Dark Horizons 52

In spring 2008 the 52nd issue of Dark Horizons appeared, again edited by Jan Edwards and me. We began the issue with a reprint of the traditional poem, “Twa Corbies”. Here’s the first stanza:

As I was walking all alane,

I heard twa corbies makin a mane;

The tane unto t’other say,

‘Whar sall we gang and dine the-day?’

The magazine’s front cover was specially commissioned to illustrate this poem, of war and death throughout the ages. Dan Skinner (aka Cerberus), the artist, did a fine job representing this theme.

Besides the “Twa Corbies”, Dark Horizons contained:

The Gentleman Assassin – Richard Hudson +

A Dinner Party – Marion Pitman (v)

Star-Changer – Rebecca Lusher

Roots of the Writer: Charles de Lint – Jan Edwards *

Road to my Soul – Laura Willis (v)

Behind the Curtain – Joel Lane

Withered – Meaghan Hope

Flies – Jim Steel

Pain in Every Measure – Jo Fletcher (v)

The Bequest – David Riley

Walt Whitman did it for Me, and Continues to do It – Robert Holdstock (v)

Keep Off the Grass – Sally Quilford

(v) = verse, * = non-fiction, and + was subtitled “Being a Gothick Phantasy”.

Internal artwork and photos came from Chris Bell (“More Tea?”), MaryAnn Harris and Peter Coleborn.

DH52 was to be our last issue as editors, despite our original intention to be in post for a long run. This is because I found myself chairing the 2009 FantasyCon, and I decided that I couldn’t both edit DH and run a convention without adversely affecting either activity. Nevertheless, I popped back into the DH seat after it, New Horizons and Prism had been merged into the BFS Journal. More on this in a later post.

I mustn't forget to thank Joel Lane for selecting and editing the poems for my three issues of DH.

Meanwhile, the 2008 FantasyCon was held on 19-21 September, once again in the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham. The Guests of Honour were James Barclay, Christopher Golden and Dave McKean, with Christopher Fowler in the role of Master of Ceremonies.

Dark Horizons 51

Issue 51 of Dark Horizons (again co-edited with Jan Edwards) appeared towards the end of 2007. The cover was a photograph taken and altered by a member of a local photographic society. Don Barker had created several fabulous Photoshopped images that were – it seemed to me – not fully embraced by many of the typically more conservative society members. Pity.

Anyway, contents wise, DH51 included a brief piece by H P Lovecraft! This was the vignette’s first UK publication.

And between DH’s covers:

What the Moon Brings - H P Lovecraft (introduced by Stephen Jones)

By Right of the Stars - Anne Gay

Roots of the Editor: Ellen Datlow - Jan Edwards *

In His Charge - Nicki Robson

Decayed Gentility - Marion Pitman (v)

The Invisible Prince - David Sutton*

The Perils of Pentavir - Allen Ashley

The Dullitch Assassins - David Lee Stone

Father’s Day - David Turnball

That was My Veil - Ian Hunter (v)

The Children of Monte Rosa - Reggie Oliver

(v) = verse,  * = non-fiction

David Sutton’s article was on the Irish fantasist J Sheridan Le Fanu. In the notes, Sutton said he began writing the piece in the 1970s for a book project that didn’t see completion.

Additional artwork and photos were by Bob Covington, Reggie Oliver, Glenn James, Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards.

Dark Horizons 50

After being away from BFS activities for some years, I was asked to once again edit Dark Horizon. So in spring 2007 issue 50 appeared, edited by Jan Edwards and yours truly. Of course, this being issue 50 we had to celebrate and so asked three past editors to help mark the moment: David Sutton, Debbie Bennett and Mike Chinn.

I note from the editorial that DH50 was a few months late, and this was blamed on my daughter’s broken ankle – she snapped the bones on the first day of a short “break” in Amsterdam. Jan and I had to drive up to Liverpool to collect her from the airport. It was a night of bad – seriously bad – storms. It took us three or four hours to drive 50 miles up the M6!

And to complete the circle: as I type this blog post I am recovering from a broken ankle. Like my daughter, I have a plate holding bones together. But I broke my bones in the less romantic city of Stoke-on-Trent.

