By KEVIN HOOVER
Valancourt Books, the award-winning imprint committed to the preservation of genre literature through initiatives like the Paperbacks from Hell reprints, has partnered with RUE MORGUE to offer a discounted bundle of titles deserving of inclusion in any horror fan’s TBR stack, all for a good cause.
Dubbed, appropriately enough, the RUE MORGUE BUNDLE, this package includes four books selected by the writers and editors of RUE MORGUE magazine. Titles include:
The Monster Club (1976, R. Chetwynd-Hayes): Hidden beneath the streets of London is a dark and dreadful establishment known as The Monster Club, where vampires indulge in a rather different kind of Bloody Mary and ghouls tear into their gruesome repasts. Here, along with the usual monsters—vampires, werewolves, ghouls and some of Dr Frankenstein’s more freakish creations—you’ll find other, less familiar ones. First published in 1976, R. Chetwynd-Hayes’s The Monster Club was adapted for a 1981 film starring Vincent Price, John Carradine and Donald Pleasence, and both book and film have gone on to become cult classics.
Pleasant Dreams (1960, Robert Bloch): Contains some of the finest horror stories from the author of Psycho. These fifteen tales, originally published in Weird Tales and other magazines in the 1940s and ’50s, represent Bloch at his best. This edition is the first unabridged reprint in decades and features a new introduction by Joe R. Lansdale.
Worms (1979, James R. Montague): Specters from the past tortured James Hildebrand’s mind. His blackest nightmares were crowded with malevolent, coiling images of decay. Then, suddenly, he knew the threat was real. Written by screenwriter Christopher Wood (The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker) under the pseudonym James R. Montague—an homage to the great ghost story writer M. R. James—Worms is a rediscovered horror gem that will make your skin crawl.
Throat Sprockets (1994, Tim Lucas): Lucas’s genre-defying cult classic was featured in Stephen Jones and Kim Newman’s Horror: 100 Best Books series and chosen by Rue Morgue as one of the Best Alt Horror Novels. This special 30th Anniversary Edition includes an introduction by Tananarive Due and a brand-new, novella-length penultimate chapter, filling in the past three decades of the protagonist’s misadventure.
Purchasing the bundle nets buyers a 20% discount over buying the titles individually, and a portion of all proceeds will be donated to cancer support non-profits.
