmas shindig and the revamp of Thinking Man’s Crumpet along with details of three of the aforementioned Mammoths so that should keep you going for now!

Also, i’ve deleted the Vault Newsdesk sub-blog because there’s never any news, ever! “All” the posts should have transferred across except the really useless ones.

News of Paperback Fanatic relaunch when I hear it!

And now i’ve said such rotten things about our forum, stap me if someone good hasn’t joined! Wasn’t it ever so ….

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!

Peter Haining – The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings

Peter Haining – The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings (Robinson, 2008)

photo Tony O’Reilly/ Fortean Picture Library: Cover design: JoeRoberts.co.uk

Foreword: I Am A Researcher Of The Supernatural

A Century Of Hauntings: A Chronology from 1900-2000
The Ghost Hunters: Fifty Authentic Supernatural Experiences
Phantoms In The Sky: Ghostly Pilots, Aircraft And Haunted Airfields
Encounters With The Unknown: Eyewitness Stories By Journalists
Haunted Stars: Show Business And The Supernatural
Supernatural Tales: True Ghost Stories By Famous Authors
Phantom Lovers: Sexual Encounters With Ghosts
What Are Ghosts? The Theories Of The Experts
The A-Z Of Ghosts: Phantoms Of The World

Bibliography
Research Organisations
Acknowledgements

Back cover blurb:

Surprisingly, the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have turned out to be the most extraordinary periods in the history of supernatural encounters – with more mysterious accounts of ghosts being reported from all over the world than during any previous era.

This giant survey from the acclaimed investigator, the late Peter Haining, years in the making and now posthumously published for the first time, documents the full spectrum of credible hauntings during the last hundred years or so. It encompasses over 100 first-hand accounts of poltergeists and phantoms, ghostly pilots and haunted airfields, seduction spirits and sexual encounters with ghostly entities – and much more. Also included are the notes of famous ghost hunters such as Hans Holzer, Harry Price, and Susy Smith; and some fascinating analysis by notable experts on what ghosts really are.

How appropriate that, as we approach November 19th and the first anniversary of his untimely death, the legendary Peter Haining should return from the grave with a collection of True Hauntings.

Experts will doubtless be mortified that Peter has exhumed several of these ‘true’ accounts from such reliable resources as The News Of The World and The Sunday People, but he’s also ransacked his library to good effect for accounts from (perhaps!) more credible authorities, several old Vault friends among them: Dennis Wheatley (on the true life incident at boarding school which inspired his big seller, The Haunting Of Toby Jugg), Arthur Machen (versus a Poltergeist infestation), Barbara Cartland, James Herbert, Robert Thurston Hopkins, Fred Archer, Elliott O’Donnell, Peter Underwood and medium to the stars Doris Stokes.

Predictably, the NOTW is the source for much of the Phantom Lovers: Sexual Encounters With Ghosts section which reads for the most part like a series of plot-outlines for Benny Hill sketches as the country’s struggling pubs are besieged by randy Royalists, Peeping Toms, Phantom Bottom-pinchers – the whole gamut of sex pests from beyond the grave. Typical of these “Grinning Ghouls”, the spectre in the changing room of The Disco Bar, Newcastle who so put the willies up go-go dancer Maggie in 1974, and an incorrigible old rascal who conducted his reign of terror in The Knights Lodge Inn near Corby during the ‘eighties. “I’ve seen him and he’s a big robust chap – a cavalier who carries an ostrich feather. He uses the feather to lift the ladies’ skirts and tickle them – he must have been a real Casanova when he was alive” deadpans a handy ‘Psychic Investigator’, Jean Cooksley. The vast majority of these encounters feature male spooks mithering Miss GB contestants and dolly birds, although The Sun (who else?) can provide a “scantily clad” (what else?) female phantom who steals the discarded clothing of courting couples should they frolic in her Hertfordshire field.

Spectre smitten, pop chanteuse Lynsey De Paul: Her Eurovision Song Contest hopes hit “Rock Bottom” in spooky circumstances!

As those of us who’ve been terrified out of our wits by The Weekend Book of Ghosts & Horror will know to our cost, saccharine-coated songstress Linsey de Paul is arguably the most haunted women in the history of pop and here we learn of another chilling episode in her troubled career – the case of the haunted headphones that so disrupted the fabled Rock Bottom sessions. Another haunted celebrity is William Shatner – and not just by his inspired incursion into the music world, The Transformed Man. Here he recalls his brush with death on a motorcycling tour where it could well have been all up for him had it not been for the intervention of a phantom biker.

I’ve only had the book a day and, doubtless, will have some more woeful comment to make as I progress, but it’s proving a most diverting read. One to file alongside his outrageous but scandalously entertaining ‘non-fiction’ accounts of The Legend & Bizarre Crimes of Spring-Heeled Jack and The Mystery & Horrible Murders of Sweeney Todd!