richard dalby is responsible for some superlative anthologies, amongst them - dracula's brood, the christmas series and the stunning modern ghost stories by eminent women writers. here richard talks about his career and his many antholgies.

JOHNNY: How did you get started in the field of supernatural/horror anthologies, and what was your first publication?

RICHARD: When the series of Tom Stacey Reprints began reviving neglected novels from the 1890’s up to the 1930’s, I contacted Tom Stacey and Anthony Lejeune (the editor of the series) with the suggestion of an anthology of a similarly neglected and unfamiliar ghost stories from the same period, and this was immediately accepted and contracted.

I had recently discovered a copy of the London Mercury magazine, dated Nov. 1936 which contained the last and long forgotten ghost story by M.R. James, A Vignette, which I was very pleased to include in my anthology which was called The Sorceress in the Stained Glass, with the title coming from Lewis Spence’s ghost story which first appeared in the Grand Magazine, Jan. 1920.

This first anthology contained several of my favourite writers – J. Sheridan Le Fanu, William Hope Hodgson, Ambrose Bierce and A.M. Burrage – and also five others who I was much later destined to reprint in individual collections: H.R. Wakefield (1978), E.F. Benson (1992), E. & H. Herron (1993), F. Marion Crawford (1999) and G.M. Robbins, a.k.a. Mrs L. Baillie Reynolds (2003). The anthology also included five of the best horror stories from Philip Allan’s Creeps series.

The Sorceress in the Stained Glass was published a few weeks before Christmas in 1971. It sold quite well, but was never reprinted. I was then asked by Stacey and Lejune to edit a second ghostly anthology for the same series. This was titled The Spectre Spiders from W.J. Wintle’s story, and publication was scheduled for Oct. 1973. Two months after I corrected the final page-proofs in July, Tom Stacey Ltd suddenly went into receivership.

The Spectre Spiders was due to be published on the same day as Stacey’s first British edition of Castle Skull by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr), and apparently bound copies of both titles were stored somewhere in a large warehouse, together with remaining stocks of other ‘Stacey Reprints’ titles, but these could not be released. The stocks of Castle Skull eventually went to Severn House, who published it in 1976. Not a single copy of The Spectre Spiders ever came to view. Were they all pulped? Three and a half decades later, I keep hoping to find a stray second hand copy!

JOHNNY: Did you continue editing anthologies in the 1970’s?

RICHARD: In the mid-1970’s I offered The Spectre Spiders and three or four other ghost/horror anthologies to various paperback publishers – Pan, Fontana, Sphere, Corgi, etc – but none were accepted, so I was never an active part of the paperback scene during this decade or the 1980’s. Many of the stories in those anthologies later turned up in my three Robinson Mammoth Books of Ghost Stories, and the six Michael O’ Mara Christmas books. My only supernatural production in the late 70’s was The Best Ghost Stories of H. Russell Wakefield, published by John Murray in 1978.

JOHNNY: Do you think that the horror short story has been a neglected genre since the explosion of the fat horror novels of the 80’s?

RICHARD: It became quite neglected in Britain during the 50’s, when the leading genre writers like H. Russell Wakefield and John Metcalfe were still alive, but totally ignored by all publishers – apart from August Derleth at Arkham House. Of course, the tide changed exactly 50 years ago with the birth of The Pan Book of Horror Stories series; great annual bestsellers during the 60’s and 70’s (but not so successful in the 80’s), and there is no sign of neglect today, thanks to Stephen Jones and his annual Mammoth Book of Best New Horror anthologies, and so much more, plus the innumerable small presses.

John Connolly’s Nocturnes (2004) has been reprinted several times in both hardback and paperback, showing this genre is more popular than ever – and certainly not neglected!

JOHNNY: And onto the Pan Horrors, do you have any further thoughts on them?

RICHARD: My favourite Pan Horrors were the first four volumes, which were mainly reprints, with several of the older classic writers. I first discovered William Hope Hodgson in the third Pan with The Whistling Room. As I’ve always preferred fantasy and ghost stories to non-supernatural horror tales, I’ve always preferred the two Fontana series of ghost and horror to the Pans. I never met Herbert Van Thal, but I did meet Robert Aickman (at his house in Gower Street, near the British Museum) and often corresponded with him. He was a very knowledgeable and interesting character, and a unique writer of strange tales.

JOHNNY: Which anthologies are you most proud of?

RICHARD: I’m especially please with my three Virago books ( ’87, 88 and ’91), as women writers had previously formed only a very small percentage of earlier anthologies – often less than 10%. The new omnibus selection of these books (2006; and paperback in 2008) is still selling well. I’m also quite proud of my vampire anthology Dracula’s Brood (1987) which has gone into several editions; my three Mammoth Books of Ghost Stories (1990, ’91 and ’95); and the six Christmas anthologies – Ghosts for Christmas (1988), Chillers for Christmas (1989), Mystery for Christmas (1990), Crime for Christmas (1991), Horror for Christmas (1992) and Shivers for Christmas (1995).

The most satisfying and beautiful volumes I’ve edited were those published by Ghost Story Press during the 90’s, all highly limited collectors items. David Tibet did a really wonderful job at producing and designing these books.

JOHNNY: Any plans for further anthologies?

RICHARD: My last anthology was Twelve Gothic Stories (Oxford University Press, 1998); but I’ve kept very busy editing (and introducing) numerous single-author collections for small presses like Tartarus, Sarob and Ash-tree. The latest of these is The Buckross Ring by L.A.G. Strong (April 2009) for Tartarus Press.
I’m still hoping to edit more anthologies, and maybe a second volume of Dracula’s Brood...