My Creative Year 2017

Continuing a tradition (now in its fifth year), here's my annual look back at 2017 from a creative standpoint.

During the year, I wrote a lot of essays for this blog but no short stories at all, focussing instead on my psychological thriller novel.  I started it in early May and finished, 140,000 words later, at the end of October.  It's been an exciting project and I'm now working on the second draft, with the intention of shopping it around to agents in the new year - wish me luck!

* * *
I had one short story published, A World Outside Your Window, in 12 Dark Days: One Hell Of A Christmas, edited by Dean M. Drinkel from Nocturnicorn Books.  The anthology appeared, in print and digital editions, in December.

My collection, Things We Leave Behind, was published on 15th July by Dark Minds Press and launched at Edge-Lit 6, alongside Laura Mauro's excellent novella Naming The Bones.

At the launch, Laura read an extract from What We Do Sometimes, Without Thinking whilst I read the first few pages from her novella

My novella, Polly, was published on 30th November by Stormblade Productions, with an online Facebook launch that evening (you can see a transcript of the fun here).


* * *
Things We Leave Behind featured in Chad Clark's Top Reads for 2017, which was very pleasing.

James Everington included What We Do Sometimes, Without Thinking (from Things We Leave Behind) in his annual Favourite Short Stories round-up.

What Gets Left Behind featured in Tom Johnstone's 2017 Review Of The Year.

* * *
The Crusty Exterior managed another gathering, meeting at Astley Book Farm in Bedworth before heading off for a curry to help celebrate Steve Harris' 50th birthday in May.  Loads of friends, thousands of books, we had a great time.  And at Sledge-Lit, plans were hatched to meet up again next year...

Just after an enjoyable curry with, from left, James Everington, John Travis, Steve 'birthday boy' Harris, me, Phil Sloman and Steve Bacon

In June, Earls Barton held its first Literary Festival.  My friend Sue Moorcroft appeared on Saturday 10th, with her "route to number one" and I (in my first Lit Fest experience) had a slot on Sunday afternoon (which I wrote about here).  My talk was called "How can you write what you know when you write horror?" and centred around my novella The Mill.  I had a decent audience who listened attentively, laughed at the funny bits (I think the Grand Hotel in Scarborough gets more gothic every time I describe it) and asked some good questions. A terrific experience and it instantly made me want to do it again.

picture by Sue Moorcroft

On October 11th, I was part of a "Meet The Authors" panel with Sue and Louise Jensen (both of whom are best sellers) held at Kettering Library, moderated by John Griff of BBC Radio Northampton.  It was a terrific evening (Dad came along with me and proved to be a hit himself) with a good-sized and engaged audience, John kept the questions coming, the panel acquitted themselves well, we all had a laugh and books were sold.  I had a really good time.

Me, Sue, John and Louise 

I'm pointing at Dad, who finally got to ask his question, much to Sue and Louise's amusement

As a favour for Dad, I did a reading & writing session for the Rothwell Beavers Group in early December.  To them, he's Badger, the group leader and they were all surprised when I revealed he was my dad, the only person who used to read my stories when I began writing at their age (he stopped reading them when I - doubtless much to his relief - started writing horror, a genre he's not particularly fond of).  I wrote them a little Christmas tale and had great fun doing it - two elves help Santa but then he gets accidentally knocked out so they need to get some help - and left the ending open for the kids to finish.  I didn't really know what to expect but the response was superb and every single one of those Beavers either wrote or drew a conclusion to the story with some fantastic flights of imagination.  As much I enjoyed the evening itself, the next day was even better when I saw this feedback from one parent.


* * *
I attended three great Cons in year.  The first was Edge-Lit 6, held at The Quad in Derby on 15th July (see my report here), followed by FantasyCon, held at The Bull Hotel, Peterborough from 29th September to 1st October (see my report here) and I rounded out the year with the excellent Sledge-Lit 3, held at The Quad in Derby on 25th November (see my report here).

