Musings From Oblivion's Vault

Crawl Wood at Sunset, Lower Dinchope, Shropshire 30th October 2011. © John Gale   Just a quick appearance to let you know that Saraband of Sable is now out of print from the publisher, Egaeus Press. I would like to thank everyone who took the trouble to purchase a copy or utter appreciative things about the book. Many, many thanks indeed to you all.

 A Fairy Tale by Arthur Wardle (1864-1949) [Source: Victorianweb.org ] But the most pleasing of the things at the Queen’s palace is the Queen’s garden: be-walled it is and reached by three hundred onyx steps, with admittance via a locked and fragrant gate of carven cedar, with the wood dyed to the hue of jasper: but jasper dark and mournful. A rather late announcement, but available now from the ever-beautiful Egaeus Press is The Book of Flowering edited by Mark Beech. As with all the books published by this press, it is a wonderfully crafted production and I strongly urge anyone interested to swiftly acquire this sumptuous volume before it goes out of print, as I'm sure it will do. My contribution is entitled 'A Garden of Sorrow and Sorcery' and it is a strange and empurpled Faerie Tale. Originally it was to form the centre piece of a different story - and still does, as a synopsis - and act as the key to that story, but unfortunately the tale grew an...

I write almost exclusively to satisfy myself - unless I'm invited to contribute work to an anthology - so it is always extremely pleasing when I discover that something I have written finds a connection with someone out there in the wide and wondrous world. I would be the first to admit that my tales are not everyone's favourite tipple. So seeing my work in print is always, and I hope will always remain so, one of my ultimate thrills. So I was delighted a few week's ago to come across a very generous mention of Saraband of Sable and A Damask of the Dead  on a blog entitled oddly weird fiction . Many thanks Nancy O. Also, for those interested, Des Lewis has always been very kind to my work. His real-time reviews are always highly enjoyable. They can be read here and  here .

Saraband of Sable is now up for pre-order from the publisher, Egaeus Press . The volume is a highly pleasing production in their Keynote Series: the format is pocket-sized, a delightful elegance in a mournful black and gold that you can journey anywhere with and be the envy of everyone you meet. Of the eight titles that go to make up the contents of Saraband of Sable , two have never been published before. One of them, 'Protector of Thieves' , is a Clark Ashton Smith pastiche set in his Hyperborea series. This piece was originally written several years ago for a collection of new Hyperborean tales, but it wasn't used. On reflection, I'm quite pleased it was never accepted for its proposed destination because the stories used in the anthology were, barring the odd one or two, generally uninspiring fare. The second unpublished tale,  'In the Palace of the Lost Winter Stars', grew out of two phrases that I suddenly thought of  - "the rose-opal twilight...

I would like to announce a new collection of my work due soon from the superb Egaeus Press . This will be in their Keynotes series: a small format volume in black cloth with a panel in gold for the title and author. A beautiful and elegant design and I am extremely pleased to be a part of this occasional series from an excellent small press. The title of the new book is Saraband of Sable and it will consist of a number of uncollected, unpublished and hard to find tales. I am very happy indeed with this collection and  I look forward eagerly to its publication. Currently Saraband of Sable is due for publication sometime during July 2018, When I have any further news I will of course announce it here. Pan Paramount, Laurence Housman http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration////housman/28.html

Due soon from Brian Shower's excellent Swan River Press is an anthology of ten new stories edited by Mark Valentine, tales that respond in many differing ways to the themes of Oscar Wilde's  The Picture of Dorian Gray . The line up of authors is as follows: Reggie Oliver, Caitriona Lally, Lynda E. Rucker, John Howard, D.P. Watt, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Avalon Brantley, Timothy J. Jarvis, John Gale and Derek John. My contribution is entitled 'A Labyrinth of Graves', the title taken from a poem by John Warren, Lord de Tabley. I was working on the story when Mark asked me if I would be interested in writing for the anthology. Obviously, I said yes. Fortuitously the main themes of the tale in progress seemed to fit perfectly. The story has quite a long history, because I originally had the idea for the tale at the end of the 1990s. I only wrote around a hundred words at the time, and under a different title, 'The Ship Forever-Seeking', before I...

Just after last Christmas I completed a new story called In the Palace of the Lost Winter Stars, unfortunately I failed to finish it in time for the anthology it was intended for, so at the moment it's awaiting a home. However, I felt that the first few hundred words, with a little editing and a fresh ending, would make a decent little prose poem. So here it is. The ending here, by the way, is closer to my original intention for the story: the longer piece - over 5000 words -  has a completely different dénouement.   In Opal Twilight I walked out into the white and wondrous garden with my visitor; out into the transformed world that was now filled with the rose-opal luminescence of twilight, for a fine snow had fallen heavily for half the day. We strolled to the end of the pallor-mantled garden and through the black gate in the white yew hedge, then across the lane, now hidden beneath a crisp mask of ermine, and so into the wood beyond. My pal...