Advance copies...

Today, advance copies of The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders and The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes arrived. Yippee, just in time for Sunday's Book Fair in Birmingham. And of course, more copies will be here in time for the official launch at FantasyCon later this month. Learn more on these books here and here.

Designing, designing, designing...

So just what have I been up to of late? Book designing, that's what. The Alchemy Press Book of Ancient Wonders has now been submitted to the printers. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the cover: I had to re-adjust the CMYK profile because, essentially, the black was too back! But I did all the alterations and the PDFs are now in the printer's hands...

And The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes is almost ready for the printers, too. Editor Mike Chinn is giving the PDF a final once-over, to ensure I've not mucked up anything.

In addition, I am formatting the many articles for Mike Barrett's Doors to Elsewhere -- essays on writers such as Lord Dunsany, Ernest Bramah, Greye La Spina, Fritz Leiber and many others. I'm very much enjoying reading these essays.

The Alchemy Press will be launching the first two books at FantasyCon 2012. I've just created the above ad for the programme booklet. If you're attending the convention come along and say hello.

FantasyCon 2007

I thought it was about time to mention another of my editing stints.

In 2007 I was asked by that year’s FantasyCon committee if I would like to produce (i.e., edit and design) their Souvenir Programme Book. Naturally, I said yes; I was easily persuaded (and in turn I persuaded Jan Edwards to sit in the assistant's chair). So I diligently set about acquiring material by and about the Guests of Honour (Terry Brooks, Michael Marshall Smith and Stephen Jones) and the Master of Ceremonies Peter Crowther.

The FantasyCon 2007 committee were (alphabetically) Jenny Barber, Vicki Cook, Pat Barber, Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan. The convention was held 21-23 September in the Britannia Hotel, Nottingham -- a great city-centre venue. It was interesting, visiting that city, seeing how much things had changed, how much hadn't: I worked in Nottingham from 1975 to 1980.

Front cover painting (Beowulf) by Edward Miller

Terry Brooks: The Magic Works by Mark Yon

To Know Magic by Shawn Speakman

Facing Down the Monster by Terry Brooks

You, Too, Can’t be Michael Marshall Smith by Paul McAuley

At Home With the Smiths by Paula Grainger

Last Glance Back by Michael Marshall Smith

Stephen Jones: Loving the Idiots by Neil Gaiman

The Creative Spirit by Christopher Fowler

The Karloff Quartet by Stephen Jones

Lust for Life by Paul di Fillipo

Narrow, and Other Houses by Stephen Gallagher

Dream a Little Dream for Me by Peter Crowther

The Timeless Genius of Leonardo by Mike Carey

The Horror Writers’ Association by David Riley

Marvin’s Summer Nights by Stephen Jones

Bridge of Dreams by Chaz Brenchley

The Write Fantastic by Sarah Ash

Reasons to Join In by Marie O’Regan

Wake Up in Moloch by Joel Lane

Interior artwork/photos by: Randy Broecker, Judine Brooks, Mike Chinn, Peter Coleborn, Bob Covington, Steve Double, Les Edwards, Chris Fowler, Allen Koszowski, Uli Meyer, John Picacio, Anne Sudworth, Dan Skinner and Mandy Slater.

I was pleased to use Paula Grainger’s piece on her husband, Michael Marshall Smith – her first ever publication. I was a bit concerned about using Neil Gaiman’s article on Stephen Jones, which although rather humorous, could be taken as slight criticism of the GoH. Fortunately Steve loved the piece – he even reprinted it on his own website.

I was very happy with this publication and was pleased to have been invited to produce it.

Karl Edward Wagner

Since I'm now the owner of Centipede Press' two volume The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, edited by Stephen Jones, I thought I might share this photo of the great, late, and very much missed Karl. Jones' essay is a moving account of their relationship and, although I didn't know Karl as well as Steve, it brought a tear to my eyes. This photo was taken in 1988 at FantasyCon.

I remember the years when Karl along with Charles L Grant and Dennis Etchison attended FantasyCon on a regular basis as halcyon days. Of these three fine writers only Dennis is still with us.

This photo, which was shot on b&w film (probably HP5), was directly scanned into my computer from the print. I seem to have lost the negative.

Being nominated...

Attentive visitors to this blog will know that I publish books under The Alchemy Press imprint. After a hiatus of about a decade the Press started to published books again, and last year saw the publication of Rumours of the Marvellous by Peter Atkins (co-published with Airgedlamh). This was -- still is, in fact -- a signed limited edition of 250 copies; signed by the author plus Glen Hirshberg (for the introduction) and Les Edwards (for the cover art).

My first book in ten or so years! And even better news: the book has been short-listed for the British Fantasy Awards (Best Collection). Admittedly it is up against stiff competition from Reggie Oliver, Robert Shearman and Liz Williams. Even if Rumours doesn't win, it is great to be nominated. The winners of all the various categories will be announced this September at FantasyCon 2012.

In addition, as already mentioned, Stephen Jones has selected "Dancing Like We're Dumb" from Rumours for his Mammoth Book of Best New Horror.

Both Peter Atkins and I are delighted with the double.

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 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).

Scream Quietly...

My contributor’s copy of Scream Quietly: The Best of Charles L Grant (edited by Stephen Jones and published by PS) arrived today. It’s nice to see so many of my photos included – but sad to be reminded of Charlie’s passing. Here’s a picture I took of him at FantasyCon XI. More details here.

Photo © Peter Coleborn

FantasyCon XX

FantasyCon XX was held in the International Hotel, Marsh Wall, London, over the weekend 4-6 October 1996. The Guests of Honour were Tom Holt and Christopher Fowler, with Kim Newman the Master of Ceremonies. It was an incredibly small organising committee, just the four of us: Mike Chinn, Jan Edwards, Debbie Bennett and me. And this was a rehearsal for the following year’s World Fantasy Convention, at the same venue!

The FantasyCon XX Souvenir Book was edited and produced by me – my first A4-sized publication. The cover art, depicting Chris Fowler’s fine story “The Man Who Wound a Thousand Clocks”, was by Bob Covington.

For the record: I attended my first FantasyCon (it was FantasyCon 2) in February 1976. FantasyCon 2 was held at the New Imperial Hotel, Birmingham. The Guest of Honour was Robert Aickman and Ken Bulmer was the Master of Ceremonies. The “highlight” of the film programme was, probably, George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

In October 1980 I found myself on the FantasyCon VI organising committee. I think I had also been voted in as BFS secretary / treasurer by then. And I seemed to have been involved with the BFS and/or FantasyCon in one or another role for many years thereafter…

Elsewhere in the UK in 1996, Andromeda Bookshop was celebrating its 25th anniversary – and its move to bigger, better premises in Suffolk Street, Birmingham.

Taking pictures...

Back in the late 1970s I bought a camera – a single lens reflex (SLR) model manufactured in Russia or East Germany, some country east of the Iron Curtain. Two or three years later I bought a Canon FTb QL SLR – my first “real” camera. With these instruments I taught myself how to balance f-numbers and shutter speeds and ISO values in order to obtain the right exposure. It was of course a film camera, and everything was adjusted manually.

I also bought a second-hand enlarger and all the paraphernalia necessary to develop and print B&W photos. And I created a dark room – the box room of our house was ideal, just next door to the bathroom – and learned new photographic skills.

I’m not sure when I started taking photos at conventions. Judging by the illustrated article (by Stephen Jones and others) in the FantasyCon 2011 Souvenir Book, it was around 1982. I don’t have access to my collection of magazines from that era (that’s the trouble with a broken leg and two floors to negotiate to get to my study), so I can’t confirm if my pictures saw publication in the BFS Newsletter.

Anyhow, I must have done something right because I was asked by Ian Watson, one of the SFWA’s Regional Directors, to take photos at the 1988 World Fantasy Convention, held in London. I did, and my pictures appeared on the front and back cover of the SFWA’s Bulletin (winter 1988 issue).

The Guest of Honour at the 1988 WFC (which incorporated FantasyCon XIII) was James Herbert. Other main guests were Michael Foreman, Diana Wynne Jones and Clive Barker. I was one of the "Assistants".

The FTb served me well, until I upgraded to a T90 then an EOS1n. I also bought a digital camera that cost over £200, a lot of money in the late 1990s. It was a pathetic affair – less than one megapixel, if I recall, with only a small built-in memory. It had novelty value and was soon discarded, unloved, and I continued using my film SLRs. But inevitably, as decent DSLRs appeared, with the technology to match the quality of film cameras, I too “went digital”. And I took many more photos at fantasy conventions.


Photo of James Herbert (c) Peter Coleborn

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.

Chills: the end of an era

The penultimate issue of Chills (number 9) was published by the BFS in 1996, edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch. Cover price was £3.00 / $6.00. By this time I had invested in a better inkjet printer; at least the text (single column again) is much cleaner and clearer. Poetry was once again featured. The contents were:

“Better Late” (verse) by Chris Morgan
“The Terrible Lizards” by Rick Kleffel
“Noh Mask” by Anke Kriske
“The Bottom Line” by Ben Leech
“Plague Etiquette” (verse) by Brian Maycock
“Things in Boxes” by “M B”
“The Dark Hem” by D F Lewis
“The Sixth Magician” by Allen Ashley
“One Footfall” (verse) by Andrew Pye

The front cover was by Jim Pitts. Additional artwork came from Alan Casey, Frank Forte, Tony Hough and Martin McKenna, but for the first time we were unable to include artwork illustrating specific stories.

The final Chills, issue 10, once more edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch, was published by the BFS in 1996 (£3.00 / $6.00). The cover illustration by Russell Morgan depicted a bearded gent reading a tome of some dubious ancient lore. Some people assumed it was a picture of your equally bearded editor; I assure you it’s not – besides, gent’s nose is too large.

Again, sadly, we had no artwork illustrating specific stories. In fact, artwork is only represented by the fabulous cover and one spot piece by Martin McKenna. The contents were:

“How the Buckie Was Saved” by David Sutton
“A Musical Calling” by Raymond Nickford
“Beal’s Scrapyard” by Peter Bayliss
“A Cry For Help” by Martin Plumbridge
“Carousel” by Debbie Bennett
“Someone Else’s Problem” by Michael Marshall Smith
“The Lady With Little Friends in Her Hair” (verse) by Mark McLaughlin

So why did Chills end with its tenth issue? Ten issues covered a decade, more-or-less, and I felt that it was time to give the magazine a rest, and pursue some other activities. In the end I joined the editorial team on the BFS’s elder journal Dark Horizons. More on this in a later post.

Very quickly BFS and other UK small presses were upping the ante as far as production values were concerned – all down to access to home computers and DTP programs. In comparison, Chills looked a little quaint. But the magazine, along with others of that era, was part of the evolutionary process. I look back on it with fond memories.

At this time BFS membership was still a mere £15.00 a year. FantasyCon XX was scheduled for 4-6 October 1996, at the International Hotel in London. The Guests of Honour were Christopher Fowler and Tom Holt, with Kim Newman acting as the Master of Ceremonies. The convention’s organisers included yours truly. FCXX was the trial run for the following year’s World Fantasy Convention. The 1997 WFC took place in the same Dockland’s hotel, over the weekend 30 October-2 November. This was the second time this event was held in London.

Originally published on the Alchemy Press blog -- revised for this post.