Cecil & Bubba Meet the Thang was a humorous Southern horror story by Terry M. West, published in PoD format by Pleasant Storm Entertainment, Inc. with an Introduction by Rena Mason.
David Botham discovered his past catching up with him as he became involved in a series of brutal murders in Liverpool in Ramsey Campbell’s latest novel from PS Publishing, Think Yourself Lucky, which was also available in a signed edition of 100 copies.
Mark Morris’ seaside serial killer novel The Black was also available in an edition of 100 signed copies, as was Richard Parks’ Japanese fantasy To Break the Demon Gate and Nick Mamatas’ gonzo zombie apocalypse The Last Weekend.
Kate Farrell’s My Name is Mary Sutherland from PS was a grim psychological novel, while an American travel writer found himself trapped in an obscure Eastern European country in Gene Wolfe’s The Land Across.
Alison Littlewood’s second novel, Path of Needles, combined fairy tales with a serial killer, while her third, The Unquiet House, was a classical haunted house story. Originally published in trade paperback by Jo Fletcher Books, both were issued by PS in special signed hardcover editions of 200 copies apiece.
A handsome Deluxe 40th Anniversary Edition of Carrie, illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne and with a Foreword by James Lovegrove and an Afterword by Kim Newman kicked off PS Publishing’s series of classic Stephen King reprints. It was followed by the Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition of Thinner by King writing as Richard Bachman, illustrated by Les Edwards/ Edward Miller and with an Introduction by Johnny Mains. Both books were limited to 974 slipcased copies signed by all the contributors (except King, alas).
Taking its title from a C.L. Moore story, Lavie Tidhar’s Black Gods Kiss contained five stories (including an original novella) featuring gunslinger and addict Gorel of Goliris and his battles against ghosts, necromancers and ancient deities.
Also “borrowing” its title—this time from a classic Arkham House volume—Strange Gateways was a welcome new collection of eleven stories (four original) by Simon Kurt Unsworth, which also included an Afterword and story notes by the author.
25 Years in the Word Mines: The Best Short Fiction of Graham Joyce was an impressive retrospective collection of twenty-three stories by the late British author. It came with a Foreword by Owen King, an Afterword by Kelly Braffet, and entertaining Story Notes by Joyce himself. Unfortunately, as with the Unsworth collection from PS, this volume also lacked details about the original publication appearances of the stories.
Fans of Ian Watson’s writing could get The Uncollected Ian Watson, containing stories and essays, in a special slipcase together with the author’s memoir Doing the Stanley: Encounters with Kubrick, plus the short story collection The Best of Ian Watson slipcased with Squirrel, Reich, & Lavender: Bonus Stories, containing three original tales. All four volumes were edited by Nick Gevers.
Robert Guffey’s Spies and Saucers contained three sui generis novellas exploring the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s, while The Metanatural Adventures of Dr. Black collected thirteen tales and fragments based around Brendan Connell’s unusual investigator with an Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer.
Shifting of Veils was the third in Tim Lebbon’s “Apocalypse Trilogy” of zombie novellas, following on from Naming of Parts and Changing of Faces, while James Cooper’s coming-of-age novella Strange Fruit was about the awakening of a young girl. Both were available from PS in special signed hardcover printings of 100 copies, along with unsigned editions.
Edited by Nate Pedersen, The Starry Wisdom Library was a fun Lovecraftian-inspired tome purporting to be a “Catalogue of the Greatest Occult Book Auction of All Time”. Amongst those contributing bibliographic descriptions were Edmund Bergland, Ramsey Campbell, Gemma Files, Robert M. Price, W.H. Pugmire, Darrell Schweitzer, Simon Strantzas, Don Webb and F. Paul Wilson, while S.T. Joshi supplied the Introduction.
Joshi also edited and introduced Black Wings III: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, which contained seventeen stories by Donald R. Burleson, Richard Gavin, Darrell Schweitzer, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Jason V. Brock, Don Webb, Peter Cannon, Lois Gresh, Simon Strantzas, Brian Stableford and others.
Far Voyager: Postscripts 32/33 was edited by Nick Gevers, after Peter Crowther stepped down as co-editor after eleven years. It featured an impressive thirty-two stories by Michael Swanwick, Darrell Schweitzer, Rio Youers, Angela Slatter, Paul Park, Quentin S. Crisp, Richard Calder, Thana Niveau, Gary A. Braunbeck, Robert Reed, Gary Fry, Ian Watson, Alison Littlewood and John Langan, amongst others, including three by Mel Waldman.
PS Publishing’s paperback imprint Drugstore Indian Press (DIP) put out attractive trade paperback editions with flaps of Brian W. Aldiss’ 1976 novel The Malacia Tapestry, Peter Crowther’s 2004 collection Songs of Leaving with an Introduction by Adam Roberts, and revised and updated editions of Best New Horror #1 and #2 edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell.
From PS’ Stanza Press imprint, Tell Them What I Saw was a hardcover collection of poetry by Matt Bialer with an Introduction by Sébastien Doubinsky.
A new imprint from PS Publishing was The Pulps Library, which began reprinting classic stories by H.P. Lovecraft illustrated in psychedelic colours by Pete Von Sholly with Introductions by S.T. Joshi. The first three titles in the “Lovecraft Illustrated” series were The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Dreams in the Witch House and The Dunwich Horror.
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Cemetery Dance magazine, editor Richard Chizmar edited an anthology of heavy-hitters who “helped make the magazine what it is today”. Turn Down the Lights featured ten original stories by Stephen King, Norman Partridge, Jack Ketchum, Brian James Freeman, Bentley Little, Ed Gorman, Ronald Kelly, Steve Rasnic Tem, Clive Barker and Peter Straub, along with an Introduction by the editor and an Afterword by Thomas F. Monteleone.
Chizmar also compiled CD’s impressive-looking but ultimately disappointing anthology Smoke and Mirrors: Screenplays, Teleplays, Stage Plays, Comic Scripts & Treatments. Despite an exalted line-up of contributors that included William Peter Blatty, Poppy Z. Brite, Frank Darabont, Neil Gaiman, Mick Garris, Joe Hill and others, the oversized hardcover not only didn’t include any editorial content, but only William F. Nolan and Joe R. Lansdale put their contributions into any kind of context. A 400-copy limited edition signed by the editor and thirteen contributors was available for $150.00.
Dreamlike States collected six stories (one original) by Brian James Freeman, with an Introduction by Ed Gorman, while Weak and Wounded collected five revised stories from the same author. Both volumes were illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne, and limited to 750 signed copies. There was also a deluxe traycased lettered edition for $175.00.
Lucifer’s Lottery was a reprint of the 2010 novel by Edward Lee in a signed edition also limited to 750 copies, while Bentley Little’s 1990 novel The Revelation, reissued in trade paperback, was a winner of the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel.