Valancourt Books discussion

Have a book or author you think is worthy of returning to print? We've discovered many of our titles simply by our fans recommending them to us.

What we look for:

* Books that fall within one of our specialties: weird/horror/supernatural fiction, gay interest titles, neglected literary classics.

* Books that are not currently in print with any other US publisher (even if another publisher only has them as e-books), and preference is given to books that are difficult or expensive to find on the secondhand market.

Feel free to recommend books to us here!

As a gay interest title, one book in particular that I've been wanting to read for ages is 'Special Friendships' by Roger Peyrefitte. It might be due for a reissue, worth considering!

Just finished 'The Plaster Fabric,' loved it. Would never even have known about it if it hadn't been for Valancourt returning it to print. Fantastic!

Hey Dexter, that's a really great suggestion! I know of the book and always assumed it was still in print. We'll have to look into it more and see what we can do. It would be a great title to add.

Thanks!

-Ryan

This might seem like a silly question but how do you know if a book is out of print?

Hey Tom, the easiest way to do a quick check is looking to see if any of the major online retail outlets (Amazon, BN, etc.) have a title listed as 'available' and provides a time frame to ship. If the title is only available through a third party, it may have been taken out of print by the publisher and only the back stock is being sold.

That's a starting point, at least. :)

I've requested this title on your blog quite awhile ago, but I'm going to give you a nudge here as well. I think this would be perfect for your press, and it is definitely out of print and ridiculously expensive:

Master Of Fallen Years: Complete Supernatural Stories
Vincent O'Sullivan

http://www.brainwashed.com/c93/htdocs...

Please please please consider it!

It's definitely under consideration and thanks for checking back with us! I read through his first short story collection, Book of Bargains, after you recommended the author. He's really someone we'd be interested in doing. The Master of Fallen Years I am unable to track down a copy near us (yet). WorldCat has a few copies listed at university libraries, but because the rarity of the title and it being a limited print, it can't be ordered through interlibrary loan.

I'm still waiting to see I can find more copies of the original books. Only a handful seem to be available on Archive.org.

Thanks! I'll keep you posted if we can track down more.

-Ryan

Thanks for considering doing this reprint, Ryan. I've sent you a message with a little more information regarding this book. Fingers crossed it will eventually come to fruition! :)

I second Master of Fallen Years!

I'd also like to suggest:

Stories of the Strange and Sinister by Frank Baker
Thirteen Uncanny Stories by Hans Henny Jahnn
The Baphoment by Pierre Klossowski
The Collected Stories of Hubert Crackanthorpe
The Times Deceas'd by Timothy D'Arch Smith

Hey Ross, the Frank Baker one is pretty high on our list once we can get our claws on a copy of it.

The others sound pretty intriguing as well. I'm familiar with some of the names but not necessarily the works. I'll do a little research on them and see if it's something we can do.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm always in support of more gothics or Minerva Press books! Any Eleanor Sleath (Can't wait for Orphan of the Rhine!), Regina Maria Roche or (I can dream) Isabella Kelly books would be high on my wish list.

Hey Charlotte!

We have close to twenty Gothic/early Victorian titles that have been in the works for years. Unfortunately they are the most difficult to do. Right now the majority of the outstanding ones are waiting on the introductions from the contributing scholars.

I have Children of the Abbey still waiting. I'm extremely excited about getting that one out because it's one of my favorites! We also have another Francis Lathom title, one of his best (in my opinion) and of course Horrid Mysteries and The Orphan of the Rhine.

A collection of Graveyard poetry may be out later this year, though!

:D I've been a fan for years, and it's so great to see how much you guys have done! I have a number of the gothics you've done so far, and they are great.

OH YAY for Children of the Abbey!! My copies are all older and crumbly, and it's one of my favorites as well. Looking forward to the Lathom and the graveyard poetry. *cracks the whip on those contributing scholars* :D

Any plans to publish michael mcdowells " cold moon over Babylon"?
I'm so glad to finally see The elementals and The Amulet re- issued !!

Thanks Ron! We're looking into Cold Moon so you might see see it later this year. If it gets finalized I'll let you know. :)

-Ryan

Do you think you might also be able to publish Katie or Gilded Needles by Michael McDowell sometime soon?

It just depends on whether we can get the rights to the title from the agent/estate. I'd like to see us do Gilded Needles too. We haven't really looked into Katie, Wicked Stepmother or Toplin and I'm not sure we'd do those any time soon.

Felony & Mayhem also has four McDowell titles published under his pseudonym Nathan Aldyne: http://felonyandmayhem.com/book_autho...

And I saw you're already familiar with Tough Times and their Blackwater reissues.

Glad to see so much interest in McDowell! :)

very underated author i'mcurrently rereading
your reissue of Elementals and its as great as i remember , been a long time , also been awhile for Cold Moon but, i remember loving it!

Thanks Ron! Glad you're enjoying it.

Ron, we have a buddy read of The Elementals going on starting today. You should join us! :)

Will do!

Which group?

They're reading it over in the Horror Aficionados group:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

A really great group with the most friendly and fun horror fans out there. As I'm sure Char will tell you!

Thanks for posting the link for me!
I was posting from my new phone.
By the time I figure out how to do things on it, it will obsolete. :)

I would love to see James Kirkwood Jr. saved from oblivion.

I was required to read Good Times/Bad Times for a Modern Novel class in high school. Shortly after, I devoured a few of his other novels:

P.S. Your Cat Is Dead
Hit Me with a Rainbow
Some Kind of Hero
There Must Be a Pony

These would fall under "gay interest" even if the gay part is understated or non-existent.

Great recommendation, Nancy! We're both a little shocked that his works are out-of-print. We have some of his titles so we'll see what we can do. We like the author and he'd be a perfect addition to our catalogue!

I have a copy of P.S. Your Cat is Dead

Tom wrote: "I have a copy of P.S. Your Cat is Dead"

I have all the titles I mentioned above and am afraid to open them or they may crumble.

Any chance of publishing some William W. Johnstone? His horror novels?

We haven't looked into him yet but he has some books that would be fun to do! I'll check on his estate and see what's available.

Thanks for the rec! :)

Awesome! His books are so hard to find. I have one of his books and enjoyed it quite a bit. I know they can be cheesy 80s horror, but that's what I like:)

I'm right up there with you on the cheesy 80s horror! I'm familiar with his books, just haven't looked into publishing his titles yet. He'd fit well with us, though!

Great! Hope you can add him:)

It appears William Johnstone's horror titles are already in the works so they will be available on Kindle sometime in the future from Kensington.

Good rec, though!

The Woman (Malombra) by Antonio Fogazzaro. I can send you a first American edition. :)

I found a copy so I'll look into it soon!

Under the neglected literary category, I would love to see John Kelly's two novels back in print. They are All Soul's Night (1947) and Alexander's Feast (1949).

I first heard of him while reading an old Gore Vidal essay on the state of American literature in the early fifties. Vidal says, "John Kelly, whose two novels have been oddly neglected, has created a perverse, bravura world like nothing else in our literature..."

He died rather young and his wife donated all of his papers to the UVA library, which I believe includes a manuscript for an unpublished third book.

I think they might be a good fit.

Hey Craig!

It does sound like a good fit. I make a monthly run to UVA to pick up a stack of books so I'll look into these when I'm there next.

Thanks!

-Ryan

Awesome! Thanks for looking into that for me Valancourt:)

Cold Harbour

Francis Brett Young's Cold Harbour.

Recommended by no less than old H.P. Lovecraft himself.

I've heard good things about it but I've never read it. It's copyrighted and currently in print so that publishing company probably has exclusive rights. I'll look into it, though. Sounds good!