Arrow / Arrow-Legend in the 'Eighties Dennis Wheatley's death on November 10th 1977 had a disastrous effect on his career. Four decades on from his breakthrough
The Devil Rides Out, fifty-nine of his titles were still in print and Wheatley could guarantee his publishers an annual million sales
in the UK alone, but, even before his body was cold in the grave, his literary star seemingly plummeted overnight. It's an astonishing fall from public favour - image if Ian Fleming's
James Bond novels went post-audience overnight? - and the late Bob Rothwell offers perhaps the fullest explanation for this extraordinary fall from public favour in this refreshingly honest appraisal of his hero's life and works,
Dennis Wheatley – an Introduction (see the section entitled 'Out Of Print'). Although Arrow continued to reissue his big hitters up to the mid-eighties, you could see their heart wasn't really in it, as they were always straight reprints of the most recent (1979, 1980) editions. The groovy flirtation with Black Magic titles was likewise a thing of the past: I've managed to dig out a mid-eighties edition of Kramer & Sprenger's notorious Inquisition handbook,
Malleus Maleficarum), but that looks about it.
I've not read anywhere near enough of these to comment upon them, but i can't help miss the old reactionary. Without Wheatley, these 'eighties Arrow paperbacks ... they seem to ..... lose something. This is not the same as saying there's nothing to get excited about on this list - far from it! Snapping up the most bankable Hamlyn 'nasties boys is obviously good business sense and any company who can boast Ramsey Campbell
and Guy N. Smith on their roster would struggle not to be at least a bit interesting.
Roofworld first alerted many of us to the major talent that is Christopher Fowler, Chris Morgan's
Dark Fantasy - featuring
that incendiary introduction - is an excellent anthology and some of those I'd not heard of until ten minutes ago sound choice, notably Richard Setlowe's
The Experiment ("A human Neptune returns to the aquatic womb… a terminally ill man whose chance of survival is to live underwater as an aquatic creature.") and Andrew Neiderman's
Imp ("Beneath the floorboards under Mary's feet, Imp stalks and slithers through the ooze, through the festering stench of ancient decay. His playmates are the creatures of the night - his toys their twisted, broken bodies. As only Mary knows. Because Imp is her child, her creation, her demented, hellish vision....the evil she imprisons in the darkness below. But Imp is getting restless. There is so much out there to smell, to lick, to claw....to kill.")
As ever, this is very much a work in progress so any additions, amendments, etc. ...
Robert C. Wilson - Crooked Tree (1981)
William Katz - Visions Of Terror (1981)
Frank De Felitta - Sea Trial (1981)
Richard Setlowe - The Experiment (1982)
Robert Faulcon (Robert Holdstock) - Night Hunter 1: The Stalking (1983)
Robert Faulcon - Night Hunter 2: The Talisman (1983)
Robert Faulcon - Night Hunter 3: The Ghost Dance (1983)
Robert Faulcon - Night Hunter 4: The Shrine (1984)
Robert Faulcon - Night Hunter 5: The Hexing (1984)
Andrew Neiderman - Someone's Watching (1984)
Guy N. Smith - Manitou Doll (1985)
John Russo - Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Gary Brandner- The Brain Eaters (1985)
Gary Brandner- The Howling (1985)
Andrew Neiderman - Tender Loving Care (1985)
Guy N. Smith - Cannibals (1986)
Guy N. Smith - Abomination (1986)
Guy N Smith - The Neophyte (1986)
Guy N. Smith - Satan's Snowdrop (1986)
Guy N. Smith - Doomflight (1986)
Heinrich Kramer & James Sprenger - Malleus Maleficarum [Translated by Montague Summers] (1986)
Andrew Neiderman - Imp (1986)
Gary Brandner - Carrion (1987)
Guy N. Smith - Alligators (1987)
Guy N. Smith - Locusts (1987)
Guy N. Smith - Bloodshow (1987)
Guy N. Smith - Demons (1987)
Guy N. Smith - Deathbell (1987)
George R. R. Martin (ed.) - Night Visions (Legend-Arrow 1987)
Ramsey Campbell - The Hungry Moon (1987)
Gary Brandner - Hellborn (1987)
Robert Faulcon - Night Hunter 6: The Labyrinth (1987)
Andrew Neiderman - Night Howl (1987)
Guy N. Smith - Accursed (1988)
Guy N. Smith - Entombed (1988)
Guy N. Smith - The Island (1988)
Guy N. Smith - Throwback (1988, 1990)
Guy N. Smith - The Master (1988)
Andrew Neiderman - Playmates (1988)
Guy N. Smith - The Festering (1989)
Ramsey Campbell - The Doll Who Ate His Mother (1988, 1990)
Christopher Fowler - Roofworld (1989)
Ramsey Campbell - The Influence (1989)
Joe Donnelly - Bane (1989)
Chriis Morgan (ed.) - Dark Fantasies (1989, 1990)
Ramsey Campbell - Ancient Images (1990)
Guy N. Smith - Carnivore (1990)
Gordon Honeycombe - The Murders of the Black Museum 1870-1970 (1990)
Herbert Lieberman - Shadow Dancers (1990)
Not been able to find dates for:
Gary Brandner- Howling II: The Return
Gary Brandner- Howling III: Echoes
Wheatley reprints in the 'eighties: source:
www.denniswheatley.info/denniswheatley.htmThe Devil Rides Out (1982, 1986)
Gateway To Hell (1981, 1983)
The Haunting Of Toby Jugg (1982)
The Irish Witch (1981 [twice], 1982, 1985)
The Ka Of Gifford Hillary (1983)
The Satanists - (1981, 1982)
They Used Dark Forces (1982)
To The Devil - A Daughter (1981, 1982, 1983, 1985)