OFFICIAL
BRIAN LUMLEY NEWSLETTER

COLUMNS:

FEATURES:

Hopefully this fourth (and final for Vol. 11) installment of Necroscope News finds all of you doing well and enjoying your year so far. It's hard to believe that we are so far through the year already and we only have a few more months to go. Next time you hear from us all will be Christmas-time - yikes! Ah well, we all know how fast time flies, so on with it, before it flies right past!

There hasn't been a whole lot of site news lately, as I still am trying to get the new menu system for the new site design up and running to my liking. I want to make it easier to get around than it is now and it just hasn't reached that point yet. But keep an eye out for it, because when it finally hits, you'll be happy - be sure of that.

I have recently updated the software for the Forums and they seem to be keeping steady with a pretty constant influx of new blood, which is always good. It still amazes me to read posts from people who didn't realize Brian had a site or that he wrote anything other than the Necroscope series - what a journey they have set themselves on. I still remember the first time I picked up Brian's first Necroscope book, THE first Necroscope - and the months and years of future reading I realized I had in front of me from that point on. 1992 seems like so far away from where we are now... And yet Tor has recently reprinted the first Necroscope under their Orb brand in Trade Paper and it is an amazing piece of work. The words are always what matters in Brian's books, but having sketches from Bob Eggleton thrown in throughout just make the read so much more fun. If you haven't grabbed it yet or are new to the whole World of Lumley - this is a perfect place to start your journey down the lengthy path of Brian's Books.

Along with the new Necroscope, the Necroscope figurine from Adrian Romo is still available, but you never know for how much longer, so grab it while you can... These are limited to 1,000 pieces and are retailing for $55. You can purchase them through http://hauntedhouseproductions.com/ and if you have any trouble, just drop us a line and we'll get you squared away. Still no details on whether another sculpture is coming from the talented Mr. Romo or not, but be sure to keep an ear out for this will be the first place to know!

Well, I have bored you all enough for another installment - need to let you go to read the good bits from the Master and his Lady along with all the other great contributors we have. See you for the Christmas issue - stay safe and keep reading till then!

This is your Wolfe signing off.....

To Whom it May Concern ... and like that.

We've been doing some shelf-clearing, and boy did we need to! The house has been overrun with books for a very long time. Of course quite a few of them are limited or special hardcover editions, usually signed, and frequently by the artist as well as me. These remain on their shelves, of course. But there are plenty of foreign editions, too, often with beautiful, strange jackets. They are worth good money, but Silky is finding eBay a bit too much to handle these days. So if you've been reading her messages you'll know that she's offering our Brit collectors a hell of a good deal. But while that will clear off quite a lot of shelf space, there will always be new foreign editions coming in. For example:

Frank Festa ("Uncle" Frank to you) has done this deal with Heyne Verlag, one of the biggest publishers in Germany. As you may be aware, Frank is a friend of mine, and Festa Verlag is a small press based in Leipzig. But Frank owed me a fair whack of money on royalties, so he "sold" me to Heyne to clear his debt. That means that Heyne will re-publish the Necroscope® novels in a new format/edition. They won't do the books as serials like Frank did, but instead publish them as whole books, as in the UK and USA. Which still means that Frank keeps the right to publish them as hardcovers and trade paperbacks. So it won't be long before the bookshelves begin to fill up again.

Also, we're expecting William Schafer of Subterranean Press to put out A Coven of Vampires in trade paperback in the very near future, and Bill is also to publish a slim volume next year to be titled The Nonesuch, a trilogy of tales (the title story is a new novella, whose origin and setting should be easily recognized by the old KeoghCon regulars gang) whose unfortunate protagonist is a magnet for weirdness.

Add to these items Necroscope: Harry and the Pirates from TOR Books in about one year's time, plus a new one, Necroscope: The Plague-Bearer, intended for some-time-never from whoever ... and you'll see that in my alleged retirement I've not yet quit, nor even nearly! But on December 2nd I'm 71 guys, and all the years are beginning to wear on me. (Actually, it's not so much the years as the mileage.)

