We are sad to learn of the death of Roger Dobson, a
real, old-fashioned bookman who was devoted to a number of neglected
writers, including Arthur Machen, M.P. Shiel, George Gissing, C.W.
Blubberhouse and Julian Maclaren-Ross. His essays on literary matters
were published in the Antiquarian Book Monthly
Review and
The Book and Magazine
Collector, along with amateur
publications like All Hallows, The
Doppelganger Broadsheet, and his own Lost
Club Journal (published with Mark
Valentine).
Back in 1990 Roger Dobson and Mark Valentine
encouraged Ray Russell to research and publish The Anatomy of Taverns, the first publication issued by Tartarus Press. Always
supportive of Tartarus, Roger contributed to a number of our
publications over the years, including the Introductions to our reprints
of Arthur Machen's Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. He also
edited Gawsworth's Life of Arthur Machen
and contributed to Wormwood. We
collaborated with Roger and Mark on the publication of our editions of
Aklo and
Ornaments in Jade.
Those who knew Roger will miss accompanying him on
obscure literary expeditions and his conversations on all manner of
bookish topics, for which he had great enthiusiasm and profound
knowledge. RIP Roger.
A fine obituary of Roger can be found
at the Wormwoodiana blog here.
They are not long, the weeping and the
laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion
in us after We pass the
gate.
They are
not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Our
path emerges for awhile, then closes Within a
dream.
Ernest Dowson
***
Left to right: Mark
Saxton, Mark Valentine, Reggie Oliver, Tim Parker
Russell
6th May, 2013:
Many thanks to all who came to our Dark
World afternoon in Carlton-in-Coverdale. We raised
£250 towards the Amala children's home in India from book sales and
donations.
A video of Mark Valentine reading his story
"An Incomplete Apocalypse" during the afternoon can be watched
here.
Reggie Oliver has
very kindly donated a signed and mounted limited edition print of his
illustration for his story 'Come into my Parlour', which he read during
the afternoon. It is being auctioned on ebay here,
along with a signed copy of the out-of-print first edition
(limited to 300 copies) of Dark
World, signed by editor Timothy Parker Russell, cover
illustrator Stephen J. Clark, and contributing authors Mark Valentine,
Reggie Oliver, Mark J. Saxton, Rosalie Parker and R.B. Russell. Proceeds
from the auction will also go to Amala.
18th April 2013: We
are delighted to announce an afternoon celebrating the publication of
the book Dark
World, edited by Tim Russell. It is to
be held on
Saturday May 4th,
1:30-4:30 pm, at the Coverdale Memorial Hall, Carlton, Leyburn, North
Yorkshire, DL8 4AY.
There will
be readings by authors Mark Valentine and Reggie
Oliver, an illustrated talk on the ghost story by Dr Gail-Nina Anderson,
book sales, signings and
refreshments. Admission free – donations
welcome.
15th April 2013: Rupetta by N.A. Sulway is
"Novel of the Week" in The Tablet, where it is described as a novel with "a
heart".
***
10th April 2013: We are pleased to
announce the forthcoming publication of Wormwood 20. The new issue
contains the following eclectic mix of essays dealing with literature of
the fanstic, supernatural and
decadent:
‘Forever Always
Ends: Robert Aickman’s Visions of Afterlife’ (part one) by Joel Lane ‘The Baroque of the Void: A Fantastic Fiction
of the Austrian Idea’ by John Howard ‘John
Cowper Powys: Celtic Colossus and Eminence Grise’ by Adam Daly ‘A Sombre and Unique Beauty: The Stories of Helen
Simpson’ by James Doig ‘Fate as a
Character: H. Rider Haggard’s Secret Currents' by Thos. Kent Miller ‘Under Review’ by Reggie Oliver ‘Late Reviews’ by Douglas A. Anderson ‘Camera Obscura’ by John Howard
Please note that
the price of the new issue has been increased to
£9.99
22nd March 2013: Please note, we have now accepted all the stories required
forStrange Tales
IV, but the submissions window will remain open and we are
now reading stories for Strange Tales
V, which we hope to publish in 2014.
***
19th March 2013: Our
next two books are by Mark Valentine. Both will be published in
signed, numbered
editions:
Herald of
the Hidden collects ten
adventures of Ralph Tyler, an occult detective from an obscure
shire in the darkest heart of England, without private means or any special
esoteric knowledge. Mark Valentine’s Ralph Tyler stories first appeared
in hard-to-find small press publications. Three of the stories in this
volume are previously unpublished, including two newly written for this
collection. Along with six further supernatural tales, all the stories
are previously uncollected in book form.
Star
Kites is Mark
Valentine’s first collection of poems, and draws on the sources that
have inspired his acclaimed short stories—oneiric and otherworldly, and
inexplicably beautiful. The poems evoke half-lit figures and images,
seen in smoke, shadow, sun-haze and stone, and moments when the visible
world does not quite cohere. Also offered are versions of poems by
previously unheard European voices.
***
11th March 2013:
Great reviews of Dark World
can be found at Nudgemenow and M.R.Cosby's blog. Rosemary Pardoe has also
commented on the anthology in the latest issue of Ghosts and Scholars (23) calling it a
"quality"
collection.
***
15th February 2013:
Many thanks to everyone who bought a copy of Dark World, edited by Timothy
Parker Russell. Tim has now raised the funds for his volunteering trip
to the Children's Home at Amala in India this summer, and to make the
extra contribution required. There are still a few copies left, and each
one sold will form a part of an additional donation. There has been
quite a lot of publicity for Tim and the book, and one of our favourite
unsolicited comments is to be found at the Readhead
blog.
***
10th February 2011:
Many thanks to those who came along to the Golden Fleece in York for the
launch of Rupetta by
Nike Sulway. The crooked staircase, sloping floor, suits of armour and
skulls added to the atmosphere, as did the friendly staff and pints of
Theakstones Old
Peculiar.
Nike Sulway reading from Rupetta
***
7th February 2013: We have various items of
news:
The newest member
of the Tartarus Press team, Timothy Parker Russell, has received a great
feature for his Dark World
anthology in The Guardian Online. The book is now
also available as an
ebook.
And finally, Michael Dirda has written an
interesting article on M.P. Shiel for the Barnes and Noble Review.
He notes: "A few years back, Tartarus Press, known for its important
editions of neglected supernatural fiction, published a much coveted
hardback, supplementing the text with illustrations from the novel's
original serial publication. I treasure my
copy."
And don't
forget that Rupetta by
Nike Sulway is to be published on the 9th. A "taster" pdf can be
downloaded here. If anyone would
like to join us in York for the launch/get-together next weekend, please
email us at tartarus@pavilion.co.uk
***
25th January 2013:
Forthcoming from Tartarus is a new paperback collection of ghost
stories, Dark World,
edited by Timothy Parker Russell. Published on 4th February, it contains
stories
by:
22ndFebruary 2013: We have
reprinted Sub
Rosaand Dark
Entries by Robert Aickman.
Both books will also be available from the usual dealers.
***
18th February: As a
"taster", the Foreword to Rupetta by Nike Sulway is
available as a pdf here.
***
15th February, 2013: Our
next book will be a stunning new novel by award-winning Australian
writer Nike Sulway. Rupetta invokes the great
tradition of European fantasy/horror fiction and moves it forward in a
superbly imaginative, highly original
fashion.
And to celebrate
the publication of Rupetta , Nike
Sulway will be joining us for the launch of her book on the 9th
February, from 12pm, at The
Golden Fleece in York (UK). Everyone is welcome, but we
would appreciate it if you could let us know in advance if you are
coming, and whether you would like to eat with us. It is a great venue,
in an amazing city (with some good
bookshops!)
***
7th January 2013: Mario
Guslandi has positively reviewed Intrusions by Robert Aickman at The Short
Review.
***
3rd January 2013: Happy
New Year!
Please note that Dark
World is now closed for submissions. Many thanks to all
those who offered stories. Publication is still planned for
February.
We have blogged! Many thanks to Douglas Campbell
for letting us publish his review of Dreads
and Drolls by Arthur Machen.
Michael Dirda writes in praise of small presses
(including Tartarus) at The American Scholar.
Rick Kleffel discusses Robert Aickman's Intrusions in his Agony Column, stating that the stories "offer readers perfect
perspectives into the minds of men and women in such a manner as to make
it clear that we really never, ever, can truly understand one
another.
And Intrusions
is also discussed by Mark Andresen at The Pan Review.
In other Robert Aickman news . . . 2014 will be the
centenary of the birth of Robert Aickman, and he will be celebrated at the
2014 World Fantasy Convention in Washington
DC.
A very fine review
of The White Hands by Mark Samuels can be found at the Brazilian
Airmandade website. An approximate
translation into English can be found here.
***
14th December 2012:
The House of
Oracles by Thomas Owen has been published. All pre-orders
have now been mailed. We can't guarantee delivery before Christmas, but
we've done our
best...!
***
26th November 2012: We
have blogged again: Rosalie Parker recommends four Tartarus Press books
for long winter nights here.
