Anders Monsen

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Acquiring a limited Dark Harvest anthology

November 2, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Since around 1992 or so, I’ve owned a copy of the trade edition of Dark Harvest’s anthology, Dark at Heart. Edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Karen Lansdale, this book contains 20 stories by many of the masters of the genre in the 1980s and 1990s. My copy was signed by a handful of writers, picked up at Armadillcon (a convention in Austin, Texas), I think. It’s one of my treasured possessions, and I’ve read some of the stories multiple times. In my copy, I can make out signatures by both Lansdales, Ardath Mayhar, Bill Crider, plus two signatures whose names are indecipherable; one might be Andrew Vachss, the other – who knows.

I don’t usually buy different editions of books that I already have, unless it’s a hardback to accompany or replace a paperback or trade paperback edition. Still, coming across a limited edition of this book, signed by ALL contributors, was just too tempting, especially as it was offered at more than half-off the original cover price of $45. Side by side, there’s nothing to differentiate these two books. The limited edition offers nothing extra, save that it’s numbered and signed by all contributors. The “deluxe first edition,” as the book states, is limited to 400 individually signed and numbered copies. It comes with a nice slipcase. Looking at the signatures, I still can’t figure out which two authors signed my old trade edition. The price is a sticker on the inside flap of the dust jacket, possibly overlaid on top of the trade edition price.

This isn’t my first limited edition Dark Harvest book, but it’s my first such anthology. Back when I first started to buy hardcover books, and also ventured into the small press market because some of my favorite authors had stories and books published there, I knew nothing about trade vs. limited editions. Paying $45 for a book in the early 1990s, to me at least, was a luxury I never would have permitted myself. Today, some small presses sell limited editions for $150 or more (and in some cases around $500 or more). I’d never envision myself paying a price like that, but who knows what things will look like in ten years. Will $150 seem like a pittance then? Will physical books even exist in ten years, or will it just be a matter of luxury, given the rising cost of everything?

Many authors who appeared in the pages of Dark at Heart now are dead. Dark Harvest as a publisher is but a memory. It’s a shame there aren’t more anthologies like this one. I’ll treasure both books, I think, for different reasons.

Thrillers x2

October 26, 2026 /

I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve read a book series out of order. I just know that it happens, and if by chance the second or third book in a series is good, and I read it first, well, I have to go hunt for book number one. Is a themed anthology in the same boat, however?

One of the books I picked up recently in Phoenix was Thrillers 2, published by Cemetery Dance in 2007. A signed/limited edition was too good to pass up. Edited by Robert Morrish, it features ca. 20,000 words each from four contributors — Gemma Files, Tim Waggoner, R. Patrick Gates, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. This anthology is apparently the “long-overdue return of a dark fiction series that debuted in 1993.” I’m not sure that a 14 year absence makes it a series, especially since no more books in this “series” followed. However, since I had book two, I naturally went out and searched for a copy of the first book…

Perhaps it’s unfair to compare Thrillers to another “dark fiction” series. Still, Thrillers seem to attempt to vill the void left from the demise of Dark Harvest’s Night Vision series, which ran for nine installments, then was partially resurrected by Subterranean Press for three more installments. The first Thrillers appears in 1993, just two years after Dark Harvest ceased the run of Night Visions books. The cover and concept seems to share a great deal with Night Visions: multiple writers contributing original fiction. With Night Visions, there were three writers – two well-known, and one new (and up-and-coming) writer. Majro names like F. Paul Wilson, Stephen King, Robert R. McCammon, Joe R. Lansdale, Dean Koontz, George R. R. Martin, and others, appears in Night Visions. Thrillers has four authors, a mix of new and well-known names. The font on the nine Night Visions books was consistent and recognizable. The font on the two Thrillers books, not so much.

The first book has stories by Rex Miller, Ardath Mayhar, Chet Williamson, and Nancy A. Collins, plus a short introduction by Joe R. Lansdale. The second Thrillers has fiction by Gemma Files, Tim Waggoner, R. Patrick gates, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. I checked ISFDB and despite close to 600 publications to its name, Cemetery Dance never released a third Thrillers.