At Edge-Lit 6 with, from left, Peter Mark May, Richard Farren Barber, me, James Everington

On a panel at FantasyCon - from left, Ramsey Campbell, Phil Sloman, me, Helen Armfield, Nina Allan and James Everington

Priya Sharma, Steve Harris, me, Simon Bestwick (front) and Peter Mark May

At Sledge-Lit with, from left, Becky Moore, me, Tracy Fahey, Steve Bacon, Lisa Childs, John Travis and James Everington

Interviewing Alison Littlewood - pic by James Everington

* * *
I'm feeling confident for 2018 too, as I plan to crack on with the novel and plot out more, plus I have a few things due to be published and a couple of novellas to write.  I'll keep you updated as how things go.

As always, thank you so much, dear readers of this blog, for all your support in 2017, especially those who bought, read and liked my work - I really do appreciate it.

Edge-Lit 6, Derby, 15th July 2017

I was really looking forward to Edge-Lit 6 (organised as ever by Alex Davis) for several reasons - it’s always good to meet up with old friends, I like the event a lot (you can read about Edge-Lit 4 here and 5 here), I like the venue and, this year, my new collection Things We Leave Behind was being launched by Dark Minds Press.

from left - Peter Mark May, Richard Farren Barber, me, James Everington

I picked Sue Moorcroft up and we set off, busy catching up since she’s been away in Italy for a fortnight at Atre Umbria, teaching (for the first week) and writing (23k words!) her new novel (for the second week).  In fact, we were talking so much (and trusting the Sat Nav system, which I hadn’t set up for myself in my new car) that by the time both of us were saying “I don’t remember this bit of road” we were some miles away from our target and heading for Uttoxeter.  Turning around and paying slightly more attention, we got to the Assembly Rooms car park at 11.15 and were crossing the square to the Quad soon after.  Lisa Childs was the first friendly face I saw, looking out of the window and giving us a big wave and then Peter Mark May joined in, so all was well.

me, our publisher Ross Warren and Laura Mauro

Pixie Puddin was on the reception desk and looked fantastic, healthy and happy.  We hugged (both commenting there was so much less of each other), caught up, I bought (lots of) raffle tickets and then got signed in.  In the bar, our gang had taken over the far corner and we quickly joined them.  It was good to see Steve Harris, John Travis, James Everington and Lisa again (we’d last seen them a couple of months back, at Steve’s 50th which we spent in Wolverhampton), along with Ross Warren (publisher of Dark Minds Press), Pete and Richard Farren Barber.  Steve Bacon came along a little while later, as did Dion Winton-Polak and Angeline Trevina who also looked happy and healthy.  Laura Mauro and her husband Rob (from then on called Mr Mauro by just about everyone, including himself) came over to join us and it was good to see her again.  As well as my collection, Dark Minds Press were launching her novella Naming The Bones (which is excellent, I reviewed it here) and Ross got us to sign pre-orders, handed over our advances and also gave us both a gift - Laura got a signed photo of Krycek from The X-Files, I got a carded Stormtrooper in a presentation pack.  Equally thrilled, we decided that a similar deal would now be part of any future publishing agreements - she gets an autograph of her favourite actor, I get a carded Stormtrooper.  We discussed plans for our section of the launch then Sue & I ordered lunch and ate it chatting and catching up with people (and I managed to off-load most of my chips to Steve H and John).

Me, Ross and Steve Bacon

At 12.45 we trooped upstairs to the Box.  The small press launch was split between Dark Minds, Quantum Corsets and The Sinister Horror Company, with Laura & I leading the charge.  I suggested we swap books to read from and, as she’d already told me she loved my story What We Do Sometimes, Without Thinking, she agreed.  As we sat down I suddenly realised the Box, usually half full at best for a launch, was packed, with people standing at the sides too.  No pressure then!  I spotted Jay Eales & Selina Lock and had a quick chat with them, saw they were sitting one seat on from Susan Sinclair from my writing group so I introduced them all, said hello to Penny Jones and then saw Kevin Redfearn & Hayley Orgill, always a treat.  Also saw Gary McMahon and Mark Morris, but didn’t get to say too much to them, more’s the pity.