***
14th November, 2012: Our
next book will be The House of
Oracles by Thomas Owen. Owen was a Belgian Symbolist (real
name Gerald Bertot, 1910-2002), and master of the fleeting, fantastic,
erotic short story, translated for us by Iain White (King in the Golden
Mask by Marcel
Schwob).
You can read our blog
post, "Why should you read . . . Thomas Owen" here. ***
13th November: A good review of Frankenstein's
Prescription by Tim Lees has just been posted
here. It is described as
"Moody, fast-paced and told with verve, Frankenstein's Prescription has
the feeling of vintage Michael Moorcock in a black, Gothic
vein."
The latest in our series
of interviews with book collectors is now available to watch on youtube.
It features John Hirschhorn-Smith, preoprietor of the Sidereal Press who have published,
among other authors, Hanns Heinz
Ewers.
***
5th November: Our next
publication will be Intrusions by Robert
Aickman, on the 12th
November.
In other
news, we are very pleased to have received a World Fantasy Award in
Toronto last night!
***
2nd November, 2012: We are pleased to report that
we've received copies of Wormwood
19 from the printers, and are
able to send them out in advance of the 12th November date we previously
promised.
***
24th October 2012: Wormwood 19 is due to be
published on the 12th November. The new issue contains:
"Standing in the Shadows of ‘Lud’: A Selective
Discussion of Interesting Fantastical Novels of the Immediate Aftermath of
the First World War"by Henry Wessells "He Wrote of
Dark Forces: The Weird World of Dennis Wheatley"by Roger Dobson "Bram Stoker and Another Dracula"by Brian J.
Showers "The Man in the Yellow Mask"by Lucien
Verval "The Autobiographical Nature of Fr.
Rolfe’s The Weird of the Wanderer" by Jason Rolfe "The Woman in the Gentleman’s Club" by Mark Andresen
"Under Review" by Reggie Oliver
"Late Reviews" by Douglas A.
Anderson
"Camera Obscura" by Mark
Valentine
Dark
Entries by Robert Aickman is
now out of print. As with Sub Rosa, we hope to
reprint it in 2013.
27th September 2012: Peter
Tennant at Black Static (the print
magazine) has given great reviews to Five
Degrees of Latitude by Michael Reynier and Black Horse by Jason
A. Wyckoff.
Discussing the five
novellas that make up Five Degrees of
Latitude, Tennant writes that 'Le Loup-Garou' has "a pitch
perfect delivery". In 'No. 3 Hobbes Lane' "the air of ambiguity
[is] carefully maintained, and 'The Rumour Mill' is "carefully
detailed", while 'Sika Tarn' "is a disturbing exercise in rustic
terror". The last novella, 'The Visions of Lazaro' "brings to mind the
creations of Borges, with its cleverness and artifice".
In his review of Black Horse Tennant is equally positive,
writing (amongst other nice things), that 'The Highwall Horror' is
a "story full of oblique angles and shifting perspectives, as the
protagonist's worldview becomes unravelled." The title story, 'Black
Horse' is described as "another highlight ... A strange offbeat tale,
with hints of the wild hunt ... but with a quality that is uniquely
Wyckoff’s own. And 'A Willow Cat in Meadowlark' is a "story melding
prosaic and magical to the betterment of both."
Tenant concludes that
"These are excellent volumes, and it’s encouraging to reflect that there
are new talents of this calibre waiting to be discovered by readers.
Kudos to Tartarus for bringing them both out of the shadows and
demonstrating once again that the genre we love isn’t suffering from any
lack of gifted writers."
***
9th September:
We are sorry to report that we have sold out of
copies of Sub
Rosa by Robert Aickman. Please note that we now have few
copies remaining of Dark
Entries....
...A recent (prophetic)
post in Rick Kleffel's Agony Column is very complimentary about
our books and suggested "It should seem obvious by now; run, don't walk
and pick up every Tartarus Press re-print of the Robert Aickman
catalogue." We will see see what we can do about pringing this volume
back into
print.
***
2nd September 2012:
Congratulations to Reggie Oliver, whose short story collection, Mrs Midnight, has won the
Dracula Society's Children
of the Night Awardfor the most
outstanding work of fiction in the Gothic/supernatural genre published
last
year.
13th August 2012: The World Fantasy
Award nominations have been announced and we are
delighted that Tartarus has received a nomination in the
non-professional special award category, alongside Mark Valentine's
Wormwood. Reggie Oliver's
Mrs
Midnight is also nominated in the Best Collection
category.
In other news,
Black Horse has received a
great mention in a blog by C.F.
Muller.
***
7th August:
Wiliam Simmons has positively reviewed two recent Tartarus Press books
for Hellnotes . He says of Frankenstein's
Prescription by Tim Lees: "The writing style is sharp and descriptive ... The
period is realistically described ... Grim and beautifully
written."