Still on books: Paul Calvin Wilson tells me he now has the final volume of From the Vaults to hand, that's the trilogy of my early tales which he's worked so hard on; so if you collectors out there have been waiting for it, wait no longer but get in touch with Paul a.s.a.p.

Silky will have already mentioned the summer ... and I used to know what that word "summer" meant!" I've been in my pool all of four times -- and one of those was to clean it! Where in hell has the sun gone? Fortunately we did Greece this year and the place we stayed in Thassos was just the best, truly excellent! So we're not as painfully pale as we'd otherwise be. (Pale enough though, damn it to hell!)

I'm cutting down on conventions (too much travel) but where business is involved there's no escape. There is one con coming  up in the USA; I have more research to do in Las Vegas, and we plan on some autograph sessions/movie meet-ups in Los Angeles but I believe next year will find me pulling back from much of that. Some personal promotion is a good thing, but too much of it isn't. I like meeting people -- agents, editors, publishers, other writers, fans and friends -- but sometimes when I wake up in the morning my face hurts from all that smiling! (Sometimes my hair hurts from all that drinking!)

Finally, and I may have mentioned this before, Necroscope is now officially "a classic," having been published as a "TOR Orb" trade paperback in the USA. It has Bob Eggleton's black and while illustrations from the limited Subterranean edition, my introduction from that same source, and ed. Melissa Singer's Necroscope: a Time-Line from the Brian Lumley Companion. Ah, fame at last!

Cheers!

P.S. -- Glenn Hetrick of "Heroes" fame tells me  his associates intend to renew the movie option. So who can say? I may yet live to see it on the big screen!

Fellow Lumlians...

Here we go again. Another three months gone by and as usual I just don't know where they went.

The Business End...

Ah, no business this time around. You can catch it all on the monthly updates ... and naturally, anything that can't wait for an update will go in Messages/Breaking News.

The Lighter Side:

Well, not much happening other than work. We've had an absolutely abominable summer as has much of the UK.

We missed Greece last year but this year we made our last trip. Although we couldn't stay at the Thassos Hotel (Stamatis doesn't do British tour groups anymore) we stayed at the Alexandra Beach Hotel which is right next door to Pefkari Beach. It's a five minute walk to Potos where there are loads of tavernas and a 10 minute walk down to Pefkari beach and the Thassos Hotel/taverna.

It was an expensive trip but well worth every pound/euro of it.

We arrived at our accommodation at 2:00 pm to find that we wouldn't have our bags until 4:00 pm. Well, okay, we had a shower and a kip. But 4:00 on the dot there was a knock at the door ... the bellman was there with our cases. Yes ... you read correctly ... bellman. Not something we were used to. There's a/c in every room, a fridge and a safe deposit box. The a/c is included in the price and because we had a superior room our room safe was free.

When I booked the trip I told the girl we only wanted breakfast because we don't like to be tied down to a specific time for dinner. So, on the Sunday night we went to Stamatis's for supper. Brian wasn't too happy with the accommo at this particular time ... I suspect mostly because he was missing our usual home base. On Monday morning we got a real shock ... we went to breakfast buffet. The breakfast here was better now that you get in most expensive US and UK hotels. Brian was well impressed ... things started looking up. Reading the material in the room I saw something of interest and when I checked at reception I found that dinner was included as well. Well, hesitantly we went to dinner on Monday night. All I can say is that we really were sorry we missed Sunday night. From that point on we ate breakfast and dinner at Alexandra and lunch off the beach with Stamatis.

The food at dinner was even better than we get in Vegas and Brian told the manager so. Only thing is with dinner you have to buy drinks if you want them ... breakfast is included.

The abundance of food was unbelievable ... the service excellent ... in fact we had a waiter there we've know for ten years when he used to work at another taverna in Potos. We walked out stuffed and all was right with the world.

From that point on Brian was happy as a pig in ... well, you know what!

Breakfast starts at 7:30 in the morning. But on checkout day Thompson folk get breakkie at 7:00. Dinner goes from 7:00 to 9:30. And I tell you ... it was no imposition for us at all to have a determined 7:00 eating time. We just went when it opened ... which actually is the best time to go before it gets crowded.

There are two pools ... lots of chairs and brollys on the beach ... taverna on the beach. There is access to food and drink all during the day. There's a lovely play area for the children and there's even a small kiddie corner in the restaurant where there's an extra little buffet with goodies for the kids.

Plenty of place to park your car if you decide to rent one. Only reason we rented one is because we have too much to carry back and forth ... we ain't that young anymore...

Hey, check it out for yourself www.alexandrabeach.gr You'll get to see their photos and video of the complex. And there's stuff I haven't even told you about. The actual name is Alexandra  Beach Thassos Spa Resort ... yep, saunas and the works...

I have a photo album for Thassos on the board now if you haven't already seen it. You really do have to see those pictures to believe it.

We actually thought about returning again next year half way through our week ... but no, Brian and I decided it is time now to knock it on the head. And what a better way to finish up ... the food fantastic, the people great and the most wonderful thing of it all was that there was beautiful sunshine everyday. We went on Sunday June 22. And you could just walk right into the sea without shivering...

Until next time....

This month I'm going to respond to Sharon...

I just read Sharon's article about mad collecting. It's an interesting read about the types of collector that are out there... So I'll take you on a walk through my mad collecting phase and how I got over the addiction, as I now truly believe it's an addiction.

I started off years ago with a collection of Necroscope books - that was all I was interested in - nothing more, nothing less. I then went to university and forgot about Necroscope, with the exception of the lost years, which my brother bought me in hardback when they came out. That was it, no more Brian Lumley books for me for a long time.

When I left university, I found that E-Branch: Invaders had been published (this was the UK paperback, so I'd missed the hardback edition) - and I bought it when I couldn't really afford it as I was out of work, and was living off the freebees from the government (I'm now an upstanding professional who pays lots of tax!) I devoured this book in a day - a waste as I wanted it to last longer....

I then got my first job out of university and moved to Coventry where I discovered the best cheap book shop in the world, Paperback Exchange, which had a large collection of second hand Lumley books, which I obviously bought all of over a period of time. This enabled me to start collecting books...

Time went by and we started meeting up, the people from the board that is, and we compared collections, which is where I really started to get addicted - I had to have more than the next person - so I scoured the internet, which was a lot younger back then than it is today. I found many a bargain on Ebay, Advanced Book Exchange, Powell's and Cold Tonnage among others. Some of my bargains weren't bargains though - I was never happy with the book club editions - which I sold.

This went on and on and on and on, until one day I realised my collection of books was probably worth more than the money I'd not been saving, and I should have been saving, boy should I have been saving.

So came the day when my addiction had to go - I got a mortgage, and needed to make a decision about how the hell I would increase the money we had for a deposit... and you can guess, I had to sell some books, so some Lumley, F. Paul Wilson and Arkham House books went - these ones were the pinnacles of my collection, the ones I really wanted to keep. I knew their value, and I sold them so I could add £1k to my deposit, which has saved me some money with my mortgage - yay.

Lately, I've been buying less and less books, and I only now buy one of the yearly limiteds that come out when it comes out - everything else now tends to be presents from family and friends.

In effect I've become more like the old Sharon - I'm now more happy to have one copy of the book rather than the many that are available in various covers and editions - I don't have the time to read all of them anyway, and some of them, I wouldn't read, they just gather dust on the shelf - so is there really any point being a collector or a hoarder anymore? Certainly not if you can't afford it.

To end, I still feel I need to collect, but I am aware of it - it's like when I gave up smoking.

Until next time,

Tops

Ps. I got married in June :)

I recently acquired a new bookcase, which is a very good thing as my old bookcase was piled high and overflowing! It’s 3 shelves high, about 4–5 feet long and painted black to match my old one, and it’s too small. I thought I’d be able to put all my Lumley books in it, that they’d look really good all together, but I was wrong, I can’t. The shelves aren’t quite tall enough to accommodate most of the hardbacks and I would need about another 2 shelves to fit all my Lumley books in anyway.

I know that by some people’s standards that’s a pretty large collection, and by others’ it must seem quite small but for me, it’s nowhere near large enough!