It’s strange, but 2007 seems like just yesterday, and yet it’s almost two decades in the past. Going back to 1993 seems like a deep dive into the past. Since then, dark fantasy and horror anthologies have come and gone, yet there seems to be nothing like Night Visions, an annual publication with cutting edge fiction. Small press publishers have come and gone. Arkham House exists now in the distant past. Subterranean Press (soon to cease, alas) has published great fiction, mostly from individual authors. Golden Gryphon existed for a few years. Gauntlet Press and Borderlands Press publish just a few books each year. The same is the case for Cemetery Dance, which produced these two Thriller anthologies. Other small presses these days seem to focus on high-end expensive books for collectors with a lot of money.

Then again, with books like these day, I continue to mine the past with occasional success.

Ray Garton’s Crucifax Autumn

April 10, 2026 /

I’m slowly narrowing in on one of my current goals: collecting all the books published by Dark Harvest, a small press active from 1983 to 1992. In that decade of activity Dark Harvest published over 50 books, from horror to science fiction to mysteries. My latest addition is Ray Garton’s Crucifax Autumn, a horror novel from 1998. With this book, only four remain on my list: a pair of Lawrence Block books, a horror anthology, and the first book ever published by Dark Harvest, back in 1983. Two of those four might prove to be impossible to find.

Ray Garton (1962-2024) was a noted horror writer. He was the author of over 60 books, the most notable being Live Girls. In an old interview he talks about the genesis of that novel, while walking through Times Square in the 1980s. On my first visit to the US back in 1987, I got lost on the New York Subway and exited long before my actual destination. I ended up walking south for countless blocks, also passing through Times Square. This was before the cleanup, before Times Square became a massive and relatively clean tourist attraction. My experience in Times Square in 1987 was similar to that of Garton’s: it was like walking through another planet, full of garish signs and pulsating neon, even in the middle of the day. Unlike Garton, that strange side of life didn’t interest me, and I’d never dove in that world to write a novel.

Garton was a published writer by age 22. He was awarded the 2006 World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, wrote short stories, novels, novelizations, and even ventured into the YA market. I’ve only read a trio of his books (Lot Lizards, Methods of Madness, plus his Borderlands Press collection, A Little Gray Book of Grim Tales), as I rarely read horror, but in my experience Garton’s a tough, no holds barred writer. As someone who saw himself as a person born to write, and kept at it until his death, Garton went far, far too soon at the age of 62.

Dean Koontz as Leigh Nichols

April 1, 2026 /

Under the pseudonym of Leigh Nichols, Dean R. Koontz published several paperback novels in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Then, starting with The House of Thunder in 1988, Dark Harvest turned these books into hardcover editions with Koontz’s own name on the cover. Koontz wrote many other novels under different names before he struck it big in the horror/suspense field on the level with Stephen King; his first best-selling novel, I believe, was Strangers (1996). By the time these Dark Harvest editions rolled around, Koontz was on the bestseller lists almost as regularly as King. Now, several years after the Dark Harvest books originally were published, I’ve slowly acquired editions of all the five Dark Harvest Dean R. Koontz books. Many of those pre-Koontz-named novels appeared ripe for a reissue. Hardcover editions were a nice way to honor that legacy, as well as give burgeoning Koontz fans nice editions. Hardback books tend to be more durable than paperback editions.

The Dean Koontz books from Dark Harvest — you would think, with the template in place, maybe they could be consistent in design on the spines. Instead, we have four of the five books with “Koontz” in horizontal text, and one with “Dean R. Koontz” in larger font and vertical.

Shadowfires (Dark Harvest, 1990) was the first Koontz book I ever read. Since then I bought a few mass-market hardcovers and paperbacks of his books, though I don’t consider myself a Koontz collector. My copy of this Dark Harvest book is far from perfect. The dust jacket is slightly torn due to improper handling and the fact that I’ve owned it for a couple of decades without ever adding any Mylar protective cover. For many years I stuck it with my other Koontz books behind a layer of other books, in an almost forgotten bookshelf. Then, a couple of years ago, I came across some other Dark Harvest Koontz editions, and I thought, “Why not?”

