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Post by valancourt on Nov 17, 2012 0:24:32 GMT
Valancourt Books, previously dedicated to new editions of forgotten 18th and 19th century works, is moving into 20th century stuff and looking for suggestions of books that need to be rediscovered. We focus primarily on British, but do some American as well. We've recently taken on Hilda Lewis's The Witch and the Priest (1956), Oliver Onions's The Hand of Kornelius Voyt (1939), and several of John Blackburn's macabre thrillers of the 1950s-1970s, and are looking for more great overlooked works in this vein. Any suggestions/ideas are welcome! Thanks! James D. Jenkins www.valancourtbooks.com |
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Post by dem bones on Nov 17, 2012 6:33:15 GMT
Hello James
Just been giving your site a browse and the catalogue to date is extraordinary!
Will give this some serious thought over the weekend and get back to you. There is certainly an increasing demand for the novels of R. R. Ryan! I note you also reprint collections of short fiction, in which case we are often asked about the horror & supernatural fiction of A. M. Burrage/ 'Ex-Private X', H. Russell Wakefield, L. P. Hartley and Sir Charles Birkin.
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Post by jamesdoig on Nov 17, 2012 9:41:43 GMT
Just been giving your site a browse and the catalogue to date is extraordinary! Yes, Valancourt is certainly a friend of people who love books! |
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Post by valancourt on Nov 17, 2012 12:31:24 GMT
Thanks! Yes, we wrote to the copyright holder for Charles Birkin a couple weeks ago but have not yet heard back. Some of the others we tried for included Simon Raven's Doctors Wear Scarlet and the works of Dennis Wheatley, but those were already spoken for.
At the moment, we're considering a volume of Gerald Kersh's stuff, and we've written to Frank Baker's estate about The Birds (1936) and Stephen Gilbert's estate about Ratman's Notebooks (1968). We're trying to trace the copyright holders for Peter van Greenaway, L. P. Davies, and Russell Thorndike.
So we would certainly appreciate any recommendations along similar lines. Thanks!
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Post by noose on Nov 17, 2012 14:53:17 GMT
Just to let you know I'm in touch with the Birkin Estate in regards to bringing out his complete works. So if you don't hear back, that may be why.
Cheers,
Johnny
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 17, 2012 15:43:32 GMT
Ok, now there is competitive bidding for Birkin! I never thought I would live to see the day.
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Post by noose on Nov 17, 2012 16:22:31 GMT
 I've been in touch with the estate for a year now. Things were put on hold due to wife giving birth earlier on this year and stuff that the Birkin's had going on, but now back on track. Good to see that I'm not the only one wanting to keep his works in print.  |
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Post by valancourt on Nov 17, 2012 17:00:00 GMT
Thanks for letting me know about Birkin; I had wondered. Hopefully my letter was even directed to the correct person; I got a woman's name from Otto Penzler, who had included one of Birkin's stories in a recent zombie anthology.
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Post by noose on Nov 17, 2012 17:25:13 GMT
VAMPIRES OVERHEAD by Alan Hyder would be a cool book to try and track down to reprint, though I think Ash Tree may have done it already?
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Nov 17, 2012 19:50:06 GMT
There is certainly an increasing demand for the novels of R. R. Ryan!. I second that suggestion! Two other horror novels I'd love to see back in print at an affordable price: Dorothy Macardle's Uneasy Freehold (a.k.a. The Uninvited) E. H. Visiak's MedusaI'd also jump at the chance to purchase a well produced collection of the Flaxman Low stories by E. Heron and H. Heron (a.k.a. Kate and Hesketh Prichard). |
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Post by jamesdoig on Nov 17, 2012 21:06:59 GMT
I'd like to see the whole of the Creeps series reprinted with colour reproductions of the covers. Also related Philip Allan books like all of the Vivian Meik, Barrington Beverley & Gordon Casserly books, and the one-offs like Vampires Overhead, The Death Mask, Tales of the Grotesque, The Undying Monster etc etc. It would make a great series!
Novels I'd particularly like to see:
Frank Walford, Twisted Clay (1933, psychopathic lesbian Jill-the-Ripper novel)
Dulcie Deamer, The Devil's Saint (1924, saucy witchcraft novel set in the Middle Ages)
Werewolf novels are always good - I don't think Layland-Barratt, Lycanthia (1935) and Harper Williams, The Thing in the Woods (1924) have been reprinted.
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Post by doomovertheworld on Nov 18, 2012 13:39:09 GMT
There is certainly an increasing demand for the novels of R. R. Ryan!. I second that suggestion! Two other horror novels I'd love to see back in print at an affordable price: Dorothy Macardle's Uneasy Freehold (a.k.a. The Uninvited) E. H. Visiak's MedusaI'd also jump at the chance to purchase a well produced collection of the Flaxman Low stories by E. Heron and H. Heron (a.k.a. Kate and Hesketh Prichard). good call on The Uninvited I was also pleased to see that John Blackburn is one of the list of forthcoming titles. Definite thumbs up here for what Valancourt books are doing here. just out of interest do you have any idea when the John Blackburn books might be released? |
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Post by valancourt on Nov 18, 2012 15:39:12 GMT
The Blackburn books should be out in 2013, although no precise dates yet. We're still looking for suitable people to write forewords to some of them. He is a lot of fun, isn't he?
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Post by ramseycampbell on Nov 18, 2012 16:43:20 GMT
Very impressive list! Might R. R. Ryan be a possibility?
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Post by valancourt on Nov 18, 2012 17:03:49 GMT
Thanks, that's several votes for R.R. Ryan now. I'm trying to figure out who controls his literary estate and have emailed the organizer of the RR Ryan website to find out if he or she knows anything. I have not read his stuff, but the summaries sound too good to be true. Are there one or two you'd recommend newcomers to his fiction to begin with?
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I've been in touch with the estate for a year now. Things were put on hold due to wife giving birth earlier on this year and stuff that the Birkin's had going on, but now back on track. Good to see that I'm not the only one wanting to keep his works in print. 