This event recently lead me into a conversation with someone about the different kinds of collectors there are. I used to be content with having a copy of each book, and to a large degree I still am, so that’s the kind of collector I’ve been, very basic as long as I have one copy of everything I’m happy. I don’t really understand some people’s desire to posses multiple copies of the same book just for the sake of having it, or so that they have more of them than anyone else – my friend described this behaviour as crazy mad collecting! I do however, understand those who have more than one copy of the same book for lending out purposes, or if it was an exceptional bargain, or for example, if they already had one then received another as a gift - but 8 of the same edition of the same book I do find to be a bit excessive!

Different editions of the same book though, these are a different matter. I think I’m becoming a collector of this nature. As I said I used to be content having just one of each, but through KeoghCon, BrianLumley.com and you guys out there with your enormous collections I realised exactly what was available! I realised just how beautiful the Ganley editions are, and feel I’d like many more of them! I do have a few of them, but not Hero, Ship or Mad Moon of Dreams which I actually bought for my brother’s girlfriend as a gift at Christmas last year – handing them over was particularly painful!

I also don’t have the Tor editions of Psychomech, Psychosphere or Psychamok, I know it’s hard to believe but I don’t! I have the old British editions with the Red covers (can’t remember who published them, I think it may have been Grafton but I don’t have any of them to hand to check) and as I’ve already said I have been the kind of collector who was content with only one set, that is until I really looked at the covers and saw just how cleverly they fit together, and now I want them! I also have a good copy of Khai of Ancient Khem, again British Grafton edition, but I’ve had it a long time and the pages have gone yellow and it’s starting to get tatty, I keep thinking that a sparkly new Tor edition would be lovely.

It’s a similar story with my perfectly good British copy of A Coven of Vampires, I love it to pieces but it’s a paper back and will only stand to be re-read so many times – also the artwork on the newer Bob Eggleton cover is exceptional, as it is with the quite recent Primal Lands re-issues that he did the covers for. Now I do have those in paperback Headline edition, and because they were very worn I was also lucky enough to get them in the Ganley edition too – now am I being greedy wanting them with the fabulous Bob Eggleton covers as well?

Then there’s the ones that I don’t have, the really old ones like The Caller of the Black and The Horror at Oakdeane. I would dearly love these and keep meaning to get them, they are still available but so often I bow to the pressure of bills and a cheaper book that so far I still don’t have these little gems in my collection.

There are also the special ones, I did order The House of the Temple years ago, but just as it seemed that it would finally be despatched my emails suddenly were not replied to and no book came. I was disappointed with that but as it turned out at the time I could really do with not spending that much money anyway so I guess in the end it did me a favour.

Lastly, there are all the new books coming out, or those that have recently been released that I’d love to have but haven’t been able to afford just yet, like The Taint, Haggopian and From the Vaults – all 3 of the volumes!

So here is the dilemma, I am going to get some new books but what do I do, pander to the collector in me and get those other exquisite editions of the books I already have? Or spend my money on the old ones that I’ve wanted for such a long time. Or, as both these options are mostly still available on the Internet should I get the new releases just in case they all sell out before I have another opportunity to get them?

Well it’s time for another newsletter and what can I say but it’s been a busy old year so far!!! It promises to be the busiest in recent history with the year that Paul and my self have put in. We’ve barely had time to speak to Brian and Silky, the rocker Keith Grant Evans, Allen and Chris and Bob and Marianne, in fact it seems like we’ve barely had time to speak to each other. We’ve had a transitional year where Paul took over a new kitchen and dragged it from being a disgrace to getting the highest grading from the Environmental Health in one year and I took over a new Home and got it from zero stars to 2 stars in one year.

We are currently making a cinema in the nursing home, the projector and ten foot screen are already up and working, with just the redecoration and posters/life size stand ups to go in, but I digress. It has been such a busy year that we have neglected friends and family so Paul is heading off to South Africa for a holiday to see his family, who paid for his airfare, for the first time in three years; in November through December, and I’m taking a break to redecorate the house. This means we have had to put off our favourite trip of the year to Torquay until maybe the turn of the year to see Brian and Silky. Silky was surprised that we wanted to come down in the winter when it wasn’t sunny but we really don’t care about the weather we’re more like Geordie Vampires, steer clear of the sun. Hopefully we’ll be down March or early April to tour the area and visit the Lumley Manse to raid the vaults.