Mr Mauro is in the bottom picture, leaning forward with glasses

At 1pm, we went to the podium and with Ross deciding to stay behind the book table, I introduced the session and then us two.  Laura read first, the car park sequence from my story (it was an interesting experience listening to someone else read it) then I read the opening few pages of her novella, before we got a good round of applause and went to sit down for the others to take their turn.  When they had, we authors and editors sat behind the table and a nice long queue formed - we signed and chatted with buyers until all the copies Ross had brought along were sold!  Laura & I were both well chuffed, taking great delight in calling each other “sellouts!”

The queue for buyers and signings

Back at the bar (I didn’t manage to get to any of the panels at all!), we took over a table and saw and spoke to a whole range of people - Steven Chapman (finally, after a couple of years of not seeing him at all), Daniel Hooley, Martin Roberts & Helen Hopley, Graeme Reynolds, Ben Jones, Ole Andreas Imsen, CC Adams (who flicked his pecs to get me and Steven to his table), Fiona Ní Éalaighthe (and her fabulous ear), Theresa Derwin, Andrew Hook (thanks for the Bond book!) & Sophie Essex, Adele Wearing (got several hugs!), Charlotte Courtney-Bond, Georgina Bruce, Gary Couzens, Steve Shaw and Terry Grimwood.  Conversation was wide, varied and always thoroughly entertaining and I even managed to (kind of) hold my own (very briefly) in a comics chat with Jay & Selina.

Steve, Pixie Puddin and me (and even more raffle tickets)

Having bought even more raffle tickets from Pixie (she’s so hard to resist!), we went up for the raffle where I finally saw and said hello to Kathy Boulton (though in long-standing Con tradition, we didn't get to say much else)!  Ross (who never knowingly under wins) & I sat together on a bench seat, which was fun and while he won (typical), I didn’t get anything.  At all.  Ho hum.

Losing at the raffle but still smiling...

Back to the bar (when it suddenly dawned on me, with horror, that I hadn’t led a delegation to the 2nd hand book stall in Eagle Market and by then it was too late), we got everyone together and trooped over to Ask Italian for dinner.  As always, we picked up extra people on the way and the restaurant couldn’t accommodate all twelve of us on one table so we were spread out, which was a shame but were still fairly close together.  Dinner was fun, the food wasn’t bad but the conversation was excellent and the bill was relatively reasonable too (though, of course, hardly any of us had the correct change).

Look at those lovely books!

All too soon it was time to leave and we hugged and shook hands and chatted, then hugged and shook hands again.  Plans were made to meet up before FCon (there really is something special about spending time with friends who love reading and writing as much as you do) before we headed off our respective ways.  Sue & I walked back to the Assembly Rooms car park with Ross & Lisa and Steve H & John so we all paid, hugged once more and then went to get our cars (whereupon I realised I’d left my Stormtrooper in the bar, so had to drive round to get it).

The journey home (we didn’t trust it to the Sat Nav) was quick (and scary at one point, when an idiot drove onto a roundabout at full speed just in front of us) and filled with conversation, a lovely end to a cracking day.

Edge-Lit 6 was, for me, another resounding success - old friends, talking about books and the pleasure of sharing launch space with Laura.  What more could you ask for?

Roll on FantasyCon!

You write this, you get this...

Things We Leave Behind

I'm pleased to announce that my second collection, Things We Leave Behind, will be published by Dark Minds Press and launched (alongside Laura Mauro's excellent novella Naming The Bones) at Edge-Lit in Derby on Saturday 15th July.

cover art by Neil Williams (Mr Stix is there on the back cover)

This second volume of short stories (following Strange Tales, which was originally published in 2003) features eighteen tales spanning the length of my published career to date (the earliest here, All The Rage, appeared in 1999).

It's been a pleasure working with Anthony Watson & Ross Warren at Dark Minds on this (I approached them back in 2016 to see if they'd be interested and was nicely surprised that they were), though Ross continually mocks my two-spaces-after-the-full-stop technique.  Searching through my back catalogue was fun, the editing process was interesting (re-reading a story that's seventeen years old and having to resist the urge to re-write it all is hard) and the cover (with art by Neil Williams) is perfect (and it's good to see Mr Stix make an appearance).  To top it off, Johnny Mains offered to write the introduction and that was the icing on the cake.

Where I've blogged about the stories before, the link will take you to that post.

ALL THE RAGE

first published in Unhinged Magazine Issue 4, 1999

A QUIET WEEKEND AWAY

first published in The Fourth Book of Terror Tales, 2010

A COTTAGE BY THE SEA

first published in Hauntings, 2004

MR HUXTON GOES CAMPING

first published in AltDead, 2011

COME SEE MY HOUSE IN THE PRETTY TOWN

first published in Ill at Ease, 2011

WHAT WE DO SOMETIMES, WITHOUT THINKING

first published in Shoes, Ships and Cadavers: Tales from North Londonshire, 2010

LAST TRAIN HOME

first published in Fogbound from Five, 2012

LOOKING AT ME, SEEING YOU

first published in Darker Minds, 2012

FOG ON THE OLD COAST ROAD

first published in Hauntings, 2012

WHAT GETS LEFT BEHIND

first published by Spectral Press (Chapbook #7), 2012

THE BUREAU OF LOST CHILDREN

first published in Ill at Ease 2, 2013

THE TASTE OF HER

original to this collection

THE WITCH HOUSE

first published in Urban Occult, 2013

MR STIX

first published in For the Night is Dark, 2013

THE GLAMOUR GIRL MURDERS

first published in Anatomy of Death, 2013

TIME WAITS

first published in Darkest Minds, 2015

THE ZABRISKIE GRIMOIRE

first published in The Grimorium Verum: Volume 3, 2015

ISSUES OF DISRUPTION

original to this collection

"Mark and I have an uncomplicated friendship. We met through Facebook, both probably crowing over ratty old paperbacks, which we both have an affinity for, and met for the first time at Alt-Fiction, Leicester 2012. We had a beer or three, had a great chat, and became firm friends. We always talk about...you guessed it…old ratty paperbacks. I love it when life is simple and you don’t need to talk about anything else except which author wrote what book about bubonic maggots eating spleens from a cabal of cannibal nuns…"

- Johnny Mains, from his introduction

With a range of stories, from quiet horror to gleefully gruesome, I'm very pleased with the collection and I hope - if you take a chance on it - that you are too.

The book will be available as both paperback and ebook editions.

Strange Tales: Special Edition, now an ebook

The Tenth Anniversary special edition of "Strange Tales" is now available as an ebook from PenMan Press

Table of Contents

Infantophobia

Having A Bad Day

Empty Souls, Drowning

Dead Skin

Speckles

Up For Anything

Together Forever

The Darkest Hour

The City In The Rain

Dreaming Of A Black Christmas

Beach

plus - A Quiet Weekend Away

Story Notes
Publishing History

The book is available from Amazon for the introductory price of 77p.  Get it while it's hot!

About the collection...

Originally published by Rainfall Books in December 2003, the collection was well received and picked up some nice reviews and, more importantly, sold out - which I was really pleased about.  

It hasn't been available since 2004, though second hand copies do occasionally surface and often for much more than the original cost (I assume the higher priced ones command such a fee because they’re among the few that are unsigned).

This Tenth Anniversary edition, from PenMan Press, is a facsimile of the original Rainfall Books version, with the addition of an introduction and a bonus short story “A Quiet Weekend Away” (which originally appeared in Terror Tales 4).  I have resisted the urge to update the stories - so Internet use isn’t widespread, mobile phones are basic and not at all smart and there aren’t many digital cameras - and I’ve also carried over the original artwork (if it ain’t broke…).

What others had to say at the time...

Mark West’s crisp economic style reels you straight in, and the horror hits you hard and quickly and refuses to lay off.  He writes from the dark underside of our everyday human existence, calling on the sort of personal demons one could easily imagine lying in wait for any one of us.  Tread here at your peril…”
- Paul Finch, author of “Stalkers” and “Sacrifice”

Mark West is an excellent, young writer.  His compelling stories have a well-crafted, slowly-increasing sense of tension and dread, sometimes with a hint of creepy paranoia reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick mixed in, the endings always abrupt and chilling, like an unexpected splash in the face with ice water.
- Gene O’Neill, author of “The Burden Of Indigo” and “The Taste Of Tenderloin”

Mark West is a powerful and unique voice in horror literature.  ‘Strange Tales’ is a chilling masterpiece of spine-tingling stories!
- T.M. Gray, author of “Feast Of Faust”

Mark West's Strange Tales are stronger, more gristly meat. His simple, unembellished style belies the often visceral subjects, imparting compassion and logic to a series of abnormal psychopaths and deranged souls. If you're at all squeamish, look away now...
- Simon Morden, author of “The Samuil Petrovitch Trilogy”

Buy it from Amazon here

ebook built by Tim C. Taylor at Greyhart Press

Pick up the paperback version of the book from Lulu.com here

Strange Tales, the 'special edition' collection

The Tenth Anniversary special edition of "Strange Tales" is now available again in print, from PenMan Press, with an ebook coming very soon.

Table of Contents

Infantophobia

Having A Bad Day

Empty Souls, Drowning

Dead Skin

Speckles

Up For Anything

Together Forever

The Darkest Hour

The City In The Rain

Dreaming Of A Black Christmas

Beach

plus - A Quiet Weekend Away

Story Notes
Publishing History

The book is available at Lulu.com for £5 (plus £2.99 post and packing, which is the charge they apply) and that's the same inflation-busting cost (£7.99) as the original edition.

Alternatively I have a few copies which I will be selling for £5, plus £1.50 p&p and I'll personalise these as requested.  If you're interested in one of these, please email me at m.west31@btinternet.com or leave a comment below.

About the collection...

Originally published by Rainfall Books in December 2003, the collection was well received and picked up some nice reviews and, more importantly, sold out - which I was really pleased about.  

It hasn't been available since 2004, though second hand copies do occasionally surface and often for much more than the original cost (I assume the higher priced ones command such a fee because they’re among the few that are unsigned).

This Tenth Anniversary edition, from PenMan Press, is a facsimile of the original Rainfall Books version, with the addition of an introduction and a bonus short story “A Quiet Weekend Away” (which originally appeared in Terror Tales 4).  I have resisted the urge to update the stories - so Internet use isn’t widespread, mobile phones are basic and not at all smart and there aren’t many digital cameras - and I’ve also carried over the original artwork (if it ain’t broke…).

What others had to say at the time...

Mark West’s crisp economic style reels you straight in, and the horror hits you hard and quickly and refuses to lay off.  He writes from the dark underside of our everyday human existence, calling on the sort of personal demons one could easily imagine lying in wait for any one of us.  Tread here at your peril…”
- Paul Finch, author of “Stalkers” and “Sacrifice”

Mark West is an excellent, young writer.  His compelling stories have a well-crafted, slowly-increasing sense of tension and dread, sometimes with a hint of creepy paranoia reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick mixed in, the endings always abrupt and chilling, like an unexpected splash in the face with ice water.
- Gene O’Neill, author of “The Burden Of Indigo” and “The Taste Of Tenderloin”

Mark West is a powerful and unique voice in horror literature.  ‘Strange Tales’ is a chilling masterpiece of spine-tingling stories!
- T.M. Gray, author of “Feast Of Faust”

Mark West's Strange Tales are stronger, more gristly meat. His simple, unembellished style belies the often visceral subjects, imparting compassion and logic to a series of abnormal psychopaths and deranged souls. If you're at all squeamish, look away now...
- Simon Morden, author of “The Samuil Petrovitch Trilogy”


Pick up the book from Lulu.com here

Strange Tales is coming back (in a 'special edition')

Having discovered the small press in 1998 (via Dark Voices 5, an anthology edited by David Sutton & Stephen Jones), I began publishing in it during 1999.  Back then, Internet use wasn’t widespread so all of my appearances were in print zines, which was a wonderful experience for a newly published writer (I wasn’t new at the game though, I started writing stories at the age of eight).

My successes began to build and in early 2003 I approached John B Ford at Rainfall Books with the idea of him publishing my first collection.  He agreed and gave me a 30k word limit, so I selected my stories and lightly revised them.  He also agreed to me designing the cover, which I was keen to do after experimenting with software I got with our first digital camera.  I talked over ideas with Alison and, in the end, she agreed to be my model.  I still - ten years later - think it’s a great image and it’s still the header for my website.

