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The Return of Fursey

“Henceforth I will serve Evil. I’ll become a most depraved character. I’ll turn really wicked.”

This worthy sequel to The Unfortunate Fursey follows the continued exploits of that reluctant sorcerer Fursey, now a middling grocer in the realm of King Ethelwulf. But when Fursey’s wife is seized by an Irish delegation led by her jilted fiancé, Fursey resolves to embrace evil, return to Ireland, and reclaim his wife. Readers will delight in the return of Fursey’s unhelpful familiar Albert and the Prince of Darkness; plus such memorable new characters as George the Vampire, Sigurd the Skull Splitter, and the wealthy Festus Wisenuts. “The Return of Fursey shows no lessening at all in Wall’s quality of imagination,” wrote critic Robert Hogan. “As with the best of Charlie Chaplin, or of Anton Chekhov or O’Casey, the laughter is very akin to high art.”

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
The paperback edition is no longer available.
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Cover art by Jesse Campbell-Brown
Introduction by Michael Dirda

ISBN: 978-1-78380-006-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-768-0 (pbk)

The Unfortunate Fursey

“In Ireland anything may happen to anyone anywhere and at any time, and it usually does.”

The forces of evil have launched a determined offensive on the sanctified precincts of Clonmacnoise, and gain a bridgehead in the cell of Brother Fursey. But the hapless monk is so tongue-tied with fright that he cannot utter the necessary words of exorcism. When the other monks discover this, poor Fursey is expelled, and sets forth on the first stage of his travels accompanied by a fantastic procession of cacodemons, hippogriffs, imps, furies, and other dreadful creatures, not to mention the elegant gentleman in black who is their commander-in-chief. Reviewed in the Irish Times as “wildly fantastic, intensely satirical, and wickedly comic” and described by critic E. F. Bleiler as a “landmark book in the history of fantasy”, Mervyn Wall’s The Unfortunate Fursey remains a classic of modern Irish literature.

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
The paperback edition is no longer available.
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Cover art by Jesse Campbell-Brown
Introduction by Michael Dirda

ISBN: 978-1-78380-005-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-767-3 (pbk)

The Satyr

“It was the straying that found the path direct.” – Austin Osman Spare

In the final throes of the Blitz, Austin Osman Spare is the only salvation for Marlene, an artist escaping a traumatic past. Wandering Southwark’s ruins she encounters Paddy Hughes, a fugitive of another kind. Falling under Marlene’s spell Hughes agrees to seek out her lost mentor, the man she calls The Satyr. Yet Marlene’s past will not rest as the mysterious Doctor Charnock pursues them, trying to capture the patient she’d once caged. The Satyr is a tale inspired by the life and ethos of sorcerer and artist Austin Osman Spare.

Another three novellas of occult enchantment follow: a bookseller discovers that his late wife knew the Devil, in the Carpathian Mountains refugees shelter in a museum devoted to a forgotten author, and in Prague a portraitist must paint a countess whose appearance is never the same twice.

This omnibus is comprised of The Satyr (2010) and The Bestiary of Communion (2011); newly illustrated, expanded, and revised.

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
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Cover art by Stephen J. Clark

ISBN: 978-1-78380-007-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-741-3 (pbk)

The Anniversary of Never

“It was like a black and white film, or someone else’s memory.”

Joel Lane’s award-winning stories have been widely praised, notably by other masters of weird fiction such as M. John Harrison, Graham Joyce, and Ramsey Campbell. His tales also regularly appeared in the “best of” annual anthologies of Ellen Datlow, Karl Edward Wagner, and Stephen Jones. With this posthumous collection, Lane continues his unflinching exploration of the human condition.

“The Anniversary of Never is a group of tales concerned with the theme of the afterlife,” observed Lane, “and the idea that we may enter the afterlife before death, or find parts of it in our world.” These stories of love and death will burrow deep into the reader’s mind and impregnate it with a vision often as bleak as the night is black.

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
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Cover art by Polly Rose Morris
Introduction by Nicholas Royle

ISBN: 978-1-78380-008-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-749-9 (pbk)

Insect Literature

“The insect-world is altogether a world of goblins and fairies.”

As Lafcadio Hearn observes in his essay “Insects in Greek Poetry”, “the capacity to enjoy the music of insects and all that it signifies in the great poem of nature tells very plainly of goodness of heart, aesthetic sensibility, a perfectly healthy state of mind.” And to this, one might add a keen sense of wonder.

Insect Literature collects twenty essays and stories written by Hearn, mostly in Japan, a land where insects were as appreciated as in ancient Greece. With a witty gentleness bordering on the eerie, Hearn describes in these pieces the song of the cricket, the spectral flight of dragon-flies, quotes the entomological haiku of classical Japan, and recalls Buddhist tales in which the souls of insects and men are never far one from the other.

  •  This much-celebrated volume is back in print with a second edition hardback
  • Read more about the design of the Swan River Press edition of Insect Literature
  • More on Lafcadio Hearn can be found in various issues of The Green Book

Second edition hardback limited to 450 copies.

Cover art by Takato Yamamoto
Introduction by Anne-Sylvie Homassel

ISBN: 978-1-78380-009-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-740-6 (pbk)

November Night Tales

“History fades into prehistoric darkness . . . “

Each story in November Night Tales is a differently colored gem whose many facets reflect the lively mind of the author. Henry C. Mercer’s life-long interest in world mythology, fairy tales, local legend, symbols, and artifacts form the fabric of his tales. Here, the reader will find vanishing castles, secret sects, biological weapons, sinister wilderness, lycanthropy, possessed dolls, and mythical lands. The characters in each story are driven to explore the unknown, face their fears, and perhaps discover something of themselves in the process. The compelling narratives, infused with intelligence and humanity, leave the reader curious why the stories remain virtually unknown today, and mournful that there are not more to explore. United at last with the six original November night tales is a seventh, posthumously published story, The Well of Monte Corbo. First published in 1928, this new edition is fully illustrated by Alisdair Wood and features an introduction by Peter Bell.

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
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Cover art by Alisdair Wood
Introduction by Peter Bell

ISBN: 978-1-78380-010-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-760-4 (pbk)

Uncertainties 2

“Omnia exeunt in mysterium.” – Arthur Machen

“We think we know the world we live in, but we don’t—we very much don’t—and stories of the supernatural and strange, of the weird and the uncanny serve as a reminder of that.” – from the Foreword by Brian J. Showers

Uncertainties is an anthology of new writing—featuring contributions from Irish, British, and American authors—each exploring the idea of increasingly fragmented senses of reality. These types of short stories were termed “strange tales” by Robert Aickman, called “tales of the unexpected” by Roald Dahl, and known to Shakespeare’s ill-fated Prince Mamillius as ‘winter’s tales’. But these are no mere ghost stories. These tales of the uncanny grapple with existential epiphanies of the modern day, and when otherwise familiar landscapes become sinister and something decidedly less than certain . . .

  • Steve Duffy’s “The Ice Beneath Us” and Gary McMahon’s “What’s Out There?” were chosen for Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year 2016.

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
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Cover art by Chris Priestly
Selected and edited by Brian J. Showers
Foreword by Brian J. Showers

ISBN: 978-1-78380-015-5 (hbk)

A Flutter of Wings

“Strange,” he said to himself. “I had an idea that Pat’s Tommy was dead.”

First collected in 1974, the stories in A Flutter of Wings span Mervyn Wall’s entire writing career, dating back as far as the 1940s. Told in an easy style, tales such as “They Also Serve . . . ” and “Adventure” offer the same satirical sensibilities found in Wall’s classic novel The Unfortunate Fursey; while darker tales such as “Cloonaturk” and “The Demon Angler” are not without a hint of the grimly sardonic. In addition to an introduction by Val Mulkerns and illustrations by Clare Brennan, this new edition boasts the uncollected Jamesian fragment “Extract from an Abandoned Novel”, and Wall’s early play, Alarm Among the Clerks, a savagely hilarious and ultimately brutal depiction of office life.

  • More on Mervyn Wall can be found in various issues of The Green Book

Hardback edition limited to 300 copies.

Cover art and illustrations by Clare Brennan
Introduction by Val Mulkerns

ISBN: 978-1-78380-017-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-764-2 (pbk)

The Scarlet Soul

“Yet it was watching him, with its beautiful marred face and its cruel smile.” – Oscar Wilde

Art, obsession, love, lust, sorcery—ten contemporary writers respond to the imperishable themes of Oscar Wilde’s great Decadent romance, The Picture of Dorian Gray. What happens when a face, a form, an uncanny force changes everything we thought we knew? What survives of us when we stray into a borderland of the mind, where our deepest urges seem to call up remorseless powers?

Whether in fantastic imaginary realms or in the gritty noir of today, these new stories, all especially written for this anthology, take us into some of the strangest and darkest places of the psyche. These ten boldly original portraits in the attic take many disturbing forms, revealing strong truths about the secrets of our selves, our society, and our very souls.

  • More on Oscar Wilde can be found in various issues of The Green Book

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
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Cover art by John Coulthart
Selected and introduced by Mark Valentine

ISBN: 978-1-78380-019-3 (hbk)

Old Hoggen

“Old Hoggen had disappeared: and murder was naturally suspected.”

At the time of his death in 1912, Bram Stoker was preparing for publication three volumes of stories. The first, Dracula’s Guest, saw print in 1914; the second and third never manifested. Old Hoggen and Other Adventures is a tantalising possibility of one of these unrealised selections, and the stories in this volume span the author’s entire career. In reading them, one thing becomes clear: adventure and mystery rival even the gothic in Stoker’s literary heart. And yet, one will find among these pages many of the same themes found in Dracula: reverence for the dead, the malice of wicked men, black humour, hidden fortunes, daring bravery, exotic locales, a deep love of the sea, and the creeping intrusion of the supernatural.

  • More on Bram Stoker can be found in various issues of The Green Book

Our limited edition hardback is sold out.
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Cover art by Jason Zerrillo
Introduction by John Edgar Browning and Brian J. Showers

ISBN: 978-1-78380-018-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-78380-769-7 (pbk)

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