Now that the home has been upgraded we can rest a little and get back to spending time on E-Bay and the Brian Lumley website as well as keeping in better contact with people. I have just ordered some Necroscope goodies and can’t wait to get them whilst Paul has just started printing From the Vaults volume 3 as well as sending for a proof of a new book on unpublished Allen K artwork which he has spent the last year doing and which is a 257 page soft back book which looks very very nice.

There are plenty of Lumley treats happening in the near future which can be seen on the monthly update on this site and a few to come that haven’t been announced yet, I hope! With the credit crunch it seems the perfect time to pick up some Lumley bargains on E-Bay and elsewhere so get your savings raided and invest while the time is right and the price is ridiculous. Silky and Brian are always putting things on E-Bay for a very good price and you get the signature as well.

It’s just a short column this time due to getting back into the swing of things but next time I’m off for two weeks holiday so should be able to put pen to paper more coherently. I hope all the Lumlians out there have a great summer and watch out for that sun, if we get any, it doesn’t half burn!

Till next time.

I like tracking down hard to find items, so I think that I must have been born at the right time.  Which collector can imagine a life without the internet, or more specifically, E-bay, Abe Books or even Amazon?  There is of course the downside, which in my case is finding references to rare books or magazines on dodgy internet pages or forums, where, seconds later, my computer security sounds a virus warning.  But that’s a risk you take.  Or ordering a Lumley book from China or Japan’s Amazon site – it’s not easy (but the books did arrive!)

When it comes to collecting, the world has most definitely become a much smaller place, but simultaneously it seems to have affected time as well.  All of a sudden, decades of books and magazine are available in one place, at one time, and it’s easy to forget the many years of hard work in between each of their publications, but I’m rambling on, so let’s get to the good stuff: 

HORROR MAGAZINE

Issue 7, cover price: $3.99

This is a US magazine of 64 pages.  The interior is black and white.  The magazine was issued in 1996 by Dark Regions Press.

Of interest to Lumley collectors:

Brian Lumley: An Interview by Donald W. Schank, April 1996. 

The interview is headed with the note: HORROR congratulates Brian Lumley on his recent election to the Presidency of the HWA! and begins with a Brian Lumley biography, followed by the interview, which extends over six pages.  In the interview, Brian discusses, among many things, his early reading matter and influences, H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, his father, and the process of writing.

1996 World Fantasy Convention – A Report by Dawn Dunn.

A five-page report on the convention details all aspects of the convention and features a photograph of Brian and Silky, mentioning also that Brian is the Toastmaster.

Availability:  None on E-bay, but there are two copies available on Abe Books. com.  Their prices are $5.00 and $5.50.

DARK REGIONS

Issue 3, cover price: US$5.95/$6.50 Canada

This is a US magazine of 116 pages.  44 of the pages belong to the second section of the magazine, which has its own cover (upside down to the main cover) and is titled THE YEAR’S BEST FANTASTIC FICTION.  The interior is black and white.  The magazine was issued in 1997 by Dark Regions Press.

Of interest to Lumley collectors:

The short story ‘Little Man Lost’ (3 pages with an illustration by Stacy Drum), a book review of ‘Robert Bloch: Appreciations of the Master,’ (the book includes a contribution by Brian), and the poems ‘A Cry at Night’, and ‘Mirrors at Midnight’.

Availability:  None on E-bay, and none on Abe Books.

THE SCREAM FACTORY

Issue 17, cover price: US$5.95/$6.95 Canada

This is a US magazine of 136 pages.  The interior is black and white.  The magazine was issued in spring 1996 by Deadline Press.

Of interest to Lumley collectors:

It’s Alive: The Rebirth of Horror Fiction in Britain 1960 – 1979 by Mike Ashley.

Brian’s early work is discussed.

Britshock: British Horror Fiction, 1980 – 1995 by Chris Morgan, Pauline Morgan, and Joel Lane.

The success of the Necroscope books is discussed, as well as a recommendation that readers looking for Brian’s short stories would do well to read FRUITING BODIES AND OTHER FUNGI.

On the Fringe for Thirty Years: An Overview of British Small Press Horror by David Sutton.