And of
Robert Aickman's Tales of Love and
Death he writes: " Dreadful
possibilities beautifully written, this Tartarus Press reprint is as
attractively constructed as its horrors are elegantly
told."
***
2nd August
2012: Another great review for Black Horse by Jason A.
Wyckoff, this time from theBritish Fantasy Society: "This is an astonishing debut book by a superb
writer, whose stories remind us how rewarding and bewitching good
fiction can be."
***
30th July 2012:
Black Horse by Jason A. Wyckoff receives a positive review
from Robert Morrish at Twilight Ridge. It concludes: "Black
Horse is a surprising and impossible-to-overlook debut, perhaps
even a dark horse contender for best collection of the
year."
And Black Horse has also received
a great review from Rick Kleffel at the Agony Column: "It's
the sort of collection that you'll read slowly, deliberately, drawing out
the pleasure on your porch in the long afternoons and haunted
evenings."
2nd July: A
fine notice for The King in the Golden
Mask from Rick Kleffel's Agony Column: "Reading it is the
literary equivalent of visiting a museum in the hours after it closes.
Shadows move; the curtains whisper your name and you are not sure if you
are awake or dreaming."
***
29th July: We have
today uploaded to Youtube an adaptation of Arthur Machen's "The White
People":
***
31st May:
Rosalie Parker has been interviewed by John Kenny at the Swan
River Press website. Although her collection, The Old Knowledge, is now out of print as
a physical book from Swan River, the ebook is available here.
In other
Tartarean News, Michael Dirda has written about the Tartarus book
collecting videos in The Washington Post. He very
generously writes: "Russell, Valentine and Oliver are all superb
writers, among the leading practitioners of classic supernatural
fiction. Check out not just the books they own, but the books they’ve
written."
17th May 2012:
Publishers Weekly have reviewed
Black
Horse by Jason A Wyckoff and say: "these tales are the work
of a writer skilled at navigating the twists and turns of his
unconventional horror themes."
***
17th May 2012:
The next in our series of reprints by Robert Aickman is his collection
Tales of Love and
Death. It will be published 28th May, and contains a new
Introduction by Michael Dirda who says:
"Along with Walter de la
Mare, Elizabeth Bowen and a few others, Robert Aickman belongs to the
Chekhov school of the weird tale. Such writers recognise that stories
don’t require pat endings. They don’t need to close with the snap of an
O. Henry trapdoor, or the ironic twist of a Maupassant. A short story
can actually convey a more haunting depiction of the human predicament
by avoiding any kind of artificial conclusiveness. Life is messy, not
neat; most problems are never clearly resolved, but only lived with;
people act unreasonably for no apparent reason."
***
14th May 2012:
Ray Russell of Tartarus Press has been interviewed here by John Kenny with reference to
his recent collection, Ghosts. He also discusses
the Tartarus Press and its authors.
23rd April:
Wormwood
18 is published next week, and contains articles on H.P.
Lovecraft, William Sharp, Frances Oliver, Robert Aickman, Randolph Stow
and F. Marion Crawford.
18th April
2012: Today's pdf is a taster of the first four chapters from 'Le
Loup-Garou" by Michael Reynier, from his collection Five Degrees of Latitude. It
can be downloaded here.
***
17th April
2012: Todays free pdf story is "Dibblespin", a taster for Angela Slatter's Sourdough and Other
Stories, which is currently available as a paperback
(£14.95). Publishers Weekly said of this collection, "Slatter displays a
rare gift for evocative and poetic prose." The book was nominated for
the World Fantasy Award and Aurealis Awards. The story is available
here.
***
16th April
2012: We thought it might be a good idea to make available pdffile
samples of the work of some Tartarus authors you may not yet have
read.
We’re starting
with our growing list of contemporary writers. First up is that
masterful magician of the macabre, Reggie Oliver, whose collection with
us, Mrs Midnight, has proved such a popular and critical success.
Mrs Midnight is now available in a paperback edition (priced £14.95).
The title story of the collection is a tour de force of mounting horror
with a music hall theme. It is available here, and we hope you
will enjoy it.
Future PDFs
will be announced as they become available and will include samples of
the writing of Mark Samuels, Mark Valentine, Angela Slatter, Quentin S.
Crisp, Tim Lees, Rhys Hughes, Michael Reynier and Jason P. Wyckoff. We
also hope to provide samples of some of our classic authors, and our
journal Wormwood.
***
5th April 2012:
The next Tartarus Press publication will be The King in the Golden Mask by
the French symbolist author Marcel Schwob. Published on 19th March 2012,
it contains 51 very decadent stories.
***
19th
March 2012: We are pleased to announce that as part of the celebrations
for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Arthur Machen, we will be
collaborating with the Hieroglyphic Press to produce a
tribute anthology dedicated to the great artist and mystic. Sorcery and
Sanctity: A Homage to Arthur Machen, will be
launched as part of the Machen events at the 2013 World Fantasy
Convention in Brighton.
To this end, submissions
are sought, and guidelines can be found here.
***
18th March
2012: A good review just in for Five
Degrees of Latitude by Michael Reynier, from Robert
Morrish at Twilight Ridge: "Five Degrees of
Latitude, the debut collection from Michael Reynier is, in many ways, a
thing of beauty — from the simple but elegantly designed physical book
produced by Tartarus Press to the five intricate and highy-polished
tales contained within, there is much to admire
here."
***
13th
March: A new paperback edition of Sourdough by Angela Slatter
is now available. The book was nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Aurealis Award, 2011, and we are very
pleased to be able to make it available again. ***
28th February
2012: A video trailer for Black
Horse is now available
here.
***
21st February:
Our next publication will be Black Horse and Other
Stories by Jason A. Wyckoff. This is a collection of
contemporary short stories by a first-time author with an original,
authentic and insightful new voice. Read "The Highwall Horror" from
The Black Horse as a pdf here.
8th February
2012: R.B. Russell is interviewed by Jason Rolfe on his BIbliomancy Blog about Tartarus, book
collecting etc.
***
24th January
2012:
R.B. Russell's Ghosts book and CD package is now sold
out. However, the CD can be purchased individually using the Paypal button
below, and a copy will be sent from the UK via R.B. Russell at the
Tartarus Press. Each copy is £12, post free worldwide, and will be sent
out early February.
***
19th January
2012:
Morbid Tales by Quentin S. Crisp is now
available as an ebook from the Morbid Tales page, or via
Amazon.
***
16th
January:
We are pleased
to announce the paperback reprint of Quentin S. Crisp's acclaimed 2004
short story collection, Morbid
Tales.
We are sorry to report that
Sourdough by Angela Slatter has
sold out.
We Are for the
Dark has been reviewed by Mario Guslandi at Specusphere
Rick Kleffel's Agony
column review of Cold Hand in Mine by Robert
Aickman
***
21st December
2011:
A Merry
Christmas to everyone! We will be taking a short break from wrapping up
books, but normal service will resume early in the New Year. Many thanks
for your support in what has been an especially busy
year.
Our programme
for 2012 includes a collection of decadent stories by Marcel Schwob, a
paperback (and ebook) reprint of Reggie Oliver's Mrs Midnight, further reprints of Robert
Aickman, and a couple of new, exciting, contemporary
authors.
2012 will also see the
release of Ray Russell's album of new music, Ghosts.
***
15th December:
The Unsettled Dust, a Radio Four
programme about Robert Aickman's strange stories was aired today, and is
available to be listened to again via theiplayer.
Forthcoming, a BBC Radio
Four appreciation of Robert Aickman: The Unsettled
Dust.
***
2nd December
2011:
A nice mention of Tartarus
is made by Alan Moore in a new interview with Honest
Publishing.
For the convenience of
those with e-readers, a list of our ebooks is now available here.
***
26th November,
2011: We have posted a short film on Youtube that should be of interest
to those familiar with Tartarus Press, Mark Valentine, and some of the
authors we have published over the years. The link is here.
***
23rd November
2011: Two good reviews of Tartarus Press titles have been posted by the
British Fantasy Society. Frankenstein's
Prescription by Tim Lees is reviewed here, and Mrs Midnight by Reggie
Oliver here.
***
18th
November, 2011: Wormwood #
17 has been delivered, orders have been packed up, and
copies will be posted tomorrow morning. We've just noticed an annoying
mistake: "Some Notes on Aickman's Plays" by Douglas A. Anderson has
somehow been missed from the cover and contents page. This is a short
but fascinating article, and our apologies to
Doug.
***
17th
November: Robert
Aickman is discussed in the Invisible Ink column in The Independent, with a mention of
"some very collectable, elegant hardbacks from Tartarus Press" ***
15th November 2011:
Wormwood #
17 is published next week and contains articles on H.P.
Lovecraft, Gabriele d’Annunzio's poetry,
Reginald Hodder, Ernest Bramah’s Max Carrados, Donald Armour’s Swept
& Garnished, and an Overview of American Decadence, as well
as 'Under Review', '
Late Reviews' and ' Camera Obscura'.
***
14th November: We've
written an account of the alt.Ghost Story Festival on our blog, which includes a link to a
video of Reggie Oliver reading "Ritual" by Arthur
Machen.
