Books published by Valancourt Books

In his Bibliography of Prohibited Books (1885), Henry Ashbee, the noted Victorian collector of erotic literature, described Letters from Laura and Eveline as follows:"There is a boldness in the idea upon which are based the two letters comprised in this volume, which, in spite of its monstrosity, might, with an abler and more delicate treatment, have lent itself to the creation of an attractive narrative. Conceptions equally impossible and contrary to the laws of nature have been productive of readable stories. Laura and Eveline are hermaphrodites, capable of enjoyment both active and passive, and they recount the incidents of their weddings, which take place simultaneously. [...] After these details, as disgusting as they are absurd, follows the description of an orgie, still more filthy and impossible, enacted by numerous ladies and gentlemen, at a London club, in honour of the said nuptials. The work, which is from the pen of its publisher, is mainly remarkable for its gross obscenity both in idea and language, and possesses no literary merit whatever."Letters from Laura and Eveline was first published in 1883 and was marketed as an "appendix" to the better-known The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (1881). Inspired in part by the real-life case of Boulton and Park, two young men whose cross-dressing led to their prosecution for sodomy in London in 1871, this text is, as Justin O'Hearn argues in his introduction to this edition, a fascinating example of the erotic literature that was clandestinely published in the late Victorian era. This edition reprints the only example of the book known to exist, the copy of the 1903 edition held by the British Library, and features an appendix containing rare contextual materials and illustrations.

The discovery of piles of bones seeming to belong to a previously unknown species of monster will help to unfold a macabre and grisly tale. - A lady is found dead in her bed, the apparent victim of a murder the coroner proves could not possibly have occurred. - A merman found by fishermen off the coast of Brighton in 1745 will reveal the truth behind one of the most terrible events of the 20th century. - A desperate man makes a bad bargain with a man in black; an extraordinarily horrible dummy exercises a frightful control over his terrified ventriloquist; a condemned murderer lives again through the eyes of an innocent child . . . These are the plots of just a few of the brilliant tales you will find in this volume as you enter the bizarre world of master storyteller Gerald Kersh. With a focus on Kersh's science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories, On an Odd Note (1958) contains thirteen of his best. This first-ever reprint features a new introduction by Nick Mamatas. Contains: Seed of Destruction, Frozen Beauty, Reflections in a Tablespoon, The Crewel Needle, The Sympathetic Souse, The Queen of Pig Island, Prophet Without Honor, The Beggars' Stone, The Extraordinarily Horrible Dummy, The Brighton Monster, Fantasy of a Hunted Man, The Gentleman All in Black, and The Eye."Gerald Kersh had a wild imagination matched by a vivid, near-hallucinatory style. Many of his concepts are so original that they blur the distinction between fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and horror, but the cumulative impact of his short stories is horrific in the extreme." - Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural"Kersh tells a story, as such, rather better than anybody else." - Pamela Hansford Johnson, Daily Telegraph"Gerald Kersh has a strange, perverted sort of genius. And how he can write!" - Virginia Kirkus