So, from a single online dealer, I bought a trio of cheap Koontz Dark Harvest books: The Key to Midnight, The House of Thunder, and The Eyes of Darkness. Of those three books, The Key to Midnight (1989) is my only pristine copy. Both The House of Thunder (1988) and The Eyes of Darkness (1989) have light foxing on the top and bottom edges, despite arriving still in their original shrinkwrap. Maybe that’s the issue, and the foxing happened due to dampness and improper storage? At any rate, I was quite disappointed.

I did, however, in 2025 read all three newly acquired books. This took place many years after I’d read Shadowfires. I came away with the impression that all these Nichols/Koontz novels follow a formula: they feature a female and male protagonist thrust into certain situations that upend their lives. In Shadowfires it’s an ex-wife haunted and hounded by her former husband, yet aided by a new boyfriend. In The House of Thunder, it’s a woman haunted by an earlier accident who finds herself in the midst of a mind control experiment and who, along the way, gains a new boyfriend/admirer. In The Eyes of Darkness, a supposed dead child comes back to haunt a mother, who is also supported by a new boyfriend. With The Key to Midnight, a mind-control experiment shunts a woman off to Japan, only to have her memories unlocked by a (sort-of) random encounter with a detective, who also becomes her boyfriend. Maybe, because I read three of the novels in quick succession, and then went back and re-read Shadowfires, it just seemed that each novel followed that same thread.

Then, there’s The Servants of Twilight (1988). This novel was the last of the Koontz Dark Harvest books that I acquired, in March 2026. From online descriptions of the book, this is supposedly the best of the five Leigh Nichols books. Yet, there on the dust-jacket, in the section trying to hype of the book, are the words: “Christine…and the one man who’s risked everything to help…are running from the hounds of death.” Well, it’s the same theme as the other four, isn’t it, Mr. Nichols? Anyway, I’ve yet to read this book, so maybe it will surprise me.

George R. R. Martin’s Children

February 10, 2026 /

There’s a special circle in cell for people who stamp their ownership in books, and then don’t destroy those books before passing them on…

In February, 2026 I acquired a copy of the trade edition of George R. R Martin’s 1987 collection, Portraits of His Children. The book was in pristine condition, but on the first page inside the book some had stamped their name in a way that never can be undone: “Library of [name removed] M.D.” How nice of you, Dr. X, to have your own personal stamp to mar the books that you own. Has Dr. X now shuffled off his mortal coil, and his book then passed to some dealer/seller to push the book along? Possibly so. I’m almost tempted to tear out that page. Instead, I may look for another copy without such a stamp, then foist this book off to someone less finicky.

All grumbling aside, this book collects 11 stories from Martin’s early years as a writer, when he wrote SF stories, and before he ventured into fantasy with the Game of Thrones series of books and TV shows. These were stories published in Analog and Asimov, as well as anthologies. The introduction is from Roger Zelazny, an SF/fantasy writer. The publisher: Dark Harvest—whose first book was by Martin, a book apparently only published in a limited edition (no additional trade edition), and it’s quite expensive on the current used book market. I used to own a couple of Martin novels years ago, and gave them away. I never got into Game of Thrones, so I only have this book because I’m trying to collect all books published by Dark Harvest, a small publisher that existed between 1983 and 1993. Martin’s novella, “The Skin Trade,” is one of the best stories in the Night Vision anthologies.

A pair of Dark Harvest mystery books

February 10, 2026 /

Dark Harvest’s Night Vision series was a masterpiece in horror anthologies from 1984 to 1991. When the publisher switched focus to mystery fiction in the early 1990s, they apparently tried to recreate the magic (and format) with Criminal Intent 1 (1993). Boldly flagged with the number “1,” the venture sadly failed, and Dark Harvest produced no more books after 1993, and thus, no additional anthologies that received the addition of a number after the title.

The format: three writers would submit 100 words of original fiction. Some writers would be established names in the field, others would be new, talented voices. Criminal Intent 1 includes one story each from Ed Gorman, Bill Pronzini, and Maria Muller. All three name, by that time, appear to be established writers. It’s a great concept. Too bad it never went further.