Dark Horizons 50 included:

The Bookshop – Murray Ewing

The Roots of the Artist: Anne Sudworth – Jan Edwards *

Death’s Angel’s Shadow – Karl Edward Wagner (v)

In Lonely Places: The Essential Horror Fiction of Karl Edward Wagner – John Howard *

Midnight Sun – Kark Edward Wagner (v)

All Beauty Must Die – Mike Chinn

My Heart Laid Bare: The Work and Art of Joyce Carol Oates – Robert Parkinson *

Apoca ca lypse – Joy ce Car ol O a te s

Fantasycon GoH Speech – Juliet McKenna *

The Ice Game – Sue Anderson

Where the Dead Go – Ian Hunter (v)

Black Angel: John Connolly Interview – Marie O’Regan *

The Woman with the Hair – Ian Hunter

The Phoenix of Fantasy – David Lee Stone *

Murdoch Celeste – Allen Ashley

(v) = verse, * = non-fiction

The colour cover painting was by Anne Sudworth. Internal artwork was by Bob Covington, Stephen Jones and Peter Coleborn.

That year’s FantasyCon was held in Nottingham, over the weekend 21-23 September. The Guests of Honour were Terry Brooks, Michael Marshall Smith and Stephen Jones. Peter Crowther was the Master of Ceremonies. The FantasyCon 2007 Programme Book was edited by … Peter Coleborn (I’ll post details later).

Dark Horizons 38

Dark Horizons 38 was edited by me (Peter Coleborn) and Mike Chinn – Phil Williams stood down after the previous issue. Joel Lane remained the poetry editor. It was published by the BFS in 1999. I think this may have been the first perfect-bound issue of DH, a change that’s been with us since. This binding certainly made the magazine look and feel more substantial. It also boasted over a hundred pages – a step up from past issues. And at last, DH used a decent-sized font that made this issue easy to read; it still is, even with today’s aged eyes. Contents:

“Invasion” by Rudy Kremberg
“The Suburban Vampire” (verse) by Norman J Olson
“The Ichor of Ilyus Benz” by Linda Talbot
“Clockwise Cryptonia” (verse) by echo syzygy
“Roots of a Writer” by Anne Gay (NF)
“Draining Away” (verse) by Brian Maycock
“Noodles” by James Mac
“The Testament of Empedocles” by P G McCormack
“Monopoly” (verse) by John M Edwards
“Lavender and Lilac: Ghosts, Visits and Old Ladies” by John Howard (NF)
“Queen of Clubs” by Allen Ashley
“A Soldier in Rohgate” by D Harrigon
“The Bezaloo” by Bill Wilensky

The front cover artwork (illustrating “Queen of Clubs”) was by Bob Hobbs. Alas, there no interior artwork in this issue, barring a photograph of Anne Gay (by Jerry Bauer) and cover reproductions accompanying John Howard’s article. This piece carried a second sub-title: “A Look at Some Old-time American Domestic Horror”. Note: NF denotes non-fiction.

This was my final issue as DH editor -- at least for a long, long time.

Originally published on the Alchemy Press website.

Dark Horizons 37

After Chills, I teamed up with Mike Chinn and Phil Williams to edit and produce the British Fantasy Society’s main publication, Dark Horizons. Unfortunately, our first issue of DH took far too long to appear. The editorial note offers apologies but no excuses – and it’s too far in the past to remember all the details. I think that organising a FantasyCon or two, along with launching the Alchemy Press, were involved in some part. Anyway, Dark Horizons 37, edited by the aforementioned team, along with Joel Lane, poetry editor, appeared in 1998 with a cover price of £3.00.

DH37, although neatly produced, used a too-small font, which must have made it hard on the eyes. Dark Horizons included both fiction and non-fiction:

“The Lake” by Linda D Acaster
“Para Dice by the Landing Light” by G W Greenwood. Illustrated by Dallas Goffin
“Worms Feed on Hector: the Gothic Novels of Simon Raven” by Howard Watson (NF)
“A Fence in Rohgate” by D Harrigon
“Terminal” by Simon MacCulloch. Illustrated by Janet Morris
“Heart of the Machine” by Rick Cadger
“Scapegoat” by Alan Casey
“Queue” (verse) by Brian Maycock (R)
“Scraps” by Paul Finch. Illustrated by Alan Hunter
“Roots of a Writer” by Storm Constantine. Illustrated by Bob Covington (NF)
“Jenna’s Home” by Rick Kleffel
“Looking Through the Glass” (verse) by Steve Sneyd
“Horrorscopes: a Lover’s Guide” by Peter Tennant
“Kwaidan Revisited” by John Paul Catton (NF)
“A Rather Improbable God” by David Andreas
“Bio” (verse) by Mark McLaughlin
“The Last Story in the Book” by D F Lewis

Cover art was by Bob Covington with additional artwork by Alan Casey. Only three items were specifically illustrated. Note: R denotes a reprint and NF is non-fiction.

Glancing through DH37’s pages, I note that the first Alchemy Press title, The Paladin Mandates, had just appeared. That year’s Fantasycon, FCXXII, was held at the Albany Posthouse Hotel in Birmingham over the weekend 11-13 September. The Guests of Honour were Freda Warrington and Jane Yolen. Ramsey Campbell was the Master of Ceremonies. And I was one of the organisers – again. Finally, about this time websites were becoming more popular, with the BFS’ first site appearing on the Geocities server.


Originally published on the Alchemy Press website.

End of year round up

Just recently I ended a stint as BFS Journal editor (incorporating Dark Horizons). My final issue was published just before Christmas 2011 (as previously blogged). I edited four issues of DH during the year. It was mostly a rewarding experience – sadly tainted by the struggle for control of the BFS. I have no intention of raking over this sorry episode here. Suffice it to say, the Society has experienced similar events in the past and rose above the squabbles; in fact it is doing so as I type these words.

In 2011 I revived the Alchemy Press. In conjunction with Airgedlámh Productions, the press published a signed, limited edition of tales by the inimitable Peter Atkins: Rumours of the Marvellous. I was thrilled to publish this book. Not only is Pete Atkins an affable, charming chap (with a lovely wife), these are some of the best short stories I’ve read in many a long year. The publishing “job” included several long, long-distance, trans-Atlantic phone calls (Pete lives in Los Angeles, I in the West Midlands, UK) – a major plus in my opinion. Pete was a GoH at FantasyCon 2011, at which the book was launched. Also on hand at the convention to personally dedicate the book was the cover artist, the wonderful Les Edwards. For more details on this collection, pop over to the Alchemy Press blog.

I also helped Pete to set up his own website / blog. It's basic -- no flashing images -- but it does its job. Read it here.

I write very few stories – I seem to spend so much of my time editing other people’s. So I was delighted to see my horror tale “Who Wanders in the Mire” appear in the Christmas 2011 edition of Estronomicon, edited and published by Steve Upham’s Screaming Dreams Press. I acquired the title from the “Wassail Song”: “Pray think of us poor children / Who wander in the mire.”

Perhaps the lowest point of the year came about seven weeks ago. I slipped on some wet grass and snapped the tibia and fibula just above the ankle in my right leg -- I also managed to tear the tendons that hold the joints together. I had to wear a non-weight-bearing cast for six weeks, and only this week have I managed to use that leg for support when hobbling around. I was more-or-less restricted to one room for over a month -- it felt as if I was "doing porridge". There is a metal plate in my leg, and a dozen screws, securing the bones as they heal. Not fun.

That’s it for now. I’ll go into more details about the BFS Journal and DH in a later post. In the meantime, I’ll start posting items about my previous exploits as a BFS editor, starting with Masters of Fantasy 2. 

The BFS Journal

My latest editorial extravaganza is coming to an end. As I type these words, Cavan Scott is creating the PDF files of the winter 2011/12 issue of the BFS Journal. Very soon it will be ready for the printers -- in time (I hope) for mailing out before Christmas.

The BFS Journal combines the society's individual magazines Dark Horizons (mainly fiction, edited by me [with poetry edited by Ian Hunter]) and Prism (non-fiction, edited by Lou Morgan). In fact, when the Journal was first introduced in December 2010 it also included New Horizons, edited by Andrew Hook. Andrew stepped down as editor of NH in the summer and it was decided to discontinue that title.

For this issue we abandoned the previous DH and Prism sections, combining the fiction and non-fiction to produce a better balanced publication. The cover artwork is by this year's British Fantasy Award-winning artist Vincent Chong. A list of the Journal's contents can be found on the BFS website.

With this issue I am following in Andrew's footsteps and leaving the editorial chair. The new editor is renowned author Guy Adams.

Keeping busy

I seem to be rather busy just lately, tapping away on the PC's keyboard and clicking mouse buttons left, right and centre. Mostly, it seems, I've been editing Dark Horizons or posting news items for the BFS's website. Now I've added a further activity: bringing back to life The Alchemy Press. A new title is due this year.