There are many reasons why, on paper, The Night Land should fail -- the POV, the language, the flagellative romance, etcetera -- yet the whole works and is very rewarding if one puts in the effort.

One thing that has struck me is that it is an almost literal example of the hero's venture into the underworld, returning with the boon that heals humanity (in this case love). It is also an inverse of the Orpheus myth: instead of losing Eurydice, the hero/Orphic figure succeeds in bringing her back to the overworld, and does not die as a result.

phillipAellis Wrote:
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> ...once the current edition of Tales of Horror and
> the Supernatural is exhausted then the book will
> go out of print (due to the ready availability of
> the Penguin Machen).


Bad news, I'm afraid. Tales of Horror and the Supernatural has sold out. (And I was looking forward to getting it...)

Does any one know if a copy is still to be had, even if it isn't through Tarturus?

Did you write to Ray Russell at Tartarus about this. I doubt he is going to leave the book out of print for long. Also, the Knopf edition upon which this is based is not all that difficult to find used.

The language in THE NIGHT LAND does not bother me once I get past the prologue. It is the alternation between gushing sentiment and abuse in the romance that bogs me down every time. Brilliant book, but his rhapsodies about her pretty little feet and the spankings he gives her when her carelessness puts them into danger are a bit hard to take, especially since she is virtually always treated as some kind of distant object rather than as a human being with a personality separate from the narrator's.

When I last emailed Ray Russell, that's when he told me it would be going out of print. At a guess, I would probably say that the Tales would remain out of print while the Penguin Machen remains in print.

There are, though, many editions of the book, and secondhand copies are very easy to find at the usual places online. Some of the editions are in multiple volumes (for example, the Panther edition) so you may need to consider that, and one or two earlier editions lack pieces. The Tartarus Press editions shouldn't be too hard to track down, though they may tend to be a tad pricey. The early Tartarus items tend to attract high prices, but since they are very attractive, top quality, they are well worth the cost.

I was lucky enough to pick up a slightly scuffed and battered edition of Tartarus' ToHatS at a very reasonable price online... beats me why someone would buy a luxury edition and treat it like shit, but it's structurally sound, so their loss is my gain. I'm sure it's still available on eBay or via Amazon Marketplace if you look. Also it might be worth searching on BookFinder.com. I doubt the latter editions have shot up in price so soon. Tbh I'm not surprised that Tartarus have ceased printing it, it can't be a big seller anymore with so many cheaper ways of getting Machen's core tales.

The English Assassin Wrote:
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> beats me why someone
> would buy a luxury edition and treat it like shit

I used to buy brand new Tartarus books from Amazon UK, and they would invariably arrive with their dustjackets covered with black fingerprints. If you buy directly from the publisher, you may end up paying more, but there are no fingerprints. (Now I am starting to wonder if those Amazon fingerprints were all from the same person, and who that person might be.)

One of my main bugbears about Tartarus books is the dust jackets are fingerprint traps... they're lovely books, but I wish they'd chosen a different, darker colour for their dust jackets... I'm really not a fan of the beige/cream/yellow colour that most of their titles are clad in... in fact I'd sooner they stayed away from the boutique look and went with more individual covers, maybe keeping a house style, but less generic... like Penguin used to do.

Still, I know what you mean about amazon UK - their warehouse drones are NOT booklovers!!! I've sent many a book back over the last few years and at times have had to receive compensation (only a nominal amount) due to a book being no longer available. My edition of ToHatS was secondhand tho, so I can't blame Amazon for that one (and it was only £8, so I'm not complaining).

The English Assassin Wrote:
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in
> fact I'd sooner they stayed away from the boutique
> look and went with more individual covers, maybe
> keeping a house style, but less generic... like
> Penguin used to do.

A selection of Penguin covers:

[www.abebooks.com]

I see Tartarus have just made Gawsworth's rare The Life of Arthur Machen available in paperback, with some extra goodies, for those who are interested in such things...

[tartaruspress.com]

Draugen,

Machen's non-fiction ranges over a vast array of subjects, so there may be a lot not to your taste, or there may be a lot you'll grok. Who knows, save the deity?

As it happens I've been glacially working towards editing a collection of Machen's prose about poetry. With luck it'll find a receptive publisher, and the green light from the estate, so I can have a welcome collection of his prose out under my editorship.

I am going to hunt out At Dusk for my collection. I expect I'll have to find a secondhand copy, but if I do I'll make sure I can get it signed.

Thanks Philip! Well, I've ordered Far Off Things and it arrived yesterday, a very smart looking book. Tempted to go for the Gawsworth book too.

Excellent to hear that Far Off Things has arrived! I ordered the Gawsworth biography first thing news of it turned up, so I hope to see it with the associated goodies. *happy dance*

I am so looking forward to relaxing with the cat on my lap, tonight, maybe with a good book.

shades of darkness--that there is no dawn or day. When the characters awake from their slumbers, it's still dark. It was surprisingly hard for me to keep this simple fact in mind.





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