Brian Lumley - Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi

[andydecker]

Brian Lumely – Fruiting Bodies and other Fungi (Tor Books, hc, 1993, 287 pages; paperback at Roc UK and Tor, this edition Macabre Ink – Crossroad Press, digital edition)

Cover: Bob Eggleton

Contents:
Introduction by Brian Lumley
Fruiting Bodies (1988)
The Man Who Photographed Beardsley (1976)
The Man Who Felt Pain (1989)
The Viaduct (1976)
Recognition (1981)
No Way Home (1975)
The Pit-Yakker (1989)
The Mirror of Nitocris (1971)
Necros (1986)
The Thin People (1987)
The Cyprus Shell (1968)
The Deep-Sea Conch (1971)
Born of the Winds (1975)

First of Brian Lumley's story collections by major publishers, followed by Dagon's Bell and The Second Wish, both by NEL.

While the other two collections have artwork by Les Edwards, the American version is by Bob Eggleton, done in the Necroscope style. The first edition by Roc had a different cover by an unknown (or nowhere listed) artist, which I include just for fun.

(Cover found on the net. Thanks to the original scanner.)

While the Eggleton work doubtless done a lot for the success of the series in terms of visibility, I like the British cover. Some thought were put into it, which makes it pretty original with its union of horror, Mythos and morbid sexuality. (Which is rather unlike the stories, come to think of it.)

Mythos stories are here in the minority, and the title story won the British Fantasy Award.

[dem bones]

This looks real good. Never seen a copy but I recognise several of the stories from their anthology or, in the case of the title story, magazine appearances. Throw in The Whisperer and that would be maybe all my favourite Lumley's in one volume.

Hardly ever read novels these days - don't seem to have the stamina to finish them - but that wasn't always the case, and am a bit mystified how come I never tried at least one of the Necroscope novels during vampire zine years. Did Lumley make it clear from the first book that this would be an ongoing series?

[andydecker]

Feb 7, 2024 11:47:01 GMT dem bones said:

Hardly ever read novels these days - don't seem to have the stamina to finish them - but that wasn't always the case, and am a bit mystified how come I never tried at least one of the Necroscope novels during vampire zine years. Did Lumley make it clear from the first book that this would be an ongoing series?

I only have the 1st Tor edition, there it is tagged as first in a trilogy. But according to The Brian Lumley Companion, the first Necroscope was published in 1986 by Grafton, after the Psychomech trilogy.  The story in Vol.I is kind of open-ended, but has not a typical cliffhanger. The concept was rich enough to sustain a series, but at the time it was touch and go with Lumley's career - according to himself in the Companion -, so he sold Demogorgon in 1987. Necroscope II came out in 1989.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Feb 7, 2024 20:05:22 GMT andydecker said:

The Brian Lumley Companion

There is an interview in that one where he makes the remarkable statement that he had to shut the NECROSCOPE series down early because it was just the same thing over and over.