"Read this for the prose
style alone, which, for anyone who has read his one anthologised story
‘Loving Lady Death’ (‘La Morte Amoureuse’) - re-translated as the
title tale here - will already have experienced his stunning,
sensual evocation of place and time. This continues in the other
eleven tales."
An
appreciation of Reggie Oliver's new collection: 'Mrs Midnight and
other stories is one of the best books I have read this year.' - Henry
Wessells, The
Endless Bookshelf.
***
7th November: The White Hands by Mark
Samuels is now available as an ebook, either direct from us, or
through Amazon.
Please note
that Mrs
Midnight by Reggie Oliver, will be
"launched" at the Aldburgh
Bookshop on the 26th November, and signed copies will be
available on the night.
***
5th November: Comedian
Stewart Lee discusses Arthur Machen's The
Green Round on BBC's The
Review Show, and shows off his Tartarus Press edition. Use
the iplayer and you'll find it at
44:19.
***
2nd November
2011: Michael Reynier's Five Degrees of
Latitude is now available as an
ebook. It can be bought from us direct via the Five Degrees of Latitude page, or
through Amazon via the links on that
page.
31st October: A
well-written essay on the incomparable Arthur Machen, for Halloween,
by Michael Dirda at the Barnes and Noble
Review.
***
6th October:
Michael Reynier, author of Five Degrees of Latitude, has
been interviewed by Rick Kleffel at the Agony Column. The
interview is offered on the website as a downloadable
podcast.
19th October 2011: We
are delighted to announce that the next book published by Tartarus
Press will be We Are for the
Dark by Robert Aickman and Elizabeth Jane Howard. It will
be launched at the Alt.Halifax Ghost Story Festival, at
which will be shown rare tv adaptations of Howard's "Three Miles Up"
(from We Are for the Dark) and
Aickman's "The Hospice". As a part of the research for the We Are for the Dark reprint, Ray Russell
interviewed Elizabeth Jane Howard, and a part of that interview is
available on the Tartarus Press blog.
Another strand of the
festival will be a discussion of the work of Arthur Machen, which will
include a reading of Machen's story "Ritual" by Reggie Oliver, a panel
discussing his work chaired by Mark Valentine, and a presentation of
the recent film of "The Happy Children".
***
14th October 2011: We
have just received copies of Clarimonde and Other
Stories by Theophile Gautier. We'll be wrapping these up
and putting them in the post next week. In the meantime, you can read
"The Opium Pipe" by Gautier on our blog.
5th October 2011: Our next book will be Clarimonde and Other Stories by
Theophile Gautier. We believe that this will be the
definitive Gautier collection, using Lafcadio Hearn's classic
translations, with newly-commissioned translations for the remaining
supernatural tales which have not been previously
collected.
We are sorry
to report that Mrs Midnight by
Reggie Oliver is now out of print, despite only being
offically published a few days ago! Copies should still be
available from some of the dealers listed here.
***
3rd October,
2011:
We would like to recommend you check out an
ebay auction with some rare and
interesting items, some from Tartarus Press. They are all being sold to aid a literary
colleague in financial hardship.
Booking details for the Halifax alt.ghost story
festival are now available. Tobook a ticket call 01422 255 266 or visit www.deanclough.com
A Mild Case
of Bibliomaniais a
short film by R.B. Russell that
goes some way to explaining the genesis of Tartarus
Press.
***
26th September: A good review ofFive Degrees
of Latitude has just been posted by
Publishers Weekly: "Readers who like
weird tales with a vintage feel will find this volume an auspicious
debut."
1st September: A fine
review of Sourdough can be found at
Jildysauce. The reviewer says:
"These stories are stupendously good and offer many distinct
pleasures: a strange yet superbly realised world, compelling
characters and, above all, beautiful prose that has the power to
move."
26th August 2011: We have great pleasure in
announcing that we will publish Mrs Midnight and Other Stories by
Reggie Oliver on 30th September 2011. The book will be
launched at Fantasycon in Brighton.
***
26th August 2011: The
Halifax Ghost Story Festival will return this year, in an alt.ghost story guise. It will be held
on Saturday 12th November at Dean Clough, Halifax, and will start
about 2pm. (There will be a break for food between about 5pm-7pm, then
the evening events begin.) There may well be a Sunday session,
although it will be a couple of weeks before this can be
confirmed.
Tartarus
Press will play a large part in the proceedings. We will be exploring
the boundaries where the ghostly and the supernatural meet the
psychological and the mystical. We aim to turn the spotlight on Arthur
Machen in particular; plus Elizabeth Jane Howard and Robert Aickman,
and we will be showing film(s) relating to their work. We can confirm
that we will be showing the new film of "The Happy Children" by
Machen, the TV adaptation of Howard's "Three Miles Up", and we are
negotiating to show "The Hospice" by Aickman.
