Virgin’s New Horror Imprint
Jeff VanderMeer • April 14th, 2008 @ 10:53 pm • Uncategorized
For anyone who recognizes that there’s a wealth of really great horror being written, despite the naysayers (who tend to mistake a narrowness in their taste for a fault in a genre), this news of Virgin’s new line of horror books is very welcome. (Thanks to Kelly Shaw for the news.)
The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell (May 08)
The Unblemished by Conrad Williams (June08)
Banquet for the Damned by Adam Nevill (Aug 08)
Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti (Sep 08)
The Perils and Dangers of This Night by Stephen Gregory (Oct08)
April 15, 2008 at 5:23 am
I think this is very welcome news indeed. The Campbell, Williams, Nevill and Ligotti are all reprints of titles from various small press publishers, so that’s one good thing; limited editions like The Unblemished and Teatro Grottesco especially can be expensive and hard to find if you don’t snap them up right away, so I think it’s a positive step to make them more widely available. I’m assuming the Gregory (same guy who wrote The Woodwitch and The Cormorant?) is an original, so that’s good too – especially because I’ve got the other four…
I will add that this announcement puts me in mind of the Dell Abyss line. It started so well (great original novels from Kathe Koja, Melanie Tem, Poppy Z Brite, Brian Hodge, welcome reprints by Michael McDowell and Michael Blumlein, anthologies like Metahorror) and then turned into just another line of same-old-same-old titles with very little to recommend them. I do hope this new line from Virgin can maintain the quality of these five initial titles…
April 15, 2008 at 7:10 am
Yes–I agree. Reminds me very much of Dell Abyss, too, about which I have the same feelings as you.
April 15, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Jeff,
The publication dates as you listed them here are correct for the US, but in the UK Conrad Williams’ The Unblemished & Ramsey Campbell’s The Grin of the Dark have already been published. At least, amazon.co.uk and bookdepository.co.uk are shipping both. Americans not willing to wait for the books, might want to consider using The Book Depository. They handle the packing & shipping quite well and free delivery world wide is a major bonus.
Does this edition of The Unblemished feature the introduction by your hand, by chance?
April 25, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Alan said:
“I’m assuming the Gregory (same guy who wrote The Woodwitch and The Cormorant?) is an original, so that’s good too – especially because I’ve got the other four…”
Please, God, tell me this is so. Although a slight detail, Alan. Gregory has only written three other novels, not four. The Cormorant, The Woodwitch and The Blood of Angels. If this is him, this will be his forth and is due for release in August of this year.
Gregory is an absolute phenomenam. His prose is to die for and I desperatley need to find out if this is the same man. I emailed him some years ago and he told me then that he’d given up writing, which is why I’m so surprised and excited about this.
April 26, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Re. The above.
I can now confirm that the forthcoming novel, The Perils and Dangers of this Night, is written by the same Stephen Gregory, responcible for The Cormorant, The Woodwitch, and The Blood of Angels.
Details of my findings can be found on my blog: http://1blog2another.blogspot.com
April 27, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Sorry, the above blog has had a url change, and can now be found at: http://ukmole.blogspot.com
The blog will soon have a comprehensive bibliography for Stephen Gregory, including a brief biography.
Thanks.