R.B. RUSSELL
Books have a habit of leading us into unexpected places. . . .
In Bibliomancy and Other Essays, Russell explores the rich and curious world of books, book collecting and literary history, uncovering forgotten lives, neglected libraries and collectable bookplates, as well as unwritten biographies and imaginary autobiographies, and the peculiar possibilities of bibliomancy.
Erudite and entertaining, the subjects considered range from Arthur Machen to Charlotte Brontë, and from Barry Humphries to the almost forgotten Richard Rumbold.
Russell’s essays also consider odd pathways in book collecting, upgrading paperback editions, and the perfume of decaying books.
In an appendix to this volume, there are a series of essays considering different subjects close to the heart of the author Robert Aickman, and which may be considered supplements to Russell’s well-received biography of the author.
Gathering together lost souls on the Sussex Downs, houses demolished and rediscovered, and half-remembered dreams, The Sanctuary and Other Strange Stories collects uncanny fiction written by R.B. Russell over two decades. Many stories are rooted in moments of real life, but are transformed into something dis-quieting, from the enigmatic commune of ‘The Sanctuary’ to the ex libris of a lost artist, these stories drift between memory, history and imagination.
Inspired by writers as varied as Mark Valentine and Ian Fleming, Robert Aickman, and Reggie Oliver, and shaped by influences, from for-gotten cults and stamp collecting, Russell’s tales explore the boundaries between the ordinary and the otherworldly. Love, death, music and off-beat literary researches intertwine, giving rise to stories that feel both intimate and unsettling.
Whether revisiting previously published uncollected stories or presenting new work, this collection offers a rich cabinet of curiosities: eerie, elegiac, and steeped in the lingering power of place, and the imagination’s darker corners.
AND OTHER CHARACTERS OF QUESTIONABLE FAITH
T. Lobsang Rampa’s autobiography, The Third Eye was an international bestseller in 1956, but the author had to face some awkward questions from critics. There were two possibilities; either he really was a Tibetan lama whose third eye had been physically opened (and who could reveal secrets of levitation, invisibility, gilded extraterrestrials, giant temple cats, etc), or he was really the eccentric son of a plumber from Plympton in Devon.
Russell’s biography of Rampa is accompanied in this volume by three further studies of alternative belief systems that have fascinated him over the years. The subjects are
the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, the Church of Scientology’s Oxford Capacity Analysis test, and the Temple of Psychic Youth.
About R.B. Russell
R.B. Russell is a publisher, co-running Tartarus Press with Rosalie Parker. He writes novels, short stories and non-fiction, and composes music.
As an author he has had four collections of short stories, three novellas and one novel published. His story 'Loup-garou' was chosen for Ellen Datlow’s The Best Horror of the Year. 'In Hiding' was nominated for the 2010 World Fantasy Award, and 'The Beautiful Room' for the 2011 British Fantasy Award.
Michael Dirda has described Russell as '...among the leading practitioners of classic supernatural fiction'.
Russell's novella, Bloody Baudelaire, has been filmed by 3:1 Cinema with the new title Backgammon and was released 2016.[10]
Russell is also a songwriter, having previously composed songs released by The Bollweevils. His first solo CD, Ghosts, was released by Klanggalerie in February 2012. The accompanying video presentation was premiered in Vienna in March 2012, and was subsequently shown at Dean Clough Galleries October 2012. Dean Clough Galleries presented The Romance of Shortwave Radio Numbers Stations as a video installation in 2018.
