Mark Valentine is an English short story author, editor and essayist on book-collecting.

Short stories

Valentine's short stories have been published in a number of collections and in anthologies. ''The Collected Connoisseur'' (Tartarus Press, 2010) is about the mystical encounters of an aesthete whose real name is never revealed, some written jointly with

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

. ‘The Descent of the Fire’, a story in this series by Valentine & Howard, was included in the 2004 World Fantasy Award winning anthology ''Strange Tales'' edited by Rosalie Parker. ''Herald of the Hidden'' (Tartarus Press, 2013) collects stories about Ralph Tyler, a Northamptonshire folklorist. Other short story collections include ''Selected Stories'' (2012) and ''Seventeen Stories'' (2013). His story ‘Vain Shadows Flee’ was chosen for ''Best British Short Stories 2016'' edited by Nicholas Royle (Salt Publishing). ''Secret Europe'' (2012) and ''Inner Europe'' (2018) are shared collections with John Howard of stories set in real and fictional European locations.

Studies and essays

He has written studies of

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen ( or ; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh people, Welsh author and mysticism, mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural ...

and Sarban. He also wrote numerous articles for ''Book and Magazine Collector'', and his essays on book-collecting, minor writers and related subjects have been collected in ''Haunted By Books'' (2015) and ''A Country Still All Mystery'' (2017).

As editor

Valentine has edited or introduced over forty books, mostly in the supernatural fiction field, including editions of work by

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fi ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

, J. Meade Falkner and others. He has also edited anthologies, including ''The Werewolf Pack'' (Wordsworth, 2008), ''The Black Veil'' (Wordsworth, 2008) and ''The Scarlet Sin – Stories for Dorian Gray'' (The Swan River Press, Dublin, 2017). From 1985 to 1988, he edited ''Source'', a journal about ancient holy wells. He then co-edited (with Roger Dobson) ''Aklo'', a journal of the fantastic, and edited '' Wormwood'', a biannual journal of fantastic literature, from 2003 to 2022.

Publishing

In small press publishing, with Roger Dobson he ran Caermaen Books, principally devoted to titles about Arthur Machen and, with Jo Valentine, he has issued handmade artist books under the Valentine & Valentine imprint. Valentine also published the first book by Joel Lane, a chapbook titled ''The Foggy, Foggy, Dew''.

Recordings

Valentine has also issued sound recordings. As The Mystic Umbrellas, he contributed "Journey to the West", a keyboard piece, to the ''Deleted Funtime'' tape (Deleted Records, Dec 009, 1980), and as Radio Dromedary contributed treated shortwave recordings to ''National Grid 2'' (Conventional Tapes, CON 015, 1981). He also issued ''The Sound of the Sea/The Sound of Pendeen Watch'', a sound recording of the sea and a Cornish lighthouse foghorn (Zennor Hill tapes, 1983).

Books

Fiction

*''In Violet Veils'',

Tartarus Press Tartarus Press is an independent book publisher in Coverdale in North Yorkshire, England.

(Horam, Sussex), 1999 *''Masques and Citadels'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2003 *''The Rite of Trebizond and Other Tales'', with

, Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania), 2008 *''The Nightfarers'', Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania), 2009. Reprinted Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2020 *''The Seven Treasures of Bucharest'', Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania), 2009 *''The Collected Connoisseur'', with John Howard, Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2010 *''The Mascarons of the Late Empire & Other Studies'', Passport Levant (Bucharest, Romania), 2010 *''The Peacock Escritoire'', Passport Levant (Bucharest, Romania), 2011 *''Secret Europe'', with John Howard, Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania), 2012 *''Selected Stories'', Swan River Press (Dublin), 2012 *''Herald of the Hidden & Other Stories'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2013 *''Seventeen Stories'', Swan River Press (Dublin), 2013 *''The Uncertainty of All Earthly Things'', Zagava (Germany), 2018 *''Inner Europe'', with John Howard, Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2018 *''Powers and Presences'', with John Howard, Sarob Press (France), 2020 *''The Fig Garden'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2022 *''The Peacock Escritoire'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2023 *''Lost Estates'', Swan River Press (Ireland), 2024

Poetry

*''At Dusk'', Ex Occidente Press (Bucharest, Romania) 2012 *''Star Kites: Poems & Versions'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2013 *''Astarology'', Salò Press (Norwich), 2021

Non Fiction

*''Arthur Machen'',

Seren Books Seren Books is the trading name of Poetry Wales Press, an independent publisher based in Bridgend, Wales, specialising in English-language writing from WalesFelicity Wood (23 August 2013). Rhyme and reason: The poetry market is a notoriously diffic ...

, 1985 *''Time, a Falconer: A Study of Sarban'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2010 *''Haunted by Books'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2015 *''A Country Still All Mystery'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2017 *''The Secret Ceremonies: Critical Essays on Arthur Machen'' (co-edited with Timothy J Jarvis), Hippocampus Press, 2019 *''A Wild Tumultory Library'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2019 *''Sphinxes and Obelisks'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2021 *''The Thunderstorm Collectors'', Tartarus Press (North Yorkshire), 2024

References

External links

Wormwoodiana

Interview with a Book Collector
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Mark Living people English biographers English short story writers English horror writers British ghost story writers Year of birth missing (living people)