Tag Archives: Vintage Horror

Books Update: A Whole Lotta Horror Goin’ On

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Here’s a monstrously large addition to our selection of horror books, consisting of works by William Hope Hodgson, Robert E Howard, H P Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith as well as a plethora of other authors marshalled into anthologies by Herbert Van Thal. Hodgson’s blend of Science Fiction and Horror is represented by The House On The Borderland (cover art by Ed Emshwiller) and The Night Land Volume 1 and 2. Howard’s contribution is an early work of Fantasy/Horror, Wolfshead (cover art by Frank Frazetta). We have five books by Lovecraft: The Colour Out Of Space And Others, The Shadow Over Innsmouth And Other Stories Of Horror, The Tomb And Other Tales, The Lurker At The Threshold and The Survivor And Others (the last two also have August Derleth as author). In addition we have Lin Carter’s study of the master, Lovecraft: A Look Behind The Cthulhu Mythos. Rounding this update off is Smith with The City Of The Singing Flame and The Last Incantation and four Pan Books Of Horror edited by Van Thal, consisting of #5, #8, #12 and #21. If this isn’t enough to make your blood run cold we don’t know what is!

 

Books Update: Clark Ashton Smith In The Shop

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’re delighted to add Clark Ashton Smith to our list of authors, a writer whose work spans all three genres of this category. When you get fulsome praise from H P Lovecraft ‘Smith’s stories deal powerfully with other galaxies, worlds and dimensions. Who else has seen such gorgeous, luxuriant and feverishly distorted visions of infinite spheres and multiple dimensions and lived to tell the tale?’ and from August Derleth ‘..virtually without peer in the genre of fantasy and the macabre’, there’s really not much more recommendation required. We’ve added three collections of short stories, Out of Space & Time Volumes 1 and 2, and two copies of The Abominations Of Yondo. All these titles are hard to find, so snap them up to find out what all the praise was about.

Books Update: Can You (S)take It? Horror All The Way

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: This update is brimming over with terrifying tales. Shiver with Lovecraft’s Library double Sinister House/Cold Harbour (Leland Hall and Francis Brett Young), while from Lovecraft himself there’s The Dunwich Horror And Others (in a prestigious Arkham House HC edition) and from Lovecraft and August Derleth there’s The Lurker At The Threshold. Tremble as you read The Horror Stories Of Robert E Howard, a collection of tales by Jerome K Jerome, City Of The Sea And Other Ghost Stories (a special limited edition), or Lair Of The Dreamer: A Cthulhu Mythos Omnibus by Franklin Searight. Finally, if your nerves are up to it there are two novels by Ira Levin, Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives, The Novel of the Black Seal by Arthur Machen and a perennial favourite, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

 

 

Books Update: Out Of Their Comfort Zones

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror / Crime, Spies & Sleaze: This update features a set of books where authors have crossed from established genres to explore new horizons. Jack London, Hank Janson and Edgar Wallace, best known for Crime have Science Fiction novels with The Star Rover, The Unseen Assassin and The Green Rust respectively. In fact, cognoscenti of Hank Janson’s Reginald Heade cover art will find the distressed damsel on the cover of The Unseen Assassin very similar in pose and dishevelled clothing to those adorning the detective fiction (although the background art is by Ron Turner).  J B Priestley, now best known as a playwright has a Crime novel – Salt Is Leaving. The last three publications defy easy classification, but we’ve put them in our Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror category: The Starcomber, originally a novella by Alfred Bester, Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) is it Fantasy? Horror? a Polymesmeric Bestseller? and finally Dragaonflame And Other Nightmares by Don McGregor, who’s best known as a comics writer.

 

Books Update: Looking For Lovecraft

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*Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy: H P Lovecraft’s influence can be judged from the large number of works written about him, exploring his background and his relationship to other influential writers of his day. We’ve added six titles, several rare, which aim to explore the man behind the macabre. Two take the form of literary criticism, Burleson’s H P Lovecraft: A Critical Study and St Armand’s The Roots Of Horror In The Fiction Of H P Lovecraft, one is autobiographical, Lord Of A Visible World: An Autobiography In Letters (Lovecraft, Joshi, & Schultz), and one a biography, Lovecraft At Last (Lovecraft & Conover). The remaining two cover Lovecraft in film, Lurker In The Lobby: A Guide To The Cinema Of H P Lovecraft (Migliore & Strysik) and a circle of his friends that formed the Kalem Club, Lovecraft’s New York Circle (Hart & Joshi). Giving you a chance to learn far more about Lovecraft than can be gleaned from his fiction, all of these are listed just after the author himself in the catalogue to make them easy to find.