Brian’s work is mentioned in this very detailed article.

Once Is Not Enough: A Survey of Horror Series, featuring: Brian Lumley’s Necroscope Series by Stephanie T. Walburn.

A four-page article on the Necroscope series.  Note:  At that point, the Necroscope series consisted of five books, namely Necroscope, Necroscope II: Vamphyri!, Necroscope III: The Source, Necroscope IV: Deadspeak, and Necroscope V: Deadspawn.  The article is very positive and the reviewer concludes that the books were ‘a lot of fun to read.’  The article features the covers of the books, which includes the original Necroscope cover (pre-Bob Eggleton).

Availability:  None on E-bay, and none on Abe Books.

***

Now here’s something interesting.  An excerpt from the interview I conducted with Brian in 2002, and which was published in Lighthouse Magazine issue 1.

Please describe a typical day in the life of Brian Lumley, if there is such a thing.

Well, for the last seven or eight years, up until a couple of months ago when I finished putting the last book together, a typical day would have gone something like this:

Up at 7:30, 8:00 a.m.  Mickey D's or some other place down town for breakfast... I'm a fool for fast food.  Home by 10.30, and play with Jasper, my old moggy, for an hour or so.  Jasper's been gone a couple years now but he'll never be forgotten.  What a character.  Left his Ma too early and never knew he was a cat.  We were pals.

11:00 a.m. I'm at my word processor.  Break at 1:00 p.m. for lunch and the news on TV.  Work till 2:00.  Sleep for an hour.  Up again and work till dinner and news at 6:00, then more work, and work - frequently till 11p.m.  Then I'd watch whatever Silky has taped for me during the day or evening.  Every other day I'd answer e-mails, take care of admin, pay the bills, find the time to do a little swimming in the summer months and wish I could hibernate through the winter.  Silky would keep me up to date with what was happening on the internet, and the website.

But every day wasn't the same.  I mean in the last ten years we've been to the Aegean maybe fifteen times, about the same in the USA, half-a-dozen conventions in England.  We've been to Las Vegas two or three times, once with my buddy Keith and his good wife, plus ShadoeWolfe and his lady.  We've seen New Orleans and New York, Minneapolis and Niagara and Niagara, Baltimore and Rhode Island, Phoenix and Atlanta.  So, you know, life has been good to us and anything but boring!

But typical?  I don't think writers have many typical days.  Mainly they just have days.

And that’s all for now.  Till next time,

Paul Calvin Wilson
In a Dark Place
www.lighthousemediaone.co.uk

Other Titles Coming Soon...

• October 2008. Coven of Vampires, Subterranean Press/Far Territories, trade paperback. The signed trade is SOLD OUT. You can still pre-order the standard trade. http://www.subterraneanpress.com/

• November 2008 Solaris publication date for Mythos Novel Volume One. Title: The Taint and Other Mythos Novellas. Contents: The Horror at Oakdeene, Born of the Winds, The Fairground Horror, The Taint, Rising with Surtsey, Lord of the Worms, The House of the Temple.

• July 2009. Two novellas titled For the Dead Travel Slowly and Harry and the Pirates along with an introduction and end piece. Tor Books. More info when available.

• 2009. The Nonesuch & Others. Subterranean wants to put this in next year’s schedule. Titles in the book: The Thin People, previously published, naturally. Stilts, by the same narrator which only appeared in the 2003 World Fantasy Convention Book, and by the same narrator a new unpublished story The Nonesuch. Bob Eggleton will be doing the art. More information on this when available.

PUBLICATIONS & WHAT'S IN THE WORKS: Due to the extensive Monthly Update and information in various locations on the site ... it's no longer necessary to list everything here. Just follow the link to the Monthly Update Forum:  http://brianlumley.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=19

FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS: Now located on the site - http://www.brianlumley.com/books/foreign/

APPEARANCES: Thanks to all of you who have joined the mailing list. The list is now closed because I have more than enough to send out posts to. If we are anywhere Brian is of importance we shall send out the notice to the folks on the mailing list and we will also send personal emails to our friends.

To get hold of one of the columnists or someone related to the site, please visit the Contact page on the website, http://www.brianlumley.com/email/