tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78139671036674040072024-03-15T20:09:30.665-05:00VALANCOURT BOOKS BLOGValancourt Books is an independent small press specializing in the rediscovery of neglected fiction from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, especially horror/supernatural literature and gay interest titles.Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-46037991743184244592020-12-05T10:26:00.002-06:002020-12-06T09:29:39.624-06:00Call for Submissions: Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, volume 2<p><span style="font-size: large;">We are now accepting submissions for <i>The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, volume 2. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Volume 1 has been receiving excellent reviews from readers and from publications like the <i>Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Rue Morgue, Library Journal</i>, and more. These books are a great opportunity for horror writers who write in languages other than English (or who write in English in countries with small publishing markets) to gain wide notice and readership for their work. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The story must be a "horror" story; however, we define this term as
broadly as possible to include stories of the occult and/or
supernatural, weird fiction, tales of the unsettling, uncanny or
macabre, ghost stories, etc. Stories in adjacent genres, such as dark
crime, dark fantasy, or black humor, may also be considered.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Submission Guidelines:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(1) The story <b>must have previously been published</b> (print, ebook, or online)<b> in a language other than English.*</b> We are not looking for self-published material at this time.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(2) In addition, the story must <i><u><b>not </b></u></i>have previously been published in English.*</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">* Stories written in English by writers from countries <u><b>other than</b></u> US/CA/UK/IRL/AU/NZ will be considered, as long as the story has not previously been published in the United States. (e.g., an English-language writer from Nigeria, India, or Singapore would be eligible).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(3) The story should be <b>8000 words or fewer. </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(4) If the story is written in one of the following languages, please submit it in its original language (these are all languages we read): French, Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Romanian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Afrikaans, or any language substantially similar to these.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(5) If the story is written in some language not listed above, it must be accompanied by a summary/description or translation into English. It is OK if the translation is not of professional/publishable quality: it is only for us to get an idea of what the story is about so that we can decide whether we would like to have a professional translation done.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(6) The deadline for submissions is <b>April 30, 2021</b>, but the earlier a submission is received, the more likely it will be to be chosen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(7) Preference will be given to stories from countries not already featured in Volume 1, but writers from those countries are still invited to submit and will be considered. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(8) We are committed to diversity in all its forms. Women writers, writers of color, LGBT writers, writers whose work is in a minority indigenous language, writers from countries traditionally under-represented in American publishing, and all other diverse writers are all encouraged to submit. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(9) A fee will be paid for all stories selected. The writer will also receive a copy of the finished book.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(10) The estimated publication date of the book is December 2021.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Submissions should be sent to the editors, James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle, at info@valancourtbooks.com. Hard copy materials can be mailed to Valancourt Books, P.O. Box 17642, Richmond, VA 23226, USA. Please note that materials sent to us by post will not be returned.<br /></span></p>Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-37838170567385090842020-05-16T13:30:00.000-05:002020-05-16T13:32:07.401-05:00The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories limited edition<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our forthcoming <i><a href="https://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-valancourt-book-of-world-horror-stories-vol-1.html" target="_blank">The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, volume 1</a></i> is probably the <b>most ambitious thing we've ever done</b>. We read literally hundreds of stories originally written in close to 20 languages, from around 40 different countries. We chose our favorites, 21 of them, from 18 different countries, originally written in 13 languages. <b>Twenty of the stories are translated into English for the first time ever</b>, while the remaining story was published in English in the Philippines but has never been available in the U.S. or U.K. <b>There's never been an anthology like this one</b> (and that's not just marketing hype!)</div>
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For the first time ever, we are producing a deluxe limited edition hardcover. The book will be printed by the <b>same printer used by Centipede Press</b> for their limited hardcovers and will be a high-quality book.</div>
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The hardcover edition will be printed on 60# heavyweight paper and bound traditionally (like books used to be) in cloth and Smyth-sewn for durability. The cloth will feature decorative foil stamping, and the book will be dust jacketed. There will be a ribbon bookmark and decorative head and tail bands on the spine. Other bells and whistles may be announced later.</div>
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The book will be <b>limited to 300 copies</b> for sale. Because it's expensive to print small runs of high-quality books, the price will be $60. However, we are offering them at <b>a special preorder price of $50</b>.</div>
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<b>Q.: I live in the U.K. Why is shipping $35, when shipping for one book on your site is normally $3.99 to the U.K.?</b></div>
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All our other books can be printed to order in the U.K. and shipped from there, which makes the shipping cheaper. These books will be printed in the U.S. and shipped from our office in Virginia. The book, plus packing materials, will weigh about 3 lbs (1.5 kg), and the U.S. Postal Service offers no options for economy, surface, or book rate mail -- the books have to be sent Global Priority Rate, and it is expensive. </div>
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<b>Q.: I ordered the paperback edition already but want to switch to the hardcover. How do I do that?</b></div>
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Just send us an email, and we'll be happy to apply the price you already paid for the paperback towards the hardcover edition and send you a Paypal invoice for the difference.</div>
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<b>Q.: When will the hardcovers ship? </b></div>
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The official publication date for the book is Dec. 8, so they will ship by that date, though we hope to have them in the mail sometime in October.</div>
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<b>Q.: Will the books be signed?</b></div>
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Sadly, no. It's just not logistically feasible to get twenty authors in eighteen countries to sign them. It wouldn't be easy at any time, and in this age of coronavirus, it might be well nigh impossible. However, they will be individually numbered.</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-44197195207164766732020-03-22T06:31:00.001-05:002020-04-01T21:17:44.614-05:00Quarantine Relief Package (updated Apr 1 2020)<div style="text-align: justify;">
While world governments dawdle and fumble in their response to this pandemic, we've got our own relief package to help beat the quarantine blues! (We don't know about you, but the crisis finally hit home for us when they closed the libraries and bookstores.... Empty supermarket shelves we can deal with, but empty bookshelves? Gasp!)</div>
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But while we can't cure the coronavirus, we <i>can </i>cure quarantine-induced boredom! </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1) FREE Audiobook Downloads</span></b></div>
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We've made thousands of <b>FREE audiobook codes</b> available over the past few days. As of this morning, 21 books still had downloads available for U.S. Audible users, while there are over 50 titles available to U.K. Audible users. And our authors still get paid a royalty on your free download, so you're getting great free entertainment AND helping an author! </div>
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See the list here: <a href="http://valancourtbooksblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/free-audiobook-downloads.html" target="_blank">http://valancourtbooksblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/free-audiobook-downloads.html</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2) FREE U.S. Shipping</span></b></div>
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Even if there is a bookstore out there still open, trust us, you don't want to venture there and risk getting sick. Stay safe inside and let the books come to you instead. From now through the end of this epidemic, <b>we'll pay the shipping costs</b> to get you the reading material you need. Applies to U.S. website orders over $15 (does not apply to the 20% off preorder titles).</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3) FREE Digital Copy with Order of Print Copy</span></b></div>
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So far we've not heard of virus-related shipping delays, but it's always a possibility. So, if you order a print copy from our website, you are welcome to email us and request a <b>free MOBI (Kindle) or EPUB version</b> to be emailed to you as well. That way, even if the mail is delayed, you can start reading immediately! (These are sent out manually and we're pretty fast, but there are delays if you order when we're sleeping, for example.)</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4) CHEAP E-Books</span></b></div>
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Every Friday during this pandemic, we'll <b>slash one of our favorite ebook titles to $2.99</b> for one week only. Applies to orders placed on Amazon or on our website (if ordering on our website, please note that we have to email you the files manually, so there may be a lag time of a couple hours sometimes in receiving them.)</div>
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This week's title is Michael McDowell's Southern Gothic classic COLD MOON OVER BABYLON (1980), a chilling supernatural revenge tale recently filmed in a movie version starring Christopher Lloyd. Grab it here: <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/cold-moon-over-babylon-1980.html">http://www.valancourtbooks.com/cold-moon-over-babylon-1980.html</a></div>
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We also have our regular March monthly $2.99 ebook specials, Gillian Freeman's eerily prescient 1965 novel of the rise to power of a far-right nationalist leader in Britain, <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-leader-1965.html" target="_blank">THE LEADER</a>, and Paul Binding's moving story of gay love in Spain, <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/harmonicas-bridegroom-1984.html" target="_blank">HARMONICA'S BRIDEGROOM</a> (which has one of our all-time favorite covers):</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5) BOGO Paperbacks</span></b></div>
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For a limited time, if you purchase the paperback of our first International Series title, Hubert Lampo's eerie Belgian magical realist novel THE COMING OF JOACHIM STILLER (1960), we'll automatically send you Felix Timmerman's collection of macabre Flemish tales INTIMATIONS OF DEATH<b> totally FREE.</b> Offer available worldwide.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6) A Peek Ahead</span></b></div>
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And because it's important to have bright things to look forward to in dark times, here's <b>a sneak peek</b> at something we're working hard on. It's difficult to believe, but six months from now this whole mess will likely have blown over, and you'll be able to get your hands on this beauty, which will feature over 20 horror tales from all over the world, from Spain and Italy to Senegal and Ecuador, with all the foreign-language tales appearing in English for the first time. A preorder option and more details are <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-valancourt-book-of-world-horror-stories-vol-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-19315594194746277342019-09-10T15:45:00.000-05:002019-09-10T15:45:17.232-05:00Paperbacks from Hell: Second Wave<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our five <b><i>Paperbacks from Hell</i></b> reprints have been one of the most popular things we've ever done, so we couldn't resist doing a sequel! Here's everything you need to know about our second wave of <b><i>PFH </i></b>reissues.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltZehipWmnz_cRN2ib7iR4rIN-j6HgRE8KSJ3D8rFFUPHQfnOiECL7mx0QBm-U3OuUBM-3ucawCtANdbvteblw8VCS8pHc_zDDymfFuc__dhTsGkFhR9UJSiEUNfsK7rr15MN22NSHCY6/s1600/Black+Ambrosia.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="972" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltZehipWmnz_cRN2ib7iR4rIN-j6HgRE8KSJ3D8rFFUPHQfnOiECL7mx0QBm-U3OuUBM-3ucawCtANdbvteblw8VCS8pHc_zDDymfFuc__dhTsGkFhR9UJSiEUNfsK7rr15MN22NSHCY6/s200/Black+Ambrosia.JPG" width="121" /></span></a><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Black Ambrosia (1988) by Elizabeth Engstrom</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This super-rare novel (there's literally not a single copy for sale online anywhere, at any price) by Engstrom, whose <i>When Darkness Loves Us</i> was part of the first set of PFH, can be read as a straightforward horror novel about a teenage vampire and her string of male victims, or as a story of madness. Is Angelina really a vampire? Can we trust the story she's telling us? You'll have to read the novel to find out. Features a new introduction by Grady Hendrix and the original cover painting by Bob Eggleton.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTWV5dQZPIpJXEYKzQsa59xUqk0iZZHgqHBhW_C8ukMbuEx060B3z58UPwJDM2oPDFrskFIEdG2rUfvsCCU1VCFHXlTn71sPVxvfFF0DUz0lF-_dXtLP1TVkf7rlGVzQw3UHZuKoqC4yZ/s1600/Nightblood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="972" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSTWV5dQZPIpJXEYKzQsa59xUqk0iZZHgqHBhW_C8ukMbuEx060B3z58UPwJDM2oPDFrskFIEdG2rUfvsCCU1VCFHXlTn71sPVxvfFF0DUz0lF-_dXtLP1TVkf7rlGVzQw3UHZuKoqC4yZ/s200/Nightblood.jpg" width="121" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nightblood (1990) by T. Chris Martindale</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Martindale's sought-after book (it sports a 4.12 rating on Goodreads and the cheapest secondhand copies are $32+) also takes vampires as its theme, but there the similarities with Engstrom's book end. In <i>Nightblood, </i>a Vietnam War vet whose brother was killed by a vampire is out for revenge on the undead, with the help of his brother's ghost and an arsenal of high-powered weaponry. When an army of the undead descends on an Indiana town, our hero goes into action in this wild vampire shoot-'em-up romp. Features a Grady Hendrix introduction and the original cover by Greg Winters.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Nest of Nightmares (1986) by Lisa Tuttle</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the books we've had the most requests for over the years, Tuttle's book appeared as a paperback original in the UK and was never published in the US or subsequently reprinted anywhere. Copies regularly sell for $100 or more. This volume collects 13 of the author's best early horror tales, originally published in various magazines. Will Errickson of Too Much Horror Fiction, who will contribute an introduction, says these are tales "with chilling moments of helpless creeping terror" and calls the collection "brilliant". Features the original Nick Bantock cover painting.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's Go Play at the Adams' (1974) by Mendal W. Johnson</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't think we've ever gotten as many requests for any book as for this rare '70s shocker by Johnson, who published only this one novel. This notorious bestseller about the terrible things that happen after a group of children chloroform and tie up their babysitter is highly sought-after on the secondhand market, and copies go for lofty sums. Read this chilling novel and find out what all the hype is about and why so many readers have requested a reprint of this book. Features a new introduction by Grady Hendrix. Cover art to be determined (the cover to the left is included for illustrative purposes only.)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sZYmSe7WL2x4LNmSqead0QS5g1s8fuy5tumLUSGAFukrTw3mnssW_kLsSe4nmQF439mUoAiJ63PQkFIEhMFfzM233v_z1LElZP6UL_EABrp4RdnR8XkFywArDn-j6un33ehFI5re_z7r/s1600/18681574489.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="687" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sZYmSe7WL2x4LNmSqead0QS5g1s8fuy5tumLUSGAFukrTw3mnssW_kLsSe4nmQF439mUoAiJ63PQkFIEhMFfzM233v_z1LElZP6UL_EABrp4RdnR8XkFywArDn-j6un33ehFI5re_z7r/s200/18681574489.jpg" width="131" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pack (1976) by David Fisher</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And last, but definitely not least, is this classic killer dog novel from David Fisher, author of more than 20 best-selling books; this one was the basis for a 1977 film entitled <i>The Long Dark Night</i>. Animal attack books were hugely popular during the 1970s paperback horror boom, and Fisher's is among the best. This new edition will feature a new introduction by Will Errickson and cover art to be determined (the image to the left is for illustrative purposes only).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">When will the second wave be published?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first title, <i>Black Ambrosia</i>, will ship sometime in October. The remaining books will follow at a rate of about one book every 6-8 weeks, with the series wrapping up around March of 2020.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are they available worldwide?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four of the books will be available worldwide. Lisa Tuttle's <i>A Nest of Nightmares</i>, because of rights restrictions outside our control, will be available only in the U.S., Canada, and certain other countries worldwide (it will not be available in the U.K. or the current/former Commonwealth countries, although readers in those countries can import it with free shipping from Book Depository).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much do they cost?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The paperbacks will retail at $16.99 each, except for <i>Nightblood</i>, which will be $17.99. The ebooks will retail at $7.99. However, we will be offering a package deal to receive the paperbacks at a 20% discount, and the ebooks at a discount as well.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will there be a monthly subscription option?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first wave, we offered a subscription where we sent out one book per month. This time, things will be done a little differently. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Instead of publishing a new book on the first of each month, the books will be spaced out a little bit more, with no releases in December (because of the Christmas holidays). Thus, you may receive one book in October, one in November, and then receive your third in January. It is possible you will receive more than one book in a given month, since we will be sending the books as soon as we have them from the printers -- we won't hold on to them and make you wait for them!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We will regularly update our Facebook and Twitter pages to announce when books are shipping, and if you have a question or concern, you can contact us at any time.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much for the set?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Customers can preorder all 5 books and receive a <b>20% discount</b> ($13.50 per book, plus s&h, instead of $16.99). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>U.S. customers:</u> </b>The total cost to U.S. customers will be <b>$85 </b>(this works out to $13.50 per book, plus $3.50 per book s&h.) </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>U.K. customers:</u> </b>U.K. customers can order a 'PFH lite' subscription, which will include all the books except <i>A Nest of Nightmares</i>, for <b>$70</b> ($13.50 per book + $4 per book s&h).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Important (non-U.S./U.K. customers):</u> </b>Shipping costs outside the U.S. are expensive! Customers in Canada, the EU, and elsewhere can still preorder the entire set for <b>$85</b>; however, the five books will all ship together via UPS in one box once they are all available <b>(Feb./Mar. 2020)</b>, rather than five separate shipments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Ebook discount</u>: </b>The ebook package will be <b>$29.99 </b>(a discount of about $10 off the anticipated retail price of $39.95).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>To order, visit our <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/paperbacksfromhell.html" target="_blank">Paperbacks from Hell: Wave Two page</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you are outside the U.S. and have questions about how to order, or shipping costs, feel free to email us using the <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/contact.html" target="_blank">contact form on our website</a>, or send us a message on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are the benefits to preordering the entire set instead of just buying the books individually on Amazon?</span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>No long waits.</b> Books will generally ship to you 3-4 weeks before their Amazon release date. So you'll have them before anybody else. Plus, you'll be supporting an independent small press instead of a giant corporate monstrosity.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Free ebook versions</b>. Yep, that's right. If you preorder the paperback set and would like to receive the ebook versions of each title as well, just contact us when placing your order and tell us whether you want the MOBI or EPUB versions. You <b><u>must </u></b>request them, however -- we don't want to fill up your inbox with ebook files you don't want.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>First dibs on audiobook download codes. </b>We are anticipating audiobook versions of several of the PFH titles, and for each of them we will have around 100 free Audible download codes to distribute. These will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis, and first priority will be given to those who preordered the set from us.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Unparalleled customer service. </b>Something wrong with a book you received? Wondering where your shipment is? Just shoot us an email or a message and a real, live person (there are two of us here to choose from) will respond quickly and fix any problem.</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for visiting, and welcome back to Hell! Happy reading!</span></b></div>
