Centipede will be releasing.....

[RonClinton]

I didn't go for those, but I was excited to see The Man who fell to Earth coming next month. I have the movie, but have never read the book.

I went for both. Also, I (finally) read THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH a month or so ago, and generally enjoyed it. I’d call it a solid 7 out of 10, or a 3.5 star read, if one uses GoodReads 5-star gauge. Good enough that I want the upcoming limited…it also prompted me to pick up Tevis’ THE HUSTLER and THE COLOR OF MONEY. I haven’t read THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, but the Netflix series was brilliant.

Don’t forget to pick up the WEIRD FICTION REVIEW this weekend, too…it has my new massive 20,000-word “Collecting the Modern Macabre” feature in it. For comparison, all my others (including the new one for 2023 that I just submitted today) have been under 10,000 words. It’s a big’un.

[Dave1442397]

Anyone jump on this weekend's announcements? I don't normally order from Centipede (due to price), but I couldn't resist this time around. I picked-up both Shelley Katz's Alligator & Guy N. Smith's Bats Out of Hell. I have never read either book or author; however, something about these spoke to me. Looks like there will be plenty of animal horror in my future!

I didn't go for those, but I was excited to see The Man who fell to Earth coming next month. I have the movie, but have never read the book.

[Splync]

Anyone jump on this weekend's announcements? I don't normally order from Centipede (due to price), but I couldn't resist this time around. I picked-up both Shelley Katz's Alligator & Guy N. Smith's Bats Out of Hell. I have never read either book or author; however, something about these spoke to me. Looks like there will be plenty of animal horror in my future!

Ordered both!

Alligator was a bit pricier than I was expecting, but it looks stunning.

Bats Out of Hell continues the vintage series, so I have to keep that rolling.

[sholloman81]

Anyone jump on this weekend's announcements? I don't normally order from Centipede (due to price), but I couldn't resist this time around. I picked-up both Shelley Katz's Alligator & Guy N. Smith's Bats Out of Hell. I have never read either book or author; however, something about these spoke to me. Looks like there will be plenty of animal horror in my future!

[brlesh]

Anyone jump on The House Next Door? Curious about the SK intro.

I picked up a copy. Read this about 20 years ago & was very pleasantly surprised with it.

Hope it holds up on the reread.

I imagine that the SK intro will be the same one that was in the edition of House Next Door that was published as part of the Stephen King Library, around 20 years ago.

And now that I’m thinking about it, the intros used for the SK Library books I think came from Danse Macabre.

B

[Ben Staad]

Congrats to all. I'm passing but was dearly tempted by it.

[RonClinton]

Like others, I’ve heard good things about the Siddons for years, but just never pulled the trigger on it until now, although I do think I have a mass-market paperback of it around here somewhere. But this new deluxe hardcover will be my first reading of it, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Today I received the new, smaller edition of the Shirley Jackson book, and yesterday received a notification that THE SEARCH FOR JOSEPH TULLY shipped. Good times.

[Splync]

Anyone jump on The House Next Door? Curious about the SK intro.

I did! Heard too many good things over the years to pass it up.

[Sock Monkey]

Anyone jump on The House Next Door? Curious about the SK intro.

I did. I've heard people sing this book's praises for years and I just haven't gotten around to reading it. Very much looking forward to it.

[Ben Staad]

Anyone jump on The House Next Door? Curious about the SK intro.

[Sock Monkey]

…aaannd I was able to snag a new copy for not much over original cover price. Patience pays off once in a while.

Nice!

[RonClinton]

Ron, I’d thought you might have learned from my lesson in passing on these Centipede Press books after I missed out on the first four and paid silly aftermarket prices to get ahold of them.

My motto is “Always, Always buy the Centipede Press book.”

…aaannd I was able to snag a new copy for not much over original cover price. Patience pays off once in a while.

[Sock Monkey]

Well, shoot, now that I'm after a copy, that wave of -- as I recall -- cheap $35 to $50 copies that Jerad was blowing out at the end -- and people were reselling for about the same -- have all vanished and now it's in the three figures, $100+. Looks like another snooze-and-lose proposition for me.

Ron, I’d thought you might have learned from my lesson in passing on these Centipede Press books after I missed out on the first four and paid silly aftermarket prices to get ahold of them.

My motto is “Always, Always buy the Centipede Press book.”

[RonClinton]

I'd recommend seeking out a copy of Centipede Press' Bram Stoker: Library of Weird Fiction. Dracula was included in full in that and it's a nice production, like always.

Well, shoot, now that I'm after a copy, that wave of -- as I recall -- cheap $35 to $50 copies that Jerad was blowing out at the end -- and people were reselling for about the same -- have all vanished and now it's in the three figures, $100+. Looks like another snooze-and-lose proposition for me.

[Sock Monkey]

"Finally, we are anticipating The Spirit of the Place by Elizabeth Walter by end of August to mid September. A massive career retrospective, you won’t want to miss this collection of chilling and genteel tales." I love that Jeard champions the work of underappreciated, lesser known authors. I am really looking forward to this one.

Review


Elizabeth Walter (1927-2006) was a British novelist, short story writer and editor of the Collins Crime Club for over thirty years. As an author she has penned many stories in the field of supernatural and ghostly fiction as well as of "quiet" horror. Walter's uncanny tales have appeared in famous anthologies such as The Pan Books of Horror Storiesand The Fontana Books of Great Ghost Stories. She has published five collections of short stories: Snowfall & Other Chilling Events (1965), The Sin-Eater & Other Scientific Impossibilities (1967), Davy Jones's Tale & Other Supernatural Stories ( 1971), Come And Get Me & Other Uncanny Invitations (1973), Dead Woman & Other Haunting Experiences(1975).

Now all the thirty-one stories previously appeared in her collections have been assembled in one hefty, attractive volume by the excellent small imprint Shadow Publishing, with an introduction by Dave Brezskj and a fascinating, haunting cover artwork by Edward Miller.

Walter's body of work is an extraordinary example of nice plotting, great characterization, and enticing storytelling, dark and unsettling atmospheres and the ability to grip the reader's full attention even when employing old clichés or revisting time-honoured classical themes.

To comment upon all the stories would be tedious and impossible, but I'd like to mention some of the more accomplished and rightly famous pieces.

"The Sin-Eater" is an outstanding, suspenseful example of supernatural horror where a terrible vengeance hits a murderer from beyond the grave, while "The Island of Regrets" is a very disturbing tale taking place in a haunted island in Britanny.

In the classical, tense "Snowfall," Caribbean horrors are relocated in a snowy Welsh landscape, and in the vivid "The Tibetan Box" the tragic effects of black magic are at loose.

"Hushaby Baby" is a very clever tale of witchcraft, starting with a switching of babies and ending in sheer tragedy.

Odd family traditions come alive in "Telling the Bees," a deliciously dark story of foresight and death, while military horrors, a talkative parrot and blackmail are the ingredients of the ghostly "Come And Get Me."

"The Lift" is an offbeat tale where a man running from his dangerous pursuers discovers the terrible strength of betrayal, while "In the Mist" is a deceiving ghost story featuring a young RAF pilot trying to reach his camp.

Walter's astonishing storytelling ability is particularly evident in some of her "minor"stories such as "The Travelling Companion," an enticing piece of insightful fiction despite its rather predictable ending, and "Prendergast," a dark story of child killings and vampirism with a nasty twist in the tale.

In short, a wonderful volume collecting all the eerie and uncanny tales of a real mistress of dark fiction. (Horrorreview.com)

Thanks for this! I always assume that if Centipede is publishing it, it’s worthwhile to check it out but this definitely helps.