Bill Pronzini contributed another book for Dark Harvest in 1993: Carmody’s Run. This book contains four stories featuring his character, Carmody. All the stories were originally written and published in the 1970s, and there’s an introduction about the character that appears to be written specially for this book.

Sadly, my copy has two tears in the dust jacket, one in the front, and one in the back. That’s what happens sometimes when you buy things online, and actual photographs are not included. Still, for $15 it’s not a bad deal.

According to ISFDB, these were the last two Dark Harvest books published. However, I’ve seen a pair of Lawrence Block books from Dark Harvest listed online, not in the list from that reference site. Ironically, just as the first Dark Harvest book—by George R. R. Martin—generally starts above $200 from current dealers, one of those Block books also appears to fetch a high price. So, the modern collector gets to bookend the cost of acquiring a complete set of Dark Harvest books with a pair that cost more than 10x the price of some books.

Kellerman’s Blood Ties

February 10, 2026 /

Jonathan Kellerman’s novel, Blood Ties, was originally published in hardcover in 1986. There’s an interest note in his foreword the Dark Harvest “First Expanded Edition” from 1993, where he states this his publisher of the 1986 book lost all copies, only to find them a few months later. Due to this, sales fell off from his first novel, and that edition become somewhat difficult to find.

Kellerman has a background in child psychology, which he weaves into his fiction. Blood Ties was another book in Dark Harvest’s early 1990s move from horror fiction to mystery fiction. Why this venture failed is up to someone much closer to the publishers, but one could guess that either there was no market for small press mystery editions, or the publishers decided for other reasons just to call it quits. Dark Harvest is far from the first small press publisher with a limited life-span, although their bibliography is quite remarkable.

I acquired a copy of the signed/limited edition in February, 2026. My book is numbered #41 of the 400 limited copies, signed by both Kellerman and Dean Koontz, who wrote a weird introduction. The illustrations are by Phil Parks, who did many Dark Harvest covers (at least nine, as far as I can tell).

Another Trio of Dark Harvest Books

December 20, 2025 /

Recently I picked up three mystery books by small press publisher, Dark Harvest. This publisher was active from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. I now have 40 books by this publishers, with maybe a dozen more left in order to collect all of their books. Most of these I have as their “trade” editions, with a handful of the “signed/limited” variety.

Invitation to Murder (1991). This is anthology or mystery stories, all with the same premise: a young woman is found dead in a room. Around this time (early 1990s), Dark Harvest appeared to switch from horror/dark fantasy to mystery. It didn’t work, and a couple of years later they closed shop. This anthology collects a few stories with noted mystery writers (as well as writers from other genres). I bought the trade edition, and have just started reading the stories, starting with the first one, by Nancy Pickard; I’ll admit that I didn’t expect the ending on this one. I guess the market for limed edition mystery books is not as sustainable as horror/sf/fantasy books, since a year or so later Dark Harvest stopped publishing anything at all.

Junius Podrug’s Frost of Heaven (1992). I have not yet read this book, nor have I seen any other books by Podrug. I was able to get this book as a limited edition, and my copy is number 4 of 250 signed and numbered copies. The cover is boring, though it does have a nice endorsement by Nancy Pickard. It’s on my To Read list, but I know nothing about it.

Nancy Pickard’s Generous Death is not listed as one of the books from Dark Harvest on ISFDB. It was reprinted by Dark Harvest in 1992, possibly as part of their failed foray into the mystery genre; after they abandoned the horror/dark fantasy books that made their name, they ceased to exist shortly thereafter. Maybe that switch wasn’t the direct cause of their demise, but it’s hard not to associate the switch to them stopping all books.

Generous Death is the first in a series of books about the main character, Jenny Cain. Packard had a significant career in the mystery/crime genre, but this is the first time I’ve encountered any of her books. My copy is signed and numbered 268 of 300 copies. After I bought this book I looked for her books elsewhere, but so far have not found any. Maybe that will chance, as now her books are on my radar.

Out of the ca. 52 books from Dark Harvest’s publication history, I now only need 12 (or so) more. Some of these might be tough to track down at acceptable prices (to me), and as evidenced by the Pickard books, there might be one or two not listed in the publication history. Althought I have a handful of the signed/limited variety of their books, I’ll probably look for the others in trade editions. If I manage to collect them all, that would be quite a feat, at least in my eyes.

A Trio of Dark Harvest Books

November 29, 2025 /

Between 1983 and 1993, a small press from Arlington Heights, Illinois called Dark Harvest published close to 50 books. In that decade they released nine volumes in the seminal anthology, Night Visions, along with novels and story collections by such giants in the horror and SF field such as Fritz Leiber, Isaac Asimov, George R. R. Martin, Dean R. Koontz, Ray Garton, F. Paul Wilson, Dan Simmons, Robert R. McCammon, and many more. Toward the end of Dark Harvest’s run, they made a foray into the mystery genre. An anthology called Criminal Intent 1 appears to have been the last book they published. Perhaps the limited edition market collapsed in the early 1990s, or mystery readers didn’t care for small press editions as much as SF and horror readers. Or, maybe the publishers just decided to call it quits. At any rate, it’s a shame that Dark Harvest stopped publishing books.

I think I started buying Dark Harvest books with F. Paul Wilson’s books, then some of the Night Visions books and other anthologies, plus a few others here and there. Although I’m not aiming for a complete collection of Dark Harvest books, I recently picked up three books by this publisher from various locations.

Fiends, by John Farris (1990). A horror novel by an author of whom I know next to nothing. I’ve started reading this book, and it looks intriguing.

Blue Champagne, by John Varley (1986). A collection of short stories by this master of science fiction. I still have a vivid memory of seeing this book in the shelves at Austin Books on North Lamar in the late 1980s/early 1990s. I really wanted it, but back then was unable to afford the cover price. This year I paid a little bit more than cover price for this copy, but it’s in pristine condition and well-worth the price. Dark Harvest switching to SF is almost like Arkham House releasing SF books (oh, wait — they did release a few SF books), but the first story in the collection did make me a little nervous, almost like a horror story.

The Nightrunners, by Joe R. Lansdale (1987). An interesting book, and probably the only book that I’ve seen with this warning: “WARNING: Extreme violence, language and sexual situations may offend some readers.” Of course, that’s almost every Lansdale book, but it was strange to see this from one published back in 1987. I guess those were different times. Some of the pieces that make up this novel have appeared elsewhere as short stories or vignettes. One such episode I recently read, but I cannot remember where. I’m not about to hunt through all my books with Lansdale stories to find where I read it, but I do remember it was a disturbing piece, well worth that warning from the Dark Harvest edition.

There’s now a dozen of the 50 or so Dark Harvest books that I don’t own. I’m really only interested in six of these, but I won’t be surprised if I start looking for the rest. After all, they’re all a piece of history, at least in terms of genre fiction.

Cast a Cold Eye

August 14, 2025 /

Back in the 1980s and 1990, small press publisher Dark Harvest published a fair amount of horror fiction, from novels, to anthologies and collections. At the time I bought a handful of these, but back then hardcovers were a premium in my eyes. I’ve recently started to look for their books that I failed to get, with Alan Ryan’s novel, Cast a Cold Eye the latest find. Originally published in 1984, this is a horror novel set in western Ireland.

I don’t often bid for books on eBay, but recently I’d seen several books there listed a low starting prices, and tossed my hat in for a few of them. In most cases the subsequent bidding exceeded my budget for any book, and I bowed out when that limit was reached. Cast a Cold Eye, to my surprise, was one that I ended up winning (alas, I missed out on another Dark Harvest book, not to mention many, many Arkham House books…).

My copy arrived today, and to my second surprise, this copy was not the trade edition, but the signed/limited edition in a slipcase. My copy is #92 of 200, signed by Alan Ryan, as well as illustrator Jill Bauman. For $15 plus tax and shipping, that’s probably the third surprise. (I will note, to my annoyance, that the copy-reader missed Brain for Brian on the second page, which does not bode well.)

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