Rumours of the Marvellous -- promo video

Many thanks to Mark West for creating the video.

Rumours of the Marvellous

Rumours of the Marvellous by Peter Atkins -- coming soon

Wild Stacks update

Due to continuing work pressures, Wild Stacks has been placed in hibernation. Please do not send any submissions.

Wild Stacks update

Since starting the Wild Stacks website, I've been appointed editor of the BFS's Dark Horizons. This is taking up a lot of my time so, unfortunately, the next issue of Wild Stacks will be delayed. Sorry.

Wild Stacks #1 -- news

Issue 1 of Wild Stacks: The Library of the Imagination will feature new fiction by Rob Shearman and Rod Rees. Coming soon.

Wild Stacks: submission guidelines

The submission guidelines for Wild Stacks magazine have been updated. The main change is that the word count has been raised to 5,000 (see website for all the details).

Submissions are now open until the end of December 2010 (or until we fill the next issue) with a month reading period after. So get your stories honed and send them to Wild Stacks.

Wild Stacks online magazine to be launched

The Alchemy Press is proud to announce Wild Stacks, The Library Of The Imagination. The first issue of this online magazine will be posted in a few months. Meanwhile, issue 0, the pre-launch issue, is already available. Wild Stacks will publish stories from all corners of the fantasy world.

We are also keen to include artwork. Please contact us if you would like to contribute.

Masters of Fantasy 2: August Derleth

Way back in 1984 the postman delivered a large envelope containing articles by Nic Howard -- articles on and about August Derleth. Also in that package was a short piece by Ramsey Campbell and many, many illustrations by Allen Koszowski. This was to be the basis for my first small press publication. In time, they were combined and published by the British Fantasy Society as Masters of Fantasy 2: August Derleth. It was a time-consuming, yet an interesting, educational and rewarding, experience: typing it out on an electric typewriter, correcting the typos, using sheets of Letraset to prepare the titles, and cow gum to paste it together.

The booklet contained the following by Nic Howard: "Derleth: An American Life in Literature" and "Dark Glory: Derleth's Achievements", plus a foreword, notes and bibliographical information. Ramsey Campbell's "Derleth As I Knew Him", the introduction, was excerpted from a longer piece. The booklet was just 24 pages in length (plus covers) and looks rather quaint when compared with today's proliferation of small press publications.

Masters of Fantasy 2 was the seventh in the BFS Booklet series. Its cover price was 50p ($1.50). Nowadays, can you buy anything worthy for a mere fifty pence?

Dark Horizons 38

Dark Horizons 38 was edited by Peter Coleborn and Mike Chinn – Phil Williams stood down after the previous issue. Joel Lane remained the poetry editor. It was published by the BFS in 1999. I think this was the first perfect-bound issue of DH, a change that’s been with us since. This binding certainly made the magazine look and feel more substantial. It also boasted over a hundred pages – a step up from past issues. And at last, DH used a decent-sized font that made this issue easy to read; it still is, even with today’s aged eyes.

“Invasion” by Rudy Kremberg
“The Suburban Vampire” (verse) by Norman J Olson
“The Ichor of Ilyus Benz” by Linda Talbot
“Clockwise Cryptonia” (verse) by echo syzygy
“Roots of a Writer” (NF) by Anne Gay
“Draining Away” (verse) by Brian Maycock
“Noodles” by James Mac
“The Testament of Empedocles” by P G McCormack
“Monopoly” (verse) by John M Edwards
“Lavender and Lilac: Ghosts, Visits and Old Ladies” (NF) by John Howard
“Queen of Clubs” by Allen Ashley
“A Soldier in Rohgate” by D Harrigon
“The Bezaloo” by Bill Wilensky

The front cover artwork (illustrating “Queen of Clubs”) was by Bob Hobbs. Alas, no interior artwork in this issue, barring a photograph of Anne Gay (by Jerry Bauer) and cover reproductions accompanying John Howard’s article.

Note: NF denotes non-fiction. The piece by John Howard also carried a second sub-title: “A Look at Some Old-time American Domestic Horror”.

Dark Horizons 37

After Chills, Peter Coleborn teamed up with Mike Chinn and Phil Williams to edit and produce the British Fantasy Society’s premier publication, Dark Horizons. Unfortunately, their first issue of DH took far too long to appear. The editorial note offers apologies but no excuses – and it’s too far in the past to remember all the details. Anyway, Dark Horizons 37, edited by the aforementioned team, with Joel Lane appointed as poetry editor, appeared in 1998.The cover price was £3.00.

DH37, although neatly produced, used a too-small font, which must have made it hard on the eyes. Dark Horizons included both fiction and non-fiction:

“The Lake” by Linda D Acaster
“Para Dice by the Landing Light” by G W Greenwood. Illustrated by Dallas Goffin
“Worms Feed on Hector: the Gothic Novels of Simon Raven” (NF) by Howard Watson
“A Fence in Rohgate” by D Harrigon
“Terminal” by Simon MacCulloch. Illustrated by Janet Morris
“Heart of the Machine” by Rick Cadger
“Scapegoat” by Alan Casey
“Queue” (verse) by Brian Maycock *
“Scraps” by Paul Finch. Illustrated by Alan Hunter
“Roots of a Writer” (NF) by Storm Constantine. Illustrated by Bob Covington
“Jenna’s Home” by Rick Kleffel
“Looking Through the Glass” (verse) by Steve Sneyd
“Horrorscopes: a Lover’s Guide” by Peter Tennant
“Kwaidan Revisited” (NF) by John Paul Catton
“A Rather Improbable God” by David Andreas
“Bio” (verse) by Mark McLaughlin
“The Last Story in the Book” by D F Lewis

Cover art was by Bob Covington with additional artwork by Alan Casey.

Note: * denoted a reprint and NF is non-fiction.

Glancing through DH37’s pages, I note that the first Alchemy Press title, The Paladin Mandates, had just appeared. That year’s Fantasycon, FCXXII, was held at the Albany Posthouse Hotel in Birmingham over the weekend 11-13 September. The guests of honour were Freda Warrington and Jane Yolen. Ramsey Campbell was the master of ceremonies. Finally, about this time websites were becoming more popular, with the BFS’ first site appearing on the Geocities server.