Tartarus Press have just announced the publication of The Thunderstorm Collectors, a new volume of 29 essays. These comprise:
8 essays on classic supernatural fiction writers, including Walter de la Mare, M R James, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgson and other writers of modern ghost stories
7 essays on lesser-known writers, including J. Mills Whitham, Norman Davey, writers who experimented with time, and poets of the fantastic such as Park Barnitz, Ralph Cheever Dunning, the avant-garde poets of 1920, and a gloomy Cambridge coterie
6 essays on antiquities, folklore and legends, including a landscape detective of the Nineteen Thirties, wanderers and wayfarers of the interwar period, the Red Lion inn sign, the figure of Arthur in the Nineteen Seventies, the secrets of the muniments chest and English Almanacs
5 essays on book-collecting byways, including finding David Lindsay titles, the joys of obscure journals, a celebration of thunderstorm chasers, the odd ephemera at village hall flea markets, and a browsing expedition in the Marches
3 essays on eccentric figures, including Baron Corvo, Colin Still, who explored the mysteries of The Tempest, and lost kings, emperors and consuls
Some of these pieces will be familiar in earlier forms to readers of this blog, but about half are either previously unpublished or only easily available in this collection.
The Thunderstorm Collectors is in a limited, signed hardback edition of 350 copies, with photographs by Jo Valentine and design by R B Russell.
Also available: Qx and other pieces (Zagava); Lost Estates: Stories (Swan River Press) (low stock).
(Mark Valentine)
I just ordered a copy from Tartarus. How exciting. For those of us who look forward to everything you publish, this collection looks enticingly delectable. Thanks Mark!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gary: I hope you enjoy the book. Mark
DeleteI ordered my copy from Tartarus also. Looking forward to reading the essays.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Walker, I appreciate your kind interest. Mark
ReplyDeleteI just got Qx from Zagava, and it is a eclectic and endearing collection. One of my current favorites. Nothing beats the Connoisseur, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alex, good to hear you enjoyed 'Qx' and The Connoisseur. Mark
DeleteJust ordered my copy - and, if I may, taking the opportunity to add my belated appreciation of Qx, too. As a Southampton native, I was particularly intrigued by the tale of the Blue Meanie sandwich.....
ReplyDeleteKeep them coming, Mr Valentine!
Another fascinating journey through the demesne of forgotten books and their quirky begetters.
ReplyDeleteI have a question, though Mr. Valentine writes: "...Oliver Stonor, a novelist (as ‘Morchard
Bishop’) and man-of-letters, who had published at Machen’s recommendation a version of the seventeenth century French canon
Beroalde de Verville’s Le Moyen de Parvenir (as The Way to Succeed, 1930)—a work Machen himself had also translated and
which he described as like a ‘cathedral constructed entirely of gargoyles’." (TC, e-book edition, no pagination.)
I have been unable to find this work in the Internet Archive under either Oliver Stonor or Morchard Bishop (nothing in English under Beroalde de Verville as well.) Machen's translation is also not to be found. Kind help with this is much appreciated.
A digital copy of Machen’s version is available at the Beinecke Rare Books Library. Oliver’s is still in copyright. Mark
DeleteI got it, thank you very much!
Delete