STRANGE PORTS PRESS now live - untranslated (or unavailable) weird/decadent authors

Also - trying to get the word out. If anyone can suggest other sites/boards/magazines/groups/FB sites/Reddit that might be interested, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Cemetery Dance has a forum. I have not been there in a few years. They have a "Other Publishers" thread. You might want to join and update.
I recognized Dark Regions, Suntup, Centipede, Subterranean.

Reddit has a Horrorlit section.
In my experience, posts on Reddit are buried within hours by subsequent posts.

Here at TLO, many publishers update new titles ... or don't.
 
I emailed Rachel Cordasco (she runs the site SFinTranslation) and she seemed happy to learn about what you're doing. She mostly focuses on science fiction and fantasy though.

And I posted the link around a few small discord groups. I guess reddit and goodreads give the most exposure but just be careful about which groups allow self-promotion because some are quite strict about it.

I do wonder if most of the people interested in this kind of thing already come here?
 
If anyone here has ordered a copy of THE BLACK MAGICIAN (I've had 6 sales, and I think I know 2 of those), I'd like to offer you a replacement copy - the first version had a formatting error that ran the text with almost no margins. It's not terrible looking/unreadable in the first form but it significantly altered the page count (making a 266 page book a 144 page book!) and so I'd like to replace it. Please drop me a line in the "Contact" email at the STRANGE PORTS PRESS website.



Contact - STRANGE PORTS PRESS


Thank You!
 
The Black Magician, by Paul Madsack. Published by Strange Ports Press 2023

I just finished reading The Black Magician. It took me a month or so; I am a very slow reader, and I do have my hands full of other things, too.

This is a weird book, in my opinion. I didn't quite know what to expect, and I'd say it was sort of like a pulp book in a way, but is there even pulp writing in Europe? It used tropes that are almost comfortingly necessary, but it also went in directions that I thought were more original. That may be mostly because I do have a limited education, having moved along my own idiosyncratic paths in terms of books (almost no TV in my 61 years, and generally avoiding pulp horror because it is unsatisfying.)

But while it made me think of pulp horror, there was something sophisticated about it that seems to be more prevalent in European writing. This comes through in some of the imagery used here.

Sometimes I thought the prose could be smoother, and other times I thought there was a little too much telling (this is the worst for me when a writer first shows you but then tells you, too.) But all in all, I would absolutely recommend it. I don't know how many copies it's sold now, but I get the impression that I am in a distinct minority in having read it.

What a trip...
 
There was a "pulp" movement on Europe - most specifically France & Germany - and once could even argue that they preceded the United States in this. Characters like Fantomas, Nyctalope, and Judex were part of it. Thanks for reading "The Black Magician" - it is indeed strange, overlapping two distinct approaches - the Faustian occult novel, and modern political commentary/arts critique.
 
Clemente Palma

Palma, Clemente - Malevolent Tales

Late to the Decadent Party, and penned in a country (Peru) where the consequences could well be dire, Palma’s stories shy away from the conte cruel, and blasphemy is more a flirtation.

“The Last Faun” shows the Olympian gods displaced from the earth, with a young faun overlooked. He matures into a satyr, without any congenial nymphs. Until he spies an attractive group of novices, and he fails to grasp the difference between a nymph and a nun.

Ernesto long courted Suzón. He is melancholy, serious, while Suzón is vivacious. An ideal match. In “A Vulgar Story” hopes and aspirations are dashed, in a sordid reveal.

Do we really live? Or is life an illusion? In “The White Farm” our narrator is pledged to Cordelia, even after she is stricken with malaria. After fevered prayers, she recovers, and the pair flee to his isolated rural estate. Again, do we really live? Or is happiness itself a dream?

Fortunately, the doctor recognizes the tell-tale signs. Punctures on the neck, the ebbing of life force. His young man is troubled by “The Vampires”. His recommended prescription – get married? For many, isn’t that merely changing one vamp for another? If viewed that way, this can be comical.

“The Tragic Day” is the longest yarn, an apocalyptic doom that approaches with Halley’s Comet. You Lifeforce fanatics, please settle down. Death lies in the dust of the tail that will sweep and engulf the planet, killing all life within seconds. Humanity reacts predictably: prayer, pillage, suicide. Yet, our narrator, perhaps like others, has a survival plan. This is a gripping story, although it feels like Palma wrote himself into a corner as the ending is a brick toss.
 
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Many thanks Zaharoff! (I guess it's expected that I might ask you to copy and paste this to the amazon link for the book as a review, seemingly these things help)

Of Note: as I gain ability in managing the website, I've cleaned things up a bit and instituted "sample story/chapters" from the releases (slowly filling them in), for those who want a pre-taste of what they might be getting into. So Far:


The End Of Arsenio Godard (From The Intimate Diary Of A Revolutionary) (O fim de Arsênio Godard: Do Diário Íntimo de um Revoltoso) by João do Rio (from INTO THE NIGHT)

https://strangeportspress.weebly.com...arsenio-godard


IDEALISM by Clemente Palma (from MALEVOLENT TALES)

https://strangeportspress.weebly.com/selections/idealism
 
Paul Madsack

Madsack, Paul - The Black Magician

Artist Kukuma makes a deal with – well, please, not the Devil. After all, he has so many names, so many guises. And makes so many “arrangements”.
Kukuma, now rebranded as Aventino, is soon a fast-rising sculptor and artist, a powerful influencer of the sheeple. As ever was, followers love to be guided, told what to do, so they do not have to think, or attempt to think.
Chief opponent to Aventino is fellow artist and firm friend, Fiedler. Fiedler’s admiration is wary; he resists where others succumb.
Then there is the Chinese mannequin, who dispenses advice within dreams:

“Distrust the Black Magician who borrows the halo of virtue. He knows how to turn words beautifully and plays the wrong game with human destiny. Do not let yourself be blinded by the appearance of doing good, the devil has always been one who only leases pleasure and joy. From his black cornucopia he scatters gifts like gold and silver, but it is nothing but dust and ashes, just blinding people’s eyes.”

A subversive novel, darkly comical, written during the Weimar era (which nations seem to be foolishly repeating), reflecting events, and cannily predicting the misery caused when entrusting the strong man, the embittered soul, to take the helm of their fates.
 
Hello all


STRANGE PORTS PRESS keeps chugging along. Recent releases, all appearing in English for the first time, include:


JAZZ (a novel of Vienna) (1925) by Felix Dörmann (quasi-decadent tragedy set in the post WWI financial chaos of Vienna, where criminals make biollions overnight as a destitute Baroness attempts to make her way in life - also appended is ALL GOOD THINGS, a sampling of Dörmann's short fiction).


STRANGE STORIES and other Tales (1909-1932) by Paul Busson (a sampling of Busson's fiction, focusing on the Weird and related - some stories of decadence, an EA Poe tribute, a lost world fantasy, relict satyrs, werewolves and, of course, ghosts)


MANY A DARK FOREST: Stories of Madness, Melancholy and Wonder (1904-1934) by Georg von der Gabalentz (a large - 462 pages - sampler of Gabelentz's short fiction, showcasing his weird, - doppelgangers, obsessions, ghosts - decadent, - musings on empty and hopeless lives - and wonder stories - religious fables, a meeting between Pan and the Virgin Mary!)


THE MASQUERADE OF THE SPIRITS (1958) by Fritz Herzmanovsky-Orlando (a comic-grotesque, picaresque novel of political conspiracy and occult "wisdom" - kind of like Robert Anton Wilson's THE ILLUMINATUS TRILOGY/Southern European travelogue with more slapstick, parody and scatological humor and written by a paranoid, right-wing Viennese, pre-WWII - F.H.O. later joined the Nazis. Certainly different!)


DARK PASSIONS: Strange Tales (1907-1923) by Carmen de Burgos (a sampling of weird short fiction by this history-erased, Spanish feminist icon, stories of obsession and madness told through a Realist/Dramatic lense).


INTO THE NIGHT (1910) by João do Rio (a collection of decadent marvels set mostly in 1900's Rio de Janeiro, written by a now mostly forgotten gay journalist, these are stirring and sometimes shocking tales of the hyper-sensual, cruelty and fixated.


THE DEATH KNIGHT: Expressionist Stories (1900-1919) by Albert Ehrenstein (a sampler of the visionary, mordant and proto-existentialist writings of this figure most famous for his Expressionist character study "Tubutsch" - included here - black satire, proto-cosmic horror, and bleak absurdity abound).


All can be found at https://strangeportspress.weebly.com/.


COMING SOON: some of the only examples of Futurist short fiction heretofore translated!
 
Following on the heels of the publication of STRANGLED BY HER OWN HAIR / WOMAN ON A SPIT (a novella and short story collection of work by Italian Futurist Emilio Settimelli from 1921)...

STRANGE PORTS PRESS is pleased to offer a budget sampler, STRANGE PASSPORTS 2023, offering single stories and chapters from the titles in our first year of release, as well as 5 newly translated stories unavailable elsewhere, 131 pages for $5.50 (plus shipping), in paperback only.

Big Plans for next year, as well...
 
NEWEST RELEASES from STRANGE PORTS PRESS!

SPECIAL BUDGET SAMPLER - STRANGE PASSPORTS 2023!
$5.50 for 131 pages

For an affordable price, get a sampler of the first year's releases from Strange Ports Press (PLUS - FIVE newly translated stories unavailable elsewhere!)

CONTENTS:
“Idealism” (from MALEVOLENT TALES) by Clemente Palma
“The Strange City” by Paul Ernst (1900)
“The Man With The Cigarette” (from MALIGNANT STORIES) by Clemente Palma
“Two Talents” by Georgi Stamatov (1910)
THE BLACK MAGICIAN Chapter 1 by Paul Madsack
“An Apparition” by Knut Hamsun (1898)
THE SPHINX Chapter 1 by Coelho Neto
“Lamia” by Boris Sadovsky (1906)
THE VAMPIRE Chapter 20 by Froylán Turcios
“The Son” by Horacio Quiroga (1928)

strangeportspress.weebly.com

STRANGE PASSPORTS 2023

For an affordable price, get a sampler of the first year's releases from Strange Ports Press (PLUS - FIVE newly translated stories unavailable elsewhere!). CONTENTS: “Idealism” (from MALEVOLENT...
strangeportspress.weebly.com

AND

MYSTERIOUS LIVES: FANTASTIC STORIES / THE DEMON & OTHER STORIES by Emanuel Lešehrad

With a selection of eight stories across two collections, this book attempts to make this previously untranslated author’s work available to a wider audience. MYSTERIOUS LIVES offers a variety of genres – psychological thrillers (“The Secrets of Stork, The Sculptor” and “Aqua Toffana”), dark occult philosophy (“The Duel with the Stone”), Gothic mystery (“Moorish Treasure”) and disturbing proto-body horror (“Iridescent Eternal”). THE DEMON, from earlier in Lešehrad’s output, features the titular novella and two shorter pieces examining women and love through a literary Decadent lens. Includes an Afterword by the Translator.

CONTENTS: Iridescent Eternal / The Secrets of Štork, the Sculptor / The Duel with the Stone / Aqua Toffana / Moorish Treasure / The Demon (A Novel of Two Eyes) / Aunt Žofie's Love (A Little Memory) / Disillusionment (A Fairy Tales From Life)

strangeportspress.weebly.com

Mysterious Lives- Fantastic Stories

MYSTERIOUS LIVES: FANTASY STORIES (Záhadné životy: fantastické novelly) (1919) and THE DEMON AND OTHER STORIES (Démon a jiné povídky) (1911): with a selection of eight stories across two...
strangeportspress.weebly.com

READ the story "Aqua Toffana" here: https://strangeportspress.weebly.com/selections/january-24th-2026
 
NEWEST RELEASE from STRANGE PORTS PRESS!

TALES OF LOVE & DEATH (1929)
by Froylán Turcios

TALES OF LOVE AND DEATH (Cuentos del amor y de la Muerte) (1929): This book collects 72(!) stories from previous Turcios publications, including Hojas de otoño (Autumn Leaves) (1904), Tierra maternal (Motherland) (1911) and Prosas nuevas (New Prose) (1914), a number of them very short. The contents indicate the heavy influence the Romantic and Decadent literary movements had on the author, and feature a number of melancholy stories (“Uncle Roberto”, “Under The Unchanging Sky”), conte cruels (“In The Deep Shadow”, “All Souls Night”) as well as tales obviously inspired by Poe (“The Laughter of Death”) and even a few involving the supernatural (“Ludovico’s Bride”, “The White Ghost”). The volume allows for a wide-ranging sampling of Turcios’ short fiction.

CONTENTS: Sacrilegious Love / The Night Wind / The Muse of Melancholy / The Laughter of Death / The Black Dog / Under The Unchanging Sky / Winter Day / The Case of Ernesto / Uncle Roberto / In The Deep Shadow / All Souls’ Night / Ludovico's Bride / Salome / Autumn Sadness / A Fatal Encounter / The Fable of the Green Chrysanthemum / Old Pain / Romance From Beyond the Grave / The White Ghost / Soledad / The Poem of the Perverse Hands / The Lion Tamer / Elysabeth / Katie / The Masked Death / The Eyes of Ophelia / Melancholy Nocturne / The Magician / The Pale Passenger / The Tiger's Claws / Exotic Couple / The Pale Arab / The Don Juan of the Steamship / The Impossible Miracle / Juan De Breuze / Treasure Of Love / Mysterious Tragedy / A Premonition / Felisa / Broken Idyll / The Parricide / Rural Silence / Blood And Love / Almond Blossom / A Rural Drama / Pauline / Valor / The Murderer / Zulay / Ancient Afternoon / Farewell / The Blue Snail / The Two Prisoners / The Poor Lame Girl / Christmas Eve At Sea / The Sixth Sense / First Love / On Route to the East / Funeral Rhythm / The Most Intense Minute / Intense Moments / Flowers Of Wild Mustard / The Best Alms / The Returned Gift / Jealousy / The Pact / The Second Illusion / Nights at the Cinema / The Passenger with the Green Eyes / A Brute / The Intoxicating Hymn / Last Day

https://strangeportspress.weebly.com/tales-of-love--death-1930-by-froylaacuten-turcios.html

As always, numerous titles available, including a super-inexpensive sample (STRANGE PASSPORTS)

https://strangeportspress.weebly.com/full-catalog.html
 
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