Between 2015 and 2023 I didn’t buy a single Arkham House book. In 2023 I bought just one AH book, Lucius Shepard’s second collection published by Arkham House, The Ends of the Earth. Then, in 2025 an explosion of interest on my part suddenly resulted in me acquiring many more books from this publisher. With these four books, my collection reached a round 50 in number (I’ve since added one more). I’ve probably hit my peak (or close to it) when it comes to books from Arkham House. It’s just going to get harder and harder if I want to try to find the other 80+ books that I don’t have, without spending an excessive amount of money per book.
I bought my first Arkham House book in 1990: Michael Shea’s collection, Polyphemus. I bought this book from Austin Books (in Austin, Texas), back when they sold actual books, and not just graphic novels and comics. Between 1990 and 2015, I slowly picked up more Arkham House books, either from brick and mortar book stores or at SF conventions. Back then you still could buy AH books for between $7.50 to $15, at least the most recently published ones. After 2015, I pretty much stopped going to SF conventions. Also, local book stores didn’t really carry any Arkham House books, as they’d by now ceased to publish anything new. Fast forward a few years. The online world exists far more than the brick and mortar world. Occasionally I’ll search online for Arkham House titles, and occasionally I’ll end up with a few books like these ones:
Charles L. Grant, Tales from the Nightside (1984). A collection of short stories. Bought for $50, which is to me the upper limit of what I’ll pay at the moment. Grant, who passed away in 2006, was a prolific author and editor of horror fiction. I only have a couple of his books, as opportunity never presented itself to me to find others, at least in person. This book includes an introduction by Stephen King, another prolific horror writer.
Phyllis Eisenstein, Born to Exile (1978). According to Wikipedia, she died on December 7, 2020 in Chicago from COVID-19 and a stroke at the age of 74.
For some weird and unknown reason, Arkham House slapped a label of “SF” on the spine. Based on the first couple of pages, I’d consider it more in the vein of fantasy than SF.
Donald Sydney-Fryer, Songs & Sonnets Atlantean (1971). A collection of poems. Fryer, born September 8, 1934, compiled a bibliography of Clark Ashton Smith’s works, published by Donald M. Grant in 1978. From another entry in Wikipedia, I learned that “in May 2025, 91-year-old Sidney-Fryer suffered a stroke which necessitated his move to a nursing home.” I briefly corresponded with him in the 1990s, when he lived near Corpus Christi (if I recall correctly, as those emails have long since vanished). Soon he will be gone from this world, and I regret never driving down to visit him.
Gary Myers, The House of the Worm (1975). A slim book in the vein of H. P. Lovecraft. At 70-odd pages long, the text reads more like a poem in prose, than fiction. Peppered throughout are black and white sketches, almost as gloomy as the text. According to the note of the author, Myers went on to get his BA after this book, so maybe he wrote it while young. I don’t recall seeing other books by Myers, but not all Arkham House writers went on to publish a slew of books or reach fame.
To me, owning these books is like owning fragments of history, especially given the fate of several of the authors. In time, these books that I’ve acquired, either from bookstores or other owners, will move on to further owners. Hopefully they’ll appreciate them, take care of them, read them.
