THE AGE OF DECAYED FUTURITY

[Jeff Matthews]

From Joshi’s latest blog:

“I am pleased to note that Hippocampus Press has agreed to publish a volume of Mark Samuels’s best stories, under the title The Age of Decayed Futurity. It is a splendid volume that reprints the best stories from Samuels’s seven previous collections, and Mark expects to write one or two new stories for the book. I imagine it will appear next year.”

Great news!

[Gnosticangel]

"Hippocampus Press has agreed to publish a volume of Mark Samuels’s best stories, under the title The Age of Decayed Futurity."

Wow, fantastic news! Thanks for posting!

[luciferfell]

I am super excited about a Samuels best of. But I really hope it's not Mark choosing the stories. I think what Mark thinks of as his best work, and what a fan of his may think of as his best work, may be miles apart.

[Whispers of Sorrow]

I for one hope that it won't be Joshi selecting the stories either... I didn't think much of this author's stories that were selected for various Joshi anthologies... "Gentleman from Mexico" was the first story of his that I've read, and it didn't encourage me to seek more of his fiction... however, I did encounter some other of his stories later than changed thatJoshi's tastes, concerning modern weird fiction, are far removed from my own

I hope that that Hippocampus volume of Matt Cardin stories in still in the works too

[Frater_Tsalal]

Well, you know they have to have "The Black Mould" at the very least! "The White Hands" is probably a lock... probably "The Crimson Fog" as well.

Quote Originally Posted by Whispers of Sorrow

I for one hope that it won't be Joshi selecting the stories either...

Joshi is pretty decent at judging quality classic horror fiction, but yeah, he loses me with his takes on modern material and which stories are strong or weak. I'm sure Mark knows which of his stories people enjoy the most, though he's a consistently decent author of traditional horror so I don't think there's a big danger of the book going too wrong.

[luciferfell]

My best of Mark Samuels TOC would look like:
Mannequins in Aspects in Terror
The Colony
Vrolyck
Ghorla
Glyphotech
Cesare Thodol: Lines Written on a Wall
THYXXOLQU
The Black Mould
The Age of Decayed Futility
My World has no Memories
The Complex
The Crimson Fog

Actually, dealing with S.T. has been a thorough, refreshing pleasure. A few minor bumps along the way, but I think our give-and-take final selection will satisfy all true devotees of weird fiction. It's been a relief to deal with someone who genuinely recognises intrinsic artistic merit and vision constitutes the quintessence of the Weird.

Mark S.

As long as none of your stories commit the cardinal sin of featuring women as explorers then you're good.

Quote Originally Posted by luciferfell

My best of Mark Samuels TOC would look like: Mannequins in Aspects in Terror The Colony Vrolyck Ghorla Glyphotech Cesare Thodol: Lines Written on a Wall THYXXOLQU The Black Mould The Age of Decayed Futility My World has no Memories The Complex The Crimson Fog

Good list, I would add The Tower and Xapalpa.

Nice, but very much expected, cheap attempt at snark.

Hey ho.

Keep clapping.

Mark S.