|
|
Post by dem bones on Apr 24, 2008 21:27:08 GMT
Charles Birkin (1907-1986) and the "CREEPS" seriesThe Creeps, like the Not At Night series, were the 'Pan Horror Stories' of their day, bought in numbers, reviled by the critics, and Herbert Van Thal wisely raided both for early issues of his popular paperbacks. Edited by the 5th Baronet Birkin under the pseudonym Charles Lloyd, they ended abruptly in 1936 when Birkin had a collection of his own horror stories published, Devil Spawn, after which other commitments forced him to retire from the field until 1964 when The Kiss Of Death signalled a winning return to activity. The series, published by Phillip Allan, ran as follows. Creeps (1932)
Shudders (1932)
Shivers (1933)
Horrors(1933)
Terrors (1933)
Quakes (1933)
Nightmares (1933)
Monsters (1934)
Panics (1934)
Powers Of Darkness (1934)
The Creeps Omnibus (1935)
Thrills (1935)
Tales Of Fear (1935)
Tales Of Death (1936)
Tales Of Dread (1936) The Creeps Omnibus handily (if lazily) reproduced the entire contents of the first three volumes, and is as good an introduction to the series as any, although not exactly representative and by no means the "Greatest Hits" collection these books are still crying out for Apart from the famous anthologies, there were a number of novels and single author collections in the Creeps series. From Tales Of Fear (I've added the year of publication, when known) Three more books, also published by Philip Allan, which appeared too early to be considered legit Creeps were Mrs. Everett's The Death Mask & Other Ghost Stories (1920), Tod Robbins' Who Wants A Green Bottle? (1926) and H. R. Wakefield's They Return At Evening (1928). Come 1936 and the publisher seems to have veered off into a SF direction with Edmond Hamilton's The Horror Of The Asteroid & Other Planetary Horrors and Barrington Beverley's The Space Raiders, although that same year saw publication of Charles Birkin's Devil Spawn, which collected all his contributions to the anthologies.
|
|
|
|
Post by mrhappy on Jan 10, 2017 0:09:56 GMT
[attachment id="707" tthThis  umbnail="1"] This wonderful set of books went for the low, low price of $850 this past weekend during an auction held in Freemont, New York. The auction was also streamed on eBay which is where I noticed it. Bidding got quite lively on this one as the auction house had this lot going in the $100-$250 range. If only I had a spare $900 to throw around. Someone has to reprint these one day, right? Mr. Happy |
|
|
|
Post by sandyboy on Aug 11, 2020 14:00:39 GMT
Centipede Press have had a few people asking for a Creeps reissue. I think the problem is probably the rights to individual stories having to be tracked down.
I have been collecting the series for awhile but had a stroke of luck recently. I had missed out on an expensive, but not unreasonable set, and when I saw that the sale of Richard Dalby's library was always adding titles I decided to ask if they had any more than the single title they'd sold me previously.
To my delight they had a box of Philip Allan titles, and I negotiated a price of £300 for the 7 Creeps anthologies I wanted. I bought facsimile dust jackets from the USA. I recently found Tales of Dread so the only one I need is Thrills.
I love Charles Birkin's own work and recently bought his paperback collection My Name is Death, which had been bound in hardcover, t.e.g., by his friend Dennis Wheatley. Inscribed *Dennis from* with a line through the printed *Birkin*.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 11, 2020 16:51:43 GMT
Centipede Press have had a few people asking for a Creeps reissue. I think the problem is probably the rights to individual stories having to be tracked down. I have been collecting the series for awhile but had a stroke of luck recently. I had missed out on an expensive, but not unreasonable set, and when I saw that the sale of Richard Dalby's library was always adding titles I decided to ask if they had any more than the single title they'd sold me previously. To my delight they had a box of Philip Allan titles, and I negotiated a price of £300 for the 7 Creeps anthologies I wanted. I bought facsimile dust jackets from the USA. I recently found Tales of Dread so the only one I need is Thrills. I love Charles Birkin's own work and recently bought his paperback collection My Name is Death, which had been bound in hardcover, t.e.g., by his friend Dennis Wheatley. Inscribed *Dennis from* with a line through the printed *Birkin*. Thanks for joining, Sandy, and I hope you enjoy your time with us. Like many, I'd love to see the Creeps reissued - preferable as PODs - but doubt it will happen for a decade or so due to aforementioned copyright minefield. Far as I remember, several of the stories were one-off contributions from enthused fans of the series? Although Birkin denied it, with deadlines to meet, he must have at least been tempted to ghost a few? |
|
|
|
Post by sandyboy on Aug 13, 2020 9:48:33 GMT
There was usually an ad in the books urging punters to submit stories, so that and the number of volumes in quick succession no doubt accounts for the weaker tales. Birkin's stories under his Charles Lloyd moniker stand out in quality from the rest I think.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 13, 2020 19:07:50 GMT
There was usually an ad in the books urging punters to submit stories, so that and the number of volumes in quick succession no doubt accounts for the weaker tales. Birkin's stories under his Charles Lloyd moniker stand out in quality from the rest I think. Who could resist? I'd agree Birkin's contributions are the highlight, but, for me its the support cast (as it were) give the books their bizarre charm. I wonder how many first/ only time authors made it into the books? |
|
?