We will have a number of
guests including Mark Valentine and Reggie Oliver who will help
furnish us with a highly informed, urbane take on the supernatural
fiction genre.
We hope that there will
also be theatre and readings courtesy of Lawrence Gordon Clark, and
Jeremy Dyson will be back...
Additionally, we also
hope to launch the publication of a new edition of We Are for the Dark by Robert Aickman
and Elizabeth Jane Howard.
More details will be
posted as they are confirmed....
20th July 2011: We have
written another blog entry, this time on art and design.
***
16th July 2011: More
non-Tartarus Press news: Ray Russell's Novella, Bloody Baudelaire, has been optioned
for a film by 3:1 Cinema in the USA, with filming set to start later
this year.
***
15th July, 2011: Other News: Anyone eligible to vote in the
forthcoming British Fantasy Society Awards is welcome to Tartarus
Press proprietor, Ray Russell's, shortlisted story, "The Beautiful
Room", made available hereas a pdf courtesy of the
publisher, Nightjar Press. Non-voters are welcome to read it as well.
And everyone is welcome to buy a copy (£3) from Nightjar by emailing:
nicholasroyle@mac.com
***
11th July 2011: The next
book published by Tartarus Press will be Cold Hand
in Mine by Robert Aickman, with an Introduction by Phil
Baker.
***
9th July 2011: We have written another
blog
entry about the changing nature of publishing. It
includes the news that the following are now available as
ebooks:
24th June 2011: We have just received finished
copies of Five Degrees of
Latitude by Michael Reynier. We will be packing these up
over the next few days and will post them out at the beginning of next
week.
Other
news:
We have been blogging again, this time on the
subject of collaborations with other presses.
***
20th June 2011: As a
part of our commitment to Sarban’s writings, and our aim to make his
work as widely available as possible, we are publishing the following
as ebooks:
We already have Ringstones and The Doll Maker available as hardback
volumes, and in due course will also be putting back into print
The Sound of His Horn and
The Sacrifice and Other
Stories.
***
17th June 2011: We have "blogged" again. This time
discussing the invaluable contribution of Mark Valentine to Tartarus
Press.
***
13th June 2011: Our next
title will be Five Degrees of
Latitude by Michael Reynier. This new collection of short
stories has been described as "Sarban meets Blackwood meets late
Machen," by Jim Rockhill, and we would like to agree with his
recommendation! We are very pleased to be able to add Michael Reynier
to our Contemporary Fiction series. Publication 1st July
2011.
Please not that
we have now sold out of all copies of Father Raven by A.E.
Coppard.
***
12th June 2011: In this month's issue of
Locus, Stefan Dziemianowicz says
of Time, A
Falconer by Mark Valentine : "A sensitive and sympathetic
portrait … [Valentine] weaves his analyses of Sarban’s fiction
seamlessly into the broader tapestry spun from the known biographical
facts. The result is a thoroughly engrossing account of the writer’s
intellectual growth and
interests in the course of his lifetime."
***
10th June 2011: We have a new post on our
blog, inspired by the fact
that we are down to our last few copies of Father Raven and Other Tales
by A.E. Coppard.
The judge's report for the Aurealis
Awards said of Sourdough and Other Stories by Angela
Slatter:
"Sourdough is probably the most
exquisitely produced and packaged collection of the year. The artifact
produced is a credit to Tartarus Press and the quality of the
inter-linked fairy-tale-esque stories is a credit to Slatter’s prowess
as a short story writer."
***
6th June 2011: A good review of Time, A
Falconer by Mark Valentine can be found here.
***
Please note that Three Miles Up by Eizabeth Jane Howard
is now out of print.
***
5th June 2011: Tartarus receives a mention at the
conclusion to Christopher Fowler's Independent on Sunday article on Arthur Machen. Of
all the authors to compare Machen to, Dan Brown is the last one we'd
have hoped for...
3rd May: Congratulations
to Angela Slatter and Eric Stener Carlson for their Nightmare Awards for Sourdough and The St Perpetuus Club of Buenos Aires.
Tartarus Press also receives an award.
27th April: We have very
few copies remaining of Three Miles Up by Elizabeth
Jane Howard...
***
20th April: Wormwood 16 is at the
printers and will be published on 16th May. Among other items, it
contains articles on two forgotten fantasy novels of 1911
(Algernon Blackwood’s The Centaur and J.D. Beresford’s The
Hampdenshire Wonder), Charles Allston Collins, Carl Jacobi, H.T.W.
Bousfield, Vincent O’Sullivan and William Walker
Hamilton.
***
19th April 2011: The new issue of Black Static includes an
ecstatic review of Frankenstein's
Prescription by Tim Lees: "...it is,
quite frankly, a brilliant novel, one which takes the old stereotype
and fills it with vibrant new life. The story is gripping, with each
and every element of the plot fitting into place perfectly..." Many
thanks to the reviewer, Peter Tennant, for the kind words at the
conclusion to his review: "It’s only February, and I may already have
read the best horror novel of 2011. As with the Angela Slatter
collection that I reviewed last issue, huge kudos to Tartarus for
putting work of this exceptional quality into the public
domain."
***
14th April 2011: A fine review by Mario Guslandi
for our first two Robert Aickman volumes is published at
Rick Kleffel's Agony
Column. The editor's commentary can also be found
here.
***
13th April 2011: Congratulations to John Shire on
the publication of Bookends: A Partial
History of the Brighton Book Trade. Amongst
material which will be fascinating to those who have known and loved
the bookshops of Brighton, there is an account of the genesis of the
Tartarus Press!
***
12th April: Please note
that Cold to the Touch by Simon
Strantzas and Various
Temptations by William Sansom are now out of
print.
31st March 2011: Congratulations to Angela Slatter,
whose story, "Lavender and Lychgates", from Sourdough and Other
Stories, has been selected for the latest Mammoth Book of Best New
Horror.
Well done to Johnny
Mains whose auction of genre fiction material has raised just over
£1,000 for the Red Cross Japan Disaster appeal!
***
22nd March 2011: We are
delighted to learn that Sourdough by Angela Slatter
has been shortlisted for the Aurelias Award for best collection, and
"Sister Sister" for best short story.
A good, full page review
of Time, A
Falconer by
Mark Valentine has been published in The Literary Review this month.
Robert Irwin concludes: "It is somewhat unsettling to imagine this
quiet man sorting out visa applications or attending dull formal
receptions and all the while brooding on the taloned
cat-women."
10th March 2011: We have
very few copies remaining of Various Temptations by William
Sansom. The Sense of the Past by
Henry James is now out of print.
***
16th February 2011: In the new issue of Black StaticPeter Tennant devotes six
pages to Angela Slatter comment, interview and review. Of
Sourdough he writes: "With their
larger than life characters and the beautiful, evocative writing, the
intricate plotting that continually reinvents itself and twists back
on what has gone before, these are wonderful stories from a writer who
appeals to both the emotions and the intellect. Sourdough and Other
Stories was one of the best books I read in
2010, and it’s work from a writer whose career is just
beginning."
Peter additionally
writes: "Tartarus have done Slatter proud with a truly sumptuous
volume. Sourdough is a beautiful book, one that gets its collector’s
edition status and price tag on merit and not simply by virtue of
being signed by whomever or number whatever of a limited
edition"
***
11th February 2011:Frankenstein's
Prescription has
arrived! Our apologies for the delay, but we will be posting these on
Monday.
***
10th February: We are pleased to report that
copies of Worming the
Harpy by Rhys Hughes and Dark
Entries by Robert
Aickman have been delivered to us. Copies will be posted to customers
over the next few days.
***
4th February: We now have now sold out of all
remaining Discovery of Heretics slipcased sets.
***
25th
January: We're a little late in noting this rave review for SourdoughatShe Never Slept: "I would recommend this book to anyone who
likes dark fiction, fairytales, strange tales, elegant horror, or
anyone who likes stories with strong women protagonists and good
characterization."
***
20th
January 2011: We are very pleased to announce the reprinting of the
first, classic collection of short stories by Rhys Hughes, Worming the
Harpy. This
highly sought-after collection from 1995 will be available as a
paperback, augmented by the additional story "The Forest Chapel Bell"
which was originally included in Tales from Tartarus (1995). This new edition also
contains an "Afterword" by the late E.F.
Bleiler.
***
17th
January 2011: Dark
Entries by Robert
Aickman will be published March 2011 in an edition of 350 copies,
uniform with the previous Sub
Rosa. We have
created a video trailer for the book using footage from the HTV West
production of "The Hospice": Many thanks to Colin Fenwick for unearthing the
"Hospice" footage.
***
13th
January 2011: Sub Rosa by Robert Aickman has been reviewed
by Brian Showers in the new issue of Rue Morgue magazine: "[Aickman's] writing is sophisticated,
confounding and unnerving in equal measure; extreme and diverse
reactions to his work are to be expected, but it is for these same
reasons that he still attracts so many admirers."
