Worse Things Than Spiders by Samantha Lee

Samantha Lee's collection Worse Things Than Spiders and Other Stories is her first collection of horror tales and will be launched at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton later this year from Shadow Publishing. The fabulous cover art is by Dave Carson.

The Whispering Horror by Eddy C Bertin

Coming soon from Shadow Publishing: "A collection of short stories and novellas by Belgian horror writer Eddy C Bertin. In a writing career spanning over forty years, his stories have been published in such prestigious books and magazines as The Pan Book of Horror Stories, The Year's Best Horror Stories and Cemetery Dance. Fourteen tales are included in this volume, from strange, hauntingly dreamlike stories, to tales of madness and madmen, to powerful horror yarns in the tradition of H P Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu Mythos'. Published in English, Shadow Publishing is the first to bring together a selection of the author's stories under one cover."

Frightfully Cosy and Mild Stories for Nervous Types

Coming in September from Shadow Publishing (£7.99): Frightfully Cosy and Mild Stories for Nervous Types by Johnny Mains. 

The author says: "This collection was originally going to be 'The Difficult Second Collection' but then I discovered that the 'popular disc jockey' Chris Moyles called his latest 'bestseller' 'The Difficult Second Book' and that put paid to that. The title for this book comes in part from a reviewer who called my first collection 'awfully cosy and mild'. The sentence tickled me so much so (though I didn’t agree with the review!) that I thought I’d pinch it and make it near unrecognisable for this new collection."

The Satyr's Head edited by David Sutton. Review

The Satyr’s Head: Tales of Terror edited by David A Sutton. Shadow Publishing £5.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

In 1975 a slim paperback boasting a fabulous cover by Patrick Woodroffe and bearing the title The Satyr’s Head and Other Tales of Terror was published by Corgi. And now, 37 years later the editor David Sutton has reissued the anthology on his own Shadow Publishing imprint, but with the subtly altered title to The Satyr’s Head: Tales of Terror. This time the equally striking cover comes from Steve Upham.

The Satyr’s Head includes ten stories by Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Joseph Payne Brennan, David Riley (who wrote the “title” story) and others. I don’t know if the editor deliberately chose stories on a theme, but the prevailing one is of angst, of guilt. And of people receiving their just, or unjust, reward from something supernatural and/or evil (but fortunately steering away from the worse excesses of some of the stories in the Pan Book of Horror Stories). As such, reading all these tales in one go may come across as somewhat downbeat and depressing. As with many other anthologies you may do best by dipping into it now and again.

I read this book in the early 1980s, a few years after initial publication when it was already difficult to buy. Therefore Sutton’s reprinting of it is very welcome. But my tastes have moved on and I didn’t get the same frisson on re-reading these tales now. The story that worked best for me this time round was Lumley’s Aunt Hester, which felt as fresh as it did then (even though poor Aunt Hester’s fate doesn’t come as much of a surprise). The stories are obviously of their era. Having said that, this anthology is a must; it should be bought and read by all fans of horror tales, particularly the younger ones who missed out on The Satyr’s Head and its contemporaries when they first appeared.

A few years before Satyr’s Head, David Sutton edited two volumes of New Writings in Horror and the Supernatural. I’d like to see these reprinted (unless they have been and I missed them). Sutton’s Shadow Publishing has a number of titles lined up, including The Female of the Species and Other Terror Tales by Richard Davis. Let’s hope the imprint grows from strength to strength.

Review first published on Shiny Shorts.

The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales

Shadow Publishing's David Sutton has announced The Female of the Species & Other Terror Tales by Richard Davis, due 2012. (£7.99; ISBN: 978-0-9539032-4-5; Cover Artwork by Caroline O'Neal)

Richard (1935-2005) never saw a collection of his stories published in his lifetime and this book includes all of the author's short stories, culled from as far back as 1963 and The Fourth Pan Book of Horror Stories, up to the 1980s. The collection contains an introduction about his life, the fiction and anthologies, including his work as story editor for the BBC's Late Night Horror series. The book will also feature two rare articles and an interview with the author, from the late 1960s.

Contents:

Introduction by David A. Sutton

The Female of the Species

Elsie and Agnes

A Day Out

The Lady by the Stream

The Inmate

A Nice Cut off the Joint

Guy Fawkes Night

The Time of Waiting

The Sick Room

The Clump

The Nondescript

What We Were Looking for in Horror

An Interview with Richard Davis

Horror in Fiction

Bibliography

Further details here and here.