{"id":1818,"date":"2016-05-01T14:39:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T14:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=1818"},"modified":"2016-05-30T11:03:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-30T11:03:22","slug":"a-chill-equation-john-coulthart-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-chill-equation-john-coulthart-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chill Equation – John Coulthart and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re back, with bumper fun in the form of the wonderful Equation Chillers<\/em> series, including Algernon Blackwood<\/strong>. We’re also going to enjoy the work of a couple of weird artists in the field \u2013 the renowned John Coulthart’s<\/strong><\/span> Lovecraftian art and the mysterious Boris Dolgov<\/strong> with his pulp illustrations from the forties and fifties.<\/p>\n

We’ll start with John Coulthart<\/strong><\/span>, because we’ve been in touch with him recently. When we interviewed him at length on greydogtales<\/em> at the end of last year (see john coulthart – axioms & other dark beasts<\/a>), he alluded to various forthcoming projects, and two of these are here, or on their way soon.<\/p>\n

\"Moby<\/a><\/p>\n

The first is the new collection from Barnes and Noble, The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales<\/em> by H P Lovecraft<\/strong>, a massive book of six hundred pages in their Collectible Editions<\/em> line. As you might expect, it contains twenty three of those Lovecraft stories which relate to what later became a whole myth cycle (for which August Derleth<\/strong> is mostly to be praised or blamed). The book includes six collaborative “revisions”, and has an introduction by Lovecraft scholar S T Joshi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Moby<\/a><\/p>\n

Mostly importantly for us (we have read a lot of HPL already, after all), it has wonderful front and back covers, plus endpapers, by John.<\/p>\n

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We haven’t yet seen a UK distributor for this, but here’s the link to the US source:<\/p>\n

cthulhu mythos- barnes and noble<\/a><\/p>\n

Also worth a mention is John’s work for a new collection, Out of Tune Book Two<\/em>, for which he has provided fifteen new illustrations. This is due to be published by JournalStone<\/em> sometime soon.<\/p>\n

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####<\/p>\n

Right, let’s go back a few years. Nearly three decades, in fact. One of our finds of the late eighties was the short-lived Equation Chillers<\/em> series. Sadly, only eight books were ever produced directly under the imprint. We have battered copies of all of them which we bought at the time, thank goodness.<\/p>\n

They were, in a way, the precursor of the Wordsworth Editions, where lost, rare or unusual stories of the supernatural suddenly became available at an affordable price. Equation revived a whole haunted house full of Victorian and Edwardian short stories, and it’s worth noting all eight volumes here, with the occasional comment from us.<\/p>\n

1) THE FLINT KNIFE<\/span>.<\/strong> Further Spook Stories by E.F. Benson<\/strong>
\nSelected and introduced by Jack Adrian<\/strong> (1988).<\/p>\n

2) IN THE DARK.<\/strong> <\/span>Tales of Terror by E. Nesbit<\/strong>
\nSelected and introduced by Hugh Lamb<\/strong> (1988).<\/p>\n

(No, you’re right – we couldn’t find our copies of the two above to scan them. It’s that damned Magic Loft again…)<\/em><\/p>\n

3) WARNING WHISPERS.<\/strong> <\/span>New Weird Tales by A.M. Burrage<\/strong>
\nSelected and introduced by Jack Adrian<\/strong> (1988)<\/p>\n

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\n4) STORIES IN THE DARK.<\/strong><\/span> Tales of Terror by Jerome K. Jerome, Barry Pain<\/strong>, and Robert Barr<\/strong>
\nSelected and introduced by Hugh Lamb<\/strong> (1989)<\/p>\n

\"jerome\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An uneven but fascinating collection from the author of <\/em>Three Men in a Boat and two of his friends and colleagues. Jerome and Barr founded <\/em>The Idler magazine together in the late 19th century, though Barr is best remembered for his crime and detective novels. Pain was a writer and editor himself, producing a lot of non-supernatural work. Readers may already be familiar with his story <\/em>The Undying Thing.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Haunted Mill by Jerome himself is an especially wonderful example of his dry sense of humour.<\/em>
\n5)<\/strong><\/span> BONE TO HIS BONE.<\/strong><\/span> The Stoneground Ghost Tales of E.G. Swain<\/strong>
\nIntroduced by Michael Cox<\/strong> (1989).<\/p>\n

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We daren’t say much about this one, because we’ve often droned on about E G Swain being one of our favourite writers of the supernatural. Gentle, humorous and wonderful little stories with perfect characterisation, to be read again and again.<\/em><\/p>\n

Uniquely, this volume not only reprinted the 1912 edition of <\/em>The Stoneground Ghost Tales but included six stories by <\/em>David Rowlands<\/strong>, excellent later pastiches of Swain’s content and style. Rowlands has also written many tales of his own, including those concerning \u201cthe endearing Father O’Connor, who is constantly brushing up against the supernatural and the uncanny in stories that range from the whimsical to the terrifying\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

6) THE MAGIC MIRROR.<\/span><\/strong> Lost Supernatural and Mystery Stories by Algernon Blackwood<\/strong>
\nSelected and introduced by Mike Ashley<\/strong> (1989)<\/p>\n

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An interesting and diverse collection, particularly as it includes a number of Blackwood’s tales for the BBC, including the text of the very first official radio ‘talk’, by Blackwood, from July 1934 – <\/em>The Blackmailers. The BBC director responsible apparently commented \u201cI don’t doubt that we shall have a good many letters from listeners saying that we are corrupting the youth of England with morbid fancies and distasteful subjects\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n

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dolgov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blackwood went on to make over sixty radio broadcasts, and you can listen to one of them here:<\/em><\/p>\n