Books Update: H P Lovecraft, Master Of Horror

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*Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy: H P Lovecraft is now seen as a natural successor to Edgar Allan Poe, but his life followed the tragic arc typically expected of artists. The bulk of his work was originally published in pulp fiction, most notably Weird Tales, so it was usually considered not be ‘literature’. Lovecraft is most famous for his Cthulhu stories, and the literary group that gathered around him, notably Robert E Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth and E Hoffman Price all contributed to that mythos. During the 1960s Lovecraft’s work was revived and re-evaluated, becoming far more popular, and granting him cult status as a highly influential author. This is why we’re very pleased to announce a large addition to our selection of Lovecraft’s work, including not only fiction such as At The Mountains Of Madness, Dagon, Tales Of The Cthulhu Mythos, The Horror In The Burying Ground, The Horror In The Museum (in the prestigious Arkham House edition), The Tomb, More Annotated H P Lovecraft  and The Ancient Track (Poetic works), but also non-fiction: Collected Essays and Letters To James F Morton.

Books Update: The Bookshop Crawl Cometh!!!

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This year we’re very excited (maybe the !!! gives it away?) to be taking part in the London Bookshop Crawl, which will be happening over the weekend of 9th – 11th February. The Bookshop Crawl, as you might imagine is like a pub crawl, only with books, and is an opportunity for booklovers to visit lots of (mainly) independent booksellers and be rewarded in the process.

We’ll be offering 10% off all purchases from our Books section, and a selection of free books (up to 5 per customer). In addition, for this Sunday (11th) only, we’ll be open from 10:30 to 18:00.

If you want to join in, or just find out more, just click here.

Books Update: A Handful Of Horror

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: The Horror level has just gone up several notches as five more titles lurch into the category. This time we’ve added a rarity, Dark Menace by Charles Birkin, three classics – The King In Yellow (Robert W Chambers), Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) and The (original) Pan Book Of Horror Stories (ed. Herbert Van Thal) – and a not so fantastic voyage on The Uncharted Seas (Dennis Wheatley).

Books Update: Something Nasty On The Bookshelf

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Three very different forms of horror writing have arrived, perfect for anyone who thinks Halloween is over too soon. Something Nasty In The Woodshed (Bonfiglioli) has a very unheroic hero, Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural Volume 2 (Machen) features a selection of chilling tales and Dracula (Stoker) has Something Very Nasty In The Coffin.

Books Update: Hitchcock’s Horror

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Our latest book update is in keeping with the spirit of our latest window display (Halloween), with 16 collections of horror stories assembled by Alfred Hitchcock. These are a mixture of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ and ‘Alfred Hitchcock’s’ titles, but both share a predilection for dubious puns (The Best of Fiends, Slay Ride, Coffin Break and Murder Racquet being just a few examples).

 

Books Update: Masters Of The Macabre

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: An update for Horror fans this time, with works by Charles Beaumont (Shadow Play and The Edge, both 1st UK PB), E F Benson (The Horror Horn, 1st UK PB), Algernon Blackwood (Dance Of Death), H P Lovecraft alone (The Lurking Fear, 1st UK PB, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth) and with August Derleth (The Lurker At The Threshold and The Shuttered Room) and Bram Stoker (Dracula’s Guest and The Lair Of The White Worm). All of these authors have strong claims to being a Master of the Macabre: Charles Beaumont wrote many Twilight Zone stories, E F Benson was a wide ranging and versatile author (he also wrote Mapp & Lucia) while the other four authors need no supporting evidence.

Books Update: Horror Turns Nasty!

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: A small, overdue, restocking of the Horror subsection, with two H P Lovecraft classics, three Dennis Wheatley shockers and Stephen King’s masterly overview of the Horror genre in Danse Macabre. Lovecraft’s only full-length novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is joined by a collection of six of his shorter stories in The Shadow Over Innsmouth. From Dennis Wheatley we have three of his most famous novels: The Devil Rides Out, To the Devil – A Daughter and The Haunting Of Toby Jugg.

