The Brian Lumley Companion

by Brian Lumley (Editor), Stanley Wiater (Editor)

Overview

Edited by Brian Lumley and multiple Bram Stoker Award winner Stanley Wiater, The Brian Lumley Companion is an indispensable guide to the life and works of Brian Lumley. The Companion is illustrated with photographs from the author's private collection and full-color reproductions of Hugo Award–winning artist Bob Eggleton's eye-catching cover art for Lumley's works.

Contributors to The Brian Lumley Companion include some of today's most noted experts on horror fiction, including W. Paul Ganley, founder of Weirdbook Press and two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award; Stephen Jones, coeditor of Horror: 100 Best Books and winner of multiple World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards; Robert M. Price, author of H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos and one of the most respected analysts of Lovecraftian fiction; Robert G. Weinberg, an acknowledged specialist in weird fiction, and Stanley Wiater, host of the TV series "Dark Dreamers."

In The Brian Lumley Companion, Lumley aficionados will find an overview of Lumley's career, from his first short fiction up to the present day; essays comparing Lumley and H. P. Lovecraft, a lengthy interview with the author that delves into the heart of Lumley's relationship with the writers and editors who inspired him and the fans who support him, and analyses of Lumley's short fiction and novels. An interview with Bob Eggleton gives insight into the development of his striking covers for the Necroscope series and other Lumley works.

This companion also includes complete listings of the first publications of each of Lumley's novels, short fiction, and poetry. Major attractions are the detailed concordances that focus on individual novels and series, including the three Psychomech titles, the Dreamlands and Primal Lands series, and each volume in the Necroscope series.

As a special treat, The Brian Lumley Companion includes three short short stories by Brian Lumley, works that have never before appeared in book form.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429913256
Publisher:	Tom Doherty Associates
Publication date:	04/01/2007
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	395,852
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Brian Lumley is the author of the bestselling Necroscope series of vampire novels. The first Necroscope, Harry Keogh, also appears in a collection of Lumley's short fiction, Harry Keogh and Other Weird Heroes, along Titus Crow and Henri Laurent de Marigny, from Titus Crow, Volumes One, Two, and Three, and David Hero and Eldin the Wanderer, from the Dreamlands series.

An acknowledged master of Lovecraft-style horror, Brian Lumley has won the British Fantasy Award and been named a Grand Master of Horror. His works have been published in more than a dozen countries and have inspired comic books, role-playing games, and sculpture, and been adapted for television.

When not writing, Lumley can often be found spear-fishing in the Greek islands, gambling in Las Vegas, or attending a convention somewhere in the US. Lumley and his wife live in England.

Stanley Waiter is considered one of the world's leading authorities on horror filmmakers and authors. Two of his collections of interviews, Dark Dreamers: Conversations with the Masters of Horror and Dark Thoughts: On Writing, Advice and Commentary from Fifty Masters of Fear and Suspense, have won the Bram Stoker Award, and his Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the New Comics, co-authored with Stephen R. Bissette, was nominated for the Eisner and Harvey Awards.

Wiater hosts the cable television show Dark Dreamers, where he interviews noted authors and filmmakers in the horror and dark fantasy genres. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.

Brian Lumley is a Grand Master of Horror and a winner of the British Fantasy Award. His many novels, including Necroscope, have been published in more than thirteen countries around the world. He lives in England with his wife, Barbara Ann.

Stanley Wiater has been interviewing and writing about Stephen King for more than two decades. The award-winning author or editor of ten books, he is currently the writer and host of the television series Dark Dreamers, which showcases those who explore the dark side of the arts.