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Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-60600190846206578942019-05-09T15:23:00.001-05:002019-05-09T16:41:38.615-05:00Call for Submissions: The Valancourt Book of International Horror Stories<div style="text-align: justify;">
Following the success of our three volumes of the <i>Valancourt Book of Horror Stories</i> series and the inauguration of our new Valancourt International series, we are currently open for submissions for our forthcoming <i>Valancourt Book of International Horror Stories</i>. Submissions are welcome from authors or publishers. (If you are not an author or publisher but would like to recommend a favorite author or story, please feel free to do so!)</div>
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<b><u>Guidelines and Requirements:</u></b></div>
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1. The story must have been previously published by a professional publisher in either a print or electronic publication. (We are not looking for unpublished or self-published work at this time.) Stories must be no longer than 8000 words.</div>
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2. The story must originally have been written in a language other than English.* Submissions of stories in regional or minority languages or in languages traditionally under-represented in American publishing are especially welcome. *Exception: English-language submissions are acceptable if the author is from a country <b>other than</b> the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. </div>
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3. The story must be a "horror" story; however, we define this term as broadly as possible to include stories of the occult and/or supernatural, weird fiction, tales of the unsettling, uncanny or macabre, ghost stories, etc. Stories in adjacent genres, such as dark crime, dark fantasy, or black humor, may also be considered.</div>
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4. Here at Valancourt Books, we read quite a few languages. If your story is written in one of the following languages, please submit it in the original language; an English translation or other accompanying material in English is optional, but not required:</div>
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<li>Afrikaans</li>
<li>Bulgarian</li>
<li>Catalan</li>
<li>Danish</li>
<li>Dutch (including Frisian, Low Saxon, and other regional languages)</li>
<li>French (including Occitan and other Romance languages)</li>
<li>Icelandic</li>
<li>Italian</li>
<li>Norwegian</li>
<li>Portuguese</li>
<li>Romanian</li>
<li>Scots</li>
<li>Spanish (including Galician and other regional languages other than Basque)</li>
<li>Swedish</li>
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If the story is written in another language that we cannot read, the story must be accompanied by either a translation (which may be rough; it need not be a professional translation) or a synopsis/summary of the story that will enable us to form an opinion as to whether the story may be right for the book before going to the expense of having it translated. If in any doubt, feel free to contact us.</div>
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5. Anticipated publication date is <b>October 2020</b>. We will accept submissions through <b>April 30, 2020</b>. Stories received earlier have a higher chance of being read and chosen than stories received at or near the deadline. Stories not accepted for this volume may be resubmitted for consideration for future volumes.</div>
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6. Authors whose stories are accepted for publication will be offered a fee as well as a contributor's copy of the published book.</div>
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Please submit materials via email (PDF, Word, EPUB are all acceptable) to jjenkins@valancourtbooks.com. Submissions may also be mailed to: Valancourt Books, P. O. Box 17642, Richmond VA 23226 USA. Please note that books and other materials mailed to this address will not be returned.</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-66837110515457093182018-10-27T09:07:00.000-05:002018-10-27T09:07:05.654-05:00AmazonBetween print books, Kindle e-books, and Audible audiobooks, these days Amazon accounts for at least 90% of our sales. Although our books are available on plenty of other sites (including our own), the fact remains that if one of our books isn't available on Amazon, it doesn't sell. Which is why we've been frustrated at Amazon repeatedly delisting our books for sale for no reason that we can ascertain.<br />
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As a publisher mostly of horror books, October and Halloween-time is one of our busiest periods of the year. This month we put out four great new horror titles; however, one of these, <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/worms-1979.html" target="_blank">Worms</a></i>, was unavailable on Amazon US in paperback format for several weeks after its release date, and our new <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-valancourt-book-of-horror-stories-3.html" target="_blank"><i>Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, Volume 3</i></a>, as of this morning could not be ordered either in hardcover or Kindle format. We have no idea why. And we have no control over it. There is literally no way to get a response from a human being at Amazon regarding these problems.<br />
<br />These aren't isolated incidents. For years, our books have been disappearing from sale at random. Sometimes they come back after a few weeks; sometimes they never come back. Even when they are available for order, Amazon seems to do everything they can to discourage customers from ordering them, by listing them as "Temporary out of stock, order now and we'll deliver when available" or "Usually ships within 1-3 months". Both these statements are false: our books are all printed on demand through Ingram, the nation's largest book distributor. They're all available, all the time, and it takes on average a couple days to print and ship them, not 1-3 months.<br />
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It's no exaggeration to say that Valancourt Books' existence hinges mostly on the whims of Amazon's glitches and algorithms, not on how good or well-produced our books are.<br />
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Recently we've been encouraging people to order direct from us via our website. We love the chance to interact with customers directly, and we think it's a plus for customers too. E-books ordered direct from our website are DRM-free, and if you order a print book and have any questions or problems with the order, send us an email and you'll get a quick response from a real, live person (there's two of us here to choose from!) If you want to read them without purchasing them, our books are available in print and e-book to public libraries, and most libraries have a link on their website for you to request a title and are usually pretty responsive to these requests.<br />
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We offer shipping to the US and UK starting at $3.99 per order, with orders over $100 shipping free. And in the coming weeks we are going to be discounting books on our website, so that both print and e-books will be cheaper ordered direct from us than if purchased from Amazon. If you haven't already, we encourage you to sign up for our once-monthly email newsletter on the front page of our website so that you'll know about all new & upcoming releases, as well as details of deals and discounts.<br />
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Thanks for your support (and Happy Halloween from Ryan and Jay!)Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-44982438894087515752018-10-05T14:44:00.001-05:002018-10-05T14:44:13.887-05:00Figures Unseen audiobook nominated for Voice Arts Awards!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Congratulations to narrator Matt Godfrey, whose performance on the Valancourt audiobook of Steve Rasnic Tem's Figures Unseen: Selected Stories, was just announced as a <a href="http://sovas.org/2018-nominees/" target="_blank">finalist</a> for the <a href="http://sovas.org/voice-arts-awards/" target="_blank">Voice Arts Awards</a>. The winners will be announced on Nov. 18 at a ceremony at the Warner Bros Studio in Burbank, CA, hosted by Sigourney Weaver!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7QycvYB_QLDW_bTFMIQtSbYP2_DT5QvzfDpk20Q2MJT0y6Zz9ZXc70EMY5EYwQzb-S3gK9B2YmQXCkcrAOpppDSftmHOblgsJIcly7HlYISbvDaudCLv2Cu1wmK0xAskEj0J4l9U2NJz/s1600/Figures+Unseen+Audiobook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7QycvYB_QLDW_bTFMIQtSbYP2_DT5QvzfDpk20Q2MJT0y6Zz9ZXc70EMY5EYwQzb-S3gK9B2YmQXCkcrAOpppDSftmHOblgsJIcly7HlYISbvDaudCLv2Cu1wmK0xAskEj0J4l9U2NJz/s320/Figures+Unseen+Audiobook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you haven't heard Matt's performance of these great stories, check it out on <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Figures-Unseen-Audiobook/B07BRB639P" target="_blank">Audible</a>.</div>
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And while you're at it, why not check out some of our other award-nominated audiobooks, including <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Elementals-Audiobook/B01HHB0VIU?qid=1538768608&sr=sr_1_1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=GCS5EZ04EYK8WCX6MWS6&" target="_blank">Michael McDowell's The Elementals</a>, read by R. C. Bray, which was a finalist for the Audie Awards, or Matt Godfrey's reading of <a href="https://www.audible.com/pd/Nightmares-and-Geezenstacks-Audiobook/B06XT934NP?qid=1538768630&sr=sr_1_1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=GKG5BM6780GRM4CRKP5P&" target="_blank">Fredric Brown's Nightmares and Geezenstacks</a>, a finalist for last year's Voice Arts Awards?</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-27236429272069090362018-08-15T18:18:00.000-05:002018-08-15T18:23:05.017-05:00Some forthcoming Gothic & Victorian titles<div style="text-align: justify;">
Recently our Gothic and Victorian catalogue has been a little neglected while we've been growing our list of 20th century and modern fiction, but we are working on some exciting stuff that fans of our 18th & 19th-century releases should be excited about!</div>
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<i>Ruth the Betrayer; or, The Female Spy</i> was first published serially as a 'penny dreadful' in 1862-63, meaning it was sold in weekly installments for 52 weeks for a penny each. Each issue was eight pages, with one engraving; at the end of the series' run, the publisher would bind up all the parts into a volume and sell it as a complete novel.<br />
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Originally published by John Dicks, the same publisher who issued G.W.M. Reynolds's classic penny dreadful <i>The Mysteries of London</i> (also available from Valancourt), the book is credited to "Edward Ellis" and is described by Wikipedia as the "first female detective story".<br />
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Which is sort of true, in that at the beginning of the book, Ruth is working as a spy for the police, but in fact during the course of the 1100-page novel, Ruth is many things: detective, spy, thief, murderess, but above all - as the title suggests - someone who betrays every person who gets close to her. Like the best dreadfuls, despite its enormous length the action never flags for an instant; it's a wild thrill ride from beginning to Ruth's ignominious end. The new edition is edited by Dagni Bredesen and will be out in late 2018. </div>
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A page taken at random from the original edition, Chapter 71: "What Happened in the Chamber of Death":</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpNZZd3ju-X7crHtqNLC2tTn1alJQYhhhWJOi93JMmoFP8nxgdBq4HE_qakLQxctWmWGfDPhoh-SJMJELLokb3a3sdt1FjsCrBmYZFDBZd1W6HWH9RcOV-yosB_LMNYl2quq5APxbpHOO/s1600/Ruth+200-249-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1017" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxpNZZd3ju-X7crHtqNLC2tTn1alJQYhhhWJOi93JMmoFP8nxgdBq4HE_qakLQxctWmWGfDPhoh-SJMJELLokb3a3sdt1FjsCrBmYZFDBZd1W6HWH9RcOV-yosB_LMNYl2quq5APxbpHOO/s640/Ruth+200-249-23.jpg" width="406" /></a></div>
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Fans of late 18th-century Gothic fiction know about the hundreds, even thousands, of novels churned out to stock the shelves of the circulating libraries. But did you know that a huge amount of Gothic fiction was also published in magazines?<br />
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Valancourt is preparing a three-volume set, each volume devoted to a different periodical: <i>The Lady's Magazine</i>, <i>The Lady's Monthly Museum</i>, and <i>La Belle Assemblée</i>. Each volume will be edited by a university professor and will feature a broad range of Gothic material, including serialized novels, short fiction, and poetry.<br />
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The serialized novels in particular were a curious thing, since in a great many cases the writer died or disappeared before sending in the final installment, leading the editors to print impassioned pleas for the authors to contact them with the remainder of the story. <i>The Forest of Alstone, An Original Tale</i>, whose first installment (pictured below) appeared in <i>The Lady's Magazine</i> in April 1792, is one of these unfinished curiosities whose ending we're left to guess at. These volumes should be ready by early 2019.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSiaN5bky6LGHPAMRbLt5dw5W7WPYX3SAsOAhYjHN85eSsuhk6YUZyQBnV_kMlIf-CNNes6NZHRHtUN23VD3Y-rKP-l5fS_CSdqklpRvI3QU-mHnZw_SUaeshg7xotazP0FshTlOdJ4cqB/s1600/lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="310" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSiaN5bky6LGHPAMRbLt5dw5W7WPYX3SAsOAhYjHN85eSsuhk6YUZyQBnV_kMlIf-CNNes6NZHRHtUN23VD3Y-rKP-l5fS_CSdqklpRvI3QU-mHnZw_SUaeshg7xotazP0FshTlOdJ4cqB/s640/lady.jpg" width="370" /></a></div>
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Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-27153747966003792622018-08-11T08:08:00.000-05:002018-08-11T08:09:18.035-05:00More 2018 October Horror Month titles unveiled!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our annual Horror Month celebration is shaping up to be a big one this year. In addition to our third volume of Valancourt horror stories, we also have several other great releases from the world of '70s and '80s paperback horror, including two by Harry Adam Knight: <i>Slimer </i>(1983) and <i>The Fungus </i>(1985).</div>
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Harry Adam Knight was the pseudonym used by John Brosnan (1947-2005) and Leroy Kettle (b. 1949) to write horror novels, though sometimes Brosnan authored them solo, as in the case of <i>Carnosaur </i>(1984). The two also teamed up to publish horror under another pseudonym, Simon Ian Childer, releasing novels like <i>Tendrils </i>(1986) and <i>Worm </i>(1987). Three HAK books were adapted for films: two British films, <i>Beyond Bedlam</i> (based on the novel <i>Bedlam</i>) and <i>Proteus </i>(based on <i>Slimer</i>), and the Roger Corman-produced cult classic <i>Carnosaur</i>.</div>
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The wonderful thing about the HAK novels is that although they're very imaginative and well-written, they have no pretensions to being considered serious literature. So when you read a HAK book, expect to find grisly horror and tongue-in-cheek humor in about equal measures.</div>
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Without further ado, here are the new cover designs by M. S. Corley:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUw0unU0kR168nFdjy_Ha8S0sHxfoulrW3QXZMHEsixs69BsEAhDpNXpvb8ofcVNf3E8TKs9o0I3Rf04qB01pAEwUyA4iv4NbuwmTfiXZKH2-XhI03UQROkabMaz8fpPmZqtPrC5oins8/s1600/Slimer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUw0unU0kR168nFdjy_Ha8S0sHxfoulrW3QXZMHEsixs69BsEAhDpNXpvb8ofcVNf3E8TKs9o0I3Rf04qB01pAEwUyA4iv4NbuwmTfiXZKH2-XhI03UQROkabMaz8fpPmZqtPrC5oins8/s320/Slimer.JPG" width="199" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSK-4k2F1KahkjqkxcNASCmgOuBo8oo4joFdqHhyphenhyphenLmQ94zGz6BT4GAgiEE8yFKTJyZbhPrBs_7WiafZXwV5cou1tLzjzyvRGCg_7aPqlGe2AljhAVj9HFk5zKFrIupg8bj1A9z178ApNh/s1600/The+Fungus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSK-4k2F1KahkjqkxcNASCmgOuBo8oo4joFdqHhyphenhyphenLmQ94zGz6BT4GAgiEE8yFKTJyZbhPrBs_7WiafZXwV5cou1tLzjzyvRGCg_7aPqlGe2AljhAVj9HFk5zKFrIupg8bj1A9z178ApNh/s320/The+Fungus.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
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<i>Slimer </i>has been out of print for many years and old paperback copies sell upwards of $50. It's the story of six drug smugglers whose boat trouble forces them to seek refuge on an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the sea. But almost immediately it's clear something is terribly wrong: everyone has vanished, leaving behind only empty piles of clothes with no bodies in them. There's something deadly loose on the rig, and the worst part of it isn't how it kills you, but what happens after . . .</div>
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<i>The Fungus </i>is an apocalyptic horror/sci-fi novel featuring a fungal plague that has spread across all of England. A scientist trying to solve the world hunger problem had thought it would be a good idea to grow genetically modified mushrooms (spoiler: it was in fact <i>not </i>a good idea), and after the spores escape, everything from a minor case of athlete's foot to the yeast at the bottom of your pint glass can result in a gruesome death. But as it turns out, the ones who die early on are the lucky ones . . .</div>
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Both novels are tremendously fun to read, and in addition to the great new Corley covers, both books feature introductions by the author, Roy Kettle. Coming Oct. 2 in paperback and ebook worldwide; pre-order options coming soon!</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-17607009340011297172018-08-04T16:19:00.002-05:002018-08-11T15:35:54.314-05:00The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, Volume 3: Lineup Announced!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Only two months until our annual October Horror Month celebration, and as we did in 2016 and 2017, we're kicking things off with a volume of horror stories by Valancourt authors. For the first time ever, the book will be available in variant cover editions, so you can choose your own nightmare! The standard edition, featuring the headless phantom, will be available everywhere, but the special alternate cover, featuring a Tiki theme inspired by a story in the book, will be available only direct via our website. Check out the designs by M. S. Corley:</div>
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And without further ado, here is a complete rundown of the book's contents (no spoilers, don't worry!)</div>
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<b>"Don't Go Up Them Stairs" (1971) by R. Chetwynd-Hayes</b></div>
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From his 1971 collection <i>The Unbidden</i> (published in the U.S. in 1975, and not reprinted since), this tale by "Britain's Prince of Chill" is the story of a young boy who unwisely chooses not to follow his grandfather's advice never, ever, to go up them stairs . . .</div>
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<b>"Courage" (1918/1941) by Forrest Reid</b></div>
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A young boy disobeys warnings not to enter an old house reputed to be haunted and undergoes a spooky experience. Though the original 1918 version has appeared in a couple anthologies over the decades, the 1941 version, entirely rewritten by Reid later in life, has to our knowledge not previously been reprinted.</div>
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<b>"Pete Barker's Shanty" (1898) by Ernest G. Henham</b></div>
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This very rare tale by the author of the decadent spider-infested nightmare <i>Tenebrae</i> (1898) tells of two men who lose their way in the Canadian prairie and are forced to take refuge in a madman's shanty, where they pass a particularly terrifying night. Henham is the real name of the pseudonymous "John Trevena", whose tale "The Frozen Man" in our first volume of horror stories received a very positive reader response.</div>
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<b>"The Parts Man" (2018) by Steve Rasnic Tem</b></div>
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If John Bunyan were a 21st-century master of weird fiction like Steve Rasnic Tem, his <i>The Pilgrim's Progress </i>might have looked something like this brand-new story, written especially for this volume, in which an aging man pays a terrible price for the opportunity to revisit the ghosts of his past.</div>
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<b>"The Face in the Mirror" (1903) by Helen Mathers</b></div>
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This now-forgotten Victorian author began her career writing popular romance novels, but later in life she developed an interest for the occult and supernatural, including this story, a traditional Victorian ghost story featuring all the trappings of the genre, including a haunted chamber and unsettling visions seen in a mirror. We believe this to be the first-ever reprinting of the tale.</div>
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<b>"The Life of the Party" (2013) by Charles Beaumont</b></div>
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This posthumous tale by the famous <i>Twilight Zone</i> screenwriter was first published in a now out-of-print limited edition a few years ago and has never been made available elsewhere. It's the story of a man who, after a lifetime of unpopularity, devises a macabre means of making new friends.</div>
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<b>"The Poet Gives His Friend Wildflowers" (2018) by Hugh Fleetwood</b></div>
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Fleetwood, who contributed an original weird tale to volume 1 of our series, returns with another new contribution, this time a delectably macabre poem about a gift that is not exactly what it seems to be.</div>
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<b>"Monkshood Manor" (1954) by L. P. Hartley</b></div>
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An elegant story set, as with the best traditional English ghost stories, in an old country manor house, where a party has gathered, including one man with an irrational terror of fire and another guest with knowledge of a centuries-old curse on the house.</div>
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<b>"Blood of the Kapu Tiki" (2018) by Eric C. Higgs</b></div>
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Higgs, the author of the classic '80s horror novel <i>The Happy Man</i>, which reads something like an earlier and more enjoyable version of Bret Easton Ellis's <i>American Psycho,</i> disappeared from horror writing three decades ago, leaving fans to wonder what happened to him. Well, he's back at long last, with a brand-new tale, and it's so much fun that we devoted our variant cover to it. Because, I mean, Tiki horror!</div>
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<b>"On No Account, My Love" (1955) by Elizabeth Jenkins</b></div>
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This tale originally appeared in one of Lady Cynthia Asquith's legendary <i>Ghost Book</i> anthologies. It's the story of a young woman curious to know more about her great-grandmother, a woman who had a reputation as a cruel, controlling tyrant - and who may continue exerting her influence from beyond the grave. A slow-burn chiller that will linger with you.</div>
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<b>"Underground" (1974) by J. B. Priestley</b></div>
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An uncommon foray into horror for the prolific playwright and novelist Priestley, whose collection of strange tales <i>The Other Place</i> (1953) goes on sale Tuesday and shouldn't be missed by any fan of classic weird fiction. Have you ever had a particularly bad experience in the subway, a real trip from hell? Trust us, it's nothing compared to the journey the guy in this story is going to take.</div>
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<b>"Mr Evening" (1968) by James Purdy</b></div>
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Purdy, a literary outsider who has been acclaimed by Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Jonathan Franzen and many others, but who has rarely enjoyed much popular success except as a cult gay novelist, contributes this piece of Gothic horror, the story of a covetous young antique dealer who gets more than he bargained for when he tries to get hold of a priceless piece of porcelain from an eccentric old lady.</div>
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<b>"Mothering Sunday" (1960) by John Keir Cross</b></div>
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This tale is from Keir Cross's anthology <i>Best Black Magic Stories</i>, and to our knowledge has not been previously reprinted. We won't say too much about it, but suffice it to say that it involves the Dark Arts, a strange white-haired boy with no soul, . . . and a snowman.</div>
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<b>"The Bottle of 1912" (1961) by Simon Raven</b></div>
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Another elegantly told classic, this one by an underappreciated author of supernatural fiction, possibly best known for <i>Doctors Wear Scarlet</i> (1960), an innovative vampire novel that Karl Edward Wagner ranked among the best supernatural horror novels ever written. We'll say nothing to spoil this one; let's just say that, like the fine wine of its title, it's something to be sipped and savored.</div>
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<b>"With What Measure Ye Mete . . ." (1906) by Ethel Lina White</b></div>
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After cruelly jilting her lover, a young woman gets a horrifying comeuppance. A very rare tale, perhaps the lone venture into the horror genre by this popular crime writer, author of the novels that inspired the films <i>The Spiral Staircase </i>and <i>The Lady Vanishes.</i></div>
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<b>"Beelzebub" (1992) by Robert Westall</b></div>
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Closing out the volume is this gem, which manages the tough feat of being both chilling and hilarious. To our knowledge, this tale hasn't been reprinted since its initial appearance; why it's not included in the various "best-of" collections of Westall's tales is beyond us. It's the story of a clerk in the Registry Office who finds herself in an odd predicament when she is called upon to register the birth of the spawn of Satan himself.</div>
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Both editions go on sale October 2, and preorder options will be up soon. The standard cover edition will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook; the Tiki edition will be paperback-only.</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-67250501103224938172015-12-31T12:31:00.000-06:002015-12-31T12:32:44.805-06:002015 Year-End Roundup and A Look Ahead to 2016<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Thank you for making 2015 our best year ever!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's been an exciting year, as we've released more than 60 great new titles, from lost 18th-century works (Jane West's <i>A Gossip's Story</i>, Jack Voller's <i>The Graveyard School: An Anthology</i>) to neglected Victorian classics (George W.M. Reynolds's penny dreadful <i>The Mysteries of London,</i> R.M. Ballantyne's best-selling boys' adventure <i>The Coral Island</i>) to vintage thrillers and chillers (J.U. Nicolson's <i>Fingers of Fear,</i> Henry Chapman Mercer's <i>November Night Tales</i>) to contemporary horror classics (Bernard Taylor's <i>Sweetheart, Sweetheart</i>, Michael McDowell's <i>Cold Moon Over Babylon</i>) and some really great literary fiction that had inexplicably fallen out of print in the US</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: left;">—</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">or never been published here at all!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: left;">—</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Barry Hines's <i>A Kestrel for a Knave</i>, Iain Sinclair's <i>White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings</i>, Michael Frayn's first five novels, three by Russell Hoban).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We love all the books we publish, so it'd be impossible for us to pick a favorite or even a top 10. Instead, here's a list of ten books we published this year </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(in no particular order)</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that we really love but which some of you may have overlooked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/antique-dust-1989.html" target="_blank">Robert Westall, Antique Dust</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdo8C04D-0mkrGVWzzkvtkPLGJT1TLCsliwnV2JsToVaqYRchqZ7wXhyphenhyphenbAA36CP-7GfK21SzrD4Ey9N_DAtMQdv93kIwEQNWwkxPcO3ZcyIrj_s8iAJx99BOf4HaB21fQ-gEFDU3sJbC_/s1600/Antique+Dust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdo8C04D-0mkrGVWzzkvtkPLGJT1TLCsliwnV2JsToVaqYRchqZ7wXhyphenhyphenbAA36CP-7GfK21SzrD4Ey9N_DAtMQdv93kIwEQNWwkxPcO3ZcyIrj_s8iAJx99BOf4HaB21fQ-gEFDU3sJbC_/s320/Antique+Dust.jpg" width="199" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Westall is best known as the award-winning author of a number of books for children and young adults; <i>Antique Dust</i> (1989) was his only book marketed for adults. It's a collection of terrific ghost stories in the tradition of M.R. James, centering on an antique dealer who has a knack for running across cursed objects and haunted places. It's sometimes scary, sometimes funny, always entertaining. If you enjoy this one, make sure not to miss Westall's <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-stones-of-muncaster-cathedral-1991.html" target="_blank">The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral</a></i>, another Jamesian tale, this time featuring a cathedral tower topped with a rather hideous gargoyle, which may (or may not) be exercising a supernatural power to lure children to their deaths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>2. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-separation-2002.html" target="_blank">Christopher Priest, The Separation</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa8mpzQ3jT5PVweYmnWsNTWGTB6hnWMLRuWEfqRfzkC8bNevC3eFKKzB6rFbvZhU73XKtpkDsM9GYN4kACKbxytMmyyxjpn5f3XGmcRSdZtnN5QtCqgzuJpWwY9-arH-eka70DLhTCAC_/s1600/The+Separation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa8mpzQ3jT5PVweYmnWsNTWGTB6hnWMLRuWEfqRfzkC8bNevC3eFKKzB6rFbvZhU73XKtpkDsM9GYN4kACKbxytMmyyxjpn5f3XGmcRSdZtnN5QtCqgzuJpWwY9-arH-eka70DLhTCAC_/s320/The+Separation.jpg" width="199" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Christopher Priest has a large following internationally and has won numerous awards for his books, including the James Tait Black Prize for best novel of the year and the Wor</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ld Fantasy Award for </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-prestige-1995.html" target="_blank">The Prestige</a></i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-prestige-1995.html" target="_blank"> (1995)</a>, but for some reason has been somewhat overlooked in the States, where most of his classic works were out of print before we started republishing them. </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Separation</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> (2002) won both the British Fantasy Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and it's easy to see why. It's an enthralling, mind-bending novel that traces the story of twin brothers who played key roles in World War II through divergent realities. Read it and see why critics have called it one of the best works of alternate history ever written. We also released Priest's </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-affirmation-1981.html" target="_blank">The Affirmation </a></i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-affirmation-1981.html" target="_blank">(1981)</a> in January 2015, and it's one of my favorite reissues this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>3. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/odd-man-out-1945.html" target="_blank">F. L. Green, Odd Man Out</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhla_TvqVLnA2BX_k-WSv6r7WHvubwF_wiw8JfDnZZiDUlI4U_8hSzaewJIgLDHOM5jpAOzUOysg2QvQTsHdt4G1elcK76JRNGLWOQeR9KJumRKO4HoCLEC9OHQVD0uGeLgo-2yNh7kfim5/s1600/Odd+Man+Out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhla_TvqVLnA2BX_k-WSv6r7WHvubwF_wiw8JfDnZZiDUlI4U_8hSzaewJIgLDHOM5jpAOzUOysg2QvQTsHdt4G1elcK76JRNGLWOQeR9KJumRKO4HoCLEC9OHQVD0uGeLgo-2yNh7kfim5/s320/Odd+Man+Out.jpg" width="199" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">F. L. Green's <i>Odd Man Out </i>is best known as the source of the classic 1947 Carol Reed film </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">adaptation (recently reissued in the Criterion Collection), but if you've seen the movie and haven't read the novel, you're really missing out. Set over the course of one snowy, surreal, nightmarish Belfast night, it starts out as the story of a violent heist gone wrong and turns into something else entirely, as a wounded IRA leader stumbles through the streets, bleeding, menaced by death and betrayal on all sides, and facing the prospect of dying that night with the stain of murder weighing on his soul.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>4. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/harriet-1934.html" target="_blank">Elizabeth Jenkins, Harriet</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChfGlUjPUNq4EOL_6BYHBOzQrstvtaDlcHo6UBBBJSvP3SsJZ8_p1qQ38-gdFtq5mP2OMjwz48qcADbeIFHbmlRrnlyzhE_ABIO6rmPpaQej_xNVJp_nXHqA-zDWXBce22m-CJqS17chO/s1600/Harriet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChfGlUjPUNq4EOL_6BYHBOzQrstvtaDlcHo6UBBBJSvP3SsJZ8_p1qQ38-gdFtq5mP2OMjwz48qcADbeIFHbmlRrnlyzhE_ABIO6rmPpaQej_xNVJp_nXHqA-zDWXBce22m-CJqS17chO/s320/Harriet.jpg" width="198" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Elizabeth Jenkins's <i>Harriet </i>(1934) won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse, beating Evelyn Waugh's better-known <i>A Handful of Dust</i>. It's not hard to see why she won, but it's extremely hard to understand why this novel has been so neglected. Based on the real-life case of Harriet Staunton, a mentally disabled woman who was cruelly murdered for her fortune during the Victorian era, it's an unrivaled exploration into the depths of human depravity that still holds the ability to chill readers to the bone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>5. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/sea-of-glass-1955.html" target="_blank">Dennis Parry, Sea of Glass</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8F5IVPGQ3DRnlJs5amrcgKWkM6XoUvZtJ_cfi6AtfNFZ3_5va6DCclnz-VO927ihCFqzkpHK06NSKHfRGCBamCqbhST3HsdvGosdVvzeXtEBaMK0EFpPH9R53DZFy3HvqsjOct3wkhSnB/s1600/Sea+of+Glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8F5IVPGQ3DRnlJs5amrcgKWkM6XoUvZtJ_cfi6AtfNFZ3_5va6DCclnz-VO927ihCFqzkpHK06NSKHfRGCBamCqbhST3HsdvGosdVvzeXtEBaMK0EFpPH9R53DZFy3HvqsjOct3wkhSnB/s320/Sea+of+Glass.jpg" width="198" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've read Dennis Parry's <i>Sea of Glass</i> (1955) three times now and look forward to reading it again. Most of our authors are neglected to one degree or another, but Parry goes beyond neglect into the realm of total oblivion. From his death in 1955 (less than two months after this book, his best, was published) until 2014, not a single one of his books was ever reprinted. Even during his lifetime he was little known, despite having published ten novels; reviewers of <i>Sea of Glass</i> loved the book and expressed astonishment that they'd never heard of Parry or read others of his books. And Parry would have continued in oblivion were it not for the macabre illustrator Edward Gorey, who, in the journal <i>Antaeus </i>in the 1970s, mentioned <i>Sea of Glass</i> as the most unjustly neglected book he </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">knew. No plot description can do justice to Parry's novel. It's exciting, suspenseful, moving, and very, very funny</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: left;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">sometimes laugh-out-loud funny (just wait till you get to the part with the venomous barking spiders). Trust us on this one, give it a shot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>6. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-cook-1965.html" target="_blank">Harry Kressing, The Cook</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_FbedYPEeXz2_imf9Ee75thD3nKxCh1WLppu7hz77ymDn0JELq3YEOWwY_iRqXc9lxs9aWeAGChUbo9g6j_rDJxS5yFrXiOXZV3d8U0oqWLRyjjQVs2tFbYmCCjexQdYGpomhH8jqNyn/s1600/The+Cook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_FbedYPEeXz2_imf9Ee75thD3nKxCh1WLppu7hz77ymDn0JELq3YEOWwY_iRqXc9lxs9aWeAGChUbo9g6j_rDJxS5yFrXiOXZV3d8U0oqWLRyjjQVs2tFbYmCCjexQdYGpomhH8jqNyn/s320/The+Cook.jpg" width="198" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Harry Kressing's <i>The Cook</i> (1965) is one of those books that for decades invariably showed up on lists of books that had undeservedly fallen out of print and needed to be reissued. It's a sort of dark fairy tale, with echoes of Kafka, centering on the mysterious figure of Conrad, a tall, gaunt young man dressed all in black, who arrives in town one day and uses</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> his brilliant culinary skills to win first the stomachs and then the souls of the townspeople. The critic for the <i>Observer </i>said it "begin[s] in a vein of innocent fairy tale and end[s] with satanic revels", while John Fowles praised it, saying, "I have much enjoyed </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Cook</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, for I am very fond of Satan. My congratulations to Mr. Kressing on his achievement." Everyone we've talked to has enjoyed this one, and it has a perfect 5-star rating on Amazon, so we think it's safe to say you're likely to enjoy it too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>7. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-brains-of-rats-1989.html" target="_blank">Michael Blumlein, The Brains of Rats</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrax0U1JeKaLd2UfsgG89xQZ-MWQdRHNdVBTtpePX5cduK_ogbi1eggywPrj4XNdcTs4OoPlJ_mDEi_a2Bt4_V7HQ0SAoTwdzvnwZIlQ_y7ftgw7hRXl0SlNCpSXU7dbcTTos8t2fkSf1L/s1600/The+Brains+of+Rats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrax0U1JeKaLd2UfsgG89xQZ-MWQdRHNdVBTtpePX5cduK_ogbi1eggywPrj4XNdcTs4OoPlJ_mDEi_a2Bt4_V7HQ0SAoTwdzvnwZIlQ_y7ftgw7hRXl0SlNCpSXU7dbcTTos8t2fkSf1L/s320/The+Brains+of+Rats.jpg" width="199" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In this astonishing collection, Michael Blumlein (a medical doctor in addition to a terrific short story writer) blurs the boundaries of horror, science fiction, and fantasy in stories that often feature medical themes. When it first appeared in 1989, it earned rave reviews from mainstream critics at the <i>Washington Post</i>, <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, etc., as well as high praise from genre stalwarts Harlan Ellison, Pat Cadigan, Joe R. Lansda</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">le, and Peter Straub. Katherine Dunn, author of <i>Geek Love</i>, says it best: “<i>The Brains of Rats</i> is blindingly brilliant. Blumlein is beyond any genre, a genuinely great writer.” Probably the most famous (or infamous) story in the collection is one in which the surgical dissection of Ronald Reagan is described in chilling, clinical detail, but almost every entry in the book is a classic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>8. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/a-kestrel-for-a-knave-1968.html" target="_blank">Barry Hines, A Kestrel for a Knave</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvlrXS_rkWBJoNTy8dddwW7_ay7DMQl8x8X62vB-XNrxJbqdxNGq3uttIilVTO9UWcsOitO0mDcXN7OHSLT-gm9PAzWSkHbRN71SLIf05UDhH8jh_sLzGF9pvS4v3oqRbdBuHGf1oVnRj/s1600/A+Kestrel+for+a+Knave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvlrXS_rkWBJoNTy8dddwW7_ay7DMQl8x8X62vB-XNrxJbqdxNGq3uttIilVTO9UWcsOitO0mDcXN7OHSLT-gm9PAzWSkHbRN71SLIf05UDhH8jh_sLzGF9pvS4v3oqRbdBuHGf1oVnRj/s320/A+Kestrel+for+a+Knave.jpg" width="199" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unbelievably, Barry Hines's 1968 novel <i>A Kestrel for a Knave </i>(filmed in 1969 as <i>Kes</i>, also a recent Criterion DVD reissue) had never been published in the United States despite being recognized as a classic in the UK, where it's probably been read by every kid ever to go through the</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> British school system any time in the past four decades. An outstanding work of realistic working-class fiction, it's the story of a young boy in a northern England mining town who has seemingly no future except a life of toil in the mines, but who finds strength and courage through his experiences in training a kestrel hawk. Our edition features one of our favorite covers of 2015, by Tom Duxbury.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>9. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/towards-the-end-of-the-morning-1967.html" target="_blank">Michael Frayn, Towards the End of the Morning</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mjvlXJXnqgsUBsRuwzt0A9lzkVe-dBTJbrAcoxeL-aw4R86_-PSM4Xu9kw2eQ57sRerP8N5kOZQs2dqcBd-Kx2EHN-u3DWAb6DrqEN3xeNPTgJXq20sn09FdXM50Jc6S02cIWrUmOwGQ/s1600/Towards+the+End+of+the+Morning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mjvlXJXnqgsUBsRuwzt0A9lzkVe-dBTJbrAcoxeL-aw4R86_-PSM4Xu9kw2eQ57sRerP8N5kOZQs2dqcBd-Kx2EHN-u3DWAb6DrqEN3xeNPTgJXq20sn09FdXM50Jc6S02cIWrUmOwGQ/s320/Towards+the+End+of+the+Morning.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Michael Frayn is legendary in the UK, where his first five novels have long been regarded as classics, his most recent three novels have all been nominated for the Booker Prize, and his play <i>Noises Off</i> (currently being revived on Broadway) was voted the nation's second-favorite play of all time</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. And yet, despite those impressive credentials, his first five novels had all been out of print for decades in the US until we reissued them with new introductions by the author. All five are excellent, but </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Towards the End of the Morning </i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(1967) is probably the funniest and most famous. The story involves a group of journalists working for a third-rate London newspaper in the waning days of Fleet Street, stuck in the obscure department responsible for the crossword puzzle and 'Nature Notes'. As always with Frayn, it's a very funny book (the scene where one of the newspapermen, dreaming of escaping to a lucrative career in television, finally gets an appearance on a TV program but gets drunk and makes an ass of himself, is a highlight, as is the catastrophically ill-fated trip to review a new resort in the Persian Gulf). We also published Frayn's newest book, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/matchbox-theatre-2015.html" target="_blank">Matchbox Theatre</a></i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, a collection of thirty short 'entertainments' that the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/books/review/humor.html?_r=0" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>New York Times </i>picked as a must for summer reading</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>10. <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/blood-secrets-1978.html" target="_blank">Craig Jones, Blood Secrets</a></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6-haCcq3Gp13rqJ2axDUvjueN_EvN429wK650vzIsbgZyGjEv-NqahXLD4hNRIaH5BgVyxMRHsbUMX_zLw9_RFZsGiGM4lpL5G3ZFOspEGejejDti6tAC8PyE2_q34K6aZUUVFH38jyD/s1600/Blood+Secrets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6-haCcq3Gp13rqJ2axDUvjueN_EvN429wK650vzIsbgZyGjEv-NqahXLD4hNRIaH5BgVyxMRHsbUMX_zLw9_RFZsGiGM4lpL5G3ZFOspEGejejDti6tAC8PyE2_q34K6aZUUVFH38jyD/s320/Blood+Secrets.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A remarkable first novel, Craig Jones's <i>Blood Secrets</i> (1978) earned rave reviews when first published and in the decades since, numerous critics have hailed it as a masterpiece of 20th century American Gothic fiction. Whether you call it mystery, thriller, or horror, it's a terrific novel, with a slow accumulation of dread and suspense and a couple of genuinely shocking turns you won't see coming. The saying 'don't judge a book by its cover' might have been coined because of this book: the 1979 mass-market paperback, with the title "BLOOD SECRETS" in a large crimson font, must have made the book seem to be just another amongst the thousands of bad horror novels being churned out at the time, which is definitely not the case. Give this one a shot: we think you'll really enjoy it. And whatever you do, don't post any spoilers of the plot anywhere!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>A look at 2016</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As we count down the waning hours of 2015, how about a look at some of what to expect in 2016? Please note, all these titles are currently considered 'forthcoming' and may be subject to cancellation or delay until 2017. Also, negotiations are ongoing for a number of books, and more titles will be added throughout the year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Gothic, Victorian, Edwardian</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Charlotte Smith, <i>Ethelinde, or, The Recluse of the Lake</i> (1789)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Henry Summersett, <i>The Fate of Sedley</i> (1795) and <i>Aberford </i>(1795)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Regina Maria Roche, <i>The Children of the Abbey</i> (1796)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Carl Grosse, <i>Horrid Mysteries</i> (1796)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maria Edgeworth, <i>Ennui </i>(1809)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Olivia Shakespear, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Beauty's Hour</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> (1894)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Richard Marsh, <i>The Complete Adventures of Judith Lee</i> (1911-16)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Vintage Thrills and Chills</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Riccardo Stephens, <i>The Mummy</i> (1912)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alexander Laing, <i>The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck</i> (1934)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edwin Greenwood, <i>The Deadly Dowager</i> (1935)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thomas Burke, <i>Night-Pieces</i> (1935)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gabriel Marlowe, <i>I Am Your Brother</i> (1935)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gerald Kersh, <i>Night and the City</i> (1938) and <i>Prelude to a Certain Midnight </i>(1946)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">John Mair, <i>Never Come Back</i> (1941)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Roger Manvell, <i>The Dreamers </i>(1958)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Frank Baker, <i>Stories of the Strange and Sinister</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Horror, Weird Fiction and Science Fiction</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Robert Aickman, <i>The Late Breakfasters</i> (1964) and Selected Stories</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">John Blackburn, <i>Blow the House Down </i>(1970)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">John Blackburn, <i>A Book of the Dead</i> (1984)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stephen Knight, <i>Requiem at Rogano</i> (1978)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Michael McDowell ("Axel Young"), <i>Wicked Stepmother</i> (1982)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Michael McDowell ("Axel Young"),<i> Blood Rubies</i> (1983)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Christopher Priest, <i>The Space Machine</i> (1976)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Christopher Priest, <i>A Dream of Wessex</i> (1977)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Archie Roy, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Devil in the Darkness</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> (1978)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alan Ryan,<i> Cast a Cold Eye</i> (1982)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Robert Westall, <i>The Wheatstone Pond/Yaxley's Cat/Blackham's Wimpey</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rediscovered LGBT Literature</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Edward Prime-Stevenson, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Left to Themselves</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> (1891)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Charles Jackson, <i>The Fall of Valor</i> (1946)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Robin Maugham, <i>Behind the Mirror</i> (1955)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">James Ramsey Ullman, <i>The Day on Fire</i> (1958)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Paul Buckland,<i> A Chorus of Witches</i> (1959)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Geoff Brown, <i>I Want What I Want</i> (1966)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Philip Ridley, <i>Crocodilia </i>(1988)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Philip Ridley, <i>In the Eyes of Mr Fury</i> (1989)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Philip Ridley, <i>Flamingoes in Orbit </i>(1990)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Neglected Literary Classics</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">H.E. Bates, <i>Fair Stood the Wind for France</i> (1944)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Philip Callow, <i>Common People</i> (1958)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stephen Gilbert, <i>Bombardier</i> (1944)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thomas Hinde, <i>Mr. Nicholas </i>(1952)</span></div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-68946193832982527942015-11-26T07:31:00.000-06:002015-11-26T14:21:36.876-06:00Thanksgiving / Black Friday Sales<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Happy Thanksgiving!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Dreading a long day of political arguments with your family while trying to choke down your sister-in-law's gelatinous cranberry sauce? Wondering how on earth, after all the booze you downed to get through Thanksgiving, you're going to get up at 4 a.m. to get to Best Buy in time to get your hands on a discounted flatscreen TV?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Why not just cozy up with a good book instead? Fortunately, we've got you covered!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>BLACK FRIDAY eBOOK SALE!</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Today and tomorrow only (Nov. 26-27, 2015), take</span><b style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> 50% off ALL e-books</b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> on our Gumroad store: </span><a href="http://www.gumroad.com/valancourtbooks" style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;" target="_blank">www.gumroad.com/valancourtbooks</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> using the code GOBBLEGOBBLE. </span><b style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">IMPORTANT: </b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">For the code to work properly, first add ALL books that you want to your cart, and input the code at checkout. </span><b style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">N.B.</b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> Some titles have territorial or copyright restrictions and may not be available in every country. </span><u style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Please feel free to email us or send us a Facebook message or Tweet if you experience any difficulty with the code.</u><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>SAVE ON PAPERBACKS & HARDCOVERS!</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Take 30% off ANY Valancourt print book (paperback/hardcover) on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_date-desc-rank?keywords=valancourt&fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Avalancourt&qid=1448549882&sort=date-desc-rank" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> using the code HOLIDAY30 at checkout (the total maximum discount is $10). Regrettably, this offer is only available on the Amazon US site. UPDATE: We've been informed the code can only be used once per person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Don't like Amazon? No worries: you can also save at <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Valancourt%20Books%22?Ntk=Publisher&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> using the code 30BFRIDAY at checkout. Can only be applied to one book per order.</span></div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-51795701943953457942015-10-15T09:16:00.001-05:002015-10-15T09:16:46.537-05:00Happy Halloween!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is our favorite time of the year, and probably the favorite of many of you as well. We hope you're enjoying our numerous Halloween-season releases, which include the ultra rare (only one known surviving copy) Gothic novel <i>The Vaults of Lepanto </i>(1814), as well as three titles from the Golden Age of storytelling: Henry Chapman Mercer's M.R. James-style antiquarian weird tales, <i>November Night Tales </i>(1928), E. Temple Thurston's occult mystery <i>Man in a Black Hat</i> (1930), and that legendary work of supernatural horror <i>Fingers of Fear</i> (1937) by J.U. Nicolson. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those interested in more modern fare, you won't want to miss our two-volume set of David Case's tales, which total 530 pages and include new introductions by Stephen Jones and new afterwords by Kim Newman. These stories are absolutely fantastic: strikingly original and written in a highly literate style that will have you reaching for your dictionary. If you can't get enough David Case, we'll also be publishing his werewolf potboiler <i>Wolf Tracks </i>(1980) as an e-book later this month. Finally, fans of our gay-interest titles can also get into the Halloween spirit with <i>Foreign Affairs </i>(1973) by Hugh Fleetwood, whom one critic called 'the master of modern horror'. Though I'd characterize it more as a thriller than a horror novel, it certainly does have its nasty, horrific elements and might be classed as a horror novel in the same vein as Stephen King's <i>Misery</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been brought to our attention that we haven't been updating this blog much. We don't get much interaction from readers on the blog, and only a couple people have signed up as 'followers', so we've been focusing our efforts in other areas: our once-monthly email newsletter, which is the best way to keep up with what we're publishing, our <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/22750058-valancourt-books" target="_blank">Goodreads </a>page (add us as a 'friend' and join our group!), and our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/valancourt" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Valancourt_B" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://valancourtbooks.booklikes.com/" target="_blank">Booklikes</a>, and other social media pages. We'll try to blog more in the near future, but in the meantime, we encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter and find us on the above-mentioned social media websites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And Happy Halloween!</span></div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-64942516903096477312015-03-12T12:21:00.004-05:002015-03-12T12:31:04.011-05:00The Prestige e-book and some forthcoming title announcements!<div style="text-align: justify;">
We're celebrating the release of our e-book edition of Christopher Priest's <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-prestige-1995.html" target="_blank">The Prestige</a></i> (1995), which went live yesterday. The book, which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the World Fantasy Award and was adapted for a 2006 Christopher Nolan film, has never been out of print in paperback, but for some reason the United States was the only place on earth where you couldn't get it as an e-book. So we fixed that.</div>
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Whether you've seen the film version or not, you really should check out the novel. It's brilliantly constructed<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20.2222232818604px;">—</span>like the stage illusions its plot deals with<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20.2222232818604px; text-align: left;">—</span>and a very compelling read. As fans of Victorian Gothic works by writers like Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker, and Richard Marsh, we also enjoyed the book's structure, with multiple narrators and parts of the story told through diaries, etc.</div>
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Read all about it over on its book page: <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-prestige-1995.html" target="_blank">http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-prestige-1995.html</a><br />
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This is the e-book cover by M.S. Corley:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTGcLWBYwSwyzb1pjbmFh4LlzkpfutbKn1nm3SWhjm45wyRkB6OGZWb2Frgj40Ap3oc2JLcIXNpU5a5QA-jVyQ72y2enMD4qoWFeiHrZKyHS6743RGYejaVJOurcZHcZZhU0KiQhVTA3T/s1600/The+Prestige2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTGcLWBYwSwyzb1pjbmFh4LlzkpfutbKn1nm3SWhjm45wyRkB6OGZWb2Frgj40Ap3oc2JLcIXNpU5a5QA-jVyQ72y2enMD4qoWFeiHrZKyHS6743RGYejaVJOurcZHcZZhU0KiQhVTA3T/s1600/The+Prestige2.JPG" height="320" width="199" /></a></div>
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...and, speaking of Christopher Priest, we're delighted to announce that we'll have the honor of publishing three more of his titles in late 2015 or early 2016: <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2126949.The_Space_Machine?from_search=true" target="_blank">The Space Machine</a> </i>(1976), <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/876461.A_Dream_of_Wessex?from_search=true" target="_blank">A Dream of Wessex</a> </i>(1977) (the author's revised edition; the book originally came out in the U.S., for some reason, under the title <i>The Perfect Lover</i>), and <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106921.The_Separation?from_search=true" target="_blank">The Separation</a> </i>(2002), which won both the Arthur C. Clarke and BSFA Awards. The first two will be available in US & Canada; <i>The Separation </i>will be US only.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnG6UsgwbLzcCcrZx7UQ7rGJOpd1w3_lA-ks4ur9NBQhvxITULLpeAuObCYspz9JPMfZ1q9IGjHeFRmw5uTbSHSEyJD5zhbLV8U1lySOPuk9YkTanuK7Sx7uDk0wZ2Gs_Pjfxg_Gy9_Yey/s1600/spacemachine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnG6UsgwbLzcCcrZx7UQ7rGJOpd1w3_lA-ks4ur9NBQhvxITULLpeAuObCYspz9JPMfZ1q9IGjHeFRmw5uTbSHSEyJD5zhbLV8U1lySOPuk9YkTanuK7Sx7uDk0wZ2Gs_Pjfxg_Gy9_Yey/s1600/spacemachine.jpg" height="320" width="191" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCoCo7kzgfCPsWpxp3rGf8ncPsY0KtSmR3EEapYJ2504JLBntJzzqMMUy6bYCp7aQYmmna2_bQGfdzrLwscRf5hmmYE5sMw6R2arieVhFkZQGfliEC1bpocl3l98nzw47l5bN1U_e_lsK8/s1600/dreamofwessex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCoCo7kzgfCPsWpxp3rGf8ncPsY0KtSmR3EEapYJ2504JLBntJzzqMMUy6bYCp7aQYmmna2_bQGfdzrLwscRf5hmmYE5sMw6R2arieVhFkZQGfliEC1bpocl3l98nzw47l5bN1U_e_lsK8/s1600/dreamofwessex.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zUCeW48-4lHXdqjyH-PgywD47JV0fHdOtRHFrz2ur6NE52P_Cy5-Gw7LbMF61XR200qtUTh5St4MP8E4QI79DhbWYX4-seUZ1nTtiYlOeIdeEm1TJjgNrzIWEOEPnevE_t5BESOrnkJd/s1600/separation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zUCeW48-4lHXdqjyH-PgywD47JV0fHdOtRHFrz2ur6NE52P_Cy5-Gw7LbMF61XR200qtUTh5St4MP8E4QI79DhbWYX4-seUZ1nTtiYlOeIdeEm1TJjgNrzIWEOEPnevE_t5BESOrnkJd/s1600/separation.jpg" height="320" width="199" /></a></div>
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And we're pleased to welcome a number of new Valancourt authors!<br />
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We're extremely excited about Iain Sinclair's highly acclaimed <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118187.White_Chapel_Scarlet_Tracings" target="_blank">White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings </a></i>(1987), which weaves two plotlines, one involving shady book dealers in modern-day London and one involving the Jack the Ripper slayings of 1888. Though oft reprinted in the UK (currently by Penguin), Sinclair's novel has curiously never been available in the US. It was the runner-up to that year's Guardian Fiction Prize (his second novel, <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118193.Downriver" target="_blank">Downriver</a></i>, would win both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Encore Award). It's a terrific book, written in a unique, highly poetic prose style, and I found it a most enjoyable and rewarding read.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9_l2dn3lKeLlbxKEXO4uI7hGTd6-vAyCPo7b9QOh1JSRiM0uvjmCZOD55KZl79G4KZbmOfwiRTn3Oi1QtJldDHRU1FdX_3dxBZTw8JbSo_o31CALhmCOOayxrWRfnQhJp0Vu_i7z1T_f/s1600/whitechap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9_l2dn3lKeLlbxKEXO4uI7hGTd6-vAyCPo7b9QOh1JSRiM0uvjmCZOD55KZl79G4KZbmOfwiRTn3Oi1QtJldDHRU1FdX_3dxBZTw8JbSo_o31CALhmCOOayxrWRfnQhJp0Vu_i7z1T_f/s1600/whitechap.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.russellhoban.org/" target="_blank">Russell Hoban</a> (1925-2011) is probably best known for his children's books, but his novel <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/776573.Riddley_Walker?from_search=true" target="_blank">Riddley Walker</a> </i>(1980) is regarded in many circles as a masterpiece, and his other novels—which are often unclassifiable, containing elements of humor, science fiction, fantasy, and even horror—have a large and well-deserved cult following. NYRB Classics recently reprinted his novel <i>Turtle Diary </i>(one of two novels he wrote with no supernatural or fantastic themes), but otherwise his works have been long unavailable in the US & Canada. We're very pleased to report that we'll be reissuing three of his very best—<i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/263720.The_Lion_of_Boaz_Jachin_and_Jachin_Boaz" target="_blank">The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz</a></i> (1973), <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/420104.Kleinzeit?from_search=true" target="_blank">Kleinzeit </a></i>(1974) and <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24905.Pilgermann" target="_blank">Pilgermann </a></i>(1983). We'll post more about all these later on, but for now, some vintage covers:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZp3GVGiSdEFpkCFoBl6OpmhqXaU78I9x0Q2bBWW-J03WZNpQqiiBGpSDegoC7XNf4w3eVsILF4e0vwSCQY3LabK5p0Sh3uW9fr5p7CyRZ3jjYoBaUIrDfglO3MznhCWA9zUElEuzzt2jc/s1600/lion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZp3GVGiSdEFpkCFoBl6OpmhqXaU78I9x0Q2bBWW-J03WZNpQqiiBGpSDegoC7XNf4w3eVsILF4e0vwSCQY3LabK5p0Sh3uW9fr5p7CyRZ3jjYoBaUIrDfglO3MznhCWA9zUElEuzzt2jc/s1600/lion.jpg" height="320" width="218" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZliTSjCIecNoAi96nru2tQHppSorMksThyphenhyphen8QQYdJHt_ySAweu3NBYJzf3kYEMgtaB32HDfphcCozUyV9y8fS021Wjz7c3c4PuGVi4rOnY7TP2qR3pYWA_efH_GZSHIqr9hs5PSeLb7c_/s1600/Pilgermann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZliTSjCIecNoAi96nru2tQHppSorMksThyphenhyphen8QQYdJHt_ySAweu3NBYJzf3kYEMgtaB32HDfphcCozUyV9y8fS021Wjz7c3c4PuGVi4rOnY7TP2qR3pYWA_efH_GZSHIqr9hs5PSeLb7c_/s1600/Pilgermann.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHrwQVT_ojxuY0MCxzGanVahqdQe95_JkeJhLeZDjUe_hEj79xVggeo9R0-hgew-0vkxpjZ7QrihIk2Ma6L9VEDAQ_5XnjupQdBPV62pXzM_lRKBwz6OmVGHzFYN5jWsUoS4d5vhXz5kb/s1600/Kleinzeit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHrwQVT_ojxuY0MCxzGanVahqdQe95_JkeJhLeZDjUe_hEj79xVggeo9R0-hgew-0vkxpjZ7QrihIk2Ma6L9VEDAQ_5XnjupQdBPV62pXzM_lRKBwz6OmVGHzFYN5jWsUoS4d5vhXz5kb/s1600/Kleinzeit.jpg" height="320" width="204" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here at Valancourt, we publish a lot of good books—and even quite a few <i>great </i>ones<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.2222232818604px;">—but only a handful are so beautifully done, so compelling, so <i>perfect </i>that they're actually impossible to put down. Philip Ridley's<i> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1328755.In_the_Eyes_of_Mr_Fury?from_search=true" target="_blank">In the Eyes of Mr Fury</a> </i>(1989) is one such novel, and we're very excited to have it as forthcoming. It's a bibliographic oddity: it never had a hardcover edition but went straight into paperback from Penguin as part of their short-lived <i>Penguin Originals </i>series. Also odd is the cover, which doesn't have the title or author's name. The book never appeared at all in the US, so we're thrilled to make it available here for the first time, as well as making it available again in the UK and worldwide. We don't want to run the risk of spoiling anything for you, so we won't say more about this one here</span></span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.2222232818604px;">just trust us</span></span>: do not under any circumstances miss it!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2US6tzK_8n1KNfvBJkEiqbAMVUUH2KiVWpl3-JsFcoXNEqkxeYabWIofR6PjukxWJJiJ471p9Wx5MPyQXIVKsXbj_owCXN-AGFM4t4mRIw8GXrDQpEtJ84GKhwvyCeEZyR9Fz2tT10sYN/s1600/ridley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2US6tzK_8n1KNfvBJkEiqbAMVUUH2KiVWpl3-JsFcoXNEqkxeYabWIofR6PjukxWJJiJ471p9Wx5MPyQXIVKsXbj_owCXN-AGFM4t4mRIw8GXrDQpEtJ84GKhwvyCeEZyR9Fz2tT10sYN/s1600/ridley.jpg" height="320" width="242" /></a></div>
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From the oldie-but-goodie category is <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/697123.Nightmares_And_Geezenstacks?from_search=true" target="_blank">Nightmares and Geezenstacks</a></i> (1961) by Fredric Brown, who was great at writing everything from crime novels to sci-fi to horror to.... well, just about anything. This collection was first published as a now-scarce paperback original in 1961 and reprinted in the late 1970s. Both editions are hard to find and because of the pulp-quality materials used, most copies are falling to bits. The 1961 paperback contains 47 stories but is only about 130 pages long: most of the stories are only 1-3 pages long, but though very short, they pack a very powerful punch. Few if any writers are better at the "short short story" than Brown was.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4K7asoPUglaygx2uRVwbWpGpRVGbNv4ZCtEoHKE1BvcwFPAZvnP8zAXJPXf51w83reE7qOOro9ttP0osna3to1UgyEuzpFMlNnNnrWDE98D4wPdxFkHD4-Ks59s_aEoJ1izRKIX6e6h2/s1600/556566066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4K7asoPUglaygx2uRVwbWpGpRVGbNv4ZCtEoHKE1BvcwFPAZvnP8zAXJPXf51w83reE7qOOro9ttP0osna3to1UgyEuzpFMlNnNnrWDE98D4wPdxFkHD4-Ks59s_aEoJ1izRKIX6e6h2/s1600/556566066.jpg" height="320" width="195" /></a></div>
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And last, but by no means least, the rediscovery of <a href="http://www.hughfleetwood.com/" target="_blank">Hugh Fleetwood</a>'s fine novels has been begun by the folks at <a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/faber-finds" target="_blank">Faber Finds</a>, who publish his John Llewellyn Rhys Prize-winning <i>The Girl Who Passed for Normal </i>(1974) and several others. We're pleased to add his <i>Foreign Affairs </i>to our list: it's a book that showcases perfectly why the <i>Sunday Times </i>called Fleetwood "the master of modern horror" and illustrates what the <i>Scotsman </i>meant when they wrote "He reaches down and stirs up with venomous delight the nameless, faceless things swimming far below the levels of consciousness." Like Ridley's novel, Fleetwood's will appeal both to those who enjoy our literary fiction offerings as well as those of you specifically interested in our gay-interest titles.</div>
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Look for more info on all these titles and authors coming soon, and, as always, we have dozens more titles under consideration or in the works, so expect more announcements soon!</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-92059083622443310172015-01-19T09:16:00.001-06:002015-01-19T09:24:15.792-06:00Happy Birthday Edgar Allan Poe!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuUiB32zSbHdDC_0Mh-qwQm31x9jQuE583RYVzQRcqyKOSIPqnM0PhlB8mfTt-_ZDxmPu_sLzScJKDcn0CI53HdoIniKSIRq4XdfsQajNMzrGKLNV6_EVu83g6OmBfubpTwUdFA0kQ0z8/s1600/InstagramCapture_bd973738-7a36-4f8e-833f-0b9133f56850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuUiB32zSbHdDC_0Mh-qwQm31x9jQuE583RYVzQRcqyKOSIPqnM0PhlB8mfTt-_ZDxmPu_sLzScJKDcn0CI53HdoIniKSIRq4XdfsQajNMzrGKLNV6_EVu83g6OmBfubpTwUdFA0kQ0z8/s1600/InstagramCapture_bd973738-7a36-4f8e-833f-0b9133f56850.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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Today marks Edgar Allan Poe's 206th birthday, so we thought we'd celebrate by sharing some interesting stuff from the Valancourt Archives. Back in 2013, we published <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-facts-in-the-case-of-e-a-poe-1979.html" target="_blank">Andrew Sinclair's <i>The Facts in the Case of E.A. Poe</i> (1979)</a>, a brilliant hybrid of fiction and nonfiction that surely ranks as one of the most interesting books on Poe ever written. In order to write the book, Sinclair followed in Poe's footsteps from Richmond to Charlottesville, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, and documented his research in two volumes of journals, which he sent to us. </div>
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Poe Cottage, Bronx, NY, where Poe wrote "Annabel Lee"</div>
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Poe Park, Bronx, NY</div>
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The <i>Constellation</i>, Baltimore, Maryland<i>.</i> A note in the journals indicates that the bowsprit points to where Poe was found dying.</div>
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The Edgar Allan Poe Society at 512 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore</div>
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Poe was originally buried without a headstone; this stone marks the spot of his original grave.</div>
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Andrew Sinclair at Poe's tomb.</div>
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Main Street, Richmond, outside the Poe Museum.</div>
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Grave of Poe's mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, at St John's Episcopal Churchyard, Broad Street, Richmond</div>
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The Gold Bug Restaurant & Lounge, Sullivan's Island, SC. Poe's story "The Gold Bug" was set on Sullivan's Island.</div>
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Fort Moultrie, where Poe was stationed from Nov. 1827 to Dec. 1828.</div>
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"Visit the house where Poe wrote The Raven": Baltimore. In the late 1970s, when Sinclair visited, this neighborhood was particularly bad. When we visited last year, it hadn't improved much.</div>
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Hope you enjoyed these photos -- all of them come into play in Sinclair's book, which we hope you'll check out. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Case-E-Poe/dp/1939140722/ref=sr_1_1_twi_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421680839&sr=8-1&keywords=poe+sinclair+valancourt" target="_blank">It's available in paperback or as a $2.99 ebook (free for Amazon Prime subscribers)</a>.</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-15887864904311047422014-12-27T10:31:00.000-06:002014-12-27T10:32:36.528-06:00Top 10 of 2014 List!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year, I posted a list of my top 10 favorite Valancourt releases for 2013 (<a href="http://valancourtbooksblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/top-10-of-2013.html">http://valancourtbooksblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/top-10-of-2013.html</a>) and got some good responses, so here we go again, my top 10 favorite releases of 2014. Keep in mind, we only publish books we love, and we think all the books we publish are worth reading. But some are a little nearer and dearer to our hearts than others. Without further ado . . .</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-glass-cage-1966.html" target="_blank">10. Colin Wilson - The Glass Cage</a> (1966)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">We reissued five of Colin Wilson's novels in 2013 before his passing in December 2013, and we returned in 2014 committed to keeping his works in print, issuing two more of his novels, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/necessary-doubt-1964.html" target="_blank">Necessary Doubt</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-glass-cage-1966.html" target="_blank">The Glass Cage</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">, both of which I enjoyed very much. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Glass Cage</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> is a great read which deals with many of the topics that interested Wilson, in particular existential philosophy and serial murderers. This one will also appeal to fans of our editions of 18th century literature, as the killer leaves a quotation from William Blake at the scene of each crime and the 'detective' is a Blake scholar.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYA7TKRne22X0upwWJcPWRqPwsXhnA_BYY8xuRx-SDpNbk5j7iqymGhlmOv0TLfjInMb5djQwzd5ya1ENfpQAiHgzDvw0IGJ2JyFnO9kFOKqMoXoARLKlPbFngRjTxlBZlk66fh03XqL8r/s1600/OurLadyTwitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYA7TKRne22X0upwWJcPWRqPwsXhnA_BYY8xuRx-SDpNbk5j7iqymGhlmOv0TLfjInMb5djQwzd5ya1ENfpQAiHgzDvw0IGJ2JyFnO9kFOKqMoXoARLKlPbFngRjTxlBZlk66fh03XqL8r/s1600/OurLadyTwitter.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/our-lady-of-pain-1974.html" target="_blank">9. John Blackburn - Our Lady of Pain</a> (1974)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Blackburn wrote 28 novels, 14 of which we've now published, and every one of them is good. They have original premises and are written in a highly intelligent, literate style, and, what's refreshing, they're never one word too long. Most of them clock in at about 150 pages or less, making them a perfect short read. Blackburn's books vary in tone: the earlier ones are fairly straight-up suspense thrillers; some of the later ones, particularly those featuring Bill Easter, approach parody. But for a period in the middle, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Blackburn wrote some very good horror novels, and this one is by far the darkest and grimmest. I won't give away any major plot surprises, but like the best of Blackburn's books, this one features a modern-day updating of a medieval legend (in this case, the story of Elizabeth Bathory, the Hungarian countess rumored to have slaughtered girls and bathed in their blood). It's a terrific read, and if you've never given Blackburn a shot before, this is the one to start with.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJstQtk01BfFbcd-jWA38HFiML2Vbszckj3xpiI9ZHEJMXpYWWq2wpPIgjt8FLqPdOzW8-f4w_JQ-eii_2iDUgYEbHzpackBD28wtkUR1Y-wb3K7ZXTiG8GUpaSftod60_GhEiI_dgc2j/s1600/neighbours+tiny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJstQtk01BfFbcd-jWA38HFiML2Vbszckj3xpiI9ZHEJMXpYWWq2wpPIgjt8FLqPdOzW8-f4w_JQ-eii_2iDUgYEbHzpackBD28wtkUR1Y-wb3K7ZXTiG8GUpaSftod60_GhEiI_dgc2j/s1600/neighbours+tiny.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/apps/search?q=neighbours" target="_blank">8. Claude Houghton - Neighbours</a> (1926)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our efforts to revive the reputation of Claude Houghton continued in 2014 with the release of his first novel, <i>Neighbours </i>(1926), which had been out of print since, well, 1926, probably. Though it's not on a par with <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/i-am-jonathan-scrivener-1930.html" target="_blank">I Am Jonathan Scrivener</a> </i>(1930) or <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/this-was-ivor-trent-1935.html" target="_blank">This Was Ivor Trent</a> </i>(1935), it's still a brilliant read. The premise is intriguing: an author takes a room in the attic of a boarding house, seeking privacy and quiet. But he finds unexpectedly that he has a neighbour on the other side of the wall, whose every conversation he can hear. As time goes on, his eavesdropping on his neighbour's life turns into an obsession. In the hands of a lesser writer, this wouldn't work for a 200 page novel, but somehow Houghton pulls it off. If you haven't read Houghton yet, don't start with this one: try one of the others. But if you find that you like the style of his metaphysical, psychological thrillers, you'll enjoy this one as well.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbluIgY7y2UaDvos5NCxDzwCUjr7-WtOkgMaOAUp800b_a9PGYInd8P7yXHykzh2Ggkerk-GzcoI0odywhdf-fMcn8ScO0HJSuV3E9hKwcTIfd1y0c-sW9DY7kMroMTQARjg-xIm-C9osh/s1600/The+Rack+website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbluIgY7y2UaDvos5NCxDzwCUjr7-WtOkgMaOAUp800b_a9PGYInd8P7yXHykzh2Ggkerk-GzcoI0odywhdf-fMcn8ScO0HJSuV3E9hKwcTIfd1y0c-sW9DY7kMroMTQARjg-xIm-C9osh/s1600/The+Rack+website.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-rack-1958.html" target="_blank"><b>7. A. E. Ellis - The Rack (1958)</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This extraordinary novel was much compared to Thomas Mann's <i>The Magic Mountain</i>, presumably because they're both very long books dealing with tuberculosis patients in sanatoriums. I haven't read the Mann book, so I don't know how apt the comparisons are, but Ellis's first and only novel is remarkable and well worth reading. It earned near-universal praise in England when first published and was reprinted off and on as a Penguin Modern Classic but had fallen out of print by some point in the 1990s. For me, the book's brilliance is in its gallows humour: though the painful and dehumanizing medical procedures the hero undergoes are horrific to read about, the novel is infused throughout with some of the blackest humour you'll find in a novel. It's an exquisitely written book and one only wishes Ellis (pseudonym of Derek Lindsay) had written others.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xpXuk4fbdLaMC-9H6NELH9tKGC3pXZ1do0Leu91s_YVsTZvgZK9r7Of2-KblTMdHquNYSx2EzSu9lesTcXiYpb6G-TJjowICIQsp0Hty-xhL6Ra0ObJcCjVvN496clvUaARhi5CnAnIh/s1600/Cost+of+Living+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xpXuk4fbdLaMC-9H6NELH9tKGC3pXZ1do0Leu91s_YVsTZvgZK9r7Of2-KblTMdHquNYSx2EzSu9lesTcXiYpb6G-TJjowICIQsp0Hty-xhL6Ra0ObJcCjVvN496clvUaARhi5CnAnIh/s1600/Cost+of+Living+web.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-cost-of-living-like-this-1969.html" target="_blank"><b>6. James Kennaway - The Cost of Living Like This (1969)</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During his brief career, James Kennaway published several astonishingly good novels and also wrote a number of award-winning screenplays. Unfortunately, he died way too young, dying on the M4 motorway at age 40 around Christmas, 1968, as he was driving home from having drinks with his friend Peter O'Toole. This novel, published posthumously, may be his masterpiece. For my money, opening lines don't get much better than this: '</span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They were painting the gothic corridors of the railway hotel when the economist arrived. It was about six o’clock in the evening, early in May, which is no time to die, and it had been raining heavily.' <i>Time Magazine</i> summed up the novel as 'a hard little book about dying', which seems fair. The protagonist, dying of lung cancer, has only a short time left to live. His wife, knowing the prognosis, can't help but look on her husband as a sort of walking corpse: any kind of normal relationship between them has become impossible, since she knows he may die at any time. Seeking to live to the fullest in the short time he has left, he embarks on an affair with a teenage girl, who, not knowing of his illness, is free to imagine they have a future together. Like the crab clawing at his insides, he claws desperately for life, and just as the cancer is consuming him, he becomes cancerous to everyone around him, ruining their lives in his single-minded quest to enjoy his own. It's a powerful short novel that demands to be read -- his style is unique and the book is unforgettable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Elementals</i> has been by far our most popular book this year. It doesn't quite outsell all the rest of our catalogue put together, but it certainly seems to be trying to. Poppy Z. Brite has called it 'surely the most terrifying novel ever written', and plenty of the online reviews echo that sentiment: readers seem to find it genuinely terrifying. I think I'm just too jaded from having seen so many horror movies and TV shows and read so many horror books over the years, but I didn't find the book particularly scary. But I still loved it. McDowell is a terrific writer: his fortes are dialogue (which is always pitch-perfect, particularly in his rendering of dialect), setting, and characterization. Most horror novels have a cast of throwaway characters who don't serve much purpose except as fodder for the killer: they're indistinguishable from one another, and the dialogue could just as easily be spoken by any one of them. After the book's finished, you probably won't remember a single one of them. Not in McDowell's books, and especially not in this one. India (a precursor of Lydia in McDowell's later <i>Beetlejuice </i>script) and her father Luker, the alcoholic Big Barbara, the maid Odessa Red, each of the characters really comes to life and practically leaps off the page. If I wasn't terrified by the story, I was nonetheless carried along by it: the first two-thirds or so of the book move at a fairly leisurely pace, leading up to the real horror towards the end, but it's never dull for a moment and keeps you turning the pages. We're thrilled to be continuing the Michael McDowell rediscovery in 2015 with three more of his novels. If you're a horror fan, these are must-reads, but even if you normally don't read horror books, you'll find plenty to admire in the writing of McDowell, who is a very fine writer indeed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This one's cheating a bit, since it's actually being published Jan. 6, 2015, but since we spent a lot of time working on it this year (and since this is my list and I can do what I want with it), I'm putting on here. Until recently, like many readers in the U.S., I didn't have a particularly clear idea who Christopher Priest was and what his books were like. I'd heard of <i>The Prestige</i>, of course, and seen the Christopher Nolan film, but otherwise, I didn't know much about Priest. This is probably in part due to the fact that most of his books have been unavailable in the U.S. for many years. The neglect of his works here in the U.S. is surprising, since all his books are in print in the UK, where he has won many major awards; they're also all available in various European translations (he's also won major awards in France, Germany, etc.) When I stumbled upon an old copy of <i>The Affirmation</i>, I knew from the jacket blurb that this was the sort of novel I'd love: it's a book that blends and transcends genres -- not exactly SF, not exactly fantasy, not exactly a thriller -- and features an intriguing premise and a very clever literary mindgame that will make you want to reread the book as soon as you've finished it, just so you can see how it was all done. An extremely enjoyable, page-turning read, and we're excited to be offering it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of books that don't fit easily into genres (most of ours don't), this is another: equal parts fantasy, political thriller, autobiography, and nostalgia, Lord Dunsany's <i>The Curse of the Wise Woman</i> is one of the best books I read all year. In fact, both of us here at Valancourt Books would rank this among our top reads for 2014. It's temping to say that the fantasy aspects concerning Tir-nan-Og, the land of eternal youth, or the supernatural parts with the 'wise woman' (witch) are the most interesting, but I found myself engrossed even with the parts of the book dealing with Irish political intrigue or hunting foxes and geese on the bog. His prose here is, as always, mellifluous, and the book is charming and delightful throughout. If you haven't read Dunsany before, or if you read some of his early short stories and they weren't for you, give this one a shot: you're almost certain to like it.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlYQlM7RCwuHSmrH9IllfwbyRUauK_UQXE_uzpUxjbrdC0cQ96-jwrvvaZqt30YFg2kyA-UzOWIj2XNJ3Sh86btDjsTEUAD_WTXR6Jain6Yu6qLt4d1qToYcJlcvp8XS3VJJIaiLxDQ_0/s1600/WinterInTheHills+-+F+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlYQlM7RCwuHSmrH9IllfwbyRUauK_UQXE_uzpUxjbrdC0cQ96-jwrvvaZqt30YFg2kyA-UzOWIj2XNJ3Sh86btDjsTEUAD_WTXR6Jain6Yu6qLt4d1qToYcJlcvp8XS3VJJIaiLxDQ_0/s1600/WinterInTheHills+-+F+(2).jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/a-winter-in-the-hills-1970.html" target="_blank"><b>2. John Wain - A Winter in the Hills (1970)</b></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is about 400 pages long, but it doesn't feel like it. You'll wish it had been double the length. John Wain's books are always good (<i>Hurry on Down</i> and <i>The Smaller Sky</i> were favourites of mine from our 2013 list), but this one is really something special. The plot, which is simple enough, involves an English linguist, Roger Furnivall, who spends a winter in Wales to learn the language and gets caught up in a local dispute in which a large corporation is attempting to put all the local bus operators out of business. The last holdout is Gareth, a taciturn hunchback, and Roger determines to interfere and help Gareth save his bus route and his livelihood from the encroaching forces of corporate greed. It's hard for me to say why I liked the book so much. The plot is all right, the writing is of course solid, but somehow it's a book that adds up to more than the sum of its parts. I think perhaps it has to do with the unusual earnestness with which Wain writes: it's hard not to root for him, and for his characters. Very highly recommended. (As an aside, I'd love to hear from anyone who reads this one and who has also read one of my favourite Valancourt releases of 2012, John Trevena's <i>Sleeping Waters</i> [1913], which also involved an Englishman arriving as an outsider in a small Celtic town and interfering with local business affairs, and also featured a hunchback...)</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgbK7G-NRjcT3A0oVpUrvHzI_5sAzIO4QBdrFIMHZhiQxC2PV6uGa-PSbACz20eblRNFZmRSgkJH72CMpqW0Suck0KbmByU1b6IQjCjCMsd7rK5OefHjUSPVgzk0VWBJOHYkbdezCXMHb/s1600/Lord+Dismiss+Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgbK7G-NRjcT3A0oVpUrvHzI_5sAzIO4QBdrFIMHZhiQxC2PV6uGa-PSbACz20eblRNFZmRSgkJH72CMpqW0Suck0KbmByU1b6IQjCjCMsd7rK5OefHjUSPVgzk0VWBJOHYkbdezCXMHb/s1600/Lord+Dismiss+Us.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/lord-dismiss-us-1967.html" target="_blank"><b>1. Michael Campbell - Lord Dismiss Us (1967)</b></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is so good that it's almost unthinkable that its inclusion on this list is owing entirely to an accident of fate. Here in Richmond we have a thrift store that benefits the gay community center; I stumbled upon an old copy of the book there, never having heard of it. But from the publisher's blurb and the rave reviews on the cover from Iris Murdoch, Christopher Isherwood, Angus Wilson, and others, it was immediately evident that this was a book we needed to republish. Tracking down the estate took a considerable amount of detective work, but was well worth it, as this was my favourite book of ours this year. Set in a boys' boarding school (based on the Irish school that Campbell himself attended, and peopled with characters that were easily recognizable as Campbell's teachers and schoolfellows), the book focuses on two characters, both struggling with their attractions for members of the same sex. One is Eric Ashley, a former pupil of the school, now returned to teach there, and who is tormented by his attraction to young men. The other is Carleton, a student, who is in love with Allen, a boy a year younger. Meanwhile, with the school declining in quality, a new headmaster, Crabtree, has been brought in, and he is determined to stamp out any homosexual conduct in the school. (His efforts, though, are thoroughly misguided and often lead to hilarious disaster, as when he arranges for a girls' school to visit for the day). But it would be unfair to call this a 'gay' novel: as Iris Murdoch blurbs, it's really a novel about love. And though of course infused with sadness and even tragedy, the book is also very, very funny in parts. Like the Wain novel, it's about 400 pages, but again, not a page too long. It's a beautiful book and not to be missed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What about you? What were your favourite Valancourt releases this year? We'd love to hear from you!</span></span></div>
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We hate to be the harbingers of bad news, especially during the holiday season, but we've received some really disturbing news from Amazon that we have to pass along. </div>
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Effective Jan. 1, Amazon will begin charging VAT on e-books based on the buyer's country. Up until now, they've charged 3% VAT, which is the rate in Luxembourg, where Amazon EU is based. Beginning Jan. 1, e-books in the UK will be subject to a 20% tax instead of 3%. In Ireland, it's an appalling 23%.</div>
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Amazon has notified us that if we leave our e-book prices the same, Amazon will simply take the 20% out of the royalties it pays us. As it is, on most sales, Amazon keeps about 31% for itself; under our contracts, the author gets 25-30%. The little bit that's left goes to cover our costs for cover art, proofreading, digitization and conversion to MOBI and EPUB formats, and other costs, and a tiny profit to keep the lights on here at Valancourt Towers and keep new books coming out. Thus, on a given e-book, we get about 40% of the retail price. Under the new scheme, this would drop by half -- 20% going to VAT and the slender 20% that remains going to us. As a very, very, very, very small operation, we cannot possibly absorb a 50% decrease in our already modest revenues.</div>
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Therefore, unless the UK and other EU governments take action in the very near future to resolve this mess, we will be forced to raise our e-book prices in the UK and EU countries by as much as 20%. The UK's VAT on e-books is especially absurd, since the UK charges a 0% tax on print books.</div>
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We regret very much the prospect of increasing prices on UK/EU e-books, particularly since the entire<i> raison d'être</i> behind Valancourt Books has always been to make books available to everyone at the most affordable prices possible, but unfortunately, this issue is beyond our control.... </div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-72991857838469247632014-11-04T13:11:00.002-06:002014-11-04T13:20:37.101-06:00An update on a bunch of forthcoming releases<div style="text-align: justify;">
The year is rapidly winding down, but things are still in full swing at Valancourt Towers, where we're working on tons and tons (and tons) of new stuff that will be out over the next couple months. We did a quick tour of the factory today to see what our resident Valancourt gnomes are churning out on the presses, and here is some of what they're working on:</div>
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<i><b>Lusignan; or, The Abbaye of La Trappe</b> </i>(1801), Anonymous (edited by Jacqui Howard). </div>
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This four-volume Minerva Press Gothic is exceedingly rare, with the only known copy surviving at Corvey Castle, in Germany, where an early-nineteenth-century Prince of Corvey was an avid reader of English Gothic literature. Jacqui Howard, who has previously edited Ann Radcliffe's <i>The Mysteries of Udolpho </i>(1794) for Penguin Classics, provides an introduction and notes. Prof. Howard has previously made the argument that this scarce novel and another, <i>The Orphans of Llangloed</i>, could in fact be the product of Radcliffe herself, who famously disappeared after the publication of <i>The Italian </i>in 1797. Maybe she found it harder to put down her pen than she thought, and continued to publish anonymously . . . ?</div>
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The chapel scenes in which the fainting Emily beholds the ghastly spectre are well done and are sure to please any fan of Gothic Literature.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Anthology of Graveyard Poetry, </i>edited by Jack G. Voller</div>
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This groundbreaking new volume contains the best and most influential of the poetry of the so-called 'Graveyard School', which arose in mid-18th-century England and became a literary phenomenon; it also went on to have a major impact on the development of Gothic fiction in the 1790s and afterwards. This collection includes important works by Robert Blair ('The Grave'), Edward Young ('Night Thoughts on Death'), Thomas Gray ('Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard') and many more, and also features many lesser-known women poets. Editor Professor Jack G. Voller, who previously edited the chapbook <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-veiled-picture-or-the-mysteries-of-gorgono-1802.html" target="_blank">The Veiled Picture</a> </i>for Valancourt and who runs the Literary Gothic website, provides an introduction and notes. A must-have for scholars and students of 18th century literature as well as anyone interested in the development of Gothic literature or those who like their reading on the morbid side....</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Jaspar Tristram </i>(1899) by A. W. Clarke, new introduction by A. D. Harvey</div>
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One of the earliest English public school novels, this was the only novel by Clarke, and it's an unusual one. Few novels (perhaps none) up to that point had gone into so much psychological depth in portraying the character of a schoolboy. As readers of the other public school novels we've published (<i>The Fourth of June, Lord Dismiss Us</i>, <i>Never Again</i>) will expect, the hero, Jaspar, conceives a passionate friendship for another boy at the school. Arnold Harvey contributes a new introduction.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Tom Barber Trilogy </i>(1931-1944) by Forrest Reid, new introductions by Andrew Doyle</div>
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We previously reissued Reid's classic trilogy as a two-volume hardcover set in 2011, but now the three volumes will be available individually as paperbacks, and, for the first time, as e-books! Each volume includes a new introduction by Dr Andrew Doyle, as well as never-before-seen photographs and archival materials from the Forrest Reid Collection at Queens University Belfast, and striking new cover designs by Henry Petrides, which have been getting rave reviews. Highlights include <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/uncle-stephen-1931.html" target="_blank">Uncle Stephen</a></i> (1931), whose importance as a work of the fantastic and supernatural is signaled by its previous inclusion in Tartarus Press's prestigious series and which has been called a masterpiece by E.M. Forster, and <i>Young Tom </i>(1944), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (that era's equivalent of the Booker) for best novel of that year. If you've never read Reid, now's a great time to start!</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">A Hair Divides </i>(1930), <i style="font-weight: bold;">Chaos Is Come Again </i>(1932), <i style="font-weight: bold;">Julian Grant Loses His Way </i>(1933) by Claude Houghton</div>
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If you haven't read any of the three incredible books we've already published by Houghton (1889-1961) (<i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/i-am-jonathan-scrivener-1930.html" target="_blank">I Am Jonathan Scrivener</a>, <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/this-was-ivor-trent-1935.html" target="_blank">This Was Ivor Trent</a>, </i>and <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/neighbours-1926.html" target="_blank">Neighbours</a></i>), close this browser window, stop reading this blog, and get over to Amazon or your local library to get a copy of his masterpiece, <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/i-am-jonathan-scrivener-1930.html" target="_blank">I Am Jonathan Scrivener</a></i>, which we published with a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning <i>Washington Post </i>columnist Michael Dirda, and read it immediately! A contemporary reviewer in 1930 said the book was impossible to put down; nothing has changed: it's still impossible to put down. </div>
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Once you've finished that one, and the other two we've published, you're going to be demanding more, which is why we're reissuing three more of his neglected classics. Houghton was very widely praised by his fellow authors during his time (J.B. Priestley, Hugh Walpole, L.A.G. Strong, Clemence Dane, and many others, were admirers, as was Henry Miller, who had a years-long, impassioned correspondence with Houghton), but never found the readership he deserved during his lifetime or even after his death. We're trying to change that with our continuing program of reissuing his books; the best of the new trio is probably <i>Julian Grant Loses His Way, </i>a remarkable work of the fantastic. The book opens with Julian Grant finding himself in London one foggy morning without any clear idea of where he's been or where he's going. After he ducks into a cafe to collect his thoughts over a cocktail, he is assailed by memories and images from his past. As his story unfolds, it becomes clear something very strange is going on. Is he suffering from some sort of mental disturbance or amnesia? Has he become trapped in some kind of dream world? Or is there an even more chilling explanation for the weird situation in which he finds himself?</div>
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All three will feature their original jacket art (these are unrestored versions):</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-black-cloud-1957.html" target="_blank">The Black Cloud</a> </i>(1957) by Fred Hoyle; new introduction by Geoffrey Hoyle</div>
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Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) was a brilliant and influential scientist whose work in astronomy and astrophysics has had an enduring impact in those fields, but he was also a popular science fiction novelist. In the new foreword to this edition of his first novel, <i><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-black-cloud-1957.html" target="_blank">The Black Cloud</a></i>, his son Geoffrey, also a sci-fi novelist, recounts that when one of Hoyle's colleagues was surprised to see him reading a lowbrow science fiction novel, Hoyle replied: “I have a purpose in mind. These people don’t know any real science and they make money by writing this stuff. I, who know some science, should be able to do much better.”</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9LlFS8Y4u378cAZ_yhxjM6DJwan5ZQrluiQJgtoD1h1IDKag3aVCP1KLTpoeUSOzVKO_buKrlIUmvlDkyzImJOPM75aHpVuh1cCXNJllsvtKpGaNe_XwJIpMO78k1dL_FQZxPjCpVObn/s1600/The+Black+CLoud+website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9LlFS8Y4u378cAZ_yhxjM6DJwan5ZQrluiQJgtoD1h1IDKag3aVCP1KLTpoeUSOzVKO_buKrlIUmvlDkyzImJOPM75aHpVuh1cCXNJllsvtKpGaNe_XwJIpMO78k1dL_FQZxPjCpVObn/s1600/The+Black+CLoud+website.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
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And so he did. <i>The Black Cloud </i>is a landmark of British science fiction, a work of what is known as "hard SF": books grounded in scientific fact in which the apparently improbable events could in fact actually happen. But don't be misled: though it contains a healthy dose of science and fact, Hoyle's book is no snoozer: the plot involves the advent of a gigantic black cloud the size of Jupiter that arrives in our solar system and blocks out the Sun's light, causing unimaginable destruction and the possibility of the extinction of all life on earth. It's a thrilling apocalyptic read that has long been recognized as a classic in the UK, where it's never been out of print and is now part of Penguin's Modern Classics series. We're very pleased to bring this great book back to print in the U.S. for the first time in four decades.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Affirmation </i>(1981) by Christopher Priest, new introduction by the author</div>
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Christopher Priest has been a major figure in British SF for many years now, though whether you classify his works as SF or fantasy, they're also excellent literary fiction. For some reason, until recently, he hasn't caught on as much in the States: two of his best novels, <i>The Affirmation </i>(1981) and <i>The Glamour </i>(1985), came out in hardcover over here but quickly fell out of print and never made it to paperback. A couple years back, NYRB Classics began the important work of a Priest revival, reissuing the classic <i>The Inverted World </i>(1974), and we're very glad to continue the process with this reissue, to which the author provides a new introduction.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUoN8s0jYT3mbWdoBelxz0jatATbL5jYvG0_8BYzI3t57alEHnrfUegups0ENSIOye3xlvgt658vMmO0lN3t82gRfx0BJxYIvbTQdRZGsmjKgApxBauKMGF5Dp607bF16y6d2A_u0eqCp/s1600/affirmation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUoN8s0jYT3mbWdoBelxz0jatATbL5jYvG0_8BYzI3t57alEHnrfUegups0ENSIOye3xlvgt658vMmO0lN3t82gRfx0BJxYIvbTQdRZGsmjKgApxBauKMGF5Dp607bF16y6d2A_u0eqCp/s1600/affirmation.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>The Affirmation </i>is a book about the nature of reality: what is "true", and how can we really be certain that it's true? It opens with a young Londoner, Peter Sinclair, down-and-out after losing his father, his girlfriend, his job, and his flat all at roughly the same time. Trying to figure out where things went wrong, he begins to write an autobiography. But though it captures the facts of his life literally, it somehow misses the essential truth of his experiences. So he rewrites it, changing names and fictionalizing certain events. Meanwhile, we meet another Peter Sinclair, a native of Jethra, who has just won the grand prize in a lottery: a trip to the Dream Archipelago, where he will undergo a procedure that confers immortality on him. The catch: it will also erase his memory. So he, too, sets out to write his autobiography, in order to recapture the memories following the procedure. As their two stories seem to overlap, intersect, and intertwine, the lines of truth and reality blur: is one Peter the fictional creation of the other? Are both real? Or neither? Priest pulls off a brilliant literary mindgame that will keep you turning the pages and will have you anxious to reread it once you reach the surprising end. I loved every page of this one and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.</div>
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<b style="font-style: italic;">The Devil's Own Work</b> (1991) by Alan Judd; new intro by Owen King; new afterword by the author</div>
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Like Christopher Priest, Alan Judd was one of the original Granta Best Young British Novelists chosen in 1983, and like Priest's novel, Judd's book has received somewhat less than its due here in the U.S. When first published in 1991, <i>The Devil's Own Work </i>was a major critical success, winning the UK's Guardian Fiction Prize and garnering outstanding reviews from every major critic in the U.S. The Vintage paperback edition even boasted a glowing quote from Stephen King, calling it the best book he'd read all year.</div>
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Judd's novella is the story of an aspiring writer, Edward, who -- depending on how you read it -- sacrifices either his artistic integrity or perhaps even his immortal soul in exchange for popular acclaim and success. Edward's friend, the narrator, pieces together the story of Edward's meteoric rise: it involves the death of a respected, elderly writer, an inscrutable and possibly cursed manuscript, and a beautiful, seemingly ageless woman. Whether read as chilling supernatural horror in the Faustian tradition or as an allegory and satire on modern literary culture, it's a terrific book, which we're very pleased to be offering. Owen King contributes a great new introduction (his father, a little-known scribe, contributed an intro to our edition last year of <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-monk-1796.html" target="_blank">The Monk</a>), while the author has written a new afterword, explaining how the novella arose out of his research on Ford Madox Ford and a strange meeting with Graham Greene.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Matchbox Theatre </i>(2015) by Michael Frayn</div>
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Increasingly often, we're approached -- often by well-known and well-respected authors -- about the possibility of publishing a brand-new, original work. Usually we say no: as much fun as it would be to publish new material, we've carved out a little niche for our reissues of neglected classics, and our small size limits us from taking on anything <i>too </i>ambitious. But in the process of acquiring U.S. rights to five of Michael Frayn's classic novels originally published between 1965-1973, the opportunity came along to publish his new book and we couldn't pass it up. It's not every day a small operation like ours has the chance to publish a book by an author whose last three were all Booker Prize nominees and who's regarded by many as one of the best playwrights of our time.</div>
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Published in October by Faber in the UK, where it's already getting rave reviews, the US edition will be out from us in February. It contains thirty short pieces -- call them plays, playlets, sketches, monologues, or, as the author does, simply "entertainments" -- and, as you'd expect from the author of <i>Noises Off</i> and <i>Skios</i>, it's riotously funny. It also features a wonderful wraparound vintage-matchbox-inspired cover and interior illustrations by M.S. Corley.</div>
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That's it for now, but keep watching this space and our website and Facebook pages, as we continue to add more and more great titles to our offerings!</div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-64187092519924360322014-10-03T17:51:00.001-05:002014-10-28T17:40:38.897-05:00Forthcoming titles for 2015 (updated 10-28-14)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Previously posted a couple months ago, but updated with new info on some great folks who've kindly offered to contribute introductions, as well as new literary classic titles we're taking on by Nevil Shute and H.E. Bates and a great gay-interest title by Robin Maugham (nephew of W. Somerset Maugham). And we'll be updating periodically to add more exciting stuff that we're currently in negotiations for....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><b>HORROR, SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />CHARLES BEAUMONT</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/437962.The_Intruder?from_search=true" target="_blank">The Intruder</a> </i>(1959) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2866922-a-touch-of-the-creature" target="_blank">A Touch of the Creature</a> </i>(2000)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />MICHAEL BLUMLEIN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1650986.The_Brains_of_Rats?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Brains of Rats </i>(1989)</a> (World Fantasy Award nominee), intro by Michael McDowell</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />DAVID CASE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Among the Wolves and other Werewolf Stories, </i>edited by Stephen Jones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2392848.Fengriffen?from_search=true" target="_blank">Fengriffen and other Stories</a>, </i>edited by Stephen Jones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>STEPHEN GREGORY</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3401170-the-woodwitch?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Woodwitch </i>(1988)</a>, introduction by Paul Tremblay</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199875.The_Blood_of_Angels" target="_blank"><i>The Blood of Angels </i>(1994)</a>, introduction by Mark Morris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>FRED HOYLE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8478098-the-black-cloud" target="_blank"><i>The Black Cloud </i>(1957)</a> (US only), introduction by Geoffrey Hoyle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />GERALD KERSH</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://harlanellison.com/kersh/critics.htm#UKDog" target="_blank"><i>Neither Man Nor Dog </i>(1946)</a>, introduction by Robert Webb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://harlanellison.com/kersh/critics.htm#UKClock" target="_blank"><i>Clock Without Hands </i>(1949)</a>, introduction by Thomas Pluck</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341317.The_Secret_Masters?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Great Wash </i>(aka <i>The Secret Masters</i>)</a><i> </i>(1953)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8077363-on-an-odd-note?from_search=true" target="_blank">On an Odd Note</a> </i>(1957), introduction by Nick Mamatas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>HARRY KRESSING (pseud. of Harry Adam Ruber)</span><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9722954-the-cook" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Cook</i> (1965)</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />ROBERT MARASCO</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/897717.Burnt_Offerings?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Burnt Offerings </i>(1973)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GABRIEL MARLOWE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I Am Your Brother </i>(1935), introduction by Phil Baker</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />MICHAEL McDOWELL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/571283.Cold_Moon_Over_Babylon?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Cold Moon Over Babylon </i>(1980)</a>, introduction by Douglas E. Winter, cover by Mike Mignola</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>ARCH OBOLER</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11278621-house-on-fire?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>House on Fire </i>(1969)</a>, introduction by Christopher Conlon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />CHRISTOPHER PRIEST</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106925.The_Affirmation?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Affirmation </i>(1981)</a> (US only), introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />ANDREW SINCLAIR</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/845746.Gog?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Gog </i>(1967)</a>, introduction by John Clute</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />MICHAEL TALBOT</span><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/454705.The_Bog" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>The Bog </i>(1986)</a><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1345190.Night_Things?from_search=true" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>Night Things </i>(1988)</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BERNARD TAYLOR</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1130557.The_Godsend?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Godsend </i>(1976)</a> (US only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/879525.Sweetheart_Sweetheart" target="_blank"><i>Sweetheart, Sweetheart </i>(1977)</a> (US only), introduction by Michael Rowe</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4551981-the-moorstone-sickness" target="_blank"><i>The Moorstone Sickness </i>(1982)</a> (US only), introduction by Mark Morris</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ROBERT WESTALL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1819998.Antique_Dust?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Antique Dust </i>(1989)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><u><b>MODERN LITERARY CLASSICS</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u>JOHN BRAINE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6670120-life-at-the-top" target="_blank"><i>Life at the Top </i>(1962)</a> (US only); introduction by Ben Clarke</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">H.E. BATES</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11998032-fair-stood-the-wind-for-france" target="_blank"><i>Fair Stood the Wind for France </i>(1944)</a> (US only); introduction by Alice Ferrebe</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />MICHAEL FRAYN (all US only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8477825-tin-men" target="_blank"><i>The Tin Men </i>(1965)</a> (Somerset Maugham Award); introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378069.The_Russian_Interpreter" target="_blank"><i>The Russian Interpreter </i>(1966)</a> (Hawthornden Prize); introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287019.Towards_the_End_of_the_Morning" target="_blank"><i>Towards the End of the Morning </i>(1967)</a>; introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378075.A_Very_Private_Life" target="_blank"><i>A Very Private Life </i>(1968)</a>; introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/908598.Sweet_Dreams" target="_blank"><i>Sweet Dreams </i>(1973)</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">; introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />F. L. GREEN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2958538-odd-man-out?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Odd Man Out </i>(1945)</a>; introduction by Adrian McKinty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CLAUDE HOUGHTON</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://buckinghambooks.com/book/2457/" target="_blank"><i>A Hair Divides </i>(1930)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10225749-chaos-is-come-again?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Chaos Is Come Again </i>(1932)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/95181/claude-houghton-claude-houghton-oldfield/julian-grant-loses-his-way" target="_blank"><i>Julian Grant Loses His Way </i>(1933)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ELIZABETH JENKINS</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1669972.Harriet?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Harriet </i>(1934)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ALAN JUDD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1126169.The_Devil_s_Own_Work?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Devil's Own Work </i>(1991)</a> (Guardian Fiction Prize); introduction by Owen King, afterword by the author (US only)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ROBIN MAUGHAM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robin-maugham-9/behind-the-mirror/" target="_blank"><i>Behind the Mirror </i>(1955)</a>; introduction by Doug Armato (US only)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NEVIL SHUTE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107327.Landfall?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Landfall </i>(1940)</a>; introduction by Rob Spence (US/Canada only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107299.An_Old_Captivity?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>An Old Captivity</i> (1940)</a>; introduction by Rob Spence (US/Canada only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />KEITH WATERHOUSE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/984299.Jubb?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Jubb </i>(1962)</a>; introduction by Alice Ferrebe (US only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3078550-billy-liar-on-the-moon" target="_blank"><i>Billy Liar on the Moon </i>(1976)</a>; introduction by Alice Ferrebe (US only)</span>Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-43399965376516076232014-09-15T14:21:00.000-05:002014-09-15T14:24:03.188-05:00Announcing our new Valancourt eClassics series!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each month, we've been offering one or two of our recent 20th century releases as a $2.99 e-book, and the response has been tremendous. So we've been looking at ways to make more great books available at ultra low prices, which has resulted in the creation of a new series, Valancourt eClassics, which will parallel our print series of Valancourt Classics, focusing mainly on rare and hard-to-find Victorian and Edwardian literature at prices as low as $2.99 each. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to keep costs extremely low and allow us to price these at less than a cup of coffee (not exaggerating: I was formatting one of them the other day at a coffee shop and was charged $3.17+tip for a small iced coffee), these editions will generally not feature introductions and annotations; they will be carefully proofread texts, formatted and linked for optimal reading on the Kindle and other e-readers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've already published the first six titles in the series, including texts by Baron Corvo, Forrest Reid, and Richard Marsh. At first, we plan to focus primarily on current Valancourt authors, so expect to see more of Corvo, Reid, and Marsh, along with John Trevena/Ernest G. Henham, Bertram Mitford, Florence Marryat, Beverley Nichols, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Sheridan Le Fanu, and many others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fans of our print editions: don't panic! These are intended to supplement our print editions, not replace them. In most cases, these are out-of-copyright works for which dozens and dozens of low-quality print-on-demand paperbacks stolen from Google Books or Project Gutenberg exist, making it unlikely we'd be able to offer them as paperbacks. (To understand why, just go to Amazon and try to find the print editions we published of Richard Marsh's <i>The Beetle</i>, Bram Stoker's <i>The Mystery of the Sea</i>, Walter Pater's <i>Marius the Epicurean</i>, or, in fact, any of our Victorian paperbacks. You can wade through pages and pages of crap and you'll never find them unless you know the ISBN. Thanks, Amazon.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are there any 19th or early 20th century authors whose books you'd love to see as $2.99 e-books? We look forward to hearing from readers what they think about this new project of ours and as always we welcome your input!</span></div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-40346251520779631622014-08-14T13:05:00.002-05:002014-08-14T13:11:16.595-05:00Spotlight on Dennis Parry's THE SURVIVOR (1940)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you've never heard of Dennis Arthur Parry (1912-1955) or his 1940 novel of the supernatural, <i>The Survivor</i>, you're hardly alone. As far as I know, Parry doesn't receive so much as a mention in any survey or study of English literature of that period, and even among scholars of occult and fantastic literature, only E. F. Bleiler gives even the briefest of mentions of Parry's book. Even during his lifetime, despite the fact that he published ten novels, most or all of them well received by critics, Parry seems to have been little known. Reviewing his tenth (and final) novel, <i>Sea of Glass</i> (1955), for <i>The Observer</i>, the prolific book critic John Davenport confessed that he was 'ashamed to confess having known nothing of his work before, as he is an uncommonly good writer, with the classic novelist's virtues and other gifts besides'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The few of us around the world who have had the good fortune to discover Parry's works owe the discovery to the macabre illustrator Edward Gorey, who in a 1975 interview named <i>Sea of Glass </i>the most undeservedly neglected novel he knew. Coincidentally, Parry shares a number of things in common with his almost exact contemporary, fellow Valancourt author John Lodwick (1916-1959): both were fairly prolific authors of clever, urbane, slightly cynical novels characterized by their incisive, witty prose, and both suffered the same fate: death in an auto accident at age 43, followed by instantaneous and total literary oblivion.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Survivor (NY: Holt, 1940)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parry seems to have come from an upper-middle-class background and was well educated, earning a degree in law and qualifying as a barrister, though he ultimately wound up in the civil service after he was rejected for active duty in WWII because of his poor eyesight. His first novel, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attic Meteor</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (1936), was published when he was 24, and over the next twenty years, nine others would follow (one of them, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Bishop's Move</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> [1938], was co-authored with H.W. Champness). It would seem Parry dabbled in fiction as a sort of hobby, devoting most of his attention to his career and family.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parry's penultimate novel (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1954); d/w by Val Biro</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The publication history of his third novel, <i>The Survivor</i>, is an interesting one. It was first published in London by Robert Hale in 1940, but it seems to have been dead on arrival. I could locate no reviews in the usual sources (<i>TLS, Guardian, Observer, Spectator</i>), and copies of the edition are almost nonexistent: OCLC/Worldcat locates only two copies in world libraries, and I've only ever seen one copy come up for sale on Abebooks (it sold instantly, before I could buy it). One wonders whether the publisher, Hale, simply didn't market the book correctly, or whether Britain was too preoccupied with WWII to notice it, or if it was just too odd to catch on at the time (quick: name some great British supernatural horror novels published in the early 1940s!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By contrast, when the book was released in the U.S. in a curiously undated (c. 1940/41) edition from Henry Holt & Co., it was a surprise hit. It sold well enough that I came across an article indicating Holt was going to budget another $5,000 (quite a lot back then, no doubt) for advertising and was going to issue a second printing. Virginia Kirkus's influential reviews service gave it a starred notice, and other positive reviews appeared from major review outlets in the U.S., comparing Parry's novel favorably with classics like <i>Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Turn of the Screw</i>, and <i>Dracula</i>. (It'd be interesting to know if Hugh Walpole read Parry's book, as Walpole's <i>The Killer and the Slain</i> was a bestseller the following year and also dealt with the theme of possession by a wicked, dead man.)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mooncalf (London: Hale, 1947) d/w by C.W. Bacon</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without spoiling the plot, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Survivor </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">opens with Dr. James Marshall, a brilliant doctor who has fought and conquered plagues on three continents but who is hated, feared, and despised by all, including his family (with the sole exception of his rather naive niece, Olive). Marshall is domineering, tyrannical, with a malicious, sharp tongue, and capable of diabolical perversity and inventive methods of sadism. When he dies -- ironically during a flu outbreak, the one epidemic he is unable to conquer -- everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief. But, Parry suggests, such a larger-than-life character, such a strong, powerful personality, may not be totally destroyed by death, but might somehow live on. And when Olive begins to show some strange behaviors reminiscent of her uncle, the family begins to wonder whether it's merely her unique way of grieving his loss, or could she actually be possessed by his consciousness? An odd mixture of humorous and rather harrowing scenes ensue, leading up to an unexpectedly sinister conclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his introduction to the new edition, author, critic, and connoisseur of arcane literature Mark Valentine makes a number of interesting points. One is that Parry's novel is a rarity: a successful novel-length ghost story. There are plenty of classic short stories featuring ghosts, as well as novellas like James's <i>Turn of the Screw</i>, but a full-length novel concerned with ghosts that manages to maintain the terror and suspense over the course of 250 or 300 pages is uncommon. Also, Valentine writes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"[Parry] has written a modern and ironic ghost story. He has the nerve to use his characters to point out the distinction between his approach and those of convention. When they meet to discuss what is happening to them, they rather doubtfully consider, and reject, what they know from 'tales and legends of the supernatural'. One character, evolving a theory, admits it may not be 'any higher than Dracula'. Another 'would greatly have preferred that the supernatural, if it must impinge on her life, should do so in a familiar, old-fashioned style, dressed in a white shroud and accompanied by clanking chains'. This is a knowing, new style of ghost story, blithely acknowledging, but distancing itself from, the stock properties of the past."</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea of Glass (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1955)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though it's doubtful that a new edition of <i>The Survivor </i>at this late date will propel it into the canon of classic ghost stories, or that this edition and our forthcoming reissue of the absolutely brilliant <i>Sea of Glass </i>will earn Dennis Parry a spot on the list of major 20th century English novelists, both books are well worth reading and discovering. If you like intelligent, interesting, out-of-the-way fiction, give Dennis Parry a shot -- you might be very pleasantly surprised.</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Survivor</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (1940) by Dennis Parry, with a new introduction by Mark Valentine, will be available worldwide in paperback, Kindle, and e-book formats. Parry's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sea of Glass </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1955) is also forthcoming from Valancourt.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Atalanta's Case (London: Hale, 1947) d/w by C.W. Bacon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Going Up, Going Down (1953)</td></tr>
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Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-25184575923662859322014-08-08T12:12:00.001-05:002014-10-03T17:47:28.679-05:00A sneak peek at 2015!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's only August, and we still have a ton of great books coming out in the remainder of 2014, but we're already planning ahead to 2015 and wanted to share with you some of the titles we plan to offer next year. Because these titles are officially still 'forthcoming', they are subject to change or cancellation.</span><br />
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We've spent a ton of time over the past year or so looking for the very best out-of-print and neglected titles, and we hope you'll be as excited about these as we are. Over the next few months, look for us to blog about many of these and highlight each one individually, but for now, here's the list (links take you to the Goodreads page for the book). More title announcements coming soon, as we continue to finalize agreements....</span><br />
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<u><b>HORROR, SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />CHARLES BEAUMONT</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/437962.The_Intruder?from_search=true" target="_blank">The Intruder</a> </i>(1959) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2866922-a-touch-of-the-creature" target="_blank">A Touch of the Creature</a> </i>(2000)</span><br />
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MICHAEL BLUMLEIN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1650986.The_Brains_of_Rats?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Brains of Rats </i>(1989)</a> (World Fantasy Award nominee), intro by Michael McDowell</span><br />
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DAVID CASE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Among the Wolves and other Werewolf Stories, </i>edited by Stephen Jones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2392848.Fengriffen?from_search=true" target="_blank">Fengriffen and other Stories</a>, </i>edited by Stephen Jones</span><br />
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STEPHEN GREGORY</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3401170-the-woodwitch?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Woodwitch </i>(1988)</a>, introduction by Paul Tremblay</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199875.The_Blood_of_Angels" target="_blank"><i>The Blood of Angels </i>(1994)</a>, introduction by Mark Morris</span><br />
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FRED HOYLE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8478098-the-black-cloud" target="_blank"><i>The Black Cloud </i>(1957)</a> (US only), introduction by Geoffrey Hoyle</span><br />
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GERALD KERSH</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://harlanellison.com/kersh/critics.htm#UKDog" target="_blank"><i>Neither Man Nor Dog </i>(1946)</a>, introduction by Robert Webb</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://harlanellison.com/kersh/critics.htm#UKClock" target="_blank"><i>Clock Without Hands </i>(1949)</a>, introduction by Thomas Pluck</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341317.The_Secret_Masters?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Great Wash </i>(aka <i>The Secret Masters</i>)</a><i> </i>(1953)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8077363-on-an-odd-note?from_search=true" target="_blank">On an Odd Note</a> </i>(1957), introduction by Nick Mamatas</span><br />
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HARRY KRESSING (pseud. of Harry Adam Ruber)</span><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9722954-the-cook" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Cook</i> (1965)</span></a><br />
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ROBERT MARASCO</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/897717.Burnt_Offerings?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Burnt Offerings </i>(1973)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GABRIEL MARLOWE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I Am Your Brother </i>(1935), introduction by Phil Baker</span><br />
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MICHAEL McDOWELL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/571283.Cold_Moon_Over_Babylon?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Cold Moon Over Babylon </i>(1980)</a>, introduction by Douglas E. Winter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>ARCH OBOLER</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11278621-house-on-fire?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>House on Fire </i>(1969)</a>, introduction by Christopher Conlon</span><br />
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CHRISTOPHER PRIEST</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106925.The_Affirmation?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Affirmation </i>(1981)</a> (US only)</span><br />
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ANDREW SINCLAIR</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/845746.Gog?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Gog </i>(1967)</a>, introduction by John Clute</span><br />
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BERNARD TAYLOR</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1130557.The_Godsend?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Godsend </i>(1976)</a> (US only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/879525.Sweetheart_Sweetheart" target="_blank"><i>Sweetheart, Sweetheart </i>(1977)</a> (US only), introduction by Michael Rowe</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4551981-the-moorstone-sickness" target="_blank"><i>The Moorstone Sickness </i>(1982)</a> (US only), introduction by Mark Morris</span><br />
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<u><b>MODERN LITERARY CLASSICS</b></u></span><br />
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JOHN BRAINE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6670120-life-at-the-top" target="_blank"><i>Life at the Top </i>(1962)</a> (US only); introduction by Ben Clarke</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">H.E. BATES</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11998032-fair-stood-the-wind-for-france" target="_blank"><i>Fair Stood the Wind for France </i>(1944)</a> (US only); introduction by Alice Ferrebe</span><br />
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MICHAEL FRAYN (all US only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8477825-tin-men" target="_blank"><i>The Tin Men </i>(1965)</a> (Somerset Maugham Award); introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378069.The_Russian_Interpreter" target="_blank"><i>The Russian Interpreter </i>(1966)</a> (Hawthornden Prize); introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287019.Towards_the_End_of_the_Morning" target="_blank"><i>Towards the End of the Morning </i>(1967)</a>; introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378075.A_Very_Private_Life" target="_blank"><i>A Very Private Life </i>(1968)</a>; introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/908598.Sweet_Dreams" target="_blank"><i>Sweet Dreams </i>(1973)</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">; introduction by the author</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Matchbox Theatre </i>(2014) (US only)</span><br />
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F. L. GREEN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2958538-odd-man-out?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Odd Man Out </i>(1945)</a>; introduction by Adrian McKinty</span><br />
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ALAN JUDD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1126169.The_Devil_s_Own_Work?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>The Devil's Own Work </i>(1991)</a> (Guardian Fiction Prize); introduction by Owen King, afterword by the author (US only)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ROBIN MAUGHAM</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robin-maugham-9/behind-the-mirror/" target="_blank"><i>Behind the Mirror </i>(1955)</a>; introduction by Doug Armato (US only)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NEVIL SHUTE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107327.Landfall?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Landfall </i>(1940)</a>; introduction by Rob Spence (US/Canada only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/107299.An_Old_Captivity?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>An Old Captivity</i> (1940)</a>; introduction by Rob Spence (US/Canada only)</span><br />
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KEITH WATERHOUSE</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/984299.Jubb?from_search=true" target="_blank"><i>Jubb </i>(1962)</a>; introduction by Alice Ferrebe (US only)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3078550-billy-liar-on-the-moon" target="_blank"><i>Billy Liar on the Moon </i>(1976)</a>; introduction by Alice Ferrebe (US only)</span>Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-28296605586512614302014-07-05T17:48:00.000-05:002014-07-05T17:51:35.802-05:00Horror Titles - New, Coming Soon, In the Works - eARCs<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Releases</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you follow us anywhere online, you know how excited we've been recently about two of our biggest releases from the late gay horror authors, Michael McDowell and Michael Talbot.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB3wQ1iRAtnMGdNbXpgKSYljNZgpAojehmm8KE4jqd9zAY8fFXWd325VsW8XEgT9tEtCa5nWPgt8KnQiCdK4t1VysaMw8OA35aG6kFas4R12CNfMck5UGwhszJeMT5fzYh1KYiNBSvEllD/s1600/theelementalsTHUMB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB3wQ1iRAtnMGdNbXpgKSYljNZgpAojehmm8KE4jqd9zAY8fFXWd325VsW8XEgT9tEtCa5nWPgt8KnQiCdK4t1VysaMw8OA35aG6kFas4R12CNfMck5UGwhszJeMT5fzYh1KYiNBSvEllD/s1600/theelementalsTHUMB.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPteaaFnEYq-KPyFDQDQIZVLTH1fM33u2fa-y713plCeybBCDEaeK46vmZEsnJ31mD0TwjAOwmGCXHvjhKcXWmsMrNWaKGFp7gTLJlmIUsq5VaTW368fpWUW6JSU-Jkqni3NxkfIyUICW/s1600/thedelicatedependencyTHUMB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPteaaFnEYq-KPyFDQDQIZVLTH1fM33u2fa-y713plCeybBCDEaeK46vmZEsnJ31mD0TwjAOwmGCXHvjhKcXWmsMrNWaKGFp7gTLJlmIUsq5VaTW368fpWUW6JSU-Jkqni3NxkfIyUICW/s1600/thedelicatedependencyTHUMB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPteaaFnEYq-KPyFDQDQIZVLTH1fM33u2fa-y713plCeybBCDEaeK46vmZEsnJ31mD0TwjAOwmGCXHvjhKcXWmsMrNWaKGFp7gTLJlmIUsq5VaTW368fpWUW6JSU-Jkqni3NxkfIyUICW/s1600/thedelicatedependencyTHUMB.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-elementals-1981.html" target="_blank">The Elementals</a> (1981) A haunted house story unlike any other, Michael McDowell’s <i>The Elementals</i> was one of the finest novels to come out of the horror publishing explosion of the 1970s and ’80s. Though best known for his screenplays for Tim Burton’s <i>Beetlejuice</i> and <i>The Nightmare Before Christmas</i>, McDowell is now being rediscovered as one of the best modern horror writers and a master of Southern Gothic literature. This edition of McDowell’s masterpiece of terror features a new introduction by award-winning horror author Michael Rowe. McDowell’s first novel, the grisly and darkly comic <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-amulet-1979.html" target="_blank">The Amulet</a> (1979), is also available from Valancourt Books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-delicate-dependency-1982.html" target="_blank">The Delicate Dependency</a> (1982) Michael Talbot’s historical vampire novel is often cited as one of the best of its kind ever written. This highly anticipated new edition, the first since the book’s original publication, includes a new foreword by Jillian Venters.</span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coming Very Soon</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basil Copper's 1983 Gothic horror, <i>The House of the Wolf</i>. Here's one of the many illustrations in the book by legendary illustrator Stephen Fabian.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIJdBvJfWx-xsiwnb6GEhIugltPkgX_cocQiE-5sm-ONmjFMLVoqk9hJEJW6d0v-PXalSNbYkgdrrmPvKfhyHH912q-Io7_TjsUQSqHuN2DRQCIW9-o2rz8Mlx-_E1qE6ssI2OFhR6W4mJ/s1600/BrfKESiCIAMWdHh.jpg-large.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIJdBvJfWx-xsiwnb6GEhIugltPkgX_cocQiE-5sm-ONmjFMLVoqk9hJEJW6d0v-PXalSNbYkgdrrmPvKfhyHH912q-Io7_TjsUQSqHuN2DRQCIW9-o2rz8Mlx-_E1qE6ssI2OFhR6W4mJ/s1600/BrfKESiCIAMWdHh.jpg-large.jpeg" height="342" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the Works</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're in the process of adding two more novels by the masterful Stephen Gregory to our forthcoming list: <i>The Woodwitch</i> (1988) and <i>The Blood of Angels</i> (1994). If you have not read the brilliant work that is <a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-cormorant-1986.html" target="_blank">The Cormorant</a>, do yourself a favor and check it out now! Also be sure to check out Stephen Gregory's most recent works: <i>The Waking that Kills</i> and the soon-to-be-released <i>Wakening the Crow</i>, both from Solaris.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to these, we have some extremely exciting news coming up that we can't announce quite yet. Be sure to check back with us on Facebook and our other social media outlets to find out what titles we're working on bringing back into print.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you write for a website or blog and would like to be notified which titles we will have available in electronic form for review, send us an email through the contact form on our website. Please include your name, a link to the website that will have the review, and the estimated time-frame the review will take to go live (e.g, one week, one month). Also, let us know if you prefer to receive the book in .mobi or .pdf format.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.valancourtbooks.com/contact.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.valancourtbooks.com/contac...</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will only be able to send out a limited number of the titles available so please understand we won't be able to fulfill every request. But we'll do what we can!</span></div>
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Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-74187884142596093102014-04-16T11:21:00.001-05:002014-04-16T11:29:42.289-05:00Some forthcoming titles you've never heard of, but won't want to miss!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every publisher likes to publish bestsellers, award-winners, and big-name authors. What sets us apart from many presses is our willingness to take a chance on little-known authors and even totally forgotten titles if we think they're great books that deserve to be in print. In fact, it's a little secret (Shhhhhh!) but many of the best books in our catalogue aren't necessarily the most famous ones, but instead the unheralded gems, books that neither you nor anyone you know has probably ever heard of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're excited to announce the following neglected treasures as forthcoming:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>F. L. Green, Odd Man Out (1945)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Probably the best known of the titles on this list, <i>Odd Man Out</i> was a bestseller for Frederick Laurence Green (1902-1953), who published over a dozen novels, many of them well received, but who is remembered chiefly for his 1945 novel, which was adapted for a 1947 film directed by Carol Reed and starring James Mason. It was last published in the US in 1982 and in the UK in 1991, so we are pleased to be restoring it to print in both paperback and e-book formats.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVea2DbnI6z0b4usKyGPiuWeXhofv5vFU20WMffdI82XkTLHNLCD4O2V_Rvlo9bztRjPIBTQgMMPyxvOp2b2uzR14WJWKQMXws5jiB2zcWpCYfjERYjVplupMWIRjMfLt4pwmdMdkLKlI7/s1600/Odd+Man+Out+montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVea2DbnI6z0b4usKyGPiuWeXhofv5vFU20WMffdI82XkTLHNLCD4O2V_Rvlo9bztRjPIBTQgMMPyxvOp2b2uzR14WJWKQMXws5jiB2zcWpCYfjERYjVplupMWIRjMfLt4pwmdMdkLKlI7/s1600/Odd+Man+Out+montage.jpg" height="301" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dennis Parry, Sea of Glass (1955)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is beyond obscure, and indeed would have been totally lost in oblivion if not for macabre illustrator Edward Gorey, who during the 1970s named it the most neglected book he knew. Gorey's recommendation was reprinted in a book called <i>Writers' Choice</i>, where we discovered it and were inspired to track down the book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parry (1912-1955) was a barrister and civil servant who published a dozen or so novels, but though his books were always published by leading publishing firms and always earned good reviews, somehow their quirky subjects and sardonic wit never caught on with the book-buying public. <i>Sea of Glass</i>, his last book, was one of his most successful, earning rave reviews and going into a second edition, but unfortunately Parry died shortly after publication in a car crash at age 42.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sea of Glass </i>is a witty and often laugh-out-loud funny story involving a 20-year-old law student who is staying at the home of the wealthy Ellisons, friends of his aunt. Old Mrs Ellison is near death, and her rotten son Cedric anticipates inheriting her money, until a bizarre young woman calling herself Varvara Ellison arrives from Chinese Turkestan, claiming to be the daughter of the black sheep of the family, Fulk Ellison, who had moved east to make a fortune as a gun-runner. Varvara's eccentricities are hilarious, and when Cedric ends up dead, she may be the number one suspect....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A. E. Ellis, The Rack (1958)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a new introduction by Andrew Sinclair</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This novel, the only book published by Derek Lindsay, who wrote under the pseudonym A. E. Ellis, is a masterpiece. And we're not the only ones who think so. No less a writer than Graham Greene wrote: "There are certain books we call great for want of a better term, that rise like monuments above the cemeteries of literature: <i>Clarissa Harlowe</i>, <i>Great Expectations</i>, <i>Ulysses</i>. <i>The Rack</i> to my mind is of this company." Though in print for many years as a Penguin Modern Classic, Ellis's novel fell out of print 25 or 30 years ago and has been unavailable since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting trivia: Andrew Sinclair, who is contributing the introduction to this edition, is the author of Valancourt titles <i>The Facts in the Case of E.A. Poe </i>and <i>The Raker</i>; the main character in <i>The Raker </i>was modelled on Derek Lindsay/A.E. Ellis, and Sinclair writes in his introduction of a ménage à trois among Sinclair, his wife, and Lindsay. More interesting trivia: Gillian Freeman, author of three Valancourt reissues, was at one time adapting <i>The Rack </i>as a screenplay, which sadly was never produced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ellis's novel is the story of a young Englishman sent to a sanatorium in the Alps in the days before antibiotic treatment for TB infection. As he continues to hold out hope of his cure and being able to marry Michele, a young Belgian girl also at the hospital, he is subjected to increasingly dehumanizing medical procedures amounting almost to torture. The genius of Ellis's novel, though, is its tone of fatalistic, gallows humor throughout. "Book of the year, if ever there was one," said V.S. Pritchett, and we agree!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Alex Hamilton, Beam of Malice (1966)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ramsey Campbell, the most award-winning and acclaimed British horror novelist today, says "Alex Hamilton is one of the absolute masters of the sunlit nightmare, the tale of insidious disquiet and relentless unease. He's a true original, and it's past time that he took his place in the pantheon of the elegantly macabre." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hamilton's first collection of macabre stories, <i>Beam of Malice</i>, was published in the UK in 1966 and the US the following year but has been neglected since. We agree with Ramsey Campbell that Hamilton's tales of unease are well worth rediscovery, so we're pleased to be reissuing his debut collection, with a new foreword by the author.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Archie Roy, Devil in the Darkness (1978)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Archie Roy (1924-2012) was very well known, but as a professor of astronomy at the University of Glasgow rather than for his novels. Roy, in addition to being a well-respected scientist (with an asteroid named after him), was also a firm believer in the paranormal and incorporated his interest in both science and the occult in six novels published in the 1960s and '70s. Sadly, though his books are extremely well-written and genuinely thrilling, they are very little known today, even to connoisseurs of this sort of fiction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Devil in the Darkness </i>(1978) starts out in classic British haunted house style. A young couple, just married, is driving to their honeymoon through a blizzard when they are forced to take refuge for the night in a creepy old mansion. It turns out, of course, that the house is haunted, but the twist is that there are two groups of people already at the house when they arrive: one is there to study the psychic phenomena while the other is there to destroy it. Some sleepless nights and eerie happenings occur, and the atmosphere is pitch-perfect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will also be reissuing Roy's <i>The Curtained Sleep</i>, a genuinely mind-bending novel involving drug-induced altered states of consciousness that is guaranteed to freak you out when you finally figure out what's going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>More new title announcements coming soon!</b></span></div>
Valancourt Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16679069032708534064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7813967103667404007.post-30629700770545778442014-04-10T18:01:00.004-05:002014-04-10T18:16:13.134-05:00Back for more!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're excited to announce that some of your favorite Valancourt authors will be returning with new editions in 2014-15!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Gerald Kersh</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gerald Kersh was the only Valancourt author to have two books in our list of the top 10 best-selling titles from 2013 (<i>Nightshade and Damnations </i>and <i>Fowlers End</i>), so we're thrilled to be publishing four more Kersh titles!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Neither Man Nor Dog (1946) </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A rare volume of short stories by a master of the genre. "Mr Kersh’s new volume contains thirty-seven stories of the kind the author made made so distinctly his own; the short piece, explosive with violence . . . The best of them are very good. The unfailing fertility of his imagination is indeed to be wondered at, and so, too, his unwinking eye for the hard, the horrible, the grotesque. . . . </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For entertainment of a strong kind Mr Kersh would be hard to beat." -- </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Times Literary Supplement.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Clock Without Hands (1949)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A collection of three long short stories (or short novellas). "Mr Kersh tells a story; as such, rather better than anybody else." -- Pamela Hansford Johnson, <i>Daily Telegraph</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Great Wash (1953) </b>(US title: <i>The Secret Masters</i>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Gerald Kersh is a literary spieler of abundant energy, who sees the world as a vast circus cramful of entertaining oddities, glittering sideshows, burlesques of blood and sawdust . . . Mr Kersh’s many admirers will undoubtedly devour this highly flavoured hotch-potch with avidity." -- Julian Maclaren-Ross, <i>Sunday Times</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On an Odd Note (1958) </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Published only as a paperback original in the United States and never published in Great Britain, this collection features some of Kersh's best, including "The Brighton Monster", "The Queen of Pig Island", and "The Extraordinarily Horrible Dummy", along with some lesser-known stories and one written specially for this collection. This new edition will feature an introduction by Nick Mamatas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Basil Copper</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basil Copper's Lovecraftian horror novel <i>The Great White Space </i>and his Victorian-style Sherlock Holmes pastiche <i>Necropolis </i>were both extremely popular with our readers last year, so we're thrilled to be offering a new Copper title:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The House of the Wolf (1983)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Copper's classic werewolf novel, originally published as a limited edition by Arkham House and reprinted as a limited hardcover by Sarob Press in the UK, finally gets its first edition in paperback and e-book formats. We're excited about this one!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>R. Chetwynd-Hayes</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though it wasn't published until Halloween, R. Chetwynd-Hayes's brilliant cult classic <i>The Monster Club </i>(1976) was still our 13th bestselling title for 2013. So we're pleased to be offering another volume of Chetwynd-Hayes's stories which we hope you'll also enjoy:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Looking for Something to Suck and other Vampire Stories (1997)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edited by Stephen Jones, this collection of the complete vampire-themed stories by R. Chetwynd Hayes, originally published in various collections between 1971 and 1997, appeared as a limited hardcover in 1997 but makes its first paperback and e-book appearance with Valancourt Books, featuring an afterword by Stephen Jones and the original illustrations by Jim Pitts. This nearly 300 page collection includes 15 of the author's best, in which he blends horror and dark humour in his own unique way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Claude Houghton</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Claude Houghton's bestseller <i>I Am Jonathan Scrivener </i>(1930) was one of our most popular releases in 2013 and one of my personal favorites among all the books we've ever published. So we're particularly delighted to be republishing his very scarce first novel, <i>Neighbours</i> (1926), with a new introduction by Mark Valentine and featuring a new cover by M.S. Corley. Houghton's novel centers on a young writer living in the attic of a lodging house, who becomes progressively more obsessed with a new neighbour, whose every word he hears through the thin partition separating the rooms, and whose obsession leads to a shocking climax.</span></div>
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