Books Update: Belmont / Belmont Tower Science Fiction

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: As the title suggests, our publisher of note this time is Belmont, founded in 1960, later subsumed into Tower Comics and hence becoming Belmont Tower. In the two decades of its existence it embraced Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror with a mix of well-known and aspiring authors. We have three Belmont double features (where could they have got that idea from?), Doomsman/Thief Of Thoth (Harlan Ellison/Lin Carter), an unusual combination of Doomsman/Telepower (Harlan Ellison/Lee Hoffman) and A Lamp For Medusa/The Players Of Hell (William Tenn/Dave Van Arnam). Harlan Ellison is also represented by From The Land Of Fear, while Dave Van Arnam’s solo work is Wizard Of Storms. In addition we have The Warriors of Terra (John Faucette), Doomstar (Edmond Hamilton), The Alien (Raymond F Jones) and After Some Tomorrow (Mack Reynolds), all designed to tempt you to the bookshelves.

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Books Update: Tales In A Jugular Vein

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Robert Bloch’s eponymous title sums it all up: a selection of horror anthologies to entertain and terrify you in equal measure. As well as that, we have Tales of Terror & Suspense (Ed. Stewart Benedict), 4th Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories (Ed. Christine Bernard), Weird Shadows From Beyond (Ed John Carnell), Arthur Conan Doyle’s Ring Of Thoth, Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, and the very vintage Pan Tales Of The Supernatural. Great late night reading! Full details of grades and prices, as always, in our catalogue.
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Books Update: The March Of The Vans

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Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: You may have noticed that the vehicles used by a certain large broadband and entertainment supplier have been given names that include ‘Van’: those spotted so far include Van Helsing, Van Morrison, Vangelis and Marlon Vando (although we think that one’s cheating). We, however content ourselves in horror with just one van, Herbert Van Thal, who edited a vast number of superb Pan horror collections. We have added five more spine-chilling copies including the original collection, The Pan Book Of Horror Stories, its reincarnation as The First Pan Book Of Horror Stories, as well as the Sixth, Ninth and Tenth Pan Book Of Horror Stories.

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Books Update: Fact And Fiction

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: We’ve added a selection of helpful books to assist your navigation through the maze of Science Fiction and Horror fiction. Kingsley Amis’ classic review of Science Fiction, New Maps Of Hell is present as well as the Jon Pertwee Book Of Monsters, Monsters Galore (a hideously illustrated guide to witches, warlocks, vampires, ghouls, werewolves and other creatures), Terror By Night (the gruesome truth behind the legends of the monstrous undead) and Lovecraft’s Book (Richard Lupoff), which tells the astounding story of H P Lovecraft and his Nazi connection.

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Books Update: Old Masters IV – Harlan Ellison

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44_he_shatterdayw 44_he_paingodw 44_he_approblivionw*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: A fresh batch of Harlan Ellison’s works top up our bookshelves today, with a mixture of Horror and Science Fiction all in Ellison’s inimitable style. Books include Approaching Oblivion, Doomsman (in a double book with The Thief Of Thoth by Lin Carter), From The Land Of Fear, Paingod And Other Delusions, Shatterday, The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World and The Time Of The Eye.

Books Update: Halloween Tomes – Saturday

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44_rgv_princedarknessw*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: COWER PUNY MORTALS FOR I AM THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS! Well, strictly speaking, today’s tome is Prince Of Darkness, an anthology of evil edited by Gerald Verner. Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes, and this book will let you face Halloween or any other occult occasion with sang froid rather than your blood running cold. Featuring works by Algernon Blackwood, John Buchan, Margaret Irwin, F G Loring, Cotton Mather (who chronicled the Salem witch trials), Sax Rohmer, Saki, Dorothy L Sayers, Montague Summers and Gerald Verner himself (who also wrote as Donald Stuart) the book covers Witchcults, Satanism, Sorcery and Lycanthropy. This is a very rare edition from 1960 in VG grade at £70.

Books Update: Halloween Tomes – Friday

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44_dh-c_torgybubastisw*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: As we approach the dread day of All Hallows Eve, we release a rare horror title, The Orgy Of Bubastis. As any fule kno Bubastis (now called Zagazig) is a city in Egypt that was a centre for the worship of the cat-headed goddess of the home, Bast. Many mummified cats have been found within the ancient city. Taking a lax approach to archaelogical and theological accuracy, Derek Hyde-Chambers’ story has a small group of actors reviving the worship of Bast with terrifying results. Featuring the worst example of feline taxidermy ever on the cover, this is the first UK edition of the book in paperback, in FN grade; a rarity at £55.

 

Books Update: Halloween Tomes – Tuesday

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44_rl_witchingdracw 44_rl_dracreturnsw*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: During the 1970’s interest in Dracula was rekindled by a newly discovered link between Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker and a plethora of films, notably with Christopher Lee as the Count. Fitting right in to the milieu was the Return Of Dracula series by Robert Lory (officially joining our shelves for the first time, although he also wrote many Expeditor books under the house name of Paul Edwards), featuring the adventures of a (metaphorically) defanged, resurrected Count Dracula. A sliver of stake close to his heart, implanted by a telekinetic paralysed criminologist (who else?), prevented any evil-doing. Today we release the first six of the nine novel series: Dracula Returns, Dracula’s Brothers, Dracula’s Gold, The Drums Of Dracula, The Hand Of Dracula and The Witching Of Dracula. Something to really get your teeth into!

Books Update: Halloween Tomes – Monday

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: As the nights draw in and the mercury falls, Halloween looms. In keeping with our Halloween Week Updates we’ll be releasing spine-tingling books daily. We start with a wide selection, ranging from classics by Bram Stoker (Dracula and The Lair Of The White Worm) and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Carmilla) to more modern, but equally chilling works such as James Darke’s Witches (The Escape, The Meeting and The Killing), Peter Saxon (Satan’s Child and The Torturer), Robert Bloch (American Gothic and Night-World) and a trilogy by Robert Stallman (The Orphan, The Captive and The Beast).

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Books Update: A Huge Haul Of Horror

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*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Taking advantage of the extra space on the bookshelves, we have added more than thirty horror titles, many of them anthologies. Authors/editors include Lady Cynthia Asquith, Algernon Blackwood, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, John Burke, R Chetwynd-Hayes (Unbidden), Peter Haining (notably Dr Caligari’s Black Book), Edward D Hoch, Harry Ludlam, Eric Frank Russell (Dark Tides), Kurt Singer and Herbert Van Thal. There are also two listed under No Author, presumably because they are so bloodcurdling that no-one was prepared to admit to them.  So as the nights draw in, what better way to spend a long dark evening than enjoying a spine-chilling tale or two?

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Books Update: Mr Hitchock’s Gruesomely Ghoulish, Hideously Horrifying And Mysteriously Macarbre Murders

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*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: Not content with directing some of the most effectively terrifying films, Alfred Hitchcock lent his name to compilations of tales of chilling death in several collections often revealing a penchant for appalling puns. We have a number of books from each of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents..’ and ‘Alfred Hitchcock’s ..’ series of anthologies, as well as his ‘My Favourites In Suspense 1’. Featuring renowned authors such as Jerome Bixby, Robert Bloch, John Burke, Ruth Chatterton, Jonathan Craig, Roald Dahl, August Derleth, Hal Ellson, Brett Halliday, Edward D Hoch, James Holding, Damon Knight, Fritz Leiber and Arthur Porges and numerous others, you’re guaranteed a spine-tingling time reading these.

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Books Update: The Dennis Wheatley Library Of The Occult

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44_rhb_tnecromancersw44_jkh_downtherew*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: In the 1970’s Dennis Wheatley (author of To The Devil A Daughter and many more books in a similar vein) assembled a collection of books to act as a guided tour of the worlds of magic and mayhem. We have five books from this Library Of Occult: The Necromancers by R H Benson, The Gap In The Curtain by John Buchan, Down There by J K Huysmans, Voodoo by Alfred Metraux (a factual account, allegedly) and Harry Price Ghost-Hunter by Paul Tabori (a biography). Covering Ghosts, Necromancy, Prescience, Satanism and Voodoo these represent a good start for anyone wishing to broaden their knowledge of the occult (!).

Books Update: You Wait Ages For One Omnibus, Then Three Come Along At Once!

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44_jb_2ndhammerhorromnbw44_jb_hammerhorromn1w*Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror: Two mouth-wateringly rare Hammer Horror books join our shelves today, featuring John Burke’s gruesomely spine-chilling novelisations of classic Hammer films. The elusive Hammer Horror Omnibus features a double double bill: The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Gorgon and The Curse Of The Mummy’s Tomb. The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus is even more elusive, but by a spooky twist of fate we have two on offer. This book also features tales from four films: Dracula – Prince Of Darkness, Rasputin – The Mad Monk, The Reptile and finally The Plague Of The Zombies. All are 1st UK PB editions; truly horror to make you drool. Prices reflect their rarity: the first Omnibus is VG at £75; both seconds are GD also at £75 each.