H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) and Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) are two pillars in the New World Gothic castle of fantastic fiction. They are especially interesting in their surprising aspects. They both died young, they both lived sheltered and geographically-constricted lives, they both absorbed influences from wide and deep sources which they then used to create wonderfully complex and vast universes that they have shared with writers long after their passing, and they both lived for sharing their creative energies with other writers through letters and encouraging words, including each other.
Lovecraft the New Englander drew from Poe, Machen, and Dunsany to fashion the crucible from which his Cthulhu Mythos emerged, the indifferent and destructive universe of what humans would call monsters from beyond space and time. He was a master at delineating the gulf between what terrible fate was suggested and why it could not be described in all its horror.
Robert E. Howard the Texan connected to semi-mythic history and the existential journey of one determined man through all the dangers of men and beasts. He is the father of an American sword and sorcery, a juxtaposition of power that seems illogical but also somehow inevitable, almost an allegory of the wars of the 20th Century -- what you cannot see may kill you from afar, and what you can see may kill you up close. The survivor must be ready and skilled and wary at all times.
The legacies of these two writers last and grow to this day in literature, art, and film, even language. We stock their writings and associated contemporary writers as well as some of the more interesting and provocative writers working with the generous heritage that Lovecraft and Howard bequeathed to an increasingly uneasy world.
The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin voume 1: The Horror on the Links
The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin voume 1: The Horror on the Links
he first of five volumes collecting the stories of Jules de Grandin, the supernatural detective made famous in the classic pulp magazine Weird Tales.
Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.
Quinn’s short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales’s original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin’s knack for solving mysteries—and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (grand Dieu!)—captivated readers for nearly three decades.
Collected for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, edited by George Vanderburgh, presents all ninety-three published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, and including all thirty-two original Weird Tales covers illustrated for de Grandin stories, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero.
The first volume, The Horror on the Links, includes all of the Jules de Grandin stories from “The Horror on the Links” (1925) to “The Chapel of Mystic Horror” (1928), as well as an introduction by Robert Weinberg.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction—George A. Vanderburgh and Robert E. Weinberg
1925
The Horror on the Links (Weird Tales, October 1925)
The Tenants of Broussac (Weird Tales, December 1925)
1926
The Isle of Missing Ships (Weird Tales, February 1926)
The Vengeance of India (Weird Tales, April 1926)
The Dead Hand (Weird Tales, May 1926)
The House of Horror (Weird Tales, July 1926)
Ancient Fires (Weird Tales, September 1926)
The Great God Pan (Weird Tales, October 1926)
The Grinning Mummy (Weird Tales, December 1926)
1927
The Man Who Cast No Shadow (Weird Tales, February 1927)
The Blood-Flower (Weird Tales, March 1927)
The Veiled Prophetess (Weird Tales, May 1927)
The Curse of Everard Maundy (Weird Tales, July 1927)
Creeping Shadows (Weird Tales, August 1927)
The White Lady of the Orphanage (Weird Tales, September 1927)
The Poltergeist (Weird Tales, October 1927)
1928
The Gods of East and West (Weird Tales, January 1928)
Mephistopheles and Company, Ltd. (Weird Tales, February 1928)
The Jewel of Seven Stones (Weird Tales, April 1928)
The Serpent Woman (Weird Tales, June 1928)
Body and Soul (Weird Tales, September 1928)
Restless Souls (Weird Tales, October 1928)
The Chapel of Mystic Horror (Weird Tales, December 1928)
“A collection of wonderfully fun mashups. Seabury Quinn’s stories are bloody and action-packed, with the sort of shameless, disreputable charm that characterizes the best of the pulps. Even if there’s little that’s truly original in his work, his clever assortment of monsters and occult menaces make for tremendously entertaining stories. His admirers have every reason to be thrilled with these comprehensive new collections, and the writer will find new fans among those who enjoy truly weird horror.” —Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
“A fun, spooky trip back to the golden age of weird . . . De Grandin, “his little blond mustache twitching like the whiskers of an excited cat,” is an exuberant, delightful creation.”—Publishers Weekly
“Many of these stories have been unavailable for years. I applaud Night Shade Books for bringing these wonderful stories back into print. I can’t wait for Volume Two! GRADE: A”—GeorgeKelley.org