I first saw the book (in proof form) in October at a Terror Scribes gathering in the Cittie Of York pub in Holborn and when John handed it to me I had to sit quietly for a few moments, just turning it over in my hands.  The collection was launched (along with four other Rainfall titles) at a BFS Open Night at the Princess Louise, Holborn, in London, in December 2003.  I did a reading (“The Thief Of Road Signs”, since it’s short), then caught up with old friends and signed loads of copies, whilst slotting my home-made bookmarks into them.

Thankfully, the collection was well received and picked up some nice reviews and, more importantly, sold out for Rainfall Books, which I was really pleased about.

As it is, “Strange Tales” hasn’t been available since 2004 though second hand copies do occasionally surface and often for much more than the original cost (I assume the higher priced ones command such a fee because they’re among the few that are unsigned).

To that end, I’ve decided to re-publish the collection - as a Tenth Anniversary edition - through my little imprint PenMan Press.  This ‘special edition’ will be a facsimile of the original Rainfall Books version, with the addition of an introduction and a bonus short story “A Quiet Weekend Away” (which originally appeared in a Rainfall Books anthology).  I have resisted the urge to update the stories - so not much Internet, mobile phones are basic and not at all smart and there aren’t many digital cameras - and I’ve also carried over the original artwork (if it ain’t broke…).

The Special Edition will be available in October and I hope that if you decide to pick it up you’ll enjoy the tales (and the me that was writing back then).  These stories have been good to me and I’m pleased to see them have a new lease of life.

Mark West’s crisp economic style reels you straight in, and the horror hits you hard and quickly and refuses to lay off.  He writes from the dark underside of our everyday human existence, calling on the sort of personal demons one could easily imagine lying in wait for any one of us.  Tread here at your peril…”

- Paul Finch, author of “Stalkers” and “Sacrifice”

Mark West is an excellent, young writer.  His compelling stories have a well-crafted, slowly-increasing sense of tension and dread, sometimes with a hint of creepy paranoia reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick mixed in, the endings always abrupt and chilling, like an unexpected splash in the face with ice water. 

- Gene O’Neill, author of “The Burden Of Indigo” and “The Taste Of Tenderloin”

Mark West is a powerful and unique voice in horror literature.  ‘Strange Tales’ is a chilling masterpiece of spine-tingling stories!

- T.M. Gray, author of “Feast Of Faust”

Mark West's Strange Tales are stronger, more gristly meat. His simple, unembellished style belies the often visceral subjects, imparting compassion and logic to a series of abnormal psychopaths and deranged souls. If you're at all squeamish, look away now...

- Simon Morden, author of “The Samuil Petrovitch Trilogy”

My Three Investigators collection

After my marathon re-reading of the Three Investigator series from 2008 to 2010 (all the reviews are listed in this separate blog), I took a year off from them, then re-read The Mystery Of The Invisible Dog at Christmas 2012 (since it’s set at Christmas) and this year had started a re-read of my All Time Top 10.

Then I saw an email on the Yahoo group I belong to from Seth Smolinske, pointing out that 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the series first being published - he has correspondence dating from August 1963 between Robert Arthur (the series creator) and Walter Retan (the series editor) discussing the series, which can be found on his site here.

With that in mind, I think I’ll hold off until next year my planned “Nostalgic For My Childhood” post about the Three Investigators and also the remainder of my Top 10 re-read - hey, you have to celebrate these things.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of my collection.

The books standing up are my 'original' first 34 (the book at the end is Whizz Kids: "How To Be A Detective" from 1979).  

I got the box-set for Christmas 1981.  

The paperbacks stacked up are the remaining format B paperbacks I had to get to complete my collection, plus the start of my new format A hunt.  

The hardback of "Skeleton Island" is the same one I first read back in 1978, whilst the other three are recent purchases from eBay.

The first book in the series I read was “The Secret Of Skeleton Island” by Robert Arthur, which I found as a hardback in the school library.  It was 1978, I was nine and I was smitten.  I read as many of the books as I could find in the school library and the town library and, when I’d exhausted those resources, I started picking up the paperback editions (published by Armada), which were then widely available.

Since I started collecting them from 1980 onwards or so, most of my editions are the Armada format B paperback, though a small number were only ever published in format A (which stopped in 1980).  Once I’d got the first 30 (that being published in 1980, the year Alfred Hitchcock died) and the next four, I stopped collecting and my books sat on a shelf, though I didn’t go back to them too often.

My preferred edition, format B, is on the left with cover art by Peter Archer.  On the right is the format A edition, also with cover art by Peter Archer.

The editions are the same size, though this photograph doesn't seem to suggest that.

Format B on the left, A on the right.  For some reason, the later edition dropped the idea of a smaller illustration from the story, in favour of a group shot.  Note how the 'blurb' is slightly different too.  And look at those prices!

Again, these editions are the same size (my angle was off for the photograph).

At some point, around ten or twelve years ago, I suddenly got the notion that it’d be great to have my entire collection in format B - excepting the four that never appeared in it - and that meant a lot of browsing in 2nd hand bookshops and on eBay.  I did quite well and finally picked up the last title - ironically enough, “The Secret Of Skeleton Island” - in a bookshop in Leicester this year (which I detailed in this blog post).

The only thing was, once I’d found this edition - effectively achieving my ambition - I realised that I’d actually enjoyed the hunt and so, after thinking about it, I’ve started looking for the Collins hardback editions and the other format A paperbacks.  Hey, it’s a hobby - and it’s also helping to preserve the books, which otherwise might disappear altogether.  My son knows all about them (he was the one who found the format B edition in that bookshop) and the collection is right there, so perhaps he’ll read one.  If he does, I truly hope it opens his imagination as much as these wonderful books did mine, all those years ago.

Large format Collins hardback, with cover art by Roger Hall (who also created the interior illustrations seen in all the editions)

format A paperback on the left, with cover art by Peter Archer, who also produced the cover for the format B paperback on the right.

In the meantime, if you’re interested, the following three sites are well worth checking out.

Seth T. Smolinske’s U.S. Editions Collector Site which is a trove of incredible information and archive material.

Philip Fulmer’s Three Investigator site which, amongst other treasures, has a complete run-down of the stories and the illustrations (some of which he was kind enough to allow me to use on my site)

Ian Regan’s exhaustive and comprehensive The Three Investigators: UK & Commonwealth Editions Database, which is a terrific resource (and, again, he was kind enough to allow me to use some of the scans for my site)

And don't forget my review blog as well!

The Secret Of The Crooked Cat

Just in case you didn't know (I refer you to this post, this post and this blog), I'm a big fan of The Three Investigators series of books.  I started reading them in 1978 or so, have a full set of the first 30 (all the format B editions that were published, which I recently completed with The Secret Of Skeleton Island, as I wrote about here) and still love them.

Once I'd completed my format B set (which took several years, lots of 2nd hand bookshops and ebay), I realised that I'd actually enjoyed the hunt so decided to try and get as many format A editions as I could (I have about half a dozen or so at the moment).

I only have one hardback, the "Skeleton Island" one that started everything off and it never occurred to me to try and collect them - if you check ebay, they're usually very expensive.  But then, earlier this week, I found a Collins hardback first edition (from 1971) of The Secret Of The Crooked Cat on ebay and they only wanted £6 for it.  Thinking I couldn't lose, I bought it and it arrived today and it's fantastic.  The cover only has a couple of dinks in it, the pages are white and clean, there are no markings and the line drawings (by Roger Hall) are the clearest I've ever seen them.

Major result!

I now have the story - one of my favourites of the series - in three editions.

The Collins Hardback First Edition was first printed in 1971 (the one I have) and last reprinted in 1973.  The cover art and internal illustrations were by Roger Hall.

The Armada Paperback (Format A) was first printed in 1973 (my version) and last reprinted in 1980.  The cover art is by Peter Archer, with the same interior illustrations as the hardback, by Roger Hall.

The Armada Paperback (Format B) - the one that my collection is made up of - was first printed in 1982 (my version) and last reprinted in 1983.  Cover art is by Peter Archer again, with Roger Hall's interior illustrations reprinted from the hardback.