Blog | Swan River Press

Why Can’t You Write Something Nice? An Interview with Lynda E. Rucker

24 July 2016

Conducted by Steve Duffy, July 2016 Lynda E. Rucker is an American writer born and raised in the South and now living in Europe. Her stories have appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies. She is a regular columnist for Black Static, has had a short play produced on London’s West End, and won the 2015 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Short Story. Her first collection, The Moon Will Look Strange, was published by Karoshi Books in 2013. Steve Duffy: So first of all, congratulations on the Shirley Jackson award! Lynda E. Rucker: Thank you! Congratulations on yours as well! …

Fritz Leiber’s “The Pale Brown Thing”

19 June 2016

This is my first UK edition; also ex libris Joel Lane. My earliest exposure to Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) was via the adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser as they fought and drank and caroused their way through Lankhmar (City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes!) and realms beyond. I’ve still got my old Ace pocket paperback too, a prized item in my biblio-treasure hoard. Ill Met in Lankhmar was a thrilling tale set in some far-away land, but it wouldn’t be long before I discovered a work by Leiber that took its cue more from the real world – though was …

Dublin Ghost Story Festival 2016

18 February 2016

So this is pretty exciting news. For quite some time I’ve been pondering the idea. Is it even possible? The question kept me up nights, brain scheming. I remember a while back now – a year and a half ago, maybe? – talking to John Connolly on Dame Street after a chance meeting. I asked him if he thought it could be done, if it should be done. “Yes. Definitely,” he said. No hesitation. And who am I to argue? So this week we made the final arrangements. Ladies and gentlemen: Do you like ghosts? Do you like books? Do …

Our Riverine Head

14 February 2016

I never intended for Swan River Press to have a formal logo. But the stony-faced image used on the website – the visage that’s made its way into some of our publications, on postcards, tote bags, and of course at the top of this blog – has inadvertently become the press’s logo. In this post I’d like to tell you about where it came from and what it means. Back in 2003, I published the first Swan River Press chapbook: The Old Tailor & the Gaunt Man. I put “Swan River Press” on it mainly as an afterthought as I …

The Passing of J. Sheridan Le Fanu

6 February 2016

28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873 18 Merrion Square Dublin Feb. 9th /73. Dear Lord Dufferin, I write a line to tell you of our terrible loss. My darling father died on Friday morning [7 February] at 6 o’Clock. He had almost got over a bad attack of Bronchitis but his strength gave way & he sank very quickly & died in his sleep. His face looks so happy with a beautiful smile on it. We were quite unprepared for the end. My brother Philip & I never left him during his illness & we were hopeful and happy …

“A Fantastic Shower of Books” by Des Kenny

14 January 2016

[The following article appeared, extensively shortened, in the November/December 2015 issue of Books Ireland. It appears here in full by kind permission of Des Kenny of Kenny’s Bookshop & Art Gallery in Galway.] He emerged from the stacks of books. It seemed as if he had resided there forever waiting his moment to join the human race again. In his hands were two books, a collection of short stories Ivy Grips the Steps by Elizabeth Bowen, the Anglo-Irish writer from Bowen’s Court, Co. Cork, and a copy of the Bucknell University Press book on the esoteric poet AE, George Russell, …

“Henry C. Mercer’s Fonthill” by Jonathan Eeds

15 December 2015

Over the summer I had the pleasure of visiting Fonthill, the astonishing storybook mansion designed and built by Henry C. Mercer. Fonthill’s eccentric architecture draws thousands of visitors a year, but scant few can claim any knowledge of Mercer’s other extraordinary achievement: a slim volume of strange stories called November Night Tales. I can thank Peter Bell for my literary adventure to Fonthill — a journey of over 3,000 miles from my home in Oregon. I had not heard of Mercer until I read Peter’s article about NNT in Wormwood (issue 22). It was here that Peter extolled the originality …

Happy Birthday, Mr. Stoker!

8 November 2015

Today is 8 November 2015—Bram Stoker’s 168th birth anniversary. To celebrate both his birthday and the launch of the Bram Stoker Bronze Bust Project, we are selling today only for a special price our Complete Bram Stoker Series. That’s all seven hand-sewn booklets for €30.00. (The booklets normally sell for €10.00 each. You can do the math, I’m sure.) If you’re itching already, you can click here to buy it. Otherwise read on. The Stoker Series was originally published from 2009 to 2011. We launched the series as a means to investigate some of the more obscure but no less …

Sorry, lads! Dracula’s Not Irish . . .

4 October 2015

A few doors down from where I work is a boarding house in which Bram Stoker once lodged for a few months before permanently relocating to London, where he would work for much the rest of his life for the celebrated actor Sir Henry Irving. Other than that, the house is notable as being the only building in Dublin with a plaque on it dedicated to Stoker—and, by the way, some think it might not even be the correct building. But that’s a rant for another day. Anyway, numerous times per day, tour guides passing on buses proclaim from their …

Lafcadio Hearn’s Insect Literature

2 October 2015

I’d like to write about our forthcoming book, Lafcadio Hearn’s Insect Literature. Actually, I don’t want to write about Insect Literature so much as I’d like an excuse to tell you how a Swan River Press book gets put together. I’m inordinately proud of this one too, because it has so many meaningful features worked into its design. I’ll just start at the beginning. For a long time Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) had been on my mental list of Irish authors I’d like to showcase. But I’d always hesitated as much of his work is already widely available and in inexpensive …

Lafcadio Hearn and Mitchell McDonald

12 September 2015

A reproduction of the following holographic letter was printed at the front of the first edition of Insect Literature (Hokuseido, 1921). It was written by Mitchell McDonald, a paymaster for the United States Navy and also the principal owner of the Grand Hotel in Yokohama. In addition to their close friendship until Hearn’s death in 1904, McDonald also served as the author’s literary executor. Mitchell McDonald perished in the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923. The letter is addressed to R. Tanabe, T. Ochiai, and M. Otani, commending their efforts on the bilingual “Hearn Memorial Translations” series, of which Insect …

The Green Book 6

1 September 2015

THE GREEN BOOK: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature