Great news: at first it was just a secret dream among a few die-hard paperback horror fanatics, now it's a reality! In August, specialty publisher
Valancourt Books announced that they would be launching a series of reprint vintage horror paperback titles, all of which have been featured in the
Stoker Award-winning Paperbacks from Hell (Quirk Books, 2017), by
Grady Hendrix and me (you may have heard of it!). They've asked Grady and me to choose the titles and write introductions, and Valancourt hopes to be able to use original cover art when possible.
It's beautiful!
Since virtually every book discussed in
PfH is out of print and often going for expensive collector prices online, Valancourt Books hit on the excellent idea of reprinting some in quality trade paperback editions. Thanks to
Quirk Books for agreeing to this amazing deal. Offering obscure and long-sought-after books anew to an eager reading public seems like the right thing to do! I'm thrilled to be part of this horrific venture.
Planned publication is early 2019, with maybe half a dozen titles at first, starting with
Elizabeth Engstrom's 1985 collection of two novellas,
When Darkness Loves Us, published in paperback by Tor in 1986 with a fantastic
Jill Bauman cover illustration. Also featuring in the line will be Bari Woods's
The Tribe and T. Chris Martindale's
Nightblood. More titles to come, of course, and Grady and I are hot on the heels of potential reprint horrors. Tracking down authors or their estates and sorting the tangle of copyright is no mean feat but Valancourt is doing a stellar job of it. And don't forget: over the past several years Valancourt has
already reprinted many of the books you've read about here on this blog and in
PfH.
38 comments:
Thank you! I've been hunting high and low for the Elizabeth Engstrom and some of the other titles as well.
This great news. I am a big fan of these books. I am looking forward to seeing which ones are reprinted.
Because i am a weirdo, I'm hoping for Eat Them Alive and Let's Go Play at the Adams'.
Do you know if they also plan on publishing the titles on Kindle?
Kelly Cozy, I honestly don't remember who it was at Valancourt I spoke to, but I sent them a letter about the possibility of reprinting Let's Go Play at the Adamses'. Whoever wrote back to me was extremely kind in explaining the tangle of legal rights surrounding that book, essentially saying that a reprint didn't seem likely. This was several years ago, so it's possible aspects of the rights issues might have sorted themselves out, or that Valancourt is well-established enough now to have a better chance at it.
I do hope they manage it. I know so many people who desperately want to read it, and I'm not lending my copy out!
This is a great idea. The other day I was wishing Valancourt would reprint both of Jeff Rice's Night Stalker/Night Strangler books, maybe in one volume. Those are too scarce nowdays. I have both of 'em somewhere in my house but can't locate 'em in all the hoarder-hellishness, so I'd definitely buy new editions.
I echo the requests for Let's Go Play At The Adams' to be reprinted, and Eat Them Alive as well. I have copies of both, but I'd love for them to be available to others, and to know I could replace 'em if I had to. I hate anything to be out of print and crazy-priced.
Somebody reprinted Bad Ronald by John Holbrook Vance not too long ago... that was a bucket-list reprint idea up until it finally came out. That book should be much more widely-read. It's a lot sicker than the movie.
I'd also love to see somebody get affordable copies of all Karl Edward Wagner's stuff on the market again... those being scarce is a damn shame.
I think this is great news. I have a fair number of horror books, but used to have a lot more. I wish I'd kept many of the ones I've gotten rid of. Looking forward to these re-releases.
Wowee kazowie!
I have searched for some of these novels that seemed the most interesting to me and was successful in finding most on ebay/amazon and such by being diligent.I already had discovered the E.Engstrom stuff on my own -(which blew me away btw).
The one I can't seem to locate -but which sounds amazing is The Voice of the Clown.Is that title one of the ones in the works for re-release? I hope, I hope!
"If I can get one person to read Greenhall’s books, I’ll consider Paperbacks from Hell to have been a success.”
I read Elizabeth and The Companion, purchased Lenoir and Hell Hound but have not (yet) read them. I was only made aware of them because of your book, so : Mission accomplished.
And put in my vote for The Little People : But ONLY if the original cover art can be used.
Dang! Great work!!
Any chance Kathe Koja's The Cipher will be part of the line-up? I've been trying to find that book everywhere!
Alas THE CIPHER will not be part of the line.
We are trying for those but tracing copyrights back is difficult in these cases!
I believe Valancourt releases most of their books in this format as well
They are trying!
Oh, this is spectacular news. And if you're open to requests, I'd love to read Keeper of the Children again.
I also vote for Joseph Payne Brennan's stuff to be reprinted. He's been out of print for too long and it's a crime!
I adore When Darkness Loves Us and I'm so glad it will get reprinted. It's a fantastic story.
I also agree w/ Zwolf above: PLEASE reprint Joseph Payne Brennan! His stuff is so great and impossible to acquire now w/o spending a ton of money.
I would also love to see Lisa Tuttle's A Nest of Nightmares reappear, that was a tremendous collection. It's outta print and going only for exorbitant prices currently.
This is a great idea!I cannot wait.
Will, I just read THE PACK by David Fisher from this line and it's like I never was away.
There's just one typo in it. In the Epilogue's last paragraph, the dog named Dopey is called '...a small terrier...". In the original printing of the novel, it's actually '...a basset hound...". This should be fixed in future printings of this novel. When (and if) it's ever done, could you please let me know so I can get a new copy?
Oh, btw, there's another excellent killer dog pack novel that should be included in this line, if possible. It's THE DOGS by Robert Calder (real name: Jerrold Mundis). Hope this can be done.
Next one to buy: LET'S GO PLAY AT THE ADAMS'!
I've just thought of another first horror novel that should be added to this line, if possible: INVISIBLE FIRE by Pat Graverson (or Graversen, I'm not sure which (she's a woman, btw)).
Yep, just thought of another possible addition to this line: ALLIGATOR by Shelley Katz!
Shelley Katz was not interested when Valancourt asked her awhile back about reprinting ALLIGATOR. Not familiar with that Graverson book, although I know it has a Don Brautigam cover!
Will, did you see the error in the Epilogue of THE PACK?
I did, Mike, thanks, and let Valancourt know about it. They had scanned the text from the hardcover edition of the book, so apparently that's where the problem was, as my original paperback of it is correct. Thanks again!
Well, Will, I did it! Yesterday, I bought LET'S GO PLAY AT THE ADAMS' and I can't wait to get reaquainted with it!
Btw, how goes the corrected edition of THE PACK? Has it been released yet? Please let me know.
I just read LET'S GO PLAY AT THE ADAMS' and once again, it was like I never was away.
The introduction was extremely interesting. I never knew anything at all about Mendal W. Johnson until now. Tell Grady to keep up the good work and please, you do the same.
Next up from Valancourt: RATMAN'S NOTEBOOKS!
Mike, you'd have to check with Valancourt about that, I relayed the message but I don't have anything to do with their publishing itself.
Be sure to look up my review of LET'S GO PLAY!
Will, I checked Valancourt's website and there's no contact section on it so that I can e-mail them. Can you please PM me their snail mail address and phone number so that I can get in touch with them about THE PACK's correction? I promise that I'll keep it to myself and share it with no one without permission. Thanks!
I'll also need the name of the person who's in charge of the line, as I don't think I should address it to "To whom it may concern". I want to get right to the point and get this settled once and for all.
Btw, i read RATMAN'S NOTEBOOKS and it was great!
Mike,
https://www.valancourtbooks.com/contact.html
Will, I just contacted Valancourt Books about the corrected edition of THE PACK. Wish me luck!
And I just thought of a pair of duologies that could possibly be considered for the imprint. They are:
*A NICE PLACE TO LIVE and its sequel THE VENGEANCE by Robert C. Sloane,
*THE HYDE EFFECT and its sequel SHAPES by Steve Vance.
Maybe these could even be done as two-in-one books. What do you think?
And I'd also like these four to be please reviewed on here, if at all possible.
Thanks for all your help!
You're welcome, Mike.
I don't have any of the titles you mention, however. And I know Valancourt generally likes to reprint books around 250 pages; printing costs are extraordinarily high. That's why the PBFH books are $16-$17 a pop. We've had to skip some books we liked because they were way too long to be priced affordably!
Will, I think all four of these books are each around 250 pages like Valancourt wants, so that shouldn't be a problem.
I really think you'd like these two two-novel series. The first one (and I'm going to do some spoilers here, so please bear with me) deals with trolls, the creatures from Norse mythology. Only there's a difference here: in this duology, the first novel states right out that humans are a cross between the giants and the dwarfs of the Norse myths (and have some characteristics of the two) and trolls are a further cross between the giants and humans.
The second one is a werewolf series, but definitely a little bit different. The second and final novel of this one was Vance's last horror novel (I guess by that time the paperback horror novel genre was dying out).
Will, here's some information on Jerrold J. Mundis:
*He only wrote two horror novels: THE DOGS (1977) (as Robert Calder) and THE RETREAT (1985) (as Jerrold Mundis),
*He died of COVID in 2020 at the age of 79.
I think these two horror novels are prime candidates for PAPERBACKS FROM HELL.
We passed on THE DOGS to do THE PACK; RETREAT is available as an ebook so that prohibits Valancourt from reprinting it.
Thanks for the information, Will! I had no idea that THE RETREAT was even still in print, much less as an ebook. Have you ever read it?
Are we ever going to see a reprint of VOice of the Clown, Eat Them Alive or Toy Cemetery?
Mike, I have not read THE RETREAT but have a copy. Maybe someday!
Dreamer, no, there won't be reprints of those books, at least not for our PBFH Valancourt line:
The author of CLOWN died a few years ago and her son has zero interest in a reprint, also rights are tangled up with the publisher;
EAT THEM ALIVE seems to exist in a no-man's land where no one involved in its writing or publishing is still around;
TOY CEMETERY is available as an ebook which prevents Valancourt from reprinting it.
Sorry for the bad news!
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