Read an Excerpt

John Wayne Meets the Pink Panther (aka Brian Lumley)
BY ROBERT WEINBERG
 
 
CONSIDER this writing exercise: Describe a unique individual, in a manner other than listing the usual facts and figures associated with his work or his career. Paint an honest word-picture of him as seen through your eyes. Do it in a way to inform and entertain an audience of writers and editors, people who are not easily impressed.
Sound challenging? Like most assignments, it depends entirely on the person in question. In the fantasy field, few individuals are both colorful and talented enough to make it easy. Brian Lumley leads that list. Let me tell you a little about him. Done strictly from a first-person viewpoint and colored somewhat by years of friendship.
First and foremost, there’s Brian’s appearance. Most authors just don’t look tough. We are by and large a very plain lot. Decadent and Goth are terms used to describe a small enclave of our community, but a vast majority of us blend in with the crowds at the supermarket. Despite the hundreds of skulls we’ve crushed beneath our jeweled sandals, the scores of arms we’ve ripped from their sockets, the dozens of bellies we’ve sliced open with one slash of our scimitar, we do not fair well dealing with used car salesmen. With one notable exception: Brian Lumley.
Brian does more than walk the walk and talk the talk. When you shake his hand, all of the clichés from those old detective pulp magazines pop into your head. This guy’s got the goods. There’s no need for him to mention his military background. You sense it right away. Meeting Brian Lumley, you suddenly realize here’s Harry Keogh and Titus Crow and a bunch of other Lumley heroes rolled into one. Brian’s a walking advertisement for his books, he’s the real McCoy, the genuine article. When he casually states he knows seventeen ways to kill you with the rolled-up newspaper you are holding in your hand, you believe him. Though Brian is always the perfect gentleman, there’s that certain glint in his eye that informs you that if you’re going to a book signing in Iran, this is the writer you want at your side.
Brian favors Western string ties—the kind with black straps and silver and turquoise slides. One possible explanation for this fondness is that they can easily double as a strangler’s noose. However, the more probable reason is that they are the type of neckwear favored by John Wayne. And Brian Lumley is the world’s greatest John Wayne fan.
Wonder what’s the most memorable line spoken by Wayne in the movie version of True Grit? Can’t recall the best fight scene in Wayne’s many westerns? Need a reminder of the Duke’s big break in Stagecoach? Ask Brian. But be prepared to be overwhelmed.
Not only does Brian Lumley know everything about Wayne’s roles, his dialogue, and his characters, but he can imitate the Duke’s voice with the skill of a trained impersonator. Brian does his impression with such verve and good humor that you’d swear he’s John Wayne’s long-lost brother who was raised in England. Which would probably be worth investigating if it wasn’t for his other favorites.
For Brian isn’t just a John Wayne fan. His tastes in films are broad and varied. He has an astonishing memory for film history and dialogue. And what he likes, he can mimic with astonishing skill. Brian does a great Humphrey Bogart. In fact, he does pretty good impressions of all of the male leads in Casablanca! But writers, even ones who lovingly describe unholy vampiric monsters from another dimension, don’t thrive on action alone. Along with the Duke, Brian’s other favorite actor is Peter Sellers, the sillier the better. In other words, in the Pink Panther films.
Brian doesn’t imitate Sellers. No one can. But he does know the Pink Panther movies inside out. He remembers every gag, every joke, every pratfall. And, if you let him, he will describe them to you with boundless enthusiasm while pouring you glass after glass of his special punch.
That punch deserves a paragraph in itself. The elixir, as concocted by Brian from an ancient secret recipe (handed down from Bran Mak Morn, I suspect, or perhaps even Cthulhu itself), is right out of the films. It’s the stuff that Bob Hope drank and then passed out. Miners used it to numb the cold, and race car drivers poured into their fuel tanks to get an extra kick in their engines. It’s the stuff that turned Casper into a ghost.
Might I mention Brian’s fiction? Over the past few years, he’s gained world-wide fame for his Necroscope series, which blends vampires and fast action in a wild brew that is incredibly addictive. But the Necroscope novels, while among Brian’s very finest work, aren’t his only claim to literary fame.
His H. P. Lovecraft pastiches are highly entertaining and definitely not the same old stuff. His tales of Titus Crow feature a psychic investigator who is pleasingly competent and quite dangerous when the necessity arises. And in those stories it always does.
Plus Brian also writes contemporary horror belonging to no particular series. Remember “Big C?” Or the award-winning, and particularly frightening, “Fruiting Bodies?”
Brian Lumley is an author of astonishing skills. And he is a gentleman of equally amazing talents. I’ve known him for more than a decade and I’m proud to be numbered among his friends.
Remember what I said about some assignments being easier than others, depending on the subject? Writing this one was a pleasure.
Class dismissed.
 
Copyright © 2002 by ShadoWind, Inc., and Brian Lumley

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction by Stanley Wiater,
John Wayne Meets the Pink Panther (aka Brian Lumley) by Robert Weinberg,
A Chronology of Important and/or Formative Events in the Life of a Writer by Brian Lumley,
Lumley as Lovecraft by Robert M. Price,
The Transition of Brian Lumley by Robert M. Price,
Demogorgon and Khai of Ancient Khem by Robert M. Price,
The Long, the Short, and the Tall Tales of Brian Lumley by Stephen Jones,
The Life, Death, and Undeath of Harry Keogh — A Necroscope Timeline by Melissa Ann Singer,
The Brian Lumley Interview conducted by Stanley Wiater,
An Interview with Artist Bob Eggleton conducted by Stanley Wiater,
A Bibliography of the Novels and Collections of Brian Lumley by Barbara Ann Lumley,
A Bibliography of the Short Stories of Brian Lumley by Barbara Ann Lumley,
A Bibliography of the Poetry of Brian Lumley by Barbara Ann Lumley,
Some Notes on Obscure Items and Special Editions by Barbara Ann Lumley,
Three "Stories" in Fifty Words Each by Brian Lumley,
Concordances,
Necroscope by Barbara Ann Lumley,
Necroscope II: Wamphyri! by Robb Coutinho,
Necroscope III: The Source by Golnar Dahesh and David Rigby,
Necroscope IV: Deadspeak by John Durant,
Necroscope V: Deadspawn by Phill Garnett,
Vampire World I: Blood Brothers by Nathan Murray,
Vampire World II: The Last Aerie by Stephen Dillon,
Vampire World III: Bloodwars by Barbara Ann Lumley,
Necroscope: The Lost Years, Volumes 1 and 2 by Tom Shearer,
Necroscope: Invaders by Deborah Alton,
Necroscope: Defilers by Peter McCabe,
Necroscope: Avengers by Barbara Ann Lumley,
Psychomech by David McDougle,
Psychosphere by David McDougle,
Psychamok! by David McDougle,
The House of Doors and The House of Doors: Second Visit by Nathan P. Murray,
The Dreamland Series by W. Paul Ganley,
The Primal Land Series by W. Paul Ganley,
Contributors,
About the Editor,

Editorial Reviews

The Brian Lumley Companion, edited by Brian Lumley and Stanley Wiator, is an indispensable guide to the Necroscope novels and other works by this successful British horror author. Contributors include such Lumley admirers and authorities as Stephen Jones, Robert M. Price and W. Paul Ganley.

Publishers Weekly

An indispensable guide.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher