Aha. I’ve been waiting for this book — although technically I don’t really need it. You do.
Beating the likes of Random House and Little Brown and their ilk to the punch, Hippocampus Press just gathered under one set of covers the three volumes of biography Harold Billings wrote covering the life of M. P. Shiel — pal of Arthur Machen, influence on H. P. Lovecraft, mystery, horror, science fiction and adventure writer, and when he was going for it one of the most baroque stylists you’re ever likely to run across.
I got the original releases in their limited first editions and reviewed them, doing my part to nudge along the Shiel Cult. I was lured into it by my pals Steve Eng and John D. Squires, and keep a hand in to this day.
The first two volumes — Early Years and Middle Years — covered Shiel’s origins and emerging literary life in great detail. And as I say in review, who would have thought that one of the most famous British science fiction writers of his era — alongside figures such as H. G. Wells — would have been raised as a black kid in the Caribbean? His Irish and African roots led to a parlor game at Machen’s parties in Gray’s Inn in London, where the guests would try to guess Shiel’s ambiguous racial origins.
The book that would have been Final Years didn’t get the same depth of detail, appearing instead as the truncated An Ossuary for M. P. Shiel. Done as a deluxe small hardback in Bucharest in a run of some 85 copies, when I did my review I worked off a Word doc Billings sent along — the first edition had sold out before I heard it existed.
Now you can grab all three in a solid trade paperback — or eBook — and if you have any interest in Shiel, obviously the Billings bio is essential. If you are working in the vicinity of Lovecraft criticism or the history of early science fiction, more valuable additions to your reference collection. And Billings wasn’t boring — the 500 pages in one volume do clip along.
Looks as if the price will hover around $30. Pretty much the usual these days. But to put it into perspective for the hesitant, a lot cheaper and easier than sucking around trying to round up the first editions. The late Scott Connors noticed my review of Ossuary on June 2, 2016. Lucky for me, Scott was undergoing one of the occasional financial slumps that shadowed him around and asked if I wanted to buy his copy to help him out. On August 15, 2016 I handed over $200 for copy 45 of 85. Happy to do it, but a couple of bills makes $30 seem like a steal, right?
This omnibus contains all the material — including the many photos — from the original trilogy, plus a few useful extras such as a list of Shiel’s books — and a list of known periodical appearances “Compiled by John D. Squires.” The late great JDS, a Shiel fanatic for many years, also gets major play in a footnote or two.
A footnote to M. P. Shiel — JDS would have loved it.
