ZAGAVA

A recent package hinted it, and today's Zagava newsletter announces officially a third collaboration with R. Ostermeier/Broodcomb, a lettered edition of Nocebo. Their previous Therapeutic Tales and very recent A Trick of the Shadow are stunning.



My eyes are fixed on the peninsula, but other news included new editions of The Two Keisukes by Brian Howell, and Wraiths by Mark Valentine, along with photographs of other quite beautiful recent limited editions which are now shipping.
 
Some thoughts about The Dracula Papers:

I'm most likely preaching to the choir here, but Reggie Oliver is always such a pleasure to read. Having collected his works for the last 15+ years, I naturally jumped at the opp to own a hardback version of The Dracula Papers, which I had previously read a while ago.

Oliver really pulled out all the stops with this one. Gothic grotesque, horror, comedy, salacious escapades - incestuous or otherwise - this book has everything in spades, and is relentless in its delivery. Neither my familiarity with its content, nor the fact that Oliver recycled some of his older works (the Casanova narrative & the episode of the Old Queen come to mind), managed to diminish my enjoyment in any way. It does, however, make me pine so very much for the sequels the author had promised. After all, this is (was?) meant to be volume 1 of 4. I still hope for the day!

The only mark against my reading experience was the edition itself. I can't help but notice the poor proofreading job on The Dracula Papers. Typos, random punctuations, Random Capitalisation etc. These are rather distracting & most regrettable, for a top-tier publisher of weird fiction like Zagava. I had noticed proofreading issues before in some of their other works (Ineke's The Lights, for example), but never to this degree. I do not work in the publishing business, yet I can't help but wonder if Zagava's punishing(?) schedule has anything to do with it. After all, 1 major announcement plus other sundries per month does *seem* a lot. I do hope this is the exception rather than the rule for their future works.
 
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Zagava has announced that they will publish a second edition of ''A Certain Slant of Light'' by Peter Bell, which will include some bonus stories.I also believe that the original stories will be revised as usual, so i will probably grab that one when it is ready to ship.
However, one thought : i have always found their book descriptions enigmatic, as they don't provide any real info on the book, and in this case they don't mention what the bonus stories are. The same with other books, for instance the description for the reissue of ''Dream Of Ourselves'' mentions one bonus story R.Ostermeir, which one is yet unknown.I have asked but i got no answer....Don't you think, that someone who already, has the first press editions, and wants the bonus stories, to know the contents ?
 
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Quentin S Crisp

Crisp, Quentin S. - Ikaho

The chance encounter between two travelers. A young girl, more of a child actually, and an itinerant monk. Even though he is poor, begging for alms, Jirō recognizes the hunger in Ohisa’s face immediately and shares his food.
As both walk into Ikaho, a small place and a bend out of time, they reveal thier stories. Recent histories. The sorry reasons why both are on the road, and not indoors, safe and warm.
With encounters, there is often an exchange. As well as understanding, empathy, perhaps a solution to temporary difficulty.
Crisp’s novella is the muted connecting of sympathetic souls, not kindred spirits, although they both “see” each other.
While Ikaho itself is not dissimilar to Erith, it does seem less solid, more a place we stroll into in a dreamlike amble.
Ikaho would be a magical village to wander, rest, observe, recharge, before continuing on.
 
Louis Marvick

Marvick, Louis - Maculate Vision And Other Stories

Vision stained, vision polluted. A thick half dozen stories, many that appeared earlier in a Side Real Press collection, now OP.

The title piece is a dark amusement. An inheritance with a blasted provision. Yet, Eddie so needed the money, he accepted the uncanny painting. He knew his uncle was up to something.

“Is For Ilinx” wears better a second read around (by me). The Texas caricature still rings off-key, but heightens the disparity between boorish wealth and jaded experience. Conte cruel, this one.

“Of Interactive Surveillance And The Circular Firing Squad” draws us into the rarefied world of Classical music prodigies, tasked with tutoring untrained children, damaged in various ways. The tone is one of anxiety and confusion, building to a grotesque finale.

Zagava has published several Louis Marvick books, and appears to be championing his works. He is well worth investigation by fans of Weird Lit with a taste for extended style over gore and fluids.
 
Mark Samuels

Samuels, Mark - Black Altars

Slim collection that Mark would only grudgingly allow to be reprinted. Some feel like youthful works, but he needn’t have worried over that. They are all good.

Visionaries, mystics and an astronomer fill the gentleman’s narration in “The Lichen”. Kropeki, the mystic, is of the most unfortunate kind, foretelling doom and gloom that are, worse, contagious.

Glanville Home, an imposing brick structure where the well-heeled and well-off sojourn to recover from whatever maladies, real or imagined, trouble them. The sort of establishment our investigative journalist – shall we call him “Patient 704” – ought never to step foot inside.

The night wanderer, the solitary insomniac, who shares dark alleyways and waysides with, what else, cats. A league of felines all paying fealty to “The Ailuromorph”. One of those eerie homages to Bast that HPL would have applauded.

Mentioning Lovecraft, the closing story “Dedicated To The Weird” also bear the fingerprints of the Providence scribe. Through a series of letters to Beatrice, Henri notates the isolated hamlet where he has holed up, writing furiously. The village is odious, the inhabitants corruptions of humanity. Henri senses he cannot tarry overlong. Nonetheless, loathsome town fuels his imagination.

An inducement for those wavering: Two sources (QC & JP) confirmed that Mark revised two stories. The last one only somewhat, but the first one extensively. Rest easy, friend of Machen.
 
Louis Marvick

Marvick, Louis - Area Of Subsidence

In the States, the property would be referred to as a fixer-upper. In Germany, historic.
After all, it was several hundred years old. Still standing, too, although work was needed.
The realtor mentioned as little as possible to Daniel and Sofie.
A sinister aura lingered in the basement, and why had the previous inhabitant ensconced himself in an upper story?
Creeping terror here, involving murky histories that are always best unearthed before major purchases.
Skirts the edge of HPL’s “Rats”, yet not too much.
This is its own beast. Perhaps beasts.
Foul novella will leave a taint after reading.
Once again, Marvick proves a dependable, if unsettling, storyteller.
 
Regarding: “ A Certain Slant Of Light” reissue:

I was able to find the contents from the Amazon preview and they are listed below. I have added next to each story, the original publication:

01. “Lamia” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

02. “Bewitched” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

03. “Millennium Ball” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

04. “Conservation” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

05. “The Barony at Rødal” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

06. “Merfield House” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

07. “Archangel”(A Certain Slant Of Light)

08. “Only Sleeping” (A Certain Slant Of Light)

09. ''Southwold'' (Phantasms)

10. ''Materials For A Ghost Story'' (Phantasms)

11. ''Framed'' (Terror Tales of the Lake District)

12. ''Glamour Of Madness'' (Phantasms)

13. ''Abide With Me'' (Phantasms)

14. ''Blackberry Time'' (Revenants & Maledictions)

15. ''The Sands O'Dee''(Phantasms)

''Framed'' is the only story that has not been included in any of the above Sarob Press books. Knowing that Peter Bell always tends to revise his old stories, i will probably get the hardcover when it is out. For now there is a paperback available on Amazon.

Good selection of the stories, although i would for prefer some uncollected stories to be included as well (''Officer Of The Watch'' for instance).
 
Kinda what I was beginning to think. Thank you for confirming.
Meantime -

Brian Howell

Howell, Brian - The Fracture And Others Of Modern Japan

Japan, Howell’s ongoing residence, stories here from the observer, the outsider.
These are not cherry blossoms, but throttled affairs of the insular and constrained.
Most begin with a mundane yawn, which is frequently subverted, or delves into transgression.

Kuras are outdoor storage buildings, and “The Man That Loved Kuras” is an older man who takes daily walkabouts. The small units interest him and he often asks to peer inside. When he comes across a pile of child pornography, he is terrified. Worrying, perhaps correctly, that authorities would declare “you found them, they must be yours.”
This fear is echoed later in “The Girl And The Paper Door” when another older man comes across something for more horrifying. Again, there is fear of an inefficient or lazy police force.

The new house would be larger, and the glossy advertisement tantalizes. Not just rainbowed happiness, but an implied, refreshing freedom. “Alsiso” what does that mean anyway? Jun and Kanae buy the home, as yet unbuilt; later on, forbidden opportunities present themselves.

In “Cut Pieces” the male client fantasizes about the woman cutting his hair.
In “The Mask” a male patient goes beyond dreaming of the female technician cleaning his teeth.
The latter summons more courage, yet both seem awkward and uncertain of females. With good reason.

The tone throughout this worrying collection overlays disconnection and alienation. A society with little use for the characters described. From useless elders to the superfluous. Those familiar with the cinema of Hikari or the subversive Hisayasu Satō will recognize the loneliness and futility.
 
Thank you for the Brian Howell review! I have mixed feelings about his writings:

- ''The Curious Case Of Jan Torrentius'' had some interesting parts but overall it was just ok. ''The Dance of Geometry'' was again ok, but i find it almost similar to Torrentius, writing and prose wise....

- Now, what i really liked was ''Sight Unseen'' and along with your review, these will be the reasons to give his new collection a try...
 
Charon said:
Thank you for the Brian Howell review! I have mixed feelings about his writings:

- ''The Curious Case Of Jan Torrentius'' had some interesting parts but overall it was just ok. ''The Dance of Geometry'' was again ok, but i find it almost similar to Torrentius, writing and prose wise....

- Now, what i really liked was ''Sight Unseen'' and along with your review, these will be the reasons to give his new collection a try...
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The Fracture paperback is affordable, the exterior laminated, not matte.
Howell captures the social constraints within Japan well, although narrative transitions are not always clear. Rather like Aickman.
Nemonymous said:
ADMTOAH

I think I was sent at least six contributor copies in 2013, and I saw it on sale at that time from at least Ziesing’s, ZAGAVA and Cold Tonnage.
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Zagava posting the older HC simply confused me.
I hope the new Zagava edition is selling well.
 
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