The Future of Arkham House (and Other Weird Matters)

I recently talked to Bob Weinberg (photo, left) about the plans he and co-editor George Vanderburgh (photo, right) have for Arkham House. Among the other topics we discussed were the upcoming movie by James Cameron and Del Toro - At the Mountains of Madness; Bob's favorite writers and paintings; and some of his fondest sffh memories.

ARKHAM HOUSE

Lois: What are your current plans for Arkham House?

Bob: We hope to publish two books a year if not more, and we are already scheduled through 2014. I hope to schedule books through 2030 soon. Then, the trick will be staying alive until all our titles are published!

Lois: How do you and George Vanderburgh divide the editorial duties for Arkham?


Bob: George reads the initial proposals. If he likes the idea and/or the concept, he passes the proposal on to me. If we both like the proposal, we ask the author for more. So far, it's worked pretty well.

Lois: Tell us something about your upcoming titles. What can readers anticipate from Arkham?

Bob: As mentioned, we hope to publish two books a year. Our plans call for one entirely new book, either a story collection or an anthology, and one book of older material, hopefully something that ties in with an out-of-print Arkham House title.
NOTE FROM LOIS: Click here for the February 2010 Arkham House Report.

Lois: Are you and Arkham involved with The Mountains of Madness movie from James Cameron and Del Toro?

Bob: Arkham House was involved in licensing the Lovecraft novel for the screen by del Toro. We are not involved with the actual making of the movie, but we do have other movie plans in the future. To be announced at a later date!

Lois: Arkham House traditionally prints high-quality volumes with amazing artwork. Do you see Arkham House pushing into the e-publishing realm, and if so, how?

Bob: Arkham House will be entering the e-publishing market in the next year with some of our most popular titles available as e-books. Depending on sales, we will continue to make books available for the electronic marketplace in the future.

Lois: What is the future of weird fiction? Will we continue to produce Mythos spinoffs? Will we strike out into new weird territory?

Bob: Weird Fiction will always be with us, no matter what. Feeling horrified is one of the basic emotions and will one that will always be written about. I suspect mankind will be reading Cthulhu Mythos stories on the Moon and on rockets to the stars. Some stuff remains part of our literary heritage. Lovecraft never dies!

Lois: Who are some of your favorite writers from the classic Arkham and Weird Tales archives?

Bob: Needless to say, I love Lovecraft. I also think highly of Clark Ashton Smith, Henry Whitehead, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, and most of the rest of the Weird Tales writers published by Arkham House. And I always enjoy stories by Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.

YOUR ART COLLECTION

Lois: Tell us something about your famous art collection. How many pieces do you own? How many are on display in your home? If forced to identify a handful of favorites, which pieces would you select and why?

Bob: I own around 450 pieces of original art. I have nearly 400 pieces hanging in my house at any one time. I do move around pieces from time to time to make sure that everything does get displayed during a year. I like many, many artists but have a special interest in the work of Virgil Finlay. I own around a hundred black and whites and paintings by him. I also like art by Edd Cartier and Lawrence Sterne Stevens very much. I have way too many favorites to list them all. Among the pieces I like the most are black and white interior pieces for "To Follow Knowledge," a story by Frank Belknap Long, art by Charles Schneeman; "The Ship of Ishtar," by A. Merritt, art from the special tribute hardcover published in 1949 with art by Virgil Finlay (5 pieces), and "The Vault of the Beast" a story by A.E. van Vogt, art by Edd Cartier.
NOTE FROM LOIS: Oddly, Bob doesn't mention Margaret Brundage, definitely one of his favorite sffh artists (photo, left - Bob with a Margaret Brundage painting from his collection)

Lois: Most of us know how you started collecting genre art, but how did you evolve into a major art dealer?

Bob: My adventures collecting art and becoming a dealer in original art is described in detail in my ongoing column called "Collecting Art" published by Tangent Online. The articles are posted every month and I've written 15,000 words so far on my start as an art collector and art dealer.

Lois: You've met and been friends with a lot of classic writers of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and weird fiction. Tell us about one or two people who are most memorable. How did you meet them, and what happened?

Bob: I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of old timers in the SF/Fantasy fields, both writers and artists. I think meeting Edd Cartier, one of the great artists from the 1940's, had to be one of my greatest thrills. I corresponded for several years with Dean Cartier, Edd's son about his father's work, but had never met him as I was living in Chicago and he was in New Jersey. Then I flew out to Jersey for a collector's convention and it was not too far from the Cartier home. Dean invited me over to visit. I talked for several hours with his father and got to see several hundred original Cartier illos done for the 1940's pulps. It was an exciting day! Fortunately I was wise enough to bring a camera with me and I took some great photos of Cartier and his art for my scrapbook.

YOUR BOOKS

Lois: Of all the novels you've written, which is your favorite?

Bob: The Termination Node, of course.

Lois: You and I wrote a bunch of "Science of...." books for John Wiley & Sons. I especially like The Science of Superheroes, The Science of Supervillains, and The Science of James Bond. In fact, I would have a hard time choosing a favorite among the three. Do you have a favorite?

Bob: I liked all of our science books. The best one I think was The Science of Supervillains. For some reason, I think that was just the best written of the science books.

Lois: What is your most current book?

Bob: In 2010, I wrote the text for a stunning art book titled HELLFIRE: PLAGUE OF DRAGONS, a mock historical document about the invasion of Europe by a flock of fire-breathing dragons during the 14th century, the history of which was later suppressed by the Church. It was a fun book to write and the art by Tom Wood, a bestselling poster artist, was incredible. It was a stunning book but the publisher, Running Press, did not promote it very well and few people ever saw the book.

FUN STUFF

Lois: Do you still wear goofy ties and socks?

Bob: I still collect ties and socks with comic characters on them. Happily, I do not often wear a tie. I do still wear my crazy socks!

Lois: I overdosed on 5-10 episodes of Star Trek per day for months while writing The Computers of Star Trek with you. You ate breakfast with Captain Kirk every morning. We've seen 'em all -- multiple times. So what's your #1 Star Trek episode? (Don't tell me, Spock's Brain, because I know better!)

Bob: "City on the Edge of Forever" is a favorite of mine, partly because I'm friends with Harlan Ellison. I also liked "What Are Little Girls Made of?" which was written by Sam Peeples, another friend. For Next Generation, I liked "Data's Day" quite a bit.

Lois: Do you ever re-read anything by Louis L'Amour or Robert E. Howard?

Bob: I haven't picked up any Louis L'Amour stuff in the recent past, as I haven't done a lot of reading lately. I have re-read some of Robert E. Howard for business reasons and I still enjoy reading his stuff. The good material never goes bad!

Lois: Final question: Conan or Red Sonja?

Bob: I like Conan. Though my favorite Howard character has to be Solomon Kane.

H.P. Lovecraft E-Books

Editors: John D. Haefele & Martin Andersson

Multiple pirated copies of this definitive text as well as corrupted text are available elsewhere. In addition, this text is essentially in the public domain in other parts of the world since the author died in 1937. This is the first authorized edition and should not be missed. These volumes are suitable for all forms of e-book readers. The entire collection will be available
from E-READS.COM

2011
Deadly Dimensions and Other Blasphemiesby Lois H. Gresh

The Gargoyle and Others: A Shiver of Horror
The novels, novellas & short stories by Greye La Spina from Weird Tales & the pulps.Edited and introduced by Jean-Philippe Gervais

2012

On the Road to Cinnabar: The Fiction of Edward Bryant, 1970-2010
Collected and edited by Jean-Philippe Gervais

The Arkham Garland: An Anthology of Macabre Fiction

Introduced by David Drake
Contributors: Nina Allan, Griffin James Barber, Leigh Blackmore, Edward Bryant, Ramsey Campbell, Gina Castater, Judith Conly, Sarah A. Hoyt, Ticia Isom, John Kessel, T.E.D. Klein, John Lambshead, Barry N. Malzberg, Melissa Michaels, Sarah Monette, William F. Nolan, Mike Resnick, Mark L. Van Name

The Ghostly Fiction of H. Russell Wakefield

Introduced by Barbara Roden
with Mystery Commentary by Douglas Greene

2013

Arkham Nightmares: Eldritch Tales of the Macabre

Introduced and edited by Lois Gresh

Contributors to date: Mike Arnzen, Gary Braunback, Mort Castle, Nick Cato, Scott Edelman, Cody Goodfellow, Lois Gresh, William Jones, Nicholas Kaufmann, Nancy Kilpatrick, Michael Marano, Mark McLaughlin, Lisa Morton, Joe Nassise, Yvonne Navarro, Adam Niswander, Norman Prentiss, Robert Price, Wilum Pugmire, Darrell Schweitzer, John Skipp, Lucy Snyder, Henry Russell Wakefield

The Blood Princess and Other Shadow Talesby William F. Nolan

Edited by Jason and Sunni Brock

2014

Seventy-Five Years of Arkham House

Compiled by Dan Boulden