I get email and even real letters about stuff!

First, the sort of unalloyed praise I thrive on (hint, hint).

Dear David,
Just to say congratulations on the excellent ST 15 and I am so glad you
have recovered from the eye operation, which must have been a very
stressful time. All the best, Jane Jakeman.

Jane is a writer of historical mystery novels. Her story 'The Demon Lover' will be appearing in ST very soon. Well, soon-ish. Next up, an American in Dublin puts me straight about what may the most complex publishing venture EVAH!


David,

Supernatural Tales 15 arrived this morning! Many thanks for the review of the Haunted History series! I will forward your kind words on to the writers. Do you mind if I use snippets of the review on my website where applicable?

Just a few comments: I don't think any of the booklets are "out of print"--the ones that don't appear for sale on my website were only ever obtainable privately through the authors. (Although I have seen some of the other titles appear in places like Cold Tonnage, etc.) But as far as I know, anyone with enough determination can still get copies of all the booklets!

"Blind Man's Box" appeared in MASQUES OF SATAN, but it was written originally for this series and published as a booklet in June 2007. Unfortunately I had to send you photocopies of this one as I no longer have any copies of my own! Similarly, Mark Valentine's story "The Seer of Trieste" was written for this series, but it also appears in his new collection THE NIGHTFARERS (which I hear is landing on doorsteps today!) A new Valentine collection is always cause for celebration!

If you liked these stories, you'll be happy to know that I'm in the final stages of editing an anthology called HAUNTED HISTORIES for Ex Occidente Press. Can't say when it will be out exactly, but the contents will include all six stories you've read, plus seven or eight new stories written especially for the book! It's my first real foray, aside from my humble booklets, into editing... fingers crossed!

Thanks again! I look forward to the stories! Especially the one by Rosalie Parker!

Brian

Crikey, he's keeping busy. Find out more about Brian here.

Also re: ST15, I've received a letter from my old friend David G. Rowlands about the collection The Other Passenger by John Keir Cross. I'll be printing his comments in full in ST16. If you don't know David's work, try to get your hands on one of his collections of traditional, beautifully-crafted ghost stories. Mind you, they're not cheap. His collection The Executor is selling for a hefty seventy-five quid on AbeBooks at the moment.

And yet more stuff keeps arriving. My friend and assistant editor Katherine Haynes is putting together a chapbook of her stories to make 30 years in publishing. This means she started when she a mere slip of a girl. Anyway, she decided that her collection - Daydreams and Nightmares - would benefit (if that's the word) from an introduction by me. I wrote one a while ago, but she's changed the contents slightly so I'm doing another one. She has sent me the new story entitled 'The Cupped Hands'. Katherine tells me she deliberately tried to think up a title Machen might have used. I think she's got it right.

It's all go here at Chateau Valdemar. I've just had some ice cream - Lyle's Golden Syrup Flavour - and now I must set to with a will.