The Weird and the Wonderful. Portfolio review.

The Weird and the Wonderful. A portfolio edited by Jon M Harvey. Spectre Press

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

In the 1970s, Jon Harvey, one of the mainstays of the British Fantasy Society, before he left the BFS to join the Royal Navy, set up Spectre Press. He published a series of lovingly produced booklets and magazines, such as Cthulhu, Balthus, Ghoul Warnings and The Coming of the Voidal (perhaps my favourite). Contributors included Adrian Cole, Brian Lumley, David Lloyd, Brian Mooney and Jim Pitts. Considering this was pre-desk-top DTP days, the quality of the Press’s work was outstanding.

Then Spectre Press went into hibernation for thirty years.

I am delighted to announce, it’s back with a new portfolio, The Weird and the Wonderful. Here, we have ten plates, printed on good-quality 200g boards, of b&w illustrations by artists Harvey had worked with way back then. The artists are: Stephen E Fabian, Brian Frost, Dallas Goffin, Alan Hunter, David Lloyd, Martin McKenna, Jim Pitts (in fact, Pitts provides the only colour print), SMS and John Stewart. There is also a plate by Jon Harvey himself. This may look a bit like vanity, but Harvey explains why he included one of his own drawings. In fact, he gives a brief account of each piece and what they mean to him.

This is a tremendous portfolio, and if you have any taste for b&w illustrations – and if not, why not – then seek out this. Get some framed; I aim to do so.  

The portfolio is available as printed plates at £15.00 or as a CDROM at £12.00. Profits will be donated to charities – another good reason to buy it. At the time of writing, the Spectre Press website is not up and running. However, to order the portfolio (or any of the Spectre Press’ backlog) email Harvey: jon.harvey [at] talktalk.net.

The Art of Luke Chueh

The Art of Luke Cheuh, is described as being “Like a cuddly Trojan horse, Cheuh’s work is pretty on the outside, but nice and macabre on the inside,” by Entertainment weekly.

The first book from acclaimed pop surrealist artist Luke Chueh, The Art of Luke Chueh (Titan Books, out this month) presents Chueh's bold and unusual art – employing minimal colour schemes, simple animal characters, and a seemingly endless list of ill-fated situations.

Chueh has enjoyed success in the Lowbrow and Pop Surrealist art movements, and has risen to the forefront of the art scene in LA. Some of Chueh's characters have been recreated as a line of toys, and he also designed the cover for Fall Out Boy’s album Folie a Deux.

Fantasycon Art Show

Make sure you go to the show!

Tomorrow Revisited by Alastair Crompton

The long lead-up to the first PS ArtBook -- Alastair Crompton's Tomorrow Revisited, the sumptuous and lavishly illustrated biography on Frank Hampson, creator of Dan Dare -- is almost done. This book is "absolutely gorgeous and the uber-limited edition is well on the way to selling out... so don't delay in ordering if you fancy it" (says PS Publishing). There are two editions:

Tomorrow Revisited – bookshop edition (£26.99 until publication)

Tomorrow Revisited – deluxe leatherbound traycased edition (at £265.50 until publication)

PS adds: "To make things extra attractive (and to acknowledge that this project has moved forward a little slower than any of us would have liked), we're going to give each person who orders the book up to the end of September special vouchers against other PS titles -- one £5 voucher for everyone who orders the standard edition and three £5 vouchers for everyone who orders the deluxe edition (and yes, this includes everyone who has ordered already). Pretty good value when you bear in mind that the two editions are already discounted by some 10%... but do remember that the offer expires on 1 October."

Ordering details can be found at the above links.

Fantasycon Update

Information for advertising in the FantasyCon 2009 Souvenir Programme book is now available. If you wish to advertise your wares to a targetted audience, email organisers@fantasycon.org.uk for details.

There have been some chair shifting on the Fantasycon committe. Due to changes in the BFS committee, Guy has stepped down as FCon co-chair to concentrate on the BFS. That means I take over the FantasyCon chair -- but Guy remains on the committee, and I will greatly value his input.

And this year sees the return of the Art Show, long missed by the artists who wish to diplay their work. If you are interested, send an